the-wip-project

[the-wip-project]

Alternatives to google docs

For various reasons, this is now a hot topic. I'm putting my favorites here, please add more in your reblogs. I'm not pointing to Microsoft Word because I hate it.

Local on your computer:

1.

LibreOffice (https://www.libreoffice.org/), Win, Linux, Mac.

Looks like early 2000 Word, works great, imports all formats. Saves in OpenDocumentFormat. Combine with something like Dropbox for Cloud Backup.

2.

FocusWriter (https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/) Win, Linux.

Super customizable to make it look pretty, all toolbars hide to be as non-distracting as possible. Can make typewriter sounds as you type, and you can set daily wordcount goals. Saves in OpenDocumentFormat. Combine with something like Dropbox for Cloud Backup.

3.

Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview) Win, Mac, iOS

The lovechild of so many writers. Too many things to fiddle with for me, but I'm sure someone else can sing its praises. You can put the database folder into a Dropbox folder for cloud saving (but make sure to always close the program before shutting down).

Web-based:

4.

Reedsy bookeditor (https://reedsy.com/write-a-book) Browser based, works on Firefox on Android. Be aware that they also have a TOS that forbids pornography on publicly shared documents.

My current writing program. Just enough features to be helpful, not so many that I start fiddling. Writing is chapter based, exports to docx, epub, pdf. You can share chapters (for beta reading) with other people registered at Reedsy.

5.

Novelpad (https://novelpad.co/) Browser based.

Looks very promising, there's a youtuber with really informative videos about it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHN8TnwjG1g). I wanted to love it, but the editor didn't work on Firefox on my phone. It might now, but I'm reluctant to switch again.

------

So, this is my list. Please add more suggestions in reblogs.

#I made a list

[the-wip-project]

Writer Game

Look what I found in my drafts!

@celemee tagged me for this, thank you! It looks short and fun, so I'm inflicting it on everybody. Tagging: @sulky-valkyrie, @effelants, @tobythewise, @andrastesknickerweasel, @mordinette, @zet-sway​, @roguelioness, @potatowitch, @for-the-ninth, @anneapocalypse, @rakshadow, @contreparry, @highwayphantoms, and everybody else who wants to!

Do you write in order? Yes. I'm a discovery writer. I write the story as it appears in the headlines of my very slow car.

Do you start with something in particular? I wish I had a system. Really, it would help so much! I often start with dialogue, but then I also like starting mid blowjob scene.

How fully formed does your writing come out on the first try? Clean draft. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, listen. I write, I go back, I rewrite, I fiddle here and there, I rethink, I change everything, I write again, I rewrite, I fiddle... I'm doing everything they tell you not to do. What comes out after all that is a fairly clean chapter I'll throw into the world without a second look.

How many drafts do you go through? One. I mean, it's an unholy creation of my chaotic thought process and changes form like a shapeshifter while it grows, but in the end, at least for fanfic, it's one draft and out to AO3 it goes.

I'm terrified of having to change this process for the novel I'm writing.

Tell me about your process? Gods, I wish I had one. I think it has become clear by now that I'm just diving into the story and keep throwing it all on the page. If it looks right, it stays.

This process requires for me:

Quiet time

Tea

A little bit of life, like someone else also working nearby

Wrist protector

A good and/or pretty keyboard

I'm not even kidding, look at this pretty thing:

Thanks for reading!

#reblogging myself #to keep track of the process as it is now #maybe it will change?

[the-wip-project]

Bad Brain Days

Today I’m having a bad brain day.

It’s not that my brain is misbehaving. It’s just having a rough time functioning.

You might call it something else, and it has numerous causes, a bad night’s sleep, a flare up of a chronic health condition, medication issues, a short term illness, or simply being overwhelmed with responsibilities.

Whatever the cause, we all have days when our brain doesn’t want to do what it’s supposed to, ie: think.

Which is bad for life in general, and particularly bad for the thinky work of writing.

So what does a committed writer do when faced with a bad brain day?

The first and simplest thing is yield. If your body is telling you to rest, it’s a good idea to heed it.

I don’t advocate for pushing yourself to write every single day. (unless streaks really work well for you, in that case streak on!) It’s especially important if your bad brain days are often caused by feeling overwhelmed.

