#trying to be a writeblr at least

[silhouettecrow]

So, I kind of stopped posting the drafts from my "365 Days of Poems" project, mainly because I fell behind on writing the poems. I'm still rather behind, but I wanted to post one poem that I wrote a while ago that kind of expresses how I feel in light of the US presidential election. I can only hope that it will help others who feel like I do and maybe provide a sense of inspiration or motivation to those who feel a bit lost right now.

Day 40: Sedate Extinction

when our world ends

or just we as a people end

i fear so many of us

will have such raw throats

and tired hands

and sore backs

and broken spirits

and bruised hopes

that it will die quiet

without strain or care

there will no longer be a fight

no more will to survive

to persevere and push on

that we will go out with a whimper

and the sweet release of oblivion

and that will be that

and the tears we shed together

but until then

i will scream

i will claw

i will write

i will uplift

i will hope

and i will try my damnedest

to keep our people

and our world

alive and here and hopeful

[space-writes]

something that's really been working for me editing-wise lately (by which i mean the past year or so) is separating my 'figure out what's wrong' passes from my 'solve the problems' passes

because 'identify the issue' is a different...brain space? energy? from 'fixing the issue' and i find i can move much faster through editing when i'm not trying to do both at once

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

For the record guys writing an actual book vs writing a fanfiction actually isint that different but the important key thing to note is you have to write what you love and of what you love

dont worry about audience dont worry about trends , dont worry about people who dont love what you make, focus on writing what you love. Youll write a whole lot more and you'll be writing something you considered worth writing, and that makes it a whole lot more worth reading.

and it will be *fun* You can absolutely casually write books for funsies and not because youre desperately trying to get a book published

I've written like, three last year. And each time it took like, two weeks? make an outline of your idea, fall in love with your characters and world, make it something you could research and discuss for hours, write a bit each day and have a clear idea of where each chapter is going and what your end goal is. you'll reach it eventually.

i started this hobby dreaming of being able to just write *one* book one day once in my life

Now i can casually pick up a new book idea and have it done in under a month. Why? because i practice and i have a lot of freetime admittedly but its primarily because i kept writing every day (AND HAD A CLEAR GOAL OF WHERE I WAS GOING and knew about what to expect, its really really hard to reach the finish line if you have no idea where it is-)

you can write 50,000 words in a single year by writing about 140 (a bit under actually) words a day. and you can write it a WHOLE lot faster if you write more than that. (personally i've managed to write that many in 3 days at my top speed but please do NOT try to replicate *that* i had like pain for weeks and tingling hands after, please do not look at that as something to look up to, that is not a flex, that is a warning , im pretty sure the maximum safe number of words you can write in a day is about 5,000 and if i go over that much the tingles come back in my hands, so like, be careful please. if youre really digging into writing and you find its super fun you will have to be careful and take breaks and be cautious about your health ive wound up ADORING writing but like, you can go too far and get injured)

the whole tldr is: writing a book is not that hard really

but you gotta believe in yourself

you've gotta respect your own wishes and chase the things that make you happy

and youre gonna make it way harder on yourself if you put it on some giant pedestal

authors arent special supernatural creatures that create worlds, theyre humans

and one of the coolest skills us humans have is the ability to create worlds. *all of us* have that ability.

i believe in you

and for the record it took me several years to write my first book-

my second book took 6 days

my third took 3

oh frick ive written four books, sick

okay my fourth book? that one i freaking paced myself like a sane person and finished it in like two weeks which i think is pretty sick and i didint approach my danger threshhold of 5,000 words

and that i think is about the pace id like to go with my books in general frankly-

why am i capable of this? because im not worrying so hard over if im being cringe, because im letting myself be self indulgent, have fun, and letting myself become my own biggest fan. Sincerely please have fun and stop thinking so hard about your audience and stuff, please go have fun my friends and try to treat writing as a hobby first and other things later

yes even if you want to do it for a career

especially even because then your audience will be made up of people that actually have the same interests as you and actually like the things you like and then you get to write for people who like your specific weird little brand of writing

please, authors get stuck in a genre if they write too much in it , write what makes you happy or youll feel increasingly obligated to be stuck in one genre

im probably super super privledged to be able to say all this and i KNOW i am to be able to have the time to spend as long as i personally do on writing, but the truth is is that whether you do all those hours in one day or spread out over the course of weeks and months, youre still gonna get those words in and what you write will still be just as worthy of love and admiration as the works of any other and its gonna take the same number of hours regardless of if you do it in a day or a year (like i get it i can write fast but the real reason i got it done so fast is just i have way more free time than average and was able to write for 6 hours a day, unrealistic for most people as you can imagine)

this is not meant to be a ohh lo ok at me i can write so fast and i can write so much thing because im also the same person who spent over 5 years trying and failing to write one book and feeling overwhelmed because i thought writing was this impossible magical dream on a pedestal and it turns out no its like, just like really fun if you dont panic so hard about rules and regulations and popularity and pleasing an invisible audience.

I'm saying this because i thought it was this impossible thing

im saying this because i really truly want to live in a world where people write as gleefully about their ocs and worlds theyve made up the way they write fanfictions

you can worry about cleaning it up later for now just make sure you actually make something you love enough to find joy in creating it.

im just a little weirdo who fell in love with writing

i really hope maybe this can make you less scared of falling in love with writing

and reassure you also that **writing fanfiction is just as real of writing as regular writing and is part of what taught me how to actually have fun writing and writing about what brings me joy**

and that your work, no matter how short or long, original fiction or fanfiction, first draft or thousandth, is legitimate and yes you can complete it, youll be okay, and even if you dont, youll only psych yourself out if you turn it into a giant mountain to climb

the old tale of the tortise and the hare still shines true

slow and steady wins the race.

(i say this especially as a hare, because i could keep running without a break but ill get freaking injured, even those who can be hares must rest if they want to reach the finish line, and unlike in a real race theres no set time you need to do this in, theres no deadline, all that matters is eventually reaching the end)

youve got this

youre doing great

and please keep writing, but do so for fun, without shame, without judgement, and without comparison. there is no room for self judgement and shame in a happy life, and please, compliment yourself, own your achievements, be proud of yourself.

and if you can, please comment on here or reblog telling me about your project and what youre doing right now to work on it

celebrate your achievements, and celebrate each others achievements in the comments.

no shame. no judgement.

*no self deprecation allowed.*

self deprecation is not a virtue and you will never know how bright you could shine if you snuff out your own light the second you dare consider it might exist at all.

so get in there and brag and if youre up for it or dont have anything youre able to share just yet, tell us what you love most about writing or favorite tropes! :3 have fun! love you guys!

[zmwrites]

friends: what are your favourite ways to shorten a manuscript? crutch words to demolish, sentence structures to remove, scenes to cut…. all suggestions are welcome!

[tildeathiwillwrite]

Write Camp Day 24

Day 24 Prompts

Write Camp Rules/Enrollment

Masterpost

Prompts: the image of ignorance

WIP: The Hunter, the Myth and the Cure

Words: 500

Tag List: (message me to be added or removed) @fourwingedsnake @whumperofworlds @pigeonwhumps @mr-orion @scaewolf

@the-ellia-west @melpomenelamusa @agirlandherquill

----------

Octavian raised his eyebrows. “Hector…?”

“Hector Epsilona,” Draven elaborated, setting down the plate in front of him. “He’s a Watcher, you heard of him?”

The elf just nodded, gaze growing slightly vacant.

Draven fixed his own plate and sat down, sipping at his coffee as he considered Octavian. He hadn’t known Hector well, the Watcher never made a point of making friends with his students or even the other guild founders. But he vaguely recalled hearing that he and his apprentice worked at the elven blockade before the outbreak. It was possible Octavian, an elven messenger for the Draigo, would have encountered him during that time.

“Did you work with him? Before the outbreak?”

Octavian’s eyes flicked towards him, calculating. “Yes.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“No.”

Draven exhaled slowly, hissing through his teeth. “Celestials forbid I have curiosity.”

Octavian ignored him, picking at his food. “He’s part of the guild?”

“Part of it? He helped found it after figuring out what worked best for hunting the lycanthropes. But he’s retired now. I think.”

“Hm. I suppose Luc's running things over in Caenum?"

"Last I heard."

A flicker of relief passed across his face, but it only lasted a moment. Was he... worried? When he found out about the outbreak, did he think they hadn't survived? Was that why he came to me for answers instead of them? Or perhaps... something else?

Draven put the questions on hold for the time being. Octavian was still less than willing to provide answers, and besides, they only had so much time to get to the other side of the district and back before sundown.

