#the goal is to finish all 31 chapters and post one a day for all of October

[underwhelmingalchemist]

When I say I'm bad with fanfic deadlines, I need you to understand that it is May 10th and I'm working on my kinktober fic (unofficial prompts) for this year. And it's still not a guarantee that it'll be done by October

[jaydick-week]

❤️💙 JAYDICK WEEK 2024: Event Schedule! 💙❤️

Are you excited to get going on your WIPs? Check out the following schedule for JAYDICK WEEK 2024: WIP BASH!

Rather than assigning three prompts for each day, the whole week is open for posting of all kind. Whether you choose to work on adding one chapter to your unfinished magnum opus, or whether you try to finish seven works, this week is intended to be a space for you to celebrate any amount of progress, no matter how small.

Need motivation? We will also be setting word progress goals for those of you who love deadlines. Check those out below!

❤️💙 Upcoming Schedule

Now - April 14: Work Period! January: Show off your WIPs! Jaydick Week WIP Bash: April 14 to April 20, 2024.

❤️💙 WIP BASH Progress goals!

December 31: 20% done! January 31: 40% done! February 28: 60% done! March 31: 80% done! April 14: WIP Finished!

❤️💙 Even More Motivation

Prompts from previous years! Jaydick Fanfic! Jaydick Fanart! Message us off-anon for the Jaydick Discord Server!

Questions? Comments? Check out the links below!

FAQs | RULES | ASK | WIP BASH FAQ

[the-conversation-pod]

The VIIB Awards 2024: Special Class

Finishing with Part 5 of 5 of the Very Important Internet BL Awards, we are handing out our awards for our special class dramas!

We will be awarding Honorable Mentions to shows that did something specifically notable, and we will be awarding awards for Best After School Special, Best Family Drama, and Best Slice-of-Life Drama.

Thank you for spending the last week with us! Please tag us with your own awards!

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00 - Welcome 01:23 - Introduction 03:03 - Interlude: The Beach - Moonlight (2016) 04:18 - Honorable Mention: The Day I Loved You 10:26 - Honorable Mention: Chen Yi and Ai Di 15:44 - Honorable Mention: Sasake and Miyano: Graduation 21:41 - Sixth Man: Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit 31:33 - Standout Queer Narrative: Moonlight Chicken 38:02 - Standout Queer Narrative: The Warp Effect 41:30 - Standout Queer Narrative: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 46:54 - Outro

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

[fanfare sound]

01:23 - Introduction

Ben

And we're back. We have reviewed all of the shows under the more traditional frameworks. We've gone over which talents we were really fond of, which pairings we're really fond of, who we thought did a great job assembling a show, and what were the bangers of the year.

It's time to award the shows so good that they would have skewed the results, or in our estimation, are not primarily driven by romance in a way that makes them fit under the traditional BL criteria.

NiNi

Here in our Special Class Awards, we have three award categories, and each award category can have multiple awardees, which is why it's special. [laughs] 

So our three categories are Honorable Mentions, the Sixth Man Award, and our Standout Queer Narratives Award. In Honorable Mentions, we're going to be acknowledging key contributions to the genre from various filming markets and traditions that are perhaps outside of the main and the ones that we discuss. In the Sixth Man Award, we want to acknowledge the most valuable and versatile supporting actor of the year. And under Standout Queer Narratives, we want to acknowledge queer works that are not primarily romances.

03:03 Interlude: The Beach - Moonlight (2016)

Kevin 

“That breeze feel good as hell man.”

Chiron

“Yeah it do.”

Kevin

“Sometimes round the way, where we live, you can catch this same breeze. It come through the hood and it’s like everything stop for a second ‘cause everyone just wanna feel it. Everything just get quiet, you know?”

Chiron

“And it’s like all you can hear is your own heartbeat, right?”

Kevin

“Yeah…feel so good, man. “

Chiron

“So good…. “

Kevin

“Hell, shit make you want to cry, it feel so good.”

Chiron

“You cry?”

Kevin

“Nah. But it makes me want to… What you cry about?” 

Chiron

“Shit, I cry so much sometimes I feel like I'ma just turn to drops.”

04:18 Honorable Mention: The Day I Loved You

NiNi

So let's start with our Honorable Mentions. And this year we have three. I'll let Ben take you through them.

Ben

The first one I want to acknowledge this year is a show from the Philippines called The Day I Loved You. [Applause sound] I don't think I ever actually managed to write about this show because you're reacting to a show that is fundamentally tragic. I remember watching it with Kyra, and we called it, like, the Nicholas Sparks BL of the year. 

In this show, we have a femme boy who's kind of bullied at school but doesn't seem to care about it. He ends up developing a thing with the new hot guy at the school who's here from Singapore, and there's, like, a love triangle with his best friend. And we realize that the reason why he's been holding back romantically in this story is because he has a debilitating condition that is gonna involve him declining and losing control of his limbs and other mobility along the way. So he's leery of beginning something with someone. 

The way this plays out is really beautiful. There's a richness to the way a lot of the Filipino storytelling is done that I really connect to all the time. Even when I'm not watching BL, I really like Filipino cinema when I have the opportunity to really engage with some of their work. And even though BL in the Philippines has been really struggling with the lack of investment right now. 

This show is really well produced—it's available on YouTube—and takes the dynamics here very seriously. The best friend is not going to be the one who's chosen because he doesn't want his best friend, who he knows loves him, to also go through the ugliness of his decline. His suitor in this eventually pushes past some of these barriers, but the show never downplays the seriousness of Eli's condition. His condition worsens. It is not a pretty experience. But there is this beautiful amount of heart in it. 

This show is the one that has stuck with me quietly all year long. I think about the show at least once a month or so, and have been trying to find a way to properly write about it. In a year where we didn't really have a lot to point to from the Philippines that we really thought a lot of folks should rally behind, this is one of the standouts that I think you all should go back and watch if you can handle a tragic romance, not unlike the experience you might have with a Nicholas Sparks movie or book.

NiNi

So, I have not seen The Day I Loved You because I feel like I am not emotionally capable of watching that right now. It's the same reason I haven't caught up on Eternal Yesterday. There are some things that I'm holding in reserve because I don't think that I have the emotional bandwidth or capacity to handle right now. But I was sort of following along while you and Kyra were doing your watch, and I am looking forward to getting around to it when I have the emotional wherewithal to stand up to the tragedy, because I do sometimes enjoy—I guess ‘enjoy’ is a strange word—but enjoy a good tragic romance. 

I tend to enjoy work from the Philippines, especially when the production quality lines up with the ideas they're trying to espouse. And so, given everything that you've said about it to me up until now, it's on my list. I just don't know when I'm going to get to it.

Ben

I think the production quality is about where The Boy Foretold by the Stars is. It's slightly under Gameboys.

NiNi

I think that's a good spot to land.

Ben

The music's good, like the song that they selected for the intro is a banger. It's called Sweet + Wild by YANCO—such an excellent song.

NiNi

I love Filipino music, as you are well aware, so really looking forward to that.

Ben

It's a really excellently put together little production. There's a lot of heart in the story and it takes its characters and its conceits really seriously, in a way that I found really compelling. And I continue to be really impressed with the way the Philippines explores Catholicism and Christianity inside of BL. It's one of the unique things that the Philippines can do, and I like that they do it well consistently.

NiNi

It's one of the things that draws me to them as well, being a lapsed Catholic myself. Lapsed? Former? What's the terminology these days? Having grown up Catholic, it's one of the things that does draw me to the Philippines, and I feel like I understand a lot of what they are getting into in their narratives and in their characters because of that.

Ben

The Day I Loved You from Regal Entertainment, directed by Easy Ferrer, starring Tommy Alejandrino as Nico, Raynald Tan as Eli, and Rabin Josh as Justine.

10:26 Honorable Mention: Chen Yi and Ai Di

NiNi 

Our next Honorable Mention award is not for a show. It is for a couple coming out of Taiwan from the show Kiseki: Dear To Me, Chen Yi and Ai Di. [Applause sound] It has been a long time, for me anyway, since a side couple completely took over the show from the main couple to the point that I'm kind of only slightly sure what happened to the [laughs] main couple on Kiseki? But I know for sure what happened to Chen Yi and Ai Di. [laughs]

Kiseki was a mixed bag. It was a strange year from Taiwan. Nothing really landed. They did quite a bit that I ended up, in the end, not watching. I think Ben, you watched most of it?

Ben

Unfortunately.

NiNi

It was a very strange year. The only thing that drew me in was Kiseki and then, it was a strange show. I didn't expect something like that from Lin Pei Yu. But the light in the tunnel was definitely Chen Yi and Ai Di, played by Nat Chen and Louis Chiang. 

They play orphans who basically grew up inside the mafia. Chen Yi thinks he's in love with the mafia boss, while Ai Di is in love with Chen Yi. Hijinks ensue. Let's just put it that way. Hijinks ensue. And then Ai Di goes to jail for four years, but before he goes to jail, he and Chen Yi have sex while Chen Yi is, shall we say, altered? And then Ai Di goes to jail and Chen Yi is left with his feelings trying to sort of understand how he feels and where he stands with Ai Di. Then when Ai Di gets out of jail, he's pissed, and trying to keep his distance from Chen Yi. But Chen Yi has now realized how in love he is, and he's not gonna let that stand. 

It is one of the crackheads ships I've ever seen. But also kind of delightful in a way? [laughs] But the important thing is that they really took over the show. I don't mean that in a critical way. I mean that of all the things that were happening on Kiseki, they were easily the most interesting. 

Ben 

So it was a weird year for Taiwan and part of why I wanted to talk about these two is because there's just been less activity from Taiwan and the BL front. Some of that has to do with a lot of complicating factors [laughs] we won't get into on this podcast. But in all the things released—quick aside, there is an interesting project happening right now in Taiwan in that the Friday Taiwanese BLs are being produced by a single company doing a dedicated for BL project. I don't think it's been that great personally, but it's rare that we get dedicated BL commitment in a time slot, and while I don't think the projects have been really strong, the things that Taiwan is good at remain. Like, the overall cast chemistry from Taiwan still remains the best. They are very good at getting the whole cast to believably play off of each other, even in characters who only interact once or twice in the whole show. It is always impressive and especially with the romantic and sexual chemistry. I enjoy the paired chemistry of actors from Taiwan, more [than] the other BL producing countries more often than not. 

In this particular show, I think both couples had really strong performances as couples with each other. And we ended up focusing on Ai Di and Chen Yi a lot because they're the mafia boys and Louis Chiang's character wears a choker the whole time, and is always trying to murder someone, and he's shorter than everyone, and everyone loves that! Every time I see this boy getting a little bit mad, I'm like, yes! Kill them! 

But they were really good. And it was funny, like, the show shifts towards the back half where we spend a great deal of time focusing on them, and they get the final shot of the show. It's so weird! This side couple legitimately won. I'm just amazed by that choice. 

NiNi 

A choice it definitely was. With all that said, Honorable Mention award to Chen Yi and Ai Di from Kiseki: Dear to Me from Taiwan, played by Nat Chen and Louis Chiang. 

15:44 Honorable Mention: Sasake and Miyano: Graduation

NiNi 

The third and final Honorable Mention award this year goes to an anime project. Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation. [applause sound] 

Ben, lead the way. 

Ben 

Okay! Let's talk about anime. So, yaoi is old, a lot older than people realize. We have art made by, we suspect to be women, going as far back as the 1400s, of guys sucking each others dicks. This is not a new phenomenon. At all.

And so, when we're talking about, like, what is BL doing, what is BL, where is BL going? A big question is always what is happening on the written front? What novels are popular in various cultures, and in, for Japan in particular, it's going to be manga. A significant amount of content is adapted directly from manga because manga is already successful, it has a built in fan base, and the manga itself serves as a storyboard and it's very easy to win fans over by taking popular panels and recreating them on screen for maximum impact. What's also notable is, when something is doing really well, it's going to get an anime adaptation. Anime is far more expensive to produce than live action content. 

So, Sasaki and Miyano is a story about these guys in high school. One is a little bit older and is going to be graduating soon. His name is Sasaki and he helps Miyano in an instant where these guys are bullying one of Miyano’s friends, and Miyano wants to jump in. Sasaki sees that Miyano wants to help, and he jumps in to help, kind of gets his ass whipped anyway, but the two of them start hanging out. 

Sasaki learns pretty early on that Miyano is a fudanshi—this is the boy version of a fujoshi—he reads BL all the time. He is one of us. But he doesn't think of himself as queer at the beginning of this. Sasaki ends up becoming very fond of Miyano, starts reading BL because it's very important to Miyano, and a relationship blossoms between them. Where this particular show is fascinating for me is because Miyano is a fudanshi, and Sasaki is not. And this is evinced most notably in the movie that released this year: Graduation, where Miyano’s understanding of what m/m romance is supposed to look like is influenced by BL, and we get this really incredible moment in the movie where after sorting through some of their stuff, they're having this moment that is sexually charged. And Miyano, who's shorter than Sasaki, and because he's more petite, a lot of people might expect him to be the uke-slash-bottom in this instance, he stops the moment that they're having and says, “I'm not an uke.” And this is also backed by the fact that Miyano does not have uke hair [laughs] but Sasaki does. 

NiNi 

[laughs] I know what that is now. 

Ben 

It also gets confused because Sasaki has yaoi hands. 

NiNi 

Okay, wait, pause. What are yaoi hands? 

Ben 

So whenever you're watching yaoi—animated yaoi—seme my hands are fucking enormous, because they want you to focus on their fingers and stuff, so their hands are fucking enormous. 

NiNi 

Listen, the things I learn on this show. 

Ben 

It's interesting because Sasaki, who just recognizes his attraction to Miyano, and maybe knew about himself already—it's a little unclear on that front. He doesn't care what position Miyano wants him to take, he just wants to be with Miyano. It's not that explicit, like the show's not going to point the camera at us and go, “Let's break down and talk about the [laughs] social politics of BL and how it impacts the youths’ maturation.” But it's apparent that it's one of the things it's thinking about because we get this really excellent presentation through Miyano, who is struggling to contextualize their relationship because his primary framework for understanding relationships between two men is formed by BL, which is not a great source, obviously [laughs] for this ‘cause BL is fictional, and is trying to just have fun with a lot of readers preconceptions of stuff. So, we get to watch them figure out what their relationship is going to be while deconstructing some BL presumptions. And it's a really enjoyable experience watching this really adorable little show. 

NiNi 

My brain is still stuck on yaoi hands. 

Ben 

All right, legit. Legit. You can pause right now and you can go Google yaoi hands. It's a whole thing. 

NiNi 

I believe you. [laughs] I'm gonna wait until after the show. So… 

Ben 

Ginny is in the fucking transcript right now Googling ‘yaoi hands.’ 

[both laugh]

NiNi 

Ginny, I don't know if I should say I'm sorry or you're welcome. 

Ben 

The third and final award goes to Sasaki and Miyano, developed by Studio Dean. 

21:41 Sixth Man: Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit

NiNi 

Our next category of awards is the Sixth Man Award. We are going to name the Sixth Man award for its inaugural awardee, and the inaugural Sixth Man awardee is one Khun Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit. [fanfare sound] Mark Pakin, the most valuable and versatile supporting actor of the year. So this award shall forever be known after this as the Mark Pakin Sixth Man Award. 

Bestie, I want you to go first here. Why is Mark Pakin not just our inaugural winner, but why is this award being named after him? 

Ben 

It's easy to get caught up in the ships, and the leads, and all the actors, and the big romance parts. But a big part of any successful story is going to be how well the lead characters play off of their supporting characters. It's notable when you look at Mark's credits since 2021, when he first appeared in a small role in I Promised You the Moon, since then every single show he's been in has been one of the highlight shows of the year. 

Mark was in Bad Buddy, My School President, The Warp Effect, Moonlight Chicken, Only Friends, and now Last Twilight. Mark picks good projects and he makes them better because he can play whatever is needed of him in each of these shows. And because, as NiNi says, I bring the lore, when you watch the behind the scenes stuff and what people say about Mark, he is a huge presence behind the scenes helping manage morale and the overall mood of the set when he's present. Mark is working even when the camera is not in front of him, and making sure people are taken care of, and making sure people are grounded, and making sure that people stay in the right headspace so that they can do the work. And it clearly pays off. 

Mark is really talented and you can feel how effective he was as one of the oldest actors on My School President in particular, and helping Gemini in a lot of his scenes. Mark plays so well with Fourth in Moonlight Chicken. Mark has a couple of moments with Earth in Moonlight Chicken that I still think about, like particularly the scene where Saleng receives the dowry gift from Jim, or the scene where he's leaving in, like, episode one and he's kind of shuffling out of the place. Or even just his goofy ass showing up at the end now that he's moved into, like, a value position at the water park he's working at. 

Like, it's so incredible to watch Mark work whenever he's on screen. You are just so excited that he's back on screen and he does that completely from a supporting role. He is doing a great job without stealing the show or the scene from the other people that are in it. No disrespect to some of the other actors out there who are really talented, but they can't help but chew the scenery and take over every moment that they're in. Mark is really good at dialing in his performance to exactly where it needs to be in any scene, any moment. He can go really high or really low. He can go big or small as needed, and then turn it on a dime. And it's so impressive to watch. It's notable that every show he's been in has rated highly with audiences. And I just at this point find it hard to not see a pattern with his presence, and people's general love of his characters, and the shows and the storylines around where his character is involved. 

NiNi 

This year I watched Mark's play—technically six, if you consider the Our Skyy: My School President AU?

Ben 

Kind of counts. We'll call it six. We had six different versions of Mark Pakin on our screen this year. 

NiNi 

And all of them were different. Every single one of them was different. And if you expand out to his other roles, every role that he has ever played, he is a different person. I do not know how he does that. I talked in the Moonlight Chicken episode about how loose he plays as Saleng. His body language is loose. The way that he speaks is loosened. It's such a different version of him that comes up as Nick in Only Friends. You can feel some of the anxiety that comes off of Nick. You can feel his vulnerability. Compare that to Tiwson in My School President, who is nothing if not confident. Ultimately, utterly confident. Every single role that he plays is just different. Physically, he acts differently. He sounds different. The way that he interacts with the other characters becomes different. He is building these characters right in front of our eyes, almost in a weird way, in real time. And then when you see him off the clock—well, not off the clock—but when you see him behind the scenes and you see him just sort of being Mark, that's a completely different person, too. 

I am not the lore person, Ben is the lore person. But I did happen to see within the last couple of days a conversation on some one of these variety shows between Mark and Namtan. And Namtan is talking about being on the Last Twilight set and working with Film on the upcoming GL Pluto. And the way that Mark interacts with Namtan, and the way that they discuss acting, and the way that he supports her in those moments in the variety show. Like, he's kind of interviewing her but also praising her. I just think about what it's like to have somebody like Mark in your corner on set. And he did this too, we saw, in some of the behind the scenes on Only Friends. There's a particular one that I'm thinking of where Force played a fairly difficult emotional scene. And after the scene was over, Mark was there to say, “Yeah, guy, that was really good.” And to discuss in detail and specificity what about the way the that Force acted in that take really worked. 

Ben 

He was gassing Force up, and Force was eating it up. He was a little shy about it, but Mark came in and was yelling at this man. He's like, “You did amazing! You fucking crushed that, dude!” 

NiNi 

Mark is what I like to call an actor's actor. I don't know what else to say about this dude. He's only 25. There is so much ahead of him. 

Ben 

He's playing a very serious character on Last Twilight right now, and I remember seeing in one of the early behind the scenes things Aof was talking about Mark and he's like, “We weren't sure what was going on. Like, Mark was playing the scene and we were like, wait, what's going on? Mark Pakin’s on screen but we're not laughing or smiling.” And they asked Mark about it and he's like, “Well, I'm not playing a comedic character. Like, this is pretty—it's a pretty sad character, guys.”

NiNi 

One of the stories of this year, I think that we're going to get into a little bit in the year in review, is people finally putting some goddamn respect on some comedic actors' names. Because, guys comedy is hard. It is so hard. It is harder in certain ways than playing drama. And so when you get a really good, really good comedic actor, you should know off the bat that they're gonna be good at drama, because it's just easier. Mark Pakin is a really fucking good comedic actor. I don't know where this kid came from. 

Ben 

Nadao Bangkok. 

NiNi 

Well, yes, there was that. [both laugh] He's only 25. He's got so much ahead of him. But in terms of what's already behind him, gotta give him props for that. And that is why he is both the inaugural Sixth Man award awardee and is going to be the person after whom this award is named going forward. So congratulations to Mark Pakin Kuna-anuvit. 

Ben 

We're big fans of yours, Mark, if you ever hear this. Please keep working. We love everything you're doing, and I'm really glad you committed to acting. 

NiNi 

I genuinely cannot wait to see what this kid does next. 

31:33 Standout Queer Narrative: Moonlight Chicken

NiNi

We are now in the Standout Queer Narratives category of our Special Class awards. These three shows are chosen because while they might be in genre, they're not really of genre.

Ben

So, BL is a romance genre. The thrust of BL is about the romantic relationship at its core, and seeing it to completion. You go to a BL and you expect the very pretty boys in the intro to flirt with each other a bunch and eventually sort out their dramas and pair up by the end. Sometimes we're dramatic and they don't pair up, but we come to the genre because we want to see the cute boys get together. There's a big difference between a queer drama and a queer romance. And BL is romance. And so if you're wondering where Moonlight Chicken was  [fanfare sound] [laughs] for the last week with us, it's why it's here. We talked about this in our episode, which you can go listen to. We praised it for, like, an hour and a half. 

Moonlight Chicken is a family drama. The only ‘I love you’ said in the whole show is between Jim and Li Ming. The relationship between Wen and Jim is important, but it's primarily about how Jim's queer experience has further weakened the version of his life he thought he was building, and how Wen is an opportunity for him to not perpetually punish himself for the way certain things went wrong. It is important to the story but their romance is part of the drama around the diner, and the people who are connected to Jim. Like, Saleng and Praew are not a side couple, and I wouldn't even classify Heart and Li Ming as a side couple in this. They are just one of the dynamics that's being explored in this show, and it has resonance with Jim because Li MIng is Jim’s son in all but name. And so that's the crux of the whole story here. 

Moonlight Chicken is truly fantastic, and I don't know that if we put Moonlight Chicken under the traditional scope we were doing in the award show that it would have won in every category it was in, but it would have probably superseded a lot of these just because of the scope of the project. That is not fair to the other shows, because the other shows are operating under the presumptions of romance as a genre. 

It may feel like we're splitting hairs to some of you, and I'm sorry I can't make it more clear or explain this better. But we don't like to put bad bitches up against each other [NiNi laughs] on this podcast.

NiNi

Not even in our awards shows.

Ben

Like our award shows are really about, like, these are the top two projects that we really like the most. We give them awards because it's more dramatic for us to fight over who's better than the other one. But it isn't good to put a project like Moonlight Chicken up against the other shows that we talked about earlier this week with you all. 

NiNi, any other things you want to add for Moonlight Chicken, since we've already gushed over the show once this year.

NiNi

I mean, we spent—unedited—close to three hours talking about Moonlight Chicken. I don't know what I can say that I haven't already said about this show. It is not primarily a romance. There are some parts of the audience that kind of bounced off of it or bounced off parts of it. And that's because it's not a romance. And that's okay if you come to this genre expecting romance, and you see Moonlight Chicken and you're just kind of like, “Oh, I don't know.” I'm going to judge you a little bit, but ultimately, yeah, you're right. It's not a romance. What it is is a haunting, absolutely haunting examination of love and loss and family and intergenerational trauma. It's about community. It's about coming to terms with yourself at literally every stage of being. Coming to terms with yourself in your youth, coming to terms with yourself as you start to become a real adult, coming to terms with yourself in your middle age. I have no more words, so I'm not going to try.

Ben

It has Mark Pakin in it!

NiNi

[laughs] If you haven't watched this and you like things like Parenthood or Friday Night Lights.

Ben

Aging ourselves immediately.

NiNi

Go watch it.

Ben

It is our Standout Queer Narrative as the family drama of the year that we were most enamored by.

NiNi

Moonlight Chicken produced and aired by GMMTV, starring Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri and Mix Sahaphap Wongratch among others, including the Sixth Man Mark Pakin, and directed by Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon.

38:02 Standout Queer Narrative: The Warp Effect

Ben

Our next show that we wanted to talk about was The Warp Effect [fanfare sound] as our after-school special [laughs] show of the year. It also has Mark Pakin in it!

NiNi

[laughs] This is not a coincidence. I think Ben is right. I think that putting Mark Pakin in your show automatically raises the level.

Ben

So, despite our [laughs] mixed bag of Jojo shows this year, he and NiNew did a really good job on The Warp Effect, exploring the social politics of sex, and how they impact people even 10 years later for the things you do in high school. I think they did a good job with the sex ed 101 component of it. You could see some of Jojo's Gay OK, Bangkok roots coming back there. And it was a lot of fun seeing Jojo work with a large cast of men and women talking about the way sex worked for them, how it didn't necessarily always work for some of them. And it was so legible! Like, it was amazing to me from week-to-week how much recall I had of that show from week-to-week, ‘cause that show was packed. It had like three to five threads it was juggling in every single episode, and yet I was still able to hold them from week to week—and as you all know, I watch too much. So, the likelihood that I forget stuff is high. 

It was so much fun to watch this for the 12 weeks it was on.

NiNi

One of the things that I think it did really well is balance its themes with its narrative. I think that a lot of shows this year sort of failed at that balance. I think The Warp Effect was probably the strongest at doing that all year. It doesn't fall into the BL categories because it's not a BL.

Ben

The main character is literally straight.

NiNi

But we wanted to acknowledge all the things that it did really well, and also acknowledge that it was a very queer narrative, because the main character, yes, is straight and he has straight problems. But within the show we have a gay couple, a lesbian couple, Mark Pakin in a relationship with a trans woman.

Ben

Who Mark made blush all the time. [both laugh]

NiNi

Again, that behind the scenes stuff he's so good at. We had couples involved in kink, which kink is not technically queer, but they're definitely in the vicinity.

Ben

They're getting their asses beat with us on the streets. They count.

NiNi

We've got an aromantic character. We've got bisexuals, we've got everybody in this show. It is super queer in only the way a Jojo show can really be. And it was just fun to watch. It is an after school special that did not feel preachy. It was lighthearted where it needed to be. It was serious where it needed to be. It's a great show and definitely one of the standout great narratives of the year. 

The Warp Effect produced and aired by GMMTV. Starring everybody you can think of [laughs], directed by Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong.

41:30 Standout Queer Narrative: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2

NiNi

Our final Standout Queer Narrative award, and our final Special Class award goes to the granddaddy of this podcast. It’s What Did You Eat Yesterday? Season 2, guys. [fanfare sound] Do we even need to explain this?

Ben

The only thing that could have possibly made What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 better was if Mark Pakin was somehow involved with it.

[both laugh]

NiNi

I can’t stand you. So What Did You Eat Yesterday? falls into the slice-of-life genre. We would have talked about What Did You Eat Yesterday? ad nauseam in our Om Nom Nom episode, which you would have heard if the editing is right… last week… sometime?

Ben

Oh my God.

NiNi

[laughs] Don't quote me on that. Listen guys, the editing is…it's gonna be what it is. So we would have waxed poetic about this show for, at the very least, an hour.

Ben

And you've already heard Ginny’s supercut of me mentioning the show unprompted all year long.

NiNi

You would have definitely heard Ben, bringing up What Did You Eat Yesterday? every chance he gets in our holiday clip show. 

This show is amazing. Nishijima and Uchino are amazing. I did not expect to get more What Did You Eat Yesterday? this year. The fact that we got it is a gift.

Ben

This season 2 picks up a little bit after the movie. Shiro and Kenji been together for about eight years now, and we continue with more stories about their lives. The big theme for this season: they are dealing with the fact that they are in their 50s now. They're getting older and they're going through physical and emotional changes, and there are changes going on in their personal, professional, and family lives that they also have to manage as well. 

This show remains kind of unique. BL is romance. It’s focused on people getting together. What What Did You Eat Yesterday? is focused on as a slice-of-life food drama, is about a couple staying together and dealing with the things that come up in their lives. Less than a handful of shows allow us to return to characters and see how they're doing and if they're going to make it and stick together. And What Did You Eat Yesterday? is so important in that regard, not just because it's about a long-term relationship. It's also about older gay men. And it's super important that we conceive of the idea that there are older gay couples. We do get to grow old with each other. That's also–and marriage equality is important. You want your boys to grow old together? There are gays who are old right now. You deserve to see gays getting older together and doing their best for each other. 

What a lovely season we had because everybody got to grow this season. We got to see Shiro take on more professional responsibility than he was maybe willing to. Kenji got to grow professionally as well. Wataru was still a bitch the whole time, but he feels like a friend now?

[both laugh]

NiNi

I'm still creasin’ over the 50 balloon. [laughs] Oh God, that was such bitchy energy. I love it.

Ben

I just love how at this point, Kohinata and Wataru feel like their friends. And that was so important for me that we got to see them having a relationship with another gay couple. Kenji finally got to meet Kayoko this season. What a delight that was.

NiNi

And Kayoko treating him like a celebrity when she runs into him in the grocery store. So fun. Great, phenomenal, fantastic show anchored by some of the best performances by two of the greats.

Ben

Man, that's another thing we should talk about. The-the other reason why we need older gay characters: we deserve to see more veteran actors in the genre. This is not a knock on the young and up-and-coming talent or the OGs who are still doin’ the work. We deserve to see veteran actors bringing veteran-level talent to this genre more often than we do.

NiNi

What Did You Eat Yesterday? produced and aired by TV Tokyo, starring Nishijima Hidetoshi and Uchino Seiyou. You have won the coveted standout Queer Narrative Special Class award from The Conversation.

46:54 Outro

That is going to wrap us up on the 2023 Very Important Internet BL Awards, the VIIB Awards. It's kind of sad to see this go, but we will be back with the VIIB Awards next year when we get to discuss a whole new bunch of stuff. 

Looking forward to it. With that, we out. 

Say “bye” to the people, Ben.

Ben

Peace!

[serving-saucy-fanfics]

My Kinktober 2024 Masterlist & First Kinktober Experience (with my Overall Opinion & Tips for Month-long Challenges at the End) 🍁🔥

Warning: As Kinktober is a challenge centered around sexual content, there are sexual terms like kinks in the chapter titles!

Before October: I'm excited, maybe I'll try Kinktober this year.

Day 1: People tell me that spooky season has begun, I think "Yay, more fanfic & fanart". 💕

Day 2-5: Exactly. I wanted to be one of those people. 😆🤭 Well, let me look at a few lists and see what I could write

Day 6: Hm, why not take this prompt to a fantasy level? Also, can I make the reader's sex neutral like people make their gender neutral?

->Yes. Yes, I can: You Raise Me Up (So We Have Sex in the Air) — Fluffy NSFW Homelander x Gender-neutral Reader /AO3

Day 7: Okay, Okay, I've got this. Someone else wrote a fic for this character with a similar kink once, I can write this knowing that a good execution of it is possibly.

->voilà: Gotham!Edward Nygma x Reader: Doctor, Doctor, Please (Think Better of Yourself) Chapter 1: Comfort and Negotiate (Medical Play, nothing explict) /A03

I wanted to write an actually explicit ending but the lead-up to a kink I wasn't that familiar with took up all of the fic.

Still, I made it and oof, uploading it to tumblr & AO3 took time.

But wow, I can write and publish something in one day?! 😮 Crazy. 😁

I go to bed tired.

Day 8: Hm, maybe I could write something for this character from a show I watched way back who totally needed some happiness.

->Thomas Barrow x Reader: Sit Back, Relax, and Enjoy (Handjob/Fingering, smut can be skipped) /A03

Again I started the fic on the dame & finished writing in the evening (this is the start of a bad rhythm 😅).

Day 9: I guess if I wrote something for a character from an fandom I'm not really active in, I could also write something with one from a show I stopped watching...containing one of the reasons why I stopped watching it.

->Serena Waterford x Reader: Confusing Comfort to Forbidden Comfort (Non-Con but not main pairing!) /A03

To finish this one in time, I definitely stayed up too long. Writing something in one day for four days in a row is too much for me.

Day 10: Yeah, even if I like the prompts & characters, it takes up way too much time! 🥺

Still->Loki x Reader: Icy Pleasures with a Hint of Lust (Ice Play, the smut can be avoided) /AO3

An interesting thing I noticed: establishing reasons for trying out something kinky (which might not be the reader's thing) often took up enough pages that I could mark the beginning of the smut & people could still read the part before. 🤔 I like it ��

My sleep schedule though? Has been getting progressively worse since the start of my Kinktober writing.

Day 11: Tired and knowing that I really wanted to post the fic for the next day, I ended my streak today. It was worth it.

Day 12: This idea I already had a few days before, so I thought it would be done faster. On the contrary: I didn't manage to post in time, wrot the end at night, and then forgot to post it! 😭

->Regina Mills x Reader: Mirror, Mirror, Cheering Up (Mirror Sex, smut avoidable) /AO3

Day 13 to Day 17: Mhm, not really feeling it anymore. I'd rather take my time with fanfics, especially if they're about intimate things like sex.

Day 18 & 19: Still, I started working on a story for Day 19, which wasn't finished by then.

Day 20-31: On one hand, I realized how crazy writing something every day would've been giving that my life is already hard enough, but on the other hand I still began new fanfics as well as sequels for the ones I'd written.

As time went on, my goal became to publish at least those, which I didn't manage to do but I'm okay with.

My overall thoughts on Kinktober:

It was a good opportunity to write things that I wouldn't have necessarily written otherwise (cause writing sexual things can sometimes feel like telling too much of yourself, even if something's not even my kink 😂😆)

Even though I'm not much of a horror fan, I wish there was more October-y/autumnal/spookiness. This month has a lot of potential, so "just" writing kinky fics doesn't feel that special to me, since I'm open to write a lot of them anyways. 🎃

Finding out about a bunch of new kinks was fun but for every one of those there were at least two I already knew, just with a different name 😂

My tips for month-long challenges:

brainstorm in advance (for example for me at least one day already helped a lot), ideally for the whole month

set realistic goals, even if they're not the same as those of other artists. Remember: a month-long challenge means that there will be more art than usual regardless of whether you participate or not, people probably won't notice that you don't post every day 🧡

My tips specifically for Kinktober:

Don't underestimate the time consent talks & foreplay can take.

though if writing this much smut is too much, you can also focus on those things 😚

If you know that "hard" kinks can be difficult for you to find out about, make your own list (not gonna lie, I was shocked at at least one kink I found on someone's list)

If the idea of purposefully writing (about) non-consensual things like rape bothers you, make your own list!❗Almost all that I looked up had some type of non-con on it without a warning beforehand.

I hope this helped someone interested in challenges like this or that it felt relatable 😙🧡🤝

If you did a challenge like this: what was it like for you? Do you have other tips & tricks?

[skyward-floored]

2, 8, 9

2. How many fics did you post this past year?

10! Not counting individual chapters of things (otherwise it’s in like... the 70s o_O)

8. What's your favorite work you posted this past year?

Oh that’s really hard to say... probably Pup or Lost Time, I really like how both of those turned out :D

9. What are you most proud of accomplishing in your writing goals this past year?

I did all 31 days of whumptober, which is always a big one! I also finished two fics with multiple chapters, which for me is a big deal. I’m pretty happy with what I accomplished!

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 10.31.2023

Sorry this is a little late, I was trying to get something done yesterday and then I got overtaken by Halloween Festivities and didn't get a chance to post it, but this update is as of 10/31.

This week was pretty slow to get going--as per last week's update, I really didn't know how to get started with Chapter 3. I had to sort of think about it for a few days, during which time no writing-writing took place, but I did eventually get it figured out, and now I have a pretty solid outline for Chapters 3 and 4. I was able to get about halfway through Chapter 3, which involved writing one new flashback (which I had a false start on, but the second try came out good) and reworking two present-time scenes, one which needed a lot of work, and one which needed just a little (mostly deletions).

This week's wordcount: 23,299 (+5,439), with about 2,387 of new content.

I am very close to having more in my "clean, contiguous" version than in my "old pile of crap" version (24,245), and that ought to happen this week. My goal for this week is to finish Chapter 3, which two flashbacks (one of which is half-written) and one new real-time scene.

I've been having really mixed feelings on my progress. On one hand, half a chapter per week is proving to be pretty doable, and I'm able to see real progress every week, and it's giving me a nice amount of "I wrote!" satisfaction. On the other hand, if, as I projected last week, this story goes to 10 chapters, that means it will take me 15 weeks, which feels like forever. On the other hand, that will mean it took me almost exactly two years to write, all-told (including time I wasn't actually working on it). Maybe I should just be grateful if I can actually get it done in 15 weeks.

I made a joke about it being November and trying to hype myself up to NaNoWriMo-style push my way through this thing, but that's actually a really bad idea. I still think about that "writing is just behavior" post every single day of my life. You only get to write each story once, and I think it's important to take my time and enjoy the story I'm in, right now. Also, we're getting into the busiest and most miserable time of year for me right now, and I think it's extremely important to keep writing as a treat I get to do, not an arbitrary word count obligation that I made up to torture myself with.

