#2022 Wrapup

[keldae]

I posted 420 times in 2022

That's 6 more posts than 2021!

66 posts created (16%)

354 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@storyknitter

@keldae

@greyias

@alexsrandomramblings

@starknstarwars

I tagged 336 of my posts in 2022

Only 20% of my posts had no tags

#swtor - 61 posts

#theron/xaja - 24 posts

#xaja - 19 posts

#korin - 14 posts

#i love this - 13 posts

#thanks for the ask! - 12 posts

#korin/kira - 12 posts

#theron shan - 11 posts

#sorand - 10 posts

#reanden - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 113 characters

#i stg if you find a fourth platform i will publicly put your name on blast for all to see and know the creepiness

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

For Theron and Xaja: ❝  keep your eyes on me—  just focus on me.  we’re gonna be okay.  ❞

The first thing Xaja was aware of was pain. Her head throbbed like a bantha was trodding all over it, and the rest of her body didn’t feel much better. She was sitting vaguely upright, she realized as she started to take stock of her battered self, trying to remember what had happened. One moment she and Theron had been walking down an alley on Nar Shaddaa – in hindsight, not their wisest move – and the next, they’d been swarmed by gangsters, too many for a pair of blasters and two lightsabers to deal with. Xaja groaned and tried to move her hands enough to wipe what felt like dried blood away from her forehead, and immediately felt panic rising in her chest when she realized her hands were bound behind her. “Shit,” she whispered, fighting down a whimper of pure terror.

There was a grunt from a few feet away, and then what felt like a booted foot nudged her shin. “Xaja?” Oh, thank the stars, Theron was here, and he sounded relatively okay. “You with me, babe?”

Xaja forced her eyes open, squinting in the dim light of the makeshift holding cell that she and Theron currently occupied. Slouched on the other side of the cell, his own arms behind his back, Theron looked awful – his hair was messy, jacket slashed up, and dried blood stained both his nose and his temple around his implants. When Xaja focused, she could see one of his shoulders looked to be painfully dislocated.

The worried expression around his eyes seemed to ease slightly when he realized Xaja was conscious. “Talk to me, Xaja,” he coaxed, making an effort to keep his voice level and relatively relaxed. “You okay? They hurt you anywhere?”

“... Not as bad as you,” Xaja finally said, swallowing back her fear as she gingerly tried to straighten her back against the wall. Pain and fear waged a war in her mind for dominance – for a moment, fear won out as she tried to pull her hands free of the binder cuffs holding her wrists immobile. The metal devices cut cruelly into her skin, tight enough that she didn’t have a hope of wiggling free. “Where… where are we?”

“As far as I can tell, still on-world,” Theron quietly said, frowning. “I don’t think these are Zakuulans who caught us – there’s too many aliens in the crew. Must be just ordinary slavers.”

“Could be taking Zakuulan credits if they figured out who we are,” Xaja finally answered, squirming despite the pain it caused her. “It… it wouldn’t take much for them to find Arcann’s bounty posting.”

Theron scowled. “All hyperlanes do wind up leading back to Zakuul,” he grumbled. “Can you sense anything outside this cell?”

Xaja closed her eyes and tried to reach out with the Force. A second later, her eyes flew open again as panic choked her voice into nothingness. Now she could register the collar on the back of her neck, suppressing her connection to the Force. And most Force-inhibitors could double as shock collars, in her painful past experience… She couldn’t stop the terrified whimper at the memory of her previous capture on Bandomeer, only a few short months ago.

“Xaja?” Theron sounded worried. “What’s wrong? Is it that bad out there?”

“I can’t… I can’t tell,” Xaja finally gasped out, fighting back a terrified sob. “They put a collar on me. I can’t… it’s blocking me…”

Theron swore in a language Xaja didn’t recognize. “Hate it when they’re smart enough to use Force-inhibitors. It’s okay, we’ll… we’ll figure something out.” He paused for a moment. “Xaja? Look at me, baby. Please?”

Xaja forced herself to register looking in Theron’s direction, panicked jade eyes briefly meeting worried amber before squeezing closed again. Every moment of Xaja’s lifetime of Jedi training seemed to desert her, leaving her panicking and vulnerable, in this dark cell, with her wounded boyfriend bound across from her, and with her access to the Force cut away from her. A little voice inside her head insisted that she needed to focus, to get her composure together and figure out a plan of escape, like any competent Jedi Master could do – but how, when she herself was bound so painfully tight, and when she couldn’t sense the Force at all?

“Come on, Xaja. Keep your eyes on me – just focus on me,” Theron’s voice cut through the cacophony of panicked noises in Xaja’s mind. “We’re gonna be okay.” She forced her eyes open again, frantically seeking out Theron’s gaze in the dim light. “There’s my girl,” Theron murmured in approval. “There’s my brave girl. Stay with me, okay? Just focus on me. Sorand and Lana know where we were, and Korin or your dad have probably already sliced into this sector’s security cameras to find out where we were taken. They’ll come for us. Just please don’t panic, babe. I know you hate being tied up and Force-blind, but stay with me. We’ll be okay.”

“I’m…” Xaja shakily inhaled. “I’m glad you’re confident,” she finally managed to whisper.

Theron seemingly forced himself to chuckle. “Hey, I’ve gotten into, and out of, way worse situations than this,” he said, shrugging his good shoulder. “If my arm wasn’t dislocated, I’d probably already be out of these binders and working on getting you free. Hell, we’d probably be halfway to fighting our way out of here already.”

But his arm was dislocated, and instead of freeing himself, Theron was occupied trying to calm a panicking Jedi Master who, frankly, should not have been so panicked in the first place at being bound, and in this dark, cramped cell, and cut off from the Force… Shame managed to cut through the panic enough for Xaja to take a shuddery breath, trying to force herself to focus. “We need a plan,” she finally said.

“Well, good news is, I’ve got a rough idea for a plan already, in case Sorand and Lana decide to take their sweet time in getting here,” Theron announced. "I have a lockpick in the top of my boot. I just need to… get it…" He grunted in pain as he tried to squirm his way to the hidden lockpick.

"And it's on your right side, isn't it?" Xaja asked, frowning in concern. "Your hurt side?"

"Naturally," Theron confirmed with a hiss of pain. "Fuck, that hurts!" He struggled for a minute longer, then groaned and sagged, seemingly taking a minute to focus on his breathing. "Okay… new plan. Can you dislocate your thumbs?"

"I…" Xaja frowned. "I can't say I've ever tried."

"Okay." Theron groaned and straightened back up as much as he could. "This was so not how I wanted you to learn how to escape binders. Do you have any give on your wrists at all?"

"Not really," Xaja admitted, trying to rotate her wrists as best she could. "They're too tight. I can't even rotate my wrists without it chafing."

Theron muttered a colourful-sounding expletive. "Dammit. It'll be really hard to talk you through it when you can't move much." He sighed. "Okay. Hang tight, I'll… figure something out."

"You're injured pretty badly, and I'm cut off from the Force and fending off a panic attack…" Xaja bitterly laughed. "We're kriffed."

"Not yet, we're not," Theron quickly said. "Besides, being the pessimist is my job. We'll be fine–"

The door to the cell slid open, and Xaja felt herself pale when she saw the four gang members standing in the doorway. Two of them wielded blasters, the third had a wicked-looking vibroknife, and the fourth had what looked suspiciously like the controls for her shock collar in his hand.

"... Never mind, you were right," Theron muttered.

—---------------------

See the full post

20 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#4

Fall From Grace

The most important debate of Xaja's life, and she wasn't permitted to be involved. In the past, she might have railed against that restriction, loudly voiced her complaints -- but that had been before she'd fallen and had the weight of the galaxy thrust on her narrow shoulders.

Right now, Scourge and Doc were both in a closed meeting with the Jedi Council, arguing opposite viewpoints. Xaja knew Doc wanted her to go on leave and recover from her ordeal, while Scourge insisted that Xaja had no time before the Emperor enacted his terrible plans. Why me? she silently asked her hands as she waited outside the Council chambers, watching her pale fingers tremble.

If she thought too hard about it, she could still see lightning racing down her arm and off her fingers, arcing to whoever she'd been told to torture. No, no, don't think about it, she tried to tell herself as she squeezed her eyes closed. I'm not a Sith. I didn't fall, I was dragged down, and Master Orgus helped me crawl back up. I'm not a Sith… I can't be a Sith… 

She shuddered. She knew Master Kaedan at least considered her to be a fallen Jedi, little better than a Sith, and would probably vote to expel her from the Order that she had called home. Who else would agree with him? Maybe the Council would let her stay for healing before banishing her to the galaxy at large and eliminating a monster from the Order's ranks. That would be a small mercy, Xaja thought. And more than you deserve. Didn't you enjoy causing pain? Don't you want to track down the Sith who hurt you and make them hurt just as badly? That was a dark thought, but not an inaccurate one. Xaja flinched from her own dark mind and tried to focus on the Code. "There is no emotion, there is peace…" she whispered. "There is no emotion, there is peace… peace is a lie, there is only--" No! She flinched and tried desperately to banish the Sith Code from her mind. "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge…"

Hurried footsteps didn't make her look up, even when the footsteps were approaching her. She kept her eyes closed, trying to make herself unnoticeable, not wanting to see more judging looks or hear the whispers from the other Jedi on Tython -- the real Jedi, the ones who hadn't fallen and done terrible things at the Emperor’s bidding.

Then a pair of large, battle-roughened hands settled on Xaja's own fingers and gently squeezed, ignoring how she flinched and tried to pull back before she could hurt their owner. "Hey, short stuff," came a too-gentle voice from over Xaja's head. "You with me?"

Xaja opened her eyes, and immediately looked away from Jakar’s worried look. His concern made her heart hurt. She had to look as awful as she felt, if he wasn't teasing her like normal. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare I can't get out of," she confessed before she could stop herself. 

Jakar squeezed her hands again. "I came as soon as I heard you'd made it back alive," he said. "We were worried about you, Xaja. Are you… no, dumb question, you're not okay."

Xaja shook her head in agreement with her oldest friend's diagnosis. "I'm a monster," she whispered. "They're arguing over my fate." She gestured with her head to the Council chamber door.

"You are not a monster," Jakar firmly insisted. "You're my adopted little sister who just escaped from months as an Imperial POW. Whatever happened to you there, you're here now, and safe. They can't get at you here." He squeezed her fingers again, hard enough to make Xaja look back up. "I know you too well, Xaj. You are not a monster, no matter what they tried to tell you. The Council knows this too."

Do you know me as well as you think? Do you know what evil things I'm capable of? How much pain and suffering I can inflict? Xaja opened her mouth, then looked away from Jakar, shame making her eyes burn with unshed tears. "They made me do terrible things… they made me hurt people…" A tear escaped her eye before she could blink it away. "... They cut my hair," she finally whispered, her tone plaintive. Something stupid to be so upset about, when it was just hair… hair that had been to her waist, long and luxurious, before the Sith hacked it off to barely brush her shoulders.

"I see this," Jakar acknowledged. "It'll grow back, I promise." One of his hands left hers to run his fingers through the shorn locks. "It'll take time to get to where it used to be, but it'll get there. As far as everything else..." He sighed. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of this. And you don't deserve to be hurt for what they made you do while they were trying to break you."

Xaja just shuddered and looked down at her hands, unable to share in Jakar’s optimism. How could she tell her oldest friend that the Sith had broken her, and only Master Orgus' intervention had brought her back? "I hate this," she finally whispered.

"I know you do. And I hate that you had to go through everything that you did." Jakar gave her hands an upward tug. "C'mon. We're going to Corellia so Essi can get her hands on you, and so you have a chance to recover from--"

"I'm afraid that won't be an option, Master Forseti," interrupted Master Bakarn's voice. Xaja jumped as she looked up -- the Council had ended their session, and nobody looked happy. "Knight Taerich is back on active duty as of now."

"Against my recommendation," Doc muttered in a tone that was clearly intended to be heard by everyone present. "I'm still not clearing her for active duty."

"The needs of the galaxy outweigh the opinion of one biased doctor," Scourge dismissively said. "She's the only one who can stop the Emperor before he destroys us all."

Jakar shot back to his feet, protective fury radiating from him in the Force. "Are you insane?" he demanded. "Stop the Emperor himself? When she can barely function as it is?"

"She can still wield her lightsabers," Scourge shrugged. "She's combat ready. And would you rather have her go at the Empire now, while the memory of her wounds are still fresh, or wait until the memory is cold and old?"

Jakar opened his mouth to tell Scourge exactly what he thought, immediate presence of the Jedi Council be damned, but Xaja set her hand on his arm as she stood up. "Jakar, it's okay," she quietly said, trying to convince herself as much as him. "I'm okay enough for duty. And someone has to… to stop him." And I need to atone for what I've done. What better way to seek atonement?

"You are not okay," Jakar protested. "Masters, sending a recently-traumatized Jedi out on a suicide mission is cruelty, and asking for a disaster!"

"We understand your worries about Knight Taerich," Master Kiwiiks finally said, her voice low and calming. "But she does have the best chances of being able to strike at the Empire, and at locating the rest of the missing strike team. If the Emperor’s Wrath was willing to defect based off a vision of her, then we need to take that into consideration."

"And before you ask, you can't lead the Rift Alliance to do this task in her stead," Master Bakarn added. "The Children of the Emperor are a serious threat, and one that only you can deal with, Master Forseti. Knight Taerich simply isn't ready for that."

"No, but she's ready to go charging off and fight the blasted Emperor himself?!"

"Be mindful of your emotions, Knight Forseti," Master Kaedan interjected. "Corellian though you may be, you still need control of your own feelings. Your fear for your friend is blinding you to the needs of the galaxy."

Xaja looked away from Jakar’s furiously flashing eyes and looked for Master Shan in the group, who had been quiet so far in this argument. "I can have my ship refueled and ready to go shortly," she quietly said, and tried to not flinch when she saw the sadness in Master Shan's eyes, or heard Doc's frustrated sigh.

"Whatever support we can give you while you're on your mission, you'll have it," Master Shan finally said. "May the Force be with you, Xaja." She was definitely worried if she was using Xaja's first name and not a more formal tone of address.

It could start being with me any minute now, Xaja thought, but didn't voice that out loud. She just bowed to the Council and turned to Doc, who looked equal parts worried and pissed off. "Can you and Scourge get the Serenity ready to go?"

"Against my better judgment," Doc finally said. "Bloody Jedi," he muttered as he left, with a sidelong glare at the assembled Council. Scourge followed in his wake, uncaring about the angry doctor he was following, or the stares he got from the Jedi in the Temple.

See the full post

28 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

#3

So my roleplaying buddy Jonal and I went in on a commission from Danpur (on the Artists and Clients website, according to Jonal!), featuring our respective main characters in one of the sketchier areas of Coruscant during a story we wrote. We just got the finished art today, and I LOVE IT.

Xaja is mine, Jonal Bol'garra is the Mando who belongs to my buddy. And the amazing artwork is Danpur, who doesn't have a Tumblr, but his Twitter handle (for those still using the Other Hellsite) is @danpurnm.

(Ask nicely, and I'll share the story with you lovelies too. 😉)

32 notes - Posted December 9, 2022

#2

Common Interests

Tau was usually more strict with punctuality, Arn had come to realize over the course of his apprenticeship to her. She was notorious for being early for everything -- training, meditation, meetings with Master Gnost-Dural. And she expected nothing less than punctuality for her Padawan. But apparently meetings with Master Xaja were known to run for longer than expected -- especially where Lord Beniko and a stack of datapads were involved. Odessen's residents had gotten used to it over the past few years of the Alliance. Arn obviously hadn't.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the metal wall of the Odessen base, basking in the warm sunlight and trying to summon the patience that Jedi were legendary for. It wasn't nearly as easy as his old masters had made it out to be. Tau had been in that meeting for over an hour already. Arn was in his twenties, certainly not a child anymore – but that didn’t stop him from wanting to groan at how bored he was.

A cough from somewhere to his left drew Arn's attention from his own boredom back to his surroundings. "Excuse me -- is the Commander still in her meeting with Master Idair?" asked a low baritone voice.

"Yes, she--" Arn cracked an eye open and nearly squawked in alarm when he recognized the human man addressing him. If being around Sith (or ex-Sith, in Darth Imperius's case) made him anxious, being around the former Emperor of Zakuul himself was terrifying. His voice cracked with his alarm -- he had to swallow hard before he made even more a fool of himself. "Yes, they're, uh, still in their meeting."

Ex-Emperor Arcann, Tyrant of Zakuul and conqueror of the galaxy, nodded and politely stepped back from Arn. It was one thing to know in the abstract that Master Xaja had her old nemesis working for her, and quite another thing entirely to have him standing only a metre or so away! "You are another one of the Jedi that came from the Republic with Master Idair?"

"Er, uh, yes. Arn Peralun, Jedi Padawan. Tau -- er, Master Idair is my Master." It never hurt to be polite with former tyrants, especially when said former tyrants were powerful enough with the Force that Arn could all but feel it radiating from the other man, strong enough to make Tau look almost Force-blind in comparison.

"A pleasure to meet you, Arn Peralun," Arcann's voice rumbled. “I am Arcann -- although you probably already knew that.” He shifted his feet, looking as awkward as Arn felt -- but that was impossible. Why would someone as powerful as him ever feel awkward and unsure? "May I wait with you? I have some reports for the Comma -- for Master Taerich to see."

"Uhh…" Every instinct of Arn's wanted to tell the Zakuulan man to kriff off, or better yet, to run like hell to the opposite end of the base. But what came out of his mouth was "Yeah, sure, go ahead."

Arcann nodded his thanks and moved to stand a little further from Arn while he waited. His hands clasped a datapad in front of him -- one of those hands, Arn realized, was a cybernetic prosthetic. So the rumors concerning that, at least, were true. I wonder if his arm used to really be a Skytrooper limb? He couldn't stop himself from curiously looking over and eyeing the other man's left hand, just visible under the white sleeve covering his arm.

Wait, you're gonna make it weird. He sheepishly glanced up to Arcann's face, in time to see the former Emperor quickly look away from him, ears flushing red, much to Arn's surprise. Was he… checking out my own prosthetics? Had to be, unless he was eyeing up a Jedi Padawan for a fight. But would he pick a fight right here in the middle of the base?

"Dakot Seven," he finally said, making Arcann start in surprise. "My old Master and I were escorting refugees and got hit by artillery fire. He died, but I survived. More or less. Is that what you were wondering?"

Arcann hesitated, then nodded. "I am sorry," he rumbled. "You must get a lot of people staring at your cybernetics."

Arn forced himself to shrug. "So do you, probably." Between the scars on the other man's face, the cybernetic hand, and the notorious reputation, Arcann must not be able to go anywhere in the galaxy without being gawked at.

Arcann nodded in confirmation. "Korriban," he murmured. "I got in the way of a grenade." He ruefully chuckled. "There's very little that hurts as much as a field fitting for a prosthetic."

Arn winced in sympathy. "I can imagine. Dakot Seven, where I was… they don't use kolto, so it was cybernetics to fix everything. I mean, it saved my life, so…"

"That is definitely the important thing," Arcann agreed. "Zakuul didn't have kolto at all, although even if they had, it wouldn't have made a difference for me. That grenade took everything off in one blow."

"Ouch."

"I would say you have no idea, but you're probably the only person in this base who does." 

Arn nodded, then decided to indulge his curiosity. "So if they had to do a field fitting for your arm, was it a Skytrooper arm, or…?"

"The original one was," Arcann nodded. "I lost that one in a fight with Master Taerich some years ago. This one was made custom for me, after she finished beating sense into me." He rolled his sleeve up as much as he could to show off the gleaming black metal. "Doctor Oggurobb and his team are very good at what they do."

Suppressing his glee at finally knowing that Emperor Arcann had once had a Skytrooper arm, Arn leaned over to inspect the other man's prosthetic, briefly forgetting his fear. "They did good work," he agreed. “Maybe I should talk to him about upgrades for my own prosthetics.”

Arcann nodded his agreement, then gave Arn's cybernetic torso a critical look. "Yours look like they wouldn't need upgrades for some time though. The people of Dakot Seven know their cybernetics well, it seems."

"Well, when you can't use kolto due to genetic incompatibility, I guess you get good at cybernetics pretty fast," Arn shrugged. "Worked out for me, anyway. Just wish they'd had a kolto tank for offworlders when…"

"I don't blame you," Arcann quietly said. "Your wounds were earned with honour, though. Mine… weren't."

An awkward silence fell for a moment before Arn forced himself to chuckle. "Hey, you got those fighting Imps on Korriban. Coming from a Jedi, that's not bad." He suddenly paled and quickly looked around for either Lord Beniko or Darth Imperius. "Just don't tell anyone I said that."

A grin showed itself on Arcann's face. "Your secret is safe with me," he promised with a wink of his good eye. "If you would permit a question?"

"Yeah, sure." Having the former Emperor of Zakuul ask permission for a question was definitely not something that Arn had expected. But then, he also hadn't expected Arcann to be so quiet and awkward, or polite.

"I would be terrified at the idea of doing maintenance on life support cybernetics," Arcann admitted. "Doing maintenance on my arm is bad enough. When yours take damage or need maintenance done, how do you do it?"

"Honestly? It hasn't really come up much. My cybernetics are pretty tough," Arn proudly said. "If anything, it's my eye that gives me more of a headache. Agent Shan and Cipher Nine both said they'd help me with upgrades for that, though." He glanced down at his abdomen for a second. "If these did get damaged… I guess I'd just have to hope for a medcentre where the medics know how to deal with prosthetics. Or hope I'm near here, or Dakot Seven."

See the full post

56 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

GUYS

THIS JUST HAPPENED AND I'M STILL FANGIRLING OVER IT

61 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

2022 AO3 Stats Breakdown

(evidence of a mental breakdown as well??? who’s to say lol)

Total Wordcount (approximate*): 265,182 across 37 fics in 3 fandoms

Most popular (by hits): The Sculptor (9,391)

Most popular (by kudos): Professor Lan, Babysitter Extraordinaire (1,244)

Least popular (by hits): Life Is Short, Do Art (186 - this is also probably my actual least popular by kudos at 41, Far From an Imposition is so new it’s not surprising it’s still at the bottom)

Least popular (by kudos): Far From An Imposition (30)

Highest word count: Soldier, Poet, King (78,690 words and still going)

Lowest word count: Lan Xichen’s Romance Novel Brainrot (1,141 words)

*For all of these figures I won’t be including ‘Plans To Make’ or ‘You Are Of Their Ilk’, as they’re both from 2021 originally and they skew the numbers a lot since I’ve added chapters to them in 2022. But I’m too lazy to figure out how many words I dumped into both of them, and there’s no telling when all the kudos and hits and stuff are from, so I won’t bother, all of these fics were completely posted in 2022 (though some new ones are now going to bleed into 2023).

Fic Breakdown

NON-CQL/MDZS - 3 fics in total:

A Flower Most Rare and Don’t Let Him Go Alone (both Wenzhou, for Word of Honor) together make up 7,875 words of my total count.

Home Was a Dream for Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty is 1,413 words of the total.

CQL/MDZS - 34 fics in total:

3Zun (and the various twosomes within it) account for 14 / 34 fics, 140,501 words, over half the total wordcount by 7,910 words (~53% of the total).

They are, in descending order of hits:

Soldier, Poet, King (3zun)

Sworn Protections (Nieyao)

The Last Piece of a Really Shitty Puzzle (3zun but Nieyao don’t like each other)

War Manners (Nieyao)

Pull No Punches (3zun)

Awkward and Uptight (3zun but focus is on Nieyao reconciling)

Looking For My Family (3zun)

Jaegers Are Not Meant For That (3zun)

Hope Is Home and the Heart Is Free (3zun)

Sticky Summer Kisses (Nielan)

Honey-Sweet and Heavy (3zun)

Starlight Within Will Guide (3zun at the end, mostly LXC-centric)

Restraint (Xiyao)

Far From An Imposition (Nieyao)

Wangxian fics account for 8 / 34 fics, 51,763 words, which is just shy of 20% of the total wordcount (roughly 19.5%, so not quite a fifth).

They are, in descending order of hits:

The Sculptor (Modern AU - 1970′s)

Professor Lan, Babysitter Extraordinaire (Modern AU)

Together, Or Not At All (Post-canon)

Hot House Husband Speedrun (Modern AU)

Yiling Laozu’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle AU)

Feel You Feeling Me Feeling You Etc. Etc. (Post-canon)

Down the Gutter Here I Go (13 year gap)

Other Delights (Modern AU - late 1990′s or early 2000′s)

I had a surprising number of fics featuring various ships with Jiang Cheng in them, they account for 7 / 34 fics, 25,936 words, just shy of 10% (9.7%) of the total wordcount.

They are, in descending order of hits:

Lan Xichen’s Romance Novel Brainrot (Xicheng from LXC’s POV)

Thank You, and I’m Sorry (SangCheng from both POV’s, though the focus is Nie brother bonding/reconciliation after an argument and SangCheng have already been married for quite some time)

Indigo (ChengQing from both POV’s, but mostly WQ)

How Vicious You Are (ChengYao - lovers to enemies trope so it’s in the past)

Grannies Are To Be Feared (ChengQing from JC’s POV)

‘In-Law’ is a Two-Word Horror Story (SangCheng from both POV’s)

Research Is a Love Language (SangCheng from both POV’s but mostly JC’s)

There are a few fics that I wrote this year that aren’t very shippy at all, are a rarepair, or focus on the ensemble and various ships equally so they’re a bit harder to classify. Together they all account for the last 5 / 34 fics, 37,694 words, roughly 14% of the total wordcount.

They are, in descending order of hits:

Tales From Jianghu Shopping Center (Ensemble - Wangxian, Sangcheng, and Nielan are all hinted at but not established within the fic)

Technically a Cutsleeve? (Mo Xuanyu/Lan Jingyi set in my fix-it universe, specifically)

Objective Complete - Now What? (Ensemble - Wangxian, 3zun, and Chengqing are all present, as well as Lan Jingyi’s and Jin Guangshan’s POV’s)

Why Not Me? (Lan Qiren raising a young Lan Jingyi during the 13-year gap, so it focuses on family dynamics)

Life Is Short, Do Art (Lan Xichen-centric, very brief character study)

With all that said - what did I actually write?

Unconnected oneshots: 23*

Connected Oneshots: 9**

Chaptered fics: 5

* - ‘Looking For My Family’ is technically a standalone oneshot, but could very easily fit into the universe of my Modern 3zun Sunshot AU ‘All Dreams Were Worth Keeping’ as my characterizations/headcanons for how their relationship and family dynamics work doesn’t really differ from one to the other.

** - ‘Tales from Jianghu Shopping Center’ is technically a connected oneshot because it’s a oneshot that is the central work of my strip mall universe, but that makes it feel more like a chaptered fic to me because it’s the main work that all the rest of the shopping mall extras spoke out from like any of my other universes of extras born from my chaptered fics.

So -- big year for one-shots! I did a few different writing challenges/events this year, which was a lot of fun and something I’ve never done before. 18 / 23 of the unconnected one-shots were written for MXTX Reverse Trope Fest (10), Polyshipping Week 2022 (5), Fandom Trumps Hate (2), and the MDZS Mixtape Exchange (1). I think that might be why I feel like I didn’t write nearly as much as I did -- I did fairly quick little bite-sized fics for my own sake (except for where there were minimum wordcounts set for FTH) and they really add up all together but they didn’t feel like much as I was writing them, especially since most of what I did last year in comparison was so focused on my 3zun fix-it universe and the Modern Sunshot AU, both of which are nearly 200k word universes apiece.

This year I had really wanted to finish both Plans To Make and You Are Of Their Ilk, so I’m a bit sad that I didn’t manage to get them done before the end of the year. Both because they’re stories I definitely want to tell, but also because they’re my two most popular fics and I feel bad that they just also happen to be the two ongoing wips that I have that I update the least frequently lol. People are always so nice in the comments and stuff though and say that they’ll subscribe and wait patiently for whenever the inspiration hits me, which is lovely and reassuring. But still - over a thousand people are subscribed to both of them. The pressure is on 😂

Last, but not least:

What did I enjoy writing the most this year?

It’s a tie between two of them!

I really really loved the process of speed-writing The Sculptor in a hazy, frantic three days of pure inspiration, and then posting it daily over the course of a week and a half. I loved having something already completely finished to post on such a quick, dedicated schedul. Everyone was also super lovely in the comments both during and after posting, I got so much good community connection with people for whom the story really resonated, especially Queer people, which I absolutely adored. Particularly people who were thrilled to see representation for both lavender marriages and closeted lesbians in heterosexual marriages, which we tend to think of as outdated these days but there are absolutely still so many people in both types of relationships, whether by their own choice or for their own safety or what have you. So that one felt really special, plus I’m still just as in love with Ceru’s artwork that sparked the whole thing as I was when I started writing the fic. (Everyone say thank you @ceru-draws for the STUNNING artwork that inspired the fic, go reblog it and love on it if you haven’t already. Actually go love on all of their art, it’s all wonderful and they deserve it.)

And finally -- Tales From Jianghu Shopping Center, my beloved. It’s such a low-stakes, easygoing kind of universe to write that it genuinely relaxes me, and it makes me really happy when I get a new idea for an extra or something to add to it. I love using it as an excuse to wax poetic and romanticize about the mundane American nearly-rural suburbia I grew up with in the Deep South, and it’s been really fun to see how many other people resonate with it despite it being weirdly niche. It’s also been a fun exercise in building believable atmosphere/settings, since that’s mostly the goal and the (very minimal) plotline is very much secondary to the Vibes. I love me some Vibes (now everyone say thank you @lansplaining for the god-tier post that inspired that whole universe)

Thank you everybody for a really fun year of writing fic, here’s to even more in 2023 (I hope) ♥♥

[talenlee]

The All of 2022 Wrapup

New Post has been published on PRESS.exe: The All of 2022 Wrapup

In January, I wrote out a plan for the year. In that plan, I described types of articles I was going to make, and kind of like ‘caps’ on the types of subjects I would write about. I also promised to watch more anime, which was like a threat, I guess. I also mentioned the eventual Avatar update, that would serve to bring presentation on a lot of platforms in line.

Knowing that, then, how’d I go? What were the good bits, the pieces of 2022 that I think, now, you should go back and check out (and I will go back and check out myself when I’m browsing the blog looking for ideas I want to further expand on).

Big, long-term projects included a daily Magic: The Gathering card, released at first on a twitter account every day, and now being posted on Mastodon and Cohost. Those got a set of summarising posts. I also did a podcast with Fox about watching all the Disney Animated Canon movies, which we called the Disney Animated Canonball.

It was also at the start of the year that I stopped using an add-on for the blog called Jetpack. Jetpack let me do things like find out how many hits each individual page was getting, and that formed the basis of what I then, at the end of the year, would list as the ‘most popular’ stuff. It was useful to see what you thought was good here, rather than just what I liked, in hindsight. It sped things up. But I’m not using Jetpack any more, and that means that instead… I had to go through all the articles I wrote, and ask myself ‘hey, is this good?’ and ‘why would someone wanna read this again?’

Which means we’re going to look at a lot of links here.

This year saw me do a lot more to revise my world setting of Cobrin’Seil, with a lot of articles that reference or examine other elements of the setting. Back at the start of the year, I spent some time thinking about two ‘standard’ D&D cultures I dislike, the Dwarf and Dragonborn, and the problems of just ditching them wholesale. This led to the creation of two Cobrin’Seil specific cultures, the Dio Baragh and the (Cobrin’Seil’s Version Of) Dragonborn. I also looked at the Halfling, a culture that I originally wanted to discard because of its weird semiotics, but a friend was able to crystallise around a meaningfully interesting idea.

Being as I am a stickler for the question of ‘what’s with all these people-like-people and why are they different,’ I also wrote more about the human-like creatures of the setting. I wanted to look at the Elves and address the question of ‘why are these sub-cultural groupings all able to breed with humans,’ and finally wrote up a breakdown of the types of Elf creatures, and how they relate to one another. It was so big I did break it into a pair of posts on a weekend though.

This kind of thinking got me on a thread about ‘outsider’ cultures, though: the Orcs, yes, but also the way that D&D has a whole collection of orc-like things, as humanoids that exist Over There that don’t have a meaningful reason to be differentiated from orcs or goblins or kobolds. You know the list, the Bugbears and the Bullywugs and the Hobgoblins and Grimlocks and so on. Since I’d already defined the Orcs as having a pretty distinct culture, complete with muddy biological differences due to their relationship to raiding other cultures and the debt you owe to the dead, I eventually decided on the idea of the ‘Urd’ to explain the general forking tree of ‘non-human humanoids who do not relate well to the humanoid coalition.’ I want to expand on this a bit more, since it lets me play with one of the themes the setting does have regarding Deep Time, which is ‘back in history, people were even bigger assholes than they are today.’

Oo, and I also wrote up an article about the way legal power is handled in the Eresh Protectorates! I’m really glad I did that article because it both was an interesting exercise in accounting things that were ‘known’ in the setting, and doing it presented all sorts of fun, complicated and extremely annoying grey areas that players could wind up running around in. Since legal systems are the byproducts of countries, and Cobrin’Seil is a setting with multiple ‘country’ level things laid atop one another, that got me thinking about ways to document it — and that led to the realisation that I’m terrible at maps.

Finally, I also dedicated some space to present, in public, the Themes for the Knightly Orders of the Eresh Protectorates — which was something like four thousand words of just mechanical information and some setting details.

My ongoing examination of 3rd Edition D&D, in both its versions, gave me a lot to work with. I go into the garage, I pull out one of my 3rd edition books, flip it open to a random page and see what that asks and if it’s interesting. It’s a good, ‘completed’ form of the game to look at as a time capsule for an earlier time in gaming (just like 4th edition).

I spent a lot of time in my reflecting on 3rd edition thinking about ways the game fails the players. There’s the badly made Challenge Ratings system, the implicit racism of the weapon categories, the way that somehow worlds with gods that had feelings couldn’t really conceive of any use for Love, and I dedicated a bit of time to the weirdly anti-sex, consent-ignoring Book of Exalted Deeds.

There were a few character archetypes that 3rd edition let you play with. I looked at the Complete Books’ set of full-blown classes, and whether or not they were good (almost always, no). I showed you the basics of my own 3.5 class, the Adherent, which I still intend to put up on DriveThru at some point. I talked about the way that 3.5 made the fighter weaker and the Wizard stronger, the Supermount melee combatant that ran around biting people, the strange questions presented by the Soul Eater and its coincidentally contrary example the Ur-Priest, and the absolutely busto class, the Archivist.

In a more general ‘why do D&D worlds be this way’ I looked at the worldbuilding around alcohol, and assumptions made by teenagers making D&D worlds who do not, in fact, know anything about alcohol, one of the most broken (good) 2e swords interacting with one of the most broken (bad) systems of half attacks, the first time I heard the idea of ‘magepunk’ coalesced into a meaningful idea, and the strange mythological question of whether or not dragons can shapeshift into people.

4th Edition D&D got plenty of articles, but my favourites start with an article about how the Mount Rules in 4e were a step down from 3rd, and also, spent a lot of time not being hot garbage. While I was complaining about things being Not Good Enough from the edition change, I also complained about the Elan, a heritage of sexy weirdoes who were mangled by psychic outsider energies.

From there, though, I mostly looked at 4e in terms of offering ideas for how to run worlds, and ways to build within the space of those worlds. I talked about how 4e rules let organisations be more meaningful without necessarily being more powerful, about how to view a Warlock’s relationship to their patron, the ways you can consider the monster types for encounter design, variant class rules and the ways they both do and don’t fail the player, and of course, in Pride Month, an ongoing joke about memes about bi people, this time expressed as ‘dodge roll or die.‘

I did write about a bunch of my OCs, which I need to be more comfortable calling them. Particularly, I was proud of the writeups for Trancer, where I talk about the challenges of making trans characters and getting over the ‘but what if I do it wrong?’ impulse, Tideward where I just indulge in raw lovecraftian horror monsterboy, The 49th and her absolutely eyewatering build, Robyn Hoodie examining the mechanics of Traps and the social expression of heroism in the Rogue Isles, and Wild Hare, because she was inspired by fanart of an anime character wearing Megan Thee Stallion’s clothes.

I didn’t know it was the 30th anniversary of Star Control 2 this year, which meant that my decision to do a number of articles on things in that game was just a happy coincidence? I looked at the Androsynth (and the way their story went wrong), the Dnyarri (and the way they remind me of Emet-Selch), and then, veered into Star Control 3 to talk about the Clairconctlar, and how you get to play an Abortion Rights Chad in-setting.

While we’re talking about big sprawling games, though, I did a week focused on Final Fantasy XIV, a game I think I will always be able to complain about but which I also, again, keep playing, because I like playing it. Weird how that works. I did a writeup of one of my characters, Karash; I looked at the way the game depises alting, one of my favourite MMO practices; and I did a How To Be focusing on a character entirely because a friend loves her, and how when it comes to that character you’ve sort of got to invent your own material.

What if you follow me for my insights into Magic: The Gathering and its relationship to custom design? I did a piece on designing Partner cards, which need to advance the game and develop the play experience in interesting ways. I did another piece about my reactions to Neon Dynasty, which I still can’t believe exists. I also finally wrote up the idea of Inflexible, a designer problem we need to address.

Academic stuff this year? Oo, I talked about the way that objects carry their ideologies in them, which is something building on the work of Ian Bogost in Alien Phenomenology. I talked about the basics of Mythologies by Roland Barthes, because the man started with a whole conversation about Pro Wrestling. I also talked about the challenge of demarcation, a very real problem that I have to deal with when we’re looking at unfalsifiable experiences. I talked about how materiality of objects lets us share them and NFTs suck ass, and about the idea of the ‘blorbo’ and how they convey fundamental values about the entity just as being implied to being a thing to have.

There are some articles I think of as engaging to write; longer form ones that were worth digging into and which I knew would take some time to explain and which are worth reading as stories unto themselves, stories I find satisfying and interesting. This year, I did a bunch of those, and I think of them as ‘treats’ to have saved up to get a chance to write about, even if they’re on grim topics. These are articles that haunt me throughout the year, while I try to build up to finding the right time to work on them, to express them. Here’s a list of my favourites this year:

I wrote about my findings from a year of Not Being Subscribed To A Bunch Of Things

I wrote about Agent Garbo, the best Nazi Spy who never existed

I wrote about the way that phones have always been changing throughout our lives and the implication there’s a ‘normal’ way to behave on them is weird

I put together a long form version of a twitter thread about America, as explained by a non-American

I grappled with the way that the Buzzfeed Unsolved ghost hunting show gets worse and worse the longer it goes on

I reflected on what it meant to lose the Queen

I dug in deep on the story of Sodafunk, figuring that a year later, the realities of the situation would shake out, and the personal pettiness that got me interested

I revisited Baldur’s Gate 2 as an avenue for romantic characterisation and made fun of Anomen a lot

I also had some posts about single, specific things from media that weren’t the kinds of things you’ve got as major categorical sets on the blog:

I am somehow, an internet resource trusted on The Blacklist and maybe I’ll have to finish watching that show to find out how sensible that is

I talked about how Star Wars is a universe about owning stuff

You know the show Victorious? Well I’ve never seen it

What about the shipping opportunities in Ranma 1/2?

I looked at a favourite ship from the game Life Is Strange

There were major changes in World of Warcraft‘s historical content and people got weird about it

Iori Yagami is one of two articles I did this year about King of Fighters stuff

I got really into a Bible story this year now I had it reframed by a great lecturer, culminating in ‘oh those two dudes were fucking, right?‘

Oh oh and an article about Bleach – Kenpachi and Yachiru!

I also did a bunch of stuff as it related to representation of gender in media, and even as I say this, man, I should write more about how weird it is that Tali is straight, but anyway:

The transgender Azurills

The Au Ra and colonial views of gender

Care Bears’ trans elephant

Acid Storm, the genderfluid transformer

It’s strange to consider that there are articles I have here that are definitely just about behaviour that, in hindsight, is largely just on twitter, and everyone who’s left twitter seems to agree is bad, and should not be encouraged:

Don’t Buy Corporate Pride Shit

Google Slides Is Pretty Good

The Failing of Dunkology

Culture Not Found

Finally, we get down to the last two types of article, which are misc and heavy. I wrote about how I dislike the Fairy type in Pokemon. Because I love Ettin, I wrote about the way that Mass Effect’s culture of Asari are pretty much just sexier versions of D&D’s awful Beholders, because they both reproduce in the same fundamental way. I reflected a few times on the ways I relate to getting chores done, with a look at Thresholds and Habits.

I wrote a poem this year? About how I’ve learned about the behaviour of my dog, and the things that makes me realise I don’t understand about myself. Finally, I did go in on Alex Jones, and my sourcing on that, and the grim reflection on how I tried to escape one name, and wound up at another name that’s just as grim.

That’s it, that’s the year.

You made it.

If you didn’t make it, and you’re reading this, that’s really impressive and I’d like to hear more.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#2022Wrapup #Wrapup

[lizziethereader]

November 2022 wrapup

I did nonfiction November this month, with the challenge of reading (almost) only nonfiction (the actual challenge is not that strict, I just enjoy giving it a try) and I had one of the best reading months this year, I think! There was so much good stuff and nothing was dry or exhausting to read. Good times! 

[not pictured: A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue, Park

favorite of the month: I really can’t choose! There was so much good stuff! 

nonfiction reads (8):  A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park,  Many Different Kinds of Love: A story of life, death and the NHS by Michael Rosen,  Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile,  This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas,  Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America by Sara Sinclair, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud,  Traumatized: Identify, Understand, and Cope with PTSD and Emotional Stress by Kati Morton, Schluss - mit lustig!: Wahre Wiener Begräbnisgeschichten by Patrick Budgen

classics (1): The Postman always rings twice by James M. Cain

poetry (1): Queer poems edited by Mary Jean Chan and Andrew McMillan

graphic novel (1): Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, There’s a ghost in this house by Oliver Jeffers

[solradguy]

I know I've said this like 1000 times now but for real what tf did this game do to my brain

[litandroses]

2022 Notable Reads

In no particular order! Books included here does not necessarily mean I rated them highly or that I rated them at all. These are the ones that pleasantly surprised me, that had me thinking, made me feel (scarily) seen, and for some the lasting impact (on me) was simply inexplicable sadness.

Should you choose to read whichever book seems interesting to you or one that is not yet familiar to you, I hope you enjoy too.

You may also find this list here <3

[lantern-hill]

december wrapup 🎄

👍= recommend / 📌 = added to commonplace book

books

how to be animal - a new history of being human (IPR)

short nonfiction

the rise and rise of the "disposable black girlfriend" (👍)

how white feminists appropriate slavery (👍)

love song to costco (👍📌)

personal style is dead and the algorithm killed it

the whitewashing of the art hoe movement

enoughness

solstices (👍)

selfcare as warfare (👍)

elon musk doesn't care about twitter outside of america (👍)

netflix's wednesday: why it's actual queerbaiting

white transmen holding ourselves accountable to audre lorde’s legacy

how american culture ate the world (👍)

short fiction

some of us had been threatening our friend colby (👍📌)

movies

glass onion (⭐⭐)

the girl with all the gifts (⭐⭐⭐)

no time to die (⭐⭐)

[roricomics]

That time of year again? 2022 was feral, but I didn't have room on the grid to touch on every project I did; so I can say it was at least a productive chaos 😅

L-to-R art from: DarkPunk Zodiac; Coloring StL exhibit; SweetHot Artbook; Adult Casual Ep. 2; Mah Face; Whoa, Nellie! GN (written by Gibson Twist); She Becomes Death Book of Art & Verse; Nessie Who Never Was (written by Dani Colman); and Sugar: Little Earthquakes Graphic Album (written by Gibson Twist)

[odiousidiot]

my art summary! drew a lot of shit this year goddamn, this isnt even close to all the finished stuff i did

first two are a general summary (some of my fav pieces - sorta in order from early 2022 to late 2022) . Next are my fav pieces i did for the my oc in symbolism meme because i did quite a few of those :D

Then we have a mashup of stuff that i designed this year, definitely seeing some patterns lol. And finally some shitposts to tie up 2022 B)

<3

pretty good year with art for me, i feel like i can actually see some improvement :D got some good experience with usd comms as well :0

as for 2023, dont really have a big goals. just gonna draw whatever im feeling up to lol

might force myself to do some anatomy practice though :’)

[godzilla-reads]

Last Day of November is Here!

This month I read a total of 11 books, bringing my yearly total to 171!

Top 3 Books of November:

🐥 Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts by J. Drew Lanham

🎠 Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

✔️ Black Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham

What was your favorite book of November?

[linus-wickworth]

November 2022 Reading Wrap-Up!

