meridian_rose

I was on the fence about doing NaNoWriMo this year. Last year there was a huge scandal including abuse/exploitation of minors which I didn't hear about until more recently, and this year they've decided using AI is okay with them.

There are many, many, articles about the scandal and here are just two as a starting point: No More NanoWriMo Reddit post with a bullet point list of concerns and this article The Fall of NaNoWriMo by Raven Oak

The AI thing...they got called out and doubled down claiming it was essential for those with differences and disabilities and really they meant stuff like proofing and feedback (except they refused to specifically call out using an AI to write the actual words). Again, more kickback, including from those with differences and disabilities whose work has been used to train AI without consent.
No More NaNoWriMo by Cass Morris Writes is a good starting point.

There are plenty of tools like Grammarly to help proofread your work for SPAG errors, and I don't see how AI can possibly give you good feedback the way a human reader can. There's little community with the boards closed and issues around meetups, and the AI push, some have said, feels like more of the same, a move to isolation instead of the joy of meeting other writers.
It also detracts from the fact that writing is something personal for most. We're not talking about using AI to write a good cover email when applying for a job, it's more like using AI to write a journal article for a job article and pretend it is your own work, or to write a poem and pretend it came from your heart.
As kitarella_imagines said when I mentioned this latest debacle, it's more like "NaAiWriMo".

There have always been issues with NaNoWriMo. There have always been detractors of writing 50k in a month as valuing quantity over quality, and the idea of an AI churning out words for you just adds to that.
Despite that I've participated a few times. But I've won twice; I won NaNo in 2022 and used my 50% off discount 'prize' to purchase Scrivener. I don't need to win there again. I haven't yet deleted my account at the website but I'm thinking about doing a download if possible or screencap my past accomplishments and then doing so.

Get Your Words Out I'm a member of getyourwordsout which comes with two amazing spreadsheets for tracking. They have regular posts including encouragement, advice, and challenges. There are weekly NaNo check-ins during November.
If you choose a wordcount pledge you could take into account trying for 50k in November when picking the amount to aim for, or plan to write every day that month if choosing a habit pledge. Sign ups are closed until later this year however.

Alternative tracking tools - this tumblr post itself a screencap of a twitter post mentions several alternative ways to track your wordcount, timing, etc.
edit: the first one listed Track Bear even allows you to import your NaNoWriMo stats!
edit 2: I've done this. The NaNoWriMo site seems to have been updated since I last used it and it wouldn't accept my log in, however Track Bear was able to use the *same* details to log in and import my projects on my behalf. So I have my project data backed up but I cannot, unless I reset my password, get into the NaNo site to delete my account *sigh*

You Should be Writing I'm also a member of ushobwri the You Should Be Writing group. During November the community hosts

Miserable Fucks November Social (MiFuNoSo): This is the big one! During the month of November we have daily posts on a variety of writing topics, and daily wordcounts to support anyone participating in NaNoWriMo and any number of other challenges and fests taking place in November.

Although I didn't do NaNo last year I was writing a number of things including my Yuletide story assignment. I wrote 22 days out of 30 and got some good advice from the community.

I am looking at some ideas and thinking if I want to outline one to tackle in November. I'm not doing Small Fandom Bang this time. I'm brainstorming Yuletide nominations. There are plenty of other ways to write and find community.

If you have links to alternatives to using the NaNoWriMo site, from writing challenges in November, to writing groups, to tracking tools, please feel free to add them in the comments.

Edit 3: Also this article has some interesting thoughts Why AI isn't going to make art by Ted Chiang

I'm still processing things but I'm slowly moving on, realising part of the anger is because I got dumped without chance to defend myself when I should have left them ages ago given how often they managed to be insensitive.
Also that's three ex-friend bisexuals who've managed to pull shit about my being asexual and it's really starting to wear thin. I still believe that bisexual people aren't all like them, but I keep seeing otherwise and it sucks. I don't tend to have much in common with other asexuals online either, which is frustrating.

