Shadowless Dreams

Your writing is good enough. Stop doubting yourself. Stop criticizing yourself. You are a good writer. Yes, you can always improve your craft, but that doesn't mean that your writing sucks.

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@beautiful-infinite-universe @elenaroan @mandofury

“Is it okay if I….” yes, do it. Reblog your own post again. Promote the heck out of your fic. Tag that person in your post even if you think they won’t see it. Give yourself kudos. Add your thoughts to your reblog! Be unashamedly yourself and be proud of your content and creativity.

As a fiction writer with a self-imposed deadline and big plans for different projects, I wanted to say this to anyone who needs to hear it.

Go easy on yourself.

Do not push yourself beyond what you can handle if you are already doing as much as you can handle.

Do not put your health on the backburner in favor of whatever project or thing you are working on.

Be kind to yourself.

Have patience with yourself.

Indulge in your hobbies.

Work a decent amount, but always take time to recuperate.

If your body is exhausted and tired, or you can feel yourself getting sick, rest.

Your body knows what you need, and sometimes, often times, it needs rest more than it needs you pushing through it.

Be gentle with yourself physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

The project more often than not will be there tomorrow for you to deal with.

"Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around." -- Stephen King

Remember to treat yourselves well, writers. :)

actually @ every fanfiction writer whether you wrote something that got thousands of reblogs and comments and became a staple in your fandom, or you wrote one fic and deleted it, or you write mutilchaptered fics that never get a final update, or write short fics, or long fics, or used to write and now you don’t, or you deleted/orphaned your works, or you only share with friends:

thank you.

sharing your writing is hard. and sometimes it’s thankless. sometimes it’s such a negative experience that I wonder how anyone does it at all. but you are needed; you are wanted. whether or not we properly acknowledge it, you are a vital part of fandom culture. thanks for sharing.

How fucking annoying is it when you feel so restless with creative energy but you can’t decide what to do with it and when you finally try to create something it comes out shit so you just give up and sit there being all creatively annoyed and jittery.

1 - Decision Making Fatigue is a thing. –> Make a list of possibilities. –> Use a random number generator to pick something off the list. –> If you hate the idea cross it off and generate a new number. –> Continue until you either find a project or cross off the whole list. –> If you cross off the whole list pick a random short story prompt, write for five minutes, and call it a good work day.

2. Yeah, of course your rough draft sucks. It’s supposed to. –> Let it suck. –> You can fix it in edits. 

3. When you’re stressed you aren’t unbiased about your work. –> Don’t judge your work while your are actively working on it. –> Remember to drink water, take your meds/vitamins, eat something, and get sleep. –> Double-check to make sure the restless creative energy is not displaced emotional worries over something else. If it is, displace with intention and let the worries go into your work. You shouldn’t keep stress in your head, put it on a page, or canvas, or in a carving, or a meal, or something. Get it out and let it go.

4. No work is ever wasted. –> All time spent planning and creating is useful in some way.  –> Failure means you tried, which is good. –> Try again. Fail harder. Fail better. –> Keep going until you like what you’re making.

5. Love yourself enough to allow yourself to not be perfect. –> Seriously.  –> If this is a struggle I highly recommend seeing a doctor or therapist about depression. –> Because you are dang lovable, my friend. You rock. You do great things. I’m proud of you.

same energy

Commenting fanfiction is the easiest thing in the world once you start doing it. 

I leave a comment on every single fic I read. Sometimes when I read published books I go and leave a comment somewhere the author can find it. Granted, I literally majored in ‘leaving comments on fics’ (English Education), but once you start doing it it just becomes second nature. Now you’re gonna go to the Ozymandias school of leaving comments: 

Problem: I can’t leave kudos again.

Problem: I don’t know what to say :(

Problem: I’m embarrassed to leave a comment (what if I annoy the author?)

Problem: I don’t know how to express myself/my experience 

This? This is an amazing post. This is the Captain Awkward of commenting posts—it addresses all your fears directly and gives you actionable scripts for each one.

Idk what writer needs to hear this but MENTAL PLANNING IS PROGRESS! You don’t have to continue on your draft to feel productive! Any steps toward developing your story, even if it’s just mentally juggling plot ideas, is progress!