snowflake challenge #7

Jan. 16th, 2026 11:59 am
svgurl: (stock: typewriter)
[personal profile] svgurl
Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.


Challenge #8
Talk about your creative process.

A lot of my process involves staring at a blinking cursor and wishing for the will to write. Does that count? But seriously, it depends on whether I'm writing for myself or am working on something related to an exchange. The former hasn't happened in a while and I keep hoping for that to change but there is a difference. When it comes to writing for myself, a lot of my fics do end up starting with me daydreaming about a particular scene and then end up thinking of a whole story to work around it. Sometimes a 'what if' idea will hit me. Like currently, I've been brainstorming a 9-1-1 (TV) story about platonic Hanahaki, centered around Christopher & Eddie (with Buck/Eddie) and it really came to me because I was thinking about Hanahaki and that led to me wondering about the platonic version and from there, the Eddie & Chris plot bunny struck. I'm sure many other people can relate to having their ideas and motivation to write at the worst possible time too! When I'm in front of a screen it is easier to get distracted by my phone or other tabs.

When it comes to writing for other people, I'm working based of their likes and any possible prompts they may have so I tend to let it linger in my head before narrowing it down to an idea and then I just sit down and write.

If I want to get into a certain mood to write, I will often listen to the type of songs that will help a little. I can't write with music though unfortunately, or at least not when I'm not a deadline. If I have a lot of time, then possibly, but if I am wanting to focus, I need silence. Sometimes, I just need to force myself to write and then I put myself on timed increments and just turn my phone face down and write. It will be something like "okay, I'm going to write for about ten to fifteen minutes straight and then take a couple of minutes break". Once I can get started, I can usually just keep going. If I need a breather, I'll take the break, but often times, I might not need that first one or I'll take the first one and then won't need as many subsequently because I'll be into the story.

For me, it's easy to just fall off writing, even if I enjoy it, so I'm hoping to find some sense of consistency this year. I tried last year but I was a little all over the place so my goal to write a bit every day, just so I can keep it going and not get into the habit of not writing unless I need to. Also I am going to try to remember that not every idea has to be a big story and then just stick to a scene that I want to write, and hope that takes off some of the pressure. Maybe in doing so, some of my routines will change as well.

Hoping for a productive and fun (because this is a hobby and should be fun!) 2026 either way! :D
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
This collection of links to local mutual aid funds, food banks, and other organizations doing work on the ground:

https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

Side note re: Souls and summons

Jan. 16th, 2026 08:53 am
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
Elden Ring also has the summons mechanic.

Which is how the fandom ended up with a sort of folk hero who appears as a naked man with a jar on his head holding two katanas and soloes the game's hardest boss for you:

IGN: We Spoke to 'Let Me Solo Her,' the Elden Ring Community Hero We Need and Deserve

YouTube: Let me solo her. 3rd summon solo Malenia (you don't have to know the game to appreciate that this is someone doing something perfectly)

Things

Jan. 16th, 2026 03:38 pm
vass: Small turtle with green leaf in its mouth (Default)
[personal profile] vass
Books
So far this year (since January 1) I've read Margaret Killjoy's The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice, listened to the audiobook of Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind, am reading Victoria Goddard's Plum Duff, and started Evelyn Araluen's The Rot.

Games
Quoting my own complaint elsewhere: the worst part of Hollow Knight is the runbacks. Each time my desktop switches itself off I need to turn it on again, restore my browser tabs and do other "just booted" chores, see what troubleshooting data I can get now, check what steps I can take next, then start the game again to find out whether whatever I tried this time worked. Then two minutes later my computer crashes.

Have also been doing Redactle and Squardle with [personal profile] kaberett, and cryptic crosswords with [personal profile] shehasathree.

Tech
As you may gather from the previous section of this post, I am having technical difficulties. So it goes.

Crafts
No active progress yet, but the yarn I ordered arrived. This is for weaving with my mother's old knitter's loom which she gave me for my birthday last year.

Actually, no, I'll share the complaints I emitted while trying to decide what yarn to order (huge thanks to Iphys on the Lays server for sorting me out on this.)

cut for length )

Garden
No ripe tomatoes yet, but they're still alive. Raspberry bush looking very sad indeed. Harvested a little bit of parsley and oregano for cooking purposes.

Cats
Didn't enjoy the hot weather last week. Neither did I.

Nature
Hot and windy. (This is an understatement. Last week there was a heatwave and my whole state, as well as those nearest it, was at either "extreme" or "catastrophic" fire danger. I was in one of the "extreme" parts, and unpleasantly aware that on the fire danger scale they use, "catastrophic" is 100 out of 100. Meaning, your area can be at 99 and yet not catastrophic.)

It cooled down after that, but summer is very much not over, and there are places all over the state that are still on fire.

current fandom events

Jan. 15th, 2026 07:34 pm
svgurl: (smallville: clark/lois soulmates)
[personal profile] svgurl
[community profile] cultivativity is a community for cultivating creativity.

[community profile] 5soulmates is a prompt table writing challenge that focused on the soulmate theme

[personal profile] kingstoken has posted their 2026 Book Bingo Challenge.

[personal profile] kitarella_imagines is running Funuary, a fun/funny themed prompt challenge, through the month of January.

[community profile] traumaticexperiences, a (psychological) trauma themed multifandom exchange, is open for sign-ups until January 16th, 8PM PST.

[community profile] threesentenceficathon has posted their 2026 schedule. Prompting will open on January 17th.

[community profile] seasonsofdrabbles, an exchange for the creation of drabbles and drabble variants which runs 4 times a year, is open for sign-ups until January 18th, 11:59PM EST. Nominations will also remain open until sign-ups close.

[community profile] seasonalremix is a quarterly, trope-based multifandom event where you sign-up and write a 1-5k work that is a remix of some sort. The Winter Round is currently open for sign-ups until January 24th, 11:59PM GMT and you can find out more info (including where to sign up) HERE.

[community profile] lul_soulmatesex, a soulmate themed exchange, is accepting nominations until January 25th, 11:59PM AM CST.

[community profile] smallfandombang, a big bang for small fandoms, is open for artist sign-ups until January 31st.

[community profile] ksspringfever, a Kirk/Spock community, is open for sign-ups and prompt collecting for Kirk/Spock Spring Fever until January 31st.

[community profile] wipbigbang is running International Fanworks Day Mini Bang for works that are too short for the regular big bang (has to be less than 7.5k). The writing period started on January 9th and the earliest posting is February 1st and will go till the 15th.

[community profile] crackthewip, a challenge to help you finish your WIPs, is running and accepting sign-ups during the first half of the year.

snowflake challenge #7

Jan. 15th, 2026 12:44 pm
svgurl: (bollywood: priyanka chopra)
[personal profile] svgurl
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

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.

I kind of struggle with these things but I'll try. :D

1. I'm punctual. I like that I'm on time and even if I stress myself out a little when I work backwards, it's less stressful than the alternative. I don't mind being at the airport two hours early and I'm glad I can tell someone a time and unless there are certain unforeseen circumstances, I will be there then.

2. I'm fairly easy to talk to and am a good listener. I am best with at one on one or a couple of people, but I can carry a conversation if they're engaged and am happy to listen to other people/be a shoulder/offer advice if needed.

3. I'm a good baker and a decent cook. I can follow a recipe and can make the right modifications if needed and am aware of my limitations/can do what I know how to do well.

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Jan. 14th, 2026 03:13 pm
sage: close up of dogwood berries covered in ice (season: winter)
[personal profile] sage
books (all Pratchett) )

yarning
Listed Rockstar Lestat & older Daniel Molloy made to order art dolls. Finished and listed the teal bunny from last week. Worked on donation hats & gave them to my children's shelter contact at yarn group on Sunday. Had a good time there, working on another hat. Sold a valentine catnip heart.

healthcrap
doc appt Friday, where I asked for a referral to get a shingles shot. Doc appt Monday, where we talked about my weird blood cells. I am still titrating off the med I'm slowly quitting.

#resist
#50501 Jan 20th Free America Walkout. 2pm local time.

I hope you're all doing well! <333
just_ann_now: (Reading: Cold? Check out a book!)
[personal profile] just_ann_now
We did NOT get up to 60 degrees this weekend, though we did get up to the mid-50's and some welcome rain. Temperatures have been dropping all week, though, and we can expect more seasonal weather the next few days.

What I Noped Out of This Week

A Deadly Education, I let it sit for 24 hours, picked it up again, and put it down after half a page. Then I tried another Set in a College or University thing, I can't even remember what it was, and THEN I finally got smart and ditched that bingo square altogether. Plenty of options for substitutions/wild cards, so no loss at all.

What I Just Finished Reading (Highlights)

Several short things, not very memorable, and then on a cold rainy Saturday, The Frozen River, which was absolutely worth the long wait. Very reminiscent of Outlander, not the time-travel bits but the long-married-couple-still-besotted-with-each-other, so refreshing to read. Also fascinating that this was based on actual diaries of an eighteenth-century midwife. There are major plot elements of sexual violence, patriarchy, and gaslighting, but the female characters are so strong and vivid. Highly recommend. For A to Z Authors.

What I Am Currently Reading

I probably shouldn't have picked up The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, so soon after The Frozen River, because it's once again features a sexual predator, emotionally and financially manipulative. It's also (so far, I'm at 41%) not very impressed by Amelia Earhart's actual flying abilities, focusing more on the fact that she was young and pretty(ish) and easily pushed into the limelight by her manager/lover/husband. It will be interesting to see if the author discusses improvement in her flying skill. (Edit: She did.)So far it seems the book is focusing on what a jerkass George Putnam was. For A to Z Titles.

People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. Just the kind of meaty historical fiction I adore. For A to Z Titles.

What I Am Reading Next

Sing Like a Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water, by Amorina Kingdon. Because who wouldn't want to know?

Question of the Day: Fiction, Nonfiction, Both, Neither?

snowflake challenge #6

Jan. 13th, 2026 10:30 pm
svgurl: (misc: cake)
[personal profile] svgurl
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #6
Top 10 Challenge.

I decided to do two.

Top 10 Favorite Songs of 2025 (in no order; all links go to YouTube)
1. Ordinary - Alex Warren
2. Three Six Five - Shinedown
3. Golden - KPOP Demon Hunters/Hunter/X
4. The Fate of Ophelia - Taylor Swift
5. Undressed - Sombr
6. Abracadabra - Lady GaGa
7. Azizam - Ed Sheeran
8. Mystical Magical - Benson Boone
9. Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish
10. Sink or Swim - OneRepublic

Top Ten Things I Made in 2025

image heavy )

[anyway it doesn't matter now]

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:12 pm
tellitslant: agatha with a book, caption reading bad bitches read books (a3 - agatha - books)
[personal profile] tellitslant
Boy, what an excellent couple of weeks to be largely off social media that was. I didn't take my computer on vacation so while I will try and catch up, if I missed anything, let me know!

Meanwhile, catching up on Yuletide, I had a fantastic time writing two fics in the same fandom, The Incandescent by Emily Tesh. Ironically, I didn't loooove the book, but some of the requests really spoke to me and I feel like it's been a while since I got to do a proper pastiche. It was definitely a tiny fandom, but in terms of what activity the fandom in general got, I was very happy with the attention both got.

Co-Curricular & Enrichment Activities (2722 words) by kathryne
Fandom: The Incandescent - Emily Tesh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Aneeta Shah, Nicola "Nikki" Conway, Mathias Wick, William Daubery, Sapphire "Saffy" Walden, The Phoenix (The Incandescent)
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Missing Scene
Summary: Nikki figures it out first — or, no, that’s not entirely fair. Mathias figures it out first. Nikki is just, as she so often is, the first one to speak up. "There's something wrong with Dr Walden."
Following February half term, Sixth Form Invocation realise they have a problem.

One of the Great Traditions of Public Education (1954 words) by kathryne
Fandom: The Incandescent - Emily Tesh, FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense - Luke Burns
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sapphire "Saffy" Walden, The Phoenix (The Incandescent)
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Missing Scene, Exams
Summary: Q: Why do I have to do this? A: Demon fighting is one of the great traditions of public education. It may seem somewhat antiquated and silly, but...

(no subject)

Jan. 12th, 2026 01:29 pm
neekabe: Bucky from FatWS smiling (Default)
[personal profile] neekabe
Annoying side effect of eye goo: I have to maintain a 'correct' sleep hygiene and it's improving my life XD

I'm staying up a little later but I'm falling asleep sooner after I go to bed because distractions are physically less possible.

