zwei_hexen | Write every day! - June 2021

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

~ ~ ~

ysilme here: alibi sentence; I managed to mismanage my time today spectacularly. ;op

sylvanwitch here: Had a very pleasant rejection email today for the holiday-themed story I submitted on a lark, and you know, the three editors who took time to comment on the story all made really good points about a structural issue, which means I can fix said issue and maybe try to find the story a different home. I'm surprisingly okay with being rejected! I also took an inventory of original short fiction that's submission ready but not already out there being considered and then short fic that is old enough to need another combing through before I try sending it out. It's a pretty robust list, and if I can get them all going in circulation, I should find at least one or two of them a home this summer. I also edited one of the aforementioned older stories and was pleased to find that I had both forgotten it entirely and that it stands up to a new reading. YAY!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

shadaras

ysilme: Congrats on an alibi sentence! It's still words, and still thought put into your work! <3

sylvanwitch: That's an awesome kind of rejection! And I'm glad you're so chill about it! <3 Doing that inventory of your original works like that also sounds super fun, especially re-finding fic you like! ^_^

Day 21: I wrote over 1k to finish up a fic for a rarepair (that I'm pretty sure I made up?) in a small fandom and posted it with the full expectation that exactly one friend of mine would read it and comment on it, and so am pleasantly surprised that multiple other people have read it and left kudos!

From:

zwei_hexen

Thank you for the happy words!

And CONGRATS to you for posting the rarepair fic and discovering there can be more than one, to misuse Highlander for a good cause. That's a great feeling, isn't it? YAY! I'm so glad you're getting such a positive reception. :-)

From:

li_izumi

ysilme, alibi sentence is still something, so go you!
sylvanwitch, while it sucks to get a rejection, i'm glad to hear that this one was productive and gave you suggestions you can actually use. Also, yay for old work standing up. Yay for editing!
shadaras, yay for finishing and posting a fic. Glad to hear you got more readers than expected :)

Day 21/172: 534 words, getting the first part of chapter 3 set. Progress! *Jazz hands*

From:

sylvanwitch

Jazz hands, indeed! That's fantastic progress! YAY!

From:

mtassarin

Day 20: worked on expanding the middle of that fantasy short story. I'm not entirely happy with it and can't really call it finished, but it more or less works as a first draft. I think. Maybe it wants to be longer than a short story, or maybe it's the opposite and I need to get rid of some of the events. Still not sure.

Day 21: wrote a small ~450 word-ish flash fic from a prompt.

From:

sylvanwitch

Yay for flash fic! And commiseration on the story that doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. I've been there SO often. I hope it gets around to letting you in on its plans for itself. :-)

From:

yasaman

Day 21: 476 words for me today!

From:

sylvanwitch

Excellent work! YAY! :-)

From:

the_siobhan

Hey an alibi sentence is still a thing, if I can't get it together to write I rarely even do that.

And I like the idea of a rejection that has useful feedback. I think that would time well spent, even if I'm disappointed.

I hit a pretty bad I-hate-everything slump last week, but today I got off work at a reasonable hour today, did useful things around the house and then wrote 680+ brand new words and I hate only a very tiny number of them. I feel like I broke through a bad cycle today.

Tonight's writing soundtrack: A Bandcamp article about Toronto's psychedelic scene. I was today years old when I found out my town has a psychedelic scene.

Edited Date: 2021-06-22 03:36 am (UTC)

From:

sylvanwitch

I must confess that I wouldn't have put Toronto and psychedelic in the same sentence, either. Good to know! :-)

I'm so glad to hear that you've broken through your slump--that's a miserable feeling to have, especially sustained over a period of days, and it's good news, indeed, that you've come out of it. YAY for good new words! :-)

From:

sanguinity

ysilme: I have been there! But I also figure that every once in a while I need to lavishly squander my time. Perhaps you do, too?

sylvanwitch: Three editors commented on your story? It must have been in serious running for publication, if as many as three editors looked at it and made time to comment on it. Good luck with the revisions, and with all the rest of it, too!

Day 18: I swear, I really did write an alibi sentence on the 18th! (My check-in for the 18th was on the 19th, and I mentioned its omission from the tally in my check-in for the 20th.)

Day 21: Yet another alibi sentence. But this round of Holmestice is over, so... fingers crossed?

From:

sylvanwitch

So sorry we missed you AGAIN! I'll make sure to update the tally to reflect your having written on the 18th. Our bad!

I think, but am not sure, that all three readers (I think they were readers, not editors--I may have misspoke? Anyway, no names, so it's not clear) read every story? Again, not sure. I do know they had a TON of stories and that I was super-impressed to get individualized feedback. That means a lot to me, and I'm happy to have it for that reason alone, never mind that it will help me beat it into a better story.

