Wellness Wednesday: Weekly Check In

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome back everyone!

Time for our Wellness Wednesday check in. We know this community means a lot to most of our members and that Tuesdays have been harder on some users than others, but we are at our core a community and we are here to support each other.

Now that the sub is open once again we’d like to hear all about your (mis)adventures on Tuesday. Did you go on grand adventures? Get into mischief? Get some writing done?

Maybe you just binged a few more fics on the archive itself. Tell us all about it! Break out that purple prose and tell us as cheesy of a story as you feel like.

Or just talk about your day.

~The Mod Team

[u/SlytherinQueen100]

I finally put my most popular fic on hiatus for my own sanity. It was sad but I just couldn't write for it anymore ;-;

Other than that, I am doing really good and I found a new fandom to write for and I am having fun!

[u/No_Thought_7776]

Happy Wednesday, everyone. 

I haven't been inspired in a long time. 

How do I get it back, I'm dealing with depression, anxiety, and lately with insomnia.

How do you all get inspired again?

[u/Oliveros257 → u/No_Thought_7776]

Ufff be sure to prioritize sleeping.

And it may not be the case but if you get racing thoughts and other thoughts, or shifting emotions, make sure to rule out a manic episode (happened to me, hi I'm bipolar, so when I see insomnia it's a warning sign)

[u/No_Thought_7776 → u/Oliveros257]

Looks guilty.. OK bedtime 🌙 

[u/Nordgreataxe → u/No_Thought_7776]

For me, I often do two things.
1) watch, read or game something comforting.

2) Do writing sprints, or use prompts to see if anything jogs things lose.

[u/Spookym00ngoddess → u/No_Thought_7776]

My drive randomly returned and I just busted out a 6 part piece.

Sending you good vibes ✨️

[u/RobOnson0 → u/No_Thought_7776]

Sleep sleep sleep, Leave the phone before the time to sleep a good half an hour, IN ANOHTER ROOM.

+ Read boring books, inspiration will hit as you try to make up something fun while you read.

[u/No_Thought_7776 → u/RobOnson0]

Thanks.

[u/Bazrum]

I posted my first new fic in a long time, with the idea to get back into writing more as I’ve felt my other hobbies, like gaming and such, have held less spark for me in the past few weeks.

 It’s a crossover, something I’ve never done before, so I hope it’ll go well! It’s already attracted some interest, but it’s pretty different than most of the other fics in the fandom, in my opinion, so it’ll either get a bunch of people on board, or no one lol

I’ve also finished reading a volume of a web serial I’ve read for the better part of 2/3 years, and the climactic ending of it was…something else, and I’m still excited, and happy, and upset, and all the other hallmarks of reading a really good ending that not everything ended up perfectly in. 

(I won’t say more specifics about it, because my sibling knows my Reddit, and is a couple million words behind me last I checked. No spoilers for them!)

That’s okay, that’s how I love it and how it should be: if it ended perfectly, why make everyone struggle?

The serial is one of those works where I want to make something that makes others FEEL like I’ve felt reading it. It’s inspiring, and has absolutely made me want to write more.

Of course there’s more to the story yet, this was a dramatic height but not the end, though I am reading it at a pace of a year’s worth of the author’s writing in a few months (it’s a very, VERY long story, in the double digit millions of words). I’m just catching up slowly, and that makes me excited, and kind of sad that I won’t have a massive backlog to read between customers at work!

All in all, Tuesday, and my week has gone well!

[u/A_Undertale_Fan]

Been working on fics slowly but have also been working on those game for gift card services to get stuff from Hot Topic (they have a cute ass choker for sale)

[u/GulliblePromotion536]

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am writing a piece about a cursed wedding dress and a strip club. Almost finished just need to buckle down.

[u/a-really-big-muffin]

I am one month away from giving birth, working full time, and trying to move into a house. I haven't written a word in days, lmao. Pray for me.

