Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I know there's already the "Creative writers assemble!" thread. This one's different.

This isn't really to share our work, but to receive and deliver encouragement, pats on the back, and kicks in the pants, as needed.

Cheer someone on, blow your own horn, offer advice about the writing process.

And don't make me go first.

if you want me to write writing, you'll have to ban me from the ppk. i can't seem to handle both at once. can we just play exquisite corpse instead?

I'm a poop about sitting down and writing. My best stuff came out of a creative writing class I had last year. And no stuff has really happened since.

Can we?

yes? i don't know. i guess we have to ask FootFace. this is his party.

i need to update my resume/CV, if that counts.

This is supposed to be for encouragement and stern talkings-to.

You could start an exquisite corpse thread, which, while not vegan, could be a lot of fun.

my best stuff is drunken smut written at 4am on facebook...whatta waste

I was puttin' in my writing hours this morning and I'm trying to finish a draft of this story I conceptualized back in the spring and I should have got it all down when it was all fresh and funny then but anyhoo, I'm still trying to finish it, and it's turning out waaaaay longer than I'd like it to be and it's nothing like I imagined it could be but I'm still just typing and getting it all down and I'll work it all out later and shrink it big time and get its fun back and even as I'm typing along and the story is flowing over the keys and my mind is hardly even in it, and I'm saying to myself 'this is shiitake, this is shiitake,' to the beat of my keystrokes and yeah, it's a first draft, and it will be shiitake for a while but once I start working it and polishing it and narrowing it down and distilling its essences and building it up and tearing it down until there's nothing left to build or tear of it, hopefully...it won't...be? So....there's some encouragement.

Yeah, it sucks. For me, I'm back to writing this middle-grade novel I started about 7 years ago. For the last couple months, I've been pretty disciplined (for me), and trying to just get. it. done. I alternate between "Wow! Look at me go! Oh, that part's good" and "This is garbage that no one else will be interested in and I should be embarrassed." But I have to keep going. I just have to. The 1st draft is about 85% done.

I printed it out this morning:

i think the internal back-and-forth between "look at me go!" and "why do i bother?" is universal. a writer who isn't his or her own worst critic is probably writing some heavy blather. getting that first draft down is so much more important than getting it right (especially because you can usually find people to help you with that second part).

Can I just kick people in the pants apropos of nothing?

My pants are off, kick 'em all you want.

I have been super lazy with writing in the past few weeks which is bad since I have a goal of eventually supporting myself entirely with freelance writing and it's not going to happen if I just get home from work every day and feel super tired and burnt out and then do nothing on the internet for hours.

You have every other thread for that.

I should be writing right now, but instead I am on here. No priorities, worthless. Could use a solid kick in the pants.

solid thread/backed hard

Pickup lines, PPK style.

Go write for a half hour and come back to crow about it.

Or an hour.

Or ten minutes.

It's all crow-worthy.

Was gonna write yesterday. Didn't. Intimidated by the almost-completely-unwritten third act.

you'll do it today! one paragraph, even.

hoping that this year's NaNoWriMo doesn't coincide with the huge forking translation like it did last year. Maybe I should stage my own personal NaNoWriMo.

I will!

My very modest daily goal is 250 words. One page-ish.

I still have to try not to shudder with shame and defensiveness when I read about Famous Authors™ who write for x hours a day. Look, Famous Jerks™, I'm doing what I can over here.

Do it footie! Don't be intimidated. It doesn't have to be great. It doesn't even have to be good. Just get it down for now. My present story is in a shambles right now but Imma salvage what I like when I'm all done and go from there. That's always what I do now and that cuts the intimidation of making a MASTERPIECE ON THE PAGE. I'm making a MESSTERPIECE. <3

Good one! I always thought working on a computer would lessen the effects of my fear/perfectionism. When it's so easy to undo something—or just file away an old version "just in case"—it should be easier to be bold. But it doesn't always work that way.

Earlier today I was going to waste time on the PPK and then I saw this thread so I finished a piece I had been working on and submitted it to my editor. IT WORKS.