PoB - Still rebuilding, and managing fangirling issues
Yes, I’m still alive, and yes, I’m actually getting work done on revision phase 2 for PoB.
I’m also still a rabid Girl Genius fangirl, but apparently some things can’t be mended. Meh, as long as I still manage to work on my own writing every day, shameless fangirling counts as harmless fun, and it’s fine with me.
What is not fine with me, is when fangirling turns into another fun and convenient way to procrastinate work on my own writing (together with window shopping, doing house chores and learning new things like cooking and gardening), thus draining all of my creative time, and won’t let me be until I do something nerdier than usual like (OMG!) writing fanfiction. And yes, I’ve actually written Girl Genius fanfiction over the past few weeks. I’ve even drawn fanart, and keep in mind I hadn’t drawn anything, not even original art, literally in years. Groan.
Just to clarify, I don’t think that fanfiction or fanart are some kind of horrible bane of creativity and unfit for my superior awesomeness (although I do think I am awesome, but that’s another matter entirely). They do count as harmless fun, even when poorly done. Heck, my personal ubermonster Project Infinity was born as the evolution of a fanfiction on the Ultima games I had written when I was 14, and let me tell you it wasn’t exactly my best writing. But I had fun writing it, and now it’s a fond (albeit embarassing) memory for me. Also, I love window shopping, making cooking experiments and taking care of the plants.
The problem now is that over the past year and a half I’ve trained myself to work on my writing with a full-time job on my hands. Yes, I’ve had hiatuses and dry spells, but I had found a working strategy based on fully exploiting the little free time I had. Now I’m unemployed: I have way too much free time on my hands and no actual incentive to get up at a reasonable hour in the morning or plan my days. This is a situation that occurred in the past only when I was on vacation, and guess what? I’ve always had a hard time getting actual writing done while on vacation. Having this much free time requires much more discipline and organization to manage, and this is where my other hobbies and passions come into play, competing with writing both for time and resources.
Also, I think that my recent urge to write Girl Genius fanfiction might also have much to do with the fact that I simply needed a writing outlet, given that I hadn’t written since October, and no matter how you put it, actual writing is tons more fun than worldbuilding and revising.
But anyway, the important thing is that I’m back on track, ready to rock and working on a new strategy to manage my creative time. Stay tuned!
