A Lot On My Plate

Full disclosure: I was on vacation last week, and I just kind of let my mind vacation as well.

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(Disclaimer: this is not what my vacay looked like)

I was just feeling so burnt out after the second half of this year. I still don't quite understand it, honestly. I was really in a groove. I was doing well and had a good writing pace. I thought I could succeed this year with writing regularly, posting a story each month, and updating my blog around noon EVERY Tuesday. I was on track. I was feeling like 2019 was going to be a fairly decent year. Then my birthday happened, and life kinda went down hill???

Being 35 sucks, is what I'm saying...


I'm not sure what exactly changed at that turning point, but that seems to be roughly the time where I started really feeling worn out, my creativity slowed, my blog posts stopped updating regularly on their "proper" day and time, and writing just kinda became hard.... My Kyoru week not withstanding. Then there was the struggle to FINALLY figure out an original birthday story for Ronoxym, quickly followed by prep-work for NaNo, only for THAT month to just... go horrendously poorly.

I just feel so lost when I haven't written anything, but, in a glorious case of Catch 22, I also can't seem to focus on writing because I feel so lost.

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I've tried to hit the Reset Button, as it were, by just letting my mind wander and not really focus on anything this past week. For starters, I played a lot more Super Mario Odyssey. I'm only in the third main stage of the game, but I made sure to get every Power Moon and purple currency that I could on each level before moving on.

Hubby and I have also caught up on TV shows, and enjoyed socializing. Sadly, we didn't get to socialize on his actual birthday because, well....

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However, Wednesday we kinda had an impromptu D&D session, and guess what? WE GOT OUT OF THE DUNGEON!

In case you don't quite remember, about mid-October our one friend couldn't make it to Anime Night, but Wolfhearted could come down to hang out, so we pulled an audible with Omnibladestrike, and Hubby decided we'd have a D&D night. It was SUPPOSED to be a one-shot campaign, where we could start AND END the quest/adventure/campaign/whatever in just one gaming session.

Since it wasn't going to be an on-going thing, Hubby didn't bother world building, and instead had a dungeon randomly generated for us.

IT. KEPT. US. FOUR. SESSIONS. TO. FINISH. THIS. DUNGEON.

So much for a "one-shot", eh?

Well, luckily, we all seem to enjoy the characters we created, and both Wolf and I are eating up the dynamic we created for Cutter and Kriv, so this is just... a standard campaign, I guess? Quarthix's wife has been busy and drained herself, which means she hasn't really been running HER campaign, so Quarthix already talked to Hubby, and created a character for ours. Now that we are out of the ziggurat, we can meet his character on Thursday. Rozsavaria is also looking for a new playgroup, so if we can physically fit six people in our living room - me, Hubby, Wolfhearted, Omnibladestrike, Quarthix, and Rozsavaria - with a large enough table to play on, then she's in too. It's going to be tricky though, since Hubby needs a side to himself for DM stuff, and our card table isn't large enough for nearly 2 to a side.... it will be interesting though to see how this campaign goes now that Hubby is back to actually creating the campaign/world again. It's been a while since he's done any world building.

We'll see how it goes this Thursday...

Anyway, yeah, that was the Big Thing from this past Wednesday: FINALLY finishing our "one-shot" campaign.

Continuing with the socialization Hubby and I did while on vacation, last Thursday was Rozsavaria's birthday...

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...but she was a bit too wiped with other Birthdaying things to hang out. So instead she swung by Friday and.... we drank, and drank, and drank some more.


Vacations are fun, kiddies!

We played Unstable Unicorns and Monopoly Gamer: Mario Kart with drinking rules and... let's just say we crashed at about 9pm - we started at about 3pm - and yes, Roz spent the night like a responsible adult. Word of advice: don't try playing drinking games with my husband. It's bad enough that he's basically The King of Games from Yu-Gi-Oh, but he also doesn't get drunk without an inhuman amount of alcohol...

Roz and I, on the other hand...

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

To save our livers, we switched over to Truth or Dare instead of taking shots in the later portion of Monopoly. We also devoured about half a loaf of wheat bread between the two of us....

Saturday, surprisingly, I did NOT wake up with a hangover. Probably because Hubby practically funneled water down our throats the night before to make sure we were well hydrated.

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Saturday saw the post-holiday return of Anime Night, although we did start late with it. See, Saturday was my first day back to work, but I also had to stay about an hour or so after closing. The town's Christmas parade, Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and photos with Santa were all on Saturday, to kick off the holiday season. Santa always has pictures taken on my work's large front porch, so my co-worker and I stuck around to monitor that, run electric to the Christmas tree we had set up for the photos and the DJ who was also on the porch, and pass out hot cocoa to the kids waiting in line outside.

It was hella cold though, so poor Santa only had about a dozen kids show up in the hour that he was there. I... was inside and didn't realize the massive parade crowd scattered without stopping to see Santa. So I was zipping away with my assembly line of hot cocoa, and WAY overdid it for the "crowd" we got.

In the end, I ended up taking home a carafe of THIRTY-SIX CUPS of hot cocoa for me and the guys... I think Hubby and I are down to about 10 cups by now... which reminds me, I should break some out of the fridge and heat it up to finish writing this blog. Mmmmm morning hot cocoa.

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Oh! Right! I forgot to mention another thing I did to let my mind wander... Bitmoji!

So, the app updated to now include something I had wanted pretty much since I downloaded it: further customization!

Screen grabs from the Bitmoji avatar builder

I can still grab pre-designed outfits via that hanger icon, OR I can customize a more simplistic outfit. I have an assortment of shirt, pant, shoe, and cover shirt/jacket designs to pick from, as well as a descent selection of colors. That little toggle on the side of the Tops and Bottoms selection screens also allows me to decide if I want the shirt tucked or untucked. I could make my Bitmoji have even MORE of my style of clothing!

Here's the finished product if I were to dress her as close to accurate as possible.

Screen grab from Bitmoji app

By and large, I should have on that dark gray/black cover shirt. Mostly because my skin tone does not work well with yellow. However, I kind of have a blue and gold/yellow color theme going for my LycoRogue online persona - mostly because those were my college colors, but also because I love the blue/yellow color combo - so I decided to switch it up for my Bitmoji.

Screen grab of Bitmoji app

The yellow doesn't look so bad on her...

The BEST part, especially for me, since I frequently switch between my LycoRogue design and IRL design, THERE'S NOW A CLOSET!!!!

Screen grab of Bitmoji app

I don't know if it only keeps the last 6 outfits your Bitmoji has worn, or if it will keep building as I keep switching out outfits, but it's so cool that I can now easily shift between Bitmoji designs. I still have to go through the tediousness of switching out the hair color and style for my IRL version, but it's a lot less annoying than having to scroll through about 50 outfits to find the other one I had my avatar wearing.

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So, now I can have a "cold months" avatar here that still has that blue and gold/yellow theme! Whoot!

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OH! Maybe I can better generate outfits for My Girls now!

....

I'm having too much fun with this app....

Okay. Okay. Okay. I haven't been COMPLETELY in Vacay-Mode all week. I HAVE been doing some semblance of "work" with regards to writing.

Kinda, sorta....

Back before NaNo started, I had signed up for the Miraculous Ladybug fandom Secret Santa gift exchange. I have all of December. I can come up with a new story throughout the month of December. Prior to my birthday, I was cranking out a story a month anyway. I could easily do this!

I got my assigned Miraculer via email early November, and I've been periodically stalking their Tumblr account since. When each of us signed up for the exchange, we had to fill out a survey stating our personal preferences on if we want fanart and/or fanfiction, what themes we'd like, what ships we wouldn't mind receiving, which ships or topics we want to avoid, and what ratings we don't mind receiving: General Audience, Teen, Mature, Explicit, etc. In the email with my assigned Miraculer for the exchange, I also received all of those preferences, as someone else got mine in their email. So I know what themes/ships they would like, and which they want me to avoid. Still, I don't know this person, so might as well check out their Tumblr to try to get to know them better. Try to go through their ML tags to see what fantheories or tropes they tend to lean towards.

