Round 18, Hour 31

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

Here we are at hour 31 of the Fic_Rush. I have two cats, asleep, at my right hand, a sweating glass of pomegranate soda on my left, and hours to go before I sleep.

And another penguin melting on my desk.

Rico:
Urg! Ack! Hork!
... mumble...

Translation:
Hope the writing is going well. The night (at my current position on the globe) is good for writing... no interruptions. There's a lightning storm brewing over the central plains. I can smell ozone.

... or that could be the dynamite I ate earlier...

Comments

[isdon-isgood9.livejournal.com]

Hi Rico, I'm glad writing is going good for you but it's not going that well for me. It's not going at all in fact.

Seriously though I have no idea what to do :(

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

I have a little experience with the dry well. I sincerely identify.

For me, I hang out with brainy types and hope that their brilliance rubs off on me.

Also, I recommend creative daydreaming. (do not attempt while driving or operating heavy machinery)

[isdon-isgood9.livejournal.com]

It's not the writing that's the problem. I'm pretty sure that if I opened a document I could be spitting out words by the thousands but what's the point when no one reads or comments to the fic. It's only made worse when authors from one of the fandoms I'm in complains that they only got five comments on their last fic when for me that's the best outcome out there.

*shrugs* It'll go away in time. It always does :(

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

It is hard to write without feedback. It is also difficult to not come to rely on it. I try to remind myself that there are many more readers Out There who don't comment than ones that do.

'Writing for personal pleasure is more important than public approval' is another of my mantras. Writing for cookies is far more rewarding than writing for peer reviews.

*snaps fingers* Hey, waiter! More cookies, table two!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you got some timely motivation from belantana! Even though this comment is hours late (pesky time-traveling penguins, putting me in the wrong time zone), I wanted to also chime in and try to give you some encouragement to write despite the lack of feedback. If you're writing fic that attracts a rare audience, someone somewhere is that rare person who is searching for that rare type of fic, and it may take awhile, but when they finally find your fic they are going to be over the moon! Then they may be shy and not feel comfortable commenting -- or feel awkward about commenting about an older fic -- but they are over the moon! Seriously, the number of comments is not a good indicator of the extent to which your readers enjoyed your fic. Also, and most importantly, do you like your fics? Do you feel accomplished when you've written them, and do you like to go back and re-read them? If so, then that's more than reason enough to write them!

[belantana.livejournal.com]

I recommend getting up and running in as big a circle as you can manage around your room/house/apartment/spaceship*, then sitting back down. Works wonders for me.

*without causing personal injury and/or waking people

[isdon-isgood9.livejournal.com]

It's not really the writing that's the problem, I just can't see a point to it any more. No seems to be reading or commenting so why keep bothering people with my fics.

*shrugs* Thanks for trying to help anyway

[belantana.livejournal.com]

Hey, there is always a point to writing! The point is that at the end you have written something. I'm sorry you're feeling down. I doubt I know your fandoms, but I for one promise to comment on it. :)

[isdon-isgood9.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D I think I'm going to try some writing :D

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

Good!

[belantana.livejournal.com]

lols, my first fic_rush and I'm already missing the correct/latest post to comment on. Must be the penguins.

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

I can recommend one of the time-traveling penguin to get you to the correct space/time/dimension. You can tip them with fish heads.

[belantana.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks! Do they also take me back in time so I can have more hours to write?

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

And forward so you can edit it!

Sometimes I have them take me ahead and I crib off of myself! lol

[lolmac]

Welcome to the 'Rush! No worries about finding the 'correct' post, especially with how loosey-goosey we get with all the timey-wimey stuff.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Morning!

I'm up - but not yet writing - need to have breakfast and do my laundry before I indulge in such delights.

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

Good Morning! Breakfast and laundry are the perfect times to begin.

The penguins were at the milk last night, but I told them to leave enough for cereal and cream for coffee.

They did wipe out the kippers, I'm afraid.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Heh, they're welcome to the kippers (not my fave fish!)