#i started reading it and then June 2021 hit and then I just got really sad and stopped 😭

[dodgebolts]

I'm 12 pages deep into this paper, its nuts. Also worldcat and jstor have a bunch of journals.

YAAAA I love jstor it’s my best friend like I found a book on queerbaiting on there that I downloaded freshman year for a paper that’s still sitting on my computer to be read 😭

#i started reading it and then June 2021 hit and then I just got really sad and stopped 😭 #12 page essay.. I do not miss doing that #<- says girl who has 2 years of undergrad left and definitely still has to do that #lyss answers #feralsylph tag

[personasintro]

I started reading Mh two summers ago I think around June/ September of 2021 I honestly couldn’t keep my attention away. I was reading it every moment I got. I’m so proud of you Mimi for achieving what you have, but to realize the bash you’re getting is honestly sad. You’re the last person who deserves that. I remember there was this one chapter of mh I had to wait like so many months for and I remember the excitement I felt in that moment when you reposted was honestly such a great feeling like I was genuinely happy. I tried looking for books that would be nearly as similar as mh but I couldn’t find anything like it didn’t hit the mark like your book did. Whenever I read mh i feel so many emotion s like I I feel like I’m living through that book. Every little moment of happiness or sadness i feel that. That’s what I love about you. Your book made me feel like home. Like I could read any chapter whenever I’m feeling down and I know I’ll be in a better mood later on. The way that it varies. I don’t like that now all the people want in each chap is smut like yeah it’s great but sometimes the little moment we see in between them are so fun to read. Each interaction between tae and y/n or anything of that sort just brings so much happiness. Like I feel like I want to be part of that group of friends. I love your books Mimi. Keep going you’re doing amazing. ( i feel like I’m talking like a granny trying to revive her old memories )

Wasn’t the biggest wait for MH chapter like 2-3 months? And that was purely because I was out of the country for 2 months without my laptop 🥲 and I still wrote many MH drabbles during my stay to make it up to everyone. Sometimes it really does sound awful when ppl say they have to wait for a month or two (which is not even that much in this writing world) and some don’t see what got created instead or the reason why it takes that time. It just feels very tiring trying to justify it each time 🥲

But anyway that’s not what this message should be about. Thank you so much for loving this story! It still feels very unreal that my story can evoke such feelings in people. I still can’t believe it so every time I get a message or comment like this I’m like 😵. I swear! I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.

Thank you for showing me some love and support! 🩵🫶

#💜

[fairygodpiggy]

As winter's wilds send us fleeing for shelter,

My thoughts turn toward the kiss of Costa's sun.

I think of Westerly winds and sandy shores,

And I know that, soon, the dawn will come.

Ride again, early June.

Q: What is this??

A: Well, this is the first time I've been back on tumblr while this event has been held!

This is a teaser promo for Ride the Tide 2024!

Q: What is Ride the Tide?

A: RTT is a virtual summer/beach festival that is put on in XIV in Costa del Sol. It's planned, sponsored, and held by a XIV discord community I helped to found, The Aetheryte Plaza.

We gather RP venues from all over the NA data centers and together, we run various booths for games, refreshments, and hangouts - including a main stage where well known bards will play to get you into the festival mood!

We try to hold it well out of range of the game's official Moonfire Faire, but before Pride events really start kicking off so we don't detract from them.

This will be Aetheryte Plaza's 5th year hosting the festival, and my 4th year helping with its planning!

Q: What caused AP to start hosting a summer festival?

A: The festival was first conceived by a couple of good friends of mine in 2020, just after shutdowns really started happening. And since vacation plans were out the window for a lot of people, they decided to create a virtual festival...and it was a WILD success.

I was only attending as a venue worker for one of the booths, but I got to see it all at the forefront:

We hit the zone cap!

We got the S rank to spawn in the middle of it!

We had mentors mad at us because they couldn't get their little sprouts through Titan, meanwhile said sprouts were running around with stars in their eyes because it was a FESTIVAL and this was the most players they'd seen outside of the main cities!!

People were posting all their screenshots of their WoLs hanging out together!

It was so cool to see how many people came because...in the middle of the pandemic when we couldn't physically leave, we all needed this.

Q: Is this strictly an RP event?

A: Well...the short answer is no, it's RP-lite.

The long answer is: originally it was going to be during its 1st year, but because of its nature, we got a mixed bag of RPers, casual players, streamers, and people who were just there to vibe...so RP kinda got tossed to the side unless we encountered fellow RPers.

If you're an RPer and you want to RP with the people working the booths, go for it!! They'll happily RP with those who want to.

Q: What's your role in planning?

A: If you've come this far, dear reader, I thank you because if you came here because of the image at the top of this post...then you have half of your answer!

I'm in charge of the media aspect - making teasers and posters, etc ❤️

I'm also in charge of the RTT website and the festival's interactive map. That was my addition when I joined the planning team in 2021. No more need to guess where booths are and what they offer!

However, this...is going to be my last year being on the planning team only because I stress myself way out in the late phases of the event planning, and my best friends are putting their feet down 😅

Thank you again if you read through all of this. If this has piqued anyone's interest, then keep up with me! I'll be including tumblr this year as I share RTT posters in a few months!

#eyri #ffxiv #ride the tide #rtt #I'll be helping to judge the glamour contests as well this year! #roegadame #femroe #ffxiv screenshots #gposers #ff14 gpose #ffxiv gpose #roegadyn #my wol

[lurkingshan]

Inspired by @waitmyturtles and @nieves-de-sugui, sharing my journey through BL! Putting this under a read more because I really found a lot of words on this topic. Feel free to skim at will - now that you got me going I have a lot to say!

First, a bit of background. Three big interests of mine really converged to make BL kind of a perfect storm for me:

Romance: I have been an avid consumer of romance stories as far as back as I can remember. When I was a kid I would read several books a week and before I even hit my tween years I always gravitated to the romance genre. Add in film and television and it's safe to say I haven't gone a week of my life without consuming some form of a story about two people falling in love. It is absolutely my shit.

Asian dramas: More recent but no less intense an obsession for me. I watched my first kdrama in 2019 - my favorite gossip blogger (shoutout to Lainey) was constantly posting about a drama on Netflix (It's Okay Not to Be Okay). So I decided to try it out and I instantly fell in love. Kdramas are written nearly exclusively by women, they respect romance as a genre, and they cater to female audiences. It was unlike anything I ever experienced watching Western media. I started watching them more frequently, then when the pandemic hit I found myself with a ton of time at home and a fun new focus issue, and watching dramas with subtitles was a huge help.

