tagged by @coldsaturn for the writing meme, taggin’ all my writers out there

Where do you publish your work?
Smashwords & Amazon, at least for the Foxes’ books. Weiss Kreuz & Inception fics were on an angelfire website and on livejournal. Way back when they were up on fanfiction.net, back when ff.net was the only option anyone knew of. The rest of the original stories are chillin’, waiting for rewrites and another go at the query-go-round.

What medium/application/etc. do you write in or with?
OpenOffice. My old practically-defunct laptop has Word on it, so I used that for formatting books for CreateSpace paperbacks, but everything else just has this free program. Some short fics get written in notepad if I need a more visceral approach.

Do you collaborate with others?
No. I am too much of a control freak, I think, to work well with others.

How much editing do you do before you publish?
For fanfics, just a few rereads for obvious typos & phrasing, unless it was a major project (a la The Music Makers, which took too much alcohol and research to finish). Original stories are pretty much a fuckin’ disaster zone when it comes to edits. Think I’ve mentioned that the folder of Fox outtakes, scenes, rewrites, etc etc has 700+ files in it. I start by rereading for plot & obvious typos, then rewrite the entire thing from start to finish, with the file open and a blank document beside it, copying word for word except where I want to change things. Then typos & plot, then rewriting, back and forth, back and forth.

How do you decide what to write about?
Honestly, I’m not sure how to answer this one, because I’ve been in rewrite hell for so long that new ideas are pretty much nonexistent. Too many old projects taking up space, with Foxes overriding everything. But a lot of stories either start from a line of dialogue or the perception of wasted potential. Two are from RL difficulties interpreted through fiction.

Do you listen to music when you write?
The further into rewrites I get, the less music I listen to, because it’s distracting. I listen to it when I’m brainstorming, and sometimes will listen to scene-relevant pieces when I’m trying to get the mood right.

When do you write?
The answer to this one should be “almost never”, because I’ve written hardly anything this last year. Maybe 5 years ago I used to set goals of a million words a year, just to see if I can make it ((I got awful close once or twice!)) but I’ve maybe written 20K this year? I think my soul is still grieving the end of an era. It’s like someone died and I just can’t get over it. Either way, let’s go with afternoons, because at night I’m drinking and in the mornings I’m working. Pretty sure afternoons were the most productive back in San Francisco.

How often do you write?
Kind of spoiled this answer. When I was in California it was an everyday thing. The roomie/BFF and I would get up, clean the apartment, and spend the entire rest of the day writing. I’d go to local coffee shops and write, or stay at my Starbucks for a couple extra hours writing, etc. All day everyday, nothing but write write write. 2014 & 2015 have been dry years, to the point that I’ve considered giving up writing altogether.

Do you take requests?
No. I could do it once upon a time, at least in controlled environments ((e.g. I’d compile a list of scenarios and characters, hide the list, and let people choose random numbers)) but I can’t write like that anymore.

Is there any genre or type of story you want to write but are hesitant to?
Science fiction. One of the relics is supposed to be sci-fi, but I’m science-stupid, and I hate reading science fiction, so I can’t write it. It’s frustrating, and I’ve considered condensing the story to a one-world fantasy setting multiple times ((with little to no luck)).

Any inspirational quotes, videos, tricks, articles, etc. that help you stay motivated?
“Ass in chair, words on page” used to be good enough. These days there’s little to no motivation.