I still got nothing.


I changed tactics, and started searching for other Christmas themed fanfics and fanart to try to inspire me. Now, although it's a Secret Santa exchange, it doesn't HAVE to relate to the holidays. Still, it's due late-December, it's part of a Secret Santa, and most people are in a holiday mood now anyway. How can I not make it Christmas/winter themed?

To try to help inspire me, last week, among the other vacation-y things I have been doing, and then during the past couple days of work, when I have some down time, I've been reading some quick Christmas-y one-shot stories.

They've been cute, but nothing has really struck me yet for my own story. I even attempted talking it through with Hubby, since that seems to be the key I've been missing for YEARS. Still not really anything. He's into Pokemon: Sword right now, and I don't know how much he was actually paying attention this time as he was also focused on defeating a gym....

Bad timing on my part....

As I was going to bed last night, however, I had the slightest hint of a potential idea. It would be a rare case of me writing just pure fluff with no real drama in it if I follow the train of thought I was on while passing out, so we'll see.

All I know is that, with how controversial the song is, I REALLY need to stop plotting out a "Baby, It's Cold Outside" song-fic between Chat Noir/Adrien and Ladybug.... Although, the Idina Menzel and Michael Buble lyric rewrite isn't as problematic, and could work with teenage characters.... At least it isn't the "too woke for its own good" version that John Legend and Kelly Clarkson just released...


Side note: With them rewriting pretty much the WHOLE SONG, Legend and Clarkson still kept the "But maybe just a cigarette more" line!?!?! Just.... no.... go away... this song is way worse than the controversial original.

Anyway, if anyone has any fun Christmas-or-winter-themed prompt ideas or short fics or fanart/fancomics they want to send my way, feel free to drop a link in the description. I need help for this one.

Especially since I'm also completely sidetracking myself this week!

We have another Friday the 13th this week, and it's the last one until March 2020. It's not THAT far away, but still, I kind of want to take advantage whenever Friday the 13th comes up, and make them Chat Noir/Plagg appreciation days within the fandom. So I'm planning on getting another short fic up before Friday. Thing is, much like last Friday the 13th, I don't really have anything planned. So I need to crank my mind into gear for this. Any fun writing prompts for that you guys wish to share?

Backtracking a touch, over the Thanksgiving weekend I got to see my mom again for the first time since June, and so she managed to finally give me my birthday gift:

This is only part of my gift. I also got a
table top game and a Triforce alarm clock.

They are chakra alignment beads. The one with the heart is to help focus all 7 chakra points, and the blue one - made of lapis lazuli - is supposed to help specifically with the throat chakra, although some sources have it as the stone for the third eye chakra, and various sources have different assortments of stones in their list of seven. So, take this all with a grain of salt?

Anyway, lapis lazuli supposedly "promotes critical thinking, so it's perfect for people who are writers, journalists, psychologists, and executives by profession." It also is supposed to promote awareness of my spiritual purpose in life, promote confidence and courage, encourage me to speak from the soul, spark enlightenment, and surround me with tranquil and calming energies. Finally, lapis lazuli is the gemstone of communication, intuition, inner power, honor, wisdom, love, fidelity, harmony, spirituality, and removal of negativity.

Considering the inconsistency of information I found online about this topic, I don't know how much I subscribe to it. However, work or no, placebo-effect or not, ever since my mom gave these to me - and I've worn them daily since - I have felt a bit calmer and focused.

It could be because they do indeed work. It could be a placebo effect: I'm expecting to be calmer, so I am. It could be the fact that these were given with love from my mom, and with the intention to help me through my tough times, and I just feel that love whenever I wear these beads, and THAT helps calm and focus me. It could all just be a simple coincidence since I've only had the beads for a week, and I WAS on vacation.

Regardless, I'm feeling better since getting them, and, trusting that they work - even on a purely placebo/psychological-trickery sort of way - I'm hoping that these beads help me find my stories this week/month. Besides, they're just pretty, and so I'd wear them regardless....

OH! And speaking of finding stories! I have a couple of shout-outs to make!

First and foremost, as of last week, Cyhyr was able to switch her profile pic to this:

Designed by the people at NaNoWriMo

I think she said this was her first win? So let's all give her a huge congrats! The project still needs polishing, but I'll be sure to share once she has it posted somewhere.

Huge congratulations to you, Cy!

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Another congrats goes out to Omnibladestrike. He was hitting a writer's block with his main story, so he moved onto another one within the saga he's writing. He now has two chapters up for it, but, since it's original content, it seems like he's having a hard time getting views. So let's give Omni some love!

Dancing Fate

Summary: A shadow has spread across the land of Akierna. Kingdom after kingdom has fallen; even the grandest of armies have crumbled. A collection of survivors now seek a home on a new continent. After a massive storm sunk their ship, Raina, the queen of the Dragonesium kingdom, now leads her people into a hopeful future.

Chapters: 2 out of ?

Word Count: 4,050

Rating: Teen and older

There is violence, due to the war time atmosphere, but it's not graphically described. Still, if blood and/or death mentions are triggers, just know they're in there. Otherwise, go give this guy some love and let him know we want more of his story.

I also need another shout-out for a shout-out for me! This faithful reader of mine actually has a different user name on every site she has followed me on, so, since the shout-out was on Tumblr, we'll just use her Tumblr account name.

Long-time readers of this blog knows my love for EdenDaphne and both her art and writing. Well, on her Tumblr, someone commented about a previously suggested ML fanfic promotional blog no longer being active. Eden was then asked if she had a list of fic recommendations or author recommendations. She listed quite a few authors - a lot of which I would have also hands-down suggested - and then apologized that she knew she was missing a lot of great writers. She then told her followers to feel free to reblog with even more author suggestions.

Well, I was shocked to find that LivreVer made sure to go ahead and drop four more names, and *I* was one of those authors! Like... huh!? I got an author rec? On Tumblr? It honestly kept me about two friggen weeks to fully process that. Even with knowing how encouraging my readers are, stuff like this still surprises me. I just had to share the love, so I went ahead and added Taurus Pixie and Megatraven to the list, and in turn Megatraven added names of her own. It's so great to see authors getting recognized like this! Which reminds me, I need to check out the other authors LivreVer suggested.

For those curious, the other authors are:

• LyraMaeArcher
• semi-slaughtomatic
• Quickspinner

Another thing I need to do is remember that it's okay to promote my OWN works as much as I've been promoting other people's. While it's nice that Eden started up a thread of people sharing their favorite fic writers, and there is the blog ao3feed-ladynoir that seems to indiscriminately reblog stories published on AO3 and FFN as long as they're tagged with some part of the Love Square, I also found another blog I need to really pay attention to.

Discoveringmiraculouswriters is exactly what it sounds like: "This is a blog meant to reblog and spread the works of writers in the fandom for them to become more popular!" A way to try to get my name out there more. I really REALLY need to remember it, and make sure to send them links to my stories.

HOWEVER, there are two hurdles. First is that it looks like the reblogged stories are all Tumblr stories, and since my works are too long for Tumblr more often than not, I don't know if I'd be one of the writers they'd promote. Secondly, I have to send them my stories to begin with and... I... can't????

I don't know why, but I just have this block. It's cool to promote OTHER PEOPLE'S work because I genuinely enjoy it and find it good and want these pieces of creativity to get more love. However, saying the same thing about my OWN stories - outside of here on my blog or over on my personal Tumblr - feels... cocky??? I don't know why, but I guess that's why LivreVer's shout-out meant so much to me, because it meant SHE believed enough in my work that SHE thought others should read it.

I just need to get past my mental block. I'll never get anywhere as a professional - assuming I get to that point - if I'm afraid that promoting my story seems cocky.

I dunno. I've got a LOT on my plate for this week. Buuuut, I'm already over three hours late publishing this post, and it's stupid-long, so I should stop using this blog to procrastinate and get started on that Friday the 13th fic.

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