Fandom: Since I was a teen I was always kind of hopping in and around internet fandom. When I like something, I like to enjoy it with others and find community around shared interests. And when I'm frustrated with media, I really like to dig into that and explore ways to fix it, so I became an avid fanfic reader, as well. Fandom to fandom my level of involvement varied - sometimes I just lurk around fandom spaces, sometimes I actually develop a presence, and in one instance I even got deeply involved in a fandom community to the point where I was posting meta, writing fic, and leading fan activities.

ANYWAY, after that long preamble, I come to the point: Because I was so into kdramas, and had watched/read a lot of Western QL romances, when I saw Where Your Eyes Linger pop up on my Viki recommendations I clicked on it. I liked it, and immediately wanted to understand more about it, because it was the first kdrama I had ever seen with a same sex pairing, and the format was so different. So I did a bit of research, and that was the first time I ever heard of BL. I was a little mind blown - there's a whole genre of QL romances in Asia??? So of course I set out to find more. I did a general search and the first thing I found was 2gether. This was June of 2021, so it was already about a year following the initial frenzy of that show, but it was still hugely popular and there was fan content about it everywhere. So I journeyed to YouTube to watch it, and that was my introduction to Thai BL and the wider genre.

From there I started looking for guidance on what to watch, and because of my time in various fandoms tumblr was always a go-to place where I knew I could find other people watching whatever obscure thing I was into. I found @absolutebl quickly and started reading their history and analysis posts on the genre. That was when it really sunk in for me how much culture and history there was to dig into, and I was really intrigued by the different styles and industries of each country. So I started working my way through their lists of the top 10 BLs from each country and it all just kind of spiraled from there.

I will not go into detail about every show I watched, but a few highlights:

TharnType: This was the first high heat BL I ever saw, and because I came over from kdramas, the first high heat Asian show I had seen, period. This show is messy and the writing was a hilarious hodgepodge of strong character work alongside absurd plotting and what I came to learn was typical Mame problematic content, but the chemistry between the leads was off the charts. It really set the bar for me in that respect, and got me looking for other examples (which at that time were mostly from Taiwan).

Theory of Love: This one inspires mixed opinions in fandom, but for me it was the first time I realized a Thai BL could not only be fun, but also good (no disrespect to other early Thai BLs but... yeah lol). There was a coherent emotional narrative arc! Smart story structure! Believable character development and earned redemption! Good actors! This one set me on a path to find the good stuff.

I Told Sunset About You: Which led me to ITSAY, the drama that convinced me BL could also be high cinema and art. This show blew me way, honestly. And got me more interested in finding the other more cinematic entries in the genre, which I mostly found from Japan.

The Untamed: When I saw this one on the list for China, I was like wait why have I heard of that? The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi is one of those fandoms that is so big and ubiquitous, anyone who spends time online will have heard of it long before they know what it actually is. This show opened up a bunch of new fixations for me - a new all-time fav character, an introduction to cdramas and the xianxia/wuxia genres, and the discovery of Chinese web novels. It's a very expansive universe with a lot going on outside the romance, unlike most BLs. Which I guess can be good or bad, depending on your perspective.

Bad Buddy + Semantic Error: These are the shows I credit for fully sucking me into the BL fandom on tumblr. Before BB aired, I was just kind of lurking about (it’s right there in the handle, fam) checking a few blogs periodically for recommendations and watching shows at my own pace. But BB and then SE caused such a frenzy that I decided to start watching them live and checking tumblr every week for reactions. I found more excellent blogs (like @bengiyo @negrowhat @laowen @liyazaki) that were posting not only BB and SE content but also commentary about other shows. Eventually I gave in and created a new tumblr account so I could actually follow them instead of going to their blogs on web browser like a weirdo, and my participation in fandom escalated predictably from there.

By early 2022 I had pretty much caught up on most of the history of the genre (though not everything - I refuse to watch Waterboyyy, I do have some standards) and developed a fairly solid understanding of the cultural context around it. I then started trying to keep up with new shows. As a cishet, it wasn’t the thrill of representation that drew me into the genre as much as the thrill of finding a genre that brought together so many of my favorite things, combined with the excitement of seeing the community grow and getting the chance to learn so much from the brilliant people who were watching these shows. Checking reactions to airing shows became a weekly habit, and my watchlist kept getting longer and longer. I learned about which platforms I should be watching on and where to direct my $$ to support the genre. And I heard about so many shows I never would have known existed without this community.

So that’s me! If you made it to the end of this post you are a true champion. Thanks for inviting the conversation @waitmyturtles - it was fun to reflect!

#shan’s journey through BL #more than anyone wanted to know #shan shouts into the void

[takearisk-x]

Firstly I love your writing so much. I am always anxiously awaiting updates on Already Gone and TPFY. What were you doing when the ideas for those stories popped up in your brain??

You’re amazing and we, as a collective fandom, adore you

omg thank you for being so sweet! my chest is all squishy!

the path from you was an incredibly gradual evolution over the span of about six months... it started in june of 2021 while i was listening to a dermot kennedy song. i was deep in my third dramione era and was lapping up any and all angst i could get my hands on. harry/ginny has always been my number one and i was falling in love with them all over again as they are frequent side characters in some fucking spectacular dramione fics. but they were never center stage. at the time i had read *some* hinny fics but never truly jumped in head first because most of what i came across was fluff and/or oneshots and i'm a multichap/slow burn kind of girl and only a few otp: true hinny fics seemed to scratch the particular itch i have for calamitous decisions resulting in a happy ending. ANYWAYS my friend @dammitgranger encouraged me to be the change i wanted to see in the world and write the damn canon divergent fic i wanted to read so badly. and boy did i ever. i picked all my favorite tropes, gave harry & ginny's some post-war suppression, and now we are here, two years later, with two spin offs, a collection of epilogues, and two sequels in the works.

if the path from you crept up on me slowly, already gone was the exact opposite. it hit me like a mack truck while i was listening to a different dermot kennedy song back in november of 2022. amnesia is like my FAVORITE TROPE (right after bodyguard lol) because we, the reader, get to fall in love with the love interest all over again. and harry potter, love interest is the kind of energy i am trying to carry with me at all times. long story short, for the months leading up to that, i had a bunch of little one shots or vignettes that were basically me trying to figure out how harry and ginny got back together in a *epilogue* compliant timeline. i had no idea if i would ever post them, it was just a writing exercise really, me trying to get to know their characters better.. but then after listening to already gone (the song) it was like *GASP* WHAT IF THEY WERE FLASHBACKS! so the premise of an amnesia timeline and a postwar timeline happening in parallel was born. at the time i also desperately needed a writing outlet that wasn't tpfy because i was stuck on chaps 12-14 and i kept trying to force something that just wasn't working so i said fuck it and i started something new. i absolutely adore already gone, for lots of reasons, but mostly because those two idiots live in my head at all times and i can pretty much sit down and write a chapter in about two days with no stress. i love it when writing is no stress. unlike the other fic *cough cough*

god this got long. i'm so sorry. thanks for the question!

ask me anything!

