so i made this tumblr because i wanted to take my writing more seriously and treat it like a business so i can make money with it, and because of that i chose to make a pen name. but i think i just want my own name on stuff because people calling me lyra, like i thought it would be fine but im non-binary and it's making me feel icky gender-wise.
also, im going in a different direction than i thought with my writing, so I kind of want to start fresh. my main blog is @tombstuck and i want to be able to be logged in there, so I'm just going to post my writing there on a sideblog! it's @tombstuck-writes.
also i'm sorry to people (specifically @mischiefiswritten and @leisoree who were on my taglist for it) who were invested in my fantasy/mystery wip. the reason im abandoning it is that i don't read mystery so im struggling to write it! maybe if i can become more widely read in that genre i will tackle that project again.
i hope anyone who follows me here will hop over there, because i've been so grateful for the nice feedback i've gotten on this blog.
i wrote nothing but fanfic for most of my life, then spent 4 years on the same original wip, and now that i wrote it i cant like any of my newer wips or oc's or even write about them without it feeling like im going against the grain somehow. so i just wanted everyone to know that im rewriting Knucklehead and i missed my kids so much! my big dumb rodney and my weirdo theo! ahhhh
working on this again has me feeling joy about writing for the first time in a long time
Thank you for tagging me! It made me realize how long it's been since I actually wrote anything lol. I've just been creating characters and constructing plots and making moodboards and playlists for like... a year. I'm going to try to write soon haha.
i have bipolar disorder and i literally just feel feral when i hear people who dont have it using the word bipolar as if its interchangeable with "has mood swings" or rapidly changing moods. i just feel so degraded when i hear it. i also have ptsd and the same goes for when people make jokes about flashbacks. like they aren't cool or funny stoppppp
I accidentally started working on an ancient WIP again.
im having some inspiration for an older story that i never finished…… that will need significant structural changes eventually which is why i quit writing it…………….. but also i have this new story………………… that im less interested in 😩
Okay, so I ended up diving into it. Just a bit of background, it's like a contemporary teen romance. It was all i wrote for a long time because someone told me "write what you know" and i took it too literally and thought i couldn't write about magic because im not a wizard.
ANYWAY, this story is so confusing to me. it's like, completely awful, obviously. but it's really just some of the dialogue is how i talked as a young teen and reading it now has me wanting to choke on a fork. I started writing it when I was 17 so im not terribly surprised about that.
suprisingly, i love this thing.
the visceral feeling of completely flipping the fuck out when you're near your crush in only the way a very horny emotional teen can, juxtaposed with the crush just being absolutely chill about eveything, is fucking mesmerizing. like one of the boys is a very anxious/everything must be perfect/holyfuckhe'sinmyroom/looking crazy in front of a conspiracy corkboard but about movies/bedroom is spotless/addicted to redbull even though it fucks with his medication kind of guy. and the other one is just a very quiet/thinks about everything he says before he says it/was sheltered growing up so he's just reverently curious about all the stuff he never got to do/also having the crush on the other boy but is being normal about it kind of guy.
This relationship dynamic is something fucking else. And I think I had to not think about it or look at it at all for 5 years to even remotely see anything good about it, but I'm so glad I did.
I see this all the time, so I’m here to remind you that your writing IS in fact worth it. YOU are worth it. Your STORIES are worth it. Your writing deserves love and you ARE good enough.
I know — we tend to be our own biggest critics. It’s a million times easier to doubt our own abilities than it is to boast about the things we’ve actually accomplished, but you’ve gotta cut yourself some slack.
We’re all equal here. Don’t you for a second think you’re not good enough to be considered a “worthy” writer. It’s not about skill. Just love for storytelling
I definitely use similes more in my own writing. I think I like them more because I can get a bit literal with metaphors at times. With similes, there's the physical separation of "like" or "as" which helps me conceptualize it in my head a lot easier.
STRENGTH - What kind of scene are you best at?
My strengths honestly shine best in slice of life scenes where the conflict is all internal and a character is just chilling. I find that I pull out all the literary stops to make it seem less boring, and it just works for me.
TRUTH - Do you like your writing?
I'm so glad to be answering this now, because not that long ago I would have said absolutely no and that my writing is garbage. But (thanks in large part to my therapist lmao) I'm now able to see my own work more objectively and I do think I like it very well. This applies to my art too!
A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)
Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!
This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.
This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!
The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!
A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.
Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height will make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)
(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)
When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane, then the good leg, and THEN the leg that needs help.
Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.
In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.
Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!
(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)
The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!
Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.
The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!
This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!
However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.
Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)
Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.
Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)
(my canes, for reference)
If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!
When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!
For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.
When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)
When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)
That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!
Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!
A Couple Of Questions For Fantasy and Mystery Readers:
Would you buy an e-book series if it were a mystery series set in a fantasy setting, each installment were only a novella of about 20,000 words, and each novella costed $0.99? If no, would your answer to this question change if the first novella was free, and you read it and liked it?
And hypothetically if you loved it would you ever buy a physical copy of the series that had a few of the novellas in each book?
The reason I'm asking all of this is that this is how I'm considering setting up my Odd Token series. I think each mystery could be a lot more interesting if it were more focused, and I would get that wonderful feeling of finishing a story about 3 times as often.
Taglist: (let me know if you would like to be added!)
I'm a super habitual person. My desk is in the living room by the front door. I have a special chair and keyboard and monitor and if I don't have these things I can write, but it's so much more difficult.
Spring: Have you ever scrapped (a huge chunk of) a story to start over? Why did the change come about?
Yes, I have! It was my 2nd novel (my first completely drafted novel, the 1st one never got done and never will), Knucklehead. After drafting it once, I realized it was not the story I wanted to be telling. It took me so long to write that I was a different person by the end. I was trying so hard to figure myself out that I wrote about a character stumbling around trying to do just that, and then later I was able to see that it was entirely too personal, and not at all fun to read.
So, I drafted it yet again, and that's where I'm at now. I still hate it, so I think this thing is going to go to 2nd draft stage at least. I'm not completely rewriting it. I don't know if I'll ever publish it, though, even if I end up finishing it.
Thank you for the ask! I adore ask games (which you know) but I will always thank. I'm so unused to having people care about my writing and I wish I had shared on tumblr a long time ago, everyone has been so supportive.
Literally the one time I actually feel like writing
I am a full 24 year old adult with a 1 year old baby who needs to eat things sometimes, so I have to go grocery shopping today. And the dishes are getting a bit crazy! Like yesterday, I could have gone "Well, I'm just a bit behind, it's okay," but today... no. I have to do it.
my plan today:
I really want to get some writing done today even with the other things I have going on. By the way, I gave my current WIP (the fantasy mystery) the working title of Odd Token, which will make more sense when I make a post about the magic system (soon). Odd Token is the one I want to make progress on today. I'm having some issues with it that need fixed before I can really move forward much in the writing process.
So, my idea is that I can work on it in my head while I'm out grocery shopping, and while I'm doing dishes. And I'll just keep my phone nearby in case I have an idea.
where I'm at:
I have characters made, but I'm not happy with them in a way I can't put my finger on. I also have the setting vaguely, it's just vibes right now. I mean, when I put it like this it feels like I have nothing after working on it for a month...
But that's okay! Hopefully by the end of the day I will have something. I think I will just come back and update if I have anything else to say. If it's July 6, 2023 or later and the post ends right after this... I got nothing done today.
Bet you thought you wouldn't hear from me again.
You won't believe this progress I've made today. I did end up not doing any dishes, but everything else I wanted to do got done!
I'm happy with all my characters now.
I have the setting pretty much completely cemented where I want it.
I was having a tone issue where the whole story was less fun and lighthearted than I wanted it to be, and that's fixed now!
I have outlined the exposition of the first novella.
Hi everyone! I’ve had a writeblr blog before, but I’m trying to get published now, so I thought it better to make a new blog with my pen name rather than my real one. I love ask games and tag games, and feel free to interact with this post if you want me to check out your Writeblr!
About my writing:
I write mostly fantasy, but I’m dipping my toes into mystery. (Obviously there’s still magic!)
I also generally include anti-capitalist save-the-earth type of themes, not as a main plot, but interspersed into the world.
My stories tend to be character-driven, and relationship driven. Not romance necessarily, but familial and friend relationships too.
About me:
My pen name that you can call me here is Lyra Vale. I’m 24 and I live in Missouri, USA. I’m non-binary (any pronouns are fine), and I’m the parent to an awesome 1 year old boy. I love reading, watching TV (my favorite shows are Steven Universe and Supernatural.), painting, journaling, and intensely planning and goal-setting. I’m rarely ever very far from a glass of sweet tea, and I like to draw or paint my characters sometimes.
I’ve been writing ever since I was a little kid, but my childhood home was burned down in an accidental fire when I was a teenager and I lost all my old writing. It took me a long time to heal enough to begin writing again, but now I want to publish my stories. I’m done being a cog in the capitalist machine (if only it were so easy to escape) and my lovely spouse agreed that I could try to make writing work as a career and quit my crappy service industry job that I had before. I’m chronically ill so as you can imagine, quitting instantly gave me tons of energy for writing.
