CJSF3 Round 3 Day 9
Excerpted from ficfinishing
Thursday! Another weekday!
The days seem to go by so fast that you can't grab hold of them.
Try to slow the speeding train of life long enough to catch an hour or two at least.
Author Tasks for Day 9
Had a bad day? If you can't let it go it might stick around so do what you can to clear the path for the muse to bring you fresh fic - and a fresh perspective on life - later this week.
1. Feeling frustrated? Go ahead and vent!
Sometimes you just want to scream, so go ahead! Check in with your body and your attitude and if you're grumbling, tense or agitated then take a few minutes to let it all out. Call a friend, rant on your LJ, post a long ramble here in comments - you're among friends! Just let it all out and when it's over and you've calmed back down see if it's easier to go back to your goal fic.
Tip: Venting out loud verbally is the best way so if you can call someone on the phone or via Skype or even meet up in person, do it! Just prep your audience in advance that you need to vent and ask them not to offer any solutions at all. You want an ear not a hand.
Tip: Physical venting is good too. If you have a printout of an early draft that caused you much grief? Shred it! Shredders are nice, but there's a visceral sort of pleasure in shredding paper with your bare hands so revel in it. Then recycle. :-)
2. Make somebody else's day
Yes, you wish someone would make yours - and you deserve it - but since you can't force altruism in others you have to nurture it in yourself. It's surprising to some how good it feels to do good, but do it anyway! Find a little appreciated author in your fandom and lavish praise on one of their worthy yet neglected fic. Take a moment to tell a friend just how much their support means to you at a time where you're not asking for more support. Buy flowers for an awesome co-worker who covers for you when you're sneaking fic on the job. Bring home chocolate to a harried roommate who covers your laundry and dish duty when you're in the throes of writing. Offer a date night to your mate for being understanding. Not only will it be a pleasant surprise for them, it will lift your spirits and energize you as well - helping to dispell any lingering negative thoughts that might be impeding your flow as a writer.
Tip: Stealth altruism is awesome too! You don't have to take credit in order to get the high of giving. Sneak a twenty into a street musician's litter of one dollar bills, call the manager of a restaurant as soon as you leave to heap hearty praise on your fabulous waitress or even sincerely tell your nameless barista that you hope they have a good day too. Goodness is infectious. Best to pass it on. ;-)
Tip: Feel like being altruistic online? There are so many ways! Save the world with a click on charity sites, Paypal over a few dollars to help save puppies and kittens at your local no-kill shelter or hand out a few LJ v-gifts to people who don't have a birthday coming up - just because!
3. Give yourself permission to jump ahead
Writing in order is ideal, sure, but if you're blocked on a certain scene and it's holding up the whole fic? Move on. Write a scene that you have flow on or might get flow on because it interests you more or you think it might be easier.
Tip: If you have a scene list review it and see which scene makes your muse perk up. Letting inspiration, not chronology, guide your writing can mean faster and better words. If none do, pick the easiest or shortest to write to try first. Once you get good flow going see if you can pick one of the harder ones to write so you don't leave all the tough stuff for last when you're more under the gun to finish.
Tip: If you're worried about things not happening properly in sequence do Mechanicals for any skipped over scenes. As long as you know what happens in the scenes that come before, how - and when - they are written is less important.
And if you can, WRITE!
First Reader Tasks for Day 9
As with any day in the round you can offer your services or be asked.
1. Reassess how much time you have for reading
Some rounds everyone's got a tidy little flashfic that's easy to read. Other rounds are filled with big bangs and novel length projects. Long fic needs cheering too so try to see if you can spare time for either a second fic or a longer fic than planned and help out the authors who are in it for the long haul and need our support.
Tip: Ask an author with a long fic to provide you with a summary for the majority of it and focus on reading only the later parts they are working on now. It's not only fair it's faster to get up to speed on the final say 5K if you've got the first 15K covered in just a page full of summary. You can always read the whole fic once it's done, but the point here is to know enough about the story to cheer the author on to the end.
Reminder to Authors!
Post your word counts/number of new words on each of these daily posts to track your progress!