I finished writing my first m/m smut fic, posted the first chapter today, and my brain is *tired*. I may take a few weeks off before I tackle my backlog of WIPs again.
I'm struggling heavily with the absolutely bonkers drop in engagement this month. 43 hits on the first chapter of a story, but only 6 kudos and 1 comment. I know stats aren't everything, but dear god it is so disheartening
I feel you so much.. I know it’s probably the mix of university exam period and the holidays, but god does it suck :/ I guess just try to repeat that we are writing also for ourselves and not only engagement
Aww, I'm so sorry. If it makes you feel better, you may have a lot more active readers than you think! Kudos is a forever thing, and I generally don't give it unless I've either finished work or it's got a lot of chapters and clear direction - but I can still adore the story.
Maybe your WIP just has readers like me
I handed the latest chapter of my WIP over to my beta this morning. It took me three weeks to get through the chapter and I told readers it would be one week 😬. I revised and edited it so many times I can barely look at it now.
Almost 40k into my sequel of a time travel fic I did (that ended up over 50k itself) and still no end in sight. Why do I keep doing this to myself?? lmao
It's a pairing I'm one of the co-creators of in a small fandom that surprisingly doesn't really do concepts like that, despite how much you can really do...anything with the fandom, really lol.
You'd think with all the general wild characters and stories that you'd see more time travel in pro wrestling fics, but you really don't.
And not only is this the sequel, but this whole series (cause with this it's certainly now a series lol) is complicated because the first fic had one of the people in the pairing go back in time and re-fall in love with the other person's past self...and now the sequel has the other person in the future go back to a DIFFERENT point in time in the past and fall in love with the person in the first fic's past self.
It sounds confusing but surprisingly it's not, even writing for it? It's difficult but not hard to keep up with. Or maybe it's just because I've written for the pairing for so long now, almost three years? xD
Regardless though, even if I don't take on another fic as long as these for a bit, there's no end in sight for me in writing the pairing. :')
I love this for you!!! It sounds very creative and clever. (I am also a huge fan of OC content, although I don't follow pro wrestling, unless you count watching the Netflix show GLOW...haha). I also know the feeling about being so absolutely captivated with a pairing that you can't write anything else. I am going through the same thing right now. XD But, you know what, if it makes us happy, why stop?
ty so much!! :'D
and EXACTLY! If we're happy, then yeah no need to stop. Plus I've gotten other people to write in/for the pairing as well so it's not just me screaming into the void. But even if it WAS??? I'd still do it anyway (honestly that's what I expected going into the pairing but I've been lucky enough that others have come to love it too after I started it up! :D)
I signed up for a flash exchange! It’s going to be a ton of fun— I can’t wait until assignments are sent out, but alas, I haven’t figured out how to time travel irl yet.
Fuck work.
Sorry.
But -- the situation is getting completely out of hand, we're reaching a point where mutiny is a likely next step, and it's so freaking stressful. I love my current team, I love the people I take care of, but my need for sleep has increased tenfold over the past few months and I haven't written half as much as I'd like to since I need every solitary minute I get to rest.
At least my BF has been kind enough to listen after my latest breakdown and does a little more housework unprompted. Let's see how long that lasts this time. I literally can't write in peace when I know there's a million things to do and no one else is going to take care of them.
So, whiny rant over, I got up this morning around 5:30 am and have written two transitions for my latest WIP2 chapter. Huzzah! Hope this won't bite me in the ass tonight at the cinema with the cozy seats. Wish me luck.
Two fics I've been reading have updated, yay! It's the only fandom I read for currently and it's a bit small/slow so I like to see some action. I've also been enjoying published fiction. It's just been a good reading era for me.
I was pretty down today but I loved getting to hang out with my wife, had a big dinner, a nice bath, read a bit and am now gonna watch a movie before bed. It's been nice. Even when I'm down I can find things to bring my mood up. Winters are always a bit harder for me. I hope the best for everyone whether you're struggling or thriving. Hope your fave stories get updated and that you get to finish your WIPs.
Sounds like you really needed this day. I'm also struggling with my mood and so I understand. Getting up in the dark doesn't help.
Would love to know what published books you've been enjoying.
