LPF Week 17 - "Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life"

[hwango]

"You didn't write anything today. Why didn't you write anything today?"

I didn't feel like it, okay?

"You have to write something. The deadline is coming soon, and you're so far behind. Look at how behind you are!"

I know I'm behind. It's just...this is hard. And I've been busy with other stuff.

"None of that was really important. Besides, everyone else has stuff going on in their lives, and they still manage to write things. I bet that one person has already written like, a thousand words already."

Yeah, well, good for them.

"You know what? You'll never finish in time. Why even bother to start at this point?"

I don't want to just give up. Maybe I can throw something together at the last minute.

"It's already the last minute! Why did you put this off for so long?"

Look, I can't just perform on command, alright? Sometimes the words aren't there. And there's just so much pressure.

"Yes. It's going to be humiliating when you fail completely."

That's not helping.

"You're disappointing everyone."

Well, not 'everyone.'

"No, you're right, there's that one person who swore to destroy you and everything that you love."

I thought that was a bit extreme, but I guess they really didn't like my entry that week.

"Meh, you can't please everyone."

Okay, look, I wrote something. See, that's not bad.

"That's garbage! You can't submit that garbage! They'll all think that you've been replaced by a pod person replicant of yourself that can't write as well as the original you could!"

Okay, how about this?

"That's pretty good. You can be proud of that one. Of course, it was a waste of time if you don't finish the others."

I know, I know.

"You know, if you're really having trouble, we could probably replace you with a pod person replicant. They might have better luck with this week."

No way. Remember that one week that I let the robot take over for me?

"People loved that week."

I know! I don't know which was worse - the fact that the robot me was more popular than I was, or that it set expectations so unrealistically high for the next week.

"Plus it tried to kill you and permanently take your place."

Yeah, that sucked.

"You could bargain away something to eldritch forces from beyond space and time. That usually helps."

Again? I feel like I do that every other week.

"Well, it's gotten you this far."

Ugh, fine. What do I even have left I can offer them, though?

"Let me check. Okay, they want a couple of fingers."

They want what?!

"Do you have any better ideas?"

No. I guess I don't.

"Well then."

this suscks. I..m goigns to have so manyu more typso now.

"Eh, no one said writing was easy."

Comments

[meridian_rose]

Agh the eternal struggle!

[hwango]

Indeed! This is probably the least fictional thing I've ever written for LJidol.

[sonreir]

I feel like I know who "that one person" is... :x

Non-fiction (or fiction-adjacent!) is good to see coming from you. I love that you stretched yourself, and I appreciate getting to see "the process". Thanks for sharing, and well-done as always!

[hwango]

Well, there are actually many candidates for "that one person," since we have a number of competitors who somehow manage to submit a considerable number of words, often long before the deadline. I suspect witchcraft is involved. = )

Ooh, I like "fiction-adjacent." I will say that this is not 100% accurate to real life. I don't always wait until the last minute. = )

[itsjust_c]

I enjoyed reading this. It's a fun look at what was a worrying issue! I love Myres Briggs and have a real interest in how differently, different personalities' brains and thought processes work!

I think all of us really struggled under the pressure of these five prompts.

[hwango]

I took the MBTI in college, and it turned out I don't have a personality. = ) Actually, I recall being IN, but the other half was less clear, and I'm not 100% sure what my other two letters were.

I would go so far as to say that this "week" officially tipped over the edge from "difficult challenge" into actual "this is no longer fun." = P

[halfshellvenus]

Hmmm... I took it online a couple of years ago, and came out as an INTJ-- the most hated of all the personalities! \o?

And mostly try to moderate it toward INTP as much as possible. ;)

I agree with you about the last part. I've done one Hell Week before this one, which was actually _shorter_... but the prompts were easier to work with. And it was still a burnout. :(

[hwango]

Most hated?! Where did you take this test? Everything I could find online tried to make everyone sound worthwhile and whatnot - I'm curious to see this version of the test that tells you which personality type is most likely to eat kittens or whatever.

[halfshellvenus]

I can't remember where I took it. It was online, and had a fairly detailed number of questions. Possibly this: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

The 'most hated' was when you went to look at who else had the personality. Then you run into arguments, like whether Hillary Clinton is even an INTJ or is instead an INTP, and 'Why the hell is Arnold Schwarzenegger on this list, he's clearly an Extrovert!", and the most significant noted example: the Unibomber. /o\

Plus an easy-to-find links around the web on "How INTJs are irritating to other people".

Yay.

[hwango]

Huh. How bizarre. I can't imagine hating anyone but those annoying Extroverts. = ) Just kidding - I hate almost everyone.

I find it hard to believe that there isn't at least one famous, awful person for each of the sixteen possibilities.

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine hating anyone but those annoying Extroverts. = ) Just kidding - I hate almost everyone. bahaha this sounds like me (which I guess is fitting for my INTJ status) 🤭

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

I'm an INTJ as well! I love it tbh, because it's very accurate for me being a very analytical person who is investigative and loves to learn. It's true though that it definitely gets stereotyped as being "evil" (because apparently it's the Mastermind type. I take it as a compliment re; learning, haha!)

[halfshellvenus]

I am pretty analytical and curious, though I also sometimes go with my feelings rather than logicking through everything, when it suits.

Not terribly impulsive, though, and not reckless, so definitely more reasoning than reactive.

Mastermind! I guess I could live with that, as long as I'm not Machiavelli. Or, you know, a terrorist. :O

[halfshellvenus]

Look, I can't just perform on command, alright? Sometimes the words aren't there.
You ARE me!

Wait, how do I get access to the pod person, then? Because it sounds like that could really help me...

this suscks. I..m goigns to have so manyu more typso now.
Hahahaha!

It's disturbing how similar our process is, and mainly because it's so unpredictable. Nobody wants that process! If my muse were more cooperative, that would not be MY process. :O

[hwango]

Wait, how do I get access to the pod person, then? Because it sounds like that could really help me...

Well, first you need to get yourself a pod. Then you...hang on a sec...I'm getting a message from the overmind that I'm not supposed to talk about this stuff. Forget I said anything.

Yes, no one wants our process. Harvesting ideas from parallel universe versions of ourselves who have more inspiration has got to be the most ghoulish method I've ever...oh, you meant the other process. Yeah, that's not great either.

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

Look, I can't just perform on command, alright? Sometimes the words aren't there. Argh this is so easy to relate to. Sometimes there's nothing there and the more you try to think about it and force them, the worse it gets

[hwango]

Yeah, forcing it rarely works. More often than not that just leads to the "that's garbage" part of the process. = P

[rayaso]

Pod replicants and robot writers -- your brain must be getting pretty crowded by now. I loved how you handled this, especially the end. I hope you can re-learn to type by the next entry. "You didn't write anything today. Why didn't you write anything today?" -- the inner (and sometimes outer) nag in all our lives!

[hwango]

It's a group effort. I mean, haha, just kidding. I am a solitary human writing human words. Behold the humanity!