This is my life

It's time, my friends! Lucky sauerkraut goes into the crockpot tonight, I'm writing up end of year summaries, I'm playing Voiceteam Mystery Box, and snowflake_challenge is about to begin!



If you haven't played before, check it out! It is a lovely place that seeks to appreciate all the lovely things we do in fandom, and also gives us fans a bit of time to appreciate ourselves and what we do! Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Similarly, it's 2024 writing challenge signup time - I will tout the one I'm still doing (getyourwordsout, which has an amazing spreadsheet and lots of resources and as much or as little interaction as you like), and mention a few of the others that I have participated in that are still active (inkingitout is a slightly more chill community that I have modded for before, and zwei_hexen is the landing spot for a group of folks that do a "write every day" challenge, and have been for a few years now).

ETA: ALSO!!! It is time to fill needy trees at fandomtrees, if you're interested in brightening someone's day, check out this post about how to fill needy trees!

So I saw this post on tumblr about fic that has Lan Wangji say "Wei Ying" instead of "you" and that it is not at all how it would be translated from the Chinese and it's a bit mystifying considering it doesn't happen in the source material at all but it seems to have become a fic convention.

I know for a fact I have done this in at least in one fic, if not more than one, and I think it might be related to this other post on tumblr about Lan Wangji talking in a higher register of speech, generally. (Hilariously, that post says it's about Lan Wangji but it's really more about Wei Wuxian and the way his register speaks to plot, characterization, and mood, but it's a fascinating read either way.)

So what I'm thinking happened with the whole Lan Zhan saying "I love Wei Ying" instead of "I love you" phenomenon (and that's only one example – there are zillions more) is that it is English speakers trying to capture Lan Wangji's register in a way that feels appropriate to them, even if it doesn't translate directly to or from the Chinese. English doesn't have a formal "you" like, say, French. There's just the word "you" for both formal and informal, singular and plural. And it is inherently personal. When English speakers are speaking formally (and I think this might even be truer for Brits, as Americans are inherently less formal), we don't say the word "you". We drop into other weird ways to distance ourselves from the conversation. I can think of a bunch of ways to do this (the royal we, using the word "one" instead of pronouns, etc.) but I think there are some ways in which Chinese uses names that are very foreign to an English ear, so what we've done is try to transliterate the feeling of Lan Wangji's register using something that wouldn't perhaps be directly translated that way, but which gives a similar feeling, using a device (using names in a situations where typically English speakers would use pronouns) that is used in the Chinese language.

I don't know that makes it right, but I think people's hearts are in the right place. It's about the sound of the thing – the rhythm in the turn of phrase, the music of the words. We're trying to recreate something we feel about Lan Wangji's mode of expression in a way that both gives the right connotation within the English language and yet feels like it comes from the Chinese. At least that's what's sort of lurking in the background when I write those things. Now to figure out if I need to change it. I can't tell if it's somehow offensive or just odd-sounding.

Ah, the joys of writing in a language where the canon is translated. I swore to myself I would never do this, and yet here I am. Someone save me.

In your own space, talk about your creative process(es) — anything from the initial inspiration to how you feel after something’s done. Do you struggle with motivation or is it a smooth process? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to pull out when a fanwork isn’t cooperating? What is your level of planning to pantsing/winging it?

I'm here to talk about something that works amazingly well for me. It may or may not work for you, but I figure most writing stuff is worth a try to find out, yeah? So here goes:

Morning writing.

Yup, just, writing in the morning.

Specifically, for me, writing literally the moment after I wake up. If I get up and go to the bathroom, it doesn't work. If I don't sleep well and wake up thinking of work, it doesn't work.

Or, well - no, not true.

It can still work, but it usually takes a bit of determination and focus-pulling. It's easier when I've got a morning habit going.

This is how I develop my daily writing habit. I start writing in the morning every day. Right now it mostly sucks because a) I am under a lot of stress at work which means b) I'm not usually getting enough sleep and also c) I haven't written in a long time. Which all adds up to morning writing being really tough for me right now. But I am sticking with it! Even if I only write a sentence or two, it is the very first thing I do EVERY MORNING. And I've kept with it so far this year. I had one really brilliant day, where I'd gotten enough sleep and I just rolled over, started typing, and the most amazing scene came out. That's one day out of eleven. It'll get better - I have faith in the process of practice - but it's never easy to start. Starting takes a sort of steely determinedness that I am going to keep going because I know I will see results, even if I don't see results right now.

So anyway, that's what morning writing is like for me right now. But let me tell you what morning writing is like when it's rolling along for weeks and months, when I'm doing it and it's a habit and I don't even think about it, I just wake up every morning and write.

1) I tend to get roughly 1000 words in roughly 1/2 an hour.
2) I power through things that felt like roadblocks the day before without so much as a second thought.
3) My words flow very naturally and I end up with better rhythm, as well as better description.
4) It helps me slowly wake up for the day, and I am more awake earlier in the day (normally it takes me until 11am to be all the way awake).
5) It helps me in my work day. (I think this is because the creativity first thing in the morning just shifts the way my brain looks at the rest of the problems I face for the day.)
6) It makes me much more motivated to write in the evenings. Also edit - I tend to edit the work I did in the morning and then go on to write until I'm stuck. (Which will be solved by the next morning's writing.)
7) I am more able to focus on finishing one story (one of my novel-length or longer pieces).
8) I tend to write more shorts, too (in the evenings, because I have so much overflowing creative energy).
9) I tend to keep more consistent sleep hours, and I get more sleep overall.
10) I feel generally happier.

I know a lot of people who talk like this about exercising first thing in the morning. I think it's a similar mechanism at work, mine is just exercise for my brain. When I have a morning writing habit, it just makes writing so much easier. And I do it even when I don't get enough sleep. I mean, I always have work days/nights that mean I'm going to get less than my ideal amount of sleep. I figure an extra half hour on those days isn't going to make or break me, so I just get up and write, and sometimes I find that it helps make it through the rest of the day.

FYI, for those of you who are night owls (I am, by nature - unfortunately work does not allow me to indulge in my natural habits). I used to write only at night because it always felt... more creative, somehow? More tapped in to that energy? And I still feel like nighttime is my time, there's just a magic about it that feels different to me than the energy of the day. (I also do write a lot at night - but moreso when I've got a morning writing habit!) Even with that, with me believing I could only write well at night... it turned out that morning writing works better for me. At night, if I get stuck, I wander off, or give it up, assuming the muse isn't with me right now. I don't do that in the morning. It's not even an option. There's not even a muse in the mornings - it's a completely different process, it feels totally different, and it makes my creative process (and my evening writing) an entirely different landscape. Don't know how I started it, but I'm so glad I gave it a shot despite my night owl misgivings.

So anyway. That's a thing I like to do, and I'm trying to get back in the habit of right now. Let me know if you try it and it works for you!

In your own space, promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them.

Well, obviously snowflake_challenge is my first. Because it's a 15 day love fest for fans and fandom, and the mood is just so overhwhelmingly positive, it is honestly one of the things I look forward to most as I start a new year.

Speaking of fests/comms around this time of year, fandom_stocking is another one of my faves. I just love being able to look through people's requests and finding things where I can leave presents. Fun to write a stocking (unfortunately too late for that this year), and fun to fill other people's stockings.

I'm just going to list all the fave comms and fests I can think of, dreamwidth edition:

intoabar is a DELIGHTFUL crossover challenge that I've always adored.

amplificathon is a podfic challenge which I have a hard time figuring out the points for, but which results in much awesome podfic.

festivids is a vid exchange that is AMAZING and always has great vids and will go live soon, here.

chocolateboxcomm is a lovely gift exchange for short fics and art and things and sign-ups are still live for another couple days.

fan_flashworks is a wonderful fandom flashworks prompt community for all your writing prompt needs.

seasonofkink is a kink prompt community that took up where kink_bingo took off.

awesomeers is a comm that challenges you to appreciate yourself by listing one thing you accomplished every day.

fancake is for awesome fic recs in a variety of fandoms.

thedailywriter is a comm that helps develop a daily writing habit, if that is something you wish to do.

weekendwritingmarathon is a what it says on the tin - a weekend writing challenge.

Sorry about the absence everyone. Like most people, my social media experience has shifted, and a lot of what I used to do on Dreamwidth has shifted to other places, like tumblr and twitter. I am kisahawklin nearly everywhere, so if you use those services, hit me up! I'm floundering uncomfortably for the most part, but I'm there.

There are a few things I still do on DW, and they are writing communities and fandom_stocking! I love fandom_stocking, I absolutely do it every year because it often brings some inspiration into the end of year/beginning of the new year lull. My stocking is here and here is the tags list, if you're interested in finding some prompts and dropping some love. I've volunteered to help fill underloved stockings, and if you're interested in something like that, you can volunteer to fill stockings here. fandom_stocking is such a deep well of inspiration for me, I hope it is for you all, too.

I take part in two writing communities. The first is inkingitout, which is a smallish community of writers with a minimum wordcount goal of 75,000 words for the year. It's very casual and supportive and generally consists of weekly check-ins and chatting. Sign ups for inkingitout go on until December 31, 2017.

The second writing community is getyourwordsout (a reference to Wonderfalls, yes!). This community is much more rigid with lots of guidelines, lots of different kinds of posts and motivations, and several specific pledges you can sign up for. This year there are two types of pledges, which make me super duper happy. The first is a typical wordcount pledge, from 75,000 to 500,000. The second is a habit pledge, where you pledge to do something writing-related (including outlining, editing, and other things a lot of people don't count toward "wordcount" (I do, but hey, I'm all about counting every word I put out there)). The pledge levels on that are 120 days, 240 days, and 350 days. There are a lot of sign-up posts and whatnot, so I'm just going to include their little banner here for you.


