Ookla

That sounds super cool! I'd love to hear more when you're ready to share it!

I've been away all day and just got back to catch up on the thread--you guys are giving some FANTASTIC advice! TL;DR -- Let go of fears and be bold; let yourself write; build your legacy through the ideas you express and the stories you create, even if they're not very good, because someone will think it super awesome one day! Always, just keep writing. You don't have to feel like you're good at it; you don't have to feel passion for it every time you sit down at your writing-spot; you don't even have to write something publishable. Take all that pressure off yourself--let go of all your fears, because that's what these pressures really are. What matters is that you show up regularly and CREATE. The act of creation, I think, is what's important--why we all love to write so much. Sure, getting published is cool, but at least for me, it's the process of making something new that gives me joy. It doesn't matter if it's good--it's yours, and it tells your story in a small way. It shows your journey. Becomes a part of your legacy. One day, your descendants (or even you) will look at what you've written and say, 'Man! It is SO COOL that [your name here] loved to write so much! I feel like I can get to know them through this stuff, and these ideas are awesome!' I don't think they'll care if it was good or not, because it connects them to you, and that's what matters. If you don't write, though, they won't be able to get to know you that way. If you don't write, the world won't get to see how cool you are. And if you don't write, and you're a writer at heart, then the not-writing will eat away at you and make you feel worse. I've taken month-long breaks from writing before--and when I do, I feel like I'm going insane. I feel so much better, and less discombobulated, when I allow myself the freedom to imagine, to dream, and to write it down and see what happens! ... Um... I wasn't expecting this spiel to go on so long... But it's not all my ideas. The bit about fear and the bit about legacies came from presenters at LTUE the last couple days. Hopefully it's encouraging, because it's meant to be!

Yeah, I've done it too. Sometimes you've gotta learn the hard way. I'd recommend going back in your memory and trying to salvage whatever you can, as soon as you can. Even if you can only recover a few snippets, it's better than nothing at all, and they might be good seeds later on. ^This. Excellent writing advice. I was having a discussion with someone at the writing symposium today, and we were talking about the Inner Critic--specifically, that the best thing to do with the Inner Critic is to take all our creepiest, evilest, darkest, most macabre ideas and implement them on a personification of our Inner Critic. I won't go into detail--that's not family friendly--but whatever you would want to do to the character (either yours or someone else's) or person that you hate most in the world, do it to your Inner Critic and sense of perfectionism. During the initial writing process, all it's going to do is hold you back. You can bring it back out again during the revisions process, because it will help to highlight problems in your work you missed the first time 'round, but if you let it out too early it'll stifle your creativity and kill your story. Don't let it! When you're writing your first draft, the Inner Critic is your biggest supervillain, and you've got to get rid of it somehow.

That's a sucky place to be. Sorry you're struggling that way! I've just been at the Life, The Universe, and Everything writing symposium in Utah, and one of the panelists talked about making lists of lots of things and combining them in random ways to get unique combinations. Maybe something like that could help? One thing I know for sure, though, is that you shouldn't get rid of anything you've already created. You never know when an old idea will take on new life! Good luck!

Thanks, y'all!

How do you spear stuff with a spoon? And why can't you eat soup with a fork? I mean, sure, you can only do half the process with the fork before you have to just pick up your bowl, but I feel like it still works...

Mix Celebrant and Gorgrog together and you have something very much akin to Odium...

I made a big breakthrough on my story! I'd been informed that my magic system didn't make sense, so I had to scrap it and design a new one, and then one morning I woke up and realized that a dragon and a unicorn would solve all my problems. So now I'm much less stuck than I was before, and it's making me very happy.

Haha! I got you! If they're all in Irish, I then have a great excuse to go learn Irish! This boon has just been double-booned! Your wish is granted; however, Minecraft phantoms come and haunt you after three nights because they don't care whether you need the sleep or not. I wish for a set of Irish uileann pipes.

Granted. You get a giant book full of all the secrets of the world--written in an obscure language from an alien planet. I wish for a book full of all the best Irish legends.

What's even crazier is they'd probably eat all those "chickens" without hesitation, even though we (at least, in my area) would generally think of that as being a bit weird.

Minecraft. How many bugs and glitches in that game have basically become features now? Sadly, the game has updated to the point where none of my family's (admittedly very old) computers can run it anymore, so I am limited to watching other people play it on YouTube until I have the money to buy myself a newer computer. What is your favorite way to take notes (whether in school or just for random ideas)?

Malevolent.

Purelake fish sushi. Poultry is good, but I eat chicken way more often than I eat sushi, and I assume that Aviar drumsticks would be relatively similar to chicken. WYR (spoilers for secret projects, though I don't know how necessary that is anymore)

Eat it. Unless it's Mexican spicy chocolate. Then I'd give it to my sister. WWYDIYF an empty, yet whole, eggshell in your pocket?

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Fantastic film! Way funnier than I was expecting, particularly as I started playing D&D not long after watching it. In your opinion, what is the best game on Earth?

No. (Sad sigh). I can, however, do a Spock impersonation in two ways: the live long and prosper hand-sign, and the ability to raise one eyebrow and not the other! TPBM can also do a Spock impersonation in two ways--though not necessarily the same two ways as my two ways. Edit: I'm not actually sure why wiggling ears got my brain thinking about Spock...

TARDIGRADES!!!!! YES! There's someone else out there who likes them!!! (I hear there are plush tardigrades on Amazon somewhere...) I have nothing else to contribute to the discussion, please ignore me now.

My preferred is either a fork or a spoon & eating knife combo. Fork, because you can eat anything with a fork, from salad to soup (after eating the solids out of the soup, you drink the broth) to ice cream. Spoon and eating knife combo, because that's how they did it in the Dark Ages, and I respect that. The knife served as both fork and cutting utensil, so actual forks were apparently pretty rare, and the spoon allowed for the consumption of puddings and stews. But if I were trapped on a desert island and could only choose one eating utensil in addition to any other survival supplies I was granted, I would choose a fork.

Good point! Thanks! Is this better?

I've started one of these before, but it wasn't really conducive to continued use, so I'm starting another, more general one that I should be able to keep using as time goes on. Thread economy, y'know? For my first use on this thread, I've got a bit of description that I'm unsure of. I don't know if it's clear enough to get a decent picture of what's going on without being boring and/or overly wordy. Any and all feedback is appreciated!

I think they're cool! Also, "Paintlings" seems like a fine name to me. Reasonably logical and fairly descriptive of what it is, simple enough to be easy to read, pronounce, and remember, and unusual enough to be memorable. I like them both! Seems like they'd be fun companions to have on an adventure!

I recently got (and read and finished, then started to reread) "Just Stab Me Now" from Jill Bearup. It's based on a YouTube shorts series she made, that all of us subscribers begged her to make a book of, and she did, and it fully lives up to my expectations. For a person who never intended to be an author, she sure wrote a great book! (Basically, it's a story about an author writing a romantasy novel, only her characters aren't doing any of the things she wants and keep ruining her tropes. Lots of meta action as the author keeps breaking into the characters' lives to tell them off for misbehaving. )

Wonder what it was. WWYDIYF a miniature elephant in your pocket (specifically a live miniature elephant, not a toy one)?