My lil' accountability board

Alright, this is where I keep you in the know on what I'm doing; literary and otherwise.

The hope is that writing my extremely meager accomplishments down will inspire me to work harder, if only for the sake of having more to write about on this board.

This week's wordcount: 2227.

Good God that's pathetic. I think I better spend the rest of the night keeping my keyboard warm

Addendum:

I managed to get my word count up to 3,000. Yay. I'd be more enthusiastic, but I watched a documentary about Harlon Ellison today, and he could reach that amount in one night. Ah, professional writers: Gotta hate 'em.

Well unfortunately for you, you're setting your standards too high...

My word count for this...amount of time between now and sometime in the future...is ZILCH!!! Although, granted I haven't even tried yet...

I blame JRPGs.

I blame Obama.

As far as my expectation being too high, I suppose you could be right. Before I took my big writing-break in May I was in the habit of getting around 2,500 words a day. Good stuff too: genuine short stories and what not. Now, after five months of creative-abstinence, I think I've thrown myself into the deep-end and forgotten how to swim.

Well, gotta keep those legs pumping!

I have broken into your domain and will take... oh wait... wrong speech. I was invited.

Wolfstar!!! I'm glad to see you here. I will immediately upgrade your membership level so you can start making yourself some fancy-pants boards, such as the ones myself and Yaz have. As far as inviting your friends goes, I was hoping this site could be a small affair, but I'm sure we have room for a few more. Tell you what: write up a little description of the fellow, what sort of writing he's into, how well you know 'em, all that good stuff; we'll decide from there.

10/18

Just wrote out a plot for a new story based on an old idea. Its about the adventures of three idiots who run a cult centered around snakes. It's called "The Unspeakable Adventures of the Snake Cult". It's a translation of the German Young-Adult Fantasy book series: "Die Unsaglichen Abentuern der Schlange Kult!", by Rupert Von Schlossburger. I had a lot of fun plotting it so it should make for good writing. Here's hoping!

Ach, sehr gut! Deutsche Geschichte sind sehr interessant, aber sie sind auch sehr traurig. Fast alle Leute wollen am Ende sterben...hoffentlich will deine Geschichte besser als der Erste sein!

(Oh, very good! German stories are very interesting, but also very tragic. Almost every person will die in the end...hopefully your story will be better than the first one!)

High_Inquisitor wrote:

...hopefully your story will be better than the first one!

You mean the one where everybody dies at the end? Yeah, I hope so too. I might take a few liberties in the "translation" and change it around a bit.

I got two pages done! Hooray for progress!

10/24

Man, what a busy past few days it's been. Why, you ask? What has ol' Rhap been filling his time with - Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathons?

Nay, sir! That was last weekend.

This weekend was my dear cousin's birthday, and I wanted to do something special for him; my present was a short story I wrote just for him! (which has nothing to do with the fact that I'm broke.)

Man, getting an honest-to-God short story completely finished is an arduous task; I forgot just how much so. I'm talking about rewrites, grammar checks, and talking myself into putting the knife down after I realize that I have no future as an author.

Not to mention the party.

All in all, it was fun. I regret nothing. Until recently, I forgot just how rewarding writing actually is.

Now to finish that "Snake Cult" story...

But you know what? Now that you know, it's time for me to rediscover what the hell it's all about! Honestly, I haven't written anything down for ages; I have ideas (believe me, my subconscious won't shut up with them!) but I just never put them down on paper and it's awful because I know they could be good if I put them on paper and really think about them...

Now...time for me this week to walk around with a legal pad and take many many MANY notes about how my story can/will evolve...and I've got some ideas about it...like locations and plot twists and the like. (HA! And they said I could never start and end a sentence with the word "LIKE"!!!!! HA ON YOU, GOOD SIRS!!!)

Beginning and ending with 'like'? Well played, sir!

I think it's perfectly healthy, somewhat obligatory even, to take a little time out and reevaluate what's important to you and what you wish to do with it.

I've had a book I've wanted to write for the past three or four years. I know the plot, the characters, and why I feel compelled to create it. I've even written an entire first draft! It's getting myself to buckle down and finish it that's the real chore. Right now I contribute 1,000-2,000 words a week towards it, and this is a horrible way to write anything, because when I delay I lose my rhythm for the task.