[img: notebook and pen on wooden desktop with "GYWO 2018"
printed in large white letters with a black shadow. under that,
"writing decathlon" in handwritten white letters with a black shadow.]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Ten!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

I should be writing but I am avoiding it. I've just gotten to the porn and, as often happens to me, I'm just not in the right headspace.

I've been backreading my dwircle and want to say: I LOVE YOU GUYS. You're so delightful and thoughtful and also fun and funny and perfect.

There's a lot of politics on my dwircle which is great, but also things I don't have the emotional energy to comment on, so if you're someone posting about that stuff, THANK YOU and I appreciate what you're saying and linking but I probably won't comment.

Life update: We've moved to Milwaukee. We're in a tiny (but cute) apartment with really great light and the ability to walk to literally everything we could need. The vet would be a bit of a hike, but we could get there on foot if we needed to. We're looking for houses nearby, because I expect to get promoted this year and get a huge bonus and raise that will pretty much wipe out our debt and allow us to put together a downpayment in record time.

Cat update: Jeeves went to the vet yesterday. We need to do a blood sugar curve on him this weekend, but we think that 3 units of insulin twice a day is the new normal. He stopped peeing on us on purpose, but he's still peeing on things, so... probably going to keep the cats out of the bedroom, which is both frustratingly hard and sad-making.

Writing update: I made my goal of 250,000 words in May, and it's a good thing because July came and work just knocked me off my feet (and is still doing so, and probably won't end until next year). I'll probably make 400,000 for the year even so, which is great, but I'm not able to write consistently in the mornings, which is frustrating. I also hit 1 million posted words a little while ago, and that was very satisfying. I've also managed to keep up a serial for the better part of the year (it's stuck on the porn) and that ends somewhere around Christmas, so I'm looking forward to diving into other projects next year.

I think that's all that's fit to print. I've not been doing much social media-wise (not even spending time on Twitter or tumblr - it's just been lack of time everywhere), so I'm not ignoring Dreamwidth, I'm ignoring everybody. I'm just now dipping a toe back in, so we'll see how that goes. Hi hi hi!

A friend of mine posted this over on tumblr: If someone marks their fic “Author has chosen not to warn”, do you get to get your nose out of joint that it’s not tagged with things that you bother you?

#not a rhetorical question

( And I actually had a lot to say about that, apparently. Thoughts? )

Day 14: In your own space, share your love for something fannish: a trope, cliché, kink, motif, theme, format, or fandom.

Oh, I love SO MANY tropes. I think though, that the one I want to talk about today is Team/Found Family/Families of Choice. I love strong relationships between people that don't necessarily include a sexual or romantic component, and instead is just that kind of deep, abiding love you have for people who are dear to you. Often my teams or found families HAVE romantic pairings/moresomes in them, but that relationship is just part of the family dynamic.

I often think that one of the things we crave as human beings are those relationships based solely on love and care, unconditional love, where it doesn't matter who you are or what you did, you are loved anyway. That's not to say there aren't consequences for your actions, but simply that the love people have for you goes beyond whatever mistakes you make. I am adopted and I have that support from my family and my extended family (which is found family, not cousins and such, though I have a lot of those too), and I just want all my characters to have that too. I want Jody to wrap Sam in bubble wrap and feed him chocolate. I want Teyla to quietly and kindly teach Rodney how to be better at social interactions. I want Eliot to be the bedrock that Leverage relies on because they know he will be there, NO MATTER WHAT. That kind of love is divine, WAAAAAAAY more than sexual/romantic (for me, anyway) and I want all my characters (and all my friends, and all of freaking humanity) to experience it.

A few answers to that writing meme for kayim and flo_nelja.

( Cut for rambling and length. )

And it always makes me pised off (at myself) when people talk about Doylist vs. Watsonian interpretations of anything because I don't know what the fuck they're on about. Anyone want to try and explain this to me in short, simple sentences?

Damn it, I never wanted to be that person. It's happened a while ago, before tumblr, even, and to be honest, I'm not there as much as I was before, either.

I still love DW, and it's still my most beloved platform, my internet experience has just sort of shifted again, you know? How are you engaging with the internet, my dwircle? Are you still mostly here? Or elsewhere? Or everywhere?

It's almost time to do the year-end retrospectives, so you'll get a flurry of posts here, and then it'll be time for snowflake_challenge again, which YAYYYYYYYYY that is my favorite time of year!

Also, fandom_stocking goes into January again, so if you have time and inclination, head on over there to stuff a few stockings? Here is my stocking - if you have a stocking, drop a link in the comments? <333

( Oh - and it's writing comm times again. I do two every year )