On a final note, I'm in one of those weird brain-places that I get sometimes where I really have not looked back over any of the stuff I've finished. My usual writing state is to enjoy re-reading the stuff that I've read, but right now, it's all "Don't look back! Forward only!" I do think this is good, because I know this will pass eventually and there will certainly be time to edit, later, but I am also really worried that everything I have written is going to be absolutely horrible when I go back to it later. (In general, I'm usually pleasantly surprised to find writing I haven't looked at in a while to be better than I remembered, but it's not guaranteed, you know?)

(no art this week)

[ladyazulina]

August 1st

Hello! I'm happy... or content, happy sounds in a wavelength a bit extreme.

July finished and I have new projects to work on. Isn't it a bit weird that just the change of days from 30/31 to 1 also change so many things?! Like, they're just two consecutive days, but... objectively? They're so far apart. It's weird.

I would rather change projects when I finish some, but like that's not really happening soon, I will have to be weird too.

I didn't think about doing a sort of 'closing of the month'... that makes me remember Patreon and it's nothing fond to remember, so... but I do want to share the big chunk of words I wrote last month! (Yesterday! And the thirty days before it!)

So, for July I wrote an impressive account of 25.770 words. I worked mostly in Iron Valley (with 9.725 words - and still didn't get to finish the first day of Linney's Campaign), and here on Tumblr (counting the words of all my posts, adding to a 7.421 total). I also wrote more of Mimi that I remember... oh, yeah! I finished Chapter 4, finally (with 5.849 words, not the chapter per sé, it has a lot more words than that). There were a few other things, but that was the biggest part of the whole account.

This month, though, even when I want to still write on Mimi and Iron Valley and maybe other stories, my priority is to make an outline of AngelDemon.

I initially wrote it around 2015~2016, a story from a perspective of an angel and a demon, the same story. I wanted to remake it (the same way as every other old project) because I'm intending to take part in an award competition I no longer remember the name of next year (because it's impossible for me to make it this year). I have a plan that I expect to adhere to and it starts with this month of making an outline. I'm going to read that old work to take the information from there to make the outline. So at least for this month, it should be easy to write about other things too... let's see how much of that is true.

I forgot about 4thewords until this precise moment, but as this is the last writing of the day, I will be using all the other writing to make out the first part of it.

I will continue battling these dudes, though

I still have 15 more to go.

(5 more to go so far)

SO, I wrote this post earlier today

Worked in: Narrative Elements. Words written: 178.

I think I was kind of productive today, I also made

Worked in: A post for my personal Instagram. Words written: 342.

And so far, I'm doing good with my August main project

Worked in: AngelDemon. Words written: 1.554.

I didn't know until today how I was really going to work on it, and how it's a double POV story with the same amount of chapters (26) on each side, I think I will work on one chapter of each per day. I did so today, I doubt the chapters are too long to be difficult to work with. I started doing bullet points, but finished developing those bullet points in concise, precise information for the future, to try to erase the need to reread while rewriting next month.

The point is that it was successful.

Pretty very much successful. And I'm very content.

So I will be running this very post through 4thewords to know how many more- uh, Reenu are defeated, so that would make...

Worked in: This very post. Words written: 672.

(Only 2 more are left)

And to wrap this up for today, the summary:

Total words: 2.746. Lower daily goal: 100 ✅ Higher daily goal: 300 ✅ 4thewords goal: 444 ✅

A lot of talk on the first day of the month, don't get accustomed to it.

We have tagging now 😭: @aziz-reads

[catchingbigfish]

writing plans for the rest of 2023

aka, yet another accountability post i'll laugh at in a few months when i realize how off track my plans have gone again

i am freakishly close to done with the first draft of Conversion; i'm at 57k words as of right this very second, and i'm trying very hard to not go past 90k words on the first draft (even though i think it could edge closer to 120k if i let go with full reckless abandon), and really, my target is to make it a tight 80-85k words. plus, my weekend plans to swap my office and bedroom (who the fuck decided the largest room should be the place you sleep?? that makes no sense!) have been thwarted by my fiance getting sick again, so if i run another few 4-5k days in a row? i might knock this out within the week.

on top of that, i'm enrolled in julia inglis's new shadow doll course (it's a shameless indulgence of mine) which starts august first, so it seems like the prime time to consider exactly how i plan to spend late summer/early fall and nanowrimo this year. here's my current plan:

finish the first draft of Conversion by July 31. this seems very doable so far, unless i really do let go and indulge in all those side conversations and small subplots boiling around in my brain.

spend all of august really delving into the shadow doll course, giving my brain a serious break from writing, and channel all that energy into other types of creativity. this also seems doable, but there's a chance i'll be forced onto a business trip in late august. if that's the case, it'll probably be three or four days, and i'll go ahead and do my first read-through of conversion on the trip. (i read So It Goes way too early and i realize that now -- i have to find a way to force myself to give it at least three weeks before i read through Conversion.)

spend september working on a developmental, high-level, birds-eye-view revision of the first draft of Conversion. if all goes according to plan, i'll use the first few weeks to draft new character sketches and go back to tidy up any mischaracterizations from the characters developing along the drafting process, tighten plot points that i think are dragging, and do a new zero draft based on the first draft plus any new additions i think are necessary, then spend the last few weeks doing the actual drafting for any new scenes i need (and hopefully, for the love of god, creating actual chapter breaks in there). this also seems doable.

get Conversion ready for alpha-readers and zero draft the sort-of-sequel Apostate (👀) in october. yeah i'm basically fully committed to this idea now, lol. the working title is Apostate because i'm terrible at titles and i think it's a fun counterpoint to the title Conversion. i've realized my original cult fiction concept works unreasonably well as a follow up to Conversion (and that's one of the two reasons the ending changed so dramatically), so i'm going for it. i'm not confident i can do this all in october, but i'd love to do nanowrimo again this year and draft Apostate during the month, so this is like my stretch goal. also, i'm not comfortable calling it beta reading just yet, but i'm hoping to get Conversion to a point where i can hand it off to some people who can tell me if it's working, where things are lacking, and any glaring issues i can't see because i'm too close it. (if all goes according to plan, i hope to make a call for alpha readers in early october and have the draft handed over by november so i can force myself to only work on Apostate that month! i wouldn't expect readers to actually dive in until after november, since most likely, they'll be doing nano too -- but it's just the best way to motivate myself). this is definitely the goal i see most likely to fall off track.

spend november drafting Apostate. again, the entire concept of writing Apostate is definitely the weakest link in my plans, but it would be so nice to do!

take december off. seriously, if i actually do this in the way i want, i will need *so* much of a break it's unreal.

[polizwrites]

PoliZ’s WIP Update - 6 Jan 2025

Things are still stressful at work, so am a day late on this update  and a hundred or so words short of my weekly goal.    I touched 3 fics (2 new and 1 WIPs) for a total of 1405 words. 

On Ao3, I posted: 

Running in the Shadows - No Powers AU (past) WinterIron one shot

Night is Calling (And I Am Falling) - Bucky & Steve werewolf ficlet 

On Tumblr I posted: 

Sweet (Tech) Talk -  pining!Steve Stony ficlet 

I’m juggling 14-ish  active/semi-active WIPs with my current  deadlines being  the Character A/Character B,  Bucky Barnes and Tony Stark bingos.  

See  below cut for what I’m working on/planning to work on - arranged more or less by bingos/challenges/etc.  As always, feel free to send me   prompts or plot bunnies as well as asks regarding  any of these projects  or any other WIPs I’ve got out there.   Interaction really helps feed the Muse and keep me motivated!

WinterIron Gets It Done Bingo [WIGID] 

This new WinterIron Discord server event runs on a monthly basis as a flash bingo with a content creation card and an engagement card - got a Blackout for October & November but missed out on December.   Thankfully, January is an Amnesty/Catching Up month, so I finished off my outstanding December fills.  Looking forward to what February might bring. 

Character A/Character B Bingo  [CACBB]  (February Card)

The @charactera  blog & Discord server runs a bingo where you get monthly 3x3 themed cards - February is Rare Pair Bingo - I’m hoping to get two or three fills done by the end of the month. 

* A3 - A & B going on a spontaneous road trip - Working on an IronAnt  (Tony/Scott)  one shot that is kind of a follow up to Piece of the Action . I’ve got 426 words so far and may try to pull in my FFB Alt1 - Surprise Kiss square, BB A1 - First Night square and/or  WFB I1 - Car Jump Start square

Bucky Barnes Bingo - Round Six [BBB - R6]  (Ends 31 Mar)

This amazing bingo event from the folks over at @buckybarnesbingo is still in progress.  I have twenty-four  fills  and six bingoes with one WIP at the moment, and a couple  more crossovers planned to hopefully get a blackout.  

* U3 - Yelena Belova  - Magica and I are circling back around to Peresmešnik, (aka Three Avengers and a Baby) - with the next chapter featuring Tony’s interactions with Mirriam, and a revelation about her parentage. I’ve written 313 of the 560 words in this chapter so far - it needs about 500 more words before we’ll be ready to post - maybe sometime  next  month?   

* Adoptable Nov - Canon: Animated Series - I picked this up intending to do something with the What If … Captain Carter were the First Avenger? episode from Season One,  but  Season 3’s  What If… The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?  is the perfect fanfic fodder.  I plan on keeping my fic platonic between Alexie and the Soldier, but there will be some shenanigans -  I’ve got 366 words towards the fic after re-watching the episode, but am debating how far I want to take the story.  

Beginnings  Bingo  [BB_24]   (Ends 30 Apr 2025)

This new all-fandoms bingo event (courtesy of  @sweetspicybingo) celebrates beginnings  - signups run thru 20 Feb so join in the fun!  

