Entry tags:
Day 4 Theme - Needs
Today's theme is Needs.
Here are a few ideas to get you started: Even if one of your favorite characters is an action hero, she still has basic needs that has to be met. Food, shelter, the need for companionship, the need for intimacy, the need to be alone. How does she make sure that her needs are fulfilled? Does she have a hard time asking for help? Does she have an unusual reaction to getting something that she didn't even realize that she needed?
Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.
Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.
Here are a few ideas to get you started: Even if one of your favorite characters is an action hero, she still has basic needs that has to be met. Food, shelter, the need for companionship, the need for intimacy, the need to be alone. How does she make sure that her needs are fulfilled? Does she have a hard time asking for help? Does she have an unusual reaction to getting something that she didn't even realize that she needed?
Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.
Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.
sabotabby (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sabotabby) wrote2026-02-04 06:45 am
sabotabby) wrote2026-02-04 06:45 amEntry tags:
Reading Wednesday
Just finished: Nothing.
Currently reading: Changelog by Rich Larson. Whenever I mention Rich Larson to normies, they go, "Who?" Whenever he comes up among writers, the discussion invariably includes the adjective "underrated," which is a bit weird for someone who's kindasorta won an Emmy. It's absolutely true, though. He's prolific af and everything I've read by him so far is an absolute banger.
Changelog is a short story anthology. It's all cyberpunk, a lot of it set in the same cyberpunk future, spanning from Niger to Nuuk, wildly inventive and beautifully written. There are obvious Black Mirror and Love, Death + Robots (the Emmy was for an episode of that adapted from one of his stories) but the cyberpunk aspect of it is mostly backgrounded to focus on character.
It's hard to pick a favourite because there's not a single weak link here, but the standouts so far are "Animals Like Me," which is about a young gig worker recruited to do motion capture work for increasingly disturbing AI-generated children's animation, "Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man," which is about a low-level gangster targeted by a genetically modified assassin that only lives for about a day and a half but is otherwise nearly unstoppable, and "Tripping Through Time," which is the most hopeful story I have read in forever (positive; I don't normally like hopeful stories).
Currently reading: Changelog by Rich Larson. Whenever I mention Rich Larson to normies, they go, "Who?" Whenever he comes up among writers, the discussion invariably includes the adjective "underrated," which is a bit weird for someone who's kindasorta won an Emmy. It's absolutely true, though. He's prolific af and everything I've read by him so far is an absolute banger.
Changelog is a short story anthology. It's all cyberpunk, a lot of it set in the same cyberpunk future, spanning from Niger to Nuuk, wildly inventive and beautifully written. There are obvious Black Mirror and Love, Death + Robots (the Emmy was for an episode of that adapted from one of his stories) but the cyberpunk aspect of it is mostly backgrounded to focus on character.
It's hard to pick a favourite because there's not a single weak link here, but the standouts so far are "Animals Like Me," which is about a young gig worker recruited to do motion capture work for increasingly disturbing AI-generated children's animation, "Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man," which is about a low-level gangster targeted by a genetically modified assassin that only lives for about a day and a half but is otherwise nearly unstoppable, and "Tripping Through Time," which is the most hopeful story I have read in forever (positive; I don't normally like hopeful stories).
Entry tags:
Day 3 - Fic - Dragon Age - Lace Harding
Title: Kindness is a choice
Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Character: Lace Harding & Female Rook Mercar
Prompt: The Caregiver
Rating/Category: T/Gen
Summary: Lace takes the Titans' pain and she answers with kindness and compassion.
She feels this anger, that is and isn't hers. It's in her blood and her bones, this ancestral pain, reasons forgotten but injustice still so keenly felt. All there's left of the Titans is this pain, loud, incoherent, overwhelming, threatening to overtake her. She's only a voice for this anger so long unheard, she's only…
“You're Lace Harding! You're more than this rage!” Rook's voice just barely cuts through the screaming. “You believe that the world is beautiful! That people are good! Hold on to it! Hold on to who you are!”
And it means something that it's Rook telling her this, because she doesn't believe that, because she spent most of her life in Tevinter and saw enough to mistrust even the people who say they want to help. When Lace met her, she was all anger and pain, not for herself, but for every slave in Tevinter. Anger over the injustices that someone else suffered, that she felt that she couldn't do enough to stop. But Lace couldn't help her by agreeing with her anger, as justified as it might have been. And she couldn't meet the Shade's anger with more anger now.
She reached out to the red lyrics given shape and voice, her face staring back at her in anger, and she wants to give in to it too, but she knows better. She meets the Shade not with rage but with compassion, because this is who she is, who she's always been, but kindness is a choice and it's one that she has to keep making, even when it's hard, even when it hurts.
She takes all that pain, and she offers them kindness and compassion. This might not be enough to heal what's left of the Titans, but she hopes it eases their pain.
Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Character: Lace Harding & Female Rook Mercar
Prompt: The Caregiver
Rating/Category: T/Gen
Summary: Lace takes the Titans' pain and she answers with kindness and compassion.
Kindness is a choice
She feels this anger, that is and isn't hers. It's in her blood and her bones, this ancestral pain, reasons forgotten but injustice still so keenly felt. All there's left of the Titans is this pain, loud, incoherent, overwhelming, threatening to overtake her. She's only a voice for this anger so long unheard, she's only…
“You're Lace Harding! You're more than this rage!” Rook's voice just barely cuts through the screaming. “You believe that the world is beautiful! That people are good! Hold on to it! Hold on to who you are!”
And it means something that it's Rook telling her this, because she doesn't believe that, because she spent most of her life in Tevinter and saw enough to mistrust even the people who say they want to help. When Lace met her, she was all anger and pain, not for herself, but for every slave in Tevinter. Anger over the injustices that someone else suffered, that she felt that she couldn't do enough to stop. But Lace couldn't help her by agreeing with her anger, as justified as it might have been. And she couldn't meet the Shade's anger with more anger now.
She reached out to the red lyrics given shape and voice, her face staring back at her in anger, and she wants to give in to it too, but she knows better. She meets the Shade not with rage but with compassion, because this is who she is, who she's always been, but kindness is a choice and it's one that she has to keep making, even when it's hard, even when it hurts.
She takes all that pain, and she offers them kindness and compassion. This might not be enough to heal what's left of the Titans, but she hopes it eases their pain.
tielan (tielan) wrote2026-02-04 10:09 pm
tielan) wrote2026-02-04 10:09 pmhalfamoon challenge
Pick a female character you know I'll write, and one of the prompts below. Preferably one nobody else has yet chosen.
Day 1 - The Innocent
Day 2 - Guilty Pleasures
Day 3 - The Caregiver
Day 4 - Needs
Day 5 - The Outlaw
Day 6 - Her Own Personal Code
Day 7 - The Lover
Day 8 - Pet Peeves
Day 9 - The Scholar
Day 10 - Acting the Fool
Day 11 - The Explorer
Day 12 - Her Sanctuary
Day 13 - The Ruler
Day 14 - Letting Go
I never manage to write for halfamoon because my stories end up seriously epic. Maybe this off-the-cuff thing will work instead. (Or maybe those will just turn seriously epic.)
Day 1 - The Innocent
Day 2 - Guilty Pleasures
Day 3 - The Caregiver
Day 4 - Needs
Day 5 - The Outlaw
Day 6 - Her Own Personal Code
Day 7 - The Lover
Day 8 - Pet Peeves
Day 9 - The Scholar
Day 10 - Acting the Fool
Day 11 - The Explorer
Day 12 - Her Sanctuary
Day 13 - The Ruler
Day 14 - Letting Go
I never manage to write for halfamoon because my stories end up seriously epic. Maybe this off-the-cuff thing will work instead. (Or maybe those will just turn seriously epic.)
maggie33 (maggie33) wrote2026-02-04 10:55 am
maggie33) wrote2026-02-04 10:55 amEntry tags:
Bad things, good things
Ugh, body, can you just give me a break for a while? I was so happy that my elbow was a bit better after my physiotherapy session, but now my left hip is giving me a hard time. Google tells me that in English it’s called “greater trochanteric bursitis”. I saw a doctor and have medicine, so hopefully it will go away soon. *sigh*
Good news is that my Muse is wide awake and full of energy now. I wrote one short treat for Candy Hearts. And I started Dare You To Death Kamin/Jade fic. This is definitely not a good drama, but it is entertaining and I don’t have to think too much when I watch it.
And my beloved GL ship LMSY will have a new drama. Here is the pilot trailer:
It’s a romcom about a spoiled, rich city girl and a down-to-earth hardworking farm girl falling in love. With a lot of cute animals. I can't wait. 😊
Good news is that my Muse is wide awake and full of energy now. I wrote one short treat for Candy Hearts. And I started Dare You To Death Kamin/Jade fic. This is definitely not a good drama, but it is entertaining and I don’t have to think too much when I watch it.
I also love this spoiler.
Aou and Boom, my beloveds, appeared unexpectedly in episode 5, appeared again in episode 6 (and wow, Boom, that was a great fighting scene, I’m impressed), and apparently they will be in the rest of the episodes, too. Yay.And my beloved GL ship LMSY will have a new drama. Here is the pilot trailer:
It’s a romcom about a spoiled, rich city girl and a down-to-earth hardworking farm girl falling in love. With a lot of cute animals. I can't wait. 😊
Riona (rionaleonhart) wrote2026-02-04 09:50 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2026-02-04 09:50 amEntry tags:
The Themes Of This Entry Are Unexpectedly Successful Plays And Being Cast As A Dog.
By this point, I've stopped even pretending to think about other fandoms. Have ten more tiny Goes Wrong Show ficlets for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
threesentenceficathon. Most of these are actually three sentences, at least!
( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, mainly Chris and Robert, 1,100 words total. )
Poking through bits of the script for the stage version of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I was intrigued to discover one particular tiny segment. Robert, playing Nana the dog, is trapped in the dog door, meaning he's nowhere near the human characters when they start complaining that he's getting fur on them. Naturally, they come up with the sanest possible solution:
Chris: Oh, you useless animal! You've got dog hairs all over my trousers!
(He goes over to Robert and rubs his trousers over him.)
Sandra: Silly hound! You've got hair all over everyone.
(They all rub themselves on Robert.)
Tragically, this did not make it into the television cut! HOWEVER, I'm delighted to find there is a three-second 'Robert on his hands and knees while Sandra rubs herself against his beard' clip from rehearsals floating around, which you can find here on Tumblr if you're as normal about Robert Grove as I am.
threesentenceficathon. Most of these are actually three sentences, at least!( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, mainly Chris and Robert, 1,100 words total. )
Poking through bits of the script for the stage version of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I was intrigued to discover one particular tiny segment. Robert, playing Nana the dog, is trapped in the dog door, meaning he's nowhere near the human characters when they start complaining that he's getting fur on them. Naturally, they come up with the sanest possible solution:
Chris: Oh, you useless animal! You've got dog hairs all over my trousers!
(He goes over to Robert and rubs his trousers over him.)
Sandra: Silly hound! You've got hair all over everyone.
(They all rub themselves on Robert.)
Tragically, this did not make it into the television cut! HOWEVER, I'm delighted to find there is a three-second 'Robert on his hands and knees while Sandra rubs herself against his beard' clip from rehearsals floating around, which you can find here on Tumblr if you're as normal about Robert Grove as I am.
Entry tags:
New & Consolidated PHs: #4, 18, 28, 30, 32, 39, 41, 53, 55, 57, 61, 62, 64-66
Thanks to everyone who's posted a work or claimed a pinch hit since my last posts!
The following pinch hits are due at 11:59pm EST, Saturday 21 February. To claim, please reply with your AO3 name, and let me know which recipient/PH number you want. You're also welcome to claim by emailing mod.modzilla@gmail.com.
Minimum requirements: An art gift must be a completed comic at least 10 pages or 40 panels long; a fic gift must be a story at least 10,000 words long. You can also fulfil a pinch hit by giving two complete half-length works, if your recipient has opted into that for the fandom(s) you are creating in. Any work must be for a fandom your recipient has requested and one character/relationship/worldbuilding tag requested in that fandom, and must avoid their DNWs.
Pinch hits can now be claimed in 5k or 20-panel increments if the recipient has opted into receiving half-length works. Please say in your claim if you're claiming a pinch hit for 5k (fic) or 20 panels (comic), and for what fandom.
(This post was too large to post as one and I wanted to consolidate it, so you can find the details at links to the app. Sorry for the extra clicks!)
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #4 - art, fic [varies by request] - 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, Thor (Movies), Hannibal (TV)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #18 - fic - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom x2 [Grimm TV/Guardian TV, Grimm TV/Christabel - Coleridge], 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), 绅探 | Detective L (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #28 - art, fic [varies by request] - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon) x2, Overwatch (Video Game), Slow Horses (TV), Brew Solves - Fandom, Dangan Ronpa Series, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #30 - fic - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023), 成化十四年 | The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (TV), Among Us (Video Game), F1 (Movie 2025), One Piece (Anime & Manga), 重启之极海听雷 | Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (TV 2020)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #32 - fic - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV), Murder She Wrote, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), G.I. Joe (Cartoon), Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #39 - fic - Stargate Atlantis, Kolja | Kolya (1996), Cesta do pravěku | Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #41 - fic - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, DCU (Comics, Numb3rs (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #53 - art, fic - Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: Ahsoka (TV), Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: Resistance (Cartoon), Crossover Fandom [Star Wars Sequel Trilogy/Star Wars: Ahsoka]
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #55 - art, fic - Invisible Inc. (Video Game), Betrayal at Krondor (Video Games), Neverwinter Nights: Mask of the Betrayer (Video Game), Sunless Sea, Tactical Breach Wizards (Video Game), Citizen Sleeper (Video Games), Original Work, Crossover Fandom [various]
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #57 - fic - Stranger Things (TV 2016) x2, Cool Runnings (1993), Real Genius (1985), Bandom, Good Omens (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #61 - art, fic - Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, Leverage (US TV 2008), 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files (Anime & Manga), Crossover Fandom [various]
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #62 - art, fic - 少年歌行 | The Blood of Youth (Live Action TV), 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV), 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV), 伪装者 | The Disguiser (TV), 少年白马醉春风 | Dashing Youth (Live Action TV), 杀破狼 | Sha Po Lang - priest
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #64 - art, fic - Fandom For Robots - Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers, Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, 将军在上 | Oh My General (TV), Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #65 - fic - Columbo, Criminal Minds (US TV), Grey's Anatomy, Miss Marple - Agatha Christie, NCIS: Los Angeles, SEAL Team (TV), Sherlock (TV) The Professionals (TV 1977)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #66 - fic - KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), 괴담에 떨어져도 출근을 해야 하는구나 - 백덕수 | Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story I Still Have to Go to Work - Baek Deoksoo, 내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo, 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Prompt details at the app
The following pinch hits are due at 11:59pm EST, Saturday 21 February. To claim, please reply with your AO3 name, and let me know which recipient/PH number you want. You're also welcome to claim by emailing mod.modzilla@gmail.com.
Minimum requirements: An art gift must be a completed comic at least 10 pages or 40 panels long; a fic gift must be a story at least 10,000 words long. You can also fulfil a pinch hit by giving two complete half-length works, if your recipient has opted into that for the fandom(s) you are creating in. Any work must be for a fandom your recipient has requested and one character/relationship/worldbuilding tag requested in that fandom, and must avoid their DNWs.
Pinch hits can now be claimed in 5k or 20-panel increments if the recipient has opted into receiving half-length works. Please say in your claim if you're claiming a pinch hit for 5k (fic) or 20 panels (comic), and for what fandom.
(This post was too large to post as one and I wanted to consolidate it, so you can find the details at links to the app. Sorry for the extra clicks!)
