Hello, World!

[sunfishdreamworld]

2024... The perfect time to make a blog on Dreamwidth... I really missed out during the time that blogging sites were really popular, but it's better late than never, I guess! I recently discovered this site from a few comments on SpaceHey, and I'm still kind of surprised that there are a lot of active users that seem to share the same interests as me. I've had a blog on FC2 since the start of 2023, but I haven't made many entries, and I think it's really hard to find other active bloggers on there. Dreamwidth's tag features are sooo useful...

Since deactivating/avoiding a lot of my social media profiles, I've been trying to focus more on my hobbies/projects, and that includes writing and blogging. I always struggle with writing because I just have so many ideas floating around in my head, but I never consider what I actually want to write, how I actually want to go about it. I just have so many thoughts that I want to share! life events and updates, media logs, reviews, Q&As, fanfics... Maybe running a blog might still be a bit too ambitious for me, but I want to try it again. I almost always unintentionally drop projects and habits because I'm a really low-motivated person, but I hope I can become more productive and consistent. Little by little... In a perfect world, I'd like to believe that having a blog would help with my productivity. Maybe I really could update my blog regularly, but I can't make any promises!

If you're interested in my entries, feel free to friend me! Or follow me? Subscribe? I don't know LOL. I'm still learning how Dreamwidth works...

Comments

[adore]

Hello, new friend! I love that Dreamwidth continues to thrive, and I hope it's forever. I've similarly retreated from other social media. My socialising here has a positive effect on my mental health and it's a relief to me to be able to have a sense of community and connection on the internet without my mental health suffering like it does on other social media platforms.

For finding your way around, I have some posts saved in my memories under the this filter. They include intro posts to Dreamwidth and its features. They're in the list, mixed in with other Dreamwidth-related posts like layout and icon posts. But you'll find them easily because their titles will say that they're an intro or guide to Dreamwidth. There's also a handy guide to Dreamwidht's html and css listed there.

[sunfishdreamworld]

I'm happy to see that Dreamwidth is still thriving too! I've always wanted to find a site for blogging (even way before my decision move away from most platforms), but I couldn't really find any that I liked until now. I feel like my mental health has already been improving, but I still wanted some other way to connect to others outside of Discord. Maybe in the future, I could write more in detail about why Instagram and other apps aren't really for me.

And thank you so much! I was able to figure out some of the html/css customization here since I already have some experience with coding, but I didn't know there were so many other things I could do! I really appreciate it!

[labingi]

Welcome to DW! It's great to see someone new finding us. It is a nice online community, but also, as far as I can tell, mostly a "legacy" community, so great to see a new face.

[sunfishdreamworld]

Thank you so much! I look forward to being a part of this community!

[jellyfishlover]

Welcome to Dreamwidth, I hope you enjoy your time here! :D

Dropping long running projects is something I struggle with as well... I always go "Well, I'll work on it again once I feel like it." and then by the time I come back around it feels like I lost the thread of what I was trying to do entirely. XD I've started making a point to write notes to my future self over explaining things and that seems to help a little bit. The motivation thing remains a little bit trickier. :P

Just out curiosity, what sort of writing ideas have you been thinking about lately? If it's too hazy to put down into words, you can ignore this question of course!

I wish you the best of luck with working towards your goal! \o/

[sunfishdreamworld]

Thank you! So far, I'm already really enjoying it!

Yes exactly! I always think that too, or sometimes I don't even realize I've abandoned a project until it's too late... Sometimes, I try taking notes, but I can't even be consistent with that! I don't know why most things feel like a chore to me, even though I think these projects would actually make me happy if I could be consistent with them and/or finish them >_> I bought a couple of tiny memo pads recently — I've been (somewhat) using one for daily to-do lists, and I really want to use my second one for dumping all of my thoughts/ideas and color-coding them. Almost like using it as a "second brain", I guess? I think part of why I can't really focus on projects is because I have sooo many things floating around in my mind, and it's so distracting! I spend more time trying not to forget my ideas instead of just. Writing them down. LOL

Thank you for asking about my writing ideas, because even if I have a whole lot of ideas, I think this question could help me with pinpointing what I really want to focus on! Something that I've been really interested in lately is some sort of "media log", where it's a more casual approach to writing reviews. Like, "this is a YouTube channel I've been watching lately, this is why I like it" or "this is an anime I randomly found online, this is what interested me about it" or "I just found a song that I used to listen to years ago, this is why I love it so much"... stuff like that! I also want to do some sort of day-by-day entries, like if something really interesting in my life happens, or if I finish a big project... Basically life updates :D Sometimes, I think about making lengthy and "formal" reviews for things, but I might save those sorts of things for later... I have more ideas, but I think those are the things I want to focus on for now.