Anyway, I’ll stop oversharing now…
WIPs:
Odd Token:
fantasy setting, but mystery genre;
(I’m very early in the planning stages, so I will come back and update this when I have more.)
A mystery story in a fantasy setting? Sign me up. (Literally, if you have a tag list lol.)
It's great to see more writers pursuing their dreams! I also love Supernatural and my entire extended family is from Missouri! I spent half my childhood there, particularly summers and Christmas-time.
I love seeing character driven stories with emphasis on platonic/familial relationships as well as (or instead of) romance and can't wait to start getting to know your OCs!
I originally tried to say this in a reply and didn't know that I was just replying to myself... lmao ANYWAY
Thank you so much! That's the first time anyone has ever really shown any interest in my writing ideas... It feels really nice lol. I will be sure to add you to my taglist. Oh look at that, the taglist jumped up to an extremely high count of 001! This makes me want to work on this WIP right now!
Day in the Life of an Aspiring Author: Resetting My Writing Life (#01)
Resetting your life is just a process of seeing what sucks, figuring out how to change that, and making a plan for moving forward. I really do need to do this for my whole life, but I am a huge mess right now and I need to take baby steps or I'll get overwhelmed and go back to what I was doing before.
Why I'm resetting my writing life.
For now, my writing life is getting this treatment, because my ultimate goal is to make my living from some kind of combination of writing, blogging, and my youtube channel. That makes it so important for my writing life to be efficient and organized, especially because I don’t have a single thing published yet.
How to reset your writing life.
For this process I actually cannot take credit. I got these steps from the amazing Struthless on YouTube, who is one of my favorite inspirational productivity creators. You can get a worksheet of this process (his is not writing focused) for absolutely free from the description of his video introducing the process, and that can be found here.
Step 1. Brain Dump
The first step is to just literally empty every thought you have onto paper or into the computer. This was unexpectedly helpful for me, because I realized that a lot of the thoughts that were bothering me were actually things I was about to address with this reset. Some of the stuff I wrote was too personal to share widely, but here’s a procured version. All of the things here were on my list, I just omitted several that had to do with a medical condition I suffer from. Please excuse my typos…
- I don't want to do this emptying your head exercise.
- but it's part of the steps and it will literally bother me so bad if i skip a step so lets do it.
- its annoying that my desk is messy
- I miss my husband even though he's right in the other room napping.
- I'm not hungry but i feel like eating anyway
- I feel guilty about not practicing [religion] lately. I've just been so busy and in so much pain
- I also feel guilty that I haven't been exercising lately.
- I'm seeing a trend with these thoughts.
- I feel guilty about not working on reaching my goals.
- good thing I'm doing a life reset today, that will make me feel better about all this.
Step 2. Identify your goals from 6 months ago.
Looking at my journal from the beginning of the year, I have a very long list of extremely vague “goals” which are really just offhand wishes, and the only one that had to do with writing was “Write more.”
Thanks, past me. Super helpful of you.
Step 3. Compare that to how the last 6 months actually went.
All in all, I don’t think I wrote more in the last 6 months than I did in the 6 before that. I don’t have the data to back that up, which just means this step will ultimately be more helpful 6 months from now than it is now.
Thankfully, I have learned how not to set goals. That will help me later.
Step 4. Assess why you missed some goals and hit others.
Again, sarcastically thanking my past self, because I think I missed my one goal, but I’m not totally sure. I suppose the fact that I’m not happy with how much I wrote tells me that I missed it.
The reason I missed this one is that the goal-setting system of randomly claiming that I want something and then making no effort to pursue it isn't the greatest method…
Okay, I swear I’m going to stop bullying myself now.
Step 5. Identify your ideal second half of the year, and why you want it.
Easy enough. I made goals related to my blog and to YouTube as well, but I’ll just share with you my two goals most related to writing.
- Focus better when writing, because it will help me get my novel written faster.
- Publish my book, because then I’m one step closer to living off my writing.
Step 6. Turn the results above into actionable goals, and rank them by importance.
“Focus better” has the same issues my “Write more” goal from 6 months ago had, so we’ll turn that into, “Make an acceptable amount of measurable progress during each hour that I work.” Which might seem extreme, but if you knew me you wouldn’t be surprised. I always either put in no effort or too much effort into everything I do.
