Back Into The Rhythm

After a somber week off, I think I'm ready to go back to normal.

I have on my Camp NaNo t-shirt, and I have writing group tonight. It just feels like it's time to get back to writing.

But before I get into that, it's coming up on nearly a month since I've completed "Peeping Tomcat," but I'm still periodically receiving notifications that I'm getting likes and faves. So I want to do another stats recap to see how much it's still being found in the sea of Miraculous fanfiction, even though I'm no longer updating it.

FFN: 2017 views, 4 faves, 3 followers, and Jowy's Pixie's review
AO3: 430 views, 7 kudos, and 1 comment
DA: 27 views

Total Results: 2474 views, 11 faves, 3 followers, and 2 reviews

AO3 Review:
  1. I love this fic, reading from Adrien pov was truly amazing, hope you continue with the sequel, congrats for your amazing work.

Granted, most of those stats are equal to or less than what I got as weekly views/faves, but it's still cool that my story is getting love even after I completed it. It will probably fade into obscurity soon, but it was fun while it lasted, and I love that people seem legitimately excited for a continuation of the story. Yay!

Another interesting bit of trivia for you: all this time, all these weeks, all these months, and "Guilt" is still the ONLY chapter I have posted on DeviantArt that doesn't have a single fave. I guess that was a weak chapter... Weird thing is, I KNEW from day one that I needed that "Marinette tries to give Adrien soup to feel better" chapter to help showcase that he DOES like Marinette for who she is; not because she's Ladybug. Guess it just didn't translate well.

One more side note. Since "One and the Same" is a continuation of "Peeping Tomcat" I can set them up as a series on AO3. I was going to wait to do so until I have the first chapter of OatS posted, but at the same time, I have a LOT of companion stories.

In PT I have three akumas, and so I have a "how they became akumatized" side story for each. I also have the side story of Ladybug setting up the video for the Ladyblog with Alya. Yes, these are all little side writing projects I did to help me center my main writing for PT, but they're technically canon for this universe, and I did enjoy them enough to post them online. So I threw them into the series as well.

I called the universe "It's You", and boy was it hard figuring out a title for the whole series! I think the series name "It's You" is fitting for both stories, as well as the companion stories thus far.

So, if you want an easy catch-all location for "Peeping Tomcat" and all the stories that relate to it, you can find it here:

It's You

          Adrien becomes torn when he realizes that he has a crush on Marinette. Can his love for Ladybug survive if he is attracted to his classmate and friend?
          Marinette becomes just as confused when she notices the blush she gets around Chat Noir. How could he get her flustered when she's so madly in love with Adrien?

- Main stories are "Peeping Tomcat" (completed), and its sequel "One and the Same" (currently in production).
- Includes side stories showing the akumatization of various original villains, and chapters told from an alternate POV.

Stats:      Words: 92,693      Works: 5      Complete: No

Anyway, let's wrap up this journey back through "Peeping Tomcat" with Jowy's review.

Jowy's Pixie: Yaaay, I finally had the time to catch up on this story and leave a review. Eeeeek, I really love the ending that you decided to go with. It really leaves things open for the sequel which I'm super excited for! I actually kinda like the fact that you didn't have Chat Noir/Adrien admit to and reveal everything. However, I can see it creating an even bigger conflict in the future which I'm worried yet really excited for! I like endings like this where stuff is still left open and up for debate because I'm not really a person for cliches. It shows that an author has put much more thought into the ending which is something that I can definitely tell that you did.
          This story was truly an amazing read! It's rare to find a story with this much depth and I love it! There was just the right balance of description and dialogue. It was great to get an in depth look into Chat Noir/Adrien's mind and the emotions he was going through, despite how much it made me want to smash his head against a wall for being so dense, lol. But bless him, he really went through so much mental anguish in this story and you really managed to amazingly capture that. I'm in awe over how well this story was written. The characters were so in character throughout, and I know I've said this before, but it really felt like I was reading an actual episode from the show. It was just that realistic and true to the source material. You are so incredibly talented!
          I'm soooo excited for the sequel and to see where you take this story line now as there's so many possible routes that it could go down. Normally I can get a rough idea of what will happen next, but this story has been completely unpredictable and I like that. I'll be ready and waiting for when that gets released and don't worry about the long wait for it, take your time. I understand that stories can take a lot of time to plan and write. Your work is worth the wait because it's of such magnitude and amazing quality. Good luck for the future and with your work. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us because it has been such a wonderful experience and a pleasure to read. Best wishes!

Jowy's Pixie really knows how to choke me up. Reading things like "It shows that an author has put much more thought into the ending which is something that I can definitely tell that you did." and "It's rare to find a story with this much depth..." and "...it really felt like I was reading an actual episode from the show." and "You are so incredibly talented!" and "Your work is worth the wait because it's of such magnitude and amazing quality." It all just dumbfounds and humbles me.

These are phrases used for reviews of MY work? I mean, this is how I'd describe OTHER PEOPLE'S work; specifically professionally written work.

I know I have improved a lot. I know that I've always had talent that made others believe I could do this professionally. I know it's a lot easier for me to write than it is others. I know I have better confidence than a lot of amateur authors.

