What to do...

[ferrous_wheeler]

When I started with lj it was a natural progression from ff.net where I could find great stories but it just seemed... limited, so I moved to lj and it was wonderful. There was a vibrant community of amazing fans and authors where you could communicate so easily and I made some wonderful friends. I also had high hopes for managing to actually write

Comments

[meus_venator]

Is there not a free account option any more? You just put up with ads at the top of the page?

[ferrous_wheeler]

There is, and the ads are annoying but, meh, I can deal, it’s more that I’d lose quite a few subscriptions, as I have many, and a fair few memory entries as well which is why the paid. I have resuscribed for now but, yeah, so many have moved on.... :(

[meus_venator]

Oh, I didn't realize they cut back on the number of subscriptions. Sneaky.

Well, I regard my LJ subscription as my little indulgence for myself. I like supporting the platform (that was before the whole LGBT TOS), but I think they HAD to say that because of Russian law, (but I notice, nothing has really come of it), so that I can have the perks of being a subscriber. I subscribe to DW as well as AO3. So about $150 a year for my fic fixation and also for the bandwidth of posting my fic on their platforms. I don't think that's bad and it supports a LOT of good.

I guess it really depends on whether you have the disposable income or not, because there are still a lot of great people on LJ and AO3. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find them on LJ. : )

[fanspired]

Well, I've just subscribed to you on AO3 just in case you finish one of those wips :)

Whenever I get blocked, there's a couple of mantras I try to remind myself of:

1/ If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly

and

2/ The only thing a first draft has to do is exist.

Whenever I turn off the inner critic and give myself permission to write badly, it usually does start to flow. And even if I think that first draft is crap while I'm actually writing it, I usually find it needs surprisingly little editing to turn it into a good second draft.

Another useful exercise for turning off the inner critic and getting the juices flowing is to hand write three pages of stream of consciousness every morning. That's a great way to write yourself out of a block :)

[ferrous_wheeler]

I really like the idea about giving permission to write badly. I tend to be my own worst enemy and a perfectionist (to a point) and do need to learn to be easier on myself. The morning writing could be good too.

Thanks!

[fanspired]

Perfectionism is the ubiquitous enemy of the writer :)

[tari_roo]

I know from personal experience (LOL) that WIPs can be beaten! You can do it!

I've been debating about the paid LJ account too. I don't have that much time to browse the internet in general, so its almost a moot point about LJ dying down (for me). Personally, I'll keep my account for a few years. Just in case :)

[ferrous_wheeler]

Thanks for the encouragement! :)
Glad to know you’re sticking here for a bit too :)