No doubt you have things you must get done: work, classes, child or elder care, household responsibilities. Things you can’t skip just because you’re not feeling up to it. So do yourself a favor and skip the non-vital tasks, like writing. Just for today.

But perhaps that writing habit thing is starting to catch hold and you’re looking forward to your writing session as something you do for yourself, but sadly your brain just won’t go in the words and ideas direction. What then?

The best thing is to make a list of what you can do. If you have low brain usefulness days frequently, on a good day try coming up with a list of things you can do on slow brain days.

Here’s some ideas to get you started.

1. Read. Skip the social media doom scroll, turn off your devices, and read something on paper. It could be an old favorite that feels comforting, it could be something new and exciting, but either way, focus on what makes the book or story good. We hear a lot about reading critically, and finding fault seems to dominate that. But try reading to admire. Pay attention to what you enjoy, what makes you smile, what makes you feel immersed. Read with the intention of enjoyment.

2. Do something story adjacent. If you like posting about your WIP on socials, find a few good pull quotes and queue them up. Or create a synopsis or pitch to keep on file for whenever someone asks what you’re writing. If you like making visual stuff like mood boards, make one for a scene or character.

3. Feeling up to diving into the work itself? How about updating your outline? Read over what you have written and add whatever changes you’ve made to the outline. It doesn’t have to be complex. Just try making one sentence summaries of each scene. You can do this if you didn’t have an outline to begin with too.

4. Talk to a friend about your writing. Writers need social interaction and if your writing has been consuming a lot of your spare time, just connecting with a friend might be what you need. (and don’t make it all about your writing! Be a good friend!)

5. Make starting tomorrow easier. Do non writing stuff that smooths the way, like tidying up the formatting or layout, creating blank chapters or scenes, or even sketching out a scene without making an attempt to fill in all the blanks.

Finally, don’t make any major decisions about your WIP on a bad brain day. You might do something your regret. Instead make notes on any major cuts or changes that feel needed, and look at them again on a day when you feel good.

And don’t make your writing another burden that makes everything too hard to carry. Tomorrow, when your head is (hopefully) clearer, take the time to assess if your writing is too much. To consider if the goals you’ve set yourself are workable with your current life situation. There’s no shame in dialing things back. If writing 250 words a day is too much, consider reducing it to 200. Or adding in more days off. Or considering a lower pressure project. Writing short fiction instead of tackling The Novel.

Most of all, remember that a solid writing practice is first of all a healthy one. So take care of yourself.

—Maree

Subscribe to my substack to make sure you don't miss a post, chat with me on the WIP Project discord, and tag any posts you make about the challenge with #slomowrino if you want me to see them!

#slowmowrino #bad brain days #writing advice

[the-wip-project]

Bad Brain Days

Today I’m having a bad brain day.

It’s not that my brain is misbehaving. It’s just having a rough time functioning.

You might call it something else, and it has numerous causes, a bad night’s sleep, a flare up of a chronic health condition, medication issues, a short term illness, or simply being overwhelmed with responsibilities.

Whatever the cause, we all have days when our brain doesn’t want to do what it’s supposed to, ie: think.

Which is bad for life in general, and particularly bad for the thinky work of writing.

So what does a committed writer do when faced with a bad brain day?

The first and simplest thing is yield. If your body is telling you to rest, it’s a good idea to heed it.

I don’t advocate for pushing yourself to write every single day. (unless streaks really work well for you, in that case streak on!) It’s especially important if your bad brain days are often caused by feeling overwhelmed.

No doubt you have things you must get done: work, classes, child or elder care, household responsibilities. Things you can’t skip just because you’re not feeling up to it. So do yourself a favor and skip the non-vital tasks, like writing. Just for today.

But perhaps that writing habit thing is starting to catch hold and you’re looking forward to your writing session as something you do for yourself, but sadly your brain just won’t go in the words and ideas direction. What then?

The best thing is to make a list of what you can do. If you have low brain usefulness days frequently, on a good day try coming up with a list of things you can do on slow brain days.

Here’s some ideas to get you started.

1. Read. Skip the social media doom scroll, turn off your devices, and read something on paper. It could be an old favorite that feels comforting, it could be something new and exciting, but either way, focus on what makes the book or story good. We hear a lot about reading critically, and finding fault seems to dominate that. But try reading to admire. Pay attention to what you enjoy, what makes you smile, what makes you feel immersed. Read with the intention of enjoyment.

