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 They'll all think that you've been replaced by a pod person replicant of yourself that can't write as well as the original you could!"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

[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