creating-with-words - Tumblr blog

[creating-with-words]

What i made instead of writing.....

[creating-with-words]

[creating-with-words]

A cool thing about writing is that the better you get at it, the more you're aware of what you want out of it, which means it gets harder, which means you actually feel like you're getting worse.

And by "cool thing," I mean "what the fuck, man"

– Sam Sykes

[creating-with-words]

What it’s like being a writer

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Why am I a writer? To tell you stories made of dreams. To take you on vast odysseys and show you things unseen. To dress my words in magic, so that we might careen, through distant worlds inside of me, and the spaces in-between.

[creating-with-words]

Fanfuckingtastic writing advice!!

Beating yourself up about your writing DOES NOT HELP YOU WRITE! Cut that shit out, be nicer to yourself, take breaks, and remember it's a marathon not a sprint and also nobody likes running ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Well Nano's over and I ended up completing a total of 13,892 words (of the 50k goal), which is less than I thought I would write, but I stopped about halfway through because life got in the way and I had to spend all my free time writing cover letters, updating my resume, and job hunting. Still, it's 13k more words than I had at the beginning of the month so I'm counting it as a success that way. Adding that to the 10k words I wrote leading up to Nano for the 10k words in 10 days challenge that I participated in, I have a total of about 24k words. Woohoo!

[creating-with-words]

[creating-with-words]

being a writer is sometimes just like

“she raised the sword - *stares out of the window for three minutes* - high above her head, its- *plays with pen* - silver skin glinting in the- *gets up and walks around the room* - golden sunlight. her face- *opens tumblr*

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Day one of Nanowrimo and I'm starting out strong. I managed to crank out 1680 words for the day. Whew! I've never won it (and I don't really think I'm going to win it this year either) but I always end up with more words at the end of the month than I'd otherwise have, which is a personal win for me! Plus I think it's awesome connecting with other writers all doing the same thing. If anyone wants to be buddies I'm Jen.m.n on there!

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Your first draft is like the "alpha" version of a video game.

⭐ It doesn't have to be perfect-- it doesn't have to be good.

⭐ It's not a finished product-- no one is going to be judging your finished product based on it.

⭐ It gives you a baseline of where the project is going, and something to continue to work on fine tuning and iterating.

Don't stress about making your first draft "perfect"-- just get it done so you have something to edit!

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FINISHED MY MANUSCRIPT AND YEETED IT AT MY LIT AGENT time to get some slee - oh shit NaNoWriMo is here.

Erm.

Right, so if you're like me and you have the opening line of your NaNo project and a vague idea, I'd still like to encourage you to take part in NaNoWriMo. A large number of responses I get at this time are people who drop out in the first week. You have a whole month! If you need some nudging to stay in the game, please consider:

Any writing done by the end of the month is more writing than you had before. The biggest benefit of NaNoWriMo is having accomplished something, be it 50000 words or a couple of chapters. Using NaNo as a tool to carve out writing time can be really useful, and it's worth giving a try if you've had trouble figuring out how to get things done.

You don't have to write a book. You don't even have to work on the same project every day! Whatever needs writing - those fanfic drabbles, that personal essay you really want to publish, those three ideas you can't pick between - can be written during NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo is a great way to connect with other writers, both local and online. Listen, it's hard to find other writers. My current group is spread across the world and we have trouble pinning down Discord meetups. Sometimes finding an in-person group can really help, but how to do that is hard. NaNoWriMo can be a chance to find people you vibe with - or don't vibe with, but can sit next to for an hour to write in silence. Anything helps.

No writing is bad writing. Even if you never look at it again, sitting down to write is like working out. You are practicing and improving your skills, even if you don't realize it. The only way to get better is to keep doing it.

You don't have to win. You don't have to write every day. You can even lower your goals to 300 words a day and still being doing NaNo, because you're putting in the work.

You can jump back into NaNoWriMo at any time. Have a bad day? A bad week? A final exam you must spend all your time and energy on? Don't give up on Day 3, Day 15, or Day 25. Every day of the month can be a new opportunity to write, no matter how many setbacks you have.

If you've never done NaNoWriMo before, give it a try! If you've tried it before and pounding out a novel in a month doesn't work for you, make NaNoWriMo your own thing. A paragraph a day, a drabble a week - whatever keeps your words flowing, this is the perfect month to set goals and try things out to figure out your writing styles.

Good luck!

[creating-with-words]

Signs You Should Write The Story

1. You can't stop thinking about it

2. It would be exciting and fun to write

3. It's meaningful to you

WRITE THE STORY

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Googling a word as a writer that you've always assumed has one meaning is so stupid because, on one hand, why doubt yourself? You used that word before, it's a normal word, and it will mean what you think it meant. You're just wasting time that you could use for actually writing.

But on the other hand, what if you find out that it's not what you always thought it is? What now? Now you question your whole existence, and there is no time left for writing anymore.

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‘A good tragedy is always both preventable and inevitable’ is one of my main hills to die on. It’s literally so important to me. I’m fucking correct

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Me, reviewing the half-assed outline I wrote a while ago for my next WIP: