Apply Butt To Chair and Fucking Write

A weely writing challenge community.

[applybutttochair]

All right, my darlings.

That was a lovely vacation, wasn't it? It was. But now it's time to get back to the work at hand.

I'm reading Cal Newport's book So Good They Can't Ignore You, which lays out the path to a good career and a great life, and where that path starts is very nicely summarized by the title, which is also (not-so-coincidentally) a quote from the great Steve Martin. 

And how do you get to be that good? You work your goddamn ass off.

In that spirit, Apply Butt to Chair will be resuming normal operations tomorrow morning, on Monday, July 29th, 2013, with a goal of 5,000 words in the next 7 days. I know you can do it. Now let's get it done.

[martwhim-deactivated20161119]

"Why am I so much more creative when I'm tired?"

This also translates into:

“Why am I so motivated when it’s really late?”

“The best time to make ideas is through sleep deprivation!”

“I want to do so much more right before bed and I don’t understand why!”

etc.

So basically when you stay up way too late it effects your problem solving ability and your ability to make decisions. [1]

Do you want to know a possible reason as to why that “I stayed up really late and now I feel so creative and willing to draw!” feeling happens?  Because your self-critique center is shutting down because you’ve been awake for too long.

You are always as creative and able to do things as you were when you were awake.  That potential doesn’t just disappear.

Difference is— when you’re wide awake you have a stronger problem-solving and decision-making center, which is obviously related to self-critique.  Being tired doesn’t necessarily make you more creative and motivated, being tired forces you to quiet that part of yourself that holds you back.

Something to think about.

[applybutttochair]

Apply Butt To Chair will be returning in June. Watch this space. In the meantime, here's something to think about.

[applybutttochair]

Brief Hiatus

Sorry about the radio silence for the past couple of weeks. My jerk of a landlord has kicked me out of my apartment, and I'm in the middle of moving, packing, and oh yeah, all the summer vacations I had planned this year. Apply Butt to Chair will return...soon. 

In the meantime, write like a motherfucker.

[applybutttochair]

How'd last week go? Did you learn something? Do you feel inspired? Good, 'cause it's time for another 10K week. That's just a hair under 1500 words a day every day - or 2K daily if you want the weekend off. You should totally take the weekend off.

[applybutttochair]

Aw yiss it's another monday

And that means it's time for another writing challenge. This week, let's go for something different. I want you to find a piece of writing - a movie, a book, a poem, whatever - that makes you cry. Happy tears or sad ones. Doesn't matter. And I want you to take that piece of writing apart, word by word, and find out why. What are the exact words in the exact order that make you feel so much? How did the writer go about choosing just those words? And, next time you want to make your reader feel something, how will you do it? Also write 2,000 words. Don't want to get out of practice or anything.

[joehillsthrills-deactivated2019]

Joe Hill on process

joshgaines asks: Your Epic-Bearded Holiness, a two-parter: 1. Are you one of those writers of the opinion that one should ‘write every day, even if it’s only one sentence,’ or more of one who just blurts it out when inspiration comes naturally (or perhaps one with a balanced dash of discipline/inspiration that puts one right in the middle)? 2. Has your approach to writing changed from when you were ‘unknown’ to the present, now that you have publisher’s obligations and a devoted readership? Many thanks! :)

1. Yeah, I’m a write-every-day guy. Sometimes life happens and you can’t get to it; you have to travel, you have to go to a wedding, you break your arm. But barring unusual circumstance, getting my 1,000 words is part of a daily routine. I look at it not just as a job, but also as a practice. After I’ve managed my thousand words, I feel clearer in my head, more centered, more ready to deal with the rest of the world patiently, with empathy. It’s as good as a nap, only I get paid for it.

2. Somewhat. I’ve become much more habit-driven and much less a victim of the emotional ups-and-downs that come with the job. When I was in my late twenties and early thirties, a really bad session of make-believe could make me a miserable person to be around. Now I’m good at leaving work in the office. Also, though, I’ve come to believe even when I misfire - write a couple scenes that aren’t worth keeping, for example - the time was usefully spent. I always feel like the failed scene(s) will provide the seeds of successful material to come. And also, if I wrote a scene I didn’t need, that just moves me closer to writing one I do need, by a process of elimination. If I’ve changed since the publication of my first book in 2005, it’s in this: I’ve learned to come to that daily work without big expectations, and to leave it in the office when I’m done. I want my readers to feel like they’re riding on an emotional and psychological roller-coaster; I’m not much interested in riding one myself, just to get four or five pages written.