The other goal becomes, “Publish my book on my own website by the end of the year.” I don’t trust anyone else with my book, not an online e-book seller and certainly not a traditional publisher. I have a deep (maybe irrational… maybe not) distrust and dislike of large companies. Many people will not agree with me on this, and I'm fine with that.
Step 7. Who would you need to be to complete these goals?
To complete my goals, I would have to be a prolific author, a hard worker, responsible, dependable, an effective time manager, someone who loves their job. I would like to believe I already am these things, I just haven’t proven it yet.
Step 8. Create a system where you can realistically hit your goals over the next 6 months.
Okay, first, the publishing goal, because this is easy.
1. write the outline
2. write the first draft
3. edit in passes
4. create the cover
5. buy a domain and website
6. list my book for sale on my website
7. execute a marketing plan
Elementary. So, not everyone is going to be alright with how strict my system is for this next one. It’s just that I need a lot of rules for things to work for me.
1. Create a daily log called “Who I am”, where each day’s entries will be filled with proof that I am all the things I said I would need to be to reach my goals.
2. Starting a writing day, add this hour's entry to the "who i am log".
2. create a task for work above the entry.
3. set a 15m timer and attempt to complete the task by the time it goes off.
4. add a bullet to that hour's entry stating what progress was made.
5. repeat until the hour is over.
6. start over, and do this process for each hour intended to be a work hour.
Step 9. How will you continue when things get tough?
Now, for this next part, I will share my process with you for how I am going to guarantee I consistently make progress. But you have to promise not to laugh at how completely extra I have made it. I swear I am not kidding, I am actually gonna do this. I am just completely 100% serious about not being an inconsistent lazy asshole anymore. So here it is…
[first month]
1. set up your environment to make your systems ridiculously easy. it would be silly to not do it now.
2. It's human to make mistakes. when you realize you made a boo-boo, immediately do something to rectify it, even something small.
3. For every significant day of progress on a goal, place a sticker on the reward chart. That feels so good, doesn't it? for every major goal reached, have a fucking party! literally. you deserve it.
4. create a list of goals, overarching goals with their systems attached, each month. include a reminder that mistakes are human, but to also immediately rectify them when you notice them. laminate that bitch, put it across from the toilet, and iterate it every time you sit on the toilet to [redacted]. iterate by thinking, saying, and writing it (keep a little notebook and pencil on the bathroom shelf). place reminders to iterate in other places, like the bathroom mirror, computer desk, fridge, a wristband, written on your hand, and desktop of computer. not every place at once, but put it in one place, then move it when you start to notice yourself ignoring it.
[subsequent months]
1. make sure your environment is set up to make your systems ridiculously easy to follow.
2. give yourself a sticker for every day of significant progress, and throw a party for every major goal reached.
3. At the beginning of each month, create a new iteration, editing it if needed, and include the reminder about mistakes every time. move the physical reminder around as needed to keep it fresh. ensure the little notebook and pencil are still on the bathroom shelf for written iteration.
4. iterate regularly!
Step 10. Why do you deserve this?
I wrote some pretty personal stuff for this section, so suffice it to say that I believe that you (yes, you!) deserve to improve your life and reach your goals, and that I do too.
Step 11. Take Action Now.
When I got to this part, I worked on my novel’s outline for a while. Action successfully taken!
What’s next?
I worked on this wonderful journaling exercise all day, so now I’m going to take a very healthy Brain Break. I’m going to shoot fireworks with my family because it’s my 1 year old’s first cognizant 4th of July, and I’m going to watch Independence Day with my husband after the baby goes to bed. But tomorrow…
Tomorrow I am popping OFF with my writing. I’ve been screwing around in the story planning stages of this novel for a month, but at the end of the day tomorrow, I will hold a glorious completed novel outline in my own two hands, and it will be amazing.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked this post, please consider buying me a coffee. Every cent I make from my writing is a blessing to me and my family that I’m incredibly grateful for.
This is a great reset process! I'll definitely be coming back to this later. I'm trying to reset my writing life as well, and it takes a lot of cleaning of cobwebs and loosening of long-forgotten joints to get back into the swing of a writing practice!
Wishing you all the best as you reset and try to reach your goals! I'll be following along and cheering you on ^-^
Thanks for the encouragement, I REALLY need it. "Cleaning of cobwebs" is an extremely poignant but fitting description for that. Because there's something very emotional and raw about taking an abandoned house, that maybe belonged to someone you knew, and taking down the signs that it was ever abandoned. Cleaning cobwebs, sweeping, uncovering beautiful antique furniture. I love that, thank you.