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #4 - art, fic [varies by request] - 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, Thor (Movies), Hannibal (TV)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #18 - fic - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom x2 [Grimm TV/Guardian TV, Grimm TV/Christabel - Coleridge], 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), 绅探 | Detective L (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #28 - art, fic [varies by request] - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon) x2, Overwatch (Video Game), Slow Horses (TV), Brew Solves - Fandom, Dangan Ronpa Series, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #30 - fic - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023), 成化十四年 | The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (TV), Among Us (Video Game), F1 (Movie 2025), One Piece (Anime & Manga), 重启之极海听雷 | Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (TV 2020)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #32 - fic - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV), Murder She Wrote, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), G.I. Joe (Cartoon), Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #39 - fic - Stargate Atlantis, Kolja | Kolya (1996), Cesta do pravěku | Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies)
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #41 - fic - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, DCU (Comics, Numb3rs (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #53 - art, fic - Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: Ahsoka (TV), Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: Resistance (Cartoon), Crossover Fandom [Star Wars Sequel Trilogy/Star Wars: Ahsoka]
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #55 - art, fic - Invisible Inc. (Video Game), Betrayal at Krondor (Video Games), Neverwinter Nights: Mask of the Betrayer (Video Game), Sunless Sea, Tactical Breach Wizards (Video Game), Citizen Sleeper (Video Games), Original Work, Crossover Fandom [various]
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #57 - fic - Stranger Things (TV 2016) x2, Cool Runnings (1993), Real Genius (1985), Bandom, Good Omens (TV)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #61 - art, fic - Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, Leverage (US TV 2008), 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files (Anime & Manga), Crossover Fandom [various]
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #62 - art, fic - 少年歌行 | The Blood of Youth (Live Action TV), 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV), 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV), 伪装者 | The Disguiser (TV), 少年白马醉春风 | Dashing Youth (Live Action TV), 杀破狼 | Sha Po Lang - priest
Prompt details at the app
PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #64 - art, fic - Fandom For Robots - Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers, Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, 将军在上 | Oh My General (TV), Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #65 - fic - Columbo, Criminal Minds (US TV), Grey's Anatomy, Miss Marple - Agatha Christie, NCIS: Los Angeles, SEAL Team (TV), Sherlock (TV) The Professionals (TV 1977)
Prompt details at the app
Pinch hit #66 - fic - KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), 괴담에 떨어져도 출근을 해야 하는구나 - 백덕수 | Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story I Still Have to Go to Work - Baek Deoksoo, 내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo, 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Prompt details at the app
semperfiona (semperfiona) wrote in halfamoon2026-02-04 12:54 am
semperfiona) wrote in halfamoon2026-02-04 12:54 amDay 3 - Podfic - Heated Rivalry - Yuna Hollander
Title/Link: [Podfic] the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Character(s): Yuna Hollander
Rating: Teen
Prompt: The Caregiver
Summary: Yuna Hollander works through years of memories in attempt to discover when she should have known her son didn't trust her with all of himself.
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Character(s): Yuna Hollander
Rating: Teen
Prompt: The Caregiver
Summary: Yuna Hollander works through years of memories in attempt to discover when she should have known her son didn't trust her with all of himself.
cahn (cahn) wrote2026-02-03 09:01 pm
cahn) wrote2026-02-03 09:01 pmEntry tags:
The Jewish War read-along (or: Classics Post #2)
Our beloved problematic author, Flavius Josephus, with the wild plot twist in the middle! Is anyone still interested in doing this thing?
I have the Oxford World Classics edition; I looked around and I liked this translation, and it's got copious footnotes. Each "book" is a little less than 100 pages on my kindle, and I think I can probably read about 50 pages every week (we can see how it goes and whether I can go faster or must go slower), so I propose dividing the first "book" into two, and reading half one week and half the next. (I did read the intro this past week, but I'm not sure how much I got out of it.)selenak, would you be able to find a good dividing point of that first book? My goal would be to post every weekend (probably on Sunday, but depending on time) on the reading thereof.
I also feel I should open up this post for general classics discussion if anyone wants it. Depending on how my reading goes I also reserve the right in this post to review whatever other random classics-related or modern-historical-novels-set-in-the-time-of-the-classics reading I do.
I have the Oxford World Classics edition; I looked around and I liked this translation, and it's got copious footnotes. Each "book" is a little less than 100 pages on my kindle, and I think I can probably read about 50 pages every week (we can see how it goes and whether I can go faster or must go slower), so I propose dividing the first "book" into two, and reading half one week and half the next. (I did read the intro this past week, but I'm not sure how much I got out of it.)
selenak, would you be able to find a good dividing point of that first book? My goal would be to post every weekend (probably on Sunday, but depending on time) on the reading thereof.I also feel I should open up this post for general classics discussion if anyone wants it. Depending on how my reading goes I also reserve the right in this post to review whatever other random classics-related or modern-historical-novels-set-in-the-time-of-the-classics reading I do.
SweetSorcery (sweetsorcery) wrote in lyricaltitles2026-02-04 05:35 pm
sweetsorcery) wrote in lyricaltitles2026-02-04 05:35 pmEntry tags:
2025 September - Bingo: Aces High (1976) "Sweeter than Honey and Bitter as Gall"
I'll get to a complete bingo line eventually. One more fic to go after this. :)
Title: Sweeter than Honey and Bitter as Gall
Author:sweetsorcery
Fandom: Aces High (1976)
Relationship: Stephen Croft/Captain Sinclair
Rating: T
Warnings/Notes: World War I, Royal Flying Corps, Secret Marriage, Angst and Romance and Feels, Bittersweet
Bingo Prompt: Song from a Soundtrack
Song: What is a Youth (Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet) (1968)
Artist: Glen Weston
Composer: Nino Rota
Title: Sweeter than Honey and Bitter as Gall
Author:
sweetsorceryFandom: Aces High (1976)
Relationship: Stephen Croft/Captain Sinclair
Rating: T
Warnings/Notes: World War I, Royal Flying Corps, Secret Marriage, Angst and Romance and Feels, Bittersweet
Bingo Prompt: Song from a Soundtrack
Song: What is a Youth (Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet) (1968)
Artist: Glen Weston
Composer: Nino Rota
gwyn (gwyn) wrote2026-02-03 07:54 pm
gwyn) wrote2026-02-03 07:54 pmEntry tags:
There's a kiss at the end of the rainbow
So many times, I've sat down, intending to post, but I'm so consumed by anxiety and stress from ::waves hand around:: and my general life crap that I can't seem to do it. There's this part of me that just can't believe--I mean, literally can't believe--what is happening in this shithole country. I don't doomscroll much, but it's impossible to avoid everything.