Still.... It's hard for me to believe it's ACTUALLY true. I'm always in that mindset of "people believe I can be an author because they're my family, friends, and some of my teachers." Having complete strangers starting to tell me the same thing? I STILL can't wrap my mind around it.

NEVER LET ME FORGET THIS FEELING!

I've been saying this more and more lately, and I hope that one day every one of my readers/fans knows this mantra of mine:

Never allow me to stop appreciating my readers, and if I do, my fans have my permission to smack me upside the head and call me out for being an arrogant jerkface.

You guys - and yes, my initial circle of family and close friends completely count - are my drive to keep doing what I'm doing. You pick me up when I doubt. You remind me that I can do what I love. NEVER EVER allow me to forget that. You are my tether that allows me to float in the clouds without getting lost up there.

I love you all so much!

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

And with that love, I shall get back on topic: WRITING!

As I've mentioned in the past, I've been trying to figure things out via the Snowflake Outline method created by Randy Ingermanson. I sort of hit a wall with that, so I decided to research into the "Three Act Structure." I know what it is, but I last learned about it over a decade ago, so I needed some heavy-duty refreshers.

I scoured the internet for a little bit, finding both broad and more detailed explanations. Most things I quickly found were simplified. Just stated what the structure was in bare bones format.

It was a nice refresher to get me thinking "Yeah, I remember learning this stuff" but that was about it. So I delved a bit deeper to get a more in-depth breakdown.

After typing up all of my notes into said in-depth breakdown, the end result was 3 pages long, so I won't share it here, sadly. That might be something I will change in the future, but as of right now... Anyway, the point is it really helped. I already know I have to scrap and rework a lot of what I filled out for my Three-Act Structure, but that's the beauty of it.

I know the story enough to already see what changes need to be made.

That's progress.

That's also why I'm now on board with outlines over Pantsing.

Pantsing is still a very valid way of writing. A lot of professionals do it for their first draft, and then polish after. I used to do it, and still do for shorter stories. One of my fellow writers in group is doing an amazing job on her first ever fantasy story simply by following wherever her main character wants to take her. And she learns the rules of the magic within her world just as the main character and the reader does.

Pantsing works.

I just learned that for my longer stories, it doesn't work as well for me.

As I tend to say, I am actually quite analytically creative. Which is why I was never much of a doodler. Most people while they're bored let their hand just scribble in margins. They may not be good scribbles, but it's something stupid for their mind to occupy itself with.

Me? I'd attempt to scribble and doodle in my margins, but unless I knew exactly what I wanted to draw, I ended up just filling the margins with ink; coloring it in. Same with any of my crafts.

While I was visiting my family for my birthday last month we decided on an impromptu painting party. This actually terrified me slightly because I had NO CLUE what I wanted to paint, and so I couldn't even find a reference. I told myself "just throw paint on the canvas and see what happens; abstract art style," and even that turned into a disaster that caused me to paint back over everything a couple of times.

I just can't do anything creative without at least an end goal anymore. So outlines are now my lifeline, which is great at figuring things out BEFORE I start writing, instead of needing to "kill my darlings" after the fact when said darlings don't fit anymore.

Anyway, my point is, now that I outline, I can see the bits that don't work BEFORE I write them out, and that saves me a LOT of time and headache, and a bit of heartache as well when I have something amazing, but can't use.

I don't have the whole story figured out; not by a long shot. However, with what little I do have I know what isn't working already, and how it's stopping me from sorting out the full story. "If this bit plays out how I have it I'll never be able to finish the story..." sort of things.

As I tried to work out more details to know HOW to change the things that aren't working, I actually came up with some scenes that MIGHT work well. Which brought me back to the "scene per card" notecard outlining I used for PT.

The combo of all my outlining notes thus far - excluding the Snowflake notes since those are digital still - looks something like this.

SCRIBBLES! SCRIBBLES EVERYWHERE!

It's not terribly too much yet, but it IS a start. Poor "Varekai" might be on hold for a second year as I once again tackle a Miraculous Ladybug fic during NaNo. We'll see.

Aaaaaand, while you're waiting for "One and the Same" to come out, you can go through another story.

My old college roommate has a cover and release date for her premiere novel! A pre-order link will be coming soon too. In the meantime, you can become excited with me for "Leather and Lies."

Once Ali Luke has everything set up for her release of "Not So Imaginary" I'll be sure to share that too. Lots of good books to tide you over while waiting for me to post anything new.

....


SOMETHING NEW!

This is going to be my first month of not hitting my Resolution to post something new at least once a month! Even in July I at least posted something not related to PT at the very beginning of the month.

Guess I know what I'm working on the next couple of days! Look for something new shared here next week, but published online before Saturday! Whoo... dropped the ball a bit on that. I have been thinking about Gabriel and Emilie Agreste again lately... they seem to be my Miraculous go-to whenever I need a break but want to stay in the fandom.

My Girls also want to feel some more love. I also started thinking a bit more about Amara. Jolene has kind of vanished into the background for a year now, and poor Elymoxa has also been sidelined since our monthly D&D sessions have been a bit delayed/cancelled lately.

Then again, back on August 2nd, I did write out how the first akuma in "One and the Same" got transformed, so there IS that... should I share it as a teaser already!?

