#also honest to god feel like I might do like. nanowrimo but october

[jorvikzelda]

GOD why does my fic writing always get into the best fucking flow when i need to be SLEEPING

[pebblysand]

[OCTOBER ‘21] - THE LIFE/WRITING UPDATE NO ONE ASKED FOR (AND SOME QUICK LINKS)

ugh. autumn. i know yous all love the golden leaves aesthetics and the pumpkins and the hot chocolates but i hate: the lack of natural light, the cold, the rain like static in the air and the yearly interrogation: should i prep and do nanowrimo?

Anyway, before diving into more life/writing updates, here are some quick links to different blog pages you might not see on mobile :

to read my fics

to read my original work

fic recs

to read my tumblr rants about stuff

[NOTE: i am currently not accepting prompts. i already have a backlog, folks.]

Castles (chap 9) ETA: i’m hoping somewhere in the week of the 18th of october. more details below

links extended a/n-s: chapter v ; chapter vi & vii ; chapter viii ; chapter ix

[more life/writing updates under the cut]

what i’m reading:

ugh, i probably haven’t been reading as much as i should this month, especially since september is always sort of when all the interesting book come out. but, look, i’ve been spending a lot of time writing and doing both is hard. i have three books on my immediate tbr and i haven’t finished a single one so far. this being said, here’s what i’m reading atm:

books:

oh, sally. my dear, my love, the one and only. unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that sally rooney’s latest novel, beautiful world, where are you? came out early september. if you’ve followed my tumblr at all, you’ll know that i am a sally rooney unconditional stan, so obviously, i love, love, love the book. (seriously, @hiinnys left a comment on a fic once comparing my writing to hers and i was like alright, i can die now, thank you.) i’m about halfway through the novel at the moment so i will say this: so far i love it. i don’t love it as much as i loved normal people but i think that’s okay, some books resonate with you more than others. i also didn’t love conversations with friends as much as i loved normal people. i think, from what i’ve gathered, that’s sort of the consensus online, but to be honest, i feel like we’re holding her to a standard that is way too hard. sally’s writing is incredible but part of me feels like, because we are now used to it, we sort of expect even more. she’s only one person. i’ll probably do a full review once i’ve finished the book for now, i’m thoroughly enjoying it.

i haven’t advanced on an american marriage by tayari jones because sally took priority, not even gonna apologise haha. i have two french books on my immediate tbr as well which i’ll start after i’m finished with sally (the latest sorj chalandon who, after sally rooney, is the second writing god, as far as i’m concerned, and the maitre mo book which i’d always meant to read but since they re-edited after he died, i got it now. the fact that it was first on the non fiction list on amazon before zemmour’s book brings me a lot of joy and comfort). so, i don’t think i’ll pick up an american marriage again for a while.

fics:

i’ve recently discovered knowing where to look by ala_baguette, which is a very interesting work and which i would highly recommend. it’s a wip at the moment but considering the length of the chapters and the weekly updating schedule, unless ala_baguette is superhuman, i strongly suspect it’s fully written already and you can follow along safely. the fic is post-war, canon-compliant, and very interestingly told from robards’ pov. it’s not a super shippy h/g fic (although that tag is mentioned) but if you like castles for the post-war, wizarding admin, auror, ministry reconstruction sort of vibe, i think you will like this. the outsider look on harry is fascinating and i love the more adult feel of this story (robards’ marriage woes, his views on the world, etc.). a lot of the stuff discussed in this work is stuff that i either have thought about but didn’t have the opportunity to discuss in castles or stuff that i have discussed but which is obviously explored differently by this author (the whole thing of the immunity agreement comes to mind). i am really enjoying it so far and would love to see some of you give it some love because it certainly doesn’t have the amount of kudos it deserves.

.

what i’m watching:

of note, i’ve watched the britney spears documentary and the lularoe documentary which both left me in a state of anger and despair (lol) and finally got started on downton abbey. i honestly don’t really understand the hype. it’s a good show, but if i stopped watching it tomorrow, i don’t think i would really care. though, of course, maggie smith is an icon and should be protected at all cost, obv she is the reason i’m still watching.

i did watch a very good show called dublin murders based on the tana french books which i would highly recommend. i will say, though, the show has an interesting, unfinished tone to it with a lot of plot line voluntarily left unresolved so if that's the kind of thing that gets on your nerves, perhaps give it a pass. i personally loved it and hated it at the same time, but it was overall a very good crime series to watch. you might love this if you loved broadchurch. it was also nice to see dublin on tv cause we don't see it often.

i’ve also tried watching that korean show squid game on netflix but i stopped in the first half hour. my father and my aunt have both gravely suffered from gambling addictions and the whole set-up around the main character’s gambling made me uncomfortable. if you’ve watched the show, you’ll remember that scene in the first episode with the little girl in the restaurant - in many respects, i have been that little girl. and, i know it’s one of netflix’s most popular shows atm and i do trust that it’s good, i just don’t think it’s for me. it brought back a lot of shitty memories and i suppose that’s where i sort of wish there were trigger warnings on these things.

.

what i’m writing:

castles. castles, castles. spent the first two weeks working on small, line edits for early chapters, half of which i already put into ao3, half of which i didn’t, it’s a bit of a mess right now. anyway, i’m now working on writing chapter 9, i have around 5,000 words done. i’m honestly so chuffed about this story again. like, i wake up and i want to get writing, which is just the best feeling in the world. i would really like to publish around the 18th of october because i’m going on holiday at the end of october, so that would push it back again to november otherwise, but we shall see.

i’m currently considering doing nano in november but in the hopes of finishing castles (or at least have a first draft of everything) but we shall see.

.

what i’m doing:

honestly? post-pandemic dating, post-pandemic partying, hopefully post-pandemic traveling, and post-pandemic looking for a new job. i’m just taking it one day at a time at the moment, and see what happens. :)

lots of love,

pebblysand.

[gold-from-straw]

October Roundup

So I thought I’d try and do a little monthly roundup of what I’ve been up to, writing-wise. Mostly for me, so I can actually see what I’ve achieved, you know how it is, you look back and think you’ve done bugger all until you count it all up! If you’re interested, all the better ^_^

Wicked Boys - This is my Fantastic Beasts x Harry Potter crossover fic which I’m slightly obsessed with at the moment. Typical. Just as NaNoWriMo starts, so I’ll have to put it to one side for a whole month! I’ve filled up an entire A5 notebook with the first draft of this story, and another one’s following hard on its heels. I really need to remember that most of my stories these days turn into epics, and I should only write in massive notebooks! At the mo, I’m on chapter 19 of 25, and Grindelgraves might be about to make an appearance...

Zero Degrees - I’ve also been planning and researching this original novel which is weirdly based on a FrostIron fic called Hidden Within, which I’m currently uploading onto AO3. It’s changed from its original form in a MASSIVE way though, and it’s going to be my NaNo this year! The premise is - what if the god of Winter got fed up with being the bad guy in all the myths and took his faeries to go hide in Kenya? Because who’d think of looking for a Winter god at the Equator? It’s written from the point of view of a young girl who gets a crush on one of the young faeries and gets horribly entangled in their drama. I’m excited and terrified about this, to be honest! Mostly excited because I get to write about my beloved country!

New Ideas - SOMEONE got me into reading Drarry fics. May I just, bitterly, say that that’s the worst ship name in the history of ship names? From a fandom that brought us the beauty of WolfStar? Come on, people! However because of this new obsession, I’ve now got 2 stories fully planned out, and they’re gonna be biggies. Well, one might come out around 40k (Blood Protection), while the other has the potential to NEVER BLOODY END (Lily’s Eyes). Also I’ve just received my prompt from the @drarryexchange so I’m already drifting along that road. I feel like there’s a great story just hovering under the surface of my mind and I’ve got to let it come to me, like some sort of wild animal...

The Willing - I wrote quite a bit on this earlier this month, but a lot of research on epilepsy had to happen...for a character who I knew wouldn’t be diagnosed with epilepsy. Sigh. I had to make it LOOK like he might have it, so hence learning about EEG, post-ictal confusion, encephalitis and oxygen deprivation during a tonic-clonic seizure. I might even have cornered a paramedic in McDonalds one day just to interrogate her...I’m really sorry, love, you looked so tired - I hope I kept it short enough and gave you a story to laugh about! I’m stuck on chapter 7 of 15 because I can’t quite figure out how the best friend is going to react to the MC yelling at her just before his fit...

Hallows - Ooh! That’s completely done, I just uploaded the last chapter yesterday ^_^ Yay!

Stop Me in Hours of Darkness - This is just a plotted out idea, to join the legion of other plotted out ideas, but I’m still excited about it. It’s about two teenage boys dealing with the abuse they’ve survived together. Ravi’s very protective about James, who’s new and still bogged down in his abusive situation. They have this very tactile queer-platonic relationship going on which everyone outside of their group finds very strange, but their friends, including Ravi’s girlfriend, find perfectly normal because James needs protection and cuddles, and Ravi, who’s a bit of a rudeboi and hard as hell, is not going to get teased for giving them! Also...the title. I don’t even know, OK? I saw it somewhere completely incongruous, it stuck in my head, it’s hanging out for a while, OK?

Other stuff - I seem to have abandoned Not Broken for a while :( it’s not the end! I still know exactly what’s going to happen when Rose and Max get together and Rose gives birth to someone else’s baby and has to prove that just because she has ovaries doesn’t mean she’s going to get attached to the kid (she’s sort of a surrogate...it’s complicated!) There are also 2 Merlin stories and 4 other original stories that are completely planned, I just...haven’t got round to writing them yet. And I really REALLY want to. It’s quite sad, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to write fast enough to keep up with my muse. On the plus side, if my muse ever goes on holiday, I’ll have plenty to keep me busy until it comes back, with all that backlog lol!