I actually posted another chapter of For the Boy Who Has Everything.

Will wonders never cease?

I'm trying out Twitter.

http://twitter.com/FionaWishmaker

I have finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally ....

Ahem. Sorry about that.

I have finally updated something! Chapter 12 of For the Boy Who Has Everything is up at both Potions & Snitches and FanFiction.net.

Potions & Snitches: http://www.potionsandsnitches.net/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=1328
FF.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4040612/1/For_The_Boy_Who_Has_Everything

Yey.

Or at least one thing?

Damn, I suck.

Yup, March is the month I'll finally update everything.

I've figured how to write Lupin perfectly... and to make him perfectly hateful. All he has to do is not do a single thing that he's thought of himself. Ha ha.

Tip for fellow authors:

It can be hard to keep track of the little details in your fic, especially as it gets longer.

Did Hermione wear a blue dress, or was it purple? Did Snape say something about the prophesy in chapter 4... or was it chapter 5? Chapter 7, maybe?

Constantly having to look thing up because you can't quite recall the details can slow you down and make writing less fun. Plus, it can really affect the quality of your story. Plot holes and minor inconsistencies start to pop up, questions are left unanswered, plot elements are left dangling....

So here is what I do. I use Notetab Lite, which is a FREE text editor similar to the old Notepad that everyone has on their computer, but much more powerful. It has an awesome feature called Clip Libraries. With just a few clicks, I can send small parts of my story to the clip library, where the clips are organized. Then, if I'm writing a scene that takes place in Snape's office, everything I've ever said about Snape's office is available in one place.

See a screenshot of the library feature and how I use it: http://i28.tinypic.com/2ui7jb7.jpg

There is nothing worse than finally having time to write and... suddenly being unable to write. It rarely happens to me, but when it does, it's one of the most frustrating things.

Here are some ideas that work for me.

1. Write anyway. Writing through a block is one of the usual suggestions you hear. And it does work in some cases. The only problem is that it's not fun to write when your mind is rebelling against it. If writing is a hobby, like it is for most fanfiction writers, then ruining the fun just isn't that attractive.

2. Start a new story. But beware; new stories have a way of taking over. You could end up ignoring the old story in favor of the new. A less dangerous idea is to outline a new story and write some snippets for it, but not allow yourself to actually start writing in depth.

3. For that matter, outline the story you are stuck on. The great thing about outlining is you don't have to go in sequence. You can outline what you want to happen at the end of the story, or smack in the middle.

4. Write scenes out of sequence. This one has worked really well for me when I just could not figure out "what comes next" in my story. I'd skip the part I was blocked on. Sometimes whole chapters would get written out of sequence. Then, when my block was gone, I'd go back and fill in the gaps. So, go ahead, write that scene you've had in your head and have been dying to "get to" in your story. You may need to edit it later, but at least you are writing something for your story.

5. Make lists. Make lists about your story, I mean. Look up synonyms and antonyms. For example, when you last left Harry, how was he feeling? How many words or phrases can you think of to describe how he was feeling? What are some things he wishes he could do? If he had three wishes, what would they be?

6. Play a game that reminds you of your story. There are tons of free demos at websites like Reflexive Arcade and Bigfish Games.

7. Look for pictures that remind you of places you are describing in your story. If your last chapter left Harry trapped in a dungeon, look for pictures of dungeons. If he just arrived at Snape's house, look for pictures that look like the rooms you know you'll have to describe once you start writing about Harry's stay with Snape.

8. Write something unrelated. Write in your journal or write a letter. Sometimes just writing something helps.

9. Get some fresh air. Seriously. Several times I thought I was blocked when the truth is I was just exhausted from writing too much.

10. Have one of your characters write a journal entry or write a letter telling someone what's been happening.

11. If you don't already have a beta, get one. Once s/he reads your story, there will be a lot of comments, which may help you move on.

12. Go to a site for writers and join a message board or chat. Chances are you'll find someone who is happy to moan and groan with you about writer's block, and you might even pick up some new ideas for beating it. Just don't hang around too long, or you might get too comfortable with your block.

13. Try writing in a different way. If you usually type, try handwriting in a notebook. If you usually do all your writing in plain ol' Notepad, try Word or Open Office Writer instead and type using crazy colors and fonts. Try writing your next chapter on lj or wherever you have your blog. Scribble the next chapter of your story with a crayon if it helps. :-)

14. Write the next chapter using shorthand only. Instead of full, complete sentences, write short facts. "Snape yells at Harry. Harry's mad. Harry runs away. Harry's lost. Harry feel dumb. Harry is almost eaten by a werewolf. Snape finds Harry. Snape really angry. Snape yells some more. Harry kicks him." You can finish your chapter in several minutes. You might find that the inspiration to flesh out that rough sketch will suddenly appear.

15. If all else fails, ask someone else what they think should happen next in your story. Be prepared for dumb ideas. Hearing something dumb and thinking "Snape would never do that...." may be just the thing.

Unfortunately my old computer had been dying a slow death for a year, and finally last week, after the latest series of crashes and blue screens of death, I backed up all my data to an external drive and/or CDs, and got rid of it. Now I just have my laptop, which I'd only used for school until now, and I'm waiting for my next birthday to get a Desktop computer (it's not a priority because I do, after all, have the laptop). Anyway, you can guess what the problem is. That's right, the laptop has Vista.

Oh, how I hate it! I could just howl with rage sometimes! Nothing works right!

The only up side is that it's more fun to write in bed, and the keyboard is smaller and more comfortable for my hands.

Still haven't been in the mood to write much.

Well... not true, actually. Last night I wrote over 14,000 words of the unholy hybrid, which is turning out to be very fun to write. Unholy hybrid now has 4 chapters. I've been fleshing out the skeletal outline for it and it looks like it shouldn't last for more than five or six more.

As usual after finishing a new book, my head is swimming with new ideas for fics. I'm diligently writing them down, but after that they will sit and settle. I don't start stories willy-nilly. That doesn't end well.

Having started a story with so little time left before the 7th book was released, I knew that new info presented in the book would have to be dealt with one way or another. Of course, my story was AU to begin with, changing the end of OotP and ignoring most of HBP. However, I definitely pulled canon facts into it, even if those facts came after OotP. Now the new dilemma is to decide how much and what, if anything, to pull from the final book.

I think I'll just let everything settle. Maybe I'll write something very short and unquestionably AU, to keep myself from going back to my story before I have a clear idea of what to do.

I posted this as a comment on Potions & Snitches, so I'm preserving it here on my lj, plus with a few more random comments added. Do not read if you have not read the 7th Book yet!

It seems my readers are in disagreement with me over my characterization of one of the characters in my story. Unfortunately, I just don't see it. I don't want to be any more blunt about why the character is acting that way than I already am beeing. Bah. All right, maybe a little more blunt would be okay. It was in the plot anyway, just not this soon.

In other news, I stumbled upon an old WIP that I used to read, and the author has put up a notice saying the nearly-finished fic is up for grabs to anyone who wants to finish it, with full rights to edit as they see fit. I am so tempted it's unbelievable. I think I'll email her and speak to her about it. I'm just afraid it will be really hard to post the fic anywhere, even with huge disclaimers... I don't think I've ever seen any fics that an author adopted after they were abandoned, so I'm not sure how this would be perceived by readers, especially those who have read the original. In this case it might not matter because it's been several years since the story was last updated.

All right, well, it's the weekend (a four-day weekend at that), and my story needs some new chapters. I've been focusing so much on writing out random scenes that I haven't written anything that can actually be posted. This won't do.

So, weekend... four days, four chapters?

I think I'll try for that.