YAY for having this round over and for looking ahead with hope. *crosses fingers for you*

From:

nafs

Day 21: Typed up yesterday's stuff and ended up continuing it longhand for another page, which was sort of interesting because I thought I was just writing a time-skip placeholder and now apparently Things are Happening instead. Not a lot but apparently it's time for foreshadowing. My subconscious just kinda up and does this to me occasionally - I ramble and then suddenly I've written a thing that might actually make a lot of sense with something that's probably happening later.

From:

sylvanwitch

*pets your subconscious* Your subconscious is awesome! YAY for unexpected developments of the awesome and useful kind!

From:

marvelouscity

Spent way too long tonight going over the lease terms for my new apartment, and trying to find movers. I guess it's not really over until I'm actually in the apartment and paying rent. Anyway ... I wrote another logline for a cheesy Christmas movie idea, which is kind of an alibi sentence? But I also like the idea? So who knows.

From:

sylvanwitch

At the moment, I'm very definitely in a do-what-you-want mode of writing, so I applaud giving in to whatever your brain is suggesting. Of course, this is a less useful mode if you have deadlines, but if you have the time, energy, what-have-you to let your brain play, I say go to it! :-)

From:

cornerofmadness

Got rejected on my flash fic which eh, whatever.
Wrote 984 on a comment fic and posted it + 483 words on the wip big bang

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY! We're rejection-mates! Solidarity! *grins*

Excellent progress! YAY for comment fic and for WIPBB progress too.

From:

cornerofmadness

We are. Have I mentioned I don't really even like flash fic?

From:

lferion

21 June -- 50 ish words expanding on the crack idea, and locating the story it goes with. Did some thinking about TRSB2 as well, but no words exactly.

From:

sylvanwitch

I hope the crack idea is bringing you joy; I firmly believe that's what crack exists for. :-) Yay for thinky thoughts, too!

From:

carenejeans

Day 21: Did some work on the silly essay, reading almost to the end the book, including a chapter in which Smith introduces yet another group of aliens and throws in another interplanetary war on top of the others, because reasons, I guess. Anyway, have made or at least marked the places for my silly "footnotes" almost to the end. Huzzah!

It's funny, though. This book -- Spacehounds of IPC by E.E. Doc Smith -- is pretty bad, but doing a close reading of it is still pretty fascinating. You can learn a lot by minutely critiquing a not-very-good book, it turns out. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but it's not wasted time.

Ysilme: Good for writing an alibi sentence! Sometimes days just get away from you.

Sylvanwitch: I'm sorry to hear about the rejection, but I'm glad it was at least productive. Good luck on your plans for getting all your stuff out in circulation!

From:

sylvanwitch

Thank you for the good luck! I accept it gladly. :-)

I think your silly essay sound fascinating and is absolutely a good use of time. You're right about being able to learn even from poorly written dreck. I mean, I think criticism is a way to contrast what you know to be good with what may not work in given contexts, among many other things. Anyway, GO YOU! YAY!

From:

china_shop

22nd: Three pages scrawled in my notebook while I sat in the car waiting for someone, but all my keyboard time got used up on other things.

From:

sylvanwitch

*shakes fist at linear time* If only we had unlimited scads of it for when we want to be writing, eh? Anyway, GOOD FOR YOU for doing longhand stuff. You're awesome!

From:

badly_knitted

Yay for helpful editors! Good luck with submissions.

June 21st - 889 words, 4 double drabbles and small edits on three stories for posting.

(Also, finished sewing up my red sweater!)

From:

sylvanwitch

Thank you so much!

YAY for finished sweaters! (I'll bet it's cozy!) YAY for so many words and for editing and posting too. You're SO productive!

From:

badly_knitted

Thanks! I haven't been doing much other than writing and knitting, lol!

From:

silveradept

That sounds like a very productive rejection,

sylvanwitch, so hopefully it will be accepted after the problem gets fixed.

Alibi sentences are sometimes all you get,

ysilme, and much sympathy about time management issues when they arise.

Day 21 for me meant putting a little bit of words on an outstanding project, and submitting an article for publication after having the requisite amount of anxiety about putting my work out into the world and letting others see it.

Edited Date: 2021-06-22 02:46 pm (UTC)

From:

sylvanwitch

Thank you so much! I hope so, too.

Ugh, that anxiety you're describing? Been there so often. Good on you for getting through it and sending out your article. Good luck!

From:

luzula

Stabbed self in hand with kitchen knife (not badly!). Nevertheless, I have:
- edited chapter 26 of poly fic,
- wrote 200 words of new longfic (4,200 words total).