My mom was from Minnesota, St. Paul specifically but as anyone who's been there knows, it doesn't really matter which of the twin cities you're from, they're just across the river. I've spent a lot of time there, even though the half of her siblings who stayed in Minnesota had families that were never great to those of us out here in the PNW. (It's funny, out of her six sibs, three stayed there and three moved here.) A part of me does kind of want to know what is happening with my cousins, but we've really lost touch, and I think one of the few I've stayed in some vague kind of touch with is pretty conservative, so... So as much as I've tried not to get into a doom spiral, it's really freaking hard. And it's not like these jackboot fucks aren't also in our own cities, especially in these blue states.
I'm considering doing the Fandom T***ps Hate (I hate that fucker so much I can't stand to say his name and it's ruined a perfectly serviceable word) auction, though I'm really struggling with the idea of it. I loved doing the Fandom Loves Puerto Rico auction some years back, and got to do both a vid and a fic. But at this point right now, I don't think I have anything to offer that anyone wants; I haven't found anything to replace Cap fandom and a lot of the smaller fandoms I could write don't even generate other signups at Yuletide. So like a minimum bid of $5 wouldn't exactly help the auction much when I can't generate any interest because of my goofy list of unpopular fandoms. There used to be these Yuletide stalwart fandoms every year like Kings, but a couple years ago when I wrote for it, even people who used to be into it didn't read the fics. I don't know, I can't decide. I'd like to contribute, but I feel like what little I could do wouldn't make much of a contribution.
Part of it, I'm sure, is that I am not into the popular thing, once again. I have not been swept away by Heated Rivalry, and definitely am reminded of that feeling when it seemed like there was literally no other person in all of fandom who didn't love Stargate Atlantis, and how isolating that was. It was kinda nice after Captain America: The Winter Soldier to be in something popular and huge. That's rarely been the case for me--even in hot fandoms, I would always be into the "wrong" ship or something, so Stucky was pretty wild for me.
I could consider adding something popular like The Pitt, but I'm also not sure if I could write in it; I haven't been reading fic much, for some reason I can't concentrate enough for that, and so I don't know what I might be able to do in it. There are definitely shows/movies I'd love to try to write but don't feel like I could. I have always admired people who can come up with ideas for just about anything they like, I'm so envious of that. I don't know what's wrong with me!
In non fandom news, I'm still mostly hanging in there: my numbers are holding steady and I think the cancer part is mostly okay, it's just the other weird stuff that's plaguing me. There's something really weird and wrong with my knee, and my hands are so bad and constantly painful that I'm not sure what I am going to be able to do about it. But I have chemo on Thursday so I am planning to talk to my oncologist about it all. Sometimes the obvious things are things I can't do because of the cancer or the drugs.
I had been in the middle of a Schitt's Creek rewatch when I heard that Catherine O'Hara died, and I am just so heartbroken. She has been one of my all-time favorites for so long, and there were two wonderful things she did in the early '80s when there was that short-lived revival craze of anthology shows such as the '80s Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, The George Burns Comedy Week, and this movie a lot of the SCTV crew did called Really Weird Tales, that I think few people ever saw, let alone remembered. If you want to laugh and enjoy her as much as I do, you can watch both of these on YouTube, they're not the best quality but I loved them so and it's great to know at least one or two other people remembered these shows. Her segment of Really Weird Tales is called I'll Die Loving and the George Burns one is called The Dynamite Girl (the link to RWT is the whole movie, but the George Burns one is her segment alone).
My mom was from Minnesota, St. Paul specifically but as anyone who's been there knows, it doesn't really matter which of the twin cities you're from, they're just across the river. I've spent a lot of time there, even though the half of her siblings who stayed in Minnesota had families that were never great to those of us out here in the PNW. (It's funny, out of her six sibs, three stayed there and three moved here.) A part of me does kind of want to know what is happening with my cousins, but we've really lost touch, and I think one of the few I've stayed in some vague kind of touch with is pretty conservative, so... So as much as I've tried not to get into a doom spiral, it's really freaking hard. And it's not like these jackboot fucks aren't also in our own cities, especially in these blue states.
I'm considering doing the Fandom T***ps Hate (I hate that fucker so much I can't stand to say his name and it's ruined a perfectly serviceable word) auction, though I'm really struggling with the idea of it. I loved doing the Fandom Loves Puerto Rico auction some years back, and got to do both a vid and a fic. But at this point right now, I don't think I have anything to offer that anyone wants; I haven't found anything to replace Cap fandom and a lot of the smaller fandoms I could write don't even generate other signups at Yuletide. So like a minimum bid of $5 wouldn't exactly help the auction much when I can't generate any interest because of my goofy list of unpopular fandoms. There used to be these Yuletide stalwart fandoms every year like Kings, but a couple years ago when I wrote for it, even people who used to be into it didn't read the fics. I don't know, I can't decide. I'd like to contribute, but I feel like what little I could do wouldn't make much of a contribution.
