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Jan. 12th, 2026 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lea_hazelSitting myself down and giving myself a stern warning that I'm only allowed to commit to Shiny New Story Idea if I'm still in love with it by Arbitrary Date.
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Jan. 11th, 2026 01:23 pmlea_hazelStill being plagued by visions (story ideas) but also, I am going through some folders on my hard drive that time forgot and deleting a bunch of crap that I don't need and will never want. Feels like getting an overdue haircut in terms of the amount of mass lost vs. relief to neck muscles.
The second book I attempted to console with me went well for the first half, and then, early in the second part of the duology, I hit another scene that had me asking myself "should I push through this in hopes for good things ahead?" And eventually, I decided against pushing through. Reading is fun. Reading is a hobby. It will continue being a fun hobby if I treat it like one, not like some kind of solemn duty I have towards the books that I bought. Or something.
I am not interested in recs (at all!!), but what's the name of that site that was supposed to be a better alternative to Goodreads?
The second book I attempted to console with me went well for the first half, and then, early in the second part of the duology, I hit another scene that had me asking myself "should I push through this in hopes for good things ahead?" And eventually, I decided against pushing through. Reading is fun. Reading is a hobby. It will continue being a fun hobby if I treat it like one, not like some kind of solemn duty I have towards the books that I bought. Or something.
I am not interested in recs (at all!!), but what's the name of that site that was supposed to be a better alternative to Goodreads?
Purimgifts 2026 letter
Jan. 10th, 2026 06:09 pmlea_hazelI'm posting this letter on Thursday the 8th (unfinished) so that I can complete my sign-up. I intend to fill in the details by Saturday the 10th (inclusive). If I have failed to do that, you, my assigned writer, have my permission to just use the sign-up itself and go hog wild.
My requested fandoms: ( Fandoms )
General likes: ( General likes )
General DNWs: ( General DNWs )
Fandom-specific prompts:
( Unpacking )
( Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem )
( Alpennia )
( The Ministry of Unladylike Activity )
( England Series - K. J. Charles )
( Beware of the Villainess! )
( October Daye )
( Long Live the Queen )
( The Saint of Steel )
( SPY x FAMILY )
( KPop Demon Hunters )
My requested fandoms: ( Fandoms )
General likes: ( General likes )
General DNWs: ( General DNWs )
Fandom-specific prompts:
( Unpacking )
( Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem )
( Alpennia )
( The Ministry of Unladylike Activity )
( England Series - K. J. Charles )
( Beware of the Villainess! )
( October Daye )
( Long Live the Queen )
( The Saint of Steel )
( SPY x FAMILY )
( KPop Demon Hunters )
Unsatisfying
Jan. 6th, 2026 04:33 pmlea_hazelBy some chain of events that I'm not 100% clear on, on Saturday afternoon/evening, I went down a rabbit hole of searching for female-led fantasy books. Again. I can't count how many times I've done this, and yet the results are most often frustrating and unsatisfying, in a way that makes me feel like a weird gremlin.
Part of that is that I'm incredibly persnickety about what I'm looking for, and none of the people who have tried recommending books to me really gets it.
( a random sampling of some of my idiosyncrasies: )
So on a whim, I started reading Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow (published in 2005). I daresay it's quite a good book. It's well-written, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. Various mysteries are laid out meticulously and answered piecemeal. Conflict abounds. If I didn't have a series of incredibly specific sensitivities, I probably would have enjoyed it greatly. Followed by enjoying the next 15-20 books in the same series. About one a year since the first one, maybe? Anyway, it's a lot of books.
But 2005 wasn't a very good year for me, and something about the context of the book sent me back there in a way that I didn't care for. I didn't finish it.
I can neither recommend, nor counter-recommend it.
Part of that is that I'm incredibly persnickety about what I'm looking for, and none of the people who have tried recommending books to me really gets it.
( a random sampling of some of my idiosyncrasies: )
So on a whim, I started reading Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow (published in 2005). I daresay it's quite a good book. It's well-written, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. Various mysteries are laid out meticulously and answered piecemeal. Conflict abounds. If I didn't have a series of incredibly specific sensitivities, I probably would have enjoyed it greatly. Followed by enjoying the next 15-20 books in the same series. About one a year since the first one, maybe? Anyway, it's a lot of books.
But 2005 wasn't a very good year for me, and something about the context of the book sent me back there in a way that I didn't care for. I didn't finish it.
I can neither recommend, nor counter-recommend it.
End of Year Writing Meme 2025
Jan. 5th, 2026 08:58 pmthisbluespiritI continue recovering very slowly but at least pretty steadily - and my things are gradually getting out of boxes too. In the meantime, I thought I could probably manage to do the end of year meme, so here it is:
The usual writing meme for the year. (Last year's post is here.)
