#i posted those wips and then it took me like a fuckin week to get em done

[mrtequilasunset]

I've been thinking about Kim and Harry in their mid twenties again. Sighs

[blackbird-brewster]

AO3 Wrapped

I already answered [all of the even numbers], so might as well just finish out the list so I have it as a post.

How many words have you written this year?

In the four months I've been actively writing this year I have published: 390,729 words (holy fuckin shit!!!!!)

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Definitely proud of [Fooled Around (and Fell in Love)], just due to the length of it and because I hadn't read any really healthy polyamory fics about my blorbos, so I'm so happy there is one now!

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

[Answered Here]

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

[Answered Here]

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

JJ/Tara!!!!! I just absolutely fell in love with them after finishing Fooled Around and I've written quite a [bit] [more] [with this pair]. I think they're an extremely underrated pairing in the CM fandom!

11. What work took you the longest to write?

My current WIP [Between You & Me] was started a month ago and still has more to go. Which is flipping wild bc it's only 30k right now....while Fooled Around is 168k and that took me about three and a half weeks to write

13. What’s your longest work of the year?

As mentioned above! [Fooled Around (and Fell in Love)] is 168,268 WC which is also my longest work in general. (Second longest is only 39k)

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

Not sure if [Between You & Me] will be finished by the end of the year or not (Fingers Crossed!) Also, [To Catch an Unsub] which I have decided to finish after leaving it on a cliffhanger since 2015!

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

[Answered Here]

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Tara/Rebecca!!! I have [two] [short little fics] for them already but as we get to know their relationship more, I will be writing more for them.

21. How many kudos in total did you get this year?

2,674 kudos!!

23. Did you do any collaborative works this year?

Sort of? I wrote the third and final instalment of [A Journey Through the Silent Chasm], which already had one part by me and one part by Phoenix_Falls (PLEASE CHECK TAGS BEFORE READING)

25. Did you receive any gifts this year?

Yes! I received three gifts from Bow_is_best_boi aka @darcyfangirlsfrequently <3

27. What do you listen to while writing?

For longer fics, I have a playlist for each pairing! [Jemily Jams] || [Temily Tunes] || [Jara Jukebox] || [Fooled Around Soundtrack]

For one-shots I usually listen to one song on repeat. All of those songs are on this playlist: [w00t4ewan CM Fic Titles]

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? Oh man, oh man, oh man. Let's see if I can narrow it down to top five? I wrote 51 works so far this year. It's hard to pick just ONE! (Welp, this post is about to become mature content lmao)

"And when JJ flooded the sheets with Tara's head between her thighs, the noise that tore from her mouth was the single most perfect sound that had ever graced Tara's ears; an uneven, guttural wail of ecstasy that seemed like it had been building in JJ's throat for seven long months, just waiting for Tara, and only Tara, to coax it out of her." [Between You & Me - JJ/Tara]

"It started in Paris, which sounded about as romantic and cliché as the start of any romantic story, but this wasn't just any story, this was their story. Over the years, Emily and JJ had choreographed an intricate, heart-breaking, dance of wilful ignorance created from the constant push and pull of their relationship. Each time Emily took one step forward, JJ took one step back and vice versa, step for step, they gravitated towards each other, while never quite being able to connect. It often seemed like they would never be dancing to the same beat, always one move out of sync with each other, until JJ took a leap of faith and just like any great dance partner, Emily was there to catch her." [If I Met You in Five Years - JJ/Emily]

“You’re parts!” JJ yelled from behind, as she approached Emily. Emily spun around when she heard JJ’s voice, she was exhausted and really just wanted to get home. She shook her head at JJ,  “What?” JJ had closed the distance now, she came to rest just a foot way from Emily. “You’re right. You’re right that there are parts of this job I can’t take home. You’re parts. You have always been the part of my job that I couldn’t take home, Emily. Or rather, you have always been the part of my job that I was too afraid to take home.” [Mercy - JJ/Emily]

"JJ never did get to see Paris, but all of the memories they made held more reverence than the entirety of the Louvre. Emily’s eyes were more dazzling than the lights on the Eiffel Tower. Their love felt older than the catacombs beneath the city. Emily’s body was far more hallowed than the pilgrimage up the stairs of Montmatre. For all intensive purposes, JJ had experienced Paris in the most authentic way possible." [Is There Somewhere - JJ/Emily]

After a while, Tara and Garcia saw a lull in the line at the bar and made a break for it. Tara had to pull JJ away from her new friend so she could join Garcia at the bar. Emily had gone to the bathroom but returned with a perplexed look. "What's wrong?" Tara asked her wife. "A drunk woman in the bathroom said she loves my grey hair and said I'm a total 'milk'? What does that mean?" Emily asked Garcia, figuring Garcia would be up to date on slang.  "Oh god. Emily, she probably called you a MILF," Garcia corrected, cackling. "It means Mom I'd Like to Fuck." "But I don't have kids," Emily replied.  "I have kids! What'd she look like Emily?" JJ asked excitedly.  "JJ, NO!" Garcia yelled. [HEATED - Tara/Emily]

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!! It's been so incredible to come back to writing fanfic for this fandom. I've been blown away by the amount of support from everyone. Find all my works on AO3: [w00t4ewan]

[eeveedel]

WIP Sunday

Hello all, I was tagged by to post a bit of my current WIP alongside some “art” -- I don’t have a current moodboard but I thought I would provide some general ~~aesthetic pics and another preview of the rancher harry fic -- this time an HL meet cute! I hope you all enjoy, and happy Sunday

Harry heard a rapping at the screen door, and he grunted, shifting his weight forward so he could sit up and hoist himself out of his armchair.

