*watches the tumbleweed*

[jadesfire]

Gosh, it's quiet around here, by which I mean LJ in general as well as my journal in particular. I think everyone migrated to Twitter when I wasn't looking (I'm there under this username, although I don't Tweet very much) and forgot how to make posts more than 140 characters long.

The quiet around here is due to a combination of the weather and general busyness. In theory, keeping myself busy and occupied should be a great way to combat the SAD that usually wallops me at this time of year. In practice, I'm mostly getting very tired and cross with myself for not being able to keep the flat in any kind of state of tidiness or achieve anything at all in general. We also had some house-stress, which is over now but has left me a little washed out and bluesy. That leads to no posting, and the less I post, the less I want to post and add that to one of the nastiest cases of Writers Block that I've had since I started writing and mostly what you get is a whole lot of nothing.

On the other hand, I've got most of the drabbles done now (some morphed into ficlets, because apparently I can't write short SGA any more) and am starting to have itchings to write more, which is definitely A Good Thing. I won't be doing NaNo this year, but will be trying to write every day, so that I can get through some of my stack of promised stories before Yuletide kicks off. I also won't be writing for the 'Come As You Aren't' party, because I can't think of anything that I'm capable of writing that I haven't written yet (although suggestions are welcome ;)), so I'm going to concentrate on my requests/prompts/exchange list for now. Should keep me going until the new year...

So yes, most of the reason I haven't been posting is that my life seems to be a random mixture of mania and boredom right now. If I'm not dashing frantically from commitment to commitment, I'm twiddling my thumbs and reorganising my icons folder pretending to write. My concentration span is approximately that of a hyperactive gnat right now, so just writing this post has been tricky - I keep wandering off to do other things :S If I could concentrate for more than 5 minutes at a time, I'm sure I could achieve greatness. As it is, most of what I'm achieving is a mess. Hopefully it's the kind of mess that suddenly coalesces into something, but I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway, that's me. How are you guys? Still hanging on in there? *waves*

Comments

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Still hanging in here. I have about ten minutes to waste before I have to start getting dressed for work this morning.

Sorry about the house-stress, and I hope things settle down a bit so that you feel more together. *hugs*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Thanks - it became one of those huge things and has really knocked me back a few paces. We have a new plan, but it's not as exciting as the old one, so I guess I'm just trying to dig my way out of the doldrums again.

Hope St P's is kind to you today :)

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I am tired and a bit sore and very happy. Hub 3 was great fun and I now have to unpack everything, wash it and pack it back up again so I can go to Whitby on Thursday!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Hee, I haven't had a chance to read your Con report yet, but it sounds like you're having a great time at the moment! Woot :)

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Oh I am. Meeting old friends (from con-going days 10 years ago) and making new ones. Loved every minute (apart from the bloody plantar fasciitis, but treating that with copious amounts of alcohol in order to relax my tendons seemed to help).

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I guess that's one approach! My mother has special insoles for her shoes, but you know, whatever works for you...

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I got insoles too, but the alcohol definitely helped. *g*
For Whitby I have acquired a pretty fold up walking stick as I don't think I'd manage well on those hills and a bad foot without one. I also have nephew to act as pack horse...

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

This may sound like an odd question, But do you know a guy who goes my the moniker "Mrph" (pronounced Morph)??

The only reason I am asking is that there is a theory that everyone is within a view degrees of separation from others by way of particular nexus people, Mrph being one of them:D

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

To my best knowledge, I don't know him. But I probably know someone who does!

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

I won't be doing NaNo this year, but will be trying to write every day,

wrisomifu! Join us!

My reasoning is, I'm going to be a MiFu anyway; I may as well have company! Also, legitimate and community-supported mandates to complain bitterly cannot be underestimated. :D

I think a lot of us are having Writer's Block, or variations thereof. I'm not blocked, I've got a zillion things I want to write, but for some reason I'm terrified of actually putting anything down...can't face the sight of my own words. Or something. *eyeroll*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, as I said to Donut last night, I can't quite bring myself to join a comm whose full name my G-rated soul isn't happy typing out in full, but I'll be cheering you guys on from the sidelines.

I have noticed that the fic on my flist has dried up somewhat recently. I definitely have the 'scared to suck' fear, brought on mostly by a failed story that I can't quite get over. How I get past that? Still working on that one...

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

I can't type it out in full either. *g*

I have tons of half-finished stories lying around. Some I knew were never going to be finished, they were just stuff I wrote for my own fun; some just need polishing up, but I am afraid that they are not really that good either, and I'm scared to put all that work in them and then screw up.

Then I look at the stuff I have posted, and wonder why I didn't sit on half of it too. *g* It sort of gives me courage to keep going. Kind of a "Well, I survived *that*, so..."

