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[nicksgal]

Wow, you were super productive in November and January!  Hopefully you're more productive for the rest of March, especially if you want to write 60,000 words between now and the end of April!

I've never tried keeping track of a monthly word count that way.  That is probably helpful for setting a goal for Camp NaNo.  I have never done that before either, but I'd be willing to give it a try.  I've always wanted to do NaNoWriMo, but November is never a good month for me.  April is more doable because at least it starts with my spring break.  It doesn't have to be a brand new story/project, right?  I can just set a word count goal for what I'm currently writing?  That would be good for me.

Here's to hoping!

NaNo is fun, but an undertaking! This was the only year I've been successful and pretty much all I did was write nonstop, like Hamilton, lol.

They've gotten a lot more lax on the rules over the years, like they didn't use to allow fanfic and verified everyone's word count on their own servers. But even for the actual event in November, the idea is starting a brand new novel (just because they've found people are more successful getting it from start to finish rather than continuing an ongoing project), but they basically say "you do you" now. So rebels who continue old projects can still be winners! You just have to write 50,000 words.

But definitely for the April/July Camp Nanos, you can set whatever word count as a goal and have at it for any old or new project or projects, they don't even have to be "novels" in the traditional sense: poems, research papers, scripts, blogs, whatever are all fine as long as we're writing. And then we just cheer each other on and update our word counts as we work. Camp used to be a little more complicated set-up wise (like you could join pre-made writing groups based on what you were writing), but it's a lot simpler now that it's all the same site. Here's their little blurb: https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-camp-nanowrimo

And I already preemptively made our writing group back whenever we all discussed the July one, so it's ready to go whenever, it just needs a little visual love, lol.

[nicksgal]

Answering your question, Dee. I just finished The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. It was really great. I’m now reading Slaughterhouse Five. I promised myself I’d read at least one classic book a year that I’ve never read before. It’s really weird and funny and strange. Very Kurt Vonnegut lol

And I’m the same way too, Julie. Physically all I seem to be able to do is lay in bed or on my recliner so reading is the way to go for me. When I had the writing bug, I barely read anything except maybe a few fanfics I was following.

For sure, Slaughterhouse Five is quintessential Kurt Vonnegut! I'm glad you're enjoying everything you're reading. What's next on the list, either general or a classic you haven't read?

I can't think of the last thing I read that wasn't a fanfic... Depending on how writing is going, I think I'm going to commit to reading something over spring break.

I go through phases like that too.  It's usually either/or for me... either I write a lot, or I read a lot.  It's hard to find the time to do a lot of both, and although I love to read, I tend to choose writing when I have the time and motivation because I'm always like, "I can read any time, but I can't write any time, so I should write now."  And then I realize it's been a while since I've read an actual book.  I have a pile of half-finished, barely-started, or not-started-yet-but-someday books waiting on my night table.

How do you feel about reading in public places? Like at work?

I have the same pile in our living room. It's bad.

[nicksgal]

Aww, cute! Thanks for only sharing the successful ones LOL. I can't handle sad animal videos.

I'll share any weird video I look up, but I was laughing so hard that they just went for the jump, bounced, then carried on their merry way. I kept expecting to hear the ducks make that weird, surprised gasp/bump sound that kids make when they fall down ("Hnew" seems like a good approximation), but they did not. I also hate sad animal videos; I can't stand those SPCA videos.

[FrickingKaos]

I hope you've enjoyed your day off, Tracy!  Glad to hear you got some written over the weekend.  I also hope you'll finish that Nick death and post it at some point!  What has you undecided about the Brian romance?

I had so many ideas for one shots over the weekend but also no motivation to write any of them lol.

I’m not sure what is making me hesitate on the Brian story. It could be a few reasons. I think it is a very interesting idea but I don’t think I have enough to make a whole story and commit to regular updates on it. I have not written any romance that is not slash in about two years, so I think that is why i am having trouble connecting to that story again. I find myself revisiting old ideas I’ve had and the stories on AC that I abandoned, like the storm chasing story that had AJ as the main character. I’d love to actually rework it and make another attempt on it one day. It’s just going to need a LOT of research and I just don’t have time to take  to do that with how my work is going. It’s been very hectic at my night job for the last month or so. I had to take over a job in my department that’s not my normal job, without being trained properly on said job. I was thrown into it and I winged it. So my stress level has been through the roof.