I've written a little, and edited quite a bit, things I'd started a while back and finally polished and posted.
I signed up for NaNo but I don't know if I'll actually participate, or if I'll do rebel NaNo and include anything I write in November.
I got my Yuletide assignment and I'm happy with it and have some potential fic to work on soon which is nice! I'm also pretty sure which fandom I requested will be the one I got matched on and I'll be excited to see what gift I get ;
I like to write treat fic too; it was a bit disappointing skimming a few letters and seeing someone asking for the same fic I wrote as treat fic last year. Maybe they just reposted their letter without updating it. But still. It wasn't just "I'd love a coffee shop au" type deal either, but a very specific thing, say "A works as a barista and B is a student that A starts giving free coffee to but then they find out B's ex is the coffee shop owner and angst ensues". I can't help wonder if it's because I didn't include Explicit Sex that the treat fic which hit all the points they wanted wasn't good enough :/ (Bonus since my assignee last year didn't respond to either fic I wrote for them nor the two treat fics other authors gifted them, which is against the spirit of yuletide. Luckily we all got comments from other readers.)
It won't stop me writing more treat fic for others though. And one of the treat fics from last year finally got a comment from the person I'd tried to gift it to (but their Ao3 name didn't seem to match their DW name where I read their letter).

Thing I did this week: back up my harddrive. Maybe some of you need a reminder to back up data? :)

Last week I was outside in a t-shirt. This week I'm thinking winter has arrived!

I'll be away the rest of the week and will catch up when I get back. I've scheduled posts for the professional blog (the Samhain post I published here today).

Have a good week everyone!

50,021 words so far!
I didn’t think I’d win NaNo this year. I had some bad days, some days I didn’t write for NaNo, some days I wrote nothing at all. I made it, and though the novel is far from finished, it’s significantly further along now!

I couldn’t have done it without dreamywritingdragon/tinamour listening to me whine, encouraging me along, sending me gifs when I reached a goal, reading snippets, and brainstorming! Thank you!

I'm still not wanting to talk much. But I'm writing. I'm attempting NaNoWriMo. I'm participating in Yuletide.

I miss more community and interaction in fandom. I hate the fandom policing and sexuality policing that Tumblr revels in.

I hope you're all doing okay.

I'm not pariticpating in the current round of therealljidol for various reasons (you can sign up until Wednesday if you'd like to). But I will probably read and vote. There's also scope to write non-voting entries for the prompts. This week's is "I need the struggle to feel alive". And I could not disagree more.

I take pleasure in completion of projects, and overcoming some obstacles. Think of an online game; you can complete tasks, save points, buy upgrades. Or you can pay for the upgrades. Which is more satisfying? The one where you put the work in. But constant struggling is not fun, not satisfying, not rewarding. Working witout achieving success is soul destroying.

Which brings me to apathy.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference - Elie Wiesel

the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works - Samuel Johnson

My NaNo failures continue. I skipped a day yesterday, out for a Christmas Shopping & Meal Out with my sister and a movie on the night with family. I don't regret it but it means my wordcount deficit is now staggering, 10.5k, and if I write nothing today 12k.

I've posted a ficlet and a fic during NaNo, hoping feedback would help inspire me to do more. But no matter how many posts I make, or how much fic I post, or fic promo posts I post, I'm not getting comments on fic, barely any reblogs of tumblr posts. Same for journal entries I make, and comments I leave on entries and on fic; barely any response. I've made an effort to make more posts this month. I've made an effort to leave more comments on fic this month and got responses to less than half.

Apathy cannot kill my creative urge entirely but it can sap it enough that I see no reason to finish anything* or share it publicly, and jfc it's laughable to think about original work when fanfic (even about a popular ship) can't muster up enthusiasm from a built-in audience.**
I'm just feeling down for a few reasons right now, this is just one of them but it's a big one. Writing has always felt like who I am and if that's pointless, it's all pointless.***

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* 2 x 10k fics one in each of those same two fandoms, why bother? Because I made a commitment is all I've got right now.