I dunno. I just know there are a lot of us who will read anything you write, and cheer loudly, and even if we don't know the fandom we will be making encouraging noises in the background. *rhubarbrhubarbrhubarb...*

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

Sounds quite familiar. Of course the change back from BST has left me with clock-lagg:D

as for writers-block, If you want to talk through scenarios and stuff or just general rambling I offer myself up as an idea trampoline.. I have served in this capacity to a few writers before (I may be bad at producing the written word myself but I seem to be able to incite the ability in others).

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I've been using my SAD lights for more or less all my waking hours lately, which is helping with the tiredness, but the depression is still walloping me hard.

*smile* Thank you, I really appreciate the offer. Right now, my problem isn't ideas, it's bringing myself to put one word after another. For once, I know what the cause is, and I just need to...get over myself a little, and tell myself that one failed story doesn't make me a failed writer. Once I get a little momentum behind me, I'll be fine - I might actually put up a general post here at some point, since I know I'm not the only writer not waving but drowning at the moment. Trampolining will definitely be extremely welcome at that point ;)

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I had a halogen desk lamp, which died on saturday the light arm fell off:(.. I need to get a new one.
Something that i got told by a dietician which I am playig with now.. raise your tryptophan levels in your diet. Its the building block for serotonin, a lot of depression symptoms are caused or made worse by a drop in serotonin levels. I have to say I was a bit sceptical that just having extra chicken, banana, cocoa, soya and the like were going to help, but I have to say that I apear to be more upbeat, so much so my partner has commented on it.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

See, chocolate is good for you!

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

Hmm food of the gods!!!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* My counsellor/dietician (it's useful having someone who's both!) gave me a similar list last winter. I really should dig it out again, or just get my eating back under control - that's a whole OTHER post, probably for another time ;)

Definitely get that lamp repaired! I don't know how I'd manage without my lights at this time of year.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I stopped writing so much after the treatment for my depression/insomnia kicked in early this summer. I think writing is for me like what the singer/songwriter Ray LaMontagne said about making music: "It gets out the stuff that's killing me." Right now (thank God) the need is not so strong.

BTW: There really is something to the tryptophan-boosting diet. Brain Doc gave the kid a similar one years ago (lots of turkey, bananas and milk) and it worked for him.

A good day-starter is a smoothie made of a frozen banana broken into chunks, chocolate syrup and milk. Yummy and happy-making, all in one handy package. :)

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

Still hanging in there. After today I'm taking a week off from work; I'm not traveling, but I am going to try and accomplish something that I'm pretty nervous about being able to do (not NaNo and not something I really want to get into). I may end up being on here more or less in the next week.

I need my attention span to be longer, not shorter, so I tend to stay away from Twitter.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I'm thinking of taking a 'half-term' week sometime in late November, just to catch up with myself a little before it's Christmas and all goes nuts again.

heh, I mostly watch Twitter to keep up with folks or post randomly from my phone when I can't get to LJ but need to vent ;) Hopefully I'm not quite at addiction level yet...

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*waves* I'm still around, but I was attending the Hub 3 con over the weekend. It was a great deal of fun, but it means that I'm now rushing around like a dememted chicken.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! I didn't realise you'd been there :) Glad you had fun and good luck with the decapitated fowl impression!

[naye]

I am beginning to notice the lack of light here - not at all as bad as Sweden would be, but... Yeah. I'm going to keep trying to shrug it off, but I feel a little like I'm stuck in molasses right now. Not that I don't want to do anything, but getting to it is hard.

Still happy, though! And glad to have such sweet and thoughtful people on my f'list. *hugs*

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

It's far too dark at this time of year to be productive. Oh yes.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

"Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you"

Actually, I hate that song. Even when Barrowman sings it. Especially when Barrowman sings it.

But I'm here and not going anywhere. I understand the difficulty of find a suitable costume, and I realize that most of your "I haven't written" options are so distasteful to you that they're probably not going to happen. I hope you'll stop by as reader, if nothing else. And of course, we'll all be looking forward to yuletide.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I'm actually honestly stumped for what I *could* write, what *would* be a costume for me. At various points while writing fanfic, I've written badfic, Mary Sues, Jack/anyone, Het, Slash, Threesome, even songfic on one occasion, although I suspect I deleted that from my fanfiction.net account. I've done DVD commentaries, angst, gen, crack... I don't think I'm capable of RPF and beyond that?

You see my problem ;)

Still, I do have something up my sleeve which I'd love to try, so we'll see if I can find an hour or so before the deadline and what happens...

Thanks, hon. And I'll TOTALLY be there as a reader. Mine's a diet coke, no ice :D

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Well there's always some new fandom you've never tackled, that much I'm sure of. And we'll be thrilled to see you there in any capacity, along with the Omni-sexual bartenders. :)

[darsynia.livejournal.com]

I'm... odd, lately. I have a lot to do and a really shitty memory for it. Which is probably the b12 deficiency that I keep forgetting I HAVE, and therefore don't TREAT, like I'm supposed to. How's that for irony?!

I really really want to write more lately, but I suspect I need a format/construct for that to happen! I should check out yuletide and see when that gets off the ground... I need a deadline, argh.