Assassins-related encouragement... hmm. I am ???'ing over my Secret Santa a bit, but also, I have a promptathon fic that I really wanna finish and throw out there but I have somehow convinced myself I can't swing it and I'm unworthy, and also several older ideas I have no time for, and my MCU/616 crossover is also kinda buckling. Basically, my brain is the worst right now. I bowed out of marvelbang too, even though that was a Clint/Kate story and doesn't really belong here, but. /whines

So, uh. Yeah. Encouragement? Group hug? I'd take everything. XD

Edited 2015-11-27 09:07 pm (UTC)

You've got this! Sometimes making confused noises at a fic is enough to make it pull itself together point out the hidden sticking point. For the others, maybe you can do a holiday countdown/fic amnesty leading up to the New Year? Throw together a compilation of 'if I had time this is what you'd get' and 'here's this thing, enjoy what it amounts to' and clear your hard drive that way?

And sometimes, none of the above works, just a hug. So, have a hug too. <3

HUGS!!!!!!

You can swing it and you are worthy!!!! No, seriously, I haven't read a clunker from you ever.

I think take one thing at a time - I have the ALL THE THINGS issue also ;) - and you'll get there, you will, and you can swing them because seriously, you're GOOD AT THIS WRITING THING. Really *hugs*. The 'can't swing it' part just needs to be plot wrangled, because i've yet to read something from you that you've not pulled off wonderfully.

Clint/Kate has Clint. We'll take it. Also Kate is awesome. You're not the only one who's no longer doing MBB - me and alphaflyer haven't finished our joint thingumajig either. Solidarity! 'Cause we're still gonna get it done :)

*hugs you hard* You'll finish MB. Or, former MB. ;) It's too good for the world NOT to see it and I can't wait til you do. I'm gonna cheerlead you so hard, because you WILL get these projects off the ground sooner rather than later, damn brain.

You are worthy! \o/ I totally know that feeling though, but think of it this way. If you want to write it, write it, because otherwise the world will be deprived of reading your awesome fic. :D

All the hugs! As for the Secret Santa, maybe find someone to brainstorm with, it might kickstart what you have into what you actually want.

I'm right there with you in regards to terrible brains, though. Mine wants to plot everything at the same time, then I end up doing something else entirely.

My NaNoWriMo novel just doesn't want to be written, been battling writers block when it comes to it-but apparently I can work on one-shots/wip's with hardly any problem, but even now I'm coming up dry for inspiration for one-shots (and I'm so close to the 50,000 word goal that I'd hate to not make it)

encouragement/prompts/rabid plot bunnies are welcome ^-^

Edited 2015-11-27 09:36 pm (UTC)

can't deliver any rabid plot bunnies, but the suggestion that you stick a couple of those one shots into the story (as flashbacks? dream sequences? epilogues?) Good luck!

You are so close! Four more days and you can have the 50k crown within your grasp. I'm fresh out of prompts/rabid plot bunnies (my own NaNo has been eating them like candy), but maybe I can link you to various AU prompts & so forth? Or do you have a saved file of prompts from past promptathons that might be lurking around somewhere?

My prompt? Smut. ALL. THE. SMUT.

Ahem. ;)

Okay, what kind of plot bunnies are you after? What's the basics? Or are you looking for the 'and now zombies attack and there's an epic battle that takes up many, many words' type of NaNoWriMo plot fix? ;)

NEARLY THERE!!!!

If you get on the Staten Island Ferry at the right time, you get to see the Statue of Liberty and the sunset. And then the way back is in darkness and the lights and water look pretty. And it's free. Romantic/calming?

I had this bunny this morning where the fanon Clint-doesn't-assassinate-Natasha meeting is cause he can see she's pregnant, but too early for any of the intel to have noticed. Anywhere from there. (which, yes, Jossed idea, w/e)

Surprise! Character A loves to knit. All their holiday presents are knitted and/or teaching someone else to knit and/or the others find out.

Any +/ any, making moonshine

Any +/ any, Unexpected pet

Edited 2015-11-28 06:45 pm (UTC)

So, I haven't finished my MarvelBang but it's because of no time, not lack of inspiration or cheerleading (inkvoices, take a bow!) The good news: since I already missed the deadline (but I WILL finish it, hoping for end of 2015) I can now focus on my Secret Santa, and this weekend I ACTUALLY HAVE FREE!! Yay!

What do I need help on? Maybe just a pat on the head and some sympathetic cooing noises for all those 60-70 hour workweeks? (This week, for example, NOT A SINGLE DAY finished before 22:00...).

*shakes pom-poms* You can do it! :D

Hello, just wanted to drop in and say hello. At the moment I do need beta readers for stories I am working on (includes Clint/Nat Secret Santa). If you have any prompts or idea you would like someone to write about. You can post them here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mSPfJJTMXNIvQPfGeFYC44H8EBw13dXCQiHaFhBsbyM/edit?usp=sharing).
I hope everyone is doing well.

Edited 2015-11-27 11:44 pm (UTC)

I can't help with the beta reading i'm afraid - I won't have the time to turn it around before the secret santa deadline, sorry. But hello :)

I'm suffering from the problem of having too many things and ideas and wanting to do everything at once, so some patting on the head and being told that it's okay to prioritise and make lists, and maybe not finish everything on the lists, would be nice :/

And maybe some advice from people who've posted WIPs on how to handle the panic of having something posted that's not finished? Because I have a uni AU that I posted the first part of because it was meant to be a pinch hit for an exchange, but it grew and now is my first WIP, but that was in August and i'm a slow writer. I have chapter two nearly finished, but it needs polish and some parts taking out that i've realised shouldn't go in that section. Maybe kick me up the butt to get on with at least that before the end of the year *head desk*.

I started Christmas shopping after work today though and posted an ATTF, so that was productive :)

*pats you on the head* it's okay to not finish everything on a list! Do what needs to be done first (or even things you don't want to do to get them over with) so you can get to the good stuff as a reward/encouragement to finish other things up first!

Heeeey GUESS WHO TOTALLY FORGOT THE DEADLINE FOR SECRET SANTA WAS NEXT WEEK? *points* This girl! Fortunately, I have an idea, which laughably I've had in my head and ready to go since assignments went out but I just kept putting it on the backburner. So this week/weekend will be interesting in trying to get that together. Other than that, plodding along on mutli-chapter fic that refuses to stop growing. I attempted NaNo on a fic that I really like but only have ended up with about 16K so far. I'll probably end up posting it anyway, but I really want to finish it and I'm super stuck on the last 60%. Argh.

Me! I did!!! Is it bad that I'm glad I'm not the only one? *g* Good luck! I will be struggling similarly this weekend...

OH MY GOD. So, um, I kind of forgot that it's the fricking end of November and that means secret santa time, so I'm now having a MASSIVE PANIC. Don't get me wrong, I love my assignment, and I've had nebulous ideas floating around, but I had 200 words when this post went up and scared me. I now have... 600? So that's something, anyway, but writing is so hard for me this year, you guys. And I have two papers due for school on Wednesday. And someone needs to take away my small fandom bang until the end of the year because it's not due for months and yet somehow that's the only thing I can seem to write these days! Also I'm in the process of trying to change one of my part-time jobs into a full-time job and have an interview coming up in the next couple of weeks, in the midst of end of semester shenanigans, so hello, stress! Hug? *g*

I hope things works out for you. If you need someone to talk to I am here to listen! That for anyone who needed someone just to listen.

What with Bridge of Spies and Spectre coming out I've been obsessed with secret agent type stuff so I decided that now would be a really great time to write that SIS thriller that's been niggling in the back of my head for months. At least that's what my creative glands are telling me, which usually pay very little attention to my finish-this-homework-you-need-to-study-for-your-calcii-final part of my brain. Oh yes, and I've been stuck on the last two-hundred words for the Secret Santa exchange for about three weeks now XD.

Best of luck to everyone else, in writing, working, school, and all other aspects of life!

secret agent stuff is hard to write -- believe me, I know ... so, pom poms out for you for thinking about it!!

And you will get past those 200 words. Let it sit for a few days, then go back, and it will all pour out!

Just a bit of fun this post inspired, because we all get knocked down sometimes:

She didn’t know how he did it, but magic had to be involved.

Because no matter how many scraps he got into, somehow that particular thing - something everyone else in their line of work practically lived with - was almost always avoided.

Almost was the key word, though.

And this time, he hadn’t been so lucky.

He’d gotten a doozy.

It had swelled right away.

Then it got much worse for a while, and it took ages before it went down.

He was jumpy and twitchy until it did, and even the greenest of agents quickly learned to avoid his left side.

But finally, it healed.

And today, his first day on the range since it happened, he looked like himself.

But she knew he wasn’t.

Not yet.

Because though his injury was minor, its location scared him to death – and she knew it.

So she reloaded calmly, pretending she didn’t know he was there (even though there was no way he’d believe that), as he carefully prepared to shoot.

She turned away when she was finished, aiming at her own target.

As she did, she took a deep breath and held it – not for her shot, but for him.

He did the same, for himself.

