The current (new) Writer Zero

I’ll keep writing. I won’t concern myself with making it marketable to this platform. I’ll submit to agents. Maybe one day, I’ll be published. Maybe not. But, really, most of the population isn’t on Tumblr which means most of your future readers aren’t on Tumblr either. They don’t give a shit if you can make a meme out of your ocs or overlay snow on a mood board. They care about your story.

I don’t care if your comment is coherent. I know what you mean and i love you

I don’t care if you ramble. I read every word and i love you

I don’t care if you leave a comment on a fic from four years ago or leave comments/kudos on like ten of my fics in one go. This isn’t IG, pls stalk my AO3. I love you

I don’t care if you mention the same thing in your comment that four other people have already mentioned. It’s actually really useful to know what resonated with people and I love everyone who takes the time to tell me they liked a particular turn of phrase

I don’t mind if your comment is super long or just a couple of sentences, i love them all

And I don’t mean this in a way of not acknowledging your frustration or anger or anything.  But mean this in a way of taking care of yourself, cultivating your dash, and watching your mindset.

For me, watching my mindset is really hard.  It’s difficult to change a pattern of thoughts from “my writing sucks” to “I’m still learning and growing and that’s ok”.  It makes a difference though.  I look forward to writing and interacting with writeblr more.

I’d also suggest cultivating your dash.  I can’t handle a lot of negativity in my life as I deal with a lot on a daily basis (not to mention my depression).  I don’t reblog posts anymore that talk about how shit writing is or how tiring it is unless it has a good ending or goal.  Otherwise, I feel like I’m inviting negativity and changing my dash with more positive posts has really helped with changing my mindset.  

Most importantly, you need to take care of yourself.  Maybe this cultivating and slow change works for you.  Maybe it doesn’t.  But always make sure you eat and hydrate and take a little time for yourself throughout the day.  

The other day, I decided to reread the entire thing and leave a very in-depth review of what I thought of each chapter. I also mentioned how I started reading it when I was 13 and am now 21, but always came back to see if it was ever finished because I loved it so dearly.

Today, said author sent me a private message saying that her analytics showed that the story was still getting views even after all these years, but no one ever bothered to leave reviews other than “update soon!!!”, so she never felt motivated enough to finish it. She said that me reviewing every single chapter with lengthy paragraphs made her cry and meant the world to her. She also mentioned that she felt encouraged to write the two remaining chapters needed to complete the story and that she would send me a message the night before she updates the fic.

I’m literally sobbing. I’m so excited :’)

Never be afraid to recycle an idea you already used for a finished WIP. Sometimes the idea becomes different enough with a different set of characters or a different setting. And even if it doesn't, this idea may be your personal style, one of your defining themes or writing characteristics.

Autistic writers who have trouble writing conversations due to difficulty with social skills

ADHD writers who want to sit down and write but can’t get themself to do it

Writers with social anxiety that are scared to share their work or talk about it with others

Writers with memory problems that know they already had an idea for a plot point but can’t recall what it was

Depressed writers that are trying their best but their mind says it isn’t enough

Dyslexic writers that have red lines under so many of their words or that have to take extra time to try and communicate their ideas

Writers with DID/OSSD that don’t feel like they get enough time to work on their project or that it gets left on the shelf for long period of time

Spoonie writers that run out of spoons for a day before they get to work on their project

Writers with tourettes who’s tics get in the way of their writing

Mentally Ill writers in general

Disabled writers in general

Same for works on AO3. Sure, maybe some of us have some old works that aren’t up to our current standards of writing. But I, personally, am never going to look at a kudos email and think “ew omg I can’t believe someone found this fic from 2016 why are they liking it”. In fact, I am entirely going to go “nice! people are still reading some of my older works too, I’m glad they enjoyed it”. It’s an archive, it is meant to be a collection of transformative works, old and new, and you are meant to find them. 

In fact, if you find a work that is from five years ago and you really liked it? I bet the author would love a comment even then.

Stories are written to be read. 

Part of why there’s sortable searches at AO3 is to let you find fics for a now-dormant fandom, fics that are no longer canon-compliant after the new episodes, fics that work with fanon tropes that are no longer popular, fics from authors who are no longer actively writing… and just fics that weren’t written recently. 

And yet I see it touted constantly by writers and those who support writers, often bringing up the example of “Steven King writes 8 hours every day!” 

Here’s my counter-advice to anyone and everyone who has heard this “real writers write every day” crap. 

It’s a lie. It’s an absolute, outright lie, to say someone can write every single day without fail. Even the people who do it professionally take breaks. Even the people whose entire livelihoods are based on the written word will take time out and just relax. And that’s not even bringing up writer’s block or anything similar to it, or just feeling like you don’t want to write today. 

That’s all okay. I’ve spent weeks not writing before getting back to it, I’ve dropped projects and started them months later under new names, I’ve done all manner of things that so flagrantly fly in the face of the statement “real writers write every day” that frankly, for a long time, I started to think I wasn’t a real writer.

But that’s bullshit. You can take a break for any reason. Depression, work, illness, and and so forth may actively stop you from writing. You could spend time with your loved ones, or playing video games, or cuddling a dog, or going out to a bar, and choose to not write. That doesn’t make you a fake writer, it just makes you a human. 

A writer has to write, yes, and often too. But there is no universal law that you have to do it every day. There is more to life than staring at words on a screen. As Daniel Jose Older has said: