Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 *



Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #9 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.



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Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.

( Read more... )

So, that's how I write things. I quite enjoyed writing for this challenge: it was nice to thing about how I do things and compare them to how I used to do it. There's been a lot of trial and error over the years.

I used to have to write analyses of my own writing for university (my BA is in English Lit and Creative Writing, and we had to do that for the CW part) and it used to make me want to die inside from how fucking pretentious the whole exercise was. They were never really accurate either, mostly because they talked about symbolism more than "I wrote this for a grade and I hate this teacher, so fuck it." But now I'm now kind of wondering what an analysis piece would look like for one of my fics. Huh. Let me know if you want to see one someday, I guess.

Introduction Post*
Meet the Mods Post

Challenge #1
Challenge #2
Challenge #3
Challenge #4
Challenge #5
Challenge #6
Challenge #7

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.


( Challenge #8 )


And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on. 

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.



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Whew, it's been a little while, hasn't it? This time of year always kicks my butt, and now I'm trying to get back into the regular routines, which includes regular WIP Wednesday posts to keep me organized and (somewhat?) accountable.

New words this week : 764 words which is what it is. All words are good words, I'm repeating to myself.

WIPs worked on this week : 1, with no new WIPs (yay!)

The Old Guard

☆ horrorguard : 764 words which brings the total to 7079 words and I'm officially putting this one on the backburner. I'm pretty disappointed to not make the deadline but the collection closes in February and there's no way I'm going to make it at the rate I'm going. Honestly, I think that this is one that will benefit from marinating for a while in the back of my brain.

In the meantime, I'm about halfway through a reread of stupid food truck au and I'm going to try to make some good progress there so I can get it posted this spring because I really really want to share it but can't start posting until the whole thing is finished.

Challenge #7

LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF. They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want

1. I like my creativity. I think I'm a fairly solid writer, and I enjoy reading back over my own stuff at times because I'm the audience I write for the most. I've also spent the last year or so learning how to paint with oils, which has been pretty fun to explore.

2. I'm pretty adventurous. I'm up for trying pretty much anything at least once (my hard limit is cave diving), whether it's an activity or something to eat. I was raised to not say I don't like something without trying it first, and that's kind of stuck with me. It's led to me eating ready salted crickets (crunchy, but not much in the way of flavour), but it's stuck regardless. I also enjoy learning how to cook different things, and experimenting with putting new ingredients together.

3. I've developed some good boundaries. I used to be a bit of a people-pleaser, but I've become a lot more sure of myself in recent years. I've also stopped caring so much about what other people think of me, and while I'm still generally a kind and helpful person, I'm a lot more protective of myself.

Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge.

I decided to write about the top 10 books and short stories that I read this year. I read less this year than I did in 2024. Partially due to availability: English books are possible to buy here, and I'm a big fan of a not very local second-hand bookshop that primarily buys from and sells to the expat community. The bookshop in my local mall also has a surprisingly large selection of foreign-language books, although they're a lot more expensive and the organisation of that section relies on a system that I haven't been able to decipher yet, so there's no way to find anything quickly. You can only go if you're prepared to browse for hours.

Anyway, here's the list! It's not in any particular order; it's just ten things I liked.

( Read more... )

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 *


Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #7 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.



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 All this marking. I am so bored. I am now dreaming of early retirement every single day. I have decided to go at age 65 (2 days before UK statutory pension age). This entails a loss of income which is also making me nervous. But not nervous enough to keep going. Not that I've told anyone yet.

Where is my wizened Lobelia Sackville-Baggins icon? Languishing somewhere over in LJ, I guess.

 I promise!

Our volunteers are from all over the world and have lots of different schedules so we can't always guarantee to have it at the same time each time. I know the last one was really late and that has made everyone (me included) nervous, but it is going up today within the next two hours. Thank you for reaching out. ❤️❤️

Challenge #6
Cheating big time! But finding the Top 10 books I read this year was too daunting (even when I cheated and counted a whole series as one 😍). So here, have a few Top 10s. These are all books I've read this year (mostly). I didn't count re-reads (of which there were many and would have skewed the results drastically).

( Queer Male Romances  )
*and yes, I loved that their were two re-tellings of Pride and Prejudice in there. ❤️❤️

( Mixed Bag )

Introduction Post* Meet the Mods Post Challenge #1 * Challenge #2* Challenge #3* Challenge #4* Challenge #5 *

Sorry for the delay! It's been... a day. But no matter! Hopefully you had some time to catch up, to talk with new friends... or to nap. 😍

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #6 ) And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.



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In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your wishlist if you feel comfortable doing so.

1. Fan art - I adore receiving fan art for my writing. It always makes my day and I love going back and staring at it over and over again. My writing can be found here. If anything inspires you, then I'd love to see the result.

2. Icons - I'm always on the hunt for new icons that represent my current fandoms. Icons for IT, YuGiOh! DM, MDZS and SVSSS are all very much appreciated as are more gothic/spooky-themed ones.

3. Fandom recs - IT: Welcome to Derry finally inspired me to get my shit together and get a decent VPN, so I'm no longer restricted to things that are available only in Vietnam. So, recs please! I'd love to expand my fandoms list. I'm usually into horror, crime, or things that can be construed in a vaguely spooky way, but I do also enjoy fantasy - specifically either classic fantasy, e.g. The Lord of the Rings, or xianxia.

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #5 )

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.


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Meme taken from meridian_rose via calliopes_pen:

Take your last 5* fanfics and copy their first and last lines. We have to guess what the story is about!

*you can go back as far as you like to find fanfics where it's not obvious what's happened.

(I'm also using completed works.)

1. First: He walks up the steps to the Niebolt House knowing that what he’s doing is stupid.

Last: He closes his eyes and lifts his hand to his mouth, wraps his lips around his fingers and tastes cotton candy, popcorn, and sickly-sweet death on his skin.

2. First:George pulls his car into the cemetery car park.

Last: He reaches up, and Pennywise grins as he cups its face in his hand.

3. First: The comment arrives on cue, one hour after his latest chapter hits the internet.

Last: A-Yuan doesn’t know it yet, but the sale of his novel – the one he’d took a chance on developing at the retreat – has earned him enough to buy a ring.

4. First: Their parents make her wear a veil every time she leaves her courtyard.

Last: She wants to be sure, before she has to send him back to Cang Qiong, that he’s given her the baby she so desperately wants.

5. First: The palanquin comes to a halt.

Last: He wonders what the monster of Bailu forest is doing now.

I claimed Table #0 on 5soulmates - a build-your-own table - for the IT (Muschietti movies) fandom, with Pennywise/Bill.

Table #0 - Custom
01. your soulmate is the only thing with colour in the world	02. dreamsharing	03. you can see through your soulmate's eyes	04. you can heal your soulmate's injuries	05. soulmate's name

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

I think that, outside of fandom spaces like DW and Ao3, the fannish site I've been using the most recently has been the Stephen King Wiki. For obvious reasons, I guess XD Not to say that I don't like rewatching the movies/series at every opportunity, or reading the books, but when I'm writing, I don't always want to find a page or a clip for a quick detail.

(For anyone who is curious, it's possible to buy English-language novels here - and I have! - but availability is pretty much up to fate and ordering them to be imported can be prohibitively expensive. Yay, taxes.)

I was also involved in the creation of a zine last year, so I'm going to rec it here. I wrote for the ABCs of Problematic Kink zine, which can be read and downloaded here. My letter was N for Necrophilia (it's on pages 31 and 32), and this was the project that I finally decided to write MDZS fic for. It was really fun to be involved with: the community involved in creating the zine were all very friendly and supportive, and honestly, the whole thing was a blast. So, if you fancy having a bit extra short, kinky, dead-dove creations in your life, please take a look!

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page
( 7 Very Old Fics and 1 Very Recent )

Introduction Post * Meet The Mods Post * Challenge #1

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

On many of the fannish websites we use, our history is easily compileable into "pages". When we look back through those pages, sometimes we stumble upon things that we think are rather cool.

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

I have decided this year's motto:

A little late, but it's been pretty bonkers around here recently. We're all trying our best.

So, I started writing again this past year! Life has been really A Lot for quite a while, but I found my footing enough to start making some words and it's been pretty great. I set my goal for the year at 50k and more than got that. I also got 4 fics finished and posted, which feels pretty amazing.

( 2025 Wordcounts )

My goal for 2026 is basically to keep this energy going. You can see where I sort of wound down again after being remarkably consistent for a few months. I actually did some writing in December, but I didn't track any of it, so just counted it as zero and plan to start fresh. I've signed up for GYWO for their Modest wordcount pledge (150k) which feels doable, if I keep it up.

( Fic Goals for 2026 )

All in all, this is estimating about 230k of writing (or 150k without including the work left to do on necromancer!joe, which is why I don't anticipate getting to it this year) which means if I focus and am consistent, it should be doable. A challenge, but a manageable one. If I get this done, and I acknowledge that it's a big IF, my posting schedule would ideally be: horrorguard in February, food truck au chapters posting weekly through March-April-May, ghost!Joe posting in June, the next three installments of Redamancy in July-August, and then werewolf!Nicky chapters posting weekly in September-October-November.

So anyhow, we'll see what happens. I'm also resurrecting my old method of "write every single day, even if it's just half a sentence" and so far that's going well. Most days the past week just have a handful of words (the lowest was 6 lol) and that's totally fine, no pressure to keep going if I'm not feeling it that day, but a couple of times once I got the doc open and my hands on the keyboard, the words kept on coming.

So, that's that, and here we go!

This little book meme is shamelessly lifted from calliopes_pen.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

My nearest book is The Shining by Stephen King, so we're off to a great start before I've even opened it.

I'm going to include the following lines since this is actually a bit of dialogue followed by a lovely little sinister premonition.



"I doubt it," Ullman repeated, and he sounded sad. "The place in Florida is a dump, if the out-and-out truth is to be spoken. The Overlook is my real job. Take good care of it for me, Mr Torrance."

"I think it will be here when you get back next spring," Jack said and a thought flashed through Danny's mind.

(but will we?)


So, what this reads as to me is reluctantly turning over responsibility of something to someone else and it all going to hell in a handbasket.

Fandom: Regency in Germany, to wit: Franzosenzeit
Characters: Gottlieb and other origs
Extracts from: A literary lady's travel guide (cross-over character from the Travelogue fandom)
No canonical or fanonical characters were harmed in the making of this snippet.

( Under the cut, thou wilt find / writing of the experimental kind )End of cut text.

Introduction Post*
Meet the Mods Post
Challenge #1 * Challenge #2

 

 

 

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

 

 

 

( Challenge #3 )

 

 

 

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

 

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

 

 

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

TW: Animal death, grief

( Read more... )