Season of Writing Dangerously: Motivational Wednesday ... Oops, THURSDAY!

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, yes, I forgot to post the weekly motivational post yesterday. I blame the fact that I was actually working on my SoWD project when I should have been making the motivational post! :D

First of all, congrats to our Impetuous Participants. Since I was late with the post, if you've started your project as of my posting this, then you can claim your prize!

This week's motivational post comes from fantasy author George R.R. Martin. Whether you love his books or hate them, the quote below, to me, expresses one of the reasons why the fantasy genre is such a wonderful playground for the imagination. Hopefully, the quote will inspire you to wing off to your own fantasyland in the next week and make some progress on your projects! :)

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake.

Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot. Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines. Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?

We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to middle Earth.”

― George R.R. Martin

Please use the comments section of the weekly motivational posts as your own space. Whether you want to brag or blow off steam, feel free to share your progress and experiences so far. Links and snippets are most welcome. If you need help in any way, this is a good place to ask as well.

Comments

[ysilme]

Ooops, I still didn't manage to answer to this... *blushes*

I have been productive, though it certainly doesn't look much. I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to write my drabbles - nearly each one means more research is necessary, and if only to find out which term would be most fitting or suitable for X or Y... part of me finds it most fascinating how different writing is in different fandoms, while the other part finds it a bit frustrating. ;o) But this turns out to be a vocabulary- and research-challenge for me as well. Which is a good thing,

Anyway, the amount of things produced runs about the level I thought I could manage, so I'm satisfied. I've posted one of the several Elrond drabbles I'm working at, and three (and here and here) of the tolkien_weekly, and finished more of the necessary basic research. The rest progresses nicely - podfic is chosen and permission obtained, and sevral drafts coming along nicely.
What I now need is a source for military terms, particularly chain of command, for Gil-galad's army.

[dawn_felagund]

I have been productive, though it certainly doesn't look much.

It looks like quite a bit to me! Congrats! :)

Also, you're under no obligation to report your progress, so no worries if you miss a week--or many weeks. :) We have the weekly posts because 1) it is a good reminder for those of us who are good at setting aside our creative projects for "more important" things *ahem* and 2) it helps some people to have a place to brag and rant and ask for help.

What I now need is a source for military terms, particularly chain of command, for Gil-galad's army.

Do feel free to post anything you need help with to this community. Unfortunately, I have no military background or skill with Tolkien's languages, so I'd be all thumbs on this one! :) But we have people here who could probably help with this.

ETA ... and you might want to check out this week's motivational post too. ;)

[ysilme]

Thank you for making this clear, but I didn't see it as an obligation already. The reminder is a good thing for me as well, and I enjoy this kind of exchange, even if I have only read other's posts so far, nothing more. I'm far behind now myself, as I was travelling for five days and quite busy before and since. ;o) I had wanted to write something to your Martin quote, but that went under in the travel preparations as well. So nothing new to report from me until now.