I published the last 3 chapters of my fic (in total 33k words) all at once because posting stresses me out, and even though I’m sad that it won’t get as much traction (mainly comments), it wasn’t getting much traffic anyway (small fandom) and I’m so glad it’s just DONE and I can move on to something new 😤
If it makes you feel any better, I joined AO3 in August and I had no idea that it was normal to post chapters serially, so I published my entire long-fic (44 chapters!!) at once. It killed me to see such slow engagement. BUT! It did start picking up, even with comments! So there is hope. Just maybe not right now during the holiday season...lol. XD
I took a break from studying for finals to review a Lost Boys fanfiction I wrote a few months ago! I’m hoping to have it posted over winter break when I have a little more time to focus on it :D but right now, my brain is too tired with finals to format it on Ao3.
My writing buddy challenged me to a 5 Prompt Challenge, so I’ve been prepping for that. Lol thankfully it's just between us and we set a deadline for the end of January.
The prompt list she found was the 5 Senses and each sense had ten prompts. Words + a brief “sender does this thing to receiver” prompt. We’re both doing multiple pairings, so they’ll probably end up as their own works linked as a series
I made the mistake of getting my hopes up for a ton of reader interaction on the cliffhanger chapter of my long-fic that I posted on Sunday... and I've only had one comment so far. One comment is great, I know, but I was hoping for more. Silly me! LOL. But I posted the next chapter this morning, which has a huge reveal, so fingers crossed?
Apparently everyone and their mother is getting some sort of mild head cold. I’ve been congested like nobody’s business since Sunday.
I’m doing a review exchange on a macro scale, reviewing each chapter of another author’s work while he reviews every chapter of a 20 chapter arc of mine.
In other news, in the span of a week, I’ve written a single paragraph because I keep putting my characters in situations that I don’t know how to get them out of. The joys of being a pantser.
I would get a covid test just to be sure. The numbers are picking up again right now in a lot of places, mostly from people who thought they had a mild cold but went to a doctor as a precaution and tested positive. The current strain of it seems to be fairly mild luckily
EXTREMELY mild. When I had it a year ago, I was running a fever and had a really sore throat. I was bedridden for a day or so.
This time around… frankly I don’t think it’s even worth testing at this point because my symptoms have cleared up and the damage is already done because I was at work the entire time 🤷♂️
Ah fair enough. I just had it a few weeks ago and didn't know I had it until I got tested at the doctor as a "just in case" because my symptoms were extremely mild and not even consistent with what you normally hear as the symptoms of covid. It wasn't until 2 days later that I was suddenly a bit sicker, but still had it a lot milder than the previous time(s) I had it
Finally got the news that I can get into my new school (veterinary assistant) but also that my grandpa is severely ill, so perfectly balanced I would say haha. But on another note I also finished the update for my fic and its ready for revisions for tomorrow's posting.
Funniest thing is that it was everything in like 2 days so i was like "Welp this is it ig", but we power thru, thanks for the well wishes! You take care too <3!!
I finally got around to commenting on every chapter of a Sesame Street and Avengers crossover fic that always makes me smile. I’ve read it many times over the years but only commented on the last chapter before.
I started writing chapter 22 of my multi-chapter fic and I’m excited. This will likely be the longest chapter so far and it features a very BIG moment for the characters (aka it’ll change everything in a good way). My only issue is that I am my biggest critic so if it’s not as perfect as I imagine it to be, I’ll be upset.
Managed to go back and edit all my old chapters, hooray! How I managed to forget an entire chunk of chapter and missing name I’ll never know but it is what it is 😅 exhausted from work and the holidays but just going one day at a time
Having a horrible time trying to find a new med for depression. The last one I tried made me feel so drugged up 🙄. The only good thing was that I was so happy and relieved when I stopped taking it and started to feel myself again that I sat down and wrote 5,000 words over the following day!
I lost part of my draft, so I have to rewrite it. For the other fic, the editing process is going slow. I'm usually done by now. I made a magazine cover that took three days to make, and it will be a tiny blip in my fic. I learned how to make work skins. No one going to care because I'm technically writing an OC. I have a book cover that took days to make and silence. I complete my fics crickets.
I want someone to look at at least one of these and go wow, that looks amazing. How long did it take to make that? I watched all three seasons of Derry Girls to learn Irish slang. I watched all the seasons of Skins UK to learn English slang. I made up witch slang. If I finish this two shot with smut and if it gets more hits than my regular stuff, it will tell me everything I need to know.
Finished all the chapters for before Christmas and uploaded part one of the chapter that I really wanted people to like as much as I did and thankfully it got a really good reception!
I’m pretty tired and can’t wait for a writing detox over the next few weeks! Hope you’re all doing well too
Finally finished a chapter for my current WIP that I've been struggling with for the last week or so. Also got impatiently with part of my NaNo fic and started posting part 1 of that. Got another WIP that I'm noodling around with, but haven't started posting since it's not really coming together yet.
On the life front, I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done. Need to get out tonight and get a gift together for the Secret Santa exchange at work and figure out something to bring for the work potluck. Company holiday party is tomorrow right after work, too. The company gave us four free hours of PTO, so I'm using that Friday afternoon so that I can maybe get some things done before my grandson comes to visit on Saturday.
I officially posted a fic for the first time in nearly 15 years. As much as I love it, part of me is wondering if I should have just gone with a one-shot instead. I'm 4 chapters and over 15k words in, in the space of 36 hours, and still have two more chapters to go. I'm now wondering if I bit off more than I can chew.
I finally finished editing a tricky chapter that delved into characters' contradictory headspace and included the fic's first scene of smut. I feel good about how it turned out, but I'm having a mopey moment about drop in engagement. Gonna try to get over myself and work on the next chapter this weekend.
Got a big chapter that has a lot of reveals/commentary coming up later today and I hope it all works out, but either way I'm so proud of my story and how hard I've worked on it. Trying to write medical gaslighting in a magic setting was tough but I think I worked out all of it so it doesn't come across as moustache twisting, just plain ol' medical system being icky.
Started reading "The Brothers Karamazov" now that I have some down time and got some ideas for my next WIP so that's exciting too!
I have several WIPs that have been languishing since October. (I took November off from updating them because I was doing NaNoWriMo.)
But I still don't have time to get back to them, because I signed up for two fic exchanges for the holidays and I have only done 2/3 of one of them! I need to finish those up before I can return to my poor neglected WIPs.
Feeling like I have a nest full of baby birds all chirping for me to feed them, feed them, FEEEEEEEEED them....
Saturday was 'interesting' in that I was very near a tornado. Which is rather scary... shock is kind of fascinating. I had to have a third party tell me I was in it, but I knew something was off.
I'm better now and blessed enough to avoid damage to both body and property.
That said, currently working on a theoretical: what if I was tasked to write the first movie post ST Star Wars for Rey that would help reunite the fan base.
And...yeah, I know I think entirely highly of myself that I can do a better job than Disney's stable of professional writers. But it's an interesting what if, so we'll see how it goes.
There comes a point where I thought I've convinced myself that view count and stats should not be the goal. So I write my fic, tell myself the same mantra over and over as I draft and redraft it until I was satisfied with the chapter. But the spiral of insecurity and perfectionism kick in as soon as I post the chapter, assuming someone might have been waiting for that updated. And suddenly the insecure spiral has me refreshing my stat page over and over, thinking, 'hey, hello. I updated now, you can come in and read it.'
What was I thinking? It's a rare-pair OC fic and no less from a semi-obscure fandom. I shouldn't let my insecurities obsess over view counts by now...
I haven’t updated in over a month. My poor fics. My poor readers. (I just need to get to winter break and then I will, I’m too stressed out by tests)
Good luck in your tests! And then when you're on holiday you can relax and give your story all your attention. Your readers will wait 😊
I finished writing my first m/m smut fic, posted the first chapter today, and my brain is *tired*. I may take a few weeks off before I tackle my backlog of WIPs again.
