When you have nothing to say, make a LiveJournal post (brief mention of NaNoWriMo)

[mousme]

It's funny because it's true.

I feel like I'm spending a whole lot of time whining in this LJ. Or, if not whining, then complaining (which is eerily similar, but is less high-pitched).

I'm not sure I like that.

For one thing, I don't (I hope) spend nearly as much of my time being negative off the internet. I'm generally a pretty upbeat person (when not beset by crippling depressive episodes, but that's a story for another day), and it looks to me as though anyone reading my LJ would just find me the most Negative Nancy ever.

I'm not sure why that is. I have theories, though. I think part of it is due to the fact that I was raised never to burden other people with my problems, so that even when I complain to my friends IRL, I try to mitigate what I'm saying by turning it into a self-deprecating joke. Online, it doesn't seem to count in my books. Somewhere in my head, LJ isn't real. The people reading my LJ aren't real, and that includes people I know and interact with off the internet regularly. It's not even a question of complete-strangers-off-the-internet.

miseri once made the observation that LJ is a lot like OOC (Out Of Character) Knowledge in a roleplaying game. On one level you know what's going on with other people, but you carry on as though your "character" doesn't know it. It's like being an omniscient narrator and a third-person limited POV character at the same time, and keeping the two scrupulously separate.

I have no real answer. I think that's the closest I'll come to it.


In other news, my November is progressing better than previous ones. I haven't gone crazy, I haven't been swamped by work (or, at least, not consistently swamped), and it actually looks as though I might be able to finish my novel for NaNoWriMo.

Those of you who don't already know this, but who want to follow the day-to-day high speed drama of NaNoWriMo in Phnee's world can find my ramblings on the topic at secret_history. I've been told repeatedly that my talking about NaNoWriMo in this forum pisses people off, so I mostly talk about it over there. Bear in mind it's usually just brief accounts of my day and wordcount. The meaning of life is not to be found in my writing journal. Not yet, anyway.


I'm kind of thinking of a new writing project. One that might end up in rocking_thing. It's poking at the back of my mind, and telling me it wants to be a weekly column, maybe on creativity, more likely thoughts on the idea of personal change. Evolution. Or something. I may noodle about this more thoroughly in secret_history, since it's writing-related.

Actually, I have ideas for two writing projects, and I want to start my serial again in December. So many projects, so little time.

Comments

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

I've been told repeatedly that my talking about NaNoWriMo in this forum pisses people off, so I mostly talk about it over there.

...this makes me angry. Mainly because this is your LJ and if you want to talk about Nano, or how the moon is really made of cheese, every single day for the rest of your life, you are bloody well allowed to and fully within your rights to do so, and anyone feeling pissed off about it can just go read something else.

Tis your livejournal. People ought to respect that.

Grr.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What she said, posted as I tried to rein in my incoherent fury enough to post myself.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Thanks. :D

Try not to get too furious on my behalf. This is all part of the process of my learning to pick my battles.

There are some topics I will post about in this LJ no matter what people think of them. Writing, OTOH, is something I have a special place for, and so it doesn't bother me as much to take my ramblings over there. That way, the people who *want* to read my stuff can come with me, and those too foolish to accept my brilliance don't have to strain themselves. ;)

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Having the other LJ is all well and good, and yes, even makes sense, but if it came about because of feedback like that, I gnash in their general direction.

Ann and I would make a formidable hit team, you know. She could hit them with bricks; I could hit them with Roman. And both of us could tear targets apart with the words from our tongues.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

Death by bricking and deadly rapier wit.

:: wise nod ::

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

Ever hear the song "Me and Dorothy Parker" by the Flash Girls?

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

No. I keep meaning to look up some Flash Girls. Appropriate, I take it?

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

Ha!

:: makes mental note of stuff to set aside ::

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

I have both Maurice & I and The return of Pansy Smith and Violet Jones.