2. Do something story adjacent. If you like posting about your WIP on socials, find a few good pull quotes and queue them up. Or create a synopsis or pitch to keep on file for whenever someone asks what you’re writing. If you like making visual stuff like mood boards, make one for a scene or character.

3. Feeling up to diving into the work itself? How about updating your outline? Read over what you have written and add whatever changes you’ve made to the outline. It doesn’t have to be complex. Just try making one sentence summaries of each scene. You can do this if you didn’t have an outline to begin with too.

4. Talk to a friend about your writing. Writers need social interaction and if your writing has been consuming a lot of your spare time, just connecting with a friend might be what you need. (and don’t make it all about your writing! Be a good friend!)

5. Make starting tomorrow easier. Do non writing stuff that smooths the way, like tidying up the formatting or layout, creating blank chapters or scenes, or even sketching out a scene without making an attempt to fill in all the blanks.

Finally, don’t make any major decisions about your WIP on a bad brain day. You might do something your regret. Instead make notes on any major cuts or changes that feel needed, and look at them again on a day when you feel good.

And don’t make your writing another burden that makes everything too hard to carry. Tomorrow, when your head is (hopefully) clearer, take the time to assess if your writing is too much. To consider if the goals you’ve set yourself are workable with your current life situation. There’s no shame in dialing things back. If writing 250 words a day is too much, consider reducing it to 200. Or adding in more days off. Or considering a lower pressure project. Writing short fiction instead of tackling The Novel.

Most of all, remember that a solid writing practice is first of all a healthy one. So take care of yourself.

—Maree

Subscribe to my substack to make sure you don't miss a post, chat with me on the WIP Project discord, and tag any posts you make about the challenge with #slomowrino if you want me to see them!

#slowmowrino #bad brain days #writing advice

[the-wip-project]

60daysshortstory Finale!

Hello writerly friends!

Here we are, after 60 days. Sixty days of thinking about our stories, writing, and maybe even editing them. 

I know I lost most of you along the way. But if you are one of the few who worked on their story and wrote and maybe even finished it, pat yourself on the back! Well done! Look what you can do!

I hope you learned things about yourself and your writing process. Trying to write regularly can be a challenge. If you made posts or took notes, look back at your goals and how you approached them and if you hit them. What have you learned about your process?

I learned that I can write in the afternoon and in the evening, if I move my body somewhere else. I also learned, once again, that I need less distractions but a little bit of accountability and control from someone else to write a lot. The daily wordcount post was also an interesting experience, a bit annoying sometimes, but great for making me write at leas a little bit every day. Maybe I should keep doing that. 

With the finished short story on your harddrive, I should probably provide resources and advice for how to edit and revise, but I'm afraid this is something I know nothing about. Revision has never been necessary for me, here in fanfic world. I'm currently figuring this out myself.

Once you have revised and edited your story, you may think about sending it to magazines for publishing. This is also not my expertise, but I can safely point you to the Submission Grinder (https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Search/ByFilter), which is a database where you can search short story markets. Who knows, you might even earn some money from the publication. 

Whatever you want to do, no matter how scary, do it. Do it scared. Get this story out into the world.

#60daysshortstory #short stories #publishing #writing habit

[the-wip-project]

So many words for Tuesday, and I was just too tired to even make a post at night.

Today I was very busy, you may have seen the other posts from our walks through the city, but at least I got a few more words in.

Tomorrow is the finish line of the short story project, let's see where we all stand then. 

#WIP update #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

Hello friends, the daily report and guess what!

I did better! I got home a bit earlier from work, I went straight to the writing desk (after some food) with a cup of tea and wrote 849 words in 90 minutes. That may not be super fast but I'm really happy with this. 

It helped to have this place set up that's just for writing. And also, the magic tool: the cutest keyboard ever! Isn't it adorable?

#WIP update #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

late WIP update

Hello friends!

The weekend, the weekend... remains a problem.

There's a Friday night writing event in my fandom, which always lets me write many words but it was so late when I was done, I was too tired to even make a post, let alone a graphic for instagram.

And then comes the weekend. The problem is that I'm not locking myself in the writing room. It's just so nice to lounge on the couch, at least once all the other weekend errands are done. What I should do is move away from the couch and spend an hour alone with my keyboard, but I didn't.

I'm gonna do better.

#WIP update #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

60daysshortstory Week 8 Report card

Hello writerly friends!

Guess what! We have four days left in this project. Four days to get done with the short story. So if you're not close to finishing (or haven't even started 🤯😱) you have four more days to get your ass in front of the keyboard and do your thing. 

My shorts story has turned into a novelette, it passed the 10k mark. I'm undecided if I should try to shorten it or just dare to submit it somewhere with this length. 

In the meantime, I started a new story. I won't be able to finish it for this project, of course, but it's never wrong to develop an idea, right? Let's use these last four days productively! 

#60daysshortstory #the wip project

[the-wip-project]

This sounds like a great event if you want to get that short story started and are willing to pay for a membership at Writers’ HQ (monthly or yearly). Not a free event, but paying for something can be a great motivator, can it not?

---

The Writers’ HQ Write A Short Story Festival

Friday 1 March – Friday 5 April 2024

Here’s how it works

The Writers’ HQ Write A Short Story Festival is FREE for Writers’ HQ members!

1 Get yourself a Writers’ HQ Gold Star Membership (if you don’t already have one)

2 Sign up to any of the events you want to attend. Then throughout March we’ll email you pep and vim to keep you going, including the links you need to access all the events.

3 You write all the cool stuff you’ve been wanting to write for ages

#short story #write a short story #writer community #writeblr #the wip project

[the-wip-project]

Daily WIP Update 11

How many words of 2206 were original fiction and how many fanfic? 

560 words original fiction, and 1646 fanfiction. 

What do we learn from this? Fanfiction comes easier to me. It's easier to get into the flow but in this case the main difference is this: On one side I have chapter after chapter in a long and epic novel, on the other side is one scene, focussing on the bare minimum to have some characterisation. Of course that's easier to write and finish.

But it's really not the same, is it? It's like a different level in a game, harder to beat but it gives more XP. The original novel is a boss level fight.

#WIP update #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

Daily WIP update 10

I was a good writer this month, I deserved a break. I have written 12k words in February. That's really good for me, my monthly wordcount usually lies between 10k and 15k.

It's also a good idea to let the short story rest for a little bit, before I go and see if I can hack this thing into a more manageable size.

#daily not today WIP update

[the-wip-project]

It's done! The story is done at 10,424 words.

I did a first edit pass today, that's why it's difficult to say how many words I wrote. Some words had to go, others had to be added, and the ending is still not quite right. But it is done!

This is really exciting. I haven't finished many things in my little writer life. It makes this story really special to me.

Now, what should I write in the remaining week? 

#WIP update

[the-wip-project]

The magic of noise canceling headphones and 25Hz Beta Binaural Beats. 

Amazing what a little focus can do. I'm nearly finished with the short story, clocking in at 10,134 words at the moment. I had a few tears in my eyes as I wrote the climax, it felt really dramatic, but I wonder if other people will feel the same way. I can never tell what readers like.

#WIP update #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

60daysshortstory Week 7 Report card

Whoops, with all the weekend stress, I forgot to make a report card. I hope you didn't miss it too much 😀😀😀.

By my count, there's ten days left in this project. If you haven't started with your short story yet, I say it's about time now. 

If you haven't started yet, think about that first scene you want to set, what emotions you want to evoke in your readers. 

If you're done or nearly done already with your story, try coming up with a short blurb or a logline for it. How would you describe your story if someone asked you what it's about?

Ten more days, friends. Let's get this done!

#60daysshortstory #the wip project #accountability #ten more days!

[the-wip-project]

It's a double update today for the weekend. I don't what it is about weekends but I have so much less time on weekends than I think. Some sort of time weasel munching away at my minutes.

Anyway, writing did happen for a little bit, at least. I'm approaching the climax, I think? Unless the alien possessed cat has other ideas.

#WIP update #am writing #60daysshortstory

[the-wip-project]

It was too late to make a post last night, I was posting the little prompt fic while forcing my eyes to stay open.

And I also felt like it didn't even count, you know? Even though I'm the first one to say that fanfic is valid, 60daysshortstory is meant for original fiction and I didn't work on that last night.

But I did write, good words even, and they spilled out easily. I wish I could channel that ease over to the original fiction.

#60daysshortstory #WIP update