1. A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

James is hardly the typical troubled youth who ends up at Whisperwood School for Boys. Instead of hating the strict schedules and tight oversight by staff, James blossoms, quickly making friends, indulging in his love of writing, and contemplating the merits of sneaking love poems to the elusive and aloof William Esher.

2. A Hymn in the Silence by Kelley York. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Since graduating from Whisperwood School for Boys, William has found a sense of normalcy in his life with James. He has a steady (albeit secret) relationship, a home, and a job-even if it doesn't pay the greatest.

3. A Calm Before the Storm by Kelley York. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

James and William’s first Christmas together in their own home ought to be a cause for celebration. But when money is tight, and William is going through withdrawals in an attempt to get off of his laudanum completely, the level of holiday cheer is dismally low.

4. Picture Unavailable by Andrew J. Brandt. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

While looking through their sixth-grade yearbooks, Charlie and his two best friends notice that the portrait of their missing classmate has been left blank except for two words: Picture Unavailable. Though Johnny vanished mysteriously, Charlie and company know he was at Westfield Middle School for picture day. Things get stranger when they realize Johnny's image has been purged from the entire yearbook.

5. Because Everything Is Right but Everything Is Wrong by Erin Donohue. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Can you be lost and not know it? Can other people stop you from being lost? Seventeen-year-old Caleb’s world is disintegrating, his walls are closing in, his sky is threatening to fall. He's barely holding on. To deadlines. To friends. To family. To mum. To Pat. But he has Casey.

6. Suicide Watch by Kelley York. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Vincent has spent his entire life being shuffled from one foster home to the next. His grades suck. Making friends? Out of the question thanks to his nervous breakdowns and unpredictable moods. Still, Vince thought when Maggie Atkins took him in, he might have finally found a place to get his life--and his issues--in order. When Maggie dies, it all falls apart.

7. Jolt by Bernard Beckett. ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Marko surfaces from a drug induced haze to find himself hidden from the world in a psychiatric ward. He is certain the 'Doctor' means to kill him, and he in turn has vengeful plans of his own. But how is it he came to stop taking his medication? Who can Marko trust and how much time does he have?

8. Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.

9. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig is determined to succeed at life--which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself. Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital.

10. The Pigman by Paul Zindel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

When sophomores John and Lorraine played a practical joke a few months ago on a stranger named Angelo Pignati, they had no idea what they were starting. Virtually overnight, almost against their will, the two befriended the lonely old man, and it wasn't long before they were more comfortable in his house than their own. But now Mr. Pignati is dead. And for John and Lorraine, the only way to find peace is to write down the Pigman's story.

11. Ghosting You by Alexander C. Eberhart. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tommy hears dead people. Okay, one dead person. His best friend, Chase. Since his death, Tommy can't stop hearing his voice. They talk every day and Tommy even sends him texts, but it always ends the same. Message failed to send. Until one day, a stranger texts back.

12. Wild Summer by Suki Fleet. ⭐⭐⭐

At fifteen, Christopher falls in love with a boy whose life he saves. But things go wrong and four years later, he wishes he'd acted differently. His conscience begins to haunt him, and he knows he must find Summer again.

13. Monster by Michael Grant. ⭐⭐⭐1/2

It's been four years since a meteor hit Perdido Beach and everyone disappeared. Everyone, except the kids trapped in the FAYZ. Now the dome is gone and meteors are hitting earth with an even deadlier virus. Humans will mutate into monsters and the whole world will be exposed. As some teens begin to morph into heroes, they will find that others have become dangerously out of control... and that the world is on the brink of a monstrous battle between good and evil.

14. As Far as You'll Take Me by Phil Stamper. ⭐⭐⭐

Seventeen-year-old Marty Pierce leaves small-town Kentucky for London, hoping to explore his sexuality and find work playing oboe, but homesickness, anxiety, and his dwindling savings worsen even as his dreams are coming true.

15. The Blue Lawn by William Taylor. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

David and Theo are fifteen and sixteen and from very different backgrounds; when they become close friends they must find a way of dealing with the strong physical attraction they feel for each other.

16. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Instead of being rescued from a plane crash, as in Hatchet, this story portrays what would have happened to Brian had he been forced to survive a winter in the wilderness with only his survival pack and hatchet.

17. The River by Gary Paulsen. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Because of his success surviving alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days, fifteen-year-old Brian, profoundly changed by his time in the wild, is asked to undergo a similar experience to help scientists learn more about the psychology of survival.

18. Lock & West by Alexander C. Eberhart. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Lock is awkward. He can't make eye contact, counts when he's nervous and has to remind himself several times a day how 'normal' teens behave. Homeschooled most of his life, he's resigned himself to a friendless existence at his new Atlanta high school. Until he meets West.

19. The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Salinger. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Like many teenagers, 16-year-old Holden Caulfield doesn't really know what he wants to do, although he is sure that he wants to avoid anything phony. It tells the description of Holden's tortured adolescence as he comes to terms with the transition to adulthood and the onset of a nervous breakdown.

[martha-anne]

My 2022 list of books really worth reading (according to me)

In no particular order:

A Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Emma by Jane Austen

Daybook, the Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

The Trees by Percival Everett

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Dr Anil Seth

On the Line: Notes from a Factory by Joseph Ponthus

Of these, almost half are non fiction. I'm surprised by this as I generally read a lot more fiction than non-fiction. Here’s to many more great books next year ⭐️

[seannoonan]

Projects I worked on in 2022!

[lizziethereader]

December 2022 wrapup

December was okay and with that sort of in tune with the rest of the year. There weren’t any massively memorable books, although I did enjoy most of what I read. Let’s see if my reading picks up again in the new year! 

[not pictured because I read them as ebooks: Poison Study by Maria Snyder, Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, and The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson]

favorite of the month: it’s a tie between The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson

nonfiction reads (2): The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk,  Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards

classics (1?): The Princess Bride by William Goldman (does that count as a modern classic?)

poetry (1): Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

graphic novel (1): Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

[queenisobelle]

#ArtvsArtsy 2022 Me realizing I fangirled hard on volleyball this year 😅 . . . To more chibis and volleyball action in 2023 🥂🏐 . . . Follow for more chibis and kawaii stuff 😉 . . . #artvsartist2022 #artvsartist #2022 #wrapup #volleyballph #volleyball #haikyuu #haikyuufanart #haikyuuIRL #fanart #chibiart #chibi #ibispaint #ibispaintx #artoftheday #digitalart #animation #synfig #loopanimation #kawaiiartsdaily #beachvolleyball #kawaiichibi #kawaiisports #volleybelle #pvl2022 #bye2022 #hello2023 #artcollage #wedidit https://www.instagram.com/p/CmyukKlpb7d/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[enigmaptdx]