He took a step forward on his good leg while his bad one dragged behind him. After a bit of walking around, it usually woke up enough for him to put more weight on it, but for now, after his rest, it was a dead weight of pins and needles behind him. It took a bit of effort to get to the front door, but he got there eventually. He grabbed his cane that was leaning by the door, and then opened the wood door, revealing just the screen and what lay beyond it.

There was a man in mint green scrubs and a thick corduroy jacket on his porch, perfectly centered between the big American flag hanging beside Harry’s door and the pots of tulips lining the front gate. The man at the front door was young. He had some creases around his eyes and mouth but his freshly shaved face looked so youthful, along with his bright eyes behind his big, wire frame glasses.

“Howdy,” Harry drawled, lifting his thermos to his mouth, “You must be — “ His tongue worked in his mouth, trying to come up with the name Margaret had given him last week. It wasn’t something common around here, and yet it still evaded him.

“Shoot, I’m sorry,” he sighed, pushing up the brim of his hat with his thumb, “Help me out, what’s your name, son?”

“Oh, I’m Dr. Tomlinson, but you can call me Louis,” he said. “Dr. Baldwin caught me up on some of the animals you have here and their needs, sir,” he said. “I know you have a pregnant cow nearing the end of term and a newly pregnant mare that just needs a bit of a checkup as your main concerns. She also told me you had a few roosters and a chicken coop, is that correct?”

Harry cracked a smile and nodded.

“Well, that’s correct. Seems like you did your homework,” he said. “Cherry’s gonna have a baby now damn day now and I just found out about Goldie last month.”

He took a sip of his coffee, shuffling his feet and readjusting his cane as he did.

“You don’t need to worry too much about the chickens, they nearly take care of themselves. Got a few pigs but those are going to market in a couple months, but you can take a look at ‘em if you want to.”

He pushed at the screen door, moving out onto the porch to meet Louis directly. When he was in front of the man, he could see Louis looked even younger up close, and he was nearly a full head shorter than Harry.

“Can I get you something to drink or anything before we go out?” Harry asked, taking the briefest moment to look the young vet over.

“Um, maybe a glass of water after we finish up? It is a bit hot out today, even though it’s January,” Louis rambled. “I mean, I came from San Francisco, so it’s still hot there— anyways, sorry.”

He exhaled, his cheeks already pink.

“Could you show me to Cherry first, please?” Louis asked. “I want to make sure she and her calf are in tip top shape.”

Harry smiled gently. The young vet was eager, and looked a bit flustered. He tried not to let his gaze linger too much longer, although he already liked him.

“Sure thing. I’ll show you out the pasture. Cherry’s probably out gossiping with her friends.”

He walked to the edge of the porch, taking the small ramp that was easier to navigate with his cane.

“Tell me, they have a lot of cows out in California, Louis?” he asked as they trudged along the path, “Because if this is your first one, I’ll give you a fair warning. Cherry’s a sweet girl but a little sassy.”

“Well, I grew up in San Francisco, so no, we don’t have a lot of farms there,” Louis said. “But I studied with a bit of everything in veterinary school, and went to a lot of farms up north. So yeah, I’ve worked with cows.”

“Good, good,” Harry nodded.

He walked through along the dirt path that led from the house to the rest of the ranch. He led Louis past the chicken coop and the large horse barn, moving out to the back part of the property with the cattle barn and the large pasture. His leg was starting to wake up, making his gait a bit less strained.

“Where did you study?” he asked.

“UC Santa Barbara for undergrad and then vet school at UC Berkeley,” Louis said. “I just graduated last spring, actually.”

“Congratulations,” Harry said. “Before you look at my girls, you wanna tell me know if you were bottom of your class?”

Louis laughed a little, scratching the back of his neck.

“I was actually valedictorian.”

“Damn. Undergrad or vet school?”

“Uh,” Louis said, smiling sheepishly. “Both? And high school.”

“Jeez,” Harry chuckled. “Well. I didn’t even go to college, so you’ve already impressed me many times over.”

They arrived in front of the enormous cattle barn and the wide pasture beyond it. Harry smiled to himself, lifting the hand that wasn’t gripping his cane.

“Yep,” he smiled to himself, “There she is.”

He gestured to the pasture, and specifically pointed to one of the cows, a rich red brown and swollen at the belly, who was smack in the middle of a group of five other black and white cows.

“Gossiping, just like I thought,” Harry said. He reached for the gate, going to unlock it, “Well, come on, you can give me your expert opinion.”

“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Louis marveled.

“Don’t let her hear that, it’ll go straight to her head,” Harry said. He opened the gate fully, then opened the pasture and turned around, holding it open for Louis.

Once they were both inside, Harry approached Cherry, cooing and clicking his tongue as he walked. She looked up and stared at him, chewing slowly on a thick clump of grass, but when she was done, she let out a low moo and slowly but surely waddled towards him.

“Here she comes,” Harry smiled.

They both stood and watched her as she slowly came over, and when she did, she immediately gravitated to Harry.

“Hey, princess,” Harry said. He set his hand on her head and gently stroked her with his thumb, smiling to himself as she blinked at him with her big, milk chocolate eyes.

“Louis’s gonna take a look at you, pretty girl,” Harry said. “You be nice to him.”

Harry kept petting Cherry’s head and then looked over to Louis. The vet was kneeling on the ground, unlocking the briefcase he had brought. It was funny, seeing him with a shiny, clearly barely used case. Margaret had always just shoved her tools into her ancient Jansport backpack, which was covered in twenty years’ worth of coffee stains and held together with duct tape and spite.