[nicksgal]

Sorry for not being so chatty in the last few days, I’ve had a really crazy weekend with work and today is my day off so I am here and there. I did manage to write a little bit over the weekend and almost have a new chapter of History written.

We've missed you! (I did at least; it's always more fun when everyone's feeling chatty.) But I hope you're enjoying your well deserved day off after a crazy week and also glad that you're still getting some writing done despite being busy. Hope your neck is feeling better too!

I was going to answer questions but they are pretty buried so I am going to try to answer at least one lol

Yay! Answers to questions! Always answer if you want to answer, no matter how buried!

If you wanted to keep answering, this is the post with those questions and the others (and/or the first post of this thread):

Stumbled on some fun questions to answer

Julie asked:

Are there any aspects of writing you seem to have trouble with?  I am generally pretty good with spelling and grammar, but one thing I've noticed about myself is I often want to make compound words out of terms that are really two separate words.

And then Julie asked about breakout stories:

We were talking about breakout stories, the first story you wrote that was actually decent and wouldn't make you cringe to go back and read it now.

What was your breakout story?

When did you write it, and/or how old were you when you wrote it?

How did that story change you as a writer?

Why do you think the quality of your writing improved with that story?

And then we had some discussions about keeping things balanced when switching POV and what genres are popular for popular boybands in fanfic and I did lots of math instead of anything writing related, lol. And here we are. Summarizing fast-moving long things is one of my talents.

there’s nothing that I’ve ever written that I didn’t post, other than a death I started for 1000 Ways last year, I never finished it so I never posted it but it’s in my drafts on Google Docs somewhere. I also still have the beginnings of that Brian romance story that I was playing with too. Not sure if I want to post it or not, I’m undecided.

I’ve never regretted writing anything but looking back on my older stories recently, there’s things I would change or tweak to make them bettter. I don’t because it’s good to reread them and look back to see how I have grown as a writer. I used to use such short chapters and very little description so it’s nice to see how I have improved in that area.

As for my most popular story? If I had to guess I would say You Give Love A Bad Name only because I know it’s my most read story on Wattpad so it could very well be the same case on AC too. On Wattpad it has 10,400 hits on it.

Julie asked already, but I'd love to hear your thought process on your Brian story too.

Those ideas for tweaks and changes can always be used for newer stories. I think I'm an outlier in the rewriting/major editing. I wonder if it's similar in other fandoms.

Dang! That's a lot of hits! A kudos for you!

[nicksgal]

Haha, that is so true!  I love how our boys embrace their "feminine" side.  They're not afraid to share their feelings or cry in front of other people or tell each other "I love you" or, in AJ's case, wear nail polish and eye makeup and women's clothing LOL.  They must be fairly confident in their masculinity to do those things.  I also think their willingness to emote and show their love for each other makes them more fun fanfic characters to write.

Me too, and they always have. It's the best part of their bond. I was never sure why anyone called them the "serious ones" like they had zero emotions. They're the best little emoters.

I've been writing all evening and haven't even turned on my TV!  I guess no Walking Dead or 90 Day Fiance again tonight.  I'll catch up when my inspiration runs out.  It is rare for me to be on such a roll this early on in a story (especially a story I was stuck on for three years LOL), so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Woah! Go, Julie, go! I'm sending good vibes to your inspiration! Now was just the right time to write this one!

Yay for another snow day tomorrow!  And congrats on finishing your chapter!  I hope you can keep the momentum going and take advantage of the extra writing time tomorrow.  Snow days are the best because there's no pressure to go out and do anything with your unexpected day off.  You can just stay home and do whatever you want.

I hate splicing!!!  And yet, it makes me happy to be able to use excerpts from old versions of a scene in the new one.  I just hate the process of putting everything together.

I am so excited. It's a four day weekend! I knew I had it in me eventually. I'm hoping I can as well. I'm trying to keep my sleep schedule fairly consistent, but I'm honestly wide awake, so I may just keep writing until I can't or it hits midnight or something. Tomorrow's schedule is a little writing, a little of my volunteer stuff, some coffee, and paper shredding, lol. Today I deep cleaned the bathrooms, so I deserve some writing time.

I don't mind splicing, but it's usually a "I wrote part of this scene already and now we're here." Then I type over it in suggest mode as I see fit until it goes with the rest of what's there. Suggest mode is my favorite, but the walls of green are something else after a while. I think this one might be a little harder because I have a "here's what happened" version and "here's Nick saying 'here's what happened' as everyone reacts" version. There's good in both, it's just putting them together in the right way, because I don't think it warrants both a "here's what happened" chapter and a "everyone reacts" chapter. Not sure what this is yet! I may have to reread both of them first, then decide.

[nicksgal]

I had so many ideas for one shots over the weekend but also no motivation to write any of them lol.

Write them down and save them for when motivation comes!

I’m not sure what is making me hesitate on the Brian story. It could be a few reasons. I think it is a very interesting idea but I don’t think I have enough to make a whole story and commit to regular updates on it. I have not written any romance that is not slash in about two years, so I think that is why i am having trouble connecting to that story again. I find myself revisiting old ideas I’ve had and the stories on AC that I abandoned, like the storm chasing story that had AJ as the main character. I’d love to actually rework it and make another attempt on it one day. It’s just going to need a LOT of research and I just don’t have time to take  to do that with how my work is going. It’s been very hectic at my night job for the last month or so. I had to take over a job in my department that’s not my normal job, without being trained properly on said job. I was thrown into it and I winged it. So my stress level has been through the roof.

Could be a novella if you think it has enough for a little story, but not a lot of story? I wonder if there's a romancey movie that would get you in the groove? 27 Dresses is always one of my go-tos.

I do love that you're getting inspired on old ideas too! Maybe we can all make a commitment to each other to tackle Guilty Roads, Gobosei, and the AJ story (or another old one you like) if we're all feeling inspired about them.

It's hard to find creative motivation when work is stressful. Sorry you had an entire new job thrust on you without training; that's always hard! I'm sending you lots of good vibes that it gets better. Make sure that you're taking time for you! Whether that involves writing or not! You're a champ!

[mare]

For sure, Slaughterhouse Five is quintessential Kurt Vonnegut! I'm glad you're enjoying everything you're reading. What's next on the list, either general or a classic you haven't read?

I can't think of the last thing I read that wasn't a fanfic... Depending on how writing is going, I think I'm going to commit to reading something over spring break.

How do you feel about reading in public places? Like at work?

I have the same pile in our living room. It's bad.

Next up is probably a John Grisham novel I haven’t read yet. I think it’s called The Partner? I’ve read his newer stuff but never read much of his older stuff.

I missed the where I read question. I always had a book with me at school in case of last minute assemblies or class no shows. I usually bring a book with me wherever I go, like my Dr. Appt. tomorrow, but if it’s too loud I can’t concentrate on what I’m reading. I prefer reading at home, especially when the weather is warm enough for me to sit outside.

[RokofAges75]

But definitely for the April/July Camp Nanos, you can set whatever word count as a goal and have at it for any old or new project or projects, they don't even have to be "novels" in the traditional sense: poems, research papers, scripts, blogs, whatever are all fine as long as we're writing. And then we just cheer each other on and update our word counts as we work. Camp used to be a little more complicated set-up wise (like you could join pre-made writing groups based on what you were writing), but it's a lot simpler now that it's all the same site. Here's their little blurb: https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-camp-nanowrimo

And I already preemptively made our writing group back whenever we all discussed the July one, so it's ready to go whenever, it just needs a little visual love, lol.

Yeah, that sounds more my speed.  I don't like having a lot of requirements for something that's supposed to be fun.  I could probably churn out 50,000 in June or July with the right story, but not in any other month.  Count me in for the Camp Nano!

How do you feel about reading in public places? Like at work?

I have the same pile in our living room. It's bad.

I can read in public places if I have to (like in waiting rooms or airports), but I prefer to read at home.  I do read at work sometimes, but only children's books or professional texts.

[RokofAges75]

I had so many ideas for one shots over the weekend but also no motivation to write any of them lol.