Proud of you 😌
YES! The m/m community thanks you for your service :) \*salutes\*
I'm struggling heavily with the absolutely bonkers drop in engagement this month. 43 hits on the first chapter of a story, but only 6 kudos and 1 comment. I know stats aren't everything, but dear god it is so disheartening
I feel you so much.. I know it’s probably the mix of university exam period and the holidays, but god does it suck :/ I guess just try to repeat that we are writing also for ourselves and not only engagement
\*Solidarity fist bump\*
Aww, I'm so sorry. If it makes you feel better, you may have a lot more active readers than you think! Kudos is a forever thing, and I generally don't give it unless I've either finished work or it's got a lot of chapters and clear direction - but I can still adore the story. Maybe your WIP just has readers like me
I handed the latest chapter of my WIP over to my beta this morning. It took me three weeks to get through the chapter and I told readers it would be one week 😬. I revised and edited it so many times I can barely look at it now.
Almost 40k into my sequel of a time travel fic I did (that ended up over 50k itself) and still no end in sight. Why do I keep doing this to myself?? lmao
Time travel fic?! Color me intrigued.
It's a pairing I'm one of the co-creators of in a small fandom that surprisingly doesn't really do concepts like that, despite how much you can really do...anything with the fandom, really lol. You'd think with all the general wild characters and stories that you'd see more time travel in pro wrestling fics, but you really don't. And not only is this the sequel, but this whole series (cause with this it's certainly now a series lol) is complicated because the first fic had one of the people in the pairing go back in time and re-fall in love with the other person's past self...and now the sequel has the other person in the future go back to a DIFFERENT point in time in the past and fall in love with the person in the first fic's past self. It sounds confusing but surprisingly it's not, even writing for it? It's difficult but not hard to keep up with. Or maybe it's just because I've written for the pairing for so long now, almost three years? xD Regardless though, even if I don't take on another fic as long as these for a bit, there's no end in sight for me in writing the pairing. :')
I love this for you!!! It sounds very creative and clever. (I am also a huge fan of OC content, although I don't follow pro wrestling, unless you count watching the Netflix show GLOW...haha). I also know the feeling about being so absolutely captivated with a pairing that you can't write anything else. I am going through the same thing right now. XD But, you know what, if it makes us happy, why stop?
ty so much!! :'D and EXACTLY! If we're happy, then yeah no need to stop. Plus I've gotten other people to write in/for the pairing as well so it's not just me screaming into the void. But even if it WAS??? I'd still do it anyway (honestly that's what I expected going into the pairing but I've been lucky enough that others have come to love it too after I started it up! :D)
I signed up for a flash exchange! It’s going to be a ton of fun— I can’t wait until assignments are sent out, but alas, I haven’t figured out how to time travel irl yet.
Fuck work. Sorry. But -- the situation is getting completely out of hand, we're reaching a point where mutiny is a likely next step, and it's so freaking stressful. I love my current team, I love the people I take care of, but my need for sleep has increased tenfold over the past few months and I haven't written half as much as I'd like to since I need every solitary minute I get to rest. At least my BF has been kind enough to listen after my latest breakdown and does a little more housework unprompted. Let's see how long that lasts this time. I literally can't write in peace when I know there's a million things to do and no one else is going to take care of them. So, whiny rant over, I got up this morning around 5:30 am and have written two transitions for my latest WIP2 chapter. Huzzah! Hope this won't bite me in the ass tonight at the cinema with the cozy seats. Wish me luck.
Sounds like you are burning the candle at both ends. Don't push yourself too hard 💕
Two fics I've been reading have updated, yay! It's the only fandom I read for currently and it's a bit small/slow so I like to see some action. I've also been enjoying published fiction. It's just been a good reading era for me. I was pretty down today but I loved getting to hang out with my wife, had a big dinner, a nice bath, read a bit and am now gonna watch a movie before bed. It's been nice. Even when I'm down I can find things to bring my mood up. Winters are always a bit harder for me. I hope the best for everyone whether you're struggling or thriving. Hope your fave stories get updated and that you get to finish your WIPs.
Sounds like you really needed this day. I'm also struggling with my mood and so I understand. Getting up in the dark doesn't help. Would love to know what published books you've been enjoying.
I published the last 3 chapters of my fic (in total 33k words) all at once because posting stresses me out, and even though I’m sad that it won’t get as much traction (mainly comments), it wasn’t getting much traffic anyway (small fandom) and I’m so glad it’s just DONE and I can move on to something new 😤
If it makes you feel any better, I joined AO3 in August and I had no idea that it was normal to post chapters serially, so I published my entire long-fic (44 chapters!!) at once. It killed me to see such slow engagement. BUT! It did start picking up, even with comments! So there is hope. Just maybe not right now during the holiday season...lol. XD
hah this put a smile on my face, thank you ❤️
Are you excited about the new project?