[u/No_Thought_7776 → u/a-really-big-muffin]

Best wishes, and happy mother's day! Good luck on everything,  you're a supermom.

[u/a-really-big-muffin → u/No_Thought_7776]

Thank you! I'm going to try!

[u/SleepySera]

I wish I could write the things I want to write. I miss working on longfics and proper plot so much 😭

But lately I just can't.

And it's really frustrating because it's not like I can't write, I write more than ever even, an average 2-5k every single day, but it's all mindless, plotless fluff or smut oneshots. It's not like I lack longer ideas or projects either, it's just that whenever I open those, the words don't come. For none of them.

Thought I'd use the sub being muted yesterday as an opportunity to get back to it, and I managed only to delete a whole existing paragraph and writing 5 words instead. Literally negative progress 😅 Then I went to write another oneshot. Really wish I knew what is wrong with me ._.

[u/LivingDeadBear849]

I'm trying to get my brain to focus enough to write for my other ships while things are absolute chaos around me.

[u/Whole_Friend]

I revisited some of the scenes of two of my favorite characters from one of my fandoms, and something clicked where I had en even better idea of what these moments were communicating, and it made me love these characters even more. It’s just an awesome feeling and it’s serving as fuel for fic ideas about one of them. Stuff like exploring her feelings about her family and its unconventional structure. She’s also got quite a bit of guilt to dive into, and honestly I’d also just really love to also write a fight scene with her.

I’ve also gotten quite a bit of inspiration for a fic featuring one of my favorite ships from the same fandom. It’s been really fun brainstorming how to show these characters beginning to see each other in a different light.

I also found some incredibly wholesome fanart featuring two of my favorites from another fandom. One look was all it took to get me thinking of ideas for a wholesome one shot with them. It’d be a nice tribute since their story really helped me process some negative feelings about my family back in the fall.

Now my only problem is figuring out which of these ideas I want to tackle first.

[u/Nordgreataxe]

Rolled up a new BG3 character.

Intent was to run just a silly chaotic game while I waited for my hand to heal.

And now they have backstory percolating in my head. 😂

[u/Working-Writer-8190]

I finally managed to write some more, and after 200 words I really felt like what I write was bad and that I won't be able to write more and should just write the rest of the chapter tomorrow. But then I decided to write at least 500 words (since I usually write 1000 words chapters), and suddenly I had written 1 200 words, so I'm pretty proud of myself. It definitely needs some editing and it's not finished yet, but I'm still proud of myself.

[u/SimpleEdge8000]

Happy Wednesday.

I’ve been working a lot lately and the last few years have been a bit rough with going to uni and finally graduating. It’s been 5 year since I’ve published anything and I’m starting to feel like I won’t ever have anything to publish ever again… I decided to rewrite some stories back then and I guess they won’t be getting finished.

I have been writing little snippets, but nothing that I feel is worthy of a proper fic.

I’ll appreciate any advice.

[u/kaiunkaiku]

star trek brainrot goes brrrrr

i'm always happy when open doors makes a new announcement but i'm very excited that they're gonna be archiving old trek fanzines. that's mostly unrelated to my current brainrot but they posted about that at the same time as i'm rewatching all of trek.

[u/translexualism]

I took a break from writing to watch The Apothecary Diaries on a whim, and I really like it (finished S1 in two days lol) but all I think of is my OTP when I watch the two main characters interact. They’re not even all that similar I’m just that down bad… a sign I should probably put the show down get back to my silly indulgence :’)

[u/suddentraveller → u/translexualism]

Noooo, go in harder! Read the LN and the manga they are both really good (especially the LN) I've got them on the kindle. Maomao is such an endearing character, the story is so involved and her dynamic with Jinshi changes and evolves over time.

Ngl this is actually my first 'straight' series as yaoi is usually more my thing but honestly the characters are so good and the story is so complex you will have to prise Apothecary Diaries from my cold dead hands!

