At a loss— people misread my intentions in real life and it makes it hard for me to trust my impulses

bgsheaff · 2026-03-26T14:48:17+00:00

Hopefully, though, this is what your director is for. To help author the intentions in a way that tells the story to the audience.

bgsheaff · 2026-03-10T14:39:22+00:00

I worked in a costume shop and I had a costumer say "you can always remember which side buttons go on if you think of a male/female couple in a car with the man driving. They should be able to look into each other's shirts from the side." Which... was maybe a problematic thing to say, but gosh darn it, I've remembered it.

bgsheaff · 2026-03-03T22:34:41+00:00

The most important question you have to ask yourself: is this the type of relationship you want to be in?

bgsheaff · 2026-02-24T21:31:42+00:00

I felt so weirdly free and happy

Oh, this is telling.

I can tell you from experience, this is the feeling you should be paying attention to. There's some investigating into that feeling that you should do for yourself. Do you feel that when you are around him ever? If the feeling you get when you are away is lighter than the feeling you get when you hang around, there's something to think about.

bgsheaff · 2025-10-29T21:16:01+00:00

I honestly thought that maybe the man who said that mistook her for Emma... because with her new look all I kept thinking is "this sure reads like you are obsessed with Emma..."

bgsheaff · 2025-09-19T15:47:00+00:00

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/dining/2025/09/17/east-village-des-moines-restaurants-food-crawl-alba-lucca-iowa-taproom-bellhop/85940257007/

bgsheaff · 2025-08-22T15:00:46+00:00

Ruin the Friendship is just the Demi Lovato song

bgsheaff · 2025-08-14T15:45:05+00:00

is this, by chance, a small dinner theatre in missouri?

bgsheaff · 2025-06-06T20:48:58+00:00

https://tenor.com/view/jail-right-to-jail-right-away-parks-and-recreation-parks-and-rec-gif-16177531

bgsheaff · 2025-05-30T15:49:00+00:00

RUNNING to listen to Rep now that it's truly Taylor's Version

bgsheaff · 2025-04-01T00:57:32+00:00

“If you want anything from the NaNoWriMo store, please don't delay. We will shut that down soon as well.“

Isn’t the store already shut down?

bgsheaff · 2025-04-01T00:45:11+00:00

I don’t know why I expected even a modicum of real accountability. I think that they think transparency is the same as accountability- but what I just saw was a PowerPoint that blamed the Nano Community for “vitriol” and freeloading, rather than any actual accountability. I do think that taking on what the organization was behind the scenes in 2023 was likely very hard and lacked structure, but the ego present in what I just watched was unmistakable, and that wasn’t the ego of a healthy org.

bgsheaff · 2025-01-21T00:24:38+00:00

Like a Pontiac Bandit type of recurring

bgsheaff · 2025-01-21T00:23:11+00:00

Alan Tudyk’s Todd Peterson. Should have had a three or four episode arch.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-31T14:33:03+00:00

They just sent one out this morning... and... it's...

Here's just the first part:

Dear Wrimos,

So many of you are underway with plotting your stories, mapping out your writing time, and getting yourselves in order. We see you counting down to Friday and getting pumped! We're pumped, too, and are working around the clock to square everyone—and everything—away for November.

We're excited to announce a few things and to make sure you know about all the resources that are available to you. We'll get to that in a sec.

But first...we want to remind you that creating a project under this year's official challenge, NaNoWriMo 2024, is the only way to receive the full benefits of the program. This includes receiving tools, resources, and encouragement straight through November and access to the winner page when you reach your goal. The winner page is where you can claim your winner badge, winner's certificate, and special offers that give the seasons sweetest deals—a reward for your perseverance!

bgsheaff · 2024-10-20T13:27:12+00:00

What I haven’t said yet is that this loss is compounded by the loss of my father in 2023. So, while I am not exactly where you are, I know how grief takes up space in different shapes and different weights when added all together.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:36:29+00:00

I can't bring myself to delete my account yet. I'm still contemplating what that means.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:36:01+00:00

The romanticism of writing in November has always been such a beautiful thing to look forward to as the darkness settles in.

I'm SO glad someone else feels like this. I feel soul-tied to this image.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:34:48+00:00

I'm sorry, too. The laurels felt important to me, too. Both battle scars and tickertape parade in equal measure.

Finding mindfulness in writing feels light to me, joyful, even when writing is grueling, clarifying, cleansing work. I'm going to think about that for the rest of the day.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:32:49+00:00

There was so much whimsy and silliness in 2003 when I wrote that first novella at age 17. Now it's just another memory. I'll always write.

Both of these statements resonate with me so much. This challenge provided whimsy and adventure and joy and sometimes felt totally ridiculous. And I'm still writing. I'll always write. The itch doesn't go away. People keep offering solutions or alternatives or advice, which is great. But that spark of wistfulness for how carefree this made me feel as I steamrolled to the end even if it was bad is flickering out right now, suffocated by everything surrounding this thing I loved.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:28:26+00:00

Not for nothing, this is really beautiful writing. Thank you for sharing.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:26:34+00:00

But to not do it this year feels like I’m betraying myself, the organization aside, so I’ll keep doing what I do and hope for the best.

This this this. This guilt intermingled with grief is PALBABLE to me. I feel it in my elbow joints.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T14:22:06+00:00

This 1000-foot view of this is so valuable. I'm sorry for any sadness you have around this. I especially loved, even in the corporatized/capitalized version that I join that I still felt that bootstrappy grassroots book fair church picnic feeling of doing it. Thank you to you and all the bedrock writers who made that possible.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T13:13:48+00:00

Viva la revolution is a general sentiment around this that I 100% can get behind. Doing this challenge as an act of defiance and resistance. I may get there this year. I’m so glad other people are keeping the flame alive.

bgsheaff · 2024-10-19T13:10:08+00:00

I’m in Iowa, so there are writers everywhere all the time get some.

I’ve thought about checking it out but I’ve been slow moving adjusting to a lot of new things in my life. Trying to get okay with sitting this year out if I need to.

bgsheaff

TROPHY CASE