Part of it, I'm sure, is that I am not into the popular thing, once again. I have not been swept away by Heated Rivalry, and definitely am reminded of that feeling when it seemed like there was literally no other person in all of fandom who didn't love Stargate Atlantis, and how isolating that was. It was kinda nice after Captain America: The Winter Soldier to be in something popular and huge. That's rarely been the case for me--even in hot fandoms, I would always be into the "wrong" ship or something, so Stucky was pretty wild for me.
I could consider adding something popular like The Pitt, but I'm also not sure if I could write in it; I haven't been reading fic much, for some reason I can't concentrate enough for that, and so I don't know what I might be able to do in it. There are definitely shows/movies I'd love to try to write but don't feel like I could. I have always admired people who can come up with ideas for just about anything they like, I'm so envious of that. I don't know what's wrong with me!
In non fandom news, I'm still mostly hanging in there: my numbers are holding steady and I think the cancer part is mostly okay, it's just the other weird stuff that's plaguing me. There's something really weird and wrong with my knee, and my hands are so bad and constantly painful that I'm not sure what I am going to be able to do about it. But I have chemo on Thursday so I am planning to talk to my oncologist about it all. Sometimes the obvious things are things I can't do because of the cancer or the drugs.
I had been in the middle of a Schitt's Creek rewatch when I heard that Catherine O'Hara died, and I am just so heartbroken. She has been one of my all-time favorites for so long, and there were two wonderful things she did in the early '80s when there was that short-lived revival craze of anthology shows such as the '80s Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, The George Burns Comedy Week, and this movie a lot of the SCTV crew did called Really Weird Tales, that I think few people ever saw, let alone remembered. If you want to laugh and enjoy her as much as I do, you can watch both of these on YouTube, they're not the best quality but I loved them so and it's great to know at least one or two other people remembered these shows. Her segment of Really Weird Tales is called I'll Die Loving and the George Burns one is called The Dynamite Girl (the link to RWT is the whole movie, but the George Burns one is her segment alone).
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2026-02-03 10:08 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2026-02-03 10:08 pm
Poem: "The Evolution of Self-Publishing"
This is today's freebie. It was inspired by a prompt from elinox. It also fills the "Breaking the Rules" square in my 2-1-26 card for the Valentines Bingo fest.
( Read more... )
elinox. It also fills the "Breaking the Rules" square in my 2-1-26 card for the Valentines Bingo fest.( Read more... )
Travis (torachan) wrote2026-02-03 07:07 pm
torachan) wrote2026-02-03 07:07 pmEntry tags:
Daily Happiness
1. I had a nice work from home day today. Carla had an appointment and some errands late morning, but when she got back we walked up to our new favorite pizza place for lunch. They do a nice lunch special that's two slices and a drink, and it's a good amount for sharing.
2. We actually had pizza again for dinner, but it was homemade pizza, something we rarely do. The dough was just from Trader Joe's, not from scratch, but Carla made her own pizza sauce so that it didn't have garlic and onions in the seasoning, and for toppings we used Korean BBQ flavor spam and roasted corn (also from Trader Joe's; they have delicious frozen roasted corn, which we always keep on hand). I meant to put edamame, too, but didn't get everything prepped in time. It was soooo good. For some reason the crust didn't get that crispy on the bottom, but it wasn't soggy or anything, and the general texture was really good and tasted great, too. Would definitely get this dough again, and we have leftover sauce, so I think we'll be making it again soon (this time with edamame).
3. We have so many posters and paintings and stuff we want to hang on the walls, but just never do it because I hate hanging stuff on the walls lol. I'm bad at getting it just right, and while I don't care about making extra holes in the house, since the walls are already a lost cause, I'm hesitant about the garage with it's nice new walls. But I ordered a painting hanging kit thingie that has a level and it makes marks in the wall to show you where to put the nails, so hopefully that will help me get all this stuff up on display finally.
4. Tuxie! This pic is from the other day and he's currently off wandering again (didn't show up at all today), so I hope he'll be waiting at the back porch tomorrow morning for breakfast.
2. We actually had pizza again for dinner, but it was homemade pizza, something we rarely do. The dough was just from Trader Joe's, not from scratch, but Carla made her own pizza sauce so that it didn't have garlic and onions in the seasoning, and for toppings we used Korean BBQ flavor spam and roasted corn (also from Trader Joe's; they have delicious frozen roasted corn, which we always keep on hand). I meant to put edamame, too, but didn't get everything prepped in time. It was soooo good. For some reason the crust didn't get that crispy on the bottom, but it wasn't soggy or anything, and the general texture was really good and tasted great, too. Would definitely get this dough again, and we have leftover sauce, so I think we'll be making it again soon (this time with edamame).
3. We have so many posters and paintings and stuff we want to hang on the walls, but just never do it because I hate hanging stuff on the walls lol. I'm bad at getting it just right, and while I don't care about making extra holes in the house, since the walls are already a lost cause, I'm hesitant about the garage with it's nice new walls. But I ordered a painting hanging kit thingie that has a level and it makes marks in the wall to show you where to put the nails, so hopefully that will help me get all this stuff up on display finally.
4. Tuxie! This pic is from the other day and he's currently off wandering again (didn't show up at all today), so I hope he'll be waiting at the back porch tomorrow morning for breakfast.
truth coming out of the deep well (ashelterofpages) wrote2026-02-03 09:50 pm
ashelterofpages) wrote2026-02-03 09:50 pmThis got so much longer than I thought it would.