Louis took out a pair of latex gloves and a stethoscope, then moved closer to the animal. He gave her a settle pat on her swollen side, then put the stethoscope’s earpieces in. He set the metal diaphragm on her side, and Cherry jolted a bit, but Louis cooed at her and kept petting her side as he listened. He closed his eyes and nodded a bit as he moved the cold metal over her stomach, humming softly to himself.

Harry watched Louis carefully touch and examine Cherry, the young man’s hands gentle but sure as he did his job. Harry had had his hesitations before Louis arrived. But he seemed at home, and like he really cared about doing a good job. Harry could appreciate that. He had spent years building up trust with Margaret to work with his animals, but, maybe he was just getting sentimental at his age, or Louis really did have a special touch, but he immediately felt just fine with the younger man taking care of his herd.

After a few minutes Louis opened his eyes and ducked his head down, examining Cherry’s udders and nether regions. Finally, he lifted his head and pulled himself up, taking the stethoscope out of his ears and draping it around his neck.

“Well, she looks great,” Louis said as he peeled off his gloves and shoved them into his jacket pocket. “The calf’s got a nice, strong heartbeat. She seems about a couple weeks away, but just keep an eye on her – “

“Early labor, yeah,” Harry said. “I always start preparing at least a couple weeks in advance of the due date, anyways. My girl Caroline went into labor a couple years ago, fuckin’ 16 days before she was due, and I was in Austin for the weekend. Only time I left the house in months, and she picked that weekend.”

One of the white cows in the pasture mooed loudly, and Harry looked over his shoulder and glared.

“Yeah, I’m talkin’ about you, fuckin’ drama queen,” he scoffed. “She’s a good girl. And a tough one. Had a delivery all by herself and nearly gave me a heart attack when I got home and there was a new baby toddling around.”

He turned back to Louis, offering an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, don’t mean to bore you with farm stories right off the bat.”

“It’s okay,” Louis said. “I love to hear animal stories.”

“Well, let me know in a few months if you’re sick of cow stories. That’s nearly the only kind of stories we have in this town.”

Louis just laughed and lifted his hand, shifting his glasses up his nose.

“Would you show me to Goldie, please? Just to see how her early stages are going.”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Harry said. “Goldie’s in the small barn, come on.”

[longeyelashedtragedy]

Writer ask meme

I was tagged by the flamazing @feedingmyinsomnia​ <333 and i will tag...if you want!... @perfectpiety @amethyst-fox-jv @ayerlind @sitkowski and anyone else who writes who sees this!  but you don’t have to, just feel honored that i tagged you ;)

ao3 name: catmanu!

fandoms: currently writing in the football (as in soccer) rpf fandom, but always have other things on my mind as well.

number of fics: i’ve written SO many in my lifetime and most have never been published anywhere.

fic i spent the most time on: technically “exit right” because it took me like...a year and a half to write it?  in terms of like...period of time spent actively writing it’s definitely “trophy boyfriend.”

fic i spent the least amount of time on: either “fly faster!” which i wrote in like, an hour or “jet ski još čeka” which i wrote over the course of a day.

shortest fic: my shortest standalone fic on ao3 is “the world drowned” at 370 words--my ancient shireen baratheon/rickon stark futurefic 

most hits / most kudos / most comment threads / most bookmarks / highest total word count:  ok im leaving out the drabble collections.  omg without even looking i know this is all gonna be fuckin... “captivated” because i’m The arya/jaqen person on ao3 even now.  let’s see.  most hits: “captivated,” most kudos: “captivated,” most comment threads: “trophy boyfriend,” most bookmarks: “captivated,” highest total word count: “trophy boyfriend.”  sigh

favorite fic i wrote: omg i think i made a post like this recently?   most recently my favorite fics are “trophy boyfriend,” “5.VII.,” “ça c’est ma dope,” “what we do in the élysée,” “victory rain,” “the heat of it all,” “soy loca con mi tigre,” “chief of the armed forces.”  in the past i love all my arya/jaqen stuff so much.  i really do love most of what i’ve written that i posted, but these stand out to me.  oh, and how could i forget-- “modernity towering in front of the sky.” still slaps tbqh

fic i want to rewrite/expand on: everything i’ve written is its own thing.  i don’t usually write things that require a sequel or anything, so there isn’t really anything i can think of?

share a bit of a wip or story idea you’re working on:, ok, so, ahhhh.  i post a lot from my current big ass wip “mare liberum,” but another thing i’m agonizing over is my šluka (šime & luka) longfic “we light up the world.”  i thought it was going to be a fun little jaunt but it’s killing me because there’s not much of a precedent for it and i honestly have no idea how to write the pov.  F in the chat for my pov.  but sigh, i’ll stick a bit of it below; read at your own risk...

Tonight there really is a reason for him to be available and he’s had enough rakija on an empty enough stomach (what was the last thing he ate? How come he can’t remember?) to feel like putting his hand on Luka Modrić’s strong heroic leg and leaning into his face till their noses touched just like on Zadar beach and saying…well, he’s not sure what he’d say.  But he has to pretend he’s sober because Luka is pretty sober and his whole family is here anyway.

Fuck it!  They should have just done the grapes thing!

Šime pulls out his phone and makes Deki a Happy New Year! video instead.  It feels really good to talk to Dejan, even if he can’t talk back.

He gets an idea in the middle of this.  “Hey, look,” he says to his phone.   “Look who’s here with me.  Wait for it…wait for it…HEY…CAPTAIN!”

At least Luka looks happy to see him, and that makes him feel warm all over, warmer than you get from drinking alone.  He turns away from Vanja.  “What’s up?”

“Wanna say hi to Dejan with me?  Say hi, Captain Luka.”

Luka smirks.  “Are you two live?  I don’t want to be in any of your lives.”

Šime clutches his heart.  “Did you hear that, Deki?   Our captain doesn’t like our lajjjjjjvs.  Think we should—mutiny.”

Suddenly Luka’s bony chin lands on Šime’s shoulder.  “Happy New Year!” he yells in Šime’s ear.  Šime doesn’t really mind.  “Are you back in Croatia?  How many times have you bullied Davor this—oh, you’re not live.”  He ruffles Šime’s curls.  Dejan’s not going to be too thrilled about that, but considering he and Šime are both, well, married—and not to each other—Šime figures he can’t reasonably complain about someone else touching his ljubavi’s hair.  And he’ll tell Deki that if he does.  “You should have told me.  I feel stupid.”  He winks.

“Well...you said you didn’t want to be in any of our lajjjjjjvs,” Šime sings.  “So, now you’re not.  See?”  He sticks his tongue out at his video for Deki.  “C’mon, brate, I’ll show you who else is here.”  He moves away from Luka quickly.  Just in case.

He isn’t sure how much time has passed, but he’s definitely helped himself to another drink or two or more than two, and suddenly Luka has appeared next to him.  His hair looks so soft and fluffy and beautiful and Šime just wants--really, really wants to take Luka in his arms and put his nose in his hair and just hold him for a long time.  Rest his head on top of Luka’s head, maybe.  Whisper we’re so lucky to have you.  Please don’t ever retire, play until your bones turn to dust.  Please don’t leave.  

“Hey, do you want a ride home?” Luka asks.  All of a sudden he puts his arm around Šime and Šime pinches his leg pretty hard to make sure this is real.  Luka’s arms are—tricky.  When you first see them, you don’t realize how strong they are.  But when you feel them, you know.  And when one of them is wrapping around your shoulders like a big, heavy snake, you really know.  “I don’t know how you got here, but you shouldn’t get home that way.”

Šime snorts.  “Thanks, Mom.  Since when do you care…I’ve seen you way more drunk than I am right now.”

Luka is playing with the ends of his hair.  Why is Luka playing with the ends of his hair?  He pinches his leg again and it stings a little, but, is he dreaming that he’s pinching himself?  Did someone put something in the rakija?  He stares around the room wildly for a second, wondering who in there’s trying to get him in bed.  “Yeah, but I had people to take care of me, then,” Luka says.  “Even if people was just you and Domo holding my legs.”

“Mmmmm,” Šime agrees, remembering much more about those days than just that.

“But especially you.  You always look out for me when I get like…”  Luka gives him a wet kiss on the forehead and lets go of his shoulders.  “So let us drive you back.”

“Uhhhh.”  Šime stares at Luka till his eyes cross.   Wow, he’s definitely more drunk than he thought he was.  “Okay,” he says.

Sofia is asleep by the time they leave.  Vanja carries her to the car.  Their older two’s eyes are closing as they walk, so Luka holds their hands.  Šime walks a few steps behind them, feeling kind of like the family dog.  It’s not too late to call an Uber, right?.  He really should just call an Uber.  He will, actually.  He pulls out his phone only to realize that making Dejan a video had used up all the battery.

“Go on, sit in the front.  Come on.”  Šime blinks. Vanja is smiling at him. 

“No, that’s...You should sit next to Luka. I’m totally cool with sitting with the kids! They’re all so awesome.”

“They’re all so asleep,” Vanja says. Šime peeks into the car. In the back, Ivano and Ema have already passed out. “Take the front. You’re our guest.”

Šime flops into the passenger seat. He doesn’t want to be rude to Vanja, or make anything even more awkward. But it’s just that up here Luka’s cologne smells so strong and it would be so easy to reach over and just touch him while telling him he still thinks about being a Zadar kid with him just about every week. And he’s so bad at resisting temptation when he’s drunk. Mmmmm, my sinner, Dejan would say sometimes. My beautiful sinful sinner, God, my beautiful perfect—

“Hey, got a playlist?” he asks quickly.  If he gets hard thinking about Deki this won’t get any less weird. “How about some Marice, mariceeeeee--”

“I wish,” Luka says. “But the kids…”  Šime watches how the streetlights light up all the interesting angles of his face.  “Once they’re asleep, you’ll do anything to make sure they stay asleep.  You know how that goes.”  

Šime swallows around the guilty lump that’s suddenly appeared in his throat and he nods.  He keeps his eyes fixed on Luka’s face.  Each time a car’s headlights flash across it, it changes.  Sometimes he looks much younger than he is. And sometimes he looks…older than 34.  Like an eternal captain, like he’ll somehow be Šime’s leader forever even after he retires.

“Luka, stop talking to him,” Vanja says from behind him.  “He looks about as exhausted as the kids.”

“What?  That’s like asking me to stop playing football,” Luka says. “I could never stop talking to Šime.”  And keeping his eyes on the road, he takes one hand off the wheel to rest it on Šime’s leg. “We go way back.  Zadar kids and all.”

Suddenly words are hard.  “We, uhhh—yeah.  It’s not like I knew you back in the day.  We don’t go back that f--that--we…”

“What did I say?” Vanja said.  “Your best right-back’s falling asleep.”

“No, ‘m…’m not, I…”  And Luka is gently squeezing his knee, and--

“Maybe help him get inside,” Vanja is saying.  Šime blinks.  Somehow they’re back at his place and he has no idea how it happened.

“Hey, did I snore?  Did I talk in my sleep or something?”

“Nope,” Vanja says.  “I hate to say it, Šime, but you’re pretty boring when you sleep.”

“Oh?”  He yawns.  What is he, an old man all of a sudden?  A few drinks and this is what happens to him?  “Dejan says I’m cudd--”

“Okayyyy, out,” Luka says.  He’s totally covering up a laugh.  Shit!  “That’s a good idea, Vanja.  I’ll get him inside.  Can’t lose a defender, right?”

Šime says goodnight to Vanja, who now definitely knows he and Deki are fucking, but she’s a pretty chill person, so it really could be worse.  His legs wobble underneath him, and he bumps into the warm hood of the car.

[runnning-outof-time]

Love this idea, Lee! You never seem to run out of these unique concepts, and that honestly amazes me.

I wasn’t going to add to the list, but then I took a look through my WIP idea document and found 3 ideas that are pretty fleshed out but just got neglected. So I’ll share those down below the cut if anyone is interested.

This first one I envisioned being for Arthur … I titled it Asking For A Friend and you’ll see why in the notes I have for it:

To the tune of Asking For A Friend by Devin Daswon. For Arthur. They're at a pub / maybe reader's father is owner and she's barmaid or something / in London / Arthur's had a relationship kinda going with her but then she found out what he's tied into and she decides to end it / so he shows up where she works and tries to persuade her that he'd be good for her/be a good boyfriend to her despite the life he's involved in. He kind of goes about talking about it/the situation in third person - like slips it in and out and she plays along with it because she still feels for him...she just can't be assosciated with the stuff he does. Like he keeps bringing up 'this friend' of his but it's actually him.

This second one I had really planned out, but just never got around to it. It’s for Tommy and is titled Want Me To Say Please? … just that typical make him work for it fic that I’m sure someone can write way better than I can.

So it's Season 2 - the brothers just had a 'holiday' in London (where they visit Sabini’s pub) and of course (Y/N) finds out.

She's been with him since pre-season 1 but postwar. Idk - maybe she'd been helping out around the shop when the men were out. Polly had posted an ad saying that help was needed and she decided to stay even after the men returned. Even after Tommy said that she wasn't needed. She stayed. And Tommy took an interest. People in the family keep reminding him about her - that she's too good, too smart for him. That he's punching above his weight with her. But he has her.

Until she finds about about the London deals and the fight at the club. And she's waiting for him to return - she's pissed. Maybe Arthur sent a telegraph when he was piss drunk and told Polly, who told (Y/N). And she gives him the ultimatum - stop or she leaves. So Tommy's torn, and at first, he thinks she's bluffing, but when she actually goes to leave, he begs her to stay. "Come on, (Y/N)...you want me to say 'please'?" ... "You want me to get down on my knees? Cuz I can do that. I can get on my knees. I can say please, (Y/N)," .... and she still leaves him. Leaves him on his knees in the middle of the common room on Watery Lane.

Then she's heard he's been jumped (by Sabini’s men) - this is like four/five weeks past. So she rushes in to his hospital room and he about freaks "should know better than to fuckin' scare me like that, woman," he breathes, calming down because he thought someone had come to kill him.

She tells him she can't be without him, although she's not too thrilled with the line of work he's pushing himself towards - she wishes he'd stay with bookmaking. But he's too advantageous for that. He wants to make a better life for them. Out of Small Heath. Then he ends with "Please?" and she's like "Please what, Tommy?" ... "stay with me." ... "I never left you" because she hadn't really given him an answer. She just walked out. She needed to clear her head.

And then this final one is also intended for Tommy … it was born out of me thinking about what Tommy would get up to if he went to America and tried to dance with some of the big names over there. I had it hashed out but didn’t want to dive into the business culture there at the time, and I didn’t think I’d be able to pull writing a woman like this character off. It’s titled Lost in America.

They first meet at the bar at the hotel. Tommy's a bit shocked that she's there - it must be different in America. She's smoking a cigarette. Some witty banter ensures. She calls him 'lost' and says that he looks pathetic compared to the American businessmen. But she can't deny that she's intrigued by him also.

Maybe they're both staying at the same hotel. He phones her room and she goes to his. There, there's more tongue-in-cheek dialogue before tensions rise and they're making out on the bed.

Could it turn out that she's on her father's board of advisors, so he sees her the next day at the meeting he's supposed to go to - she left his bed empty that morning. Tommy's still intrigued by her and stops her outside. She pretty much tells him that they'll never work and that he was just lost in America.

So yeah…there’s my three wips that I’d be willing to put out there for any of y’all to take and make you’re own. If you are interested, or have any questions about any of the ideas, don’t hesitate in reaching out…I’d be happy to chat about them if it’ll help bring clarity to your writing process! 😊

Are You Gonna Throw That Out???

2022 is coming to an end and everyone seems to be clearing out their WIP folders and unwritten requests. We've all heard "one man's trash is another man's treasure." So before you bin that idea you think will never work, why not share it here? I'll go first and you can reblog with your idea or leave it in the comments for others to rummage thru like the deranged, sleep-deprived raccoons we writers truly are. (No need to claim an idea as no two people will write something in the same way. However, sharing thoughts with the original creator and giving credit in the notes when you do post is surely appreciated.) I hope you find something shiny!

Leaving my idea under the cut and tagging some moots who might be interested.

My fic idea I will never write: A beautiful WWI nurse tends to the wounded, making her rounds in the evening, tenderly caring for the men in her charge, including Tommy. The patients are soothed by the sounds of her singing until they realize the unfortunate coincidence that the last man she visits each night faces certain death. How does Tommy survive his visit from the angel of death? Or does he? They say no man came back the same.

No pressure tag: @theshelbyclan, @dearshelby, @solomons-finest-rum, @christinasyellowflowers, @madame-wilsonn, @vintunnavaa, @amysteryspot, @murderousginger, @runnning-outof-time, @gypsy-girl-08, @noforkingclue, @the-makingsofgreatness, @flysafepapi, @cillmequick, @dandelionprints, @look-at-the-soul, @shelbydelrey, @mythos-writes, @peakyswritings, @moral-terpitude, @dreamlandcreations, @raincoffeeandfandoms, @hb-writes, @evita-shelby, @notyour-valentine, @wandawiccan60, @buttercup32sstuff, @peakyblindas, @little-diable, @pherelesytsia, @l1-l4, @there-goes-thefighter, @justlulu, @midnightmagpiemama

[greystoner]

Do u have a post somewhere abt your ocs? Who are they what do they do!

HOO BOY sorry this took me so long to get to i havent had a lot of spoons

my ocs are all a part of my original story which i still… need to title lmao. or at least, my main 3 ocs are! valére, cosette, and theodore. i have a 4th in the making named apollo but i don’t have a lot down for him yet. and a 5th one will be revealed in the future

i can try to give a description of their original canon (it’s basically like a supernatural/horror/comedy) and then talk about each of Them specifically. i actually have a pinterest board i started making for the story the other night. and the 3 of them have their own individual boards too.

first thing’s first: the setting of the story is primarily in france.

basically in the world there’s a handful of individuals who are very, very sensitive to the supernatural. you can think something like mediums/psychics, but their sensitivity is far beyond those. it starts when they’re a child, seeing supernatural things such as ghosts/spirits etc on a regular basis. each person has different reactions to it of course, but many get so used to it that they don’t realize how Not Normal it really is.

there’s also these supernatural beings i’ve been calling ‘messengers’ for now until i come up with something better. they’re neither good nor evil, necessarily, but they’re generally tasked with fighting off monsters and at times, keeping a close eye on that handful of humans because, obviously, these humans would attract anything supernatural like a moth to a flame. it can put them in a lot of danger. but their main job is to fight off malevolent creatures from the world. the messengers tend to travel between the mortal world and others frequently, and often take the shape of animals or even people. with animals, most try to pick an animal that would easily blend in. so basically birds, cats, dogs, etc. some have one animal they stick with, others change depending on where they’re going.

a lot of the monsters can’t be seen by normal humans, but normal humans can still certainly be affected by them. the monsters that these messengers have to fight off range from imps to goblins right up to thinks that border on eldritch abominations. think a lot like, monsters you’d see in bloodborne or dark souls or w/e.

also messengers can be considered “symbiotic” while demons are “parasitic”. but that’s a whole other worldbuilding post for another time.

BUT ANYWAY ONTO THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES please be prepared for a shitton of Words and rambling

ok starting with valére. here’s his pinterest board

and here’s a drawing of him a friend of mine did a while back

so valére is kinda like the Main Protag of the story. he’s the one that’s most fleshed out currently. he’s a 39 year old dude of french peruvian descent that was born in marseilles, france. his father’s side of the family were peruvian immigrants and have been in france for a few generations. his mother is french/polish, so val is mixed, but takes a lot more after his father’s side.

he’s a 6′5″ brick wall of muscle and appears intimidating at first, the scars don’t help, but he’s a giant teddybear. he’s very friendly, smiles a lot, laughs a lot, but can be a little odd with his behavior and people can think he’s a little weird because of it.

he grew up in marseilles and had a pretty cozy life. his parents weren’t Rich but were definitely upper class, so they never struggled much. the visions of spirits and whatnot were always present thru his childhood and he never thought much of them, they were just a normal occurrence in his mind. so it was easy for him to ignore them and vice versa, and it was hard for anything malevolent to feed off of him.

he did have some trouble making friends growing up though, mostly because a lot of other kids thought he was a weirdo and he sort of was but without meaning to be. just, when you grow up constantly surrounded by spirits and shit, then it’ gonna kinda shape you in a way. but he’s always been open and kind to others, and hates conflict and will do what he can to avoid it or break it up.

and he was the kind of kid that got hurt a LOT cus he had – and still has – the tendency to be rather reckless. his pain tolerance has always been crazy high. like, by the time he was 6 he had already broken an arm and a leg. he broke his leg on the playground but got back up and tried to play again as if nothing happened and his parents were like WHAT the fuck.

but anyway when he was like 9 he was walking back home from school and he found this giantass pure black owl injured in the gutter and he was like ??? because it was the middle of the city, what’s this fuckin owl doing out here, and why is it hurt? basically it’s hurt really really bad and it could very well die but he hauls this giant bleeding bird up in his arms and it doesnt even try to attack him and he carries it back home and spends hours that day taking care of it with the help of his mom and manages to keep it from dying. then the next few days he takes care of it and feeds it and after they finally released it valére swore for years it thanked him and said it would repay him some day

after that the spooky shit kinda got more intense but he never really thought much of it and just carried on and it seemed like he was the only one that could see any of it anyway. but otherwise things were relatively calm for a while

when he was 20 he was visiting some cousins out in paris. he was leaving a bar at like 3am and he was followed out by some guys. and at this point valére is already a huge dude so basically it takes 4 of these guys to properly get him down and then another slit his mouth which left him with nasty scars. there wasn’t much of a reason for it outside they were assholes and also took all of his money he had on him at the time. right after they left tho, even tho he was bleeding everywhere he got up and basically started walking toward the nearest hospital but not even halfway there someone spotted him and stopped him and called an ambulance LOL but even after that whole ordeal it really didnt put a damper on his overall positive attitude

things were quiet again for a bit but he started finding feathers around his apartment every so often and he’s like ???????

