random appreciation!

[lobelia321]

You know what? I just clicked on my 'recent comments' page, just to see if anyone had any clue about how I could get my email back, and there were all these little comments people had left, and it just put a smile on my face! Not having looked at LJ for about 15 days has made me remember how happy-making it can be, simply to check in with a little community of funny and lovely people.

*embraces you all*

:-)

Oh, and for anyone struggling to get a book or article written (*waves at childeproof, amazingly and unexpectedly, the FlyLady (who turned me into StepfordBabe) today posted a thing on how she wrote her book! I hope it is helpful!

I have adapted one of her mantras and put it on a desktop stickie:

My goal is to set up writing routines and stick to them. NOT A FINISHED BOOK. This will be the result of my goal.

And, to combat that sense of paralysis coming from obsessive perfectionism:

Anything worth doing is worth doing WRONG!


Hm. I've violated my writing routines by checking in on LJ but it was worth it for making me feel appreciative and happy!

Comments

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

I've set myself a writing target per day (2000 words) but I keep getting stuck on current fic, when a couple of hours' serious work gives a negative number of words. (E.g. fic is shorter, but tighter.)

The nice thing (and I find it with Morning Pages too) is the regular writing.

Liked the Flylady advice, except (a) suspect that 'last chapter first' is less effective with fiction -- at the very least I would have to rewrite last chapter quite thoroughly! -- and (b) not answering the phone makes me very jittery (as, often, does answering it!): can't turn off ringers, unfortunately, there is a large 'telephone bell amplifier' thingy which is audible throughout house and garden.

Also she has missed out the bit about putting on makeup and perfume in order to write.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I find it with Morning Pages
What is this?

she has missed out the bit about putting on makeup and perfume in order to write
Heh, you don't know the full FlyLady thing. The 'morning routine' she mentions certainly involves getting yourself dressed and ready for the day, including any pampering necessary to make yourself feel great. *g* She's very big on pampering.

I also was stumped by the 'last chapter first' thing but I think there may be something in that. If not last chapter precisely then the knowing where you're going. My book I tend to write as if I were a chicken with the head cut off, manically getting words down in a panic, not knowing where I'm heading. I think keeping the goal in mind is very important.

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

Morning Pages is the 3-pages-of-what's-on-your-mind, first thing in the morning, recommended by Julia Cameron in her many how-to-be-creative books (The Artist's Way, The Right to Write, The Sound of Paper etc.) Was v dubious about it at first but now find it invaluable thinking / wondering tool. Missed it immensely when I stopped for a while due to Werk Pressure.

I find I take myself more seriously as a creative adult if I've bothered to get dressed and tidy myself! (I.e. not like today, when I am still slopping around in pyjamas at 3pm, though have outlined a whole original fic.)

The goal is certainly the important thing, fiction or non-fiction. I used to just sit down and write and see what happened: oh yes, all very Fluid and Free but I find the results are better when I think about it first!

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

Am at that stage of the summer when inventing course desciptions, marking resits and various Head of Year deadlinesses infect my pure-minded writing endeavours. Funked out of going to the British Library as pouring rain, and have been lying on the bed (no shoes, bed hair, pyjamas) reading MA theses. Was going to go and read them in the bath but will take a lead out of Flylady's book and behave like an organised professional.

She is completely right about routine, and breaking things down into small amounts and not frightening yourself with the Whole. I just can't do the lace-up shoes. I barely wear shoes outdoors. Not sure about last chapter stuff - though mostly because one external reader said my last chapter was the best thing of all, while the other (nasty) reader said it read as though written in a hurry.


MY GOAL IS TO SET UP WRITING ROUTINES AND STICK TO THEM.
*repeats to self*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Poor you with the M.A. theses. These things ruin one's summer break! I, too, have been known to read things in the bath. *g* I didn't do the lace-up shoe thing for several weeks initially. I liked my slippers too much. But then I gave it a burl. I bought some really, really comfy, if naff, lace-up shoes and I love them so much I don't want to take them off!! And it's true, I do feel ready to run into the garden at will and feed the g'pigs or fill the garbage or climb every mountain, ford every stream! I'm not saying you need to do this but I love settling into the lace-up thing and not bothering about high heels or whatnot.

I do adore those ballerina shoes, though. I bought two lots and must have more.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh, and re last chapter: I take it more as a guideline (much like the code of piracy). Not the last chapter literally but knowing where you're headed. I find this incredibly important, especially as I tend to write like a mad lunatic without rhyme or goal and this is bad. it is good to keep in mind where you are heading.

[ex-zarah5186.livejournal.com]

[random drive-by commentary]

Lobelia! Ever thought about writing Yoda/lamp? (See: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, first scene with Yoda.) Jen and I discussed it, and we decided that you'd be just about the only one able to pull that one off.

Just, y'know. If you're looking for more means of distraction. Or destruction. ::g::

[/random drive-by commentary]

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yoda / lamp????!!!! I must have missed this scene when last viewing this film.

He really has it off with a lamp? Truly, fiction is stranger than fanfiction.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

My interest, though, is piqued! Have you a pic of this Yoda / lamp scenario? A screencap?