Query

[undonne.livejournal.com]

I have a question. Are we going to do challenges here at the pub? If so, I have a proposal for consideration. :waves to all:

Comments

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

Heh, well people in general love challenges as far as I can tell, reading around in LJ. Right now I'm so swamped with so many things that I promise nothing (haven't even gotten back to the piece I started for FA...whenever *that* was!). And hope I won't have to duck mugs thrown at me if I confess that whenever friends tell me that challenges keep them writing, I sort of wonder. My problem is never ideas for writing, it's lack of time. And I get no sympathy for it at all (hypergraphia that's what it is, I have an Article by A Doctor!!).

But that's me. I'd say go for the challenge!

I've spent the majority of time this break....sleeping.

Naps, sometimes two a day. And ten hours a night.

's Wonderful!

Very little writing done but I must have been a lot more tired than I realized. Because as soon as the pressure was off, KONK.

It doesn't help that the cats are all nap enablers. You lie down on a couch to read a little AU to get back in the mood for writing, and then next thing you know, three cats are draped over you and you're sound asleep.

I know: how about a nap challenge!

[undonne.livejournal.com]

And hope I won't have to duck mugs thrown at me if I confess that whenever friends tell me that challenges keep them writing, I sort of wonder. My problem is never ideas for writing, it's lack of time. And I get no sympathy for it at all (hypergraphia that's what it is, I have an Article by A Doctor!!).

Promise I won't throw things, but I am looking at you enviously over the rim of my mug of Misty Mountains Coffee (local equivalent of Irish Coffee). I find nudges of various sorts helpful, because I definitely don't have hypergraphia. :)

All the sleep sounds wonderful -- I've been doing the same things. I think teaching, no matter how much you love it, is really draining. It's great to have some time just to zone out. But it sounds like you're winning the nap challenge -- I've only managed about 9 hours a night, and I've never been able to sleep during the day. :hugs:

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

I have a vague memory of giving you this link before (in discussion with elese?), but here it is again, just in case, what the heck. (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/01.29/01-creativity.html) I had a major seizure of this well whatever it is last fall when I wrote the novel draft in a white hot heat--literally could not stop the voices in my head, had to stagger out and start writing first thing in the morning. It's a bit scary in a way, to be so taken over. I like her speculation that writer's block and hypergraphia may be linked in some way, although my experience is that the blocked writers get more sympathy, heh.

I guess it's the idea that we'd like to be able to turn it (creativity, whatever it is) on and off like a faucet, and we can't, or at least not most of us, at least in my experience. Though there are those writers who just write every day. Like going to work.

And I totally agree that most people need nudges. I do it in my creative writing classes--call those prompts rather than challenges. In fact, my poetry textbook is just a collection of prompts put together by published poets who also teach writing. So we start every day by writing as a group for a short time. I tell them they should not wait for "inspiration," but should just write.

A friend and I have talked about the possibility that in some ways I am *not* the best person to be a writing teacher because unlike the majority of people (including her, and she's in composition fer crying out loud, but her response is not at all unique in composition studies she tells me) I *like* writing. I write all the time. I write across genre boundaries. My problem lies more in finishing projects, and keeping to any reasonable length (my impulse is to just shove more stuff in until the boundaries go *pop*). But since my experience is so deviant, it's hard for me to work with the majority of people in terms of writing strategies. I do better in creative writing than in composition classes generally but only becuase the students are self selected and want to write. I have a hard time motivating those who don't want to write because it's so...imcomprehensible to me. And I'm sure that shows through in the classroom.

This break has been unusual--I don't sleep during the day much myself, or if I do, cannot sleep much at night. But I've been zonking out like crazy. Must've been much more tired than I realized. It's been good, though. Am definitely perking up and feeling energized. Hope it lasts the last couple of weeks!

[undonne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I do remember now us talking about it, but I'm glad to have the article to look at again over the coming holidays. We're all grateful for your hypergraphia -- the productions are so lush. :) Hope you're still doing well and that the energy lasts through the end of the semester and on into the fun times. :hugs:

[zillah975]

*perks*

What sort of proposal?

[undonne.livejournal.com]

If nobody objects to the idea of challenges in general, I was thinking about a very general challenge called "A Winter's Tale." Basically tell a seasonal tale (or something that takes place at the pub in winter) AND/OR offer us a wintry recipe for food or drink that could be served at the Five Armies. What do you think?

[zillah975]

I'd try to write something for that. Just, um, don't make it one of those things like "drabble" or "less than/more than 500" words or something like that. I have a terrible time writing to a word count ('specially an exact one like a drabble). *snugs you up*

[undonne.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't do that do you -- it would be totally open as to form and length (I'm thinking bawdy poems or yule songs by the roaring fire, for one thing... ;) ). :smooches:

[seleneheart]

What shebit and I were thinking is that instead of posting a formal challenge from the mods, that a character could walk into the inn and issue the challenge to the patrons. So if you've got one, go for it, mom!

[undonne.livejournal.com]

I think that's a great way to handle it. I'm going down into the dark pool of a hideous deadline, so I probably won't try to do it until around Christmas (if nobody beats me to it).