Seems I have lots of options. I should get on them, huh?

Until next week!

In Loving Memory

Due to dealing with the aftermath of my mother-in-law passing away, I didn't really do much with regards to writing or reading.

I did do SOME things, and I will talk about them next week. Today is my mother-in-law's Celebration of Life, so I'll dedicate this blog post to her.

Thank you for taking me in as one of your own. I know my own mother appreciated that since you were here and could watch over me, while my own mother was in another state.

We'll miss you.

A Sad Goodbye

This week started off kind of mediocre and then just went completely sideways by the weekend.

The oppressive heat finally broke some, so I used my newfound energy and waning distaste to movement in order to clean my apartment a touch. In the process, I stumbled upon the remaining notecards I had used to outline "Peeping Tomcat" before taking on the challenge of NaNo. You can see my discovery and my more detailed thoughts on the find here:
First Stages of "Peeping Tomcat"

The long and short is that I love being able to look back at what “Peeping Tomcat” once was, and seeing how it evolved from that first outline. It just reaffirmed that just because you have an outline doesn't mean you can't also follow where the story leads you. You can have the freedom to let your characters lead the way, and still be surprised by your story, just like you would as a “pantser.”

The outline just gave me a roadmap of where I started, where I want to end, and more-or-less how I wanted to get there. If I didn't know where I was going with a story I could go to the outline to be re-inspired. Even my little pantser heart did something similar with "What Is Truly Meant To Be". I have a full “playlist” of songs I want to use for the story and in what order I want them, along with a brief explanation as to why that song and what I want it to say within the story.

The other great thing about the notecards is that I could rearrange them until I was happy with the story it told. I could replace notecards as well. In fact, the reason I did the notecard outline in the first place was because I had three different directions I wanted to take PT, and I couldn't organize the differing plot lines in a way that I could easily compare them. Notecards on the kitchen table was the way to go for me. I could see how the story splits, and how it could come back together for the key plot points I wanted to use regardless of the direction the rest of the story went.

I was re-inspired when I found the notecards. They worked real well for PT, and I'm currently stalled in my outlining of “One and the Same” because I'm not sure in what order I want certain plot points. So I bought myself a new stack of color notecards so I could color code my outline scenes.

Having all the supplies I needed, recovered from my frantic writing thus far into the year, and inspired to get back to working on this sequel, I figured I'd have a very productive weekend. I thought I could have the starting of an outline to share with you guys.

Then everything fell apart, so to speak.

After over three years of battling Stage 4 cancer, my mother-in-law passed away this weekend.

I feel like this is where I should do a long, heart-felt speech about how great she was and how much she'll be missed, but I've already done that so many times on Facebook. I'm kind of drained. Plus, you guys come here to read about my writing progress.

Still. She did a lot for us, and she had a lot of love and spunk in her heart. She will be missed.

Image found via Google Image
Edited and cleaned up by me

We're all as fine as can be expected after her passing, but obviously none of us are in the mindset to work on anything we normally would.

So the writing stalled.

Instead, I went full-throttle with reading, and ended up finishing “A Spell for Chameleon” yesterday.

Only 3 books left! What should I put in that last slot?

There were still Tolken-esque parts where the characters got a bit too introspective or philosophical, or Anthony himself went into intense detail about the environment. One of the characters met about half-way through the book was very much the overly-intellectual trope. The type where he presented a simple explanation or reason for something – an explanation that made sense and was quickly accepted by both Bink and me as the reader – but then the character went into philosophical reasons to reaffirm the concluded explanation. I guess this was to showcase his great intellect and that his reasoning was infallible. Even the more intelligent and observant readers couldn't poke holes through his theory.

It was exhausting to read it, though. The character was indeed charming, and you did understand Bink's conflict on whether or not to trust him, but when he droned on... I started skimming.

I do praise the fact that scenes, events, and characters, that just seemed to be random occurrences and companions that Bink stumbled upon, all ended up legitimately having a more severe role in the overall story. The fact that they seemed random while reading threw me off, but it also made it feel more natural. Not everyone you meet or everything you go through is going to have a long-term affect on your story; your journey; your life. At the same time though, knowing what I do with story structure, if these people or events didn't leave a lasting impact on Bink's over-all story, then why did we need to know about them? So that bugged me. Therefore, it was satisfying to see how everything sort of tied together.

The first half of the story definitely read more like “The Odyssey” in which Bink is just going through random events and meeting random people on his long journey to find what he's searching for before returning home.

Then the tone switches. It becomes a romance and political drama and fantastical story of survival and a tale of self-discovery.

So, while I like the pacing of the first half better, the seemingly random plot threw me. And while I preferred a more structured second half, the one character's constant over explanation, and Bink's continuous introspection, sort of droned on here and there. If only the pacing of the first half continued into the second, and if only the first half had the more structured story as the second.

All-in-all, it was a good read, and a lot of the concepts within the story will most likely stick with me; some crafty thoughts on fantasy worlds. I'd say it's a solid 3 or even 3.5 out of 5.

Now to find another book to read before “Leather and Lies” comes out in October. Either that, or start up “Atlas Shrugged” again and hope I get it done by the time LaL is published. I'll let you know what I decided on.