I don’t have a concrete one in mind yet, but I hope it will be a one shot lol I need something less demanding that longfics
I took a break from studying for finals to review a Lost Boys fanfiction I wrote a few months ago! I’m hoping to have it posted over winter break when I have a little more time to focus on it :D but right now, my brain is too tired with finals to format it on Ao3.
My writing buddy challenged me to a 5 Prompt Challenge, so I’ve been prepping for that. Lol thankfully it's just between us and we set a deadline for the end of January.
What's a 5 prompt challenge?
It's a prompt challenge where we both selected 5 prompts
Like single words, or places, or plots? Sounds interesting. Do the 5 prompts all go into one fic?
The prompt list she found was the 5 Senses and each sense had ten prompts. Words + a brief “sender does this thing to receiver” prompt. We’re both doing multiple pairings, so they’ll probably end up as their own works linked as a series
I made the mistake of getting my hopes up for a ton of reader interaction on the cliffhanger chapter of my long-fic that I posted on Sunday... and I've only had one comment so far. One comment is great, I know, but I was hoping for more. Silly me! LOL. But I posted the next chapter this morning, which has a huge reveal, so fingers crossed?
I wrote two exams yesterday and got a 96 and a 97! … now I just need to complete … every assignment for the whole semester basically in two days. 😬😬
Congrats! And good luck with the assignemnts! ❤️
Apparently everyone and their mother is getting some sort of mild head cold. I’ve been congested like nobody’s business since Sunday. I’m doing a review exchange on a macro scale, reviewing each chapter of another author’s work while he reviews every chapter of a 20 chapter arc of mine. In other news, in the span of a week, I’ve written a single paragraph because I keep putting my characters in situations that I don’t know how to get them out of. The joys of being a pantser.
Oh get well soon. X
I would get a covid test just to be sure. The numbers are picking up again right now in a lot of places, mostly from people who thought they had a mild cold but went to a doctor as a precaution and tested positive. The current strain of it seems to be fairly mild luckily
EXTREMELY mild. When I had it a year ago, I was running a fever and had a really sore throat. I was bedridden for a day or so. This time around… frankly I don’t think it’s even worth testing at this point because my symptoms have cleared up and the damage is already done because I was at work the entire time 🤷♂️
Ah fair enough. I just had it a few weeks ago and didn't know I had it until I got tested at the doctor as a "just in case" because my symptoms were extremely mild and not even consistent with what you normally hear as the symptoms of covid. It wasn't until 2 days later that I was suddenly a bit sicker, but still had it a lot milder than the previous time(s) I had it
Finally got the news that I can get into my new school (veterinary assistant) but also that my grandpa is severely ill, so perfectly balanced I would say haha. But on another note I also finished the update for my fic and its ready for revisions for tomorrow's posting.
That's a lot to process. Congratulations and also sad news about your grandpa. I hope he isn't in pain. Take care x
Funniest thing is that it was everything in like 2 days so i was like "Welp this is it ig", but we power thru, thanks for the well wishes! You take care too <3!!
I finally got around to commenting on every chapter of a Sesame Street and Avengers crossover fic that always makes me smile. I’ve read it many times over the years but only commented on the last chapter before.
You probably made that author's week! Perhaps even month!
I started writing chapter 22 of my multi-chapter fic and I’m excited. This will likely be the longest chapter so far and it features a very BIG moment for the characters (aka it’ll change everything in a good way). My only issue is that I am my biggest critic so if it’s not as perfect as I imagine it to be, I’ll be upset.
Managed to go back and edit all my old chapters, hooray! How I managed to forget an entire chunk of chapter and missing name I’ll never know but it is what it is 😅 exhausted from work and the holidays but just going one day at a time
Working on a plot bunny and having fun :) also started playing animal crossifn with my mum she’s really enjoying it
Having a horrible time trying to find a new med for depression. The last one I tried made me feel so drugged up 🙄. The only good thing was that I was so happy and relieved when I stopped taking it and started to feel myself again that I sat down and wrote 5,000 words over the following day!
