my friend and i were talking about this, and we thought a good way to fix a loss of interest in certain fics is to move to another fic once you feel yourself losing motivation for one. it's apparently worked for her, and she's got a lot more down without feeling too bogged down by one idea. something else that works for me is to do something closely related to the fic without actually writing it -- say, creating a moodboard or a graphic, or even just watching videos. i'm not sure how much these suggestions help. of course, if you just feel like they're thinning your creativity out, there's no harm in taking a break, however long that takes. sometimes, things just don't work out, and you need a recovery period, which is something no one would blame you for taking!

with regards to the fic fests, i've hosted a couple, but never on AFF. i'd definitely be interested in helping! i've never done any with actual prizes, but i've also participated in exchanges where someone gets like a "secret santa" type of thing and they write something out based on a prompt/set of preferences from their baby. then on a specific deadline, the head of the event posts all the fics as gifts for all those that participated. let me know if you plan on starting one -- i'd definitely love to help out!

I'm not a writer but usually with work/paper deadlines i tend to set deadlines like you do and work on the first part trying to figure out the ideas i might wanna do and sometimes i get lost or my mood doesn't feel right i stop or rest for that day and just get back on it the next free time/day. Idek if this is an advice that would be helpful but since you said inconsistent interest maybe watching otp moments vids or reading might give you some ideas??

I just hope you're not pressured to meet deadlines all the time author ssi it might stressed you out we're okay with waiting sometimes you really can't forced yourself if you're not that in tune with what you wanna achieve it causes stress really

About the fic fest i so desperately want to co-sponsor?/host one and even gave some prices but at this point of time i don't have the rmoney to do so especially if its worldwide maybe next year but thats too long. maybe you could dm wenrenetrashcan they used to held one before but its just pure wenrene and the last login they had is less than a year so dont know if they're still on ;))

I'm having the same problems as you do. But don't worry. Even though we would feel guilty or such for not updating according to the deadlines, it's also important to have a good quality stories. People would enjoyed it more if your stories are good and they wouldn't mind waiting because, well, it's good! So don't stress too much. I also took my time on writing stories because I have lots of assignments and got distracted by other things.
Also about those fic fest, if you're going to held it, I'll join it!

for the first part, i would say don’t stress yourself out too much! writing is suppose to be enjoyable. i used to do art, and i remember deadlines just the creativity out of me. a lot of times, my work would be rushed and wouldn’t have the same quality as it used it. definitely take your time and write when you feel like to. but if you’re really pushing for these deadlines, then i would say to just write. like it could be good or bad, just write something and edit it later. sometimes when you’re writing, you’ll find inspiration along the way.

idk much about fic fests, but i would be interested in joining myself! i think if you can find other authors here on aff or on twitter, it’ll be really successful. you could set up a twitter acc for the fest where you can tweet out deadlines and promos. you can also get other fic fests to advertise yours.