So, one of the things I really, really like hearing about is how people keep track of things/how they organize themselves. (Hearing people talk about how they use spreadsheets gives me the good brain tingles. XD) The other day, I asked jennet about the things she tracks in regards to her writing/reading, and then wearing_tearing asked me about mine.
I was going to answer them in a comment, but I thought it might be fun to talk about the whole mess of it.
So, I'm going to start with reading because that's much shorter than writing.
Basically, I primarily read short stories. Like, to the point where I read a single digit amount of anything longer than 10k. Part of this is because it's the length I write in but part of it is that I just really enjoy reading shorter things. I also pivoted a lot when as my vision got worse and worse. Even when I started doing primarily audio reading, I read much more short fiction than long.
Anyway, so what I wind up doing with this is that I have a tab stack where I pull up things and store them. I do a new stack each month. Literally anything fictional I want to read goes in that stack. As I read them, I save them to a bookmarks folder that's labeled with the year and the month that's then filed under 'Monthly Read Archive'. I'll do the same thing with the stories I don't get to either and put them into 'Monthly Unread Archive'. I like having them saved so I can go back through the year and pick stuff out when nothing I have pulled up is grabbing my attention.
When it comes to stories I really enjoy and might want to read again, I have a file where I save the story title, author, where I read it, and a link to the story. I then also write a little off-the-cuff review for it and save all that. Not only do I do this for my own reference, but I use all this for when I'm writing the newsletter I mentioned a few posts back.
I want to find a way to do some better archiving for stories I maybe read and liked, but don't feel like I want to shout about. With the bookmarks folder, I save *everything* I want to read, but it'd be cool to have a way to glance through just the things I really liked, but maybe didn't love or have things to say about it.
My writing stuff is a little more involved.
Things to know:
- I (at this point) exclusively write original fiction. I cut my teeth in fanfic and love it, but I fell out of writing it years ago. (I do, however, have the 3SF pulled up, so who knows what might happen. >.>)
- I write short fiction for submission (most of the time).
- I use multiple spreadsheets but you could probably knock these down to a single one if you're building your own. I, however, am not that talented.
- You can also probably use spreadsheets for *everything* I track, but I don't quite get there.
So, okay, with all that in mind, here we go.
I'll start with the part that's not in a spreadsheet. What that winds up being is maintaining a list of submission calls that are coming up through the year. This is a living document so I'm updating it when I run into interesting things, and clearing out things if I miss the deadline, decide I'm not going to actually submit, or did manage to get a story in.
I have a section for each month of the year, as well as a section for things that are opening for multiple months. If a venue opens multiple times a year, each opening gets its own entry.
In every entry I include:
- Opening and closing dates.
- A link to the submission itself with a title that mentions the venue itself
- The general theme/vibe that they're looking for
- Wordcount.
- Sometimes I include payrate but I don't do this all the time because it's not always important to me.
If something has multiple categories, I'll make a new entry for each one. So, one for fiction, one for poetry for example.
If I have an idea for a story that might work, or one I want to try and get into shape, I note down that story in a bullet point. If there are multiple possibilities, I put them all down.
So, that's part of it.
Everything else lives in spreadsheets.
Speaking of, I have:
- The new draft wordcount spreadsheet is what it says on the tin.
- The edited draft wordcount spreadsheet is also what it says on the tin. I like having these two counts separate because they're different kinds of mindsets, and 100 fresh words is very different feeling than 100 edited words.
- My GYWO habit tracker.
- The story notes tracking sheet is it's own thing.
In this one I have a few sections. First is the date, then the designation/title, the word count (and I mark if I did edits or new words), my overall mood as I was writing/how I felt when I finished, the things that went well/easily for me, the things that I struggled more with, and finally just a section for random notes. I use these for whatever I feel like. Being excited, talking about what I'm going to do next with it, random commentary about my characters being ridiculous. Anything goes for the notes section.
Each month gets a new page in the overall spreadsheet until I get through the whole year, then I make a whole new one.
And finally, I just have the "Full Story Tracking" collection. One day I'll name this something better or...something. It's not a great label for it, but I know what's in it, so I guess that's what matters most.
This one has a few separate sheets inside it.
- The stories themselves.:
This one holds all the stories I've written. WIPs, finished, published, or still submitting. On this sheet I have sections for story title, wordcount, whether it's finished or not, how many times it's been rejected, where it's been accepted, how much I got paid for it, and some kind of link to it. In the section where I mark down the number of rejections, I make a comment and list out exactly where those have come from so I'm sure I don't resubmit, or if I do, it's been several years and I know the story is significantly different than the last time they saw it.
- Yearly Submissions.
Each year I make a new sheet for noting down the actual story submissions. Here, I write down the story being submitted, the venue it's at, the day it got submitted, the day I heard back, and whether it was accepted or rejected. Something I keep meaning to add into this section is if the story can be submitted to multiple places at once (some venues want to be the only place looking at the story), but I keep forgetting to do that.
- And this last sheet is just my yearly stats
Each year has a row to itself and the columns are year, total submissions made, new submission stories written, new poems written (this is more hoping for the future than anything), new for-fun stories written (I try and have a healthy mix of Serious Writing and silly things that might involve characters in my RP or something), the total number of rejections, the total number of acceptances, the total number of hold notices, and finally, the total number of personal rejections.
So yeah, that's all of it I think. Are there more elegant ways of tracking all this? Oh, I have zero doubt. One day I might even let myself take out the two wordcount spreadsheets and just use my GYWO one and mark in there whether the words are new words or edited ones. Yet, this is how I've managed to scrape things together. It works well enough for me, and I guess that's what matters, right?
jennet about the things she tracks in regards to her writing/reading, and then wearing_tearing asked me about mine.I was going to answer them in a comment, but I thought it might be fun to talk about the whole mess of it.
So, I'm going to start with reading because that's much shorter than writing.
This feels brief and yet somehow overly complicated.
Basically, I primarily read short stories. Like, to the point where I read a single digit amount of anything longer than 10k. Part of this is because it's the length I write in but part of it is that I just really enjoy reading shorter things. I also pivoted a lot when as my vision got worse and worse. Even when I started doing primarily audio reading, I read much more short fiction than long.
Anyway, so what I wind up doing with this is that I have a tab stack where I pull up things and store them. I do a new stack each month. Literally anything fictional I want to read goes in that stack. As I read them, I save them to a bookmarks folder that's labeled with the year and the month that's then filed under 'Monthly Read Archive'. I'll do the same thing with the stories I don't get to either and put them into 'Monthly Unread Archive'. I like having them saved so I can go back through the year and pick stuff out when nothing I have pulled up is grabbing my attention.
When it comes to stories I really enjoy and might want to read again, I have a file where I save the story title, author, where I read it, and a link to the story. I then also write a little off-the-cuff review for it and save all that. Not only do I do this for my own reference, but I use all this for when I'm writing the newsletter I mentioned a few posts back.
I want to find a way to do some better archiving for stories I maybe read and liked, but don't feel like I want to shout about. With the bookmarks folder, I save *everything* I want to read, but it'd be cool to have a way to glance through just the things I really liked, but maybe didn't love or have things to say about it.
My writing stuff is a little more involved.
God, this is so much longer.
Things to know:
- I (at this point) exclusively write original fiction. I cut my teeth in fanfic and love it, but I fell out of writing it years ago. (I do, however, have the 3SF pulled up, so who knows what might happen. >.>)
- I write short fiction for submission (most of the time).
- I use multiple spreadsheets but you could probably knock these down to a single one if you're building your own. I, however, am not that talented.
- You can also probably use spreadsheets for *everything* I track, but I don't quite get there.
So, okay, with all that in mind, here we go.
I'll start with the part that's not in a spreadsheet. What that winds up being is maintaining a list of submission calls that are coming up through the year. This is a living document so I'm updating it when I run into interesting things, and clearing out things if I miss the deadline, decide I'm not going to actually submit, or did manage to get a story in.
I have a section for each month of the year, as well as a section for things that are opening for multiple months. If a venue opens multiple times a year, each opening gets its own entry.
In every entry I include:
- Opening and closing dates.
- A link to the submission itself with a title that mentions the venue itself
- The general theme/vibe that they're looking for
- Wordcount.
- Sometimes I include payrate but I don't do this all the time because it's not always important to me.
If something has multiple categories, I'll make a new entry for each one. So, one for fiction, one for poetry for example.
If I have an idea for a story that might work, or one I want to try and get into shape, I note down that story in a bullet point. If there are multiple possibilities, I put them all down.
So, that's part of it.
Everything else lives in spreadsheets.
Speaking of, I have:
- The new draft wordcount spreadsheet is what it says on the tin.
- The edited draft wordcount spreadsheet is also what it says on the tin. I like having these two counts separate because they're different kinds of mindsets, and 100 fresh words is very different feeling than 100 edited words.
- My GYWO habit tracker.
- The story notes tracking sheet is it's own thing.
In this one I have a few sections. First is the date, then the designation/title, the word count (and I mark if I did edits or new words), my overall mood as I was writing/how I felt when I finished, the things that went well/easily for me, the things that I struggled more with, and finally just a section for random notes. I use these for whatever I feel like. Being excited, talking about what I'm going to do next with it, random commentary about my characters being ridiculous. Anything goes for the notes section.
Each month gets a new page in the overall spreadsheet until I get through the whole year, then I make a whole new one.
And finally, I just have the "Full Story Tracking" collection. One day I'll name this something better or...something. It's not a great label for it, but I know what's in it, so I guess that's what matters most.
This one has a few separate sheets inside it.
- The stories themselves.:
This one holds all the stories I've written. WIPs, finished, published, or still submitting. On this sheet I have sections for story title, wordcount, whether it's finished or not, how many times it's been rejected, where it's been accepted, how much I got paid for it, and some kind of link to it. In the section where I mark down the number of rejections, I make a comment and list out exactly where those have come from so I'm sure I don't resubmit, or if I do, it's been several years and I know the story is significantly different than the last time they saw it.
- Yearly Submissions.
Each year I make a new sheet for noting down the actual story submissions. Here, I write down the story being submitted, the venue it's at, the day it got submitted, the day I heard back, and whether it was accepted or rejected. Something I keep meaning to add into this section is if the story can be submitted to multiple places at once (some venues want to be the only place looking at the story), but I keep forgetting to do that.
- And this last sheet is just my yearly stats
Each year has a row to itself and the columns are year, total submissions made, new submission stories written, new poems written (this is more hoping for the future than anything), new for-fun stories written (I try and have a healthy mix of Serious Writing and silly things that might involve characters in my RP or something), the total number of rejections, the total number of acceptances, the total number of hold notices, and finally, the total number of personal rejections.
So yeah, that's all of it I think. Are there more elegant ways of tracking all this? Oh, I have zero doubt. One day I might even let myself take out the two wordcount spreadsheets and just use my GYWO one and mark in there whether the words are new words or edited ones. Yet, this is how I've managed to scrape things together. It works well enough for me, and I guess that's what matters, right?