#one year of writeblr

[inkskinned]

probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.

we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."

at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.

the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.

the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.

what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.

here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.

[leave-her-a-tome]

For every note I'll write a page in my wip next year

[sentfromwolves]

◈—⌈ SENTFROMWOLVES ⌋ writeblr introduction ²⁰²⁴

Hi everyone, and welcome to my writeblr 2024 introduction. My name is Eran (they/he & freshly thirty) and I've been on writeblr for awhile, so you might've seen me around. ( •̀ ω •́ ) This is my yearly post to introduce the projects I'll be working on this year, what I write, and who I am. I'll be keeping it short and sweet.

I'd love to meet more writers this year, so if you write any of the following, or just like these genres, or even just wanna shout about ocs together, come holler and I'll give you a follow!

◈ — sci-fi and fantasy of any kind! cozy fantasy, romantasy, epic fantasy, space opera? this is my bread and butter, and I love shouting about it from the rooftops with others! ◈ — found families, ot3s, complicated soulmates. I am almost always writing about soulmates who have either killed each other at least once in the past or are planning some sort of murder. Complicated relationships, especially found families that aren't all rainbows and butterflies, are right up my alley. ◈ — queer and trans protagonists, large queer casts! all of my wips feature trans/nonbinary leads, and I'm always looking for more queer writer friends to connect with! ◈ — hope at the end of the tunnel, but hell to get to. I write stories with hopeful endings, with the sun on the horizon, with the promise that something better might now at long last be on the way. I love seeing characters get put through hell, but I love it even more when they make it to the other side. (if you write tragedy though, please know I will still cry on your doorstep if you'll have me) ◈ — corruption arcs, redemption arcs, sometimes both! Deeply nuanced characters with messy attitudes, and even messier actions. I'm just as equally obsessed with cool worldbuilding as I am with character-driven things, and I will yell about ocs all day, and maybe draw them too >:3 ◈ — big, epic, and sweeping worldbuilding! I am a huge fan of delving into the worldbuilding aspect of my wips. I love building magic systems, cultures, geographies, and more. One of my 2024 projects is doing a worldbuilding experiment blog at some point. I am always down to clown over worldbuilding, whether to sound board or just holler together!

There's a lot more I could say here, but this post can only get so long! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ my dms are always open, and I will follow back most of the time! But just to get all of the basics outta the way:

◈—« here's a quick and dirty rundown of how I work! »—◈

➺ I interact and follow from @calamityeden, so if you see that username, it's just me.✌️I am most active on discord, and if we become friends, you're more than welcome to ask to add me there. ➺ I am open to being tagged in writeblr games! Just know that I am not online all the time, and might be slow to respond to them. 🐌 ➺ My ask box and DMs are open, just please be respectful. I love meeting new writers and talking about projects! I am happy to chat and make new friends. You're always welcome! 💌 ➺ This is a strictly 18+ writeblr. Please DNI with me if you are a minor and respect my boundaries.

🪄You can find my core tags here under my writing and my graphics, as well as writer reminders, game train and catharsis. (❁´◡`❁) And now onto the fun part! My 2024 main project line up!

I have my main four listed here that you'll probably hear me yelling about pretty consistently, but I've also got a lot of other projects rattling around in my brain. So if you're ever curious about a project that's not here, feel free to yell at me about it! >:3

Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy Standalone.

Status: First Draft Complete (117k)—Revising for beta round one.

There's a clock tattooed on Nemesis's wrist, and when it reaches midnight on his 21st birthday, it will kill him. It doesn't help that his mom is the one that cursed him, and the demon currently possessing his car ate her before Nemesis could convince her to break the damned thing. Thankfully, Judge came prepared with an alternative: help him break into a mythical living city and steal its heart, and in return, he'll shatter Nemesis's curse for free. Accompanied by a three-headed hellhound, a haunted holy sword, and an excommunicated exorcist, Judge and Nemesis set their sights on an impossible heist. But the closer Nemesis gets to the heart, the more he begins to realize that he isn't the only one under a curse. And if he doesn't find a way to break Judge's soon, his own life will be forfeit as well.

Genre: Space Opera

Status: 2024 zero drafting from scratch

Two hundred years ago, humanity expanded to the stars only to find a cosmos filled with graves. But then their children began displaying the strange ability to commune with the alien ruins scattered across the planets, waking ancient, extrasolar mecha from their sleep, and turned the struggling colonies of space explorers into the fledgling galactic nation of Sol Galatea.  Now, Wren Akane is on the run from the whole galaxy, wanted for the strange alien powers throbbing through his veins. His luck runs out when he accidentally awakens an ancient Relic in the desert of his planet, only to be embedded with the memories of its last pilot and the revelation that the war that littered the cosmos with graves is far from over. But no one believes Wren when he tells them that continuing to wake the Relics will bring the hostile alien empire that destroyed them back to Sol Galatea’s doorstep. Only Wren’s rival pilot, Marek Khalid, seems interested in a word Wren has to say. But Marek doesn’t want to save Sol Galatea. He has big plans for what to do when the aliens arrive, a rebellion to lead, and if Wren isn’t on his side, he’s in his way. With time running out, Wren must soon decide how far he’s willing to go to save the people that never tried to save him—or if Marek is right, and he should let the stars burn instead.

Genre: Adult Romantasy

Status: First Draft (1k/100k)

Once a year, Celestials from all across the Lumina Kingdom gather together for Eventide, the season of courtship, hoping to win the hand of the most eligible star at court. Sirius knows the game they play all too well: by day, he is the forgettable, miserable daughter of the Lumina Family, least of his seven siblings and wanted only for the royal blood running through his veins.  By night, however, Sirius is the Starweaver—the mysterious dressmaker taking the kingdom by storm. Everyone wants to know the identity of the one responsible for elaborate outfits that turn even the quietest Celestial in the room into the star of the show, outshining even Sirius’s luminous sibling, Diana. When the infamous King Beyond Midnight arrives with the intent to wed Diana, Sirius finds his secret in jeopardy when the condition for their hand in marriage is a simple challenge: reveal the Starweaver's true identity. There’s no outsmarting Octavian for long, and soon, Sirius will have to make a choice: give up on his passion and stay hidden forever, or risk everything to stay true to who he really is.

Genre: Second World Urban Fantasy

Status: Outlining

Something changes the day that Nakano Touya returns to the crumbling city of Soma Lux. It starts with voices in the radio static, blurry figures caught on camera, always out of focus. When a monster crawls out of Touya's television screen and eats him, the last thing he expects is to find a strange, shadowy otherworld lurking on the other side. But his biggest problem isn't the monsters of the otherworld that want to eat him, or the talking cat that saved him, now living in his apartment without a care in sight. Soma Lux is experiencing a strange new epidemic—one that Touya is completely unaffected by. But when his half-sister falls comatose, Touya knows he has to get to the bottom of it all to save her—and find out why he's the only one immune. Accompanied by his jaded ex-boyfriend, Touya’s nosy classmates, a part-time fortune teller, and a cantankerous old hag, Touya dives into the murky underbelly of Soma Lux, where the realities have begun to bleed together between his world and the next. 

That's all for now! >:3 Here's to an amazing 2024! (also my actual blog is a mess right now please do not mind it ksjndfskfn)

[mjjune]

ABOUT MJ

i'm mj! i write and occasionally give advice

writeblr est. 8/8/2022

i have a side blog dedicated to my friends' writing and other writing i like. click here. on this blog it is solely my writing.

tag games/ask games always open!

don't mind if minors follow me, but there will be intermittent adult content. interact at your own discretion.

i love: any kind of minority representation, fairytale/myth retellings, platonic soulmates, neurodivergent characters, enemies to [anything], and general suffering <3

most recent quarterly review here

if you want to support me you can tip me on ko-fi!

MY WRITING

i write a variety of genres, mostly fantasy. i like to blend genres. currently i have finished works in urban fantasy, high fantasy, and fairytale retellings.

most of my stories explore complex relationships with gender and sexuality, marginalization/oppression, duty, familial and platonic relationships, nuanced morality, finding hope, and subverting expectations.

all my wips have a taglist! let me know if you want to be added

MASTERLIST PAGE // WIP CHEATSHEET // WIP INTROS // MY BETA ADVICE SERIES

main tags: #mj mumbles #answered #my snippets

[space-writes]

their first proper interaction has had some improvements:

Shadows shifting to his left. Sorrow lunged forward, shoving the Wraith back even as the assassin stumbled, choking, out of a patch of shade. “A fine damn mess you’ve made of things again! Stop trying to kill people I need!” “Stop standing near people I need to kill,” the Wraith shot back. Smoke roughened his voice, but even with watering eyes he still looked furious. He smacked Sorrow’s hands away, a swipe of his dagger making Sorrow skip backwards. “Did Willowtown teach you nothing?” “This is nothing like Willowtown.” “Oh really?” The two of them circled, Sorrow now with scimitar drawn. The Wraith’s gaze never left his for a second. “Everything is on fire, you’re in my way, and I almost died. I’d say this is exactly like Willowtown.” “Boss—” “Not now, vidaa.” Sorrow narrowed his eyes at the Wraith. “You’re still breathing, so I don’t see what you have to complain about.” “Normally I don’t kill for free, but for you I’d make an exception,” the Wraith growled. “Dracari-serving imp.”

*twirling my hair, kicking my legs* they're going to kiss

Valloroth taglist: @cherrybombfangirlwrites @reininginthefirewriting @memento-morri-writes @foxboyclit @lawful-evil-novelist

@at-thezenith @morganwriteblr @fayeiswriting @serenanymph

@sam-glade @viscerawrites @thegreatobsesso @flower-reads (ask to be +/-)

[gottestod-writes]

somebody stop me, I'm about to reinvent the week (world building), and that's really not useful for anything!

[ohromeoraine]

I just need to rant here for a second because OH MY GOD-

Stars Align is so fucking incredible. By the end, tears were streaming down my face and i just screeched, “What the actual fuck?!” Because this anime sent me through the five stages of grief within the span of one season. These boys need new parents and hugs, and fucking everything. I would give them my soul, okay, that’s how much these boys need it.

The worst part is that no one and their fucking mother talks about this anime because the fandom is practically dead, but i want to rant to someone about this so badly. You have no idea the inner workings of my brain that go absolutely feral when someone even mutters, “stars align.”

YES. TELL ME ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF IT AND I WILL BREAK DOWN EVERY CHARACTER EVEN IF THEY ARE A PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING.

I will pull an Oliver Wood and try to drown myself in the shower if someone supports certain behaviors from the characters here.

ALSO, DID I MENTION THAT THERE IS A CANON NONBINARY CHARACTER?!

ACTUALLY FUCKING CANON. I’M NOT MESSING WITH YOU.

They are literally one of the sweetest fucking characters in stars align and i would hand them the goddamn universe if i could.

So, if you haven’t watched Stars Align(available on Hulu and Crunchyroll if we’re talking main streaming services) please invest your time to do so because you will not be disappointed.

There’s only one season because of budget issues(not enough streams was the problem I’m pretty sure), but holy fuck you will not be disappointed i swear.

[theek-ache]

i will be forever impressed by fanfic authors because what do you mean you wrote, edited, beta'd an AMAZING 10K+ CHAPTER IN A MONTH because im assuming authors go to school / work?? when do you find the time???

[inkskinned]

you're in the habit of denying yourself things.

if someone asked you directly, you would say that you love a little treat. you like iced coffee and getting the cookie. you drink juice out of a fancy cup sometimes, and often do use your candles until they gutter out helplessly.

but you hesitate about buying the 20 dollar hand mixer because, like. you could just use your arms. you weren't raised rich. you don't get to just spend the 20 dollars (remember when that could cover lunch?), at least - you don't spend that without agonizing over it first, trying to figure out the cost-benefits like you are defending yourself in front of a jury. yes, this rice cooker could seriously help you. but you do know how to make stovetop rice and it really isn't that hard. how many pies or brownies would you actually make, in order to make that hand mixer worthwhile?

what's wild is that if the money was for a friend, it would already be spent. you'd fork over 40 without blinking an eye, just to make them happy. the difference is that it's for you, so you need to justify it.

and it sneaks in. you ration yourself without meaning to - you don't finish the pint of ice cream, even though you want to. the next time you go to the store, you say ah, i really shouldn't, and then you walk away. you save little bits of your precious things - just in case. sometimes you even go so far as putting that one thing in your shopping cart. and then just leaving it there, because maybe-one-day, but not right now, there's other stuff going on.

you do self-care, of course. but you don't do it more than like, 3 days in a row. after that it just feels a little bit over-the-edge. like. you can't live in decadence, the economy is so bad right now, kid.

so you don't buy the rice cooker. you can-and-will spend the time over the stove. you can withstand the little sorrows. denial and discipline are practically synonyms. and you're not spoiled.

it's just - it's not always a rice cooker. sometimes it is a person or a job or a hug. sometimes it is asking for help. sometimes it is the summer and your college degree. sometimes it is looking down at scabbed knees and feeling a strange kind of falling, like you can't even recognize the girl you used to be. sometimes it is your handprint looking unsteady.

sometimes it is tuesday, and you didn't get fired, and you want to celebrate. but what is it you like, even? you search around your little heart and come up empty. you're so used to denying that all your desires draw a blank.

oh fuck. see, this is the perfect opportunity. if you had a mixer, you'd make a cake.

[six-white-venus]

[literaryvein]

my writing advice 10 years ago vs. now

L. V., an ex-poet's introspection (pt. 3: you are now a writer/poet)

[selenekallanwriter]

A perk of being an indie author: I decide how long my books will be.

A downside of being an indie author: I decide how long my books will be and have no self-control.

[riveriafalll]

when you're slightly obsessed with OCs, and upon coming to actually writing them up, realise that you've named five of them Artemis, and another four various variants of Callie-

[justwriteyoudummy]

Happy One Year to these two finally being Canon in a real story~♥

Happy One Year of being a published Author!

(Art of them ranges from the most recent art today in 2024 to the very beginning concept arts from 2016)

Fragments of Magic is available for purchase in Ebook and Paperback!

[jacks347]

A story about a very religious boy who goes to confession every week to pray for God to take his gay thoughts away and the priest's son practicing to take over for his father who slowly falls in love with him until one day when he comes to confession in tears because someone caught him with another boy and he's being burned as a witch, accused by the town and his scared lover that he'd put a spell on him and was practicing witchcraft

The priest finally pulls back the curtain to confess his feelings and help him escape but he's already gone, dragged to the pyre and it's only as the torches are lit that he finally learns the name and face of the boy who stole his heart

"Caleb. Caleb Thomas. The blacksmith's son. That's who he was. The boy who came to confession every week, who begged for the Lord to forgive him, to take away the part of him that was so wrong and broken. The boy I'd come to love. The boy I watched now as my father lit the wood beneath his feet, condemning him to fires far worse than the ones that would sear his mortal skin.

Did he know? Did he know how he'd broken every rule I'd ever been taught with his laugh? How he'd torn down all the walls I'd put up as he told his story? How he'd taught me what love really was? That love was never just the transaction my parents made it seem, it was so much more beautiful than that. Love lived and grew and was so strong it made your head spin and I had it. I'd felt it. But I never got to live it. I was too scared, too stuck in the ways of the past like the generations before me. And now I'd never feel it again. I'm so sorry Caleb. I couldn't save you, I can't even save myself. If loving you is so wrong, then take my heart with you. Let it die in the fire that engulfs you, for that will be the only way I can live in the way I'm supposed to. May God have mercy on your soul."

"David Williams, you have no idea what you've done to me. I see you out there, your eyes just as beautiful as the first time we met. Do you see me now? Do you realize all I've done to try and fill the hole in my heart that was only ever meant for you? Don't cry, my love, I'm not worth your tears. Don't blame yourself for my mistakes. Don't fall in the eyes of the Lord you hold so dear because of me. I was never worth your time, your attention, your heart. I could never be worth it.

I tried, I tried so hard to forget you. To replace you, to rebuke you. But your eyes, your smile, your laugh, they haunt my dreams and remind me of these thoughts and how broken I am. My heart shouldn't miss a beat whenever we make eye contact during mass, I shouldn't ache for your touch whenever our hands would brush together during communion, I shouldn't want you the way I've never wanted a woman. But I do. God strike me down where I stand, I do. And it's because of that I can't have you. I won't taint you the way I've been, I won't give the devil your heart the way he's taken mine. I can only hope God will forgive my grave sin of loving you."

(I wish I could say I was sorry but y'all know I'm not)

(hums "Love was the law, religion was taught")

[jennablackmorebooks]

I designed the hardcover edition of The Line Madder! :D It's closely based on both the current paperback version and the first edition of the book that released in 2017. Here it is (back, front, and spine) without the blurb and bio text.

I went for the sort of symbol-based flat design style I've been using for the other hardcover editions of my books :) I like the hardcovers to sort of match. I'm super excited to see what it looks like in print, and to have this (nearly.... seven year old.... what) book as a hardcover on my shelf!