* A1 - First Night - see CACBB - * A3 - A & B going on a spontaneous road trip above 

* A2 - first impression - Combined this with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF289 Blinding Gaze] for  Close Encounters of the Blue-Eyed Kind - a Stony College AU meet cute/meet ugly with Tony literally running into Steve. It came in as a double drabble (200 words) and will get posted to Ao3 before the event ends.

Tony Stark Bingo - Mark VIII [TSB_R8]  (Ends 31 May)

This amazing bingo event from the folks over at @tonystarkbingo is still open for pre-made card signups, I believe. I have  twenty-seven squares filled,  and one WIP  at the moment.

* S1 - Bodyguard - filled this with A Dark and Stormy Knight - a vaguely medieval AU WinterIron AU double drabble which crossed over with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF276 Dark and Stormy Night]. It came in at 200 words and will get posted on Ao3 before the bingo is over. 

* T3 - KINK: praise kink Combined this with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF290 Midnight Distractions] Sweet (Tech) Talk  where a pining!Steve visits Tony’s workshop late at night and the way he’s sweet-talking his tech sends Steve’s mind right into the gutter. It came in at 456 words and will get posted to Ao3 before the event is over. 

* Oct Adoptable: Facial Hair Bros - Filled this with  New Kid in Town- a double drabble that crossed over with the Flash Fic Friday prompt  [#FFF287 I Can’t Stand It]. Tony is complaining to Pepper about that so-called wizard stealing his look - she thinks Tony doth protest too much.  It came in at 200 words and will get posted to Ao3 before this event ends. 

* A1 - Evil Exes -  back to poking at a couple of different ideas  - notes jotted down, but no actual story yet.  

* Jan Adoptable - Writing Format; First Person Narration  - Posted Running in the Shadows on Friday.  I Snatched this prompt up during the TSB Discord server party  as it fits the fic I’ve been working on  better than the Evil Exes prompt  Vaguelyinspired by Ed Brubaker’s  Reckless graphic novel, it’s is a No Powers AU where Tony and  Bucky reunite after a tragic event tears them apart.  It came in at 1013 words.  

Post July Break Bingo 2024  [pJBB_24] (Ends 30 Jun 2025)

I requested two 2x3 cards for this  Discord-server only event from @julybreakbingo  – so if you want to join in the fun, let me know and I’ll try to get you an invite!  I have four  fics posted & 0 WIPs - need to figure out some more crossovers.

Fandom Free Bingo: Gingerbread Edition  [FFB]   (Ends Nov 30 2025)

The @fandom-free-bingo blog offers up themed cards on a monthly basis - I requested a 3x3 card (with 3 alternates) in December and have two fills already.  Signing up for a February card today!

* Alt1 - Surprise Kiss - see CACBB - * A3 - A & B going on a spontaneous road trip above

Year of the OTP [YOTP_25]   (Ends Dec 31 2025)

Decided to jump in on this challenge where you create (at least) twelve works for a specific pairing by using the monthly prompts provided.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that WinterIron is my pairing of choice for this event!

* January - Sharing Clothes -  filling this with a new chapter of  Carrying Things Forward  - a followup to my omegaverse fic A Little Bit Carried Away where  Alpha!Bucky has moved in with omega!Tony and they’re figuring out their relationship.   It came in at 1342 words.  Chapter Three is in progress at 561 words.  

* January - Stockholm Syndrome -  used this prompt in combination with last week’s Flash Fiction Friday prompt  [#FFF288 Loud Lie, Quiet Truth]  for Redirected Aim .  The Soldier’s mission had been to retrieve the serum Howard Stark had reformulated, leaving no witnesses.  He chose a different target.  It’s a WinterIron fic that came in at 687 words and will get posted to Ao3 before the event ends. 

Warm and Fluffy   Bingo  [WFB]   (no end date)

Nine fills on my card, courtesy of   @warmandfluffybingocards  - need to try for another crossover or two!

* G1 - Kiss on the Forehead - Filled this with A Damper on Dinner - a domestic Stony ficlet where a power outage threatens their romantic dinner.  It came in at 151 words and will get posted to Ao3 at some point.   

————

On  other creative fronts:  I’m working on a Stitch  figure for myself, with my final  Marvel Trumps Hate 2024 auction being next up: Steven Grant in his asylum outfit.    

If  you’re looking for one of a kind gifts for birthdays or other celebrations, check  out Stuffed With Character    over on Facebook for a full list of my designs (now over 150!).   These soft stuffed figures are  mostly Marvel and monsters, but I have some Star Wars, Star Trek, DC   and Disney figures as well. Plus I love to take custom design   requests  for any fandom!  I’m currently booked through the next couple of months, but should have commissions opening up this spring.  

[ilightmytorch]

My Year in Writing, 2024

I wrote 201,352 words in 2024. That was considerably less than the 300,000 I was aiming for, but is still a personal best. I have officially crossed the 1 million word mark!

Although I didn't win NaNoWriMo, November was still my most productive month. You can see the dip in the graph below related to packing and moving during July-September. Overall, I wrote 551 words/day, 488/day outside of November, and December 31 was day 2,871 of my write-every-day streak.

About 2/3 of the words I wrote were fanfiction and the other 1/3 was original fiction. I finished Electric Boogaloo (Jatp Season 2), Wrong Coast (an Arrow fanfic), and They Don't Know About Us (original fiction).

According to AO3, I published 268,014 words this year. However, 148,863 of those words are me re-publishing all of the individual fics for Electric Boogaloo in one fic, so it's really more like 120k.

Plans for 2025

I'm going to try again to use the same word count goals as last year:

I want to hit 50,000 for NaNo in November. For April and July Camp NaNos, I want to write 1,000 words/day, so 30k and 31k.

I want to take it somewhat easy in the three months after NaNo events, so May, August, and December - 600/day, or 18,600 words/month.

For the other six months out of the year, I’m going to try doing “NaNoWriWeek” or 1,667 words/day for the first week of the month and then 600/day for the rest of the month, which will get me around 25k per month.

All of this totals up to about 300,000 words.

With the caveats that 1) I might be moving again, in which case I'll have another 3 months of little productivity, and 2) I may need to spend more time on editing, revision, and marketing this year which might cut into writing time

Fanfiction

I trunked a couple of projects, so I only have 3 fanfiction folders left in my writing folder. I expect Battle of the Five Phantoms to be the only one I actually work on in 2025, though. This is going to be a totally new experience for me--publishing chapters of a multichapter while I'm still writing instead of waiting for it to be done. If I dedicate half my words for the year to fanfiction, I don't think I'll quite finish writing it by the end of the year, but I think I will have made substantial progress. I should have the first 30-40 scenes published--I'll aim for releasing at least 2 scenes/month, but I haven't been writing in order so I may end up with nothing to publish while I fill in scenes that I skipped.

Original Fiction

I'm aiming for February 2026 as the release date for Don't Date the Guitarist, my first book, which sounds like a long time from now but it's really not--I need to put a push on to finish the first draft so that I can do some rounds of revision, editing, and getting feedback. I need to do the same for my lead magnet, They Don't Know About Us, a ~10k short story in the same universe which I'd like to release sometime around September-October. If I can write about 150k in original fiction, that's all of DDTG and Don't Use the Bassist, the sequel. There's also a novella in this universe I need to work on sooner rather than later, so I may start that, too, if I have time. And I will most likely work on other books in this 'verse and/or Christmas in the City when I need a break.

Writer Stuff

Beyond writing, there's so much I have to do to prep for the book launch, including:

picking a penname

launching a website

setting up social media and posting regularly

figuring out processes for self-editing/revising

figuring out how to get feedback

finding a professional editor

going through a whole editorial process for TDKAU and DDTG

getting covers for TDKAU and DDTG

figuring out what kind of marketing to do

probably a lot of other tasks I don't know about yet!

And now I need to get to it! I'm meeting the local writing group at a coffee shop in a a couple of hours, so I need to get ready to leave so I can get started on my words for the year!

[jrow]

2024: Year in Review

Thanks for the tag @calaisreno! Your review got me thinking a lot about my writing this year.

As my kids are getting older, I am having trouble finding free time for myself. Because of that, 2024 had much less writing than years prior. Reading fic too, for that matter, but I hope to start getting through my massive MFL list soon!

In total, I posted just over 41,000 words over 3 stories. But, the time limitations also forced me to write things differently and take on new challenges. When May came along, I was itching to write something, so decided to try to base a story around short bits built around @calaisreno's May prompts. It definitely scratched the itch and I managed to post something every day! The resulting story was Open Your Eyes (T, Words = 17,073 over 31 chapters). Although the story could absolutely use a good edit, I think it hangs together pretty well given how it was written. I absolutely loved writing Rosie in this one, although I admit my fave chapters are the Mycroft POVs.

I participated in FTH 2024 knowing that it would help "force" me to write. And, luckily, my top bidder (72reasons) gave me a prompt that forced me out of my comfort zone again. For the first time ever, I posted an alternative first meeting, although I didn't quite manage to take it entirely out of canon. That story is Meet Ugly (T, Words = 9,766 over 5 chapters) and I had a lot of fun writing it. I am most pleased by comments that people find parts funny, because I admit I worked at that!

And then it was back to my bread and butter for my second FTH fic. To be honest, the timing was perfect. After writing a couple of stories that deviated from my usual style, I was pretty eager to write a more traditional case fic. But, I knew time wasn't on my side and forced myself to try to keep the fic shorter than usual. My goal was 10k and it ended up at 14,522, which isn't so far off ;). That fic is The Red-Headed League (T, 5 chapters), my update on the ACD story. I tried to think of an alternative update to the title, but couldn't think of anything that had the same "feel". I really appreciate all the love this one is getting. I like it, but the shorter length did create some challenges. I like the case part and I like the Rosie/Fam b-plot, but I don't think they are well integrated as in my other case fics (ie., I don't think it would be that difficult to pull them apart into two stories). I think part of what makes ACD short stories so great is how much plot (and relationship dynamics) is in so few words. But, I suppose ACD never worried about getting our protagonists together and that is a 100% requirement for my stories!

I am not sure what I'll tackle next. I have a few partly finished AUs, but I seem to have trouble bringing those to fruition (the amount of research needed seems insurmountable at times). Who knows though!

This ended up being pretty long, especially considering I started this post by saying I didn't have much time to write ... my gratitude to anyone whose made it to the end 💖💖💖💖💖!

I'm a bit late with this so I won't tag, but invite any one else to share their thoughts on their writing this year. I love to read them!

2024: Year in Review

This year I posted 14 stories, fewer than any other year, but my word count still hovers around 300k, as it has for several years.

This was my first year writing for Fandom Trumps Hate. My story, written for the very generous and lovely @LHRinchelsea, was The Disappointed Optimist's Guide to Sharing a Flat with a Madman. It was so rewarding to participate that I plan to offer a story again this year.

My favorite story I've written this year is Déjà Vu, a closing chapter for the Off Axis series. I may write more for that series, but this one is a story that brought a lot of closure for our heroes and their friends.

My second favorite: This is Family, a fill-in story for The Final Problem (S4Ep3). I combined this into a series with People We Love, an aftermath story I wrote in 2023. "Solving" The Final Problem was a very satisfying endeavour.

I had great fun writing my first Harry-centric story in October, When Harry Met Mary.

I'm closing the year with a parallel story for When We Were Young. My Heart at Your Door will finish posting in January 2025.

This was my second year doing the May Prompts event. In 2023 there were only a few of us, but this past year, it took off in a big way. I think I was tagging over 30 people with the daily prompt! As always, it was a lot of fun. This year we had a number of people writing daily limericks, an activity that has continued for the rest of 2024, and I hope will still be going strong in 2025. Thank you @Friday411 for inspiring that!

My number one project for 2025 is The Secret of Agra, a fic that I've been writing since 2020. I've called it a White Whale, but it might be more of a Frankenstein. 😆 It is finally coming together, though, and I hope to post in 2025.

I don't have any other specific writing goals for 2025. I have quite a happy writing groove, and many WIP that I hope to complete.

I'd love to hear what you are planning for 2025, if you'd like to share! Tagging:

@keirgreeneyes @meetinginsamarra @totallysilvergirl @raina-at

@7-percent @lisbeth-kk @helloliriels @copperplatebeech

@discordantwords @chriscalledmesweetie @holmesianlove

@khorazir @jrow @thegildedbee @ghostofnuggetspast

And anyone I've forgotten!

[kinetic-elaboration]

December 31: The New Year

New Year’s Eve. Doesn’t really feel like it. I don’t want to spend too much time really thinking about the transition to a new year or what have you… it makes me feel nervous and anxious. I’m in that part of my vacation where I can’t enjoy my vacation much because I can only think of it ending. And then going back home and returning to daily life… Well. But it is the last day of the year so I’m going to talk a little about 2024.

First, I have some general life resolutions. The first isn’t really a New Year’s resolution so much as it is my usual post-vacation resolution, except this time coming off of a longer break and with some more resolve. I want to get myself together. I want to stop living the way I’ve been living. It hasn’t made me happy. I want to push myself to do things, to go to sleep earlier, to eat better, to keep a better schedule. I want to feel steadier and more in control. I want to get my literal house in order (my apartment) because I think I deserve a better environment than the one I’ve given myself. And I’ve been on vacation long enough that all of this seems plausible. No big deal!

My regular New Year’s resolution is that I want to expand my creativity this year and make more things. I want to try some more ambitious knitting projects. I want to re-learn how to sew. I want to learn how to bind books. I want to hold things I’ve created with my own hands.

Finally, I have some… plans, ideas for writing next year. I definitely didn’t do most of what I intended for 2023 in 2023. A big part of that is the Time Loop coming up and taking over my life. For 2024 as a whole, I don’t have specific goals or ideas. I have some immediate plans, and we’ll see what happens after that. I do think it would be a good idea for me to significantly lower the number of ideas on my wip list, or in some way redefine the list, not by writing All the Things (simply not possible) but by culling ideas that are not actually of interest or plausible. But, on the other hand, why does it matter if I have a long list of ideas? No harm in that.

So, my writing plan for the coming…unknown period of time:

Finish the Time Loop: I still have 4 more scenes of the draft left. This is such a taunting number! But getting them done is going to remain my first priority. I will also prioritize editing the remaining three unposted chapters. I am not going to post Ch3 until the draft is finished but otherwise, I’ll be posting as soon as I can edit.

Jasper/Monty fic: This is an old one from 2017. Last year I figured out mostly how I want to finish it. I think I can do it in 3 scenes. It’s going to take some prep work (re-reading everything, fixing up the outline) but in terms of writing it’s not the biggest project and that’s why I want to get it over with. I like what I have already written and I want to share it, and that’s my motivation for writing it.

Bellamy/Miller Road Trip: I planned this random fic out to 7 (7!!!) chapters, a ridiculous proposition. But planning it has been quite fun and I want to try my hand at actually writing it. My idea is to write just the first chapter, then take a break for another project. Obviously this is a project so niche it has an audience of one, so I’d like it to be… fun? Over the top of it wants to be? We’ll see.

Southern Gothic AU: I know I need to take this more seriously and put it in a higher priority if I want to finish and post it for Halloween 2024. I know. It’s… scary. But yeah I should be working on this as well.

Free writes and writing exercises: I have July Break Bingo prompts I’m still pulling from and I’ll be starting K/S Bingo in January. We’ll, uh, see how that goes.

So, yeah! The truth is there is a lot of stuff on my WIP list that excites me and a lot of newer ideas percolating and just… a lot. I sure do like writing (hypothetically). My only real-real goal about it this upcoming year is have fun and enjoy what I’m doing. There are no end goals here; there’s no finish line. I just… would like to feel a little better, that’s all.

In many ways, this was a tough one, I’m not going to lie! I’m looking forward positively to 2024!

[campdigimonth]

Camp Digimonth 2023

Hi everyone!  Camp Digimonth 2023 is coming!  I have gathered information for interested parties beneath the cut.

Event Date:  January 1-31, 2023

How it Works:  The purpose of Camp Digimonth is to establish creative habits for a new year by making Digimon content together!  Each participant is asked to set their own goals for the month to suit their creative needs.  All kinds of content creators are welcome (writers, artists, gif makers, cosplayers, whatever your heart desires!).  Participants do not need to stick to one medium; you can write and draw, etc!  And remember that planning and refining are vital parts of creation.  If you want to spend the month outlining new projects or editing old ones, that's great, too!  Content from all Digimon series/games/movies/drama CDs/novelizations/etc is welcome!

There are no prompts in this event.  Participants are encouraged to work on existing projects or projects on their to-do list.

Sample Goals:  

-Time based: Create for x unit of time per day.  This type of goal is especially helpful for folks wanting to establish a daily creative habit and for people who work in multiple mediums.  It can also avoid the pressure of having to generate specific units of finished products.

-Number based:  Draw y images per day/month, write z words per day/month, etc.  This goal is similar to Nanowrimo's goal of writing 50,000 words per month/1,667 words per day, except that you can set your own goal.  Maybe 10,000 words total or 5 finished drawings sounds fun to you!  

-Project based:  Finish a oneshot or short story from your to-do list, knock out that series of drawings you've wanted to make, create that epic gifset, etc!

How to Participate:  You can be as involved or independent as you'd like!  Use the hashtag #campdigimonth2023 and tag @campdigimonth to mark any post you want reblogged on this Tumblr blog.  

-Declaring goals:  I will start checking the #campdigimonth2023 tag in early January 2023 for your Goal Announcements!  Once you have landed on a goal for yourself, you can share it with everyone following the Camp Digimonth blog :D  Share what you will make with everyone, so we can get hype for your upcoming content!  

-Share your content:  Use the same #campdigimonth2023 tag to mark any content you would like shared on this blog from January-March 2023 (the later months are intended for more coverage for multi-chapter fics and comics, or any works too complex to complete in January).

Content Rules:  

1.)  All content must be original (no reposting/content theft) and created during January 2023

2.)  Submissions are accepted

3.)  OCs are welcome (human and fakemon)

4.)  Character bashing/ship bashing/season or game bashing is not allowed

5.)  Tag any potentially triggering content

6.)  Shipping/romance is welcome as long as it is work safe and obeys all other guidelines

7.)  This blog and the Discord chat are FAMILY FRIENDLY.  The mods have no way to know how old everyone is, so to prevent any issues, all content reblogged on the official Camp Digimonth Tumblr and discussed/shared in the Discord must be fit for general audiences.  Sample topics that will not be reblogged/will result in a Discord ban include, but are not limited to: sexually explicit content, violently graphic content, incest, human x digimon romance pairings, highly dark themes (drugs/torture/non-consensual actions/etc), pedophilia.

Notes on the Camp Digimonth Discord Server:  At this time, the server members have voted to keep the server closed to new entrants.  However, everyone is welcome to join the event on Tumblr.

Notes on Reblogging

I (ahiddenpath) will reblog posts in line with the content rules above and tagged   #campdigimonth2023 on this blog.  Please allow 48 hours for me to reblog and queue your post.  After 48 hours, please feel free to send me a gentle reminder via Tumblr DM or the Discord if I missed your post.  I am but mortal!

Notes on Questions

Got questions about this event?  No problem!  Use this blog’s ask box to ask them!  Please note that anon asks are turned off on this blog.

Thank you so much for your interest in Camp Digimonth!  I look forward to creating together!

[eirian-houpe]

TMI Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

Late, late, late today, but finally here. Been writing, still hitting those daily goals. Tomorrow is a TWD (not The Walking Dead, though it may as well be - teacher work day), so I can stay up late today... if I can stay awake that is. It’s already past my bed time.

I finished Disparate Pathways. That’s a really strange feeling.  Relief and sorrow both at the same time.  It’s not all edited or posted though so... I’ll see it again for a while.

Since no one wrote me which fic they’d like to see me write next (as folks were invited to do), I had to choose one myself, so I’m now working on Time’s Curse, another book AU.

So... hit me up with some questions about those fics or any others you might want to know about... anything you want to know.

Here are some other suggestions for you…

Ask suggestions

Ask something about any of my fics (full list is below the cut). If you want specifics from some fics that are already outlined, you can ask about:

Disparate Pathways, Chapters 46 through 56 All Our Past Mistakes, Chapters 11 through 44 Lover’s Leap Series, Stories 15 through 31 Time’s Curse, Chapters 4 through 10 Laer o Faen, Chapter 27 & 28 Stargate: Atlantis, Harms Way or any of the 20 fics in the series.

Ask something of any of my characters in general or you can get really specific if you like - for example you might want to ask Gold from Pawn Shop a question about a chapter, a thought, a feeling… (the world is your oyster really)

Ask about my process as a writer, what makes me tick,, or even ask about me personally. Almost nothing is off limits.

Also, if you want to see a specific character or fic featured in Three Things Thursday, or Saturday Secret, feel free to send in prompts, if no one does, then either the choice will be random or they just won’t happen at all. I made an analogy for why that might be in a different post about a car stuck in the mud with spinning wheels. Those wheels are still spinning!

Please remember: if you read a fic you enjoyed on AO3 or on Tumblr (not just mine), please take the time to comment and/or leave kudos, and to reach out on TMI Tuesday. It means a lot to the writers and artists.

You can find all my fics currently on AO3 here, and there is a full list under this cut.

Storybrooke’s Best Kept Secret - Rumbelle

Darkness In Hyperion Heights - Woven Beauty au

Seven Tastes - Rumbelle

Tuesday - Rushbelle AU

The Language of Flowers Series - Rumbelle

Disparate Pathways - Rumbelle AU

Scattered - Rumbelle AU

All Our Past Mistakes - Rumbelle AU

What the Actual Fuck! - Sutherelle

Breathe - Rushbelle

The Lover’s Leap Series - Rumbelle

Awakening - Rumbelle

War Is Coming To Storybrooke - Rumbelle

Given No Choice - Rush

Thoughts On A Happy Ending Series - Rumbelle

Darker Hearts Series - Wish!Rumbelle

Modern Wonders - a OUAT/Alice crossover

Time’s Curse - Rumbelle

The Pawn Shop On Main Street - Rumbelle

The Mansion On the Edge of Town - Rumbelle with a side of Jefferson

Cobra: In Your Prayers - Cobra/FatWS/UC:Undercover et al

To See Series - Rumbelle

Nobody Knew (Bingo) - Rumbelle

Secret of the Seas - Rumbelle AU

Butterfly and Phoenix - ST:DSC

Laer o Faen - Tolkien

Ship’s Rats - ST: DCS

I Amar Boe Men Heb - Tolkien

Coming Down - Halt and Catch Fire

Armor of Ice - Halt and Catch Fire

Duath i-Achas Eriol - Tolkien

Balance of Terror - Sleeper Cell

What To Believe - UC: Undercover

If: In The End - UC Undercover

Precious - The Mummy Series

Forbidden - The Mummy Series

Power Is - The Mummy Series

Angel of the Heart - The Mummy Series

Star of the Morning - The Mummy Series

Not Yours To Keep - Foundation (TV)

No Saving Throw - Stranger Things

Here are fics that haven’t yet been started, but are in the Muse’s bucket.

The Miner’s Day Festival - Rumbelle

Aftermath - Rumbelle (with a side of madness)

Saving The Dark One (WT) A twist on a twist of Rumplestiltskin.

Brought To You By The Color… (Red)

Calcul(us)

(In)consistent equation

The Boston Storybrooke Line

Breaking the Waves (Movie AU)

ILP (or IEP) for Rumple.

One Last Wish

In Service to My Son

Playground Games

Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed

“Only Remembered For What We Have Done.”

Librarian: UC

Exquisite Harmonies

[tamorasky]

2021 Fanfic Year in Review

Thanks @thecassadilla for the tag 💕

Total Completed Works: Completed this year (2 WIP)

Word Count: I think about 174,025

Fandoms I've written for: Frozen, She-Ra Princess of Power (unpublished)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected? I honestly wrote less than I was expecting, I feel like it was a lot more but also taking into consideration that I've only been writing a long fic I'm trying to finish. I wrote a lot more in 2020, but I'm hoping I'll be able to pick things back up in 2022.

What's Your Own Favorite Story Of the Year? I think my favourite has to be Rise to Me, I thought a lot about this question but I spend so much time carefully planning and it's something I'm really proud that I've worked on. (It's even surpassed Mistress Anna for being my favourite fic of mine for all time)

Fanfic goals for the new year: I'm gonna finish Rise to Me, that is the main one for sure. I've had a few AU ideas rattling in my head for a while now, so I'd even like to make a few of them into one-shots to just get them out. And to post my drabbles I wrote this summer onto AO3 finally.

Most popular story of the year: Rise to Me for sure, I think its my most popular story of all time. I was super surprised I wasn't expecting the attention for it that it's gotten. My most popular one shot which got a lot of attention was Thank You, My Dear.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, IMO: HMM...I think my Turn of the Century AU I LOVE this AU so much, it's based on one of my favourite TV shows (Murdoch Mysteries) and it's one I think about constantly turning into a full-length fic one day...maybe if I ever get time again.

Most fun story to write: I have two for this answer Mountain Sound and 1970s AU. Mountian Sound I got to do lots of research for which is something I always enjoy and was a gift for a friend who had been helping me a lot with school work. The 1970s AU because it was kind of the start to this planned 70s AU that @thecassadilla and I have been talking about. Plus I've been threatening a 70s AU for nearly 2 years now and it was nice to see it come to writing finally.

Most unintentionally telling story: I guess Rise to Me. There are a lot of reasons why I feel this way; specifically, it deals with the complexity of emotions and how different people cope with them (whether healthily or unhealthily). There are a lot of personal things that went into this fic, specifically Elsa coming to terms with her sexuality, which has been something I've been working through this past year and continuing to work through. So yeah....

Biggest disappointment: I think not finishing Rise to Me by the end of 2021. Especially since I wrote Mistress Anna (31 chapters) in 6 months whereas this one (40 chapters) has taken me over a year now to complete. But I'm trying to go easy on myself and not stress about it, especially cause I'm trying to finish my degree and acknowledge my limitations.

Biggest surprise: I think...just personally like how much my friendships have grown within the fandom. I met so many people in 2020 when I joined (many inactive now). I've always been one of those people who believes "a good thing can never last" and I always thought that many of those friendships wouldn't last. And some didn't, but the ones that did have only grown to mean so much more to me. And that's all because of the Frozen fandom. Because I genuinely came into this space not expecting to make friend and the fact that I've made (hopefully) life-long ones is a really great surprise. (BLEH TOO SAPPY?)

Tagging, ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

[natigail]

July 2022 - natigail recap

This month I didn’t post anything at all, which was the plan, since I was busy prepping for daily posting during August, aka. PEDIA. So let’s look at how much I’ve written to get ready!

It’s possibly the most I’ve ever written within a single month with a whopping +97k words done in just 31 days. I’m happy to see that a fic could push off my journalling as the most consistent “work” by a fair bit! But if anything can be wordy, it’s my Stardew AU (Broke, Gay and New in Town). It felt so good to be back in that magical world. I also worked well on my skz vampire/lawyer AU (upping the expected chapter count from 4 to 5) and then several “smaller” focuses on lots of the other PEDIA fics. I picked back up writing for my svt shapeshifter AU and I forgot how fun and silly that was. I couldn’t stop myself from working on the skz magical AU and svt mafia AU (돈't Lie (at least not to me)) even though those were already fully ready with chapters for PEDIA. I picked up writing on my wwx journal fic, and I wrote a one shot for Stranger Things for the first time and I put some planning down for the gift phanfic. Overall, very good! I’m proud of myself this month.

I had put my goal back up to 2k a day for June and I made it! Only just but I did! A total of 62.598 words in the whole month. I’m quite amazed that I managed it since I am still getting used to my new job and my energy has been impacted but look at me go! I’m proud.

I know now that PEDIA will contain 9 fics - 6 of which still need work. Four of the chaptered works need one or two chapters and then two one shots need to be finished. That’ll be what I’m working on this week. (Check out my PEDIA specific update here). Please wish me luck with writing, editing and posting all these fics! Yay!