mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2026-04-01 07:54 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2026-04-01 07:54 pm
Entry tags:
Writing Goals/Calendar: April 2026
And we're a fourth of the way through the year! How did that happen?
So, as I've said before, this year got off to a rough start. I had fairly little motivation or inspiration on writing as it was when the year started... and then I got appendicitis. Then the post-surgery medical stuff managed to be more stressful than the surgery itself was. And I lost two friends, both suddenly and unexpectedly. It was a tough and miserable start to the year, and did not leave me with an abundance of creative energy, or really much desire to chase that energy in any way.
March was certainly an improvement over January and February! Still not entirely great, mostly in terms of "the world feels like it's falling down and this is awful," but on the smaller scale it's been less immediately terrible.
For better or worse... that improvement still hasn't translated itself into writing motivation. I have been doing a lot of both reading and, in the last couple weeks, gaming, which has been scratching the "thinking about things" itch for me. I'm thinking more about the canon things I'm consuming than inventing my own things to rotate in my brain. (Though I wouldn't say that it's turned into fannish thinking, like it's not pushing me toward writing fic or anything, but that's also okay.)
I am hoping that the increased media consumption is going to ultimately translate to some writing inspiration. Historically, that has been the greatest source of interest in writing for me, whether directly in terms of fanfic or less directly inspiring a "what if..." that spirals into something new. It hasn't quite done so yet, but it still feels good for right now.
I did try to look at the next section of the outline I've been doing, and I balked really hard, ha. So I need to push through that, and figure out for sure whether I'm just reluctant about it, or if there's a flaw in the outline up to this point that's causing the struggle.
The issue of limited time does remain part of the problem, one which isn't really aided by the increase in reading/gaming. Still tragically the case that I cannot progress on the various things I plan to write, and cannot make it to the "have written" stage, without... doing the writing. That said... I'm actually pretty happy with how I've been spending my time, even though it hasn't been on fiction writing. I've been able to be a bit more intentional about how I'm spending my time, with fewer long instances of aimless social media scrolling (not none, but fewer!)
To be fair also, I have been writing a fair amount, reasonably steadily, for a week or so. It's just been on "non-fiction" writing, as I've been trying to write up reviews of the books I read last month. I have definitely discovered that I can't really do both in the same night, because I just don't have time. I suppose I could try to be more on top of the review-writing, so that it's more spread out throughout the month instead of all clustered at the end.
My goals for March were:
- Reorient myself in my WIP outline (as it had been a long time since I worked on it.)
- Work on the WIP outline (even a very tiny amount.)
How did that go?
- I did reorient myself in the WIP outline! I reread what I had, which did give me a fairly clear view of the project up to the point I had gotten to.
- And I did work on the WIP outline a very little bit! It wasn't a whole lot, but I got through another step in the outline I'm trying to do.
My goals for April
- Do the next section of the WIP outline
Still a low bar, but low bars feel like about what I'm able to clear right now, haha. Like I said, I'm a bit reluctant to get through this part, and expect it may take a while once I do, so hopefully that's a reasonable goal for me to get done in a month.
So, as I've said before, this year got off to a rough start. I had fairly little motivation or inspiration on writing as it was when the year started... and then I got appendicitis. Then the post-surgery medical stuff managed to be more stressful than the surgery itself was. And I lost two friends, both suddenly and unexpectedly. It was a tough and miserable start to the year, and did not leave me with an abundance of creative energy, or really much desire to chase that energy in any way.
March was certainly an improvement over January and February! Still not entirely great, mostly in terms of "the world feels like it's falling down and this is awful," but on the smaller scale it's been less immediately terrible.
For better or worse... that improvement still hasn't translated itself into writing motivation. I have been doing a lot of both reading and, in the last couple weeks, gaming, which has been scratching the "thinking about things" itch for me. I'm thinking more about the canon things I'm consuming than inventing my own things to rotate in my brain. (Though I wouldn't say that it's turned into fannish thinking, like it's not pushing me toward writing fic or anything, but that's also okay.)
I am hoping that the increased media consumption is going to ultimately translate to some writing inspiration. Historically, that has been the greatest source of interest in writing for me, whether directly in terms of fanfic or less directly inspiring a "what if..." that spirals into something new. It hasn't quite done so yet, but it still feels good for right now.
I did try to look at the next section of the outline I've been doing, and I balked really hard, ha. So I need to push through that, and figure out for sure whether I'm just reluctant about it, or if there's a flaw in the outline up to this point that's causing the struggle.
The issue of limited time does remain part of the problem, one which isn't really aided by the increase in reading/gaming. Still tragically the case that I cannot progress on the various things I plan to write, and cannot make it to the "have written" stage, without... doing the writing. That said... I'm actually pretty happy with how I've been spending my time, even though it hasn't been on fiction writing. I've been able to be a bit more intentional about how I'm spending my time, with fewer long instances of aimless social media scrolling (not none, but fewer!)
To be fair also, I have been writing a fair amount, reasonably steadily, for a week or so. It's just been on "non-fiction" writing, as I've been trying to write up reviews of the books I read last month. I have definitely discovered that I can't really do both in the same night, because I just don't have time. I suppose I could try to be more on top of the review-writing, so that it's more spread out throughout the month instead of all clustered at the end.
My goals for March were:
- Reorient myself in my WIP outline (as it had been a long time since I worked on it.)
- Work on the WIP outline (even a very tiny amount.)
How did that go?
- I did reorient myself in the WIP outline! I reread what I had, which did give me a fairly clear view of the project up to the point I had gotten to.
- And I did work on the WIP outline a very little bit! It wasn't a whole lot, but I got through another step in the outline I'm trying to do.
My goals for April
- Do the next section of the WIP outline
Still a low bar, but low bars feel like about what I'm able to clear right now, haha. Like I said, I'm a bit reluctant to get through this part, and expect it may take a while once I do, so hopefully that's a reasonable goal for me to get done in a month.
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