I’m not sure what is making me hesitate on the Brian story. It could be a few reasons. I think it is a very interesting idea but I don’t think I have enough to make a whole story and commit to regular updates on it. I have not written any romance that is not slash in about two years, so I think that is why i am having trouble connecting to that story again. I find myself revisiting old ideas I’ve had and the stories on AC that I abandoned, like the storm chasing story that had AJ as the main character. I’d love to actually rework it and make another attempt on it one day. It’s just going to need a LOT of research and I just don’t have time to take  to do that with how my work is going. It’s been very hectic at my night job for the last month or so. I had to take over a job in my department that’s not my normal job, without being trained properly on said job. I was thrown into it and I winged it. So my stress level has been through the roof.

I'm glad to hear you have a lot of ideas!  Sorry the time/motivation is lacking.  Your work situation does sound stressful!  I hope it gets better as you get used to it or until you can hire someone new for that position.

I hear you on the romance woes.  I usually write romance more as a subplot so I don't worry about running out of ideas or getting bored with it.  I've gotta have some other drama outside of the relationship to keep me interested.  If it helps, you sound exactly like me when I was getting ready for write By My Side back in the day - worried I wouldn't have enough ideas, worried I wouldn't be able to commit to it.  Somehow it turned into a 200-chapter novel that I had no trouble finishing.  But even though it is a romance, it definitely had outside drama, too.  Maybe there's a way you could combine the Brian romance storyline with another idea to beef it up.  Or you could always envision it as a shorter story, like a novella instead of a novel.  Not everything needs to be an epic, as I'm learning LOL.

[RokofAges75]

I am so excited. It's a four day weekend! I knew I had it in me eventually. I'm hoping I can as well. I'm trying to keep my sleep schedule fairly consistent, but I'm honestly wide awake, so I may just keep writing until I can't or it hits midnight or something. Tomorrow's schedule is a little writing, a little of my volunteer stuff, some coffee, and paper shredding, lol. Today I deep cleaned the bathrooms, so I deserve some writing time.

I don't mind splicing, but it's usually a "I wrote part of this scene already and now we're here." Then I type over it in suggest mode as I see fit until it goes with the rest of what's there. Suggest mode is my favorite, but the walls of green are something else after a while. I think this one might be a little harder because I have a "here's what happened" version and "here's Nick saying 'here's what happened' as everyone reacts" version. There's good in both, it's just putting them together in the right way, because I don't think it warrants both a "here's what happened" chapter and a "everyone reacts" chapter. Not sure what this is yet! I may have to reread both of them first, then decide.

You definitely deserved some writing time after deep cleaning your bathrooms!  I hope you got some writing done today too, in between volunteering and paper shredding.

I have never really used suggesting mode for fanfic because I feel like the walls of green would bother me, but it's worth a shot sometime.  I can't wait until I can safely delete the copy I made of the original version of My Brother's Keeper when I went back to revise/rewrite some of it.  I'm past the point I was in that version, plotwise, but I keep finding new places to put some of the little snippets of dialogue or description I liked in the first version.  It is nice not to have to rewrite everything from scratch, but I don't like to have multiple versions of the same story junking up my folders.

Woah! Go, Julie, go! I'm sending good vibes to your inspiration! Now was just the right time to write this one!

Thanks!  Apparently so!  I wrote before school again this morning and am hoping to write more tonight.  I'm almost done with Chapter 9, but then I have to go back and write Chapter 8, which I skipped because the scene I'm working on now was originally tacked onto Chapter 7 until it got too long.  So I wrote two Kevin chapters in a row, and next I'll go back and write two Nick ones.  And that will put me through Chapter 10, so if this writing streak continues, I'll be ready to start posting this thing in April.

[nicksgal]

Next up is probably a John Grisham novel I haven’t read yet. I think it’s called The Partner? I’ve read his newer stuff but never read much of his older stuff.

I didn't think I've actually ever read one of his novels! Then I looked it up and none of the covers for the books looked familiar, but the film posters did. So, apparently, I have seen a bunch of movies based on his novels without reading them, lol.

Which one that you've read did you like best?

I missed the where I read question. I always had a book with me at school in case of last minute assemblies or class no shows. I usually bring a book with me wherever I go, like my Dr. Appt. tomorrow, but if it’s too loud I can’t concentrate on what I’m reading. I prefer reading at home, especially when the weather is warm enough for me to sit outside.