Last week I was in the middle of reading a fic and just had a little more to go and decided to read in bed, so I put in the goo and then blinked enough to be able to mostly see and read. And I woke up in the early hours with eye pain, and it's the kind of pain that is a significant deterrent, but just an annoyance. I repeated the experiment later and ended up with the same thing. So I can't just 'rub the cream in' and have it work. I can listen to all the podfics podcasts and such, but I will fall asleep to those, where I can stay up reading.

What I've Been Doing

Jan. 11th, 2026 10:20 am
seleneheart: (woodcut surfboard)
[personal profile] seleneheart
Here's a catch up of my life recently:

TV Shows
  • I'm still in the middle of going through Gilmore Girls with my daughter but she went to Europe for three weeks over the holidays. She just got back Friday, and we haven't picked back up with watching yet.

  • Heated Rivalry. I cannot even express how much I loved this show. I sort of knew I would, given that Jacob Tierney is the showrunner for Letterkenny (on my all-time favorites list) and Shoresy. I got a month of HBO Max just to watch it.

Once this month runs out, I plan to get a Netflix subscription and watch Stranger Things and some other things I need to catch up with.



Movies
  • I watched Red One on Christmas Eve. A very good time, loved JK Simmons as 'Red'. A good movie for what it is.

  • We did our bi-annual watch of the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings movies on Christmas Day. More than 20 years later and I still tear up.




Video Games
  • I'm on the last level of Pikmin 4. I love this game so much - it's a great combo of puzzle solving/figuring things out and combat.

  • I just started Winter Burrow this week. It's a bit of a farming/crafting game, but there is a survival/battle aspect to it, too. There are 4 health meters that you have to pay attention to, one of them being 'cold' because it takes place in winter. I'm really having fun with it.

Two of my close friends got Switch 2, one for Christmas, and I'm really fighting the FOMO. Especially because my Switch is having issues - like the joycons won't connect to the Switch for playing with it docked. My pro-controller works just fine though, so I'm trying to be good.


That's pretty much what I've been doing, except working two jigsaw puzzles I was gifted. I finished one, and decided to make it into a poster. I got some jigsaw sticker sheets to 'glue' the pieces together. I just need to figure out where to hang it. I've started the next one, but it's a more difficult one that will probably take me longer.
altamira16: A sailboat on the water at dawn or dusk (Default)
[personal profile] altamira16
Susan Lieu is the daughter of two people who fled Communism in Vietnam. She grows up in the family's nail salon in California with her siblings, her parents, and her aunts.

Something bad happens. )

In college, Lieu joins a cult as she searches for a mother figure.

She turns a reflection on loss, where she is going through the stages of grief slowly without the support of her family, into a performance that is finally turned into this book.

Her relationship with food throughout this book made me squeamish. She is overeating because she wants to show obedience, that she will not waste food. Then, she may be overeating because she loves food. Her relatives are constantly body shaming her telling her that she will get fat if she eats too much but also constantly serving delicious food. Life is hard.

snowflake challenge #5

Jan. 9th, 2026 04:57 pm
svgurl: (911: eddie red)
[personal profile] svgurl
Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

Challenge #5
In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts.

1. icons/where to find icons of any of my favorite fandoms/ships, especially Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso) and Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1). More 9-1-1 icons that include Christopher too would be great. :D

2. icon tutorials for people who don't have photoshop/want to improve on skills

3. a mod icon for [community profile] comment_bingo

4. fanart for any of my fics, found at [archiveofourown.org profile] svgurl410

5. New friends - on here, Tumblr ([archiveofourown.org profile] svgurl410) and Discord (svgurl) are also welcome/appreciated! Especially if you want to talk about our common fandoms/ships and share fic ideas/brainstorm. :)
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
On Monday evening I had the BEST time being repeatedly summoned by someone who (it gradually became clear) was wildly lost in the Duke's Archives.

Context: in Dark Souls, you can put down a summon sign so that other players can* summon you into their game to help them out (at the risk of also opening themselves up to potential hostile invaders).

You can only be summoned by people in the same rough level range as you, so if I don't feel like moving on yet from an area after I’ve completed it, I often put down my summon sign and hang around for a bit before I level up out of the usual range for that area. It’s been a lot of fun.