And thank you so much! I hope that using this blog could help me — not just with writing, but with keeping up with my routines and projects! I didn't mention it before, but I've considered that I might be the type of person to need some sort of encouragement from others. I just don't have much of a drive to do things on my own, but sometimes I feel more enticed when other people are involved somehow. I always wished I could find others to journal together or do book clubs or watch anime and stuff, because it seems motivating but also really fun! And I also get a sense of accountability, because I can't really hold myself accountable. Like, if I don't finish a drawing, nothing really bad happens, you know?

Sorry for such a lengthy response, I just really appreciated your message and had a lot to say!

[jellyfishlover]

The memo-pad brain-cache idea sounds nifty! It's such a versatile tool since you can stick them wherever you want. Notes do feel like quite the chore at first, although the hard part for me was always thinking "I don't want to bother writing this down because I like the idea so much I'll definitely remember it later." which is historically false...! XD Just starting with little prompts as for what I want to do immediately next whenever I could do that was more than enough for me at the start, and then eventually I got into the habit of trying to add stuff like that when needed (although I still do forget a lot of the time!).

Casual reviews are always really nice! The "media logs" idea sounds lovely! I also find that they can be nice points for neat little discussions, which is a nice bonus. Formal reviews can be neat to put together too, but it definitely takes a bit more effort than just rambling about something XD

If you haven't seen them already, there's some comms here that mostly center around recommending things-- I've been enjoying the weekly posts at recthething lately, which is for rec-ing all types of fanworks. But there's also youtuberecs for YouTube videos, booknook for book reviews + weekly discussions, and fanifesto for fan manifestos ("Here's what this is and why you should look into it!" basically) -- if you ever want to try out cross-posting or want the reminder of weekly posts (in regards to recthething + booknook)!

It sounds like you've got a lot of pretty nice ideas for this journal, though! :D

Outside encouragement can be pretty motivating, I get that. It's definitely pulled me through a lot of things I didn't really have the intrinsic motivation to do before, thats for sure XD -- and even when I was self motivated, it's gotten me to finish things faster. I use to make a lot of fanart for a live, text based internet game -- and now that it's over (and it feels like theres less "time restraints" so to say) there's been a big adjustment period for me, as far as how often I make finished art pieces. I suppose It can be both good and bad, in that respect, :P but I do hope that the sense of that sort of accountability works for you the way you want it too here! \o/

And don't apologies for the length! (Especially when I reply with all this! XD)

[sunfishdreamworld]

I wish I could say that memo pad idea I had was working for me, but admittedly, I haven’t really been keeping up with it! ^^; I’ve been trying out all sorts of productivity tricks to figure out which ones will really stick with me. I think I’d still prefer using memo pads over more gimmicky apps and such, but lately, I’ve been using the notes app and adding widgets of them on my phone’s home screen so I can’t avoid the things I want/need to do and stuff. I think another reason why I haven’t used my memo pads much (especially my brain dump one) is because I wanted to go through some journal/habit apps that I intend to delete but want to transfer stuff over to my memo pads before doing so! I just haven’t been really motivated to go through all of my apps yet ^^;

I’m really happy that my media logs are something that would interest you! Maybe someday I could make reviews that are very well-put together but. I could just ramble on and on and on and I already have a lot that I want to share here! I feel like writing a review would take a lot more time for me because I overthink everything ^^;

OMG… Thank you so much for those recommendations!!! I honestly didn’t think there would be so many communities here that I could be a part of! I’ll definitely check them out! Thank you so much again!

I planned on making an entry about this, but I’ll mention really briefly here that the most outside encouragement I’ve been getting is from my therapist, and for the past week, I’ve been able to keep up with my new habits on my own! I’m still a little slow with my current projects, but I so far haven’t lost interest in them because I’ve gotten some encouragement from others that seem to genuinely look forward to whatever I’m doing, and that makes me really happy!

