my writing process is so damn convoluted.

[dragonlady7]

I'm trying to teach myself focus and discipline. It isn't working. But, I am having some fun.
I've been intermittently posting fresh drafts of whatever I'm working on over on my writing journal since I got used to doing it during NaNoWriMo. My organizational skills are so poor that it helps me keep track of what I've written when, and I've more recently discovered that if I have a reasonable expectation of anyone actually reading it (there are a couple of exceedingly well-beloved people who have been reading and commenting on things I put up there of late, or at least the things pertaining to hawt Elf-sex), it really helps me focus on the story.
Thing is, the stuff I post there is generally straight from the, well, pen if I had one. Straight from my head, and only minimally proofread-- it's fresh enough that there are words I just can't bear to delete. And I don't even spellcheck, much less start to think about word usage and finer points like that.
So the writing journal is for the stuff I've just written that I'm excited about, and for readers' more general reactions-- story direction, character development, plot points, canon considerations, etc.

I'm interested in improving the things I write, though. I want to learn to edit. So I'm trying, now, to make myself go back, look at what I've written and posted, and revise it.

It's that stage of writing I have real trouble with. When I revise things I tend to just throw them out and start over.

So, in an attempt to be more disciplined and regular about this, I've started a story on HASA where I'm posting the revised drafts of the pretty Elf-smut. (I'm working on a First Age drama-ish kinda bit that follows Glorfindel and Ecthelion from before the Ice to after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Parts are slashy, but I expect other parts won't be.)
I don't have a structure for it yet-- it will probably be a series of short stories, in the end-- and I don't have a title either. At the moment, in a fit of sarcastic self-deprecation, I named it after the subtitle of Salgant's song to Glorfindel in tehta's Strange Fortunes.
How The Dew Of The Fountain Waters The Golden Flower. (Sincerest apologies to the aforementioned Tehta. Borrowing the title was funny at the time, as my only other ideas were terrible cliches. I remain stumped as far as what to call it seriously.)

I'm thinking of setting up a Workshop on HASA, but I'm not sure how yet. I don't really know how they work. For all my brave talk, I'm actually not very good with the whole Internet concept.

I'm also planning to post the drafts that are actually ready for beta on my own website, but for now, HASA has a discussion forum set up, so there's that.

I have only posted the first chapter (revised very thoroughly now) so far, but I am working on the second one now and hope to have a thoroughly prepared beta chapter ready for that one before Dave gets home tonight. I do feel virtuous what with all this "revising" stuff: it's exciting.

In other news, my hands are very cold, my thermostat is still not working, and I have successfully planted a dozen each of snapdragons and marigolds. I am feeling inadequate as a gardener now that andrethanna has posted a list of her gardening activities, but am consoled by the fact that one single bed of her gardens is larger than my entire property combined. Also, this is my first garden ever.
And oh, I cut some of my tulips and daffodils and made my first-ever bouquet of my own flowers that were planted on purpose. (The wildflower bouquet I made yesterday is something else entirely. Item: We have buttercups. Who knew?) It's a sort of ugly bouquet, but I am inordinately proud of it. I cut them because I was planting around them, and want to move the bulbs. Mom said I could, but I can't remember when-- when the flower dies, or when the greenery starts to wither?

Comments

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Heh. Salgant is all smug now.

Glad you're pulling the fic together! Look forward to seeing what you do with the smut.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

> the smut

Heh. Horndog.
(*is amused by that word*)
All right, all right, I get it: Water the golden flower already! But I gotta account for an additional passage of time first.
But you know I'll get to it.


I am glad the title doesn't offend by being shamelessly borrowed. I thought it was probably ok, as you'd expressed somewhere that you didn't actually intend on publishing the song on its own. :) But I'll change the title when I come up with something, just in case you ever want it back. In the meantime, Salgant can enjoy his smugness-- poor fellow needs distraction from the shocking immorality of the city in which he is trapped, after all.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't much care about people using things from my fanfic, anyway. It'd be a bit hypocritical, no?

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Unless the words "weeping elfhood" are somehow involved, that is.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Perish the thought. *looks innocent*

Actually I refuse to accept that "elfhood" is a word, so I'm safe.