Writers Not-So-Anonymous: Day 23

Hi. My name is Benjamin, and I'm a writer. It's been 23 days since my last writer's block.
If you haven't already, please read Writers Not-So-Anonymous: Day 1.

I got frustrated after I scrapped and restarted chapter 3 and started looking for something else that I can do during my writing time. I really just needed a break. I started looking at some collaborative writing projects going on around the web.

The best that has ever happened is clearly The Salem Door Project. That one was a pet project of mine that unfortunately lost its momentum and died after chapter 13, leaving the story unfinished. There were 16 of us writing it and each would write one chapter before passing it on to the next. No edits except for grammar or continuity errors. If any of you guys who were working on it still remember the password, I haven't changed it. We can still finish this thing! I think the problem with it was that people underestimated the time commitment it could take in order to participate.

I felt a bit better about that project when I realized that most collaborative writing projects seem to die off rather than end. One of the most interesting collaborative writing projects I discovered followed basically the same idea as "Salem Door", but each author was only allowed to write three words. You can check that out here: 3-Word Story.

I never found a collaborative writing site that really caught my interest.

I've had the idea for a while now of doing something similar to the VlogBrothers. The idea would be that you would have two (maybe three) people who are essentially digital penpals whose letters can be read by anyone. I just haven't been motivated enough to find someone crazy and bored enough to do this with me. If you're interested, please your audition in the form of a fun-to-read letter to veebjamn@yahoo.com or to me as a message on Facebook. I can't promise by the time you send it to me I'll still be interested, but it never hurts to try!

Ok, occasionally, there are things that it hurts to try. Punting a bowling ball comes to mind.

I finally found a website that I'm happy with. In fact, I may be a little too happy with it.

It's called Scribophile, and the basic idea of the site is that you post your work and other writers critique it. They have a system set up where you earn points for critiquing other people and spend those points to post your own work. They also have articles on different ways to improve your writing, how to get stuff published, and other stuff about writing as a career. It also has a forum to talk about whatever. If you did decide to join, I would suggest that you not bother wasting your time trying to find me, because unless you know my work or the way I think really well, you're going to have a hard time. I'm under a different name and my profile picture is a composite of Robin Williams, Jim Belushi, a couple other dudes who shall remain nameless for my protection. I'm not sure why, but I really want to stay anonymous on there.

I've posted one work and gotten pretty good reviews so far. They like me! They really like me!

One of my critiques pointed out a current formatting standard that I have been doing wrong. (I'm a skeptic, so I didn't just take their word for it. I looked into it, and their story holds up.) The standard several years ago used to be that at the end of a sentence, you hit spacebar twice. I think this may go back to typewriter days, and I'm not sure I understand the reasoning. I got into the habit, though, because I felt like it made things look nicer. The current industry standard, however, is to only hit spacebar once. It's a disgustingly difficult habit to break. I've been double-spacing for YEARS now!

I've spent the last few days on and off the site. For a couple of days, reading and reviewing on there was part of my hour of writing. I've had to change my standard on that, however, because I noticed that it is already so addictive that I spend large chunks of my day doing it anyway. While it may improve my writing (time will tell), it isn't actively pushing me toward my other goals. So, it no longer counts. Since I did do it consciously for a set hour during those days, however, I'm counting it for them.

Someone once told me that they like when my blogs have a final thought or question that ties the whole post together, something to take home with you and think about. Unfortunately, when I'm just babbling about my life like today, that's hard to do. So I will, instead, leave you with this song that has been stuck in my head since I heard it:

Shake It Off

Personally, I think the video's adorable.  I also leave you with this question that you should answer in the comments: While she's shaking off the haters, what do you need to just shake off?

I need to shake off using double spaces. Seriously, I think I had to backspace after at least every other sentence in this post.

My name is Benjamin, and I'm a writer.  It's been 23 days since my last writer's block.
Today I wrote from 9:50-10:50pm.