Darn You, Bitterblue!

**SPOILER WARNING**

Okay, sorry to the folks that like to go completely fresh and unknowing into things, but virtually this whole post is going to have spoilers for nearly everything I talk about.

• Minor spoilers for the latest "Miraculous Ladybug" episode
• Minor spoilers about scenes I have written up for "One and the Same" as I try to figure out the best order for them.
• A major spoiler for the romantic subplots for the books "Graceling" and "Bitterblue" that I've been reading.

You'll have a happy little section in the middle where I talk about my Camp NaNoWriMo progress, and some at the end where I promote a story I wrote already this month. Otherwise, there isn't much to read this week if you want to skip over these different spoilers. HOWEVER, if you just want to skip CERTAIN spoilers, I'll mark the beginning of each one with a header. Sorry, guys...

July is just zipping by, isn't it? It's hard to believe Independence Day already came and went, as did the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo.

That's right! I was so busy playing catch-up last week, I didn't really have time to talk about my July Camp participation.

First and foremost, I am yet again attempting to work on "One and the Same." I'm hoping for a few things: 1) third time's the charm with regards to working on this story during a NaNo month, 2) I had stepped away from this story long enough to feel rejuvenated, 3) the success I've had writing over the summer in the past strikes again, 4) new Miraculous Ladybug episodes will help re-inspire me.

Minor Spoilers: ML episode
Contains no-context screen shots

I mean, the new episode this weekend didn't really help with the plot of my story, but how can my little shipper heart not swell when I see this soft smile from Adrien?

So, some minor-spoiler context here. Adrien's father Gabriel is supposedly on a business trip to Japan, leaving Adrien in the care of only his bodyguard. Adrien's BFF Nino thinks this is the perfect opportunity to invade the Agreste mansion in order to throw Adrien a surprise party.

Side Note: This is the second time Nino has gone against Gabriel's rules in order to throw Adrien a surprise party; the first one was the premiere episode "The Bubbler."

Anyway, Nino was trying to have it be a "guys' day" party, which meant "no girls allowed," much to Adrien's dismay, who was wondering why Marinette wasn't at the party. The above smile was when it was revealed that Marinette had dressed in a costume in order to sneak into his party.

First, Adrien was just as surprised as everyone else:

This was instantly followed by Marinette scrambling to put her costume back on and claiming to be "Marino."

Adrien's response was the above soft smile. Here, have it again because it is so cute.

Gaaaah! This boy is so happy that Marinette could join in the party! I love it!!!!!

So.... yeah. While it doesn't really help come up with parallel references for my plot, it still gives me shipper feels that helps make me want to just smoosh these two together. Kind of like The Gorilla with his action figures in this episode....

*Ahem*

So, yeah...

END OF EPISODE SPOILERS

Here's hoping I make some progress with "One and the Same". It's been really slow this first week, though, as I go back through old scenes to try to polish them up a touch and figure out how to thread them together. It's been... and interesting process.

Minor Spoilers: One and the Same

I have this one scene where Adrien is dressed all in black in order to help promote his father's new fashion line, and their teacher Miss Bustier randomly selects Marinette and Adrien to give each other affirmations to start their school day. Marinette gets flustered by Adrien's all-black look, and Adrien just smiles lovingly at her as he shows off some of his "Chat Noir side" by flirting oh-so-slightly.

I love this scene. I want to use this scene. I have no clue where I want to put this scene.

Originally, it was in the third chapter of the story! Right off the bat, Marinette showcases how flustered she is around Adrien, and right out of the gate Adrien is trying to get Marinette to fall for his Chat Noir side before revealing his feelings for her. This is mainly because Ladybug has rejected his goofy Chat Noir side countless times, so he's afraid he can't have a relationship with Marinette until he can get her to fall for that half of him.

I really liked that placement when I first wrote the scene.

But now it feels like it just bogs down a chapter that also seems a bit disconnected. The Morning Affirmations scene does relate to the main body of the chapter, which is Marinette wondering if Adrien has low self-esteem, and is therefore trying to emulate Chat Noir. However, the chapter is already so long, and it feels weird to have a long "start of the school day" scene and an even longer "end of the school day" scene, and then just sort of hand-wave over the school day itself.

Alternatively, I have another chapter about mid-story where Adrien "accidentally slept in" and so he came to school a bit disheveled: hair not QUITE in place, so a little bit of his Chat Noir shagginess is showcased, and his usual white cover shirt is replaced by the black cover shirt introduced in the above "all black" scene. Marinette is flustered, but manages to get a few solid sentences out as she uses Adrien's "off" look to envision him as Chat Noir; making him easier for her to talk to. Since so much of this chapter is about Marinette imagining Adrien as Chat Noir, that way she isn't as flustered around him, and it's almost exclusively the start of the school day, perhaps I combine this scene with the "all-black" one? Maybe Adrien is promoting the all-black look for his father's latest line, but he also over sleeps, so his hair's in a bit of disarray? Marinette and Adrien have their affirmations, but then Marinette convinces herself to picture Adrien as CN so she can talk to him?