[pikawings]

2025 Schedule

Aka the infamous 34 step masterplan that I’ll have to abandon as I'm nearly 2 months behind schedule and this just isn't a viable plan anymore. But I'll try to finish what i can bc I'm too stubborn to fully throw it out 😔✊️

The logic was trying to not back-to-back 2 Avoiding Past And Future arcs to prevent wip burnout by throwing other wips in between, but clearly schedules and my audhd ass don't get along

(Also 32-34 were always likely to be cut as they were only added at the end to try and have more stuff finished by the end of the year back when I was in full delulu mode thinking this was manageable and they would be ez to finish. Clearly it wasn't but that's something I'll take into account for next year's attempted schedule)

I'll try to keep editing this as something gets completed and adding the ao3 links to the stories once they go live bc ✨️accountability✨️

(15 march ’25) APAF intermediate 24-30 october

(16 march ’25) Steps To Regret

(30 march ’25) APAF Secrets

Broken Wings chapter 7

APAF intermediate 1-4 november

Broken Wings chapter 8

APAF Misplaced

Steps To Flying (mini series completion)

APAF intermediate 7-11 november

Broken Wings chapter 9 (completion)

APAF Cold Hearted

Astray (one shot)

APAF intermediate 12-21 november

Let The Wind Carry Your Call chapter 3 (c1 and 2 written but not posted)

APAF Image

LTWCYC chapter 4

APAF Agendas

LTWCYC chapter 5 (completion)

APAF Insecurity intermediate arc 1

Bittersweet Reunion chapter 1

APAF Insecurity intermediate arc 2

Bittersweet Reunion chapter 2 (completion)

APAF Insecurity intermediate arc 3

The Curse Of Afterlife (oneshot)

APAF Performance

Lay Me To Rest chapter 1

APAF intermediate 25-29 december

Lay Me To Rest chapter 2 (completion)

APAF Usual Suspects

The Game Of Family (oneshot)

APAF Adult Acquaintance (completion)

Birds Of A Feather chapter 1

Lonely Is The Crown (oneshot prequel to new longfic)

Birds Of A Feather chapter 2 (completion)

[bokunolifeisboring]

I wrote this to my friend and thought I might put it here (here's the link to the video)

B: walks into their shared tent

A: brooding and facing the wall

B: A? Are you alright? sits on the other side of the bed

A: ...

A: I know what you did.

B: ... A I never meant to—

A: To what? You never meant to?

B: they— they kept pressuring me and— you know I can't do well like this—

A: you could've refused!

B: I'm sorry, A! I really am!

A: are you?

B: I- I didn't love her one bit, A.

A: yeah right.

B: I love you, A! Only you—

A: then why didn't you refuse?

B: I—

A: why didn't you even think twice before sleeping with her?

B: turns around, now a little angry of course I did! I refused as much as I could, A! Why won't you— he spots A's tears, and his eyes soften.

A: ...

A: did you at least treat her alright?

B: I did, but I could only think of you.

A: Right.

awkward silence

B: ...I'll, I'll make it up to you.

A: what?

B: tonight.

B: he grabs A's arms and looks into his eyes, determined. Anything you want.

[charbroiledchicken]

does anyone else die inside a little when they do novel outlining? like i love the brainstorming/daydreaming stage as much as the next person, but actually getting it down into words? in chronological order? in a non-confusing way? i would rather jump out a window into burning fire and then inhale a jar full of bees.

[byoldervine]

Damn I got so many DMs asking if I take commissions after that last Connor WIP you guys are so sweet 🥹

At this current time and for the foreseeable future, I’m not taking commissions and I’m not looking to commission others, and since I get a lot of DMs on the regular about people seeking commissions, I feel it’s relevant to make a proper post about this when I’ve been reminded to do so outside of someone asking me to commission them (I’d feel bad posting it right after that in case they think I’m speaking about them specifically)

I like doing my own artwork for my projects; otherwise I’ll look at it and think “No, this that and the other are not exactly how I imagined it down to the last detail” except now I’ll feel guilty about it because I’m now criticising someone else’s artwork, regardless of whether or not I paid for it

At the same time, my artwork is just for fun and I like to take it at my own pace. I’m working with tech, software and an art style that are all still quite new to me, even if I’ve been familiar with digital art for years. I’m having fun with the learning process and with tweaking my ideas in a much more intuitive way than I used to be able to, but until I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with this new process and the new art style, I’m not looking to take on commissions

All that said, I always really love and appreciate seeing what others create on here, and it’s been really sweet having people ask for and offer commissions

[cheeto-flavoured-pasta]

pony

@nosebleedclub january prompt 7

Walk away. Walk. Away.

That thing is not a goddamn horse.

You don't see it at night. You don't see it outside your window like I do. You don't see how its legs grow, bones cracking and twisting into gnarly shapes, bleeding profusely as it grows taller, just enough to get to the second floor. Just enough to reach my bedroom. You don't see how its teeth are actually fangs, dull in the day and sharp at dusk. You don't see the way its skin falls off, veins falling with it as it trails its hide across the ground like a gory cape. 

You don't see it. You. Don't. See. It.

Tonight, it is not at my window. Its broken skull is not chewing at the glass panes, or staring dead into my soul. 

Tonight, it moved. To the back of the house. To you. And just when I can't wake you up. The shaking of shoulders and shouting of your name leaves you even more still in bed than before.

