Write Every Day: May 01
May. 1st, 2018 02:35 pmI'm new at this hosting thing so I'm just gonna flat out steal from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auroracloud here. Posts will likely be midafternoon Eastern time, because that's late enough in the day I have probably done some writing, but early enough I'm not yet at work.
Welcome to Write Every Day for May 2018! This month, I'm hosting the challenge; I welcome both old and new participants for the month of May!
What is this?
It's just what it says on the tin (well, title). Participants aim to write something every day. One person hosts the challenge in their journal each month, and every day, they create a post where others can check in about whether they've written and anything else they may want to say (e.g. how much you wrote or what you were working on or whatever about your writing/life/something is causing you to tear your hair out or jump from you). You don't need to tell anything else than that you wrote, though. The host keeps a tally of who wrote, posting it as a part of the next day's entry, so people can see themselves on the list (or not) and hopefully feel motivated! The host also aims to provide comments, encouragement, cheerleading etc. to everyone checking in. You don't have to check in on the days when you didn't write, but you can feel free to comment anyway if you want.
The best part is, there is no minimum to how much you should write! Even just one sentence a day is writing. (When you write just a sentence, in order to have written that day, we call it an alibi sentence. See, it's common enough that it needs its own term!) There is no competition, no minimum word count, no pressure. no ranking, no "punishment" or shame for missing a day or a few or a week - just the challenge to try to write even a little bit every day, or on as many days as you can manage.
Why does this work? Many of us find that it helps us to keep a regular habit of writing, but without a pressure of how much you should write. Because life happens, and sometimes you're busy, sometimes you're exhausted, sometimes you're sick, sometimes words just won't come together. But if you write even a few words each day, you keep it active in your mind, and the threshold to writing becomes lower; and so it's gets easier to write and to have those days when your writing goes better.
I find that the daily reminder is incredibly helpful; if nothing else, it will poke me to put down one sentence. (I don't always listen to the pokes, though! XD ) And the encouragement of a community is a marvelous thing. :)
You can write anything—fanfiction, original fiction, nonfiction (say, journal entries, academic writing, articles), poetry, planning and notes for a future text... Editing absolutely counts, too, even if you end up removing more words than you write; and some participants count e.g. beta-reading and commenting. Frankly, it's up to you what you want to count.
If you want to see how it goes in practice,auroracloud hosted the first half of April and ysilme in March, so you can check out their journals.
Goals, discussion, etc.
Do you have any specific goals for this month, any particular projects you'll especially be working on? Anything else related to writing you feel like saying now? Feel free to tell in comments!
My problem is consistently picking one or two projects and sticking with them till completion. I have no idea what this month's project(s) will be. My head is currently being eaten alive by "falling through the cracks" (or probablyl falling through the cracks), a sequel to chapter three (the Harry Potter crossover possible-future) of "through the cracks in reverse", which is the collection of AUs and missing scenes from the epic Naruto AU reverse by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
blackkat. The Godaime Hokage has specifically ordered Kurama to start no more wars...problem with that is, Harry is his kid now, and Harry's kinda known over in England...
I'm also plotting an epistolary novella, Sweet Earth (hokay so, here's the earth), averting the angry ghost apocalypse told entirely through not!Facebook posts and other Millennial means of communication. And there's a nonfiction project on Hellenic religion and modern practice that I need to research lots.
Today's writing
I'm sorting out the structure of the Hellenic religion project. It's probably going to be a series of booklets, just so I can focus on one booklet at a time and not overwhelm myself.
Sweet Earth's middle is a near total blank to me. AAAUGH.
On falling through the cracks, I can't decide which scenarios for "Sirius follows Harry to Konoha" and "Ron and Hermione follow Harry to Konoha" are, for lack of a better word, the canonical scenarios. There's like five of each in my head, it's aggravating.
Best luck writing, and better skill!
auroracloud here. Posts will likely be midafternoon Eastern time, because that's late enough in the day I have probably done some writing, but early enough I'm not yet at work.Welcome to Write Every Day for May 2018! This month, I'm hosting the challenge; I welcome both old and new participants for the month of May!
What is this?
It's just what it says on the tin (well, title). Participants aim to write something every day. One person hosts the challenge in their journal each month, and every day, they create a post where others can check in about whether they've written and anything else they may want to say (e.g. how much you wrote or what you were working on or whatever about your writing/life/something is causing you to tear your hair out or jump from you). You don't need to tell anything else than that you wrote, though. The host keeps a tally of who wrote, posting it as a part of the next day's entry, so people can see themselves on the list (or not) and hopefully feel motivated! The host also aims to provide comments, encouragement, cheerleading etc. to everyone checking in. You don't have to check in on the days when you didn't write, but you can feel free to comment anyway if you want.
The best part is, there is no minimum to how much you should write! Even just one sentence a day is writing. (When you write just a sentence, in order to have written that day, we call it an alibi sentence. See, it's common enough that it needs its own term!) There is no competition, no minimum word count, no pressure. no ranking, no "punishment" or shame for missing a day or a few or a week - just the challenge to try to write even a little bit every day, or on as many days as you can manage.
Why does this work? Many of us find that it helps us to keep a regular habit of writing, but without a pressure of how much you should write. Because life happens, and sometimes you're busy, sometimes you're exhausted, sometimes you're sick, sometimes words just won't come together. But if you write even a few words each day, you keep it active in your mind, and the threshold to writing becomes lower; and so it's gets easier to write and to have those days when your writing goes better.
I find that the daily reminder is incredibly helpful; if nothing else, it will poke me to put down one sentence. (I don't always listen to the pokes, though! XD ) And the encouragement of a community is a marvelous thing. :)
You can write anything—fanfiction, original fiction, nonfiction (say, journal entries, academic writing, articles), poetry, planning and notes for a future text... Editing absolutely counts, too, even if you end up removing more words than you write; and some participants count e.g. beta-reading and commenting. Frankly, it's up to you what you want to count.
If you want to see how it goes in practice,
auroracloud hosted the first half of April and ysilme in March, so you can check out their journals.Goals, discussion, etc.
Do you have any specific goals for this month, any particular projects you'll especially be working on? Anything else related to writing you feel like saying now? Feel free to tell in comments!
My problem is consistently picking one or two projects and sticking with them till completion. I have no idea what this month's project(s) will be. My head is currently being eaten alive by "falling through the cracks" (or probablyl falling through the cracks), a sequel to chapter three (the Harry Potter crossover possible-future) of "through the cracks in reverse", which is the collection of AUs and missing scenes from the epic Naruto AU reverse by
I'm also plotting an epistolary novella, Sweet Earth (hokay so, here's the earth), averting the angry ghost apocalypse told entirely through not!Facebook posts and other Millennial means of communication. And there's a nonfiction project on Hellenic religion and modern practice that I need to research lots.
Today's writing
I'm sorting out the structure of the Hellenic religion project. It's probably going to be a series of booklets, just so I can focus on one booklet at a time and not overwhelm myself.
Sweet Earth's middle is a near total blank to me. AAAUGH.
On falling through the cracks, I can't decide which scenarios for "Sirius follows Harry to Konoha" and "Ron and Hermione follow Harry to Konoha" are, for lack of a better word, the canonical scenarios. There's like five of each in my head, it's aggravating.
Best luck writing, and better skill!