#AMA! #justcallmenursesarah #answered

[psifitopia]

my two cents

So, some discussion of Christianity and homosexuality is going down in the salt and light tag. I'm going to give my thoughts. This post is going to be part confession, part comfort, and part exhortation.

This is a hard subject. There are a lot of personal feelings involved, as will be true, when humans are involved. This is going to be a very personal post. I'm not going to use philosophical language. I'm going to start this with three assertions. This is not an outline of what I'm going to say. I just want these three things in your minds, while you're reading this.

I do believe homosexuality is a sin. 2. Homophobia is a real thing and it, too, is a sin. 3. If we want to obey God, we have to give homosexuals the same unconditional love that we give anyone else. We are all sinners, who have fallen short.

I'm fifty years old and my family, both sides, is from Missouri, a very conservative state. I was raised attending Baptist churches. Homosexuality was almost never discussed...and never with anything approaching Christian love. It's important that you understand that.

I have heard family and friends of the family talk casually about violence towards homosexuals, up to and including talk about murder. Mind you, this was never carried out. (They aren't brainiacs and would have been caught). But the violent rhetoric was still there. And, most of these people were bigoted in other ways, too.

In my late teens/early twenties, I became convinced that homosexuality was not a sin. I saw the bigotry around me and couldn't reconcile that with what I knew, or thought I knew, of God. I honestly thought they were using the Bible to justify their bigotry. And, you know? They still might have been. You can use true things to justify garbage behavior.

Now, this conviction was not entirely other people's fault. Part of it was my own sinful desire to engage in fandoms with slash pairings. It excited me, for various reasons. Also, my dearest friend, one I will always love as a sister, came out as bisexual. I didn't want to believe she was sinning. She had always been a strong Christian and I couldn't imagine her going astray.

I spent twenty-plus years writing m/m slash fiction, including erotica.

Then, I got back into church. I found myself surrounded by loving, Godly people. I started not just reading the Bible, but studying it. I spent time with other Christians in small groups. And, I listened and learned.

One time, an elder of our church told a story about an interaction he had with a homosexual friend of his. The friend asked my elder what he thought of homosexuality and was told, "I love you as a brother, but I think it's wrong."

I can't emphasize enough how that hit me. I can not begin to imagine anyone I grew up around, not parents or grandparents, saying that. I can't imagine any homosexual trusting them enough to even ask. Well, no. I can imagine one person in my family being that kind...my late aunt Kelva. My elder's comment helped plant the seed for my repentance and he has no idea. One day, I'll have to tell him.

In June 2021, I decided to stop writing slash. I had already stopped writing porn and using profanity. I wasn't yet convinced homosexuality is sin, but, well. Here's a link to my post at that time, where I explained myself:

I honestly don't know, why God rejects homosexuality. I can make some decent guesses, but I don't claim to know. I don't need to know. I just trust God and submit to His will. But, here's the thing. If you go through your entire Christian walk and never have a moment where you're like "whoa, God, I don't agree with that" or "um, God, really? That doesn't seem fair" or something of that nature? If getting to know God doesn't challenge you? If everything God commands and says leaves you feeling warm and comfortable? You're probably not worshipping the real, living God. You're probably worshipping an image of God that you've tried to remake in your own image. Your understanding is human and limited. That's why the Bible warns us to not lean on our own understanding.

So, yes, homosexuality is a sin. But, we who know the truth have to be careful how we dispense that truth. We have to give love. No one is going to respond well to violence. No one is going to respond well to having abomination screeched in their faces...and these are all things the homosexual community has faced from a Christian community that sometimes has a bad case of i'm-right-itis. Being correct on a point does not justify any and all behavior and we have to stop pretending that behavior doesn't exist.

Here's the exhortation, put plainly. Homosexuals have to admit that same-sex physical relationships are sin. Submit to God. Is refraining from your body's urges really so much for God to ask from you? He's given you everything, including his life. On the other hand, Christians have to start showing homosexuals love and follow the Bible's commands on how to deal with persistent sinners, which is basically leave them alone. Peter and the other apostles were told to shake the dust off their feet and walk away, if a household wouldn't listen to them. Paul told congregations to send members away. Laws were not passed. Politics didn't enter into it. It's only by showing radical love for God and each other that we can shine as lights. And, I know the internet is fairly tone deaf, though entirely, but c'mon. Read your words before posting them. Would you want someone to talk like that to you, even if you were wrong? Well, then.

Now, for the comfort. This is for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community reading this. I love you. God loves you. Your attraction to other people is temptation, but temptation is not sin. Acting on the temptation is sin. You deserve to be as safe in this world as anyone else. You are just as valuable. I'm a sinner by nature, too. Heaven knows, I need a savior and praise Jesus for his forgiveness and love. Don't take our rejection of your sexuality as rejection of you. You are far more than who you enjoy sleeping with. We want you reconciled to us. We just need it to be on God's terms.

#christianity #salt and light

[beshrew-my-very-heart]

Thank you @backslashdelta for tagging me in this! I really enjoyed reading your list of fics, and it's given me a whole bunch to add to my list of fics to read!

Rules: List your "top 10" (or up to 10 if you haven't written that many) fics ranked by kudos on AO3. Are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? Then, under a cut, provide your ranking of your personal top 10 fics (with explanations if you want!), and then tag a few fellow writers!

Top 10 AO3 fics according to kudos:

The Thorn Between Two Roses (271 kudos) (July 2013)

Gotta Secret, Can you Keep it? (225 kudos) (June 2013)

Clothes Maketh the Man (172 kudos) (October 2020)

The New Kid (155 kudos) (March 2021)

A Story is a Journey (151 kudos) (April 2021)

Glee, Eventually (126 kudos) (October 2020)

Private Show (104 kudos) (February 2021)

Centerfold/Hot in Herre (98 kudos) (March 2021)

Sociological Studies A (94 kudos) (April 2013)

Just One Day (86 kudos) (June 2021)

So, in the breakdown of the top ten above, I also included the vague dates that they were posted on, because when I saw the first two, I started to immediately form a hypothesis that "Oh, these are all going to be fics that I posted whilst Glee was still airing!" And then I was really surprised when I found out that the vast majority are one-shots I posted over the past couple of years!