** cue "oh you should only write for yourself and not care at all about audience"; if I write for myself and myself alone why post? I've got unposted fanfic novellas that are for me. If I'm posting it's because I'm sharing.
If I write you a personal email I'm talking to you, if I make a filtered post I'm talking to a select group of people, if I make a public post I'm saying "I exist, I am here, I have thoughts, I have made this thing, please listen and respond in kind."

*** cue "you should have more REAL interests"; you think real life friends haven't dropped me once they get spouses/kids, you think I should get a partner when society keeps making it clear that asexuals don't deserve relationships because sex is the be-all-and-end-all of partnerships. Or maybe you think my clerking job (which I do enjoy and get some satisfaction from) is a replacement for the desire to create and be heard? I'm tired of being told I should get more "real work"/be an editor/take up *insert non-creative activity here*; I'm looking to succeed in what I love, not do what anyone else thinks I should be doing.

I edited the fic from yesterday – I know, I know, but I want to get something posted soon. 325 words.
Total today: 325
NaNoWriMo total: 20123
deficit: *wilfully ignores*

Edited (17 words) and posted DvD ficlet.
Yuletide treat fic 345 words
Started new Black Sails fic 719
Total today: 1081
NaNoWriMo total: 16400
deficit: 5271

Reporting in daily keeps me more accountable (at least at Tumblr where there's some interaction with other participants, I'm mostly just crossposting here for the sake of it). I could with do this sort of thing more often, just not all the time!

I wrote meta ("Dark Heart" tv review) and posted it to my professional blog 522 words
I wrote another Yuletide treat fic, 1711 words
I started another Yuletide treat fic, 303 words
(1 assigned fic, five treats + one in progress, three fandoms + four including the WiP)
NaNoWriMo total: 13017
deficit: 5320 – it went down slightly!

I wrote yet another Yuletide treat fic, 1003 words. At some point I will have to edit these.
I wrote a scene or half a scene for one of my many, many DvD WiPs, 395 words.
Total words today: 1398
Total to date: 8968
deficit: 6035
(Ugh, I should not have calculated my deficit.)

I wrote 27 words in the course of editing my Legend of the Seeker fic which is now posted well before the deadline.

I also wrote 1117 words for a Yuletide treat fic.
The first year I did Yuletide I wrote treat fics, that is extra fics other than my assignment. I've been fortunate enough to receive treat fics on a few occasions during the years I've been partipcating. Each year I say I'm going to write treat fics but every year since that first one, I have not managed it for various reasons. One year I did manage a New Year’s Resolution fic (any treat fic written for a participant after the reveal and before the next Yuletide prep).
So I'm glad I've got the first draft of that done. And it is long enough to be an assigned fic (ie over 1k). I still have the first draft of my assigned fic to edit.
Thing is they're both in the same fandom and in fact are meant for the same person; I felt so guilty about the short length of my assigned fic (not much over the 1k minimum, where I usually aim for 3k or above) I have written a second fic. It's still technically a treat – or one of them is – but ffs what am I even doing?!

EDIT: my memory is faulty; in looking up past fics to find an average I have written plenty of less than 2k fics before. *doh* My average wordcount for a Yuletide fic is 2900 approx and that includes an outlier with over 6k. As usual I am worrying too much.

At least that's 1k towards my NaNo goal on which I am still very much behind. Maybe I'll get back to what I planned on writing today, a long stalled DvD fic that will be a hurt/comfort bingo fill. Or another Yuletide treat fic, I have a list of potential treats.

Also today I started a Pinterest board for one of my Small Fandom Big Bang fics; I have one for a previous entry and it was helpful for me to store my inspiration (and the resulting artwork) and for my assigned artist to have things to work with since at the time they hadn’t yet seen Da Vinci's Demons plus this was a modern AU. They did join the fandom by the way :)
So it made sense to start a Black Sails modern au/medical drama board for one of my two planned SFBB fics right? I mean it's research! AKA I spent a lot of time today listening to Robert Palmer and looking at pictures of Luke Arnold. What even is my life.
I have a second board to make, Da Vinci's Demons Regency AU and I expect to lose more time than anticipated then too!

I might squeeze in a few more words this evening but as it stands my NaNo total is 6318.

What have you been doing to procrastinate and how are your fics coming along?