[fromelliott-blog]

“You want to be a writer?

Keep on writing.”

— Neil Gaiman, “Princess, and some thoughts on writing”

[applybutttochair]

Today, for inspiration, an excellent interview with David McCullough. It's a long one. Better make sure you've got your word count done for the day, first.

[worldinink]

Being a good writer is 3% talent and 97% not being distracted by the internet.

(via worldinink)

— the writer reblogs, being distracted by the internet

(via cameralinz)

[applybutttochair]

Another week down, ready for another week to go! How was last week's 5K? Did you pace yourself, or did you, like me, marathon it all at 10:30 last night? As long as you got the writing done, does it really matter? (Spoiler: No, no it doesn't.)

This week let's set our goal at 5K again, and to bookend last week, your prompt for this week is Death. Proper Tarot card, Neil Gaiman Death, Death being change and endings and transformations, not just people getting shot in the head.

Although that too, if you want.

[nolikereally]

THIS KILLS THE MAN: The Things We Died Of

(with a nod to the things that would probably kill characters in fantasy novels, so you can realistically murder all your beloved elf mages yeah!)

Let’s begin with infectious disease. Certainly the Black Death is super high on that list, but it’s highly specific to one time period, and if a character dies of it in your story, your story has just become a story about everyone dying of the Black Plague (see Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis, one of the greatest fucking historical novels of all time IMO). Smallpox killed and maimed a lot of people, and was insanely contagious; later, tuberculosis appeared on the scene, providing long, miserable, slow deaths with dramatic blood-coughing for the use of maudlin opera librettists everywhere. TB, however, relies upon close quarters and poor air circulation for its transmission, so it was much more likely in cities and in families who had enough money to keep their houses airtight. 

But we know all this stuff. Let’s get more common. What killed everybody?

Read More

[applybutttochair]

Because it's always fun to kill people off in realistic ways.

[applybutttochair]

No April Fool's here.

How'd last week's 2,000 words of awesome go? Awesome? Of course it is. Post your victory dance and let us know just how awesome you are using the "apply butt to chair" tag.

We'll ramp it up a little this week - now that we've given our nitpicky editors time to work, they can be properly shut down again. Let's say 5,000 words by the end of the week, and in honor of the spring-like weather we're finally getting in Chicagoland, your prompt is "growth." Take it as literally or as figuratively as you like. 

Me, I'm writing fanfiction about Tyrion Lannister.

[thebeginningwriter]

How to write a scene (via How To Write a Scene: A Step-By-Step Infographic - GalleyCat)

[applybutttochair]

How's that Fucking Awesome Scene going?

[applybutttochair]

Onward we go, into the void of the blank page. How's the magnum opus coming? Heartbreaking work of staggering genius? Of course it is.

[applybutttochair]

Time. Time!

So sorry. I was so busy writing that I forgot to call time on last week. As per usual, post your victory dance (I am not seeing victory dances, people! I need more happy gifs!) and congratulate yourself on whatever work you got done. This week, in honor of the late start, we're gonna try something different. Your goal for this week is 2,000 words. BUT. They are to be the best goddamn 2,000 words you have ever written. Brilliant. Sharp. Evocative. Moving. And you only get until Sunday night, March the 31st, 2013. On April 1st you have to call them finished. If your 2,000 words is a complete story (or poem, or essay, or what have you), start sending it out for publication. If it's a part of a larger work, put big green brackets around them marked "FINAL DRAFT" and move on to the rest of your story. The point is to make something excellent. Have at it.

[mttbll]

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

Ernest Hemingway (via mttbll)

One more day left. Go go go go go!

[georgetakei]

Happy Friday, friends.

[applybutttochair]

Don't do it! Write today! Or I'll sic George Takei on you.

Okay, that's not very threatening. But still.