I think it's interesting what the different ships we have here:

Sam/Kurt: 5

Puck/Kurt: 2

Mike/Kurt: 1

Sam/Kurt(/Jake/Ryder/Marley): 1

Sam/Kurt/Puck: 1

I also love that we've got some pretty wild AUs, and some pretty interesting canon diversions in there too. I was surprised that Just One Day was so low, but the fact that both that and Sociological Studies are at the bottom reflects the fact that they're part of longer series? The Thorn Between Two Roses might be longer than either of them, but then I was posting that at the same time as the show so people were more invested back then.

Top 10 AO3 fics according to me: (Or, a bullet-pointed list in no particular order, because I don't feel good about ranking my own stories, but want to highlight a couple that I wish had got more love.

The Game of Love was all Rained Out and Fate Will Twist the Both of You - A collaborative work I wrote with my writing partner Nubianamy about Sam and Finn meeting at football camp the summer before Glee Club, and the sequel written in epistilory format of letters Finn and Sam send back and forth during that year. There's a third story written that we mean to edit and post some day too, covering the summer between seasons one and two.

Soul Soul Revolution - Although the first story in the series managed to breach the top ten, this is the story that I think I'm most proud of. It's a retelling of Season One of Glee, where Kurt hits his head as he's thrown in the dumpster, and ends up in a Freaky Friday situation with a certain blonde from Tennessee. The story has only grown from there, and I update every fortnight. We're starting to get close to Sectionals, guys!

I'm going to tag @nubianamy, @starkurt, @davesdude80 and anyone else that wants to do this!

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

june 25, 2021 2:00 p.m. newcrest counseling center

[margot] before i forget, i got you a few books…

[grant] oh really?

[margot] i give all my trauma patients books at some point. so here you are. these will get you started. the first one is a really great in-depth look at trauma as a historical and inherited process and it's called "it didn't start with you." and the second one is a new book that was recommended to me.

[margot] i'm so glad you happened to mention that the previous exercise worked for you because that second book is a thirty day challenge. maybe start on it the first of july. every day, open it up and do that day’s exercise. each one is different and targets a lot of various topics. some are pretty heavy, some of them are lighter and more fun. i thought you might appreciate that. it’s also a little bit more regimented, since you seem to like having something specific to work on towards versus doing open-ended work.

[grant] i'm actually really surprised "the body keeps the score" isn’t in here. i hear about that one all the time.

[margot] it is an excellent book, but i don’t think that’s the book for you. you’re welcome to read it on your own time, but i'd recommend you don’t.

[grant] why? just curious.

[margot] it’s a very hard-hitting book. my clients who have read it say they struggle to tackle more than a couple pages at a time. most importantly, the main theme of that book is how trauma makes us sick…

[grant] and i have an incurable autoimmune disease because of trauma.

[margot] exactly.

[grant] you know, getting diagnosed with that was the only reason i came to decide i need professional help for my trauma and mental health issues. if i hadn’t, i would have persevered on without help.

[margot] really? i didn't know that was your big reason why.

[grant] if you want the full explanation, i'll give it to you.

[margot] sure, go ahead.

[grant] i've been physically ill for a long time. i remember getting sick right after my oldest sister died. it just came out of nowhere. i woke up and my whole body was nonfunctional for a few days. i couldn’t even get out of bed. no one knew what was wrong with me, though it’s not like my parents even cared. they thought i was being dramatic.

[grant] and then i stayed sick. i can’t remember the last time my body didn’t hurt. but no one listened because i've always remained able to function in daily life until i obviously injured my back at work. then finally a doctor had to put me through imaging instead of dismissing me.

[grant] and what do you know, they were stunned to see such a severe case of my disease. they told me that people my age with my disease don’t usually have half their spine fused together already. i guess that’s more common when you get older, like middle age and up, but mine was already terrible. it was so bad they made me go see a functional medicine doctor to figure out why. of course it was trauma and inflammation.

[grant] that information didn't make me ecstatic. i've been through the ringer, some of it my fault and some of it not, but i got mad at myself and wondered i could have avoided getting sick if i'd done better and been nicer to myself and my body, or if things had been different in my life.

[margot] precisely why you don’t need that book. you already know that trauma makes you sick. all that book is going to do is make you feel worse. we can’t go back in time and undo the damage. you’ll only further resent that your health was destroyed and resentment is already such a troubling part of trauma.

[margot] there are some great passages or quotes in there, but it’s not worth it. i could easily just give you the good cuts out of it.

[grant] well, thank you so much for these. i really appreciate it. i'll for sure start on the thirty day thing first thing next month. any recommendations for how to do it?

[margot] no, you just answer the prompts or do the exercises however you see fit, and you can do whatever you need to get you thinking or ready to write. the only thing i'd maybe recommend is getting yourself a nice journal to write everything in. my clients said it was a lot more impactful to have something dedicated for it instead of typing it or putting it on a random loose sheet of paper.

#ts4 #the sims 4 #sims 4 #sims 4 story #ts4 screenshots #simblr #hlcn: everything the stars promised #we're in the brief phase i like to call 'establishing backstory mode' #i mean okay backstory is ALWAYS important here but jgkfdjgklfdgd #holocene.docx #holocene.png #hlcn: grant #hlcn: margot

[mysimtopia]

Where I Have Been: An Update

Long time no post, yeah?  Last time I posted here was March 2020, literally two years ago!  Time has flown by, and a lot in my life has changed (most of it for the better).  In my head, I know I don’t owe anyone any explanations as to where I went, or why I stopped posting, but a large part of me wants to.  So, here we go!  I’ll explain my life from where I left off last here, March 2020.

March 2020 Shit really hit the fan in March didn’t it?  The whole world shut down, and we were all locked in our homes!  Many would think that would mean lots of time for Sims, but this is where things went horribly wrong computer wise for me.  I had posted here that I was in the process of getting a new PC, which I did.  I kept encountering problems from there.  None of my discs would read (they’re older than shit, so makes sense), and I had to go through the process of getting digital download codes for them, which was a pain in my ass.  I had that all set up, then encountered issues transferring all my CC files to the new PC.  In short, I managed to royally fuck it up and lost all my files.  It was at that time I decided to throw the rag in, and stop playing Sims 3.  I had lost years of CC I had collected, many of it not available online anymore, and I was more than discouraged.

July 2020 Things were getting better, but not by much.  I was knee deep playing Animal Crossing most of the time, and I spared not a thought towards Sims at all.  I posted occasionally some Sims 4 pictures on my other Tumblr, but I was mainly active on Animal Crossing.