( Cut for length )
The usual writing meme for the year. (Last year's post is here.)
( Cut for length )
Snowflake Challenge 2
Jan. 3rd, 2026 04:41 pmkaliumLoosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!
HOW DARE YOU. I walk in here, say I'm NOT going to talk about fandom because I feel like a square peg, and then here comes this question that I can't not answer without talking about one of the few things I have that you could maybe call a fandom!
I joke, I joke. Because face it, I was always going to bring up Petz:
I'll always be a Petz player, even if I drift in and out of the community. Petz was one of the first things that got me online, got me into art, creature design, coding, all sorts of things. I guess it is a fandom but it doesn't call itself one, and it doesn't feel like one in the usual sense. It's just a thing that has remained constant and present while other communities grow and die. I'll always come back to this little sim game and everything around it.
My Petz pages - if you're into old internet stuff, too, the PC is one of the best windows you'll find into what it was like. Even now, people regularly showcase their creations on websites rather than social media. I have some breedfiles there, and some history notes on the series.
I'm not sure any of the roleplays/creature design spaces etc I used to be involved in would count as pets, though, although I've always had a fondness for the bond creature trope and I use it a lot in my own fiction. There was a lot of virtual pet and animal companion media around at the time that ended up as an influence and inspiration.
HOW DARE YOU. I walk in here, say I'm NOT going to talk about fandom because I feel like a square peg, and then here comes this question that I can't not answer without talking about one of the few things I have that you could maybe call a fandom!
I joke, I joke. Because face it, I was always going to bring up Petz:
I'll always be a Petz player, even if I drift in and out of the community. Petz was one of the first things that got me online, got me into art, creature design, coding, all sorts of things. I guess it is a fandom but it doesn't call itself one, and it doesn't feel like one in the usual sense. It's just a thing that has remained constant and present while other communities grow and die. I'll always come back to this little sim game and everything around it.
My Petz pages - if you're into old internet stuff, too, the PC is one of the best windows you'll find into what it was like. Even now, people regularly showcase their creations on websites rather than social media. I have some breedfiles there, and some history notes on the series.
I'm not sure any of the roleplays/creature design spaces etc I used to be involved in would count as pets, though, although I've always had a fondness for the bond creature trope and I use it a lot in my own fiction. There was a lot of virtual pet and animal companion media around at the time that ended up as an influence and inspiration.
Yuletide Reveals 2025
Jan. 2nd, 2026 03:03 pmthisbluespirit![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
yuletide is now over for another year! I did, in fact, have the misfortune to turn up at the exact wrong moment to catch the reveals bug on the 24th, so I saw the identity of my gift-writer, although as they were someone that I only had the vaguest idea of having seen the name around AO3 somewhere before, it didn't really spoil anything, thankfully.I had hoped to do some little treats, as I got on and got my fic done as soon as I could, but I moved instead. However, as I cut out one section from my assignment and posted it separately in Madness, I did technically still post a treat as well!
I wrote The Winslow Boy for
edwardianspinsteraunt, so I was not super anonymous really, for anyone who actually looked that far, but I had a lovely time spending a month or so rewatching the film and coming up with different scenarios from their prompts and my head for a 5 + 1 Times fic. By the end, I decided, though, that the "+1" just increasingly didn't sit right with the rest, so I split it off, hence the Madness treat.Passing Acquaintances (8985 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Post-Canon, 1910s, World War I, Trains, London, Smoking, Politics, Cars, Suffragettes, Yuletide, Edwardian Period
Summary: Five ways Catherine and Sir Robert might have met again, after the trial.
( Some writerly blathering )
I wanted to include the Winslows lose the case AU if I could, as I knew
edwardianspinsteraunt was keen on that idea - and as I thought would it might rather put paid to any Catherine/Robert, at least for quite some time, it fitted well into the format as the "one time they didn't" (meet again) (although never at any point was that categorical). It did work out well and was maybe the most Rattigan section in the end, I thought, so I had to post it even after I cut it. (Although had I realised sooner I was going to set it loose alone, I'd have found a way to make the start a little less in media res, although tbf, it's an unlikely one to appeal to anyone who doesn't know canon).Anyway, here it is:
and watch the things you gave your life to broken (2799 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Catherine Winslow, Desmond Curry, Arthur Winslow, Violet (Winslow Boy), Dickie Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, 1910s, Edwardian Period, The Winslows lose the case, Yuletide Treat
Summary: The Winslows lose the case.
With the usual thanks to
persiflage for the beta!! <3<3<3