I've found that my biggest block in writing it is that I don't trust myself to write it. I don't believe I can do justice on paper to the grand ideas in my head. And you know what? I'm right. I'm an amateur; and there's absolutely no way I could get the story as perfect as I wish it could be. But I also know that I will never get better by omitting to do the task. Plus, I feel compelled to write it, and nothing good ever comes from ignoring those feelings.

Walk around with a notepad, sir! Jot your many ideas, and even your observations and musings, throughout the day: it can only hone one's artistic ability.

But if you don't trust yourself to write your own book, who will? I certainly can't, that's for sure (unless of course we transplanted brains and then it'd be you in my body and then I'd be able to write your book for you...hey, there's an idea for you!)...if/when you can get past that, you're gonna shine...at least, a helluvalot better than I ever will. We may be both amateurs, but you're probably a lot more developed as a writer than I am at this point.

Hell, I'm just a chronicler of some guy's fucked-up ape-shit crazy musings, stuck in this quickly-fattening-then-quickly-rotting body of a college freshman. You at least have something to make of yourself in this literary world; I'm gonna be stuck producing short little vignettes of my subconscious continuously killing me in unearthly ways and manners. It's not that I don't trust myself to do it, but that it's probably the best/easiest/most convenient thing for me to do.

I trust you to write your own damn stories the way only you know how to. You're damn good, never forget that, Rhaps. Even if you're not gonna get it perfect (and let's face it, you're not on the first couple of tries...and I'm gonna go through the same thing with Anathost), at least put the damn thing on paper. Even if the best you can do is describing particles of dust cutting into your skin and having your blood drip from your open wounds only to saturate the ground...trust yourself to write it, dude.

Look at me; you're the only one who gives a shit about the dream journal, but I still write 'em down because it's the only thing I'm good at anymore. NaNoWriMo this year is going to help me break out of that (ironically enough, this whole premise started from a dream I had maybe back in July...?)...that and I'm going to avenge my story from last year which got deleted from both my hard drive and flash drive a week into 2009...but that's beside the point! Trust yourself to write it and it will come. It may not be good, but you'll be writing something.

And even if you don't think it's perfect, that's what the whole FORUM is for! Post it up here and let us (or, I guess to be accurately frank, just me) pick at it and see ways to improve it. Hell, I know Anathost isn't gonna be perfect, but at least it'll be entertaining for me to write and for you to read and watch it evolve before your eyes (and mine, for that matter). I'm trusting that I can actually do something with it; you need to do the same thing, otherwise you'll never get anywhere.

There...that's my rant for the evening...I'm just extremely stressed out with tons of stuff not including NaNoWriMo...so yeah, I apologize if it sounds like I'm just pissed off to all Hell right now.

We are amateurs; no way around that. If I ever give off the illusion of being a more able writer than yourself (which, to be completely honest, I don't see in any way whatsoever) it's only because I've had three more God-given years on this strange planet to develop a stronger sense of weariness and cynicism concerning those incorrigible animals we call human beings. Any of my dealings with the other members of this embarrassing race has inculcated in me a strong desire to figure out just what the hell is going on, and I chose prose as my means of discovering it.

As far as yourself being "a chronicler of some guy's fucked-up ape-shit crazy musings," and producing only "short little vignettes of my subconscious continuously killing me in unearthly ways and manners," I feel the urge to drop one name: H.P. Lovecraft; my favorite author who worked almost solely in the areas you have described. Of course, it wasn't just his weird choice of subject matter that attracts me to him; it's the conviction and honesty with which he wrote - something I recognize in your own writing. This is what makes a great writer; a talent that novices can never earn no matter how much they work towards it, being that it's not an ability: it's an aspect of personality; one which can enrapture and enthrall, creating magnificent worlds of idyllic pleasure with which to lift their spirits, or ones of torment and cacophonous, ravaging madness and despair to show them the horrors of reality and what might lay behind it. You, for whatever reason, possess this; and I must say, I envy the hell out of it.

Thanks for your kind words. And you're right about the purpose of this forum; when I've gotten a sizable chunk of my book written as much as I'm able, I'll post it here toot-sweet. I look forward to you doing the same with Anathost.

Now, that's enough patting each other's back. Let's get some writing done!

Damn, I'm Lovecraft returned to flesh!? I'm not sure if that's a complement or insult...in your eyes, I guess it's the former...so I'll roll with it for now...