December 2020 I think around this time I posted a comeback post on Instagram?  Spoiler alert: I didn’t come back.  The energy wasn’t there at all, and I ran into the same issue.  I felt this overwhelming sense of fatigue if I even wanted to go near my computer.

February 2021 A new year!  It started off shitty.  My mom broke her ankle and I essentially became a care taker, and was barely able to do anything I wanted to do.  Which really didn’t bother me, as my mom has been the biggest help to me.

July 2021 I earnestly began looking for a job again.  Corona really threw me for a wringer, and people kept saying so many places were hiring, yet I could barely get an interview!

April 2022 Quite a big jump!  I’m not proud to say not much happened between July 2021 and April 2022.  I still hadn’t found a job, and I was struggling mentally to cope with the fact that I was essentially a 23 year old woman not contributing to help my mom pay bills.  I was so depressed, but things really began to shape up for me.

May 2022 Well, you might as well call it June, but I GOT A FUCKING JOB!  I was ecstatic, and finally felt like life was going right for me.  My luck was finally back.  The job is a lot of hard work, but it’s totally worth it, and the people I work with are amazing and kind!

And there you have it!  That’s where I have been really.  Long winded, yes.  But I felt like you all needed some sort of explanation.  

I just want to thank the few people who reached out to me on Instagram to check on me every once in awhile!  I’m okay, and now am beginning to thrive.  A big thank you to my mom, who has supported me and my decisions.  She’s truly the best mom I could ask for.  Also, a big thank you to my Sims Crossing community on Discord for keeping me sane these past two years!  THANK YOU x1000!

What happens next? Well, I’m currently installing Sims 3 back on this computer.  So, where do people get CC from now a days for Sims 3?  Because I haven’t logged into this Tumblr in two years and have zero clue what’s been going on!

#megan's adventures in the real world #megan rambles #non sims

[lerya-fanfic]

I posted 120 times in 2022

14 posts created (12%)

106 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cyborg-franky

@phoenixkaizen

@arielxlazarus

@autpunk-arsonist

@marco--the--phoenix

I tagged 41 of my posts in 2022

#one piece - 14 posts

#fanfiction - 11 posts

#writers of tumblr - 5 posts

#marco the phoenix - 4 posts

#writing - 2 posts

#portgas d. ace - 2 posts

#fanfic - 2 posts

#this - 2 posts

#bleach - 2 posts

#writers - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 37 characters

#i keep thinking someone else wrote it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Hello. I'm here to ask for your permission to translate A grandfather's gift to keep the family together from One Piece to Portuguese-Brazil, I really liked the story and I wanted other Brazilian fans to read it, I'll give all the credits and if you allow I'll be translating on wattpad with the user of ET-Black.

Hi, I don’t mind. I already have someone who translates to Portuguese but she doesn’t do One Piece, so you can go ahead. Please send me the link after you finished so I can link it in the original. And give propper credit :) Otherwise have fun ^^ 

2 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

#4

~ ONE WANDERING ASK ~

A solitary ask is now in your box!

Do you have any WIPs?

I have a lot of WIPs to be honest. Right now I have 5 WIPs in progress, that are being posted weekly. 7 WIPs that are being written, but aren't finished yet. 6 WIPs that have been written, but aren't published/posted yet. And 37 WIPs that the Plunny dropped on me that I haven't started on yet.

3 notes - Posted September 15, 2022

#3

Can I brag about this?  I’m just going to do it, but I’m almost as 1K user subs on AO3 - and for some reason that feels like a milestone!

4 notes - Posted January 25, 2022

#2

Fic Writer Wrapped - 2021 edition

I was tagged by @theladygia (thanks for that btw!) on main, so I hope they that I do this on my fanfic account xD

How many stories did you complete?

In total? Over 100, but 93 of those are from October challenges, so I don’t think those count xD 

Full lenght, or multi chap ones; 25

What is your total word count for the year?

1.3 Million 

What fandoms did you write in this year?

One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Harry Potter, MCU, Teen Wolf - I think those are the main ones.

Did you write more, less, or roughly about what you expected?

More, a lot more. I kept getting attacked by my muse and couldn’t just leave well enough alone.

But I enjoyed every moment of it, and am very rpoud of the things I did pyblush this year.

What’s your favorite story of the year?

I can’t believe this is how I fell in love

It’s a sugar daddy/suger baby MarAce fic that just popped up and wouldn’t let me go. I loved writing it, and going from reviews people loved reading it too. 

What is your most underappreciated story of the year?

I don’t know to be honest, I think I’m doing rather well overall. I think my stats are amazing, so I don’t think I have one really.

Biggest fanfic-related disappointment of 2021?

Spelling mistakes, I have this annoying habit of reading over my own mistakes and as such don’t always notice that I left glaring errors in my fics.

People are pointing them out to me, and I go and correct them. I also have someone who is looking over the fics for me, even if I don’t know if I need a beta-reader per se (I just need someone who points them all out).

Biggest fanfic-related surprise of 2021?

The amount of writing I got in, and the suprising easy way I could get them in.

Not to brag or anything, but if I put my mind to it I could get a chapter finished in about an hour. Given that I write at least 2 hours idea, it isn’t that much of a surprise that I can hit 2.5K words a day, on avarage.

Something you look forward to working on in 2022?

My prompts, I want to explore more about what I can do. With they way there are so many prompts lists out there, as well as the option of readers to send some ine I feel like I’ll accomplish a lot this year!

I’m gonna tag… @know-it-all-hermione, @chromiwrites, @phoenixkaizen and @arielxlazarus

6 notes - Posted January 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Davy Back Fight!

