#i think i'll write one more event for my wip. which would be in june 1972. and have to call it a day basically

[manonamora-if]

July Check-In

Welp... I'm late. Also it's already the half-year mark and I don't have my usual Mid-Year recap review, so we're doing this for now, and we'll see if I can squeeze a proper MYR later this month.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I FORGOT LAST MONTH????

Celebrating my 3-year anniversary of publishing Meeting the Parents, my first IF game ever. I wanted to do something special and then... I FORGORRRRRR ; _ ; I'm buuuuumbed about it :((((

Anyway... Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

Plan for the next month

The mega to-do-list tm that hasn't really changed.

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head on over to itch.io as usual!

May Progress

Pulling out THE LIST from last month and checking the progress:

Play more games ✅

Well, that's always a check, because there's no month without a @neointeractives jam lol. Anyway, June was Neo-Twiny Jam month, so was mainly that (unfinished thread). And of course, I finished the REALLY BAD IF jam (Review Thread and Ranking). But, I didn't manage to play more than that.... :(((

Almost 700 reviewwwwssssss. Dang.

Code Chapter 6/Endings❌

I've done another round of comment with MelS, but we're still missing a branch before I can code it. But I'm not too worried about that bit, since Chapter 6 will have pretty basic coding.

Fixing an older games. ❌

Lololol, listen... I tried, but only managed 1/3rd of the Tomato game to be done.

Write the next Chapter/Scene of a WIP❌

Lololol pt2 The writing of Exquisite Cadaver stalled this month. But I picked it up again.

What else happened this month????

Wayyyy too many distractions this month. First IRL (which is good). But also... events.

This months, we had the Neo-Twiny Jam (@neo-twiny-jam) which we are wrapping up, and I've been reviewing, and also participating in. There was also the Nouvim3000 (so I don't forget how to write in French), and a bunch of smaller jams which I jammed into some entries.

So, what does it look link in terms of releases:

The Lady with the Camellias (NTJ - Infrom 7 - prototype)

L’Incombustible 3000 (Nouvim/Marmelade - Twine -FR)

machina caerulea (4 jams - Twine)

Bon Dieu ! Et une lessive aussi ? (NTJ - Moiki - FR)

I've been looking back at previous releases of mine, feeling a bit nostalgic. Thinking of writing some stuff (post-mortem) about them. I don't know...

So... I didn't stick TO THE PLAN AT ALL. Which is a big bummer... because the stuff I wanted to do in July will need to get postponed again. I'm not happy with myself about that. Even if I think I made some killer tiny games this month and played some hella dope stuff... But, it's done. I can't change the past... So I'll try to do better in July instead.

Also, I did have some great relaxing days where I essentially napped or walked outside all day, and just... not being online. That was v nice!

The PLANtm for July

Obviously first is to wrap up the NTJ properly (admin), and start off the SingleChoice Jam and the SeedComp! again. The Anti-Romance Jam is ending soon as well, and the IFComp has just started. So, you'll probably see me on the IntFiction Forum more this month for all of that. And the next two weeks I still have some IRL obligations.

BUT, here's THE plan for the month:

Play more games: Which will be done v easily: 30+ NTJ entries left to review, the Anti-Romance Jam, Love/Violence Jam, the Nouvim, and the ParserComp also just ended. So that's a bunch!

Code Chapter 6/Endings: I don't think we'll be able to code that last chapter, because MelS's July is packed, but if we can manage another round of edits, it would be great!

Fixing an older games. I'm 1/3rd to 1/2 done with Tomato Tomato. I'm trying to finish fixing it for the FIX IT JAM. And if I can manage some proper progress for Exquisite Cadaver, I'll be ECSTATIC!

Write the next Chapter/Scene of a WIP. And if I could manage to write one more game round for EC, I'm buying myself some cake!

I may or may not have sent an intent for the IntroComp... So I might send something. Puzzly probably.

Progress... I can do that... I think... I hope... We'll see/

~

The 2024 To-Do List:

LOLOLOL June just decided to avoid all this.

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC (FR waiting for Adventuron)

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page (un-stricking cause I need to update it)

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (I think ST 2025)

[two-reflections]

Writing Audit ✨

It's been a while since I've done one of these. Let's see what's on the docket.

[Freelance copy editing project.] - #1 Priority. Good for money, but it slows down all my other writing.

Of Steel and Flesh - August ended up too busy, but I finally have time to focus on this one again. I'd like to finish it before the Imperium Maledictum campaign I've just joined gets in full swing. Maybe I can do it over October for @finishwhatyoustarted-event? It would be a bit of an optimistic attempt since there's still a lot to go, but the story is fully outlined through to the end.

Salamander Slice of Life/Romance - This has stalled in the same place for half a year due to other commitments, but once I finish Of Steel and Flesh, I hope to pick it up again. I may need a long hiatus when this one is done.

Techmarine university story - I haven’t worked on this in ages. I may reconfigure it into a oneshot and post it, or it may languish in the WIP folder. Not sure which yet.

MMM September fic - The ship may have sailed on Marine Meat Monday fic for this month. I'm just not feeling particularly inspired right now.

Alpha Legion disguised as Iron Hands - This is a cracky omophagea story I came up with back in May or June, but I've been thinking about it again recently. I may do it as a oneshot in November, or three short chapters if I want to get into the gambit pileup.

That one Kingdom Hearts fic - I left it with one chapter to go in 2019. The chapter is almost done, it just needs like 500 more words. I only want to finish it as a matter of principle, but I keep putting it off. My writing has changed so much since then...

Despite the meme, my docket is a LOT shorter than it was back in August. Lots of projects that are already underway, and no competitions or exchanges to focus on yet. Also, some of my pregnancy fatigue has lightened up. However, I have actual work now, so goodness knows how much I'll be able to get done.

[claudiajcregg]

📈, 👀, and 😬 for the emoji fic writer asks. Please & thank you.

Thank you for asking, Danielle! Forgive me if half the things don't make sense... Still battling this stupid flu, but I'm finally on the mend.

📈 How many fics do you have?

This is such a broad question! The short but true answer is that the number is in the hundreds, between all the stories I wrote in my tweens/teens, to the ones I've written in the last few years. (I know I have probably reached and surpassed more than 100 stories all split between various notes, docs, and word docs.)

But if it's posted... 18 on AO3 (though one of those fics is like a small collection, so it could be 21). Then we have some of those stories in my teens, but I've lost count... At least 2 more on FF.net, and a few more somewhere on LJ and various forums.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I have a lot of them, to different degrees of “just need another pass before sending it to a beta” to “will I ever finish writing this?”

The one that I'm most focused on right now (even if I haven't touched it in ten days) is a pregnancy AU. I had the idea in February but only started writing it in June, and it's basically a TWW season 4/5 AU in which CJ gets pregnant. I'm still struggling with the vision already, but it's been fun to explore almost the same events from S5 on the show through this new lens. There are 9 chapters and 55k words written so far! As I mentioned the other day, I'd say I'm either halfway or two-thirds in, but I'm not sure how much I'll cover. And though I don't know what to think of it, those who have read it do like it. (I cannot post it until I am either done with the story, or know I won't tweak things. I would take so long to update.)

I also have a campaign vignettes fic that I still write from time to time, and a bunch of almost-ready stuff that I need to edit once I find some energy. (I also get the sense people are not into my stuff, so it's not like I prioritize it.)

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Part of me wants to say 'all of them' because my writing and stories still feel personal, and I don't know what they'd think about it. I'm not a writer!

But the true answer is another wip that Ally/@onekisstotakewithme has dubbed the 'one bed sexy bits' (I called it 'one bed 2.5'). The thought of anyone reading that is just too much two people have 🫣🫣🫣. This goes for other spice I've written in other WIPs, but that one is too much.

[halleyuhm]

~WTW Ghost Gala: Days 1 to 8~

I just found the event and I'm several days back, so I'll try to be brief. I'll be using my WIP The trees don't let you see the forest because I think it's the one I'd like to try for NaNoWriMo and the aesthetics fit with the season.

It tells the story of a young witch cursed with blindness due to a failed spell and her journey to find the way to reverse it, aided by friends, fought by foes, and realizing the might be more important things than getting her sight back. It will be a challenge to write using every sense but vision! I have written the synopsis here, if you are interested. Yeah, I should probably do an official WIP intro.

So there we go, under the cut.

(Divider by @cafekitsune, go check her work out!)

🎃 Pumpkin Carving - You have to kill off a character: Who do you choose?

Right now, without having planned much, I choose Mauve. She's the secret keeper and sooner or later the past catches up with everyone.

🦅Raven - Create a tagline for your WIP

"Things we lose aren't lost: they remain with us, albeit in different shapes".

🔮Crystal Ball - Outline a scene, act or your entire WIP.

Let's just try the first scene so we can compare what I plan with what will later come up:

1. Juniper wakes up and sees nothing. Elowyn is there tending to her wounds. Crying, stress, oops she messed up so bad, she can't be a Sun Sage anymore. But she deserves it, and Mauve, her mentor, lets her know. Periwinkle, the cat, is silently judging June so hard she can feel it.

2. Laurel comes in, distraught because he played a part in the situation (unknowingly??). Maybe he argues with Elowyn and Mauve because of inner guilt + they accuse him. But June crashes against something and they focus on stopping her from falling head-first into a boiling pot.

3. Same scene or after some struggles?? Mauve (or Periwinkle, why not) mentions the Wildfire Hollyhock, the burnt lands, and the town there, but doesn't tell what happened in those cursed places.

4. June wants to go, Laurel joins, and Elowyn is told by Mauve to go with them because she is the BEST. There are obvious reactions. Witchy stuff.

5. I'm bad at this.

🍂Fallen Leaves - Create a playlist for your WIP

Work in progress but here it goes.

🎇Jack o' lantern -Share an interesting fact you found while doing research for your WIP

There is a flower that only blooms after wildfires. The seeds lay dormant under the surface until the soil is burnt and then they sprout. They don't last long, just enough for bees to pollinate them and drop seeds which will stay dormant until they are awakened.

You can read an article here, for example.

🧄Vampire - Tell us where you find inspiration or motivation.

This is what I struggle with the most (along with planning).

Inspiration comes in dreams, random shower thoughts, a single word in an extensive paragraph, Pinterest aesthetics, little things I see in my daily life, name generators (that I never end up picking), and simple things. Like, "Oh, this would be fun to write about."

Motivation uh, comes when my brain hyperfixates on an idea. And reading. Reading lots.

💀Skeleton - Have a favorite plot structure? If not, share how you plot.

I have no idea how I plot. Usually, I start writing and let the story take me where it needs to go (yeah, there's lots of editing later). I get ideas on the go, maybe a whole scene, and I add it to my evergrowing list of ideas waiting for the auspicious moment when it comes into play. Somehow, I managed to be very cohesive, though. And I surprise myself with how everything seems to flow as if I had previously planned it.

🍬Trick or Treat - Set some writing goals and milestones for your WIP.

This crashes a bit with the last answer, but I really really want to be more disciplined and focused. I just want to manage to plot the story and get to the NaNoWriMo final milestone. Let's do it!!

If you've come this far, thank you! You are my hero 💜

[quadraphonictypewriter]

there’s a lot of changes coming up in my life and i’m starting to realize & accept that i am going to have to do a major shift in the activities that take up my time.

i don’t want to be too specific, but i do feel i owe it to you to let the information be know. my partner and i are waiting for a “death” to begin our major move, which will take us to another country. we have plans for our livelihood once there, that will be put into place once we’ve moved, but many things need to be done in preparation.

we don’t know how much time we have until we’ll leave, but i know we only need to give one month’s notice to vacate our apartment. i need to learn russian (reading/writing and speaking) in the meantime, and am doing that currently.

when we arrive in our new home, we will be busy with our plan. i’m heavily involved in the labour side of it, and my partner will be on the logistics/admin side. there’s all kind of things that will need to be done, including building a house (though we may just rent one for a few months to start off).

i had a hard time accepting that these things would be changing my schedule. I usually have time to write and read and catch up with friends, in between all the things i currently do at home. but once this “death” happens, we’ll be thrust into prep mode (packing, tying up little things here, getting documents in order) and once we arrive over there, we’ll be so busy with the plan i likely won’t have time to write or do the other hobbies I enjoy.

that’s the only thing I’m having trouble with, but I know I will accept the changes because this is the life I want. I want to be with my partner, and I want to share my life with him. I know myself, and I know that after all the things I’ll be doing in the plan every day, I won’t have much time or any time to spend writing or relaxing with online friends. I need a lot of sleep to function, and I’ll choose sleep over prose when i need to be rested for the next day.

I already have low energy & not much “emotional bandwidth” to spare (I recently heard that term and it’s spot-on for its meaning) but I also know that I need to step up and do more. I try to give myself slack because I’m still healing from a lot of things, but life happens and you don’t always have slack to give yourself.

this kinda rambled, but... I just wanted everyone to know that I have major life changes coming up (and they’re already starting, slowly but surely) and I am putting my future first. I love being on tumblr and interacting with you all, and the friends I’ve made on this site have been some of the best I’ve ever had. But I expect that very soon (likely by the end of the year) I won’t be online much, though I will keep this blog here.

Munro is a surname I borrowed from a many-decades-ago relative, and I have greatly enjoyed being “Kelly Munro, the author”. But I feel that my time as this version of myself is soon ending, and I will become a new Kelly, who is some parts old me and some parts new me.

[sleepyowlwrites]

Sleepy's 2021 writing wrap-up accompanied by a little salt but mostly cheerful exhaustion

this event was hosted by @ecwrenn thank you darling. I think I'm late but I only like being early to work. and this is not that.

I don't keep any kind of proper track of my word counts or progress, mostly because I don't really care - I know that I wrote this year and that's good enough for me, word counts are not a motivator - but also because I am disorganized and scramble around afterward of anything to clean stuff up.

here is a very general assessment of the writing that I did this year.

January - I wrote some poetry and meandered around in Youth Story (then temporarily titled Project: Black Rose) and Anxiety Story.

February - I existed, I think. it was around this time that I played (find the word) tag with Maybe Sorcery a lot. also somewhere in here I think we became soulmates but I'm not sure. that might've happened earlier.

March - I made a new wip intro for Anxiety Story (the title is Every Other Star is Silent) and promptly didn't work on it (the wip) for the rest of the year. this is fine. it's a heavy wip and I wasn't up for it. then I made a way-too-early-I-don't-know-what-I-was-thinking wip intro for Magick Story (the title is Spider Silk). I have worked on this wip but only in the worldbuilding department.

April - I did Camp Nano and wrote 21,079 words. it felt great. I tried to do the same in May.

May - I did not write 20K, 15K or even 10K. I started to suspect that I was experiencing some creative burnout. (not quite. I was, at the time, enjoying making doodle art of other writers' wip titles. that was fun and easy.) instead it turns out I was just having a WRITING BURNOUT and subsequently-

June - I didn't really do any writing until the very end of this month was I fell in love with a character and decided to write a study fic of him. and then I did that. after editing it's now at almost 8K. so that's cool.

July - finished that above fic, worked on Youth Story. at some point I made an intro that I worked very hard on. it's already not up-to-date so it's gone now, bye-bye. I have an informal one that works a lot better, and character intros! I worked on those in-

August - still loved that character so I wrote a sequel to my first fic, which is currently being slowly edited and sits at nearly 11K. the character intros were all created and gradually released in-

September - which was a funky month because my sister got married. this has nothing to do with my writing but it happened. by the way, I've been writing poetry all year. most of it is not up on tumblr, but I'll share almost anything in a find the word tag. seriously. I get a little crazy with those things.

October - it actually took me until this month to finish that sequel fic. by this time I have also created 200 wip title arts. also also I've been writing this ridiculously complicated crossover fic in my friend's dms and that makes it into find the word too. also also also I turned 28. hooray.

November - I was very busy at work and wrote poetry and did some tags and eventually realized that I would have to be on hiatus since I couldn't really write or post like I wanted to. oh right, at some point I decided I was finished with Youth Story draft 0. it's at like, 26K? I can't check right now because the docs are closed. I feel like my laptop just sneaky updated because why else would they be closed? unless a ghost did it.

December - I did almost zero writing because I worked overnights at work and just got more and more exhausted as the month went on. I wrote three? four? tiny flash fics and a tiny bit of poetry and then Christmas happened. and just finished happening, for me.

to sum up, I've written probably approximately 55K this year, which I believe is less than last year but whatever! I don't care. I wrote things, and they meant something to me, and also to some other (wonderful) people who said very nice things in tags and such and that's all I want, really. I just want to write things and enjoy it, and I did. so 2021 was not my favorite, but it had good in it. some of it I made by myself, some of it I shared with others, and some of it YOU - writeblr - gave to me. Thank You.

Love, Sleepy

[what-eats-owls]

Hi! I just saw the news about your book; congratulations!!! That's so amazing!!! I was hoping I could ask you what your querying/publishing process was like? My dream is to get published by a big name kind of publisher like Tor, and it would be wonderful to hear if and how you got an agent, what the process was like, etc. Thank you, and congrats again!! I'll definitely be keeping a lookout for the book

Hey there!

(Sidebar: if anyone’s curious and/or wants to preorder my book, which I, in my unbiased opinion, highly recommend, here’s everything you need to know)

I can tell you about not one, but two querying processes, because they’re both equally important in how I made it this far.

The first querying process was for a book that I still love and would like to resuscitate someday.

Here’s how it went down:

I drafted the manuscript from February - October 2013.

I revised November-January 2014

I began querying literary agents toward the end of Jan 2014 and revised based on the feedback I got

I submitted the manuscript to Pitch Wars in 2014, and then again in 2015, and made it in for 2015, revising September-October, and pitching in November

Around mid-March 2016, I sent the last query for that novel, and focused my undivided attention on another WIP.

And here is a comprehensive list of every mistake I made:

I drafted the manuscript from February - October 2013.

It was a difficult-to-classify genre. Science Fantasy? Future Fantasy? If a bookseller doesn’t know where to put your book, they won’t make a whole new shelf just for you. (Note: this seems to be on the verge of shifting, but I wouldn’t bank on it for your debut.)

It was 152,000 words long. The industry standard for YA SFF (SciFi+Fantasy) is 100,000 words or less. Exceptions are rare and usually extended to established authors who have proven their marketability.

I revised November-January 2014

I had no critique partners. Sure, you can be your own worst critic, but you absolutely need another perspective.

I made no substantial changes. Removing an apostrophe didn’t fix a sloppy plot.

I began querying literary agents toward the end of Jan 2014 and revised based on the feedback I got

I queried without doing much research into industry standards, comp titles, etc. I just googled “how to sell a book” and went to town.

I submitted the manuscript to Pitch Wars in 2014, and then again in 2015, and made it in for 2015, revising September-October, and pitching in November.

Pitch Wars was actually great! I made a lot of friends who I still speak to today. That said, it was a big risk to enter a story that hadn’t made it in the previous year, because most of the mentors had passed on it a year earlier.

Around mid-March 2016, I sent the last query for that novel, and focused my undivided attention on another WIP.

CUE SIRENS, AIRHORNS, SKYWRITERS THAT SPELL OUT “THIS WAS THE SMART CHOICE”

At this point, I had spent two years trying to query a manuscript that wasn’t gonna make it. It was hard, and heartbreaking, because at that point I had poured everything I had into that story, and because it wasn’t enough, I didn’t feel like I was enough. I felt like Sisyphus pushing a big lousy rock up a hill, telling myself it was my fault it kept rolling to the bottom. But I loved that lousy rock! I didn’t want to walk away and find a different rock I could push up a hill, I wanted that rock. It took two years of pushing before I finally realized: it’s a rock. Without me, it’s not going anywhere. And I could come back when I was ready.

(I was also dealing with some major life events at the time - my mother had just been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and my miserable job was in a downward spiral. IT WAS A GREAT MENTAL SPACE ALL AROUND. But my mom is cancer-free now, and I write for a living, so suck it cancer! Suck it, shitty job!)

What I didn’t realize until much later is that when you spend two years pushing a boulder uphill? You get shredded like Kylo Ren.

All those failures, all those mistakes I’d learned from, had made me a better writer. (It also made me a slower drafter because I was waaaay more critical of my own writing, but eh. I could draft slower because the end product needed less revision.)

So here’s how things went down with my second manuscript:

I drafted the manuscript off-and-on from January - July 2015, then exclusively from March - December 2016

I revised January and February 2017 (when I wasn’t, y’know, wallowing in existential horror in the orange mold infestation in the White House)

I was accepted into Pitch Madness, a contest which asked for a VERY short pitch (35 words or less) and the first 250 words of the manuscript; this was in early March 2017.

The response from agents in the contest was positive enough that I sent queries out to the rest of the agents on my priority list

I signed with my fabulous agent in mid-April 2017

My book sold in late June 2017

Said book will be released in just over four months from now. :)

So let’s review: 

Manuscript one: eight months drafting, two years querying, no agent, no deal

Manuscript two: ~1.5 year drafting, one month querying, sold two months after signing with my agent

Yeah, I’d say I learned a thing or two.

As far as things go once you’ve sold to a publisher, everyone’s timeline is SUPER different: 

Sometimes your editor has minimal notes, but you don’t get them for months. 

Sometimes you get a ton of notes even BEFORE you sign your contract. 

Sometimes your book may be in pristine shape, but the release schedule is super crowded, so it won’t be out until there’s an opening in a year; or the reverse, your book is super buzzy and gets fast-tracked and has to be ready on a SUPER FAST schedule. 

Sometimes your editor moves to a different publisher, and you get assigned to a new editor. 

All of these have happened for authors I know. It’s basically Calvinball, there is no norm. (Fun fact: this is also part of why every author yells “DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB FOR THE LOVE OF GOD” but that’s another post.)

One other note for this: if you’re interested in publishing with a mid-to-major publisher, you need an agent. Publishing contracts are notoriously full of potential pitfalls - for example, I can think of at least one major publisher that has language in their default contract that says the contract can be terminated if the author “flauts public convention.” And there are other, less flagrantly terrible parts of the contract that can still screw you over if they aren’t caught, and things that can still get weird outside of contracts that your agent can help you navigate, and basically your agent is there to make sure you’re all getting the best deal possible.

Anyway, that’s my publishing journey thus far! If anyone has any questions, hit up my inbox.

[fictionalurl]

Tagging a post "unannounced project" is sort of a joke, since all of my projects are unannounced, as is this blog. (I figure I'll link it in the pinned post on my main once I actually publish something. Maybe if I post a Sugarplums update. If you found it before then, hi! Great job! I'm actually really curious if anyone will; feel free to send an ask saying hi or follow.)

For the curious, my notable fiction projects (none of which are done at the time of posting) are:

Caramel/Sugarplums, a fanfic about some of my Guild Wars 2 characters that I started writing in 2015 and wrote some more of in 2018. I joke to myself that it's a tradition to work on it in October, as I originally had a goal of publishing it on halloween (in both years). I have more of it that's unedited from the 2018 writing session, and I do plan on finishing it.... so maybe look out around halloween 2024?

This one is easily my best work. Reading it is almost like an out-of-body experience for me because I mostly don't remember writing it but it's written just the way I like.

As with all of my fiction pieces, I came up with one single-sentence description of an event that I wanted to describe, then went 50 layers deep into the backstory and haven't gotten to the event in question yet.

Working title: Camp Avana, an original fiction work that I started in June 2022 and did the NaNoWriMo-equivalent 50k words on in the next 30 days, then slowed down on quite a bit but am trying to keep working on. I sort of intentionally treated this as practice: I want to get used to things like doing an extended project, making plans for the plot and sticking to or adjusting them, revising and being willing to throw things out, etc, so I specifically decided not to focus on trying to make this one perfect... or even good. I do really like significant parts of it, but the flaws I already knew are there are definitely there (like... not having a plot), and I don't know that it'll ever be something I recommend anyone else read, per se. But, who knows! I do really like it.

My longest project by far, of course. With my current plans it will be like 150k words and nothing of substance will happen in any of them. Maybe someone will find it relaxing?

Oh, and I made this blog so that I could start tagging posts with references to this piece despite the fact that no one has ever read it yet and so no one would have any idea what I was talking about. Tagging things for your OCs is its own reward.

untitled adult fiction project that I won't go into detail on because... well, yeah. This one is actually from before Camp Avana and I've written more than 3x as many words on it as Caramel and Sugarplums combined, so until recently it was technically true to say that, by word count, very possibly the majority of my fiction writing experience was explicit. Thank god that's no longer true.

This one is mostly notable because I wrote it on my phone, and I actually tried changing that and realized that I can't write in the same style on a phone screen and a laptop keyboard, so for consistency I had to keep writing it on the phone. (If I finish it I'll edit it on a laptop, of course.)

To be completely honest, for what it is I honestly think this one could pretty good with some serious editing, but if I ever post it publicly it's not gonna be on this blog.

"unannounced project": Not a real WIP, but I just counted them up and I have 2500(!) words of design notes for the setting of this hypothetical fantasy story. I probably don't intend to post them because I really like setting-based surprises in fiction and if I ever do figure out a plot and characters and write the story, I'd want to reserve the ability to surprise people with some of the details as they read it.

edit: yay more stuff to add!

see the thorn twist in your side, a notes document for writing down a dream fragment I had that immediately went extremely off the rails and became a personal challenge to see if I can write melodrama and angst. I may change the title, I dunno, but it felt like it deserved one of those loosely related song lyric titles that everyone does for their cool edgy fanfic.