They fired at the same time - her with a barrage of noisy bullets; him with the silent strike of an arrow – then breathed out together.

A moment later, they inspected their work: hits dead center in both cases.

He hung a new target while she put her weapons away then left the range.

As she did, she caught his eye.

She didn’t nod. Nor did she speak.

And neither did he.

But he did smirk.

And that’s how Natasha Romanoff knew that Clint Barton had recovered from the injury that bothered him more than most: a black eye.

This is awesome! Made me grin and want to squish these two :) Thanks for sharing!

I'm stuck on my Secret Santa fic, heeeeeelp! I love my prompt and assignment, I want to write something my giftee will love and I'm actually liking what I have so far. But I just don't have enough yet, so any encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Work and home have been challenging this year and I just didn't have the opportunity to really fall into a story so far.

My AU exchange fic has been a WIP on AO3 for months without an update as well, just because I couldn't get in the right head space for it. So inkvoices, I feel your trepidation towards your WIP, but I'm sure we'll hack it in the end. Slow writers unite ;)

Anyway, a big round of hugs to all of you struggling with deadlines and stress of one kind or another. You can do it! *shakes pom-poms*

Let me know if I can help.

This is one of those weeks that make me question my sanity and feel like I'll never write a complete sentence ever again. THREE projects going on, all of them crazy.

1. A book review. I'm a reviewer for a librarian trade journal, I finished the book like two weeks ago, guessed the plot twist on page ten and made the rest of the book pointless, and now I need to find a way to tell the general populace the book is a weak mystery. In 200 words. By Friday.

2. Yuletide. I skipped Secret Santa here to do Yuletide, matched on one of my favorite book series ever, and have a plot. A plot with a perfect role-reversal, exactly what my person asked for, and I have no idea how to get it started or ended. If anyone here reads/has read The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, please hit me up so I can throw some ideas at you!!!

3. This Blog Post. I'm being scouted as a writer for one of the main blogs of my professional association; they liked my writing sample and asked for a test post of 1000 words on my choice of topic. My choice of topic is Peggy Carter as fictional role model, to be pitched as part of a series on fictional role models, but I'm putting way too much pressure on myself about it because seriously. Blog. That all of my colleagues read. Huge potential to make a giant idiot of myself! I need to just sit down and pound it out and know it can be edited later, but I'm having a moment of being intimidated by blank screens.

Write drunk. Edit sober. Bartender, another!!

1. Write exactly what you want to say, then edit down or up.

2. Sorry, haven't read, but I've been there and I feel your pain!

3. If they liked your writing before, then don't try to make this one Extra Professional and Serious. You know you got it! It's a fandom topic, so write it when you're sitting facing fandom; put the professional whatevers behind you. We'll love it even if it's not a Nobel contender :p <3

4. Let off some steam fuming at fandom weirdoes who think they can tell you how to run your life :D

My main complaint is that I have 18 unfinished stories in Avengers fandom alone, all of which I love individually. Some are as much as 75% complete, and yet, I lay here, unable to write forth and divide that list a bit.

My Secret Santa fic is in that weird place where I have plot, kinda, and I have the feel of it, it's just... the order of things. And, like, writing it. IDEK what the block is, the muse is just like eh, we'll get to it, and the superego is like but, it's due in less than a week, and the muse is like yeah lemme get back to you.

And Yuletide, which, I got matched on a series I reallllly like, but the prompts were like the least inspiring things ever. So that'll be fun.

And then I just remembered Advent. Anyone know any good advent challenges going around? Cause it seems like the Advent Challenge blog is not really doing much this year.

I need a new cheerleader. My last one was my gf, who got a new bf without any notice whatsoever, so clearly that's a bit awkward right now. I swear I'm not a loser. Anyone in the mood to soundboard or anything? IDK, I've never really talked to fandom people who I hadn't met IRL, so a com like this is a bit new for me, but you guys all seem friendly and stuff.

/lame
/done

sorry -- just saw this and it's probably a bit late to be a sounding board for Secret Santa! But if you need to bounce an idea off of someone, I'm happy to serve. Just send me a PM!

So, I wasn't going to leave a comment on this post. Real life has thrown me so many curve balls in the past two months that I'm not in a very good place and I didn't want to spread any negativity here, even inadvertently. But I'm feeling less alone in the "Holy Crap Secret Santa Stories Are Due in Like Five Days and I'm Not Anywhere Near Where I Wanted to be at This Point" Department and that actually made me feel a little better. So, to all of you, I offer thanks for raising my spirits and cheer you on to finish your stories. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to reading your work!!

Just saw your comment. *hugs* Hope things are looking up for you soon, and you had at least a nice birthday.