@phoenixkaizen, @aspiringtrashpanda, and​ Shadow (no tumblr) completed our fic for the @davy-back-fight; which you can read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41315799 

 It was really fun to do, especially with such amazing writers! <3

8 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[mer-birdman]

this is neither here nor there but

GOSH am i so, so glad for the passage of time. on the one hand, it’s terrifying in so many ways, but

2020 was a Bad Year for me. i lost several friends between january and march (my fault, which didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt), and then the pandemic came and hit right in time for my final term of university to be spent stuck at home. there are a lot of people i never got to say goodbye to properly, friends and teachers and coworkers. my capstone, which was going to involve a gallery display on campus, was chopped down to just the online portion. i didn’t have a graduation ceremony. and then in june i had to move back home to live with my dad, because both my jobs were student positions that i couldn’t keep after graduation!

i got really depressed that year. barely drew, stuck up in my room a lot, feeling incredibly isolated and frustrated with myself. im not saying things were entirely bad — there were ups and downs, and some positives to the situation — just that for me, it was a low point.

but late in 2020 things finally started looking up, and then in 2021, i got real work again! temp work, but REAL, enough that i saved up money to apply for my own apartment! i moved out in august and finally had My Own Place to live. i even took my financial independence and took a trip out of state to see a show and meet friends i’d made online over the past year.

and 2022 continued to improve, with an ongoing temp gig that allowed me to do something i’d wanted to do for ages — take myself and others to shows! i saw three concerts and four musicals in 2022, five of which i bought my own tickets to and two of which i bought tix for one of my parents as well, as a gift. because for the first time in my life, i was able to safely DO that. i started trying to learn guitar, i played D&D with my friends, i kept plants alive for the whole year! i read new books for the first time in an embarrassingly long time!

going into 2023, things are even brighter. i have a new job, a permanent one instead of temp, that’s the sort of thing i’ve been wanting to do for most of the past two years. my apartment is starting to really become a home, and i’m hoping to get a couch this year. i’m happier with my art than i’ve been in a while. i put my mom’s solstice cards up on the wall. i’ve already got one concert picked out for this year, with my eye out for more. i’ve got a lot of things i hope to achieve, and it almost feels like i actually can.

nothing is perfect, but it’s so many miles better than where i was in 2020, and i’m just a little amazed by that.

#personal #sorry for the ramble i’m just. really really glad that i’ve been lucky enough to have this improvement #each year has given more reasons to appreciate being alive

[backslashdelta]

Ao3 wrapped: 3, 7, 11, 20, 29 :)

Thank you so much!!

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

Overall? It Was Only A Kiss. From this year? Echoes of You (my current WIP).

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

I use song lyrics as titles all the time because I absolutely hate naming fics. I have a bit of a mix but I'd say Marianas Trench is the most common artist that I pull lyrics from. I have Echoes of You, All Too Myself, Shut Up and Kiss Me, Don't Say You Miss Me, and Notes of an Old Mistake. :)

11. What work took you the longest to write?

My current WIP (Echoes of You) which I started posting in June 2021 and still have yet to finish. Oops. I promise I'm trying (and to my credit I have posted at least one update per month pretty much since I started posting it).

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

I don't really reread my work actually. Maybe I should, but the past while I haven't been reading much in general, and when I am it's usually not my own stuff. I have reread a few parts of IWOAK here and there though, so maybe that? Never in full though.

29. Favourite line/passage you wrote this year?

Maybe chapter 19 of Echoes of You? Things kind of blow up in that chapter (the chapter is just one scene, so I'm counting the whole thing as a single passage lol) and it's been a long time coming, it's very dialogue heavy and there's a lot of emotion and it's just very juicy you know? I had a lot of it written long before I got that far in the fic just because I was so excited about that conversation/confrontation (I usually write my fics from start to end rather than jumping around).

#ask #ask game #mine #my writing #ao3 #eoy #iwoak #md-drawz #I promise I have fics other than IWOAK and EOY lolol

[phoenix-rising-starbird-one]

I posted 989 times in 2022

That's 232 more posts than 2021!

86 posts created (9%)

903 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@buckymilf

@musette22

@justarandomgirly

@chromium-siren

@dusted-souls

I tagged 386 of my posts in 2022

#writing - 62 posts

#x reader - 36 posts

#reader insert - 24 posts

#mine - 15 posts

#sigh - 13 posts

#shameless self promo - 11 posts

#lmao - 9 posts

#lol - 8 posts

#sebastian stan - 7 posts

#😏 - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#this man’s adonis belt is fucking ridiculous and i’m like looking respectfully cause that shit takes dedication to look like that as in

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass it on to at least give other writers. Let's already the self love 💖

Thank you for this ask, Laralie. 💖💖💖

So I’ve done this before but it doesn’t hurt to give my other works some love.

1. Tesselate - A Stucky x fem!Reader one shot. This one started with the simple idea of what if reader can’t sleep after a botched mission and just went from there. Wrote this one at lightning speed and am really proud of how it came together, keeping Steve’s and Bucky’s traits and pasts in mind.

2. You with me? - A Poe Dameron x Reader story taking place in the Star Wars universe. Right now, it’s on hiatus and only written up to before the sequel trilogy. But it will be written within the sequel trilogy timeline. Fingers crossed inspiration hits me soon to finish this one.

3. You’ve got this! And we’ve got you! - A Stucky x friend!reader (platonic) one shot which I wrote days before I had started chemotherapy. I’d poured all my fears into this one. It’s not for everyone as it’s heavy on medical.

4. I Think We’re Alone Now - A modern AU, Firefighter/EMT!Bucky x plus-size!fem!Reader story. Currently only 2 chapters are posted but I hope to have the next one up soon. I went full steam into writing this and then I kind of crashed.

5. Bread, Salt, Wine and Tender Loving Care - A Bucky x friend!Reader medical drama one shot, written from my own experiences. It’s very heavy on angst. So be warned.

Honorable mention: The follow up to #5, which is Of Comfort Foods and Lightning Bugs and Midnight Dances. This one is Bucky x friend!Reader, Sam x Reader. It takes place two years after BSW&TLC.

Please head the warnings for these stories. Most are 18+. They, like my other ones, are all on AO3 and I’ve marked and tagged stories accordingly. Media consumption is the reader’s responsibility and if you’re unsure about the tags or warnings, skip my works.

12 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

#4

Why is it so wrong when I say that I’m not an ambitious person? Like? I’m not lazy. I just don’t care for the never ending contest of always having to be the best. I don’t care about leaving a legacy or some mark in history. And I feel like that should be okay?

13 notes - Posted June 12, 2022

#3

Just thoughts…

Sometimes, I sit here and wonder if my writings have inspired/influenced other writers.

I know that since I started back in 2015ish, there’ve been quite a few writers on here who have influenced my writing and who’ve inspired me to keep going. @oh-nostalgiaa @rinskiroo @whimsicalworldofme @chromium-siren @revisionaryhistory @plussizeappreciationfics @mycapt-ohcapt @drabblewithfrannybarnes @comfortcap @who-talks-first just to name a few.

When I say influenced, I mean that I’ve read some, if not all of their works, and in turn my story telling has expanded/ gotten better, from syntax to vocabulary to world building. Like never underestimate how much your writings have helped and still help me grow as a writer.

17 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

#2

This took an embarrassingly long time to assemble.

40 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

This gif of Seb is one of my faves ever.

He does the interview, gets distracted as he spots his love either in the crowd or just standing to the side. He’s maybe a little stressed but as soon as he sees them, all that stress just lifts away and he’s visibly lighter and more relaxed.