when he’s 22 things go to shit fast and he’s involved in a nasty traffic accident where a truck crashed head-on into his car, and it lands him in the hospital with gashes all over his body, spine broken in multiple places and many other broken bones, and his chance of living was very slim. if he did live, he’d be paralyzed and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. turns out that owl he saved like 13 years before was this sort of like… spiritual/paranormal agent thing carrying out a mission disguised in that form and it got attacked by a malevolent being the day valére found it. and true to its word it repays him by basically saving his life by transferring its power/essence into him. and of course the doctors and his family things its a miracle etc etc ANYWAy

what mr owl failed to mention was that now that valére had these powers he’s pretty much kinda thrown into The Job as a messenger himself and basically has a duty of hunting down and killing the big scary evil monster demon stupid assholes so hes like cool i guess

he’s just all in all a pretty friendly well-meaning guy even if he looks kind of imposing with his scars and being a 6’5” brick wall of muscle (hes got some squish around his belly tho). and he says weird shit still sometimes and he laughs a lot. and it’s rare to catch him in a bad mood and he tends to avoid people if he is in one. he is very emotional tho and cries really easy. but even tho hes super friendly and welcoming he doesnt get close to people due to the danger of his job and he doesnt wanna wrap anyone else up in it, but even when hes asked why he dodges the question. but after now 17 years of doing that kinda work hes kind of really traumatized from everything hes seen (and also the accident and almost Dying in the hospital) but he hides it very well.

he’s the Dad Friend™

his abilities are: he’s capable of sprouting four black owl wings for flight, invisibility (but he can do selective invisibility, meaning he can make a certain person/people able to see him if he wants), he’s got cool swords he can summon at will that has a lot of powers of its own, and he can also do spatial/time manipulation but it takes a pretty big toll on his body so its kind of only for desperate measures. he can manipulate/control fire. also he can teleport i guess. but if he uses too much of his powers at once he can lose control and basically turn into a freaky monster (i keep imagining the glasgow smile scars tearing open and his teeth r sharp and theres like this black sludge coming out of his mouth… woo) and go on a rampage and then later will be back to normal but it has only happened once when he was still getting used to it and he swears Never Again (lol)

he likes bandannas (he has like 58967659 different ones and is always wearing one around his neck) and sweaters (like the bandanas he has like 58967659) and cream puffs (any pastry really but those r his favs) and cats and small dogs and classic literature and sappy romance movies. also hes gay and works at a flower shop during his free time

-

ONTO THE NEXT: cosette! her pinterest board is here

i don’t have a good reference pic of her yet… besides this thing i did a few weeks back

along with a big wip i’ll post eventually.

but yeah so she’s a 19 year old girl of romani descent, but she’s been kind of separated from the culture for a long time, since her parents died when she was young and she was put into foster care before finally being fully adopted by 11.

she’s got a lot of attitude and likes to cause trouble, because her adoptive parents are kind of strict and it caused her to have a very rebellious streak. at one point she uses their money to buy a motorcycle lmao so that’s her main mode of transportation and it’s sick as fuck. the helmet she wears while riding it has lil cat ears on it.

but she is well-meaning despite the rebelliousness and sharp tongue. she likes to crack jokes and tease the people she cares about, but will go to the ends of the earth for them.

she hasn’t had her powers as long as valére has, obviously. val has had his ever since she was still just a baby. she got her powers when she was 17, so she’s still getting used to them. she saved a cat from being attacked by stray dogs and surprise! the cat is just like the owl that val saved once. and one day when cosette gets hit by a car, the messenger offers her some of its life force. and now it sticks around with her as a cat and she calls her gigi even tho that’s not her real name

basically considering how gigi takes the form of a cat, some of cosette’s abilities are based off that, not unlike how since the messenger that val saved and vice versa was an owl so he has the power of flight and whatnot, she’s incredibly resilient, has heightened reflexes, can do Sick Parkour, always lands on her feet, and she has lil fangs that grow when she uses her powers and her eyes do Cat Things too. and her nails can turn into claws lmao. she also has powers similar to val’s like the invisibility, spatial/time manipulation, etc, but considering she’s still kinda new to it all she’s not As Powerful as val can be yet

but she meets val literally just bc they pass each other on the street one day, she senses val is The Same, and follows him back to his place DSBFHDBDFHFGF and decides she’s going to stay there and val is just like ???????? ok cool

she’s a huge lesbian btw

-

theodore is the next oc (pin board here) and the one whose fc is louis garrel. here:

 he’s 34. the youngest of 5 kids. his siblings were extremely mean to him throughout his childhood lmao cus they thought he was a freak. like for the first 5 years of his life he legit never spoke and was petrified by the visions of spirits and stuff he’d see. his parents didn’t know what was going on, they’d take him to a therapist and of course the therapist had no clue

so he grew up as kind of a cold and distant guy. hes very well meaning deep down but he just didnt have a happy childhood. the one relative he has a good, loving relationship with is his father. he excelled in school and was popular at first bc hes Handsome but considering his disposition it was hard to get close to him at all

and the case with him and his messenger is strange because. until he gains his powers he and the messenger had never met before whatsoever. the messenger is named vadim and takes the form of a giant black wolf. im still working out Why vadim even bothered saving him but basically, theo gets shot by his eldest brother and left to die. vadim drags theo off somewhere secluded, saves him, etc.

except vadim isn’t exactly a messenger but also isn’t a demon either. he Used to be a messenger. soemthing happened that made him Not so he kind of toes the line between them. messengers are kinda like angels in a way but on a much lower tier i guess. demons are just… demons

and this is where the symbiotic/parasitic thing comes in

bc messengers are very serious about repaying debts. it’s why val and cosette survived at all, because they had saved the lives of messengers before so said messengers saved them. and, for example, gigi pretty much lives with cosette now and cosette offers her protection and vice versa. it’s mutually beneficialmeanwhile like

if youre possessed by a demon you dont really get much out of it yourself. you’re pretty much just. a host to a parasite

and vadim is like… he isnt possessing theo but hes still feeding off of his energy despite saving him and giving him power. i havent really decided a lot on theo’s power but. he’s really strong. which is one reason vadim bothered saving him. bc he could see the fuckton of untapped potential

and a lot of it is due to his bottled up anger and hurt and whatever

also he and val kiss

-

the 4th i’m working on is named apollo and his pin board is here

he’s Sort Of an antagonist but not exactly im still working on his info but he looks like this

he’s a successful businessman but unlike the other characters he Actually Died before he was saved except. he was brought back by a demon that posed as a messenger. and basically bc it was kinda like a deal with a devil sort of thing. now he has to do whatever it wants and is lowkey possessed but also is kind of getting a kick out of bad shit but also not? he’s full of a ton of Conflict. but also the demons messenger counterpart comes into play at some point to help save apollo it’s good

the demon is a white snake and the messenger is a black one

no step on snek

[vrenaewrites]

Quarter 3 Goals and Q2 Recap.

Happy fucking birthday, America. You’re a hot mess.

Literally.

When I first began doing blogs and youtube, I used to share my monthly goals. But no one liked when I did that, so I took a hint from successful bloggers and Youtubers and decided I’d go to quarterly goals instead.

If you don’t know, we technically just left the second quarter of the year, which like...WHAT. How has 2019 vanished into thin air? I feel like it was just January? Anyways. From April-June of 2019, my goals were:

- Read 6 books (2/month)

- Finish draft 1 of BLOOD FROM A STONE, my Magical Realism WIP

- Launch my BROKE INDIE AUTHOR services

- Collect all beta notes for ACCIDENTAL EVILS

- Hire an editor for ACCIDENTAL EVILS

- Film and write blogs for July and have ideas for August ready

Some other personal goals like consistent gym time and meal prep, wearing my night guard so I don’t grind my teeth into dust, spending time with my family during the season of 10 million birthdays, etc.

How’d we do?

Um...I’ll be real. I read two books. DUMPLIN’ (⅘) and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. (5/5). I am finishing EVERLASTING ROSE at the time of this blog. I’m embarrassed tbh. I think the heat makes me too lazy to write.

UM...well. By the skin of my teeth, I finished the rough draft of BLOOD FROM A STONE. But I’ll tell you what, I talked about this in my impostor syndrome series - I shelved this book for a hot minute, and then in June, I decided I wanted to rewrite it somehow? I wrote 15,000 words of a new draft when I literally had 3 chapters (about 15k words) left of the original draft. Aka I wasted so so SO much time. The best thing I did for this draft was take some time away while I was struggling with my perception and vision for the story - all of May was spent not writing this WIP. But. Getting back into it was tough.

This, I did! On June 1, my Broke Indie Author services launched on my website (vrenae.com/services) bitches! Promotional graphics, chapter critiques, YouTube editing, ghostwriting, book reviews - with more services to come. This was a huge exciting step for me and I can’t wait to expand the BIA line to give all those in the indie author community everything they need to succeed.

We got our notes in, and we hired a kickass editor for an amazing rate. Every day that she has that book in her hot little hands is another day I’m filled with excitement at the possibilities of what we can do with this book together.

I’m writing this in June, so I guess this is a win as well. I needed to get ahead of my self on content because I’ll be off the grid for over a week in July for my boyfriend’s 30th birthday. I have some interesting stuff coming up in August for sure. Mostly staying inside because if you’ve never been to Florida in August - don’t. Just don’t. It’s mind-melting.

We all know I didn’t go to the gym at all in May. But what I have started doing is running every morning and wow I forgot how much I loved it. If I get out there by 6:30am, that is. I tried 8:30am once and it was BRUTALLY hot. Yes, already. Florida sucks. Meal prep has been going well, mostly because I’m too broke to eat out with my coworkers that often. I spent lots of time with my family, watched a lot of TV and YouTube, and recharged my creative batteries in a huge way.

So, what’s next for me? What am I up to July - September?

MY QUARTER THREE GOALS:

Read 6 books. (2/month):

Clearly this has become a struggle, whereas in January I read like ten or twelve books? Wack.

Line edits for ACCIDENTAL EVILS:

By the end of July, my editor should be all done with AE, which is when the fun really begins.

Proofreads for ACCIDENTAL EVILS:

That’s right, fam. I’ll be recruiting proofreaders and sending them advanced copies of AE in Septemberish. Get fuckin’ ready.

Begin draft 2 of BLOOD FROM A STONE:

August is a busy lil month for this girl. I need all the excuses I can get to stay the fuck inside during the devil’s month.

Adjust SOMETHING WICKED based on ACCIDENTAL EVILS edits:

This’ll be a September project as well, but post beta notes, a lot changed that affects the finale of the Thistlewolf Trilogy. I’m sure more will come up as I get the editor notes back.

Begin my TIPSY IPSY series on my YouTube channel:

I announced on my Instagram last month that I’d subscribed to Ipsy, and a lot of you expressed interest in seeing unboxings of the monthly delivery of stuff. This won’t replace one of my videos but will be a bonus video each month. I know it’s not a writerly thing, but it’s something I’m excited about. So watch it or don’t.

What are y’all getting up to during these dog ass days of summer?