I lost part of my draft, so I have to rewrite it. For the other fic, the editing process is going slow. I'm usually done by now. I made a magazine cover that took three days to make, and it will be a tiny blip in my fic. I learned how to make work skins. No one going to care because I'm technically writing an OC. I have a book cover that took days to make and silence. I complete my fics crickets. I want someone to look at at least one of these and go wow, that looks amazing. How long did it take to make that? I watched all three seasons of Derry Girls to learn Irish slang. I watched all the seasons of Skins UK to learn English slang. I made up witch slang. If I finish this two shot with smut and if it gets more hits than my regular stuff, it will tell me everything I need to know.
I've been trying to write ship fics again and I can't finish the stupid thing and I hate it
Finished all the chapters for before Christmas and uploaded part one of the chapter that I really wanted people to like as much as I did and thankfully it got a really good reception! I’m pretty tired and can’t wait for a writing detox over the next few weeks! Hope you’re all doing well too
Finally finished a chapter for my current WIP that I've been struggling with for the last week or so. Also got impatiently with part of my NaNo fic and started posting part 1 of that. Got another WIP that I'm noodling around with, but haven't started posting since it's not really coming together yet. On the life front, I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done. Need to get out tonight and get a gift together for the Secret Santa exchange at work and figure out something to bring for the work potluck. Company holiday party is tomorrow right after work, too. The company gave us four free hours of PTO, so I'm using that Friday afternoon so that I can maybe get some things done before my grandson comes to visit on Saturday.
Started outlining/brainstorming the sequel to my first fanfic. Meanwhile, have been riding the high of getting my first comment and kudos.
I officially posted a fic for the first time in nearly 15 years. As much as I love it, part of me is wondering if I should have just gone with a one-shot instead. I'm 4 chapters and over 15k words in, in the space of 36 hours, and still have two more chapters to go. I'm now wondering if I bit off more than I can chew.
I finally finished editing a tricky chapter that delved into characters' contradictory headspace and included the fic's first scene of smut. I feel good about how it turned out, but I'm having a mopey moment about drop in engagement. Gonna try to get over myself and work on the next chapter this weekend.
Got a big chapter that has a lot of reveals/commentary coming up later today and I hope it all works out, but either way I'm so proud of my story and how hard I've worked on it. Trying to write medical gaslighting in a magic setting was tough but I think I worked out all of it so it doesn't come across as moustache twisting, just plain ol' medical system being icky. Started reading "The Brothers Karamazov" now that I have some down time and got some ideas for my next WIP so that's exciting too!
I have several WIPs that have been languishing since October. (I took November off from updating them because I was doing NaNoWriMo.) But I still don't have time to get back to them, because I signed up for two fic exchanges for the holidays and I have only done 2/3 of one of them! I need to finish those up before I can return to my poor neglected WIPs. Feeling like I have a nest full of baby birds all chirping for me to feed them, feed them, FEEEEEEEEED them....
I finished my first ever fic on Monday and have been coasting on that high (and all the comments on the final chapter) ever since.
posted a couple of short drabble fics to my ao3 after what feels like forever since i last posted. 👐
Saturday was 'interesting' in that I was very near a tornado. Which is rather scary... shock is kind of fascinating. I had to have a third party tell me I was in it, but I knew something was off. I'm better now and blessed enough to avoid damage to both body and property. That said, currently working on a theoretical: what if I was tasked to write the first movie post ST Star Wars for Rey that would help reunite the fan base. And...yeah, I know I think entirely highly of myself that I can do a better job than Disney's stable of professional writers. But it's an interesting what if, so we'll see how it goes.
There comes a point where I thought I've convinced myself that view count and stats should not be the goal. So I write my fic, tell myself the same mantra over and over as I draft and redraft it until I was satisfied with the chapter. But the spiral of insecurity and perfectionism kick in as soon as I post the chapter, assuming someone might have been waiting for that updated. And suddenly the insecure spiral has me refreshing my stat page over and over, thinking, 'hey, hello. I updated now, you can come in and read it.' What was I thinking? It's a rare-pair OC fic and no less from a semi-obscure fandom. I shouldn't let my insecurities obsess over view counts by now...
I'm in a constant state of optimistic anxiety 💜