Mare! Reading during assemblies! Shame. Kidding. I like reading outside too (or at the pool). It's not as bad with a book because you can still wear sunglasses.

I can read in public places if I have to (like in waiting rooms or airports), but I prefer to read at home.  I do read at work sometimes, but only children's books or professional texts.

I do most of my reading on airplanes these days. That's probably why I feel like I haven't read anything in a while, lol. I don't really read at work either, but I always see other teachers reading on their lunches, so I was curious if you were a work reader or not (and also if Mare was, really).

[nicksgal]

Yeah, that sounds more my speed.  I don't like having a lot of requirements for something that's supposed to be fun.  I could probably churn out 50,000 in June or July with the right story, but not in any other month.  Count me in for the Camp Nano!

Wahoo! Everyone who's interested in joining me for a little craziness, go to nanowrimo.org and click "sign up" if you don't already have an account. Then everyone tell me your usernames and I will invite you to "The Absolutely Chaotic Backstreet Project" writing group.

Not everything needs to be an epic, as I'm learning LOL.

Psh! Shhh!

[nicksgal]

You definitely deserved some writing time after deep cleaning your bathrooms!  I hope you got some writing done today too, in between volunteering and paper shredding.

I ended up shredding zero papers today, lol. Next time. But I did get a lot of writing done! I successfully spliced the two chapters and still ended up writing 1,700 new words for the chapter, including two times where I actually laughed out loud while writing, which I didn't know this was a chapter for jokes, but apparently it was.

And we can all play another addition of "Which Backstreet Boy is being discussed?" Hooray!:

“Clueless, unpredictable, and impulsive! At least something always gets done!”

I also get to add more kinky tags to this epic story at some point in the future as I constantly write ahead. I assume there's got to be some kind of tag for "kinky claiming by supernatural beings," no? lol I'm a horrible person because I'm sure most of those tags are meant legitimately and I never intend for anything to be kinky and just like to joke.

I have never really used suggesting mode for fanfic because I feel like the walls of green would bother me, but it's worth a shot sometime.  I can't wait until I can safely delete the copy I made of the original version of My Brother's Keeper when I went back to revise/rewrite some of it.  I'm past the point I was in that version, plotwise, but I keep finding new places to put some of the little snippets of dialogue or description I liked in the first version.  It is nice not to have to rewrite everything from scratch, but I don't like to have multiple versions of the same story junking up my folders.

I have so many versions of all of these at this point that it is what it is, haha. I try to limit the walls of green text to one chapter at a time, then track the new words, then accept the changes so it's not always walls and walls of green text. I think it's fun to have a "complete old version" copy, then you can see how much has changed. It's why I still have my circa 2008 version of PBox even though I updated it on the site.

Thanks!  Apparently so!  I wrote before school again this morning and am hoping to write more tonight.  I'm almost done with Chapter 9, but then I have to go back and write Chapter 8, which I skipped because the scene I'm working on now was originally tacked onto Chapter 7 until it got too long.  So I wrote two Kevin chapters in a row, and next I'll go back and write two Nick ones.  And that will put me through Chapter 10, so if this writing streak continues, I'll be ready to start posting this thing in April.

April is so soon! I'm excited for you; you're getting a lot done! Are you changing over to two chapters for Nick and two chapters for Kevin or just this time because of the length?

[mare]

I didn't think I've actually ever read one of his novels! Then I looked it up and none of the covers for the books looked familiar, but the film posters did. So, apparently, I have seen a bunch of movies based on his novels without reading them, lol.

Which one that you've read did you like best?


Mare! Reading during assemblies! Shame. Kidding. I like reading outside too (or at the pool). It's not as bad with a book because you can still wear sunglasses.

I do most of my reading on airplanes these days. That's probably why I feel like I haven't read anything in a while, lol. I don't really read at work either, but I always see other teachers reading on their lunches, so I was curious if you were a work reader or not (and also if Mare was, really).

Only the assemblies I did not have to attend lol which was most of them.

Favorite a John Grisham novels are Callico Joe and The Guardians. I just finished Slaughterhouse Five so I’ll be starting The Partner tomorrow.