#procrastination ftw!

Guess who's finally starting on the next chapter of her story!

Where do you publish your work? AO3, baby. I used to publish on LJ way back before I knew about AO3. Then I cross-posted for a while (by which I mean I signed up for AO3 and just reposted all my fic there at once, which is why all 9 of my TVD stories were published on one day. No, February 17th was not just a magical writing extravaganza of inspiration. That would be cool, though.). But I’m basically never on LJ anymore (womp), so there isn’t really a point to continuing there. Cusp was the first fic I didn’t bother to put up there, which makes me a little sad, but AO3 is just so good, you know? IT HAS STATS. (I fucking love stats. Why yes, I AM guilty of obsessively watching my stat counts. Writers gonna obsess.)

If we really want to go back, though, I had not one, but TWO fanfiction.net profiles. One for the Harry Potter fic I wrote when I was 10 that I will admit exists to the public at large, and another for the second wave (and third wave) of fandom writing that continues to be a secret (to real life people, that is). We are now in fourth wave fandom writing. UBER SECRET.

What medium/application/etc. do you write in or with? Always on Word. I’m just so used to writing essays and the like on it that it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. That being said, I still don’t have the whole business down - whenever I copy-paste things into AO3, it shows up awkwardly double-spaced and I have to individually delete the spare breaks between paragraphs. This will be...kind of impossible for my big bang. Anybody know how to fix this? Lol @ me and technology.

Do you collaborate with others? You know, I would love to, but I don’t. Partially because I’m a total control freak and must be the supreme dictator of my writing (I don’t even use a beta - nobody gets to see anything til the damn thing is published, which is frankly a WRETCHED idea and is probably keeping me from growing as a writer, but hey, I’ve got issues, what else is new). But also because I think I’d get stressed about letting a writing partner down/not delivering good enough material/trying to work with someone else’s schedule, which would undoubtedly be more logical than my own. It’s something I’d like to do one day, and in theory I’d love a writing partner just to keep me on task and help me work through ideas. Maybe one day. 

How much editing do you do before you publish? Lol, NONE. I’m the fucking worst. I do absolute bare minimum. Read through everything to make sure it’s clear of typos and grammar mistakes (and inevitably something slips through and I am FILLED with shame), change a few words (I have a thing about not repeating words too close together, which is absolute hell, tbh. Thesaurus.com is my writing BFF), and send it off into the ether, hoping for the best. Don’t be like me, kids. I am a cautionary tale. 

Do you listen to music when you write? God, I WISH. I am one of those people who is so easily distracted by sound of any kind that I need utter silence in order to focus. It’s awful. College was a mess, tbh. I love the idea of writing to music, and I really wish I could do it, but I end up just singing along (I will even end up singing the melodies to classical music, it’s that bad), so I need quiet. No wonder writing is so dull. 

How do you decide what to write about? Random fancy, mostly. When I’m hardcore fangirling/OTP-ing something, it’s always kind of simmering in the back of my mind, so sometimes I’ll be out in the world or watching something or listening to something, and I’ll have a random idea that’ll latch on to the OTP chilling in my subconscious, and suddenly they’ll fuse and there’s a concept. That sounds weird and scientific. But usually, a tiny snapshot will pop into my mind - most of my stories have been built around a single moment, scene, hey, half the time one line of dialogue. Lately, I’ve been having more general ideas, such as this big bang, which was a general AU concept. All part of me trying out new things. But for the most part, it’s really just tiny fragments of scenes that I want to flesh out. 

When do you write? When I can get some time alone, which is surprisingly difficult. I used to be a strict late at night when the world is asleep and I am in pure solitude writer, but nowadays (and with very pressing deadlines) I’ve become a write whenever the fuck you can girl. Which is how I’m now accumulating a list of Weird Places I Have Written. Making use of the iPhone notes app. 

How often do you write? NOT ENOUGH. I have always always been a horrible procrastinator, and with fic more often than not that leads to me just eventually giving up on writing those ideas at all. Which is why I’ve been seeking out deadlines, etc. to try to keep me on task. Not...doing a great job with that. But once I’m committed to something, I will get it done, come hell or high water. Still, I need to push myself to become a write every day kind of person, just because I think I’ll like being that person. 

Do you take requests? Sure! I don’t get a lot of them, tbh, and I can never promise anything, but I’m happy to get requests/prompts and if I can get an idea from it, I’ll certainly run with it. I’m also all about giving fandom gifts for birthdays, so feel free to request something (I say, a half-month late on a promised b-day fic because I’m the worst, but it’s coming, and I blame the Big Bang. Always blame the Big Bang. Thanks a lot for global warming, Big Bang (wait...that actually toes the line into science-y things...whoa....).

Is there any genre or type or story you want to write but are hesitant to? Oh yes. But for whatever reason, a lot of my Shameless ideas have been things that were always out of my comfort zone (one of the reasons I’m unwilling to abandon it, tbh - creatively, it’s been really fun). I was always a quick canon one-shot kind of girl, but now I’m dreaming up (and writing) long stuff, supernatural stuff, even thinking about trying out a multichap. And before this fandom, AUs were so beyond my skill set, but here I am writing an AU Big Bang. So. I’m hesitant to write EVERYTHING I write, but lately I’m pushing forward anyway. 

Any inspirational quotes, videos, tricks, articles, etc. that help you stay motivated? I should really keep a list of these sorts of things, but I don’t, so naturally I can’t remember anything. But I’m fond of those quotes I see from time to time that talk about how much of a slog writing can be. I feel like sometimes I’m fooling myself with this whole writing thing, pretending to be something that I’m just not. But when I see some of the great writers talking about how it’s not always glorious inspiration and free-flowing writing - sometimes it’s sitting down and going ‘just write something until you have an idea, until a style starts to develop, until it starts it turns into something.’ It’s not all raw talent. Sometimes it’s just determination to WANT to write. That always makes me feel like it’s ok not to be great, it’s just about wanting to do it and making it happen.

this just kind of makes me laugh. I mean, I'm sorry for the loss of followers! I love you, Lis. <3

Hehe - thank you - for the love AND the sympathy :p