Five Things

[phantomtomato]

1. I finished the first draft of my main fic for Candy Hearts yesterday! 🎉 I’m proud of myself because I’ve been working on it consistently since about the time assignments went out, and while it’s a long fic, it’s still more time than I’d usually spend on that quantity of words. Feels good to be able to put it aside. (Also I’ve felt a bit funny about having written/finished a long treat mostly during sign-ups but not finished the main assignment. Well, now that’s resolved!)



2. A single-fandom exchange that I’m a part of has a check-in period this month and it’s terrible. The deadline’s still months away but the mods want to see at least 500 (for a 1k min) done, and the expectation is that “[t]he reader can understand the… plot of the story” from the excerpt. Am I perhaps feeling rebellious because this doesn’t mesh with my ideal writing timeline for this event? Undoubtedly. But it chafes, as does the coming check-in for getyourwordsout, and there’s probably a lesson for me here in avoiding things with any check-in requirement beyond “yes, I am still alive.”



3. My Middlemarch reading group started up and I’m in love. Not with the book—it’s fine—but with having such a rich backdrop for discussion. There’s nothing quite like sitting with a group of people and talking about a novel you’re all experiencing together.



4. I’m knitting my first sewn-on button band and I got to the buttonhole part, which is simultaneously exciting (so close to done with this vest!) and terrifying (what if the button placement looks terrible once it’s seamed?). My spouse wants an Icelandic sweater next, the type with the colorwork yoke, and I’ve got a pattern for it. Will he pick out the colors or just hem and haw forever? Mmm.



5. Related to the above discussion of deadlines, I want so badly to get back to writing non-exchange fic. I love exchanges, but since picking them up as part of my fandom experience, they tend to push other things aside—deadlines trump time-invariant writing. But writing one’s own ideas isn’t truly invariant of time! I’ve noticed that if I wait too long past having the initial idea, it gets away from me; I lose the motivating spark that made it interesting. If I’m working on the project that isn’t as much of an issue, because it becomes habit. If it’s only a note in my plot bunnies file, then it tends to whither from neglect. I’m anxious that my current personal WIP hasn’t suffered this fate in the stretch of CHEx and YT before that, and admittedly somewhat afraid to open the document again and try writing! I mean, I will do so, but it’s annoying that this sort of feeling exists.

Comments

[vriddy]

Oooh congrats on finishing your CH assignment's first draft, it sounds like quite the project! :D And in addition to a treat during sign-ups, haha!! That's so proactive and cool :D

I tend to struggle a lot with events that force you to share your work in progress (and expect you to go through the process in a particular way). My only trick so far has been to finish the project before the first check-in and give them whatever old drafts during check-ins orz But that doesn't work for everything, and I'd love to participate in an actual big bang for longfic someday where that wouldn't work either :') Good luck dealing with those expectations. It's rough. Especially doing so without getting annoyed ;) (at the same time I have met so many flakes in events outside of AO3 exchanges like bangs, I can't totally blame the mods....... but a little, still 😂)

I feel like the GYWO check-in is quite close to a "Yes I am alive" check-in since it happens through an impersonal google form that no one will reply to or look at in details, but I'm sorry that's adding pressure as well!

The bookclub sounds really good :D I'm hoping one will start again once my library moves back to a building with an extra room for that kind of events, but we shall see 🤞

I’ve noticed that if I wait too long past having the initial idea, it gets away from me; I lose the motivating spark that made it interesting.

I feel that a lot as well! That's one of the reasons why I try to get through my first drafts so quickly. I find it's easier to call the feeling back if I have a full draft at hand, though we'll see how well that holds over time. Managing the balance of events vs personal projects is so difficult! Good luck getting back to your WIP, I hope the spark is still here.

[phantomtomato]

Yeah, I sat down and wrote the opening scene of that check-in fic after making this post, just to have something to submit. And it’s fine, really! I can hit the min check-in wc in a day without issue. But ideally I’d be able to write the fic all in one go when I want/have planned to focus on it, and not reorder my projects to fit someone else’s schedule! As long as it’s done by the final deadline, you know?

[maraudersaffair]

Aww that's so cute that you create sweaters for your spouse !

And yeah, I totally get what you're saying about exchange fics. They really take up all my time too *cries*

Hopefully you can get back to writing WIPs that are just about your plot bunnies <3

[osprey_archer]

I've definitely had a similar problem with story ideas withering if I wait too long. A couple of times I pushed through to the end of the story anyway (once someone had done fanart on the basis of the story idea, so of COURSE I had to write the story) and it turned out just godawful. Gotta write while the iron is hot!