Changing gears slightly, while I've been stalled in my writing, Spink has actually started up her writing again.

She had a vivid dream that gave her quite the inspirational spark for a novel-length story. It's her first attempt to write something so long, so we've been spending a lot of time brainstorming. Her hubby has been helping out a lot too. She read him her first synopsis of her story, and he asked her a LOT of questions to try to add more depth. She then answered those questions, finding more in the process. Eventually, she came to visit me, and I asked even MORE questions. Slowly but surly she's fleshing out more and more of the story. Her world building is becoming more complete. While I'm still confused on what to do with my own work, it was exciting to help her come up with plot points and rules to magic, and even character motivation.

I just wish I could do the same for myself.

Ya-Ya Facebook sticker
by Birdman Inc

Another side note, one that will hopefully help with getting me back into the mood to write “One and the Same.” Now that I am done with “Peeping Tomcat” and he can read it all in one sitting if he wishes, Shadow wanted to first get into “Miraculous Ladybug.” While I had hoped that I wrote the story in such a way that you didn't have to know the show to enjoy PT, it became evident via my attempts to read at writing group that fanfiction is best enjoyed by people who know the source material. So I showed Shadow the first episode with some apprehension.

I know from my own experience, and from the experience of some of my friends – ChibiSunnie and Spink – whom I attempted to share the show with, that the first episode is mildly confusing. It's as if you missed some episodes already, because the episode plays just like all other ones: with the unspoken understanding that the audience already knows what is going on.

The concept is easy enough to deduce, and by the second episode you, as the viewer, get your sea-legs and can navigate the show a bit better. However, that first episode is a bit jarring as you try to figure out the rules of this world and the dynamics of these characters. It is also super cheesy, as I routinely note. It's great for me, because I live for 90's-era-style cheesiness thanks to the benefit of Nostalgia Glasses. The show reminded me of Power Rangers and Sailor Moon, and so I embraced the cheese.

Having forgotten that Shadow LOVES Power Rangers - to the point where I've only watched Mighty Morphin' and I think he's watched at least four more seasons beyond that – I feared his reaction to the show, and indirectly my love for it.

Hubby seemed to get my love, although he perhaps didn't share it. At least he now saw two or three episodes - along with whatever he sees over my shoulder when I'm watching season 2 online – and perhaps understands my rantings and ramblings a bit better. God bless the man for listening to me go on and on about the show. To be fair, I listen to him go on about Magic: The Gathering, so... fair trade?

Anyway, Shadow fell in love with the show almost as quickly and as intensely as I did. He watched a couple of episodes on his own at home, and then invaded last week. We spent about three or four hours marathoning more episodes, with some fanart and fan jokes scattered throughout. Just whatever gems I found on my computer or could quickly access on Tumblr. I also introduced him to fancomic dubbing, mostly through one of my favorite voice actor: Princess Sakura Serenity.

He's loving it all and gobbling it all up. Someone as obsessed about something as I am!? Yes, please! You can't stop me now! Perhaps, once he's done reading PT, I can use him as a sounding board and potential beta. I love that Chibi and Cyhyr offered, but both ladies are so busy with school work that I'd hate to impose. Shadow decidedly has more free time to just sit and read, although he does seem to hate getting a story in bites, so I'll definitely have to make sure OatS is complete before I pass it along.

Maybe I'll use him as a story-structure beta, and then over to Cy for line edits, if she's still interested.

But I'm putting the cart before the horse. First I need to write the outline to know where I'm going with this story.

Writing has always been my escape before. My way of relieving stress. And sometimes, ironically, my source thereof, but ignore that. Maybe focusing on writing is what I need right now.

I also miss reading something at writing group, so perhaps I'll have to think of starting up daily writing practices again, or start up my Glitches world build once more.

The snafu with the group, as much as I love them, does seem to be that they're only great at critiquing ongoing original prose. For my one-shots they don't seem to know what to say. When I talk about world building, character creation, or generic outline, in order to get pre-writing insight, they seem equally unsure how to comment. They are just downright dumbfounded when I go into fanfiction territory.

I probably won't have anything to read yet again tonight, but we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm going to take care of Hubby and sort out my OatS outline. Until next week.

A Completed Story Plus a Cold

I hit my secondary goal.

I didn't get "Peeping Tomcat" done by the end of June so I could spend July working on "One and the Same" during Camp NaNo. I won't be able to spend this month starting the polishing process so I could have OatS up by October before people got bored and move on.

HOWEVER!

I did spend pretty much every free moment last Tuesday editing my final chapter of "Peeping Tomcat." By 9pm it was up, and I was done.

I officially completed my first multiple-chapter story. I completed my first novel-length manuscript. I completed a long-running project. I completed my first ever "Miraculous Ladybug" story, even if I have posted about half-dozen shorts before I concluded the story.

I hit a new milestone. It may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but it is a step in the right direction. It was proof to myself that I can do this. It's a new level of understanding and determination when it comes to my craft. It showcased that all the trials and tribulations I dealt with - the feeling of silliness for dedicating so much time to this project; neglecting friends, family, and house cleaning so I could write; losing my writing not once, not twice, but three times; the worry that I wasn't good enough compared to established ML fan-authors, etc - none of it would stop me. I felt what it meant to have a story grab you and push you to complete it.

Aside from flitting moments with Amara or the X-Future gang, I had never felt that compulsion before. It was intoxicating, and I now know what I need to aim for.

I also learned that I need to find a less demanding schedule until I can figure out how to write and edit faster. My home is a disaster and I greatly miss my husband and friends.

All of it was worth it though.

All the struggles.

All the learning.

All the sorrow.

All the worry.

All the joy.

All worth it, because I learned so much about myself and my writing. I earned a much larger readership than I ever did before. I have so many more dedicated fans. This milestone is BIG, you guys!

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Not so big as to have an 18pg conclusion, though. While Hubby agreed that it will be well worth it, the chapter size discrepancy just seemed too much for me, so I did end up finding a spot where I could cut it sort of in half. Leaving me with a double-posting conclusion before the close of July. Allowing me to hit my secondary goal of finishing PT before August.

You can read the penultimate chapter here:

FanFiction         ArchiveOfOurOwn         DeviantArt

And you can read the FINAL CHAPTER of "Peeping Tomcat" here:

FanFiction         ArchiveOfOurOwn         DeviantArt

Now, I did have a double post update, and each refreshed view - e.g. reading two different chapters - does count as individual views. So the numbers are a bit skewed since each reader would, in theory, have two views as opposed to their normal one.

Then again, so many people were used to my Friday updates that I don't know how many checked AO3 or DA when I posted on Tuesday. Those who were following on FFN would have been notified, but no one else would have.

Anyway, here are my FINAL "Peeping Tomcat" 24-hr stats!

FFN: 1526 views! 5 new faves, 4 followers, and 6 reviews
AO3: 446 views, 15 kudos! 2 new bookmarks, and 3 comments
DA: 24 views (19 for chapter 16, and the other 5 for chapter 17)

Total Results: 1996 views, 20 faves, 6 followers, and 9 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 19 total - 12 likes, 3 comments, 4 reblogs

Reviews:
  1. Awesome ending. Though 'Claws out' is a nice way to end it, word wise, this does take care of a few plot holes necessary for this book. Looking forward to a sequel.... (review shortened for relevance)
  2. I really enjoyed this one! glad that Adrien got to enjoy the festival. looking forward to their talk so now I'll go read it! (Chpt 16 review from marauderluverz)
  3. oh wow... I can't believe it's over but i did love it so much! even though I wanted to see the full confession, I'll take this happily knowing you are planning a sequel. looking forward to it! (Chpt 17 review from marauderluverz)
  4. Omgosh, that was so sweet, I really look forward to your sequel! (from cassy1994)
  5. This is spectacular! You are an amazing writer and I can't wait for your next story. Take all the time you need to make it just as wonderful as this one. Lots of love, your fan. (A guest review)
  6. (semi-lengthy review; please see below)
  7. You did so wonderfully on this story! Thank you so much for writing it, and I hope to enjoy the sequel just as much if not more. :) (review shortened for relevance)
  8. You did great! I really like leaving the reveal where it is- he had a good character arc in this piece, and the reveal would set off another one. Fantastic!
  9. How dare you. To write something so. Frustraitingly. Gorgeous. Thank you. Million times thank you. I can't say how much this story captured my soul.

Okay, so before I get into anything else, can I just note the oddity of four new followers on FFN? If someone bookmarks a story on AO3 it makes it easier for them to re-find it later. I do it a lot with fanfics I like so I can re-read or share them easier. For AO3 a bookmark is basically the same thing as a fave on DA or FFN.

Now, while a follow on FFN does put the story in a little side category for easy re-finding, favoriting a story does the same exact thing. The only real reason to follow a story is so you can get alerts when the story is updated. As opposed to DA or AO3 where you have to physically check in on the story/author to see if there's an update.

I had noted in multiple different places that chapter 17 was the final chapter. No more. Story was done. It just seemed weird to me that NOW is when people start following me. If anything, I was expecting to lose followers. I mean, I DID lose a couple, but still... EARNING some?

Oh well.

Let's instead focus on the 1526 views I got on FFN! This is by far the most I've received within the first 24-hrs of posting. The number of views is second only to the previously "last chapter," before I realized I needed more than 15.

And what's more is chapter 15 had 2034 views after BEING UP FOR A WEEK! THAT is what these last two chapters are second to. On top of that, the next runner up is chapter 13 with a WEEK-LONG view count of 1449 views!

Granted, it WAS 1526 views for TWO chapters, so if we divide evenly they both had about 763 views, which is much closer to my normal 24-hr count.

Regardless.... WOW! I'm excited!

Aaaaand then I randomly have that large viewer discrepancy on DA... Why did chapter 16 get 19 hits, but then the next and final chapter only got 5????

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Uhhh...sure....

I also got 15 new kudos on AO3!!! And I can't even attempt to minimize how awesome that is by stating "yeah, well, two chapters" because you can't leave kudos on individual chapters. You leave kudos for the whole story, that's it.

How amazing is that!? Fifteen new people enjoyed my story enough to leave me kudos - WITHIN THE FIRST 24HRS IT WAS UP!

Then again, going back through those nine reviews, I have to admit that perhaps I truly did earn those kudos! I'm still humbled to see reactions like those. Like, it's me. I was the one who wrote that story. I'm so used to BEING one of those reviewers who was moved so much by a story. I'm not used to being the one provoking those emotions.

Speaking of, let's look at that one semi-lengthy review I left out of above:

unholyconspiracy: Sending all the love to you right now! And although my fanboy side was waiting for some kind of ultimate Adrienette scene at the end, my logical side thinks this is actually a perfect ending. Not too obvious, yet gives the story a feeling of completion. And it was wonderful to read all the fantastic chapters, see the characters develop while being true and believable compared to the original ones. Thank you for the entertainment and for dragging me deeper into this fandom, but I guess that was inevitable anyway.
         Loved loved loved this one!
         And if you say there's going to be a sequel... see you in winter then!

My mind is indeed blown.

I mean... going back up to the last review listed with my stats: "I can't say how much this story captured my soul"?

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by Birdman, Inc

Maki Natsuo from Love Lab
by Ruri Miyahara

I just... um... wow!

Hopping over to those Tumblr notes, well, in truth we can ignore the 3 comments. I had a gif in my post that the commentor had a question about, I answered it, and then they responded. That equals 3 comments; none about PT. Still, they had to have SEEN my post in the first place so... win?

And the reblogs were actually a sort of "reblog war" between me and my one reader skyeribbon. She reblogged with a nice comment, I reblogged her reblog with a mushy reply, she reblogged my reblog with her own reply, and then I reblogged her reblog of my reblog. So... four reblogs.

You can see the full chain here: FINAL CHAPTERS OF “PEEPING TOMCAT”!!!!
Fair warning, Skye does use the f-bomb once or twice.

Anyway, the love kept pouring in throughout the course of the week. Here we are, nearly a solid week later:

FFN: 2661 views! 11 new faves, 4 followers, and 9 reviews
AO3: 803 views, 32 kudos! 4 new bookmarks, and 7 comments
DA: 28 views, 4 faves, and 1 comment

Total Results: 3492 views, 47 faves, 8 followers, and 17 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 21 total - 12 likes, 4 comments, 5 reblogs

Reviews:
  1. Yes! Yay for fluff! Great job of writing as always! Your description of the akuma fight & the festival was downright awesome. I don't know Gambit, but I love Kirito so it's kind of cool that Adrien partially based his superhero from him. (I don't love him as much as I love Chat Noir of course, haha.) (review of chpt 16 by pkk)
  2. This story is great, and I'm very happy to hear that there is going to be a sequel! Your writing, both descriptive and dialog, is superb, with just the right mix to keep everything so entertaining. I certainly look forward to reading more of your work in the future. (review of chpt 17 by pkk)
  3. This was an amazing story. Can't wait to read your sequel.
  4. A semi-lengthy review by JustMeMusing; please see below.
  5. Loved it (review of chpt 16 by KorrieChan)
  6. I am a anime fan too! What else would we do with our lives if there was nothing to waste time on XDD (review of chpt 17 by KorrieChan)
  7. A semi-lengthy review by BunniElyse; please see below.
  8. The cyber punk headphones yes!!!!!! I do want a big shot noir hoodie lol. (comment on chpt 16 by Seirenpoison)

So first and foremost, good old Chibi chimed in with a comment on my Tumblr post, and someone other than me and skye reblogged my announcement, so that's cool.

As for those views! Well, again, it was a double-post week, so we should probably cut that in half to see what the views would have been if it was just one massive chapter. Even so, that's 1330 views, which is in the higher average for what I've been doing. I'm just dumbfounded with how many people come to read my story! Like, seriously!?

Slicing the AO3 views in half as well still keeps it in the higher average there too with 401 per chapter.

And SEVEN reviews!? That's the most I've ever gotten in one week over on AO3. Granted, two reviewers double-reviewed: one for chapter 16 and one for chapter 17. Still, that's five reviews, which is back to the top average. Chapter 15 is the only other chapter that got as many as five reviews on AO3.

Same with FFN and the NINE reviews. Weirdly enough, chapter 14 managed to garner SEVENTEEN friggen reviews somehow. Ignoring that outlier, this past week has the highest review count. Doing the same as with AO3, and removing two reviews because two people reviewed both chapters 16 and 17, that's still seven reviews, which is the high average.

Oh, and speaking of reviews, here are the two lengthy ones:

JustMeMusing: I’m not very good with 1st person stories, but this is well written, in character & had me waiting for updates. Someone like Adrien would be shocked & in turmoil over his behaviour and I can also imagine his need for friendship & happiness, even if vicarious. I’m glad you wrote a concluding chapter, even though the story isn’t finished - I look forward to the next part of the series. Can’t wait to find out GA’s reaction to M’s folio & whether or not she can relax enough to truly befriend A. And how will he reveal that he knows her secret? Will M discover him before she finds out he knows? So many musings to ponder - please continue soonish :D