Thank you for such a kind reply! I feel so relieved when other people don’t mind my lengthy messages/replies, and I definitely appreciate when others have a lot to say too!

[jellyfishlover]

Well, trying a bunch of things out is part of the process, I suppose! And, Argh, yeah, transferring things like that can be a pain sometimes...! DX Best of luck with tackling that. Glad the phone memos are working for you, though!

Ehehe, nothing wrong with rambling! :D With overthinking... for me it helps to always be able to say "I can always make a follow up post about this" because I tend to forget to add something or I think of something new that I wanted to say a day later XD Maybe that sort of idea could help you too?

There's a surprising amount of active comms here!! There's even comms just for promoting other comms! Comm-ception, if you will... if you ever want to see if theres any new comms or the like you can check out dw_community_promo or fandom_on_dw!

Congrats on keeping up with your habits and projects!!! \o/ That's great that you've found a way to stay motivated with them! :D

[sunfishdreamworld]

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you so much!

[noctishy]

Hello and welcome ! Thanks for subscribing to my journal as well :] I hope you'll like it here ! Even without interacting with many people, I can for sure say that DW is a really nice, peaceful place... I hope having a journal will help boosting your productivity as well ! I've been trying to update my own weekly for almost two years now (even though I basically only use that excuse to do summaries of my weeks and remember them better lol), it's a fun ritual, may having a blog have a positive effect on you too ^_^

Also I love the Katamari little guy GIFs on your navigation bar !! I'm looking forward to read your future entries~

[sunfishdreamworld]

Thank you so much! I really wanted to write an entry here for the weekend, but I was preoccupied with some other things (mostly reading manga and playing Splatoon... but I was also kind of busy with family activities)... I've been trying out some other things to boost my productivity, but I keep thinking about all of the things I want to share here!

OMG. I'm so happy you recognized him! I used to be sooo obsessed with Katamari, specifically We Love Katamari. I love The Prince... little guy... And thank you again! I really really appreciate it :D

[noctishy]

Ooh what manga have you been reading, if you don't mind me asking ? 👀

[sunfishdreamworld]

I don't mind at all! I had just finished Pietà when I left my previous comment and really liked it! Currently, I'm reading My Girl and Narutaru. I started My Girl last week, and I'm on chapter 20/44. It's really cute but also makes me really sad! It's a very touching story. I think I first started reading Narutaru in 2022 but didn't get far, so I restarted it in late 2023. I'm on chapter 56/68, I'm SO close to finishing it and I feel like I could write a giant entry just for my thoughts on it. Another manga I was reading was Asper Kanojo, but I had to put it on-hold because the last 2-3 volumes don't have a fanscan anywhere online (to my knowledge), but I think the official translation just came out with the last volume this month or last month, BUT I would have to buy 2-3 volumes that are about $10 each... I have the money for it, but I'm going to try finishing some other anime/manga before I finally finish Asper Kanojo... I've been wanting to write a huge review (probably more casual than formal) about that manga because. WOW I have so many things I could say about it!

[noctishy]

These all sound really interesting, based on the summaries ! (Thanks for the links~) I only knew Asper Kanojo by name, so I'll add them all to my to-read-later list :) Narutaru catched my interest the most I think. I'd love to read any review you might write about them in any case ^^

[sunfishdreamworld]

I'm sorry for the late reply! I figured you probably didn't mind, but I wanted to say thank you for being interested in my potential reviews! That means a lot to me! I honestly haven't continued reading the manga I mentioned before (mostly because I recently got a bunch of books from a library) but if you're still interested in Asper Kanojo and Narutaru, there are some sensitive things in both series if you didn't already know ^^; For Asper Kanojo, I think you could get a feel for the tone from just the first few chapters, but Narutaru takes more time before its graphic contents are depicted, though you might also be able to pick up on some things early on. I was definitely kind of shocked by some scenes in both series, but I continued reading because I felt kind of compelled by some of the characters and really want to see how the stories end...

That's all I wanted to say! I hope it's not too bothersome that I keep replying to comments on my first entry, especially since your previous message is 2 weeks old now ^^;

[noctishy]

No worries about answering late or anything ! I don't mind :) I hope you don't mind getting a lot of comments on your first entry either since I'm replying several times and all... Thanks for the heads up too, I don't mind sensitive topics or graphic content but it's nice to know nonetheless ^^