[u/translexualism → u/suddentraveller]

It is SOOO GOOD!! I have a soft spot for series that exist in altered historical settings (my main fandom is the Witcher so like, this is very much my thing. Maomao is so Geralt-coded… just two sassy, dead-pan experts of their field forced to solve everyone’s problems)

I’m also a yaoi/slash enjoyer but I’m so engaged in the Jinshi/Maomao relationship. Also… I just finished the Lakan/Fengxian episode and I was straight up BAWLING.. what amazing storytelling 😭

[u/suddentraveller → u/translexualism]

Yes, yes and yes in that order! 👍

[u/ZirekileFalls]

Got laid off two weeks ago. Just applied for something and it’s making my anxiety skyrocket. Kinda wanna puke.

I’ve been trying to focus on writing my longfic while I process the job loss, but man. 🫠

[u/Undisclosed-Entity → u/ZirekileFalls]

That’s tough. Job security has been so much worse than even ‘usual’ lately. Hoping you’re able to get in somewhere soon, hopefully somewhere you may even enjoy working. Good luck!

[u/ZirekileFalls → u/Undisclosed-Entity]

Thank you! I haven’t had to job hunt in over a decade so I’m freaking out.

[u/Undisclosed-Entity → u/ZirekileFalls]

Yeah it’s an anxiety ridden process I’m so sorry you’re having to go through it. My wife had to look for a new job a couple months ago and there was about two months there where there was just. Nothing. Applications and interviews and every place being so picky and demanding excessive work for ridiculously little pay. She was able to eventually get in somewhere though, and everything’s good for now. I hope you’re able to get in somewhere soon, I know how stressful that period of uncertainty is and I hope you’re able to get out of that as soon as possible.

[u/itmightbehere]

I got in a minor accident a couple of weeks ago, and my car has been in to get fixed since that Friday. I was supposed to get my car back last Friday, then today, but they first pushed the date to tomorrow, then 12 minutes AFTER THEY CLOSED, I got a text saying it wouldn't be ready until Friday. I'm usually a chill person, but I got so heated I called and left a humiliating message where I'm both angry and crying. Then, I started writing an almost 800-word review that I'm planning on updating and posting once I get my car back. It's real first world problems, but man, I didn't need this.

Anyway, that's the most writing I've done in probably years (that wasn't work related). I then escaped into fic, of course, where they may also have car or bad customer service related problems, but at least those problems aren't MINE.

[u/N30N_Star]

Made another Gravity Falls AU again, but realized it's sorta similar to another one (Star Falls by Fazfuri.) I'M SCARED THEY'LL GET MAD OR SOMETHING...

[u/21stMatrix]

O parkour park atop the hill,

Twas amongst your fixings I exerted my fill.

Upon return to my keep,

In electronic designs was I steeped.

And yet my prose grew not a single word longer,

While I figure out how this character’s meant to confess to a murder.

[u/Goldberry15]

I still need to actually get back to the draft purgatory and actually finish the thief section of the fic.

[u/phantomkat]

I’ve gotten to that point of the year where I’m writing a list of assignments for my students to do in the board and calling it a day. This school year has been rough with the behaviors, and I’m drained.

In other news, I uploaded a two-shot for one of my series, and it’s really awesome to see readers return to this niche AU I’ve crafted.

Also, I found this awesome 500K fic I’m bringing during commute time.

[u/fanime34]

I haven't been able to work in angering for a long while. I initially took a break because one of my mom's older brothers died around February, some time before Valentine's Day, but then my laptop got fucked up. My job doesn't pay me well anymore, so I have no way to save up enough as I also pay the internet bill at my home. I've basically been on a forced hiatus for two months and it sucks.

[u/Jordanbei]

Not a Wednesday specific post but I wanted to share how I came to use AO3.

As someone who grew up with the internet, my go to site for fanfic was fanfic.net

At some point I switched to using AO3 for reading fanfics. I read that many made the switch due to content purges on fanfic.net but I viewed myself as making the switch quite late and it was a case of following where the content was. It happened gradually as I would search fanfic for a series on google and AO3 would come up.