BunniElyse: You always review my chapters so I just had to come over and visit your works! I don't have a lot of time to read fanfiction (sadly), but I just HAD to read this! So I've spent the last few days staying up too late after my baby's gone to sleep and sneaking chapters at work! (haha!)
          I am so in love with this story and am so excited for your sequel. I wanted Adrien/Chat to confess so bad that I kept looking at the scrolling sidebar to see how much more there was to this chapter - and got disappointed every time I was closer to the bottom.
          Thank you so much for this story and my new head cannon! Rarely does a fanfiction work influence my memory of canonical works to the point that I forget what is canon and what is fanfiction, but I can tell you that "Peeping Tomcat" has thoroughly affected how I remember Miraculous Ladybug. (lol!) It was all so well written and the characters were all so believable.
          Likewise, I loved reading your interpretation of how Adrien connects Marinette to Ladybug via their personalities as I am currently in that state of mind for "Sneak a Peek." I want Adrien to start to piece together who Ladybug is and he does so by subconsciously comparing Marinette to her. Your chapters on his thoughts were nearly mirrored to my own writing (which made me a little nervous because I don't want to unintentionally copy you!), but it did give me a ton of inspiration!
          Thank you for reading my fic, "Sneak a Peek" and I absolutely LOVED reading "Peeping Tomcat!" I can't wait for "One and the Same" so I'll keep my eyes peeled!

EEEEE, these are just too sweet! Also, I did link to Bunni's story. It's her take on what happened after the season 2 episode "Dark Owl" and it is adorable. It started off as a one-shot, but reviews inspired her to keep going with the story.

Reviews matter, guys!

Anyway, I guess I didn't need to be so nervous, huh? All this encouragement is really going to help me stay motivated for "One and the Same" and that is fantastic.

Oh, also, I can now do something I've been dying to do for months now: OVER-ALL STATS FOR "PEEPING TOMCAT"!

These stats are from the minute I posted the very first chapter until now. I'm still amazed by them. Dumbfounded I found so much love and appreciation in the process. This whole thing truly is humbling, and exciting, and uplifting, and.... EEEEEEEEEE!

FFN: 21,420 views! 138 faves, 212 followers! and 89 reviews!
AO3: 6821 views, 265 kudos! 38 bookmarks, and 30 comments
DA: 454 views, 37 faves, and Seirenpoison commenting on 3 chapters

Total Results: 28,695 views! 440 faves, 250 followers! and 122 reviews!

Going all the way across the board - all three sites from day one until now - I had close to 28,700 views! I mean, how!? I'm this little nobody in the fanfiction sphere. This is my first "Miraculous Ladybug" fanfic. Yet I garnered over 28,600 views! Granted, the most popular stories on AO3 have a couple HUNDRED thousand views each, so my measly 6821 views is nothing there.

FFN doesn't show view-count outside your own notifications for your own stories, so I can't really check there. However, I can say that the most popular ML fics on FFN have around 3000 faves, and 2000 followers, and over 1500 reviews. So, again, I have kind of measly numbers in comparison.

But still.... there are stories that barely get found. Barely get noticed. Barely have any likes/faves/kudos, or reviews. So, to earn as many as I did?

Those numbers are HUGE to me. And that's what counts, right?

And as for Seirenpoison and her comments? Well, two weeks ago I showcased her "rough draft" fanart sketches of the gang for chapter 15 and 16's Chat Noir Appreciation Festival. To conclude the story, she also did an Adrienette pic that she posted this past week.

For a full-size view of this pic
please go to her DeviantArt page
Seirenpoison

How cool is that!? Someone drew fanart of my fanfic! And, according to skyeribbon's Tumblr post, I should be expecting more to come my way! I just- I mean- I can't- EEEEEEE

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by Birdman, Inc

What's even more exciting is the number of people who are now following ME as an author! I received SEVENTEEN emails from Fanfiction stating that someone has either favorited me as an author or is now following me.

Actually, more than 17 emails, because a couple of people both favorited and followed me.

I even have one person who favorited "Peeping Tomcat," and then faved and followed me, and then faved and followed X-Future: The Second Generation Begins!

Whoo! What a ride, huh? I still can't believe it's over. I wrote what eventually became the chapter "Truth" during the tail end of last year's Summer Writing Challenge over on Writers' Huddle. I then expanded it in November during NaNo. I spent most of the winter editing, only to need to keep editing a chapter per week to stick with the schedule I had set up for myself. Something I need to really re-think when it's time to start posting "One and the Same."

I have been with this story for the better part of a YEAR. A year of near-constant work. If I wasn't writing it, I was thinking about it. Plotting it. Re-reading it. Grumbling about it. SOMETHING.

And now I'm starting almost from zero.

I have the bare-bones for "One and the Same." I even had such withdrawal symptoms from PT that it only kept me until August 2nd before I wrote out the rough draft of the Full Confession scene. I'm still struggling to figure out where it should go in the story, though.

Monday I wrote the side-story for the first akuma to be presented in OatS; how she became akumatized. I keep writing little scenes here and there. I'm trying to build up steam, but I am STILL going through withdrawal from PT. Not knowing where to go without it.

I'm hoping to be re-centered by next week. It doesn't help that my "withdrawal" symptoms are coinciding with a nasty head cold. Well... chest cold? I've had a nasty cough for the past week where my throat is dry and scratchy no matter how much I drink. Just Sunday night I coughed myself into such a fit that the pressure caused a migraine.

I need this cold to either go away or transition into something less dry.

Anyway, I've been a bit dazed from the cold medicines and my body just fighting the cough itself, which doesn't really help with the plotting portion of writing.

Which means I've mostly shifted from writing to reading, and making up for my long hiatus from books.

I've gone through about two or three new short fanfics, read the latest chapters of the ongoing ones I follow, I breezed through Ali Luke's latest "Not So Imaginary," and I'm already about half-way through a book Spink suggested to me.

It is pretty much non-stop reading both at work and while on self-appointed bedrest to try to get over this cold.

So, I have two new books to add to my reading challenge! It's almost full!

I had to take off "Fall release of 'Trials of Apollo'."
I didn't read correctly.
The next ToA book won't be out until fall of 2019.

First up is Ali's. As I shared two weeks ago, she has a novella that's coming out soon. She's just working on the finishing touches. I have an advanced review copy, and I blew through that puppy in one day while Hubby was at work. I mean, it did still take me about five hours, but I'm also a slow reader sooooo.

It was awesome. There were a few snafus, but I alerted Ali, and she'd going in to tweak one last time before the official publication.

The story has chapters short enough to read in small bites - if you don't have a lot of time - but since it's a novella, you can still read the whole thing in one sitting if you wanted to. The pacing has a slow start that still brings you in with nagging questions you want answered. Then, as the questions are answered, they are replaced with a quickened pace and a sense of dread and doom. My heart really did race quite a bit in later chapters. I would be frantically flipping pages... except it was a digital copy, so I had to settle for frantically scrolling....

While it is a completely stand-alone story that doesn't require anyone to read the Lycopolis trilogy, it very much has the same feel. To the point where I was half-expecting Kay, Seth, and The Prince's Forest to make cameos. Ali did confirm it is the same universe and stories with such crossovers are in the works, which just gets me even more excited!

I will warn my more sensitive readers that Flint - much like my character Trish - has one HECK of a foul mouth on him. So, while it is a very enjoyable read, you will have to weed through quite a few course words and lewd language. It's very fitting for his character though.

Anyway, I'll let you all know when the story is officially out, so keep a watchful eye. It will be well worth it!

As for the book suggested by Spink? Well, after a long conversation that can more-or-less be shorthanded to "You like Miraculous Ladybug. That show has a lot of puns, so you must like puns. Have you heard of the Xanth books? They're deliciously filled with puns. Here, read the first book in the series," I ended up with her copy of "A Spell for Chameleon" by Piers Anthony.

Either it doesn't have nearly as many puns as she implied it would, or they're so subtle they're going over my head. He is really good at the "subtle pun." There is an entire page about the main character "sowing wild oats" that all feels so innocent. He talks about the "sea oats" - since Xanth is a magical land and plants come in all varieties - and their local wild cousins that are native to the area. He then comments about planting a crop of the wild variety. He took great care to grow them until his mother freaked out upon finding the crop. It wasn't until then - about five or six paragraphs into this mini-story - that he used the phrase "My son? Sowing wild oats?"

And that was when the pun finally clicked.

I'm a bit slow. Leave me alone.

Anyway, there seems to be a great deal of meandering and focus on world build with the story. Much like Lord of the Rings or the Odyssey. Actually, VERY much like the Odyssey with the strange lands and seductive sorceress with ulterior motives for her hospitality. Sorry, minor spoiler there....

The story was sort of drifting me off to sleep in some of the more meandering places, but that could also be because of my cold. All in all, the story is good, as evidenced by me tearing through 156 pages in three or four days. I know, that doesn't sound like much, but remember, I'm a horrendously slow reader, especially for a writer....

"A Spell for Chameleon" is about Bink. His 25th birthday is a month away, and he has yet to showcase any magical talent. Anyone who doesn't possesses even the slightest bit of magic by the time they hit 25 is exiled from Xanth, the only magical land in a world otherwise classified as Mundane. Yes, it is capitalized.

Bink sets on a journey to try to find out if he really does have the ability to use magic - therefore allowing him to officially become a Xanth citizen - and what that magical talent could be. On the way, we meet a cast of unique - and named - characters that only journey with Bink for a few pages before seemingly disappearing again. I keep waiting for them to make surprise appearances, but they seem to be like anyone met in real life: you may find out their name but only know them for about 15minutes your entire life.

At the pace I'm going, unless I interrupt myself with writing, I should have the book done by next week, and I can give you a more complete review.

Oh, and speaking of interrupting my reading with writing: Hubby and I started up "X-Future" again. Well, to be fair, we're finishing up a scene between one of his "mystery characters" and Trish that we abandoned over a year ago. Once that scene is FINALLY done we'll have a time jump and THEN he'll attempt to start up the game again.

I have missed playing on X-Future, and it's evident in the length of Trish's first post since forever.

To be fair though, last August I wrote her fight scene with Devon - which I still need to edit - so it's really Willow and super really Lia who have been on the back burner. I haven't written for either of them for about TWO years. It will be interesting to re-find them.

In the meantime, I'll focus on Trish, and the restart of the game, and my reading, and outlining OatS, and recovering from this nasty cold.

Until next week!

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by Birdman, Inc