Mellow day

[jelazakazone]

After the weekend, I didn't even try to get much done.  I did a little sewing, a little playing with quilt squares (not done arranging them to my satisfaction yet), and then it was time to get DD1 from school (DD2 went home with a friend).  DD1 and I folded laundry and watched 4.04.  (She missed the first little bit though, which was just as well

Comments

[princealia]

It's not writing, but when I run in to this problem with a drawing, I look at this quote:

"It seems like when you run up against a problem, you always think it's just because 'Oh, I'm not good enough', but it's not that. It's just that you've kinda hit the limit of your knowledge and gotta go out and observe, and get, and find, and discover something more. Those are really great. Those are the best times when you feel like you stink, and you can't get it any better, and you're stuck, and you're in a rut. That's like, man, now the world is open and you're ready to learn something new and gotta go. You gotta take advantage of that."

So perhaps it's the same?

[jelazakazone]

Maybe. Maybe I need to take some classes. Crap. I didn't want to have to go there. I wanted writing to be fun and exciting and fluffy. Not srsbsns:P I'd rather quilting be all serious and thinky. I'm totally ok when this sort of thing happens to quilts I'm working on.

I think that part of my problem is that people who see the quilts I make always get really excited and tell me how great they are, but most of the people who read fic (mine included) read lots of fic and they don't find it particularly unusual or interesting.

Ok. I'm really going to try to get that L/G fic posted by the end of the week, even if I think it will suck and no one will want to read it.

[princealia]

I don't think you have to find classes as much as something to really inspire you or enhance your writing in a way you find inspiring. I want to draw all the time, but I don't have that spark to really create something ~*magical*~

It might be because people aren't as well versed in quilt making as they are in putting words together in sentences. Everyone can do that, but not everyone can make a quilt.

That's how you get better! ...is it porn?

[jelazakazone]

Almost everyone can write a sentence, but I find very few writers who actual make the story compelling. I want to know how to do that.

Have you ever felt like one of your drawings was magical? I have two quilts that I'm very pleased with. They felt inspired. The rest of them are fine, interesting, whatever, but these two feel special.

And yes, I think that's part of it with the quilting. Lots of people think sewing two pieces of fabric together is daunting, let alone the full process of making a quilt.

Yes. The longest journey still starts with one step. Why yes it's porn. Why do you think I'm not writing it?

[archaeologist_d]

A lot of times when I feel like it's awful, it's really not. What I do is step away and go do something else, maybe for a day or more and then come back to it. You could work on other stories but I tend to do something completely different like sewing or going for a walk.

If you still think it's bad, ask yourself why. Is it the language, the storyline, the characters? Is it moving fast enough? Are you happy with the plot or is it only something that you like rather than love?

You could try and find someone whose work you really love and ask them for a gentle but firm critique on a short story, not to improve the story necessarily but your writing.

The other thing I do is write something completely different. Since I tend to write in a descriptive style, I'll write a dialogue-only story or something disjointed - something to experiment on. Shake it up a bit.

[jelazakazone]

Thanks for your thoughts! At the moment, I'm working on a pair of related quilts and I'm hoping that once I get the tops finished I can go back to writing more. It seems that quilting and writing take up the same part of my brain and at the moment, I don't seem capable of doing both. I'm going to make myself work on this L/G fic and see if I can manage to get it into a reasonable enough piece to post by Friday. I think a deadline will help me focus a little. Thanks for the encouragement.

[aome]

Pick a different writing project for the day, even if it's just a 15-min writing exercise.

[jelazakazone]

If I do that, I'll never get back to the ones I think are awful. But it is definitely a reminder that writing can be fun!

[aome]

But sometimes, all you need is a break and when you get back to the troublesome fic, you either no longer think it's awful, or you get sudden inspiration as to how to fix. So - walking away and working on something else writing-oriented (as opposed to just walking away) keeps the writer's juices flowing and allows you to feel more successful at a time when the chosen fic is giving you fits.

[jelazakazone]

Ok! That's good to hear. I'll give it a try.

[jelazakazone]

So you are writing something new? You drop what you are working on?

[jelazakazone]

Got it. Thanks.

[nympha_alba]

When you feel like everything you are writing is shit, do you just give up and go find a new hobby or start a new story or work on smaller pieces?

Sometimes when I get stuck, I ask for drabble prompts - a word, a pairing, anything. There's no pressure to write a long story, and sometimes it pushes me outside my comfort zone for a hundred words. :) I wrote Merlin/Gwaine for someone, for instance; something I never thought I'd do. Like aome said above, sometimes it works better to write something else than to do something else, just to keep the writing going. (Then again, sometimes you need a break from writing to just breathe, but that's different.)

I also agree with archaeologist_d about having someone else look at what you've written. Sometimes it's just that what you've written doesn't measure up to the idea you have, the story as you see it inside your head, but it's still a good piece of writing.

[jelazakazone]

I thought aome's idea was good, to work on something else. Also, celandineb suggested over on DW that maybe I am trying to write in the wrong genre. That makes a certain amount of sense to me.

I've had two people look at L/G ficlet and they both agree with me that it needs work. Not that it's awful, but it can be better.

I don't think I need breathing space from writing at the moment:D

Thanks for the encouragement!