So I'm sitting on the floor. Damn it, damn everything, I don't know what to do anymore. You laughed every time I tried to bring it up, thought I was going insane, and the one time it comes to you, the one time you can see it's real, it's a threat, your eyes aren't even open.

…

Something just dripped onto the floor. Blood.

Oh, God, no.

I spin around and — and there's an even worse horror.

Oh, there's an even worse horror.

Your skin's sloughed off, like a drape fallen off from a corpse. The veins are dangling, wrapped around strips of muscle and patches of bone peering through. And your head, your head, it's —

It's rising. With nothing left but eyeballs in their sockets. Not yours. No, no, that can't be yours, it can't be you. 

But it can't be anyone else. You rise, just as the figure rises outside the window, casting us in its shadow.

No. Casting me in its shadow. You are a part of it.

I need to run. For hell's sake, I need to run and my goddamn feet are glued to the floor, covered in your blood, covered in fear.

And with a hollow voice, your jaw unhinges, teeth clacking open, and the words hiss on the air.

"Walk away. Walk. Away.

"I know it's not a goddamn horse."

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Poems: Day 6 (January 6th)

Godly Poison

I sowed and cultivated these plants myself

I brought them to life to bear fruit and flower

with my own bare hands and the loving patience of a proud parent

angel wings

autumn crocus

belladonna

calla lily

daphne

death camas

doll's eyes

foxglove

hemlock

larkspur

laurel

monkshood

moonflower

moonseed

mountain arnica

oleander

pokeweed

privet

ruti

snakeweed

and when the tide told me the time was right

I prepared and presented a feast full of my children

to Him

He who

says what He ought not say

touches what He ought not touch

takes what He ought not take

I admit

I took pleasure in His pain

as He once did with mine

blood pouring from His mouth

His body thrashing and convulsing in his chair

fear and sheer terror invading His wide eyes

I smiled through it all

and when his heart finally stopped

mine soared and I finally felt free

I know

one day

I'll be forgiven for what I had to do

and I know

He is not destined for any kindness

in the next life

- - - - -

Here's the link to the corresponding writing prompt post

[ettawritesnstudies]

Assume you are interested in the book in question, and you could get which ever format you wanted in either situation. (Ebook, paperback, hardcover).

For the preorder: Everyone gets the same rewards regardless of what you order. There might be a larger giveaway that would be won by lottery.

For the kickstarter: You can pick your tier + rewards going up in value for larger items.

In general, the merch itself would be the same for both campaigns, for example, everyone in the preorder gets stickers, and everyone in the lowest tier on kickstarter gets stickers. The rewards would be exclusive to either the preorder or the kickstarter, so you wouldn't be able to get them afterwards, except at special events like book signings or something.

please boost!

[cursedbanalities]

The nice thing about job insecurity is being able to have vacations at random intervals! Sure, I’m scrambling to look for a job, sure— but at least I have time to write!

[serenanymph]

Heads Up Seven Up

Tagged by @faytelumos um.*looks at smudged notes* a while ago. Find his post over here. Gently tagging uhhh @space-writes, @macabremoons and @scribbling-stardust, pulling from Beast book 2, Witch's Book:

It’s later in the night – when they’ve brought out the cake and sang ‘Happy Birthday’, and Zephyr has blown out all six candles (one of them larger-sized) – that Madge wanders out of the kitchen where mama and baba are divvying up the cake to track down Zephyr and Kas, who’ve somehow vanished in that short amount of time. The backyard feels quieter than before: peaceful, now, as if all the world is fast asleep. Madge inhales, again, the same way she did earlier with the cake, breathing in the scent of spring – stretching her arms out to the side, her fingertips straining, her head tipping back to look up at the sky. The longer she looks, the more stars seem to appear, spreading out and multiplying, thousands of tiny glittering diamonds spilling across the black. The breath she takes in morphs into a yawn. Murmuring, from up on the roof. She spins towards the ladder leaning against the side of the house, and ah – they must be up there, then.

taglist (lmk if you want to be +/-): @deer-in-headlights-stare, @allianaavelinjackson, @arctic-oceans, @space-writes, @reneesbooks

[bitofanupsidedowner]

when you get an email from archive about a fic you have been BEGGING AND PLEADING people to not read anymore but the only fic you'd actually like attention on is in a quiet period 🥲

[andromedaexists]

It’s only a second before they move in tandem, Icarus’ body seamlessly working around Apollon as if the blond was simply an extension of himself. His eyes roam as they dance, grazing over the warm tan of Apollon’s skin and cataloging his blemishes—reminders that he, too, is human.

ΔΆΙΟΣ, chapter 18: The Dance