I loose cute moments from both scenes if I combine them, but the overall story may run smoother. Except, now I'm missing a major catalyst from the 3rd chapter, because I still need Adrien to subtly act like Chat Noir while at school in order to get the reaction I need from Marinette, that way I can THEN get the counter-reaction I need from Adrien to jumpstart chapter 4... which is kind of the true inciting incident for the whole story...

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

So the Morning Affirmations/All-Black scene is just sort of sitting in limbo in its own word doc until I know where to shove it.

Same with a sort of half-scene where Alya playfully yells at Adrien for a bad pun, sending him to the corner until he can "learn proper humor."

On the flip side, one of my later chapters had a part where Marinette learns that Chat Noir isn't just a flirt; he genuinely loves Ladybug. The chapter this realization originated in was a bit interrupted by this "ah-ha moment." And so it got moved to its own chapter, further back in the story. I have the back half of that chapter written. I just need to figure out how to get there.... I also need to figure out if I want to stop where I did, or if I want to wrap the chapter up some other way. I may have to wait until the chapters are laced together into one master manuscript before I decide that though.

Also, the original section I had cut is almost completely re-worked. Chat Noir was much more playfully whiny, and Marinette much more teasingly comforting my first go at the "Chat Noir Truly Loves Ladybug" micro-scene. I don't think I can really use any of it now, but it will stay in document limbo in case I want to use that alternate version in another story.

Or, much like my alternate Bracelet Scene, I may just post it to Tumblr as a nixed alternate scene. Who knows?

END OF OATS SPOILERS

I've also committed to my "flip the final chapter POV between both Marinette and Adrien" format. It's not professional, but screw it. Fanfiction doesn't need to be professional quality. It may upset a few of my readers to go from one POV per chapter to a bouncing POV - broken up with line breaks and POV switch headers - but I really can't figure out whose POV is more important for this final chapter. There's a LOT to take in and wrap up, and both parties have a LOT going on in their heads. It would be Adrien's turn, but after the last Marinette-POV chapter's ending, I can't NOT go into her head again.

Divvying up the chapter just seemed the most suitable solution. Although, now that I'm doing THAT, I want to make sure the switch doesn't happen every 3 paragraphs or so, which means taking more time with each character before switching, which means an even BIGGER chapter.

So maybe I break the chapter in half, and the final TWO chapters will be split POV? Or I could tell one side of the climax via Adrien's POV, then re-tell it in the next chapter via Marinette's POV, and then have a final chapter post-climax and have THAT be the joint POV chapter?

What do you guys think? Would you rather:
A. Read the scene playing out in real-time, but have the POV switch between characters, and have the "bouncing" POV for 2 or 3 straight chapters?

or

B. Read the scene about 70% of the way through with Adrien's POV, then rewind in the next chapter to re-read the same scene, but from Marinette's POV, and then conclude with one more chapter containing the final 30% of the scene either in the split-POV or in 3rd person?

This would be so much easier if I just wrote the whole story in 3rd, but I fear Cyhyr's right, and it would be weird to have the sequel to a 1st-person POV story be a 3rd-person POV story.

Darn writing. Why does this need to be so hard!?

So.... yeah.... that's the progress I have with "One and the Same" as of right now. A jumbled mess of "Okay, let's fix this, and edit this, and start writing this, and move this to it's own limbo-document until I know where I want to go with it..."

It doesn't help that the first three days of July virtually saw NO writing as I pushed to get my reading of "Bitterblue" by Kristin Cashore done. A failed attempt, actually. I had neglected to bring the book out-of-state with me when I visited my mom. So, the day the book was due back at the library, I still had 70pgs left to read when I had to head out to my writing group meeting, which runs right up until the library closes. Had I brought the book with me, I would have read my 38pgs/day goal, and I would have had the book done on time.

Instead, I renewed the book for another 2 weeks, and proceeded to take less than 2hrs to finish reading everything, including the bonus content at the back of the book, as well as the acknowledgements. So glad I have this book until the 16th....

And, yes, I do still have the book. I'm flipping back through to scenes that really stuck out for me, and taking pictures of the passages so I have them as reference points.

Reference points for 2 reasons, actually:
1) Fandom reference. If I need to look up something for ML, I can just bring up episodes and re-watch the scenes I need. I can't do that with a book, especially one I don't own. With the picture references I won't have to flip back through a 500+ pg story to find the precise scene I need to refresh my memory for fanfiction or just general fandom knowledge. Also, I won't have to wait until I can check the book back out of the library - or, if/when I buy the book, wait until I find the book in my personal at-home library.
2) Writing reference. More importantly, with the photos of the passages I like, I have a quick-guide to wording I really like for various reasons. Perhaps I liked Cashore's turn-of-phrase, or how she described something world-building wise, or it evoked powerful emotions that I want to revisