#woodytwig

[sapphoshands]

14 and 18 for the year end thing pls!

14. Favourite book you read this year?

i was hoping no one would ask this because i could NOT think of anything i'd read that really made an impact at first! so i went to see what i had bought this year and actually omg i DO have an answer. totally totally the steerswoman by rosemary kirstein (and sequels). they've been on my list for years but i think the last few times i looked, the library didn't have them, or didn't have the first one, or something. but i finally got the first one sometime this summer and devoured it and the other three, and then bought my own copies, and followed the author. and i am now part of her patreon to help fund the writing of the final books. these are incredibly inventive, unique, genre-defying novels with incredible characters and a fascinating world. if you like SFF and have not read them, i hugely recommend. and now i want to re-read them...

18. A memorable meal this year?

i answered this once, but i must've eaten more than one good meal, hm! you know what? every year i spend a week at a work event in a different city that involves four or five ten- to twelve-hour days inside a very black box. in 2023, we discovered a DELICIOUS food court salad place and ate probably half our meals from there, and i was genuinely excited to go back and order from it again, and it was just as good every time. it's THE most basic but during that ridiculous week it is so good and healthy and filling. (we also had a pretty decent mid-week meal at the v fancy restaurant attached to the building, but nah, i remember the salads.)

(year-end asks)

[lavendelhummel]

I was tagged by @onaperduamedee to do this game, thank you for that!! I obviously am not good at short questions-short answers but I will do my best ;)

Last song: I started my top100 of 2023 list from Spotify while dying my hair earlier, so there was a good mix. The last one I consciously remember was Ne m’applle pas, by Coeur de Pirate. (ah, looking for that link, I saw that there was Requiem on Water (yes, from the twilight soundtrack) Talking to the Moon, Greensleeves, Bobby, and currently River from the Sky, playing in between)

Currently watching: Star Trek Voyager! I enjoy it so much! It’s fun and I like the characters so much! I like how they care for each other and that the relationsips are so various and most of them not romantically but non the less important. They seem so real. And I enjoy the fact that it’s episodic plots and a lot slower than newer series a lot at the moment. I was overwhelmed with the fast paced dramatic stories and got stressed out by things I actually like. Voyager is calmer and let’s me actually relax, so that’s great.

Three ships: Siuaraine (Wheel of Time), Bering and Wells (Warehouse 13), and… those are the two I am hung up about. Oh, I also wrote fic for Marla/Fran from I care a lot. But not currently. I am currently positively surprised by liking a hetero ship for the first time in years, Tom/B’Elanna from Voyager, it’s cool to see that when the characters are well done, I can also like them even though they are not gay. But keeping it with wlw and also WoT, I am still sailing my little Berelain/Annoura (WoT) ship all by myself.

But yeah, I’ll leave it at those two, there is no third invading my thoughts as much as them.

Favorite color: used to be blue, but I discovered that I like red. Also yellow! Maybe that. But seriously I love colours in general, the more colourful the better, I am not choosing.

Currently consuming: The weekend. Or, ehm the plant hair-dye on my head?

First ship: ouufff, first fic I read was about was Amelia/Owen from Grey’s Anatomy. Well. Made me question a few things about myself because *I liked her so much*.

Relationship status: Very single in my little bubble, and trying not to feel bitter about my well of loneliness (ha, what a great lesbian pun I got in here 😅).

Last movie: But I am a cheerleader with @lilolilyr! I fell asleep… sorry. But we watched D.E.B.s right before, I was awake, and it was great.

Currently working on: Trying to combine two intense work things with also taking time off, to feel less burned-out while doing all of this. It’s a challenge, because time happens so fast, and it makes me feel guilty, but I am trying. Also working on being okay with that, the taking time to chill, not succeeding at things, working on being more okay with myself, less mean, which is even harder. But I try. Fandomwise, still the washing machine/mermaid AU for Bering and Wells and also still Chapter 8 of Yellow for Siuraine (both of which I thought would be long finished my now). I want to finish those so I can start other fun ideas that are cluttering my head/notebook!

The rules said to tag 9 people to get to know better, so let’s see: I am tagging @anandabrat @akittennameddaisy @incompletesong @viharistenno @woodytwig @wibblywobblyida @hecatesbroom @cozcat @masterpieceofunderstatement no pressure to answer these of course, do it if you like to and if not, just don’t ;)!

Thank you for the tag @onaperduamedee!

[trollocks-in-my-bollocks]

tagged by @bubulcitate thanks < 3

currently listening: Mylene Farmer's techno phase

favorite color: this one

currently watching: season 4 of Babylon 5, I'm soo invested, not just because they have a space!Moiraine sweet/savory/spicy: savory/spicy. If I try to eat anything with added sugar at the wrong time of the day, my brain gets foggy; ( currently playing: n/a but back in 2003 I was slaying Super Mario. current obsession: buying real estate on extinct volcanoes. last thing googled: myo-inositol (see the sad part about sugar)

I'm tagging @woodytwig and anyone having the urge

[backlandsofbutter]

tagged by @woodytwig thank :D

last song: bate a poeira - karol conká

favorite color: red

last movie/show: idk if critical role counts? if it doesn't percy jackson

sweet/spicy/savory: depends on my mood, rn I could use something sweet (but in general savory)

relationship status: single babyy

last thing i googled: a wine my friend was talking about

current obsession(s): wot, always. And critical role

tag 9 people: sorry I haven't been here in a while so idk who to tag, if you see this and want to do it consider yourself tagged

[nervouspearl]

get to know me better meme

tagged by @woodytwig

Favourite Colour: Various shades of blue

Currently Reading: At the moment kinda nothing, but I do mean to continue Wheel of Time

Last Song: Had a window open and apparently I just overheard an entire Ed Sheeran concert as he performed nearby

Last Series: A League of Their Own. Highly recommend.

Last Movie: Saw Bullet Train while waiting for a flight

Sweet/spicy/savory: Really kinda depends on what I’m in the mood for but I do have quite the sweet tooth.

Currently Working On: Trying to get back into work mode after vacation

tagging anyone who wants to do this.

[thatordinaryoddity]

braids & memories

My amazing friend @woodytwig and I decided to collab on some Siuaraine fluff. She wrote the most adorable drabble and I illustrated something to go along with. Thank you for the collab, this was so much fun 🤍

The idea is that Siuan and Moiraine used to braid each other’s hair since they were novices and kept up with it over the years or at least did similar hairstyles by themselves to be reminded of those memories (this is also the reason why Siuan had a braided hairstyle in 1x06). We tried to depict them as novices/accepted in the drabble and a bit older in the drawing.

Some things change, but some stay the same.

woodytwig’s wholesome drabble:

"Stop squirming!" Moiraine's fingers tightened in Siuan's hair. "This is really hard."

The gentle pull, the scent of hair oil were so very familiar. Siuan remembered evenings sitting on the floor of her father’s hut. The raucous laughter and jokes, a cousin doing everyone’s hair before the feast. Home.

“I’m not! You stop pulling!”

Now it was just the two of them, in their room, on their bed. These fingers were gentler, more careful, more loving. A tremor of uncertainty to the touch, but that didn’t matter. There wasn’t anyone else Siuan would have preferred. Now this touch was home.

[gabolange]

get to know me better meme

tagged by @queer-nerd85 and @stardustinthesky

Favourite Colour:  blue of any shade, but especially navy and teal

Currently Reading: I started ‘Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir,’ by Ashley C. Ford. I now have to remember to finish it!

Last Song: ‘Something Just Like This,’ by the Chainsmokers.

Last Series: Currently 7/8 of the way through ‘A League of Their Own.’

Last Movie: Still ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once,’ because I watch about five movies a year.

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet with a side of salty and crunchy.

Currently Working On: there is so much work. I am working and working and working...but that leaves little time to “work on” much of anything.

no-pressure tagging @woodytwig, @fuel-prices, @ajoblotofjunk and anyone else who feels like memeing

[sapphoshands]

Trick or treat! 🎃 (anything with knives, swords or other dangerously sharp objects please, interpret as you like)

a trick, because i don't have anything with sharp objects currently in progress (who even am i???) so this may not go anywhere, but here are three (-ish) (okay more than three) sentences just for you:

Vidal wasn't expecting the kiss, but her arms go around Agnes anyway, and Agnes gets her hands under that vest, flat against Vidal's back, where - there. Never mind the gun, Vidal's got another holster, and she jerks in surprise when Agnes unsnaps it with a flick of her thumb and pulls back with her knife. "Spotted this earlier," Agnes says, running her thumb over the flat of the blade, "definitely not standard issue," and she brings it up between their bodies, considering. She drags it down Vidal's shirt collar to nudge against her top button. "Do you always carry a knife in your pocket?" she asks. With a jerk of her wrist, she slices the button off, sending it shooting away under the couch. Vidal hisses as her shirt gapes even lower. "Or are you just glad to see me?"

[sapphoshands]

17 & 29 for the writing meme

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

ahahahaaaaa i mean honestly i just... don't do it? /o\ se also not having posted anything since february! when i've got a deadline and i absolutely have to finish something, i used to find it really helpful to physically change locations to a coffee shop or a library - however, pandemic! i do find it helpful to move to writing by hand instead of on the computer. i used to do all my first drafts by hand and only very recently mostly switched to typing them directly, so going back to the physical object and the more direct focus does help. i also find that coordinated sprinting is really useful either in person or ie on the server, in order to have deliberate focus and some accountability.

29. What’s your revision or editing process like?

i try not to edit much as i write and just get everything down first. i usually re-read whatever i've written when i first sit down for a writing session and will make edits then, repeating that process as i go. i do one or two read-throughs of the whole thing once i have a solid draft - i'm experimenting with the advice to change the font and read it through in comic sans or similar in order to make it feel different, but i'm not sure that has much effect for me. i then send it off to beta convinced either that it is the height of genius and will not get a single note or that it is total crap and my beta won't know how to break it to me. i read the beta probably as soon as i get it back and then either fix things or get angry and let the critique sit until i can admit its validity. :P if i don't make huge changes, i may post from there; if i do make big changes or if i'm not sure i've understood/addressed the notes, i may send it back to beta. i sometimes ask multiple betas to look at stuff, rinse and repeat. and then i post and hope people comment!

thanks for the ask! ask me more from the get to know your fic writer list.

[sapphoshands]

fic writer meme: 💎✨

why is writing important to you?

margaret atwood says 'a word after a word after a word is power,' which i like very much as a writers' rallying cry. if i choose the right words, if i put them in the right order, i can share something that comes out of my brain and make other people have feelings! i just love it! i love the process of getting to those right words, and i love when they resonate with other people. and much as i complain sometimes, when i am doing it right, it's a lot of fun.

What’s a fic you’ve posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

i have to admit i wish there was a bigger liandrin/moiraine contingent out there who wants to talk about greet each overture! but i get it. :P

[sapphoshands]

tagged by @moxyphinx - thanks!

last song: just saw a gifset from chicago so i have 'all that jazz' stuck in my head

favorite colour: peacock blue

last movie/show: visiting family means making them watch wheel of time

sweet/spicy/savory: yes

relationship status: single

last thing i googled: 'anti-covid mouthwash' (i'll save you the google, it's brands with cetylpyridinium chloride)

current obsession(s): the wheel of time brainrot continues *vibrates at a normal frequency*

tag 9 people: (no pressure!) @moocowmoocow @southerlyns @bubulcitate @sapphostistocking @gabolange @always-theocean @woodytwig @thiswildernessismyhome and you

[sapphoshands]

11 & 15 for ao3 wrapped

11. What work took you the longest to write?

hmmmmm... it moves when her body does probably took the longest in terms of working on it more or less straight through, which makes sense as it makes up more than half of the words i published this year! but in terms of time between putting the first word down and publishing, it's probably when the time comes to let it go, because i got notes on a draft in february-ish, got it beta'd in... march? and then didn't figure out how to incorporate the beta until october, when i finished it :P

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

so many! soooooo mannnnyyyyyy. all moiraine/siuan, to be clear. i have the sequel to "it moves when her body does," the first chapter of which is fully drafted, but i might hold off on that a bit as i think the third chapter will reference stuff that is likely to happen in s2 and i want to see how the show treats it and make sure i'm not writing things that are incomprehensible to show viewers. i have multiple of the sappho-title fics in various states of outline or ideas. :} i have one that's either very silly or very heartbreaking or possibly both. i have at least one fic that i probably won't be able to write until s4 or s5. and i have a whole bunch of little idealets that are waiting to be given full form.

ask me more questions?

[sapphoshands]

11 & 25 for the year-end meme

just answered 11!

25. Fandom predictions for next year

oh man, i am so terrible at these. i mean, would i have predicted falling face-first back into wot? i would not have.

uhhhh i predict someone from voyager will get a spin-off; it may not be seven but if it's not it will set up more seven and raffi cameos.

i predict that wot s2 will either debut or have its finale in the one week all year where i work sixteen-hour days through the weekend and will not be able to watch it. (though i hope not, because that's later in the year than i'd prefer.)

i predict wot: origins will become a tax write-off for amazon

i predict that the rosamund pike period film by emerald fennell will set off a rash of moiraine AUs that i will fiercely detest.

i predict the old guard 2 will be extremely, extremely gay.

[sapphoshands]

19, 29 & 33 🙂

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

ohhhh mannnnnn. it has been a long and winding road, my friend! i got on the internet and started writing fic sometime in junior high, so i would have been 12-13 years old? i just... discovered this was a thing people did and immediately went for it as a way to share the love i had for the characters and canons i was into at the time. i wrote some very terrible poetry and ficlets in a couple of fandoms, and the first proper fic i remember finishing was in autumn 1997. (it is still on the internet under - thank god - another pseudonym, and no i will not link to it, and no it is not great, but it's also not terrible!)

that was on usenet, and then i floated around forums and mailing lists for a while, and then got a livejournal in 2001, and... all the time kept reading, and writing, and back then you got tonnes of constructive criticism with almost everything you posted, and it turns out you get better at things by doing them! who knew!

undergrad and grad school and depression and being interested in writing about women in fandoms that only cared about men etc have contributed to periods where i wrote a lot less (though of course i also write in most of what i do/have done for work), but i can say with some confidence that i have been writing fic every year since at least 2002. (wow? wow!)

where i am going is a deeply interesting question for many reasons, but i will say, this time last year i was very much in a maybe i will never have a proper fandom again phase and then i fell face-first into some of the best fannishness i've had in ages, so i am probably here to stay. :P

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

probably 95% of my inspiration is just 'i love this character and i want nice things to happen to her' (with that 5% being 'but first maybe some angst'). i love love love coming up with backstory for things we see in canon (this is one of the reasons i adore characters with long rich histories together). so canon is my main source of inspiration, really. i'm much more likely to be in active, open-canon fandoms for this reason - because i keep getting content to react to.

when that's not enough, honestly, it comes down to screaming about characters with other fans. i am but a simple fangirl and i just want to keysmash into oblivion about the characters i love!!1!

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

i do not! v jealous of all the people who can art (of whatever sort) AND write, but i have never really been inclined that way and i have never made much of an effort to develop any such inclinations, either. and when i develop new hobbies now, i actively try to make them ones that i have to do away from the computer or sitting down in general, so i am unlikely to become any sort of artist in the future. (...though if anyone ever wants to do art for any of my fics, they will be met with much love and adoration, cough.)

[thatordinaryoddity]

You‘re my hardest goodbye

@woodytwig gave me the painful beautiful idea to draw a sad goodbye on a bridge. So here we are with another AU Siuan x Moiraine.

Oh and POV: you‘re Moiriane, you‘re smol and you can‘t hold the umbrella properly because you‘re otherwise engaged.

[thatordinaryoddity]

get to know me better meme

Thank you for the tag @woodytwig <3

Favourite Colour: I don`t want to copy you Woody but I have to go for dark green too, emerald green or something like that

Currently Reading: The Introverts Edge To Networking by Matthew Pollard

Last Song: Cherry by Lana del Rey

Last Series: A League of Their Own (Amazon Prime, 2022) and Better Call Saul S6 (Netflix, 2022)

Last Movie: Choose Or Die (Netflix, 2022)

Sweet/spicy/savory: Savory 100%. I also like spicy food and working on my spice tolerance atm (my stomach does not appreciate however)

Currently Working On: Processing anger, sadness and insecurity but trying to see this as an opportunity to get back to sports, meditation and just doing something good for myself and my body. Also working on my proposal and maaaybe another drawing (soon)

I'm tagging @backlandsofbutter, @noradurst-s, @moiraxne and @moiraiinesedai and everyone who wants to participate <3