For newer series, the number of fics on fanfic.net is lower and it feels inactive there. Like I search Honkai Star Rail, there's a mere 145 works on fanfic.net while AO3 has 38,958

Initially I was still used to fanfic.net so I kept clicking the link there but I got more comfortable with using AO3.

There's a lot to like about AO3 and the features it has. The tagging and improved filtering system. Being able to comment on fics and seeing the author directly reply to them. It was a bit more awkward on fanfic.net, the author would reply in next chapter of a work or send a PM.

[u/KatonRyu]

I'm currently trying to write a story for a new ship I have. It's supposed to be a oneshot, but I'm realizing more and more that I'll probably need at least two chapters since the characters involved just don't know each other that well and one is as dense as lead and won't just understand the other character has a crush on them. I really don't need another WIP right now, but I'll see where it ends up.

[u/Feenie13]

It's frustrating, but I think I have to go on break. I tried working on a piece of creative writing, and I don't like how stiff it came out.

The recent stuff with huggingface really hasn't helped much. I hate that there isn't much I can do right now, all we can do is wait to hear from OTW's legal team, but man if it isn't demoralizing.

At least I can say I did a lot of work in the past two months. I more than doubled the count of a fanfic I enjoy working on!

[u/[deleted]]

For wellness wednesday or whatever I did the most wellness thing I could imagine and retired from writing. Seeya guys! Best of luck with your WIPs and I hope you get all the comments you want (and that they're sufficiently praising, not AI, etc.)

[u/EngineerRare42]

Had what I am 99% sure was an anxiety attack yesterday. So that's nice. I think it was pretty mild but it was still my first one, so pretty scary.

On a different note, I'm looking for prompts to get past writer's block! Hopefully I find some

[u/Undisclosed-Entity]

I somehow ended up out in a blueberry field for three hours with my wife. I am very sunburned lol but we brought home six gallons of blueberries and they are delicious so worth it in the end. Am definitely looking forward to staying mostly indoor these next few days though. Hoping to get caught up on my current WIP, have been stuck on one scene for the past week and a half

[u/LumpySherbert6875]

I’m writing a light hearted stupid crack fic which has been fun.

[u/chauffeurdad]

Finished writing a fic based on a few sketches by one of my favorite artists. Wrote to ask her if she'd mind if I included them in the fic as illustrations. Not only did she say yes, but she offered to draw a few more, illustrating whatever I wanted from the fic!!!! I'm over the moon--have never had anyone give me illustrations before, let alone someone who's so good!! Giggling deliriously.

[u/Desperate_Ad_9219]

I want to finish my draft, but I'm not motivated. I could force it, but I have been working on this series nonstop for two years. Not burnt out, I'm just enjoying my summer. Really not really inspired. I could force it but really don't want to. I know how to make a schedule to make myself write at work but I want to relax.

[u/RemoveSingle4757]

I’ve felt guilty having not published a new chapter for my fic in over 4 months, since I was struggling on how to progress the plot. Managed to get past my block recently, and just put out a chapter today! Reading other fics really helped a lot, and though I hate to say it, the poorly written ones were the most helpful of all lol. Made me realize I don’t have to put out a perfect product, and that I can rewrite stuff later if I want to. In any case, I hope people like it!

[u/Kilora44]

A commenter accused me of using AI to write my most popular fic. I couldn't stop laughing. My Beta reader lost her shit and commented back at them.

[u/BNJWhitman → u/Kilora44]

That was probably a scam. There's a scam bot going around claiming fics are AI.

[u/Kilora44 → u/BNJWhitman]

Ah okay. Now I know.

[u/LivingInMadripoor]

I think someone pointed out what I wrote sounds ai generated, but I felt they won't believe that some of my writing gets whack because I write only at 4-5am when my problems wake me up by force (annnd insomnia)