Writer at Work

✧ My WIP's | My WIP's ✧ I track #writermars

[senseitive]

one day you’ll wake up at 9:30am on a Sunday w the love of ur life and you’ll make some coffee and pancakes and it’ll all be alright

[eintsein]

An Overview of Note-Taking Styles

Note-taking is one of the most essential skills a student should master. It allows you to record and review information to be used in the future. But what’s the best way to do so? Here’s an overview of note-taking styles that can help you maximize your learning!

[mooreaux]

yall ever get so overwhelmed with the feeling of “i’m not doing enough” that you just do nothing at all

[ellatholmes]

physically i'm staring at the ceiling but mentally i'm writing a six book saga complete with it's own tv show and movie series

[alexwritesfiction]

this is so me. 

[thetinypsychologist]

MOTIVATION VS SELF-DISCIPLINE

I see a lot of people talking about the need for motivation to study or get their work done but motivation isn’t always what you need - what do you do on the days you have no motivation? This is why we need self-discipline.

MOTIVATION VS SELF DISCIPLINE

Motivation - a willingness to do something

Self-Discipline - making yourself do things you know you should do when you don’t want to

So if motivation is ‘why we should do something’ - self-discipline is more ‘what to do next’.

HOW TO BE SELF-DISCIPLINED

Set yourself a routine and stick to it

Never have a zero day - try and study every single day - even if you feel absolutely awful - 10 minutes is better than nothing!! Do flashcards from your bed or watch youtube ted talks if you can’t physically study.

Build on your productivity, not your failures.

If you come from a past of procrastinating and now feel motivated to change and discipline yourself, do NOT try to do everything at once. Start things slow and in steps.

Set yourself smaller deadlines for your goals like monthly and weekly deadlines - e.g. if you are doing a project, due 27th June, set personal deadlines, like have the introduction written by the 8th, have your literature review written by the 15th, have project complete by the 25th.

Know your limits. Self-discipline isn’t doing as much as you can until you break - it’s about having control, knowing what you can realistically manage and getting that done.

Give yourself rewards! I love to have something to look forward to as I get work done! This means mixing motivation and self-discipline. I tell myself after this lecture I can have an animal crossing break or check some messages etc.

Remove distractions from your study space! Personally, if my phone is out and I notice a notification…I’m gonna check it. It’s human nature! So to combat this, I use apps like Forest that force me to stay within the app while I study. If I know I might get hungry during a study session I’ll keep a little snack by my desk so I don’t have to get up and somehow find something else to distract me.

Just do it isn’t that easy. I find to get myself in a ‘work boss’ mood I need to feel good about myself so I put on a nice outfit and maybe some eyeliner and hype myself up so I know I can do my tasks and get stuff done! It feels so much better than lazing in my pyjamas trying to study.

[itsjuliak5]

Someone on TikTok said that bitches with anxiety love the enemies to lovers trope because the idea of having someone see all of our negative traits first and then still fall in love with us is really comforting since we worry that if someone sees our negative traits after they fall in love, they’ll leave us.

It’s me, I’m bitches.

[eternalgirlscout]

the secret, i’ve discovered, to actually writing, like actually sitting down and doing the damn thing, actually getting a word count up there, is to have an idea that makes you think “that’s ridiculous and self-indulgent and nobody else but me would want to read it” and then leaning as fully into self-indulgence as possible

[drwcn]

How To Name Your Chinese Characters: 

1) LAST NAMES: 

I’ve pasted the Top 100 common last names in alphabetical order, and bolded the ones that appear in CQL:   

B: 白 Bai C: 蔡 Cai ; 曹 Cao ;  常 Chang ; 曾 Ceng ;  陈 Chen ;  程 Cheng ;  崔 Cui ; D: 戴 Dai ; 邓 Deng ; 丁 Ding ; 董 Dong ; 杜 Du ; F: 范 Fan ; 方 Fang ; 冯 Feng ; 付 Fu ; G: 高 Gao ;  葛 Ge  ; 龚 Gong ; 顾 Gu ; 郭 Guo ; H: 韩 Han ; 何 He ; 贺 He 洪 Hong ; 侯 Hou ; 黄 Hua ; 胡 Hu ; J: 贾 Jia ; 蒋 Jiang ; 姜 Jiang ; 江 Jiang ; 金 Jin ; K: 康 Kang ; L:  赖 Lai ; 李 Li ;  黎 Li ; 廖 Liao ; 梁 Liang ; 林 Lin ; 刘 Liu ; 陆 Lu ; 卢 Lu ; 路 Lu ; 吕 Lü ; 罗 Luo ; M: 马 Ma ; 麦 Mai ; 毛 Mao ; 孟 Meng ; N:  倪 Ni  ;  牛 Niu ; P: 潘 Pan ; 彭 Peng ; Q: 钱 Qian ; 秦 Qin ; 邱 Qiu ; R:任 Ren ; S: 邵 Shao ; 沈 Sheng ; 史 Shi ; 石 Shi ; 施 Shi ; 宋 Song ; 苏 Su ; 孙 Sun ; T: 陶 Tao ; 谭 Tan ; 唐 Tang ; 田 Tian ; W: 万 Wan ; 王 Wang ;  汪 Wang ; 魏 Wei ; 吴 Wu ; X: 邢 Xing ; 夏 Xia ;  蕭 Xiao ; 谢 Xie ; 徐 Xu ; 许 Xu ; 薛 Xue ; Y: 阎 Yan ; 严 Yan ; 杨 Yang ; 姚 Yao ; 叶 Ye ;  余 Yu ; 于 Yu ; 袁 Yuan ; Z: 张 Zhang ;  赵 Zhao ; 郑 Zheng ; 钟 Zhong ; 周 Zhou ;  朱 Zhu ;  庄 Zhuang ;  邹 Zou ;

Above are all single character last names, but there are some double character Chinese last names, seen below (list not exhaustive): 

独孤 Du’Gu ;  公孙 Gong’Sun ; 南宫 Nan’Gong    欧阳 Ou’Yang ;  司马 Si’Ma ; 上官 Shang’Guan ; 宇文 Yu’Wen ; 长孙 Zhang’Sun ; 诸葛 Zhu’GE ; 

2) GIVEN NAMES/COURTESY NAMES

《Elements》: 

Light*： 光 (guāng) - light，  亮 liàng - bright / shine， 明 (míng) - bright， 曦 (xī) - early dawn， 昀 (yún) - daylight， 昭 (zhāo) - light, clear，照 (zhào) - to shine upon，

Fire: 焰 (yàn) - flames， 烟 (yān) - smoke，炎 (yán) - heat/burn， 烨 (yè) - dazzling light，  

Water: also see “weather” OR “bodies of water” under nature; note the words below while are related to water have meanings that mean some kind of virtue: 清 (qīng) - clarity / purity， 澄 (chéng) - clarity/quiet， 澈 (chè) - clear/penetrating， 涟 (lián) - ripple， 漪 (yī) - ripple， 泓 (hóng) - vast water， 湛 (zhàn) - clear/crystal， 露 (lù) - dew， 泠 (líng) - cool, cold, 涛 (tāo) - big wave，泽 (zé)，浩 hào - grand/vast (water)，涵 (han) - deep submergence / tolerance / educated

Weather: 雨 (yǔ) - rain， 霖 (lín) - downpouring rain， 冰 (bīng) - ice， 雪 (xuě) - snow，  霜 (shuāng) - frost 

Wind: 风 (fēng) - wind

* some “Light” words overlap in meaning with words that mean “sun/day”

《Nature》:

Season: 春 (chūn) - spring， 夏 (xià) - summer， 秋 (qíu) - aumtum， 冬 (dōng) - winter

Time of Day: 朝 (zhāo) - early morning / toward， 晨 (chén) - morning / dawn， 晓 (xiǎo) - morning， 旭 (xù) - dawn/rising sun，昼 (zhòu) - day，皖 (wǎn) - late evening，夜 (yè) - night 

Star/Sky/Space: 云 (yún) - cloud，天 (tiān) - sky/ heaven，霞 (xiá) - afterglow of a rising or setting sun，月 (yuè) - moon，日 (ri) - day / sun，阳 (yáng) - sun，宇 (yǔ) - space，星 (xīng) - star

Birds: 燕 (yàn) - sparrow， 雁 (yàn) - loon， 莺 (yīng) - oriole， 鸢 (yuān) - kite bird (family Accipitridae)，羽 (yǔ) - feather

Creatures: 龙 (lóng) - dragon/imperial

Plants/Flowers:* 兰 (lán) - orchids，  竹 (zhú) - bamboo， 筠 (yún) - tough exterior of bamboos， 萱 (xuān) - day-lily， 松 (sōng) - pine， 叶 (yè) - leaf， 枫 (fēng) - maple， 柏 bó/bǎi - cedar/cypress， 梅 (méi) - plum， 丹 (dān) - peony

Mountains: 山 (shān)， 峰 (fēng) - summit， 峥 (zhēng)，

Bodies of water: 江 (jiāng) - large river/straits， 河 (hé) - river， 湖 (hú) - lake， 海 (hǎi) - sea， 溪 (xī) - stream， 池 (chí) - pond， 潭 (tán) - larger pond， 洋 (yáng) - ocean

* I didn’t include a lot of flower names because it’s very easy to name a character with flowers that heavily implies she’s a prostitute. 

《Virtues》: 

Astuteness: 睿 ruì - astute / foresight， 智 (zhi)， 慧 (hui)， 哲 (zhé) - wise/philosophy, 

Educated:  博 (bó) - extensively educated， 墨 (mo) - ink， 诗 (shi) - poetry / literature， 文 (wén) - language / gentle / literary， 学 (xue) - study， 彦 (yàn) - accomplished / knowledgeable, 知 (zhi) - to know， 斌 (bīn) - refined， 赋 (fù) - to be endowed with knowledge

Loyalty: 忠 (zhōng) - loyal， 真 (zhēn) - true 

Bravery: 勇 (yǒng) - brave， 杰 (jié) - outstanding, hero

Determination/Perseverance: 毅 (yì) - resolute / brave， 恒 (héng) - everlasting， 衡 (héng) - across, to judge/evaluate，成 (chéng) - to succeed， 志 (zhì) - aspiration / the will

Goodness/Kindness: 嘉 (jiā) - excellent / auspicious，磊 (lěi) - rock / open & honest， 正 (zhèng) - straight / upright / principle，

Elegance: 雅 (yǎ) - elegant， 庄 (zhuāng) - respectful/formal/solemn， 彬 (bīn) - refined / polite， 

Handsome: 俊 jùn - handsome/talented 

Peace: 宁 (níng) - quietness/to pacify, 安 （ān) - peace, safety

Grandness/Excellence：宏 (hóng) - grand，豪 (háo) - grand, heroic，昊 (hào) - limitless / the vast sky，华 (huá) - magnificent， 赫 (hè) - red/famous/great， 隆 (lóng) - magnificent， 伟 (wěi) - greatness / large，轩 (xuān) - pavilion with a view/high，卓 (zhuó) - outstanding

Female Descriptor/Virtues/Beauty: 婉 (wǎn)，惠 (huì)， 妮 (nī)， 娇 (jiāo)， 娥 (é)， 婵 (chán) (I didn’t include specific translations for these because they’re all adjectives for women meaning beauty or virtue) 

《Descriptors》:

Adverbs: 如 (rú) - as，若 (ruò) - as, alike，宛 (wǎn) - like / as though，

Verbs: 飞 (fēi) - to fly，  顾 （gù) - to think/consider， 怀 (huái) - to miss, to possess， 落(luò) - to fall, to leave behind，梦 (mèng) - to dream， 思 (sī) - to consider / to miss (someone)，忆 (yì) - memory， 希 (xī) - yearn / admire

Colours: 红 (hóng) - red， 赤 (chì) - crimson， 黄 (huàng) - yellow， 碧 (bì) - green，青(qīng) - azure，蓝 (lán) - blue， 紫 (zǐ) - violet ，玄 (xuán) - black， 白 (baí) - white

Number：一 (yī), 二 (er) - two, 三 (san) - three,  四 (si) - four,  五 (wu) - five, 六 (liu) - six, 七(qi) - seven, 八 (ba) - eight,  九 (jiu) - nine, 十 (shi) - ten

Direction: 东 (dōng) - east， 西 (xi) - west， 南 (nan) - south， 北 (bei) - north，

Other: 子 (zǐ) - child, 然 (rán) - correct / thusly

《Jade》: *there are SO MANY words that generally mean some kind of jade, bc when ppl put jade in their children’s name they don’t literally mean the rock, it’s used to symbolize purity, goodness, kindness, beauty, virtue etc*  琛 (chen), 瑶 (yao),  玥 (yue),  琪 (qi),  琳 (lin)

《Spirituality》

凡 (fan) - mortality 

色 (se) - colour, beauty. In buddhism, “se” symbolizes everything secular

了 (liao) - finished, done, letting go 

尘 (chen) - dust, I’m not… versed in buddhism enough to explain “chen”, it’s similar to “se”

悟 (wu) - knowing? Cognition? To understand a higher meaning

无 (wu) - nothing, the void, also part of like “letting go” 

戒 (jie) - to “quit”, but not in a bad way. In buddhism, monks are supposed to “quit” their earthly desires.

极 (ji) - greatness, also related to the state of nirvana (? I think?) 

[lettersandinkstains]

a shame that this story i want to read that hasn’t been written, and that i can totally write but won’t, hasn’t been written yet. the audacity.

[wredundant-writer]

How to enjoy writing more

I’ve seen, shared, and created plenty of posts about how to make your writing better, but I’ve decided, fuck that. It is 2020 and everything feels like crap and here’s a guide for how to enjoy your own writing more.

(Obviously! Like everything! Not all of these will work for everyone! These are just reminders for people who feel they could be a little sillier in their writing!)

1. Write at your own pace! It seems simple but deadlines that you can’t reach won’t help you. (And don’t force yourself to do Nano when it’s not your style.)

2. Write fanfic! All types of fanfic! Shitty OCs, OOC interpretations of characters, self inserts, etc etc etc. Write it without the intention of posting anywhere.

3. Write fanfic… of your own stories. Canon is a construct but that soulmates AU is real if only you write it.

4. Mercilessly switch between WIPs! Abandon them whenever you get bored! Write only the most interesting scenes!

5. Write without a plot! You don’t need to have conflict to have fun.

6. Fuck plot continuity. Write the scenes that make you happy. If they don’t line up? Who gives a shit.

7. If you read something you wrote and it’s not finished, don’t feel guilty. Just. Don’t. Your stories don’t deserve finishing; they provided you happiness as you wrote them, and that’s what’s important. (It’s the process, not the product.)

8. If you write something that’s sad, make it cathartic instead of depressing. Angst is great and all, but don’t stack sad scene upon sad scene for the sake of sadness.

9. Fuck genre. It’s okay if you aren’t sure whether your story is sci-fi or fantasy, it’s okay if you include random paranormal aspects in your historical romance, it’s GREAT if you blur the line between realistic and speculative. Don’t trap yourself in history which has been built upon marketability.

10. Write like no one’s ever gonna read it. It will help you in the long run. It doesn’t matter if it slows your “objective” improvement, it will help you feel less dependent on validation from others and make you write because–and only because–you want to write.

[badwriterpositivity]

Quick writing tip: if you want to write a scene, just do it.

Got an idea for a scene, but don't know if it would fit in your WIP? Just write it anyway!

Get a journal, or a new document, and write it. Yes, even if it's completely out of canon. Yes, even if it's self indulgent. Yes, even if it feels like a waste of time. Why?

Increases your worldbuilding and understanding of characters

Improves your writing skill

Parts of it could be used in your WIP

You could write an incredible line you would never have thought of otherwise

Stops burnout and creates passion

It's fun, and that's what writing should be.

Now go and write that scene! Have fun!

[heartial]

list of celestial words 🕊✨

astral (adj.) of, connected with, or resembling the stars. elysian (adj.) relating to or characteristic of heaven or paradise; peaceful and perfect. crepuscular (adj.) of, resembling, or relating to twilight. sempiternal (adj.) eternal and unchanging; everlasting. syzygy (n.) an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the moon or a planet. empyrean (adj.) belonging to or deriving from heaven. sidereal (adj.) pertaining to the distant stars. paradisaic (adj.) of or belonging to heaven or god. lambent (adj.) (of light or fire) glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance.

[theliteraryarchitect]

Writers: If you enjoyed writing it, that’s enough. Writing can be an end in itself. It doesn’t have to be “good” by anyone else’s standards. It doesn’t have to be published or validated in any way. Delight in putting words on the page. Delight in falling down pretty rabbit holes that might not “make sense” to others. IT’S OKAY TO WRITE JUST TO WRITE, just to have fun, just to please yourself. This is your permission slip. Go forth and create nonsense. I’m cheering for you. xo

[geistverrse]

I am literally begging, BEGGING modern media to portray healthy relationships. enough cheating. enough infidelity. enough disrespect. show me people who love each other, proper communication, and a strong mental as well as physical connection. I want plots about people who are madly in love with each other and STAY madly in love with each other. please. I am losing my mind.

[literaryhistories]

Editing my thesis at the library café ☕

[writermars]

[cowperviolet]

Your Downton-y Meals Masterlist

So, you are writing something set in the period between 1900 and 1914. You would like to describe a lavish twelve-course banquet at an upper-class wedding, a breakfast in the Titanic’s second-class dining room, or an era-appropriate snack in an Alpine meadow, but you are not quite sure what menu would convey the right impression? Luckily for you, I have a research addiction and too much time on my hands, as well as pages of notes left over from my research for my Gothic Edwardian f/f!

Here is a list of foods you can use for any particular meal (not at once… usually. Again, twelve-course dinners existed). Note: it’s very much upper/upper-middle class-specific. In other words, as promised, Downton-y. 

Breakfast:

Porridge

Whiting

Devilled kidneys

Cold grouse

Tongue

Ham

Omelette 

Kedgeree

Cold, sliced ptarmigan

Grilled waffles (if your characters have the means and the curiousity for electrical gadgets)

Post Toasties - basically crisped flakes of corn (it originated from the US, but grew popular on the other side of the pond as well)

Buckwheat cakes (mostly a US thing)

Cornbread (ditto)

Smoked kippers

Fried turbot

Calf’s liver

Baked apples

Bacon

Pancakes

Truffled French sausages

Gently-fried cutlets

Lunch:

Anchovy salad

Ham

Oysters

Spring chicken

Roast beef

Beef fillet with mushrooms

Grilled lamb’s kidneys

Hungarian-style chicken - i.e. with pepper, paprika and Bechamel sauce.

Teatime:

Ginger biscuits

Egg sandwiches

Cucumber sandwiches

Scones

Petit fours

Buttered muffins

A cake is possible, but it really depends (then again, your characters could be emulating royalty - King Edward a.k.a. Bertie a.k.a. Edward the Caresser had three sorts of cake, including a chocolate one, served at his afternoon teas).

Sandwiches/snacks for travelling:

Ham sandwiches

Tongue sandwiches

Sardine (smoked or oiled) sandwiches

Beef sandwiches

Mutton sandwiches

Anchovy sandwiches

Cream-based fillings: shrimps, lobster, salmon

Salad-based fillings: lettuce, celery, water-cress, radishes

Sweet-based fillings: jams, marmalades, chocolate

Dinner:

Crabs

Oysters

Lobster mousse

Ham in champagne (yes)

Soup, usually consommé or cream-based

Turtle soup

Broiled salmon

Turbot

Poached sole in cream sauce

Broiled cod in parsley sauce

Smoked haddock

Flounder

Asparagus in hollandaise sauce

Partridge

Grouse

Quail

Pheasant

Duck

Veal cutlets

Saddle of lamb

Desserts:

Custards

Cheese

Tarts

Ices

Plum cake

Sponge cake

American strawberry short-cake

Tapioca pudding 

Apple dumpling