137 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Neato…

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[threephantomrey]

i’ve got a problem…

so i’m sure by now that at least most of you know i write fanfics, specifically 13 Ghosts fanfics, and have been doing so regularly since 2021. (and that one Dapper Jack fic i wrote last month)

and well, my problem is that im worried that they are actually terrible and that im a bad writer. or that people don’t care about what i write about. part of the reason is because i literally never get reviews on a fic anymore. i used to get more reviews on my stories in 2021, the same year i started writing them regularly. the last review i got was in June on FFN, but i’ve never gotten a comment on a fic on AO3 and i started posting my stuff on there last year. yeah, i’ve gotten a few kudos and hits on my stories, but i always want there to be more. and since i’ve only ever gotten reviews on FFN, i fear that i’ll never get a review again, at least not for a while, since that website is dying now.

and it’s just like, i don’t want to feel like this. and i don’t want this post to make it seem like i’m an attention seeker or that i only write fics just to get kudos and reviews, or that i’m begging for people to read and leave comments on my fics or leave more kudos. i just feel discouraged because of this, like as if no one is actually reading my fics. and sure, i know i don’t tell people about my fics enough, but im worried if i start doing that more, then i come across as annoying. and i don’t want to be annoying, you know?

and i’m also worried that they don’t get the attention that i want them to because people look at them and think they are boring or don’t do the characters or the series justice. and i don’t want people to think that, but i’m worried that’s what they might think. and like, i know there’s not really a big fandom for 13 Ghosts in particular anyways, but idk, something feels wrong here. not to compare myself to other writers or make it seem like i’m envious of them, (though one of the big flaws of my personality is being envious) but i wish i could get similar attention with my fics like them. and i really do hope to inspire someone with my fics one day.

and like, i know that just because my stuff is unpopular doesn’t mean it’s bad, and there are a lot of good fics out there that are unpopular, it’s just i’ve been kinda bothered by this and need to get this off my chest.

#also sorry if this also makes me sound ungrateful for the reviews and kudos that i have already gotten on my fics #im not ungrateful it’s just that i think there could be more #and i like getting reviews! it’s nice to see what people have to say about my fics. that’s why i wish there were more because i have #trouble figuring out what people really think of my fics if they don’t review it #like how am i supposed to know what to improve on and what people like about my fics if they don’t review it? #a more personal post than most of the other posts i’ve made

[coolnightmarerunaway]

June 7th, 2023

The bullshit he started pulling with Kathleen was after Kathleen got uncomfortable about the situation between Jason and I.. (noticed after reading writings)

I wonder if Brianna was a response to Mike.

Which makes me wonder who was Kim for?

I'm looking at the posts. I'm reading them from the bottom up. Every fucking time we got together after I walked away in June 2022, something happened, every time. He wanted to go on a wicked walk, he made it miserable. he invited himself on my walking trail, he made himself miserable. even sitting having coffee, he made himself miserable. every fucking time.

I walked away on June 1st because he was consistently miserable.

He even tried to destroy Hot August nights.. turns out I had a wicked time at Hot August nights. Chris kept me company at the exciting end.

I believe after that, I just stopped paying attention...

I read in one of these posts, he tried to kiss me in May 2022. I would really like to know how that came about. I don't remember.

From my writings I can confirm on two separate occasions, it seems he hit on me, all hell broke loose. Oct 2021, May 2022, Feb or March 2023, Probably March 🤷‍♀️

I know he came over to my house one night. I can't remember if it was February or March 2023. No writings on it. According to Facebook messages he was trying to argue with me before April 14th. Prior to that he was writing to me after 7:00 when he knew I wouldn't respond. (He heard me telling Kathleen seven and eight was too late for me) Then cry about about not hearing from me the next day.

Relationship discontinued April 24th 2023 after head incident.

I don't know what happened between August and December. Other than what appears to be a bunch of rubbish... I'm going to check notes...

August 10th 2022

He said he should have been downtown for the gay pride parade. I said why. He mentioned topless young women dancing on top of floats. I happen to mention the naked bike ride. He looked over joyous to which I responded, it's not what you think. He responded with something along the lines of he doesn't know why I think he is always something to do with sex 🤷so on and so forth.. I'm the only one he speaks with. I simply sat there squinting at him, like you've got to be f****** kidding me bud. I can only assume this was a show for Jason.

Let me check his last maneuver

Everyday there is something

One day he lied about mustang man talking to him. When in fact mustang man was talking to me.

Another time he used gidget to cut me off in his own stupid conversation..

August 21st 2022

We ran into each other a week later

He said hello.. I looked. Was with Terry 🙂

Written date Sept 5th :

Tuesday - conversation about Don and such

Wednesday 31 - motor vehicle branch & bike rally

Saturday - few minutes of chit chat

(I remember the day of the motor vehicle branch in the bike rally. We got pissed on 😃 I was surprised we went up to the bike rally. Looks like the bike rally was August 31st.

He pretty much, he insisted on taking me to the motor vehicle branch, it was different. (I remember that feeling I got when he behaved in a certain way.. funny how I just felt it with that memory)

October 17 dated

Oct 11 - asking how I feel

October 12 - had conversation at Timmy's

"I don't do anything wrong" -

October 16th - showed up at my house. Stayed till 2:00 a.m.... said he saw Brianna driving her mother's gray SUV about 2 days ago. (Everyone knows her mother has a black SUV) When I mentioned Jason spotted a gray SUV in the driveway the night of the storm, he looked like he did when I took the shot at him about doing no wrong. (Caught/guilty/wrong) He also informed me on Friday which would have been October 14th he had a conversation with his wife about how somebody should move out. I asked what she said and he simply said she agreed. (There was something written after this that implied a potential lie to Jason about Brianna's whereabouts)

----

During hurricane Fiona Mike offered me heaters. There was a situation with Ray over this. Ray told me he was keeping an eye on me multiple times. I can't remember the day of hurricane Fiona but I was without power for 12 days. I don't believe I ever saw Ray, really. Even mustang man offered me heaters.

This reminds me of a party I attended. Mike purposely had me sit by him. When Ray showed up Mike looked at Ray and asked him what was wrong. I think that was the night Ray opened the iced tea and I pointed out it was alcohol ... This might have been the night Brian was drunk... Kathleen was at this party she brought the tea. it was in Chris's cooler.

