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Challenge #5
In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Oooph. Today’s prompt took off in my mind, especially once I read the hints about all the different ways we could tackle it. I have A LOT of ideas I wish I’d written, notebooks with story ideas or character sketches or just a scene or image that popped into my head. Why are they notes in notebooks? The easy answer is that I haven’t done what I needed to in order to craft them into stories.
I’d like to say that I’ve not written more original fiction and poetry because I don’t have time. But that’s not true. It’s because I haven’t made it a priority and because I’ve avoided it for a boatload of reasons that most writers grapple with. Procrastination and avoidance means you don’t have to put yourself out there and take risks. They are powerful agents of fear and self-doubt. I’m trying to be planful about identifying and containing them this year. To build back that writerly muscle memory that will let me be productive.
In terms of energy, I think that lack of energy was a thing for me and still is. Losing 50 pounds last year has helped with my energy levels and just generally how I feel in my body. The energy deficit wasn’t just physical: it was also emotional/intellectual. When you feel worn out physically, it’s bleeds into those other areas. So I’m hoping to continue my journey in this area in 2022 as well since I think it will also make me more productive.
In terms of fics, I have a list of fics that I’d like to continue or that people have asked me to continue that I would like to write. I suppose that I haven’t because… Well, let’s be honest, because I haven’t made doing so a priority. The last two years especially, I’ve been more likely to play video games and passively consume media rather than writing. We’ll see how successful I am at breaking that chain this year. Gaming in moderation to make time for creation.
There is one other take on “things I wish I’d written” that I started doing this past year. I’ve been making master lists in my writing journal, something that Alexandra Sokoloff talks about in her books on writing. Part of the process involves making lists of favorite things in different categories and then analyzing those lists for commonalities in terms of things that spark excitement. So you could have a favorite heroines list or a favorite vampire story list. One of my lists is “Things I Wish I’d Written,” and I don’t mean that in the toxic way we all are prey too--judging ourselves against other writers.
My list tends toward things where the writing sings (like Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series or Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House), or the characters/world just captivated me (like Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight series, Bioware’s Dragon Age video games, Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series, or Marvel’s WandaVision series on Disney+). So compelling characters, worlds I want to lose myself in, and writing that sings are things that draw me in as a reader and should translate into the things that give me the most joy when writing them.
Banner by Seleneheart.
In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Oooph. Today’s prompt took off in my mind, especially once I read the hints about all the different ways we could tackle it. I have A LOT of ideas I wish I’d written, notebooks with story ideas or character sketches or just a scene or image that popped into my head. Why are they notes in notebooks? The easy answer is that I haven’t done what I needed to in order to craft them into stories.
I’d like to say that I’ve not written more original fiction and poetry because I don’t have time. But that’s not true. It’s because I haven’t made it a priority and because I’ve avoided it for a boatload of reasons that most writers grapple with. Procrastination and avoidance means you don’t have to put yourself out there and take risks. They are powerful agents of fear and self-doubt. I’m trying to be planful about identifying and containing them this year. To build back that writerly muscle memory that will let me be productive.
In terms of energy, I think that lack of energy was a thing for me and still is. Losing 50 pounds last year has helped with my energy levels and just generally how I feel in my body. The energy deficit wasn’t just physical: it was also emotional/intellectual. When you feel worn out physically, it’s bleeds into those other areas. So I’m hoping to continue my journey in this area in 2022 as well since I think it will also make me more productive.
In terms of fics, I have a list of fics that I’d like to continue or that people have asked me to continue that I would like to write. I suppose that I haven’t because… Well, let’s be honest, because I haven’t made doing so a priority. The last two years especially, I’ve been more likely to play video games and passively consume media rather than writing. We’ll see how successful I am at breaking that chain this year. Gaming in moderation to make time for creation.
There is one other take on “things I wish I’d written” that I started doing this past year. I’ve been making master lists in my writing journal, something that Alexandra Sokoloff talks about in her books on writing. Part of the process involves making lists of favorite things in different categories and then analyzing those lists for commonalities in terms of things that spark excitement. So you could have a favorite heroines list or a favorite vampire story list. One of my lists is “Things I Wish I’d Written,” and I don’t mean that in the toxic way we all are prey too--judging ourselves against other writers.
My list tends toward things where the writing sings (like Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series or Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House), or the characters/world just captivated me (like Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight series, Bioware’s Dragon Age video games, Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series, or Marvel’s WandaVision series on Disney+). So compelling characters, worlds I want to lose myself in, and writing that sings are things that draw me in as a reader and should translate into the things that give me the most joy when writing them.
Banner by Seleneheart.