Always You

I prefer to draft by hand first, (a process which fountain pens and gorgeous ink make so much easier on the wrist, and enjoyable) and then type chunks of my projects- usually shortly after the writing session. It’s a nice chance to do a quick edit as you write, which gives a bit of polish to notoriously messy zero drafts.

I don’t bother to consult the dictionary or the internet while writing: so many bizarre typos slink in that I correct after the fact when transcribing: better to mangle spelling on the first pass than become distracted by the wonders of kitten videos on Youtube.

From experience, I know that I write roughly 250 words per side of a page, and to be on track for my current goal, I need a smidge over 100 words daily, so it should be relatively reasonable for me to continue clipping through my draft zero at my current pace.

I’ll check in here periodically, probably when I’ve handwritten more pages, as it’s a nice motivation boost while wading through the tedium of transcription- (alternating pink/purple ink, and my mechanical keyboard do make the process go by a bit smoother, though, and it helps I can type around 120WPM or so.)

Current writing session: first of Always You, at 8.25 pages thus far. A few more anticipated before wrapping up later tonight.

Wednesday, September 18th, 2024

Miserably sick in bed, I'm afraid- though it did make for the ideal scenario of transcription: fairly mindless work with a few minor edits and tweaks, and the satisfaction of plowing through a bunch of little monsters and having some fun dressing up my character with the spoils. Fairly pleased with using the event decorative floral necklace as a sort of shoulder draping of the same colored cape.

Current writing session: Always You, transcribed 1,738 worth of words after compiling a PDF of photographs of the current handwritten pages.

Have a vague sense of direction for where the plot is moving next in my notebook: I'm a pantser, not a planner, so I've been really enjoying seeing where John and Sam take me (and Mihr, who is an adorable little kitten.) 3% transcribed progress to my goal! And saved things to a Scrivener project, as well.

Friday, September 20th, 2024

Feeling a bit better! I've been very, very sick- but I think the fever has finally broken after four days, and that was the most intolerable part. Still taking things easy, but it's nice to be able to sit upright without needing to prop myself up with pillows, and to be able to slowly shuffle down the stairs without needing to pause halfway down to sit and catch my breath on account of a racing heartbeat.

Also, my birthday happened recently- newly minted 24! Being sick for it was no fun, but I am looking forward to my play-by-post TTRPG game with a dear friend this Saturday, and a very close friend has been apparently working on a surprise gift, which I'm curiously excited about- I'm not usually one for surprises, but a nice surprise like that is fascinating to wonder what it might be. A game, maybe? We'll just have to see...

I did do a little bit of transcribing since last we spoke, despite being hideously ill, on account of my current setup being quite easy to use even while laying down in bed- which goes as follows:

Current writing session: Always You, 529 words transcribed.

Current writing session: Always You, 629 words transcribed.

I also wrapped up some of the beginner's quests, and earned a little pair of leafy wings for maintaining a writing streak. Plus, cute new outfit! Because of how I write- by hand, first, and then somewhat fitfully, transcribing it into a word file, I don't expect to be maintaining many streaks- (quite happy with the little leafy wings as compared to some of the earlier on in the streaks rewards.) But it is a pleasure to see the stats compiled up- and interesting to see how many minutes I have spent transcribing: just shy of an hour, which is not normally part of how I track my writing.

I used to primarily draft straight into Scrivener, but found myself dithering a little too much over wordcounts and graphing: plus, I experience less decision paralysis when it comes to writing by hand, and having made a deliberate point of improving my handwriting and making accommodations that make it easier for me to write for long periods of time, (thank you, fountain pens, and your lack of needing pressure to write!) find that my current method somewhere between analog and digital works well enough for me.

Downside of that is I'm not all that aware of how much time I actively spend writing, (something that bullet journalling has somewhat helped with, as well as time charting over various sessions after fussing with the stopwatch function on my phone,) but it is kind of wild how much faster I am writing by hand- sure, it takes a little longer to write in print, as compared to tapping away at my screen or keyboard, but it's much easier to dial in and write without setting my pen down for an hour or two, versus the blank staring at the screen every few minutes and the ever present temptation of cute kitty videos and a good music rabbithole.

I can average about eight pages by hand, (roughly 250 words on each, which is about 2,000 words, more or less) in an hour, though from a notably wretched fanfiction session, it can take ten hours to have written 5,000 words of about the same quality if all done on the computer. Weird how brains click better with certain adjustments. I think part of it is I accidentally trained myself into focusing that intensely on writing after spending years scrawling out stories on cheap legal pads as a child, though thankfully, with much smoother and fancier pens as an adult. I did recently find a clipboard and some legal pads I had bought years ago, so if I ever run into serious writer's block with my current A5 notebook, I might try that out and see if it helps jog things along?

At any rate- quite happy with how things are. I have a tiny bit of a buffer room (I do not transcribe unless it's a full page) of a half page of prose in my notebook from my last writing session, since I find it helpful to always end off in the middle of a paragraph, and am very proud of myself for hitting 5% on my overall (soft) wordcount goal. Looking forward to writing in my notebook again, now that I am somewhat healthier and not as afraid of falling asleep mid-writing session and drying out my pens, or leaking ink all over the sheets.

Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

A happy day- I'm continuing to chug along with getting better, (plenty of rest always helps there,) and felt well enough to both write by hand and transcribe in the same day, which is a rare event, for me.

The September weather has finally found its stride, with the full throttle of fall- grey, dreary skies, a cloudiness to the quality of light: cold, settling in, with brisk, blue winds: my favourite weather outside of crisp white snowfall blanketing over everything, where the soft orange glow of streetlamps bounces back and forth, sounds all muffled and gone quiet while the world sleeps on. Beautiful stuff. Quite happy about it all.

We're now at a pretty little 7% of my overall goal- which is a whole 2% added in a single session for me- very exciting, and a bit startling, to realize how quickly that adds up, when you're diligently tippy tappying away at the keyboard. The pacing is still very slow, but I've been enjoying digging a bit more into the soft magic system, and John and Sam's tenderness when they're away from the watchful eyes of court, or the suspicious royal guard.

Current writing session: Always You: 1,088 words transcribed, 4 pages written by hand.

Saturday, September 28th, 2024

Got in a quick transcription session today, which brought me up to 10% of the overall first draft done- very exciting. Celebrated by making myself a cute little graphic to pop up on my personal writing blog, and it'll be fun to give myself virtual 'stickers' to reward each 1% of progress (which simplifies keeping track of the math/word count for me, even if it is slightly inaccurate, if I wind up writing between percentages in between sessions.)

Still brainstorming on bigger treats for major milestones, (probably in multiples of 10, or at least the huge quarter goals) and might do some looking into that to wind down for today. Quite surprised by how quickly it's all coming together, (especially with intermittent play sessions with friends outside of weekly meetings!) really- my longform play-by-post TTRPG sessions have really strengthed my writing muscles, it seems.

Current writing session: Always You: 525 words transcribed.