I'm starting to understand why I have no idea what was going on with Ray. I had a friend visiting from out of town, then hurricane Fiona.. 😆

I remember Ray asking me if Terry was my friend from out west. 😃

-----

I think it said November 26th we went to breakfast and membertou. I think that was the day we got stoned, in the yard. It was way too early. That was the day. I still have the photo. It was raining that day.. Just like the bike rally. I like rain. He is not a fan.

I guess rain makes events more memorable. My father and I always enjoyed the rain.

---

December 11th he showed up I was sitting with george. He walked around the back of the cars and came up between the middle of Crystal and Jason's car hopped into Crystal's SUV never said a word or acknowledge the fact that Chris myself and George were present

Showed up at my house at approximately 8:18 p.m. I left Horton's at approximately 7:30

Dec 14

I was in a bad mood due to power outage. Al was being stupid. Ray said something about sending me a message on Facebook and that he hadn't received a response. He said, I didn't know your power was out that means you didn't have any Internet. I replied, no really. (He did indeed receive a response. It was his morning text I didn't write back to) When we all got out the car Ray asked what was wrong. I said it's far too much stupidity for this early in the morning. I went and sat in my own car. When AI left Ray went in for his coffees. He went to his vehicle then came over. He asked me if I was going in the store, I said yes. He asked if I was going in to have a meeting. I asked what he was talking about. I told him I went to Hortons to drink coffee and charge my phone. I walked in the store. He was gone. (Stupidity with Brandon too)

Dec 15

He arrived early morning and stayed in his car until Al arrived. I mostly spoke to Al... Ray suggested I sit in. Nope!

Dec 16

He arrived and you wouldn't even have known it. At no point did he even so much as walk by the car. I was sitting with George

🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣

I truly don't understand how him and I even ended up together on New Year's eve. This is nuts. This is truly insane lol

---_---

Reading through this, either Ray was sleeping with Brianna or she is indeed a response, to Mike!

Mike lends me a heater. Ray tells me Brianna is driving a gray suv. The only one that owns the gray SUV, is Ray. Was he trying to cover his SUV in her driveway the night of the storm, or simply lying 🤷‍♀️

I wonder, if Ray and I ever got along.. it certainly doesn't seem like it.

[ewebie]

2022: An Author’s Review

I've gotten in the habit (over the past 9 years) of posting an author's review of what I've done on AO3. Since I started my Patreon, I've been posting it here and sharing across Tumblr and Twitter. I think it's good to take stock, be honest about what was possible and look and what I want for the next year. So here it is:

2022... I must say that I had higher hopes for you. It was a busy and productive year, but I did spend a lot of my time healing from the past 2 years and dragging myself, kicking and screaming, into a healthier place.

I was forced to take time out of work for my own mental health in 2021, and kept a lighter schedule going into 2022. It was very very needed. And 2022 from a society perspective was not what I had hoped for. Hubs and I made a (temporary -- one year only) move back across the Atlantic, and I learned a whole new job (clinical adjacent... research).

Even with all the chaos of a move and work and... *gestures at everything* I did manage to accomplish a few things.Summary of writing in 2022:

I set out with the goal of posting something every month, and I succeeded through August. I settled down after that to really plow through some of my WIPs and get ready for a big push in Jan '23.

In January '22, I spent some dedicated time torturing giving Paia everything she's ever wanted. And kicked off a series of works of Papa Lestrade (and his 3 kids). Series became When You're Fast Asleep, the first one written called Deep Inhale.

February brought two more installments to When You're Fast Asleep: Foundational and Counter Riposte. Also very much targeting Paia. Because if I cannot lob fully completed fic attacks back at her for all the rabid plot-bunnies she sneaks into my DMs, then what's the point of our friendship?

For March, I broadened my attack to hit Moth as well as Paia... An indulgent little praisekink AU that hit up a few important interests, called Praise Worthy. And I finished the NYE fic I was working on that specifically used receipts from Moth and Paia that's just suit worship and proud indulgence: Silver and Gold. I also got Jinxed by V in the MRC and added a chapter to Safety First (my Kiss Kiss Bang Bang shorts collection) called G is for Grooming... because toilet plungers???

Though I technically finished posting in May, the April fic was another When You're Fast Asleep called How Your Heart, and I absolutely adore it (and attacked myself with it). And while that was posting, I was working away on the May-Mystrade (Maystrade challenge).

So that brings us to May - when things started to get really busy as I prepped to move, and the Mystrade is Crime collection, to which I submitted Bait and Switch (since KKBB and Sometimes I Feel... were already in existence and I wanted to go full evil).

June and July were mental... packed up 16years of life on one side of the Atlantic, moved to the other, got COVID, got better, and made my way to a State that I'd never lived in before, started a new job in a new environment, dealt with family health issues, celebrated a major birthday. A lot of stress... not a lot of writing.

August I put up Where To Draw the Line, because sometimes I cannot control myself.

September, I fell off the wagon. Not that I've not been writing, I've been writing continuously. But I went all in on some of my WIPs and committed to finishing Hayloft, which is due to start posting on Fridays in Jan...

Overall, I published shy of 50k words (though, I wrote just over 80k... there are some big WIPs in the works) with 16k hits and I now have 360 user subscriptions and 6000 bookmarks. It was a solid effort and I've spent the year only writing Mystrade -- though... I've expanded my reading ships (I'm looking at you Moth).

Plan for 2023: Starting in Jan, I'll be posting The Hayloft (aka "The Farm AU"). One chapter a week... until done... Which... will be midyear. There’s a few bigger projects that I’ve back-burnered or have been plodding along with, including "the sad one" and "the Pretty Woman one" and some complex, multichapter things. Trello has been excellent this year to keep my bunnies sorted and in some sort of order.

Working titles of a few:

Lesser Things

Used Books

The Marshmallow Experiment

Huff and Hush

The Time Has Come

Attack the Cheese Block

Of Legwork and Dogs Bodies

Make Yourself

I hope to keep adding shorts to Safety First and Badges and 'Brellas. And I have 2 birthday pieces that I'm working on, and hope to get out in Feb/March. I'm not going to aim for monthly new works, since Hayloft is going to take a lot of attention, but I do hope to publish more words than 2022.

Many thanks to everyone who has beta'd works for me through the year (this year was mostly Paia -- many times for her many many sins). Thank you to the Asylum (nee Jail) - you're all gremlins and I-A-Door-You! Thank you to the MRC for being just... whatever it is you are. And the OGC - because intercontinental chat groups are their own, special nonsense!

I want to thank everyone that has left kudos and comments and reblogs and likes. Anyone who has dropped me a message or a thought and has generally enjoyed or encouraged my writing this past year. ILY all!!

#2022-2023 #author's review #annual review #On writing #writing milestone