Regardless, you've got one thing on me that I don't think I ever will be able to fully do: write consistently. My schedule is fucked up like crazy so it's extremely hard to make time for writing anything...well, I lie; I make time for the dream journals and all...but still, they're inconsistent and few and far between as of late...regardless, you've got consistency and I don't; it's as simple as that.

As far as personality goes, I don't think it's anything normal nor abnormal; it just is...I may freak out about it at times, but shit happens and shit doesn't happen at times. I'm getting used to it, but I don't think I'll ever be truly used to it...but if you feel that it's a benefit, then I guess I'm all for it...?

High_Inquisitor wrote:

Damn, I'm Lovecraft returned to flesh!? I'm not sure if that's a complement or insult...in your eyes, I guess it's the former...

Damn Skippy it's a compliment! I've spent the last five years kneeling at this man's feet. Of course, now my literary tastes are starting to expand and I can healthfully see his weaknesses alongside his (many) strengths. But brother, Lovecraft is one subject you do not want to get me started on. So for all of our sakes I'll end it here.

In other news, have you checked out the "Forum Type Things" board? I have a post in there entitled The Dunking Stool, and would highly value your response to it given as soon as possible. One of the persons mentioned in that board is probably waiting for me to get back to them, so I don't want to take an onerous amount of time in doing so.

Replied to Dunking Stool, although I'm still rather confused as to the reason behind the name of the topic...

Regardless, I don't want to be known as Lovecraft Jr.! I don't know what the hell I want to be called...if anything at all...I suppose crazy is a good start, but it's only the easy way out...

I don't know what the hell I am anymore...do I dare find out and live with the troubling knowledge, or fret forever in ignorance?

Well... er... hm....don't think I can help you there.

Suppose that's the sort of thing you have to figure out yourself - or not. Entirely up to you. Some people enjoy stumbling through their lives in said ignorance. Who can blame them? One's own nature is a strange thing indeed, as I'm sure you've learned from your dreams.

Or the nature of one's subconscious, I would say...but that's just me talking...and thinking...and overthinking...

11/4
It it hasn't been apparent, I'd say my Nanowrimo efforts got off to a whimpering start. Still is! I blame midterms for this; an ailment which should be cured after tomorrow. This weekend I shall attempt to make a literary comeback. This goes for reviewing your chapter, Rad: it shall happen! just not immediately.

But pretty durn soon!

11/6

I've spent the past six hours in writing-concentrated studies, mostly editing my own and Rad's work;
and brother, it feels good.
Now I remember why I want to be a writer: reading and writing are things I enjoy so much I don't even notice the hours pass by.

C'est beau, non?

Not to be a dick or anything, but have you read the excerpt I put on here? I don't care about editing or anything, I just want some readers!

The only reason I bring this up is because I have a shit-load of stuff done (I'm about 24% of the way there!) and I want people to be reading it!

Hells yeah I read it! You want things read? I'm all over that. Just call me "Read Lightning", cause I read so fast it's frightening!

*eh-hem*... That is to say, I have read it and look forward to reading more.

11/8

I spent a little over an hour today writing the first bit in a novella entitled "Legacy". It, like almost all of my ideas, is drawn from a vivid dream I had a few months previous.

I noticed I have a tendency to spread myself across many different works and have a very difficult time finishing any of them. Yesterday I had three documents open; each of them stories I had started recently, and each remaining at the lengths exactly where I initially left off. I know most writers like to work on one thing at a time, and for good reason. I spread myself thin with how I work - however, I enjoy this process for some obscure reason. It gives me a thrill to think of all the potential stories I could be working on.

Well, hopefully this works. If not, I'll abandon the method altogether and dedicate myself to one thing at a time.

11/10

Worked a little bit on my "Snake Cult" story. It's turning out to be a lot longer than I expected. Getting started on it was much more of a chore than it should have been; I'd get a phone call as soon as I sat down at my keyboard, one after the other, and two of those conversations lasted more than a half-hour. There's something to be said for turning your cellphone off when you're about to work. I think I'll have to remember that next time.

Rad: I'll get to the new bit of story you posted either tomorrow or Friday. Swears!

Edit:
9:00 PM

I finished my first draft of the first episode of "The Unspeakable Adventures of the Snake Cult". Nine pages long! That's a record for me as far as short stories go, but I suppose since it's in more of an "episodic-novella" format that's quite alright.