:: grin ::

[mousme.livejournal.com]

*puts up a shield and cowers behind it*

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Nah, the LJ was there before, because I really liked the name. I decided to use it as a writing LJ, and then forgot about it.

Then people whined that NaNoWriMo was boring, or pointless, or evil (there are a few people out there who think NaNo is the pinnacle of all things evil, I'm not sure why), and said they wouldn't read my LJ during November.

Originally I was going to say "Fine, whatever. Don't read." But then I remembered my writing LJ, and started posting things in there instead. So every now and then I post a reminder over here for people who want to read my creative writing stuff, also for the benefit of new readers who might be interested too. :)

The thought of you and Ann together as a hit team frightens me beyond coherent thought.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

And well it should. It should Strike Fear Into The Hearts Of People Who Quash Self-Expression Everywhere.

I think I can speak for Ann when I say, invoke us at need.

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

When I say "I have a brick on my desk at work", I am not kidding in the least.

It serves as a pencil holder, when not needed for Other Things.

[swestrup]

Your post reminds me of the character Scorn from the book Desolation Road. He could flay the flesh from a mans bones by words alone. Literally.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

*icon love*

Enh. If it was about a subject that was not writing, I'd probably tell people to piss off. However, I happen to have a shiny writing LJ, so I figure I can use that, thus having my cake and eating it too.

I do talk about writing in this LJ. I just don't post wordcount and "today I spent the day figuring out where my main character should go" kind of stuff.

But I appreciate the sentiment and agree with it in principle. :)

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

:: grins ::

I need to make several brick icons with varying messages. ;)

And anyone kvetching at me about anything in my LJ is liable to get a "stuff it" reply. S'my LJ. Mine! And I'm very proprietary about it. ;) It's even in the bio. Heh.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw. Am very jealous of your bio. The format, that is. One day, when I actually know something about programming, I'll ask you how you got it to look the way it does. :)

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

Could possible send you a blank code format with "title here" and "text here" spaces... hrm.

...

If I ever have time again. HA. Possibly after classes end in December? XD

[sultrysong.livejournal.com]

Bingo. And you always use LJ cuts when you get very verbose. People don't like it, then can skip over. Me, I read when I can, and I'm glad you put it out there for me to choose.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

I think part of it is due to the fact that I was raised never to burden other people with my problems

I hear you. This is one of my biggest hurdles. I learned that one listens to others unburden, not that one burdens others. It's only very recently that I've been able to let go and complain about money, family, stress, what have you.

And who the hell dares complain to you that what you choose to write about in your own LJ pisses people off? It's your damn LJ. Write about what you like. People can choose to skip it. Don't ever censor your topics because of some feedback like that. Write about what you feel is important; don't let anyone dictate to you what "important" may be.

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

I learned that one listens to others unburden, not that one burdens others.

That's exactly the rule that I was taught. It's also one that I've been unable, for the most part, to unlearn...

[mousme.livejournal.com]

It's a hard habit to unlearn...

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Because every time you try to go against the programming, the brickbat of guilt arises, which in turn evokes low self-confidence and general "I suck"age. Yes.

Argh. We are such products of our childhoods.

[talyesin.livejournal.com]

There is a very simple and important distinction between whining and complaining.

Whining is self-pity.

Complaining is bringing up valid, rational (although occasionally heated with emotion) points about perceived slights, inequalities, and injustice.

Oh and one thing? I'll only say this once: IT'S YOUR DAMN JOURNAL. I too had to learn this the hard way. Write what you want to write about, and anyone who complains that 'you write too much about something I have no interest in' should feel perfectly free to not read your journal.

Grr.

Closer to Fine

[montecristo.livejournal.com]

I find you charming, funny, and interesting. You are certainly not much of a "Negative Nancy" in my book. Write what it pleases you to write, because that is what it pleases me to read. ; )

miseri is a perspicacious individual. It IS like OOC Knowledge.

[vureoelt.livejournal.com]

So the real deal, the behind the scenes 'you' has a need to vent on occasion. Not what I'd consider a crime, to be honest. :)