L.J. uses ARCH Linux btw @lj_writes@fandom.ink

Yesterday marked the first time I finished a full, if short, document in #Vim, and it went pretty well. One thing I like about Vim for #writing is that it separates drafting and editing, like at the function level, effectively pushing me to just write in Insert mode and edit separately in Normal mode. I can keep shifting between modes or just edit in Insert mode like other editors (which I sometimes did), but that's not how the software is built so it encourages me to enforce the separation.

I'm increasingly appreciating the benefits of #writing in #Asciidoc, especially for complex documents like the report I'm working on. It's so nice to just focus on the content without formatting decisions getting in my way, or having to interrupt the writing to apply styles. Writing plaintext is blazingly fast and convenient in general without the word processor bloat.

I know that the history from 2,000 years ago that I'm basing my #WIP on is more myth than fact (or mythologization of fact), but it's still wild to read historians' attempts to explain these accounts in real-life terms. By one theory, all else being equal my heroine's second husband went from being 8 years younger than her to 64~84 years older 😂 #research #writing #history

Me: Man I wish people would give me positive #feedback about my #writing
Someone: *says anything nice about my writing*
Me:

Is there a term for when you explore the internal viewpoint on something heinous, why this person might think their awfulness is not only justified but beautiful & compelling? Sympathy for the devil is the closest term I know, but they might not be pitiable at all--they might feel powerful and whole. Asshole Protagonist is a major, but not the only, way this is implemented. Misaimed Fandom often results, but refers to fan reaction and not author technique. Examples downthread. #writing #tropes

I both want to start #writing fiction again and dread doing it.

“I don’t paint about the #writing or write about the #painting. It’s just the opposite, in fact: I write about the things I can’t paint and paint the things I can’t write about.”

“How many times have I heard from someone saying, ‘You’re lucky. You were born with a subject.’ Well, isn’t everyone?”

- Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, British Ghanaian painter #Art

"I do not understand something until I have written it, or more accurately put, until I have written my way *through* it."
- Brandon Taylor

#writing

Still want a larger satellite picture of this area pre-flooding so I can map & plan things out better, and internet searches aren't turning up what I need. Oh well, I'm about due for another library trip anyway. #writing #research

"But you do what you have to do, basically, as an artist, as a human being, to survive. And to put out something that’s meaningful in the world because you care about doing that. You have to be able to tell the truth."

- #RebeccaWalker, writer and activist, on being truthful and brave in #writing
#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackWomenAtoZ #AfroJewish #Jewish #USA

"For about fifteen years I have been desirous of publishing a collection of prose and verses . . . I have tasted the cup of human sorrow and disappointment, and I feel that I ought to be helpful to others for this very reason.

". . . Oh, I am so heart-hungry for mental encouragement, I need your strength . . ."

- #OliviaWardBushBanks, a poet and dramatist of Black and #Montaukett descent
#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackWomenAtoZ #writing #AfroIndigenous #Algonquin #HarlemRenaissance

I am amused that my #WIP can be badly summarized as: "the heroine, pissed with her boyfriend, decides to sleep with his cousin." #amwriting #writing

#wordcount for tonight is 201. Everything about the current passage sucks and I can't think straight anymore, but maybe I can make something of this at the editing stage. #amwriting #writing

I've been on an adulting streak this year, taking care of all sorts of things that overwork and procrastination have been keeping me from. Taking care of things like finances, doctor's appointments, housework, and necessary purchases freed up mindspace so I could take up #writing and other fun projects up again. Restarting my #BulletJournal helped immensely, as did #ADHD coping strategies.

#Wordcount today is 633 words, though it took me writing deep into the night and I'm not sure that's sustainable. It may be better to have 200-word days rather than push myself too hard and end up not #writing for weeks. #amwriting

This book I'm reading goes, "Not many laypeople would know the true #etymology of this word" and I'm like, in fact I do know! But then again I guess I passed the point of "many laypeople" a few years and some 60 books ago. #research #writing #languages

“Basically, it’s hard slog. I think that’s what #writing is all about. Obviously a modicum of talent, some really good ideas and a vivid imagination are all wonderful things. But basically 90 percent of it is just sheer hard slog. But good luck to anybody that wants to be a writer!”
- Jacqueline Wilson

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5gv7GF6NSlTdL16y1LvJ5rZ/how-to-write-that-book-in-2020-top-authors-share-their-tips?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

I realize this might be hypocritical after ranting about the #BulletJournal being treated as an art project, but hear me out: A #writing project tracker that visualizes word count as flying dandelion seeds.