VERY IMPORTANT CONTEXT: there is no channel for voice or text communication. There's a very limited menu of gestures, and a few signals (e.g. repeatedly tapping the block button to jiggle your shield or weapon, which generally seems to communicate "I'm here, let's go!") which the fandom has evolved by default.

This makes communication challenging. But it also means it makes zero demands on my capacity for verbal conversation or pretending to be a semi-normal human being.

Cut for length )

"I can walk, Martha. It just hurts."

Jan. 8th, 2026 09:30 pm
ninamazing: Gina Bellman in full Leverage cat burglar getup, about to leap off a roof à la Parker! (flying)
[personal profile] ninamazing
HELLO FRIENDS. Guess who hasn't posted in a million (okay, five) years despite all best intentions? But continues to be straight-up desperate to replace all other social media with Dreamwidth? I'm all set up with Tuta Mail, too, and I've been using Ecosia for awhile. We can have the internet without psychic damage, damn it.

In 2025, I got married, moved into a condo, and started a new job. New job is great with pay and benefits and low on drama, so far—fingers crossed. I'm gradually working through all the traumatic aftereffects of finally being a children's book editor, then not being a children's book editor, then surviving the first few years of a pandemic, then being a children's book editor again, then not being a children's book editor again. But I am currently working on my first small press picture book (with an artist I found in Armenia, no less!) so I suppose I can't be stopped.

These are...terribly anxiety-making times, but I am so lucky to have the friends I have and the quality romance stories (who else is into Heated Rivalry especially the Kip/Scott parts? let's chat!) to boot. In 2026 I hope to continue to serve my communities and heal. Love to you for being here.

snowflake challenge #4

Jan. 8th, 2026 04:58 pm
svgurl: (misc: blue roses)
[personal profile] svgurl
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

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'm currently attempting to write a platonic Hanahaki fic, so I've been looking up different flowers and their meanings. The last website I was on was Alamanc - Flower Meanings, though the website itself is based off The Farmer's Almanac and has other information, such as gardening tips and recipes.

snowflake challenge #3

Jan. 8th, 2026 04:17 pm
svgurl: (stock: typewriter stories matter)
[personal profile] svgurl
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #3:
Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

Where do I even start? Fandom has been such a big part of my life and even when I thought I left, I seem to keep finding my way back and don't have any regrets over that. I remember discovering FFN and then LJ and creating my own in 2007. How weirdly nervous I felt about writing my first fanfic because while I used to write stories as a kid, I felt exposed and self conscious since it was my first time dealing with established characters and also my first fic happened to be m/m. I was 19, fairly sheltered growing up, and a lot naive. Smallville was a big fandom but I felt really welcomed. Sure, I landed myself in some drama now and then, and have said/done things that I wish I hadn't, but I made so many friends. Had way more wonderful, meaningful interactions, than ugly ones. Got to try things and learn things that I wouldn't have thought to if I hadn't joined in on fandom. Improved my writing naturally with practice. Got some great feedback - both kind and useful, over the years.

I was mostly in the one fandom so when the show ended, I gradually grew away from it, and life getting busier coincided with it. I did go back to reading fanfic but I thought I was done writing it. Until 2020. When the pandemic started and I began WFH, I suddenly felt the urge to write. Not just write but for my original fandom (Smallville), for my original ship (Clark/Oliver). I didn't know how I would fit in anymore or how to make friends. I felt like I was worse at it than I was back then.

But fandom may have changed, in look, in pace, in location, but it was still as welcoming as ever. I was able to reconnect with old friends. Find new friends. And even in recent times, get closer to a friend because of our shared fandom/ship! I got to run an AO3-based exchange ([community profile] rarefemslashexchange is on its fifth year! :D) and it always delights me both when new people join in and I can recognize older usernames.

I know I'll always be a little withdrawn - after all these years, I'm still shy about giving my real name online, but the people here have been supportive and accepting of the parts I'm willing to share. The community aspect and how all of us, so different from each other, and in various places all around the globe, can connect and meet and talk to people we would've never run into otherwise. It's a gift. It brings me joy. And I'm so glad I can be apart of it. I hope I can continue to be for as long as possible. :)

Profile

sun_salutation: (Default)
Sun Salutation

February 2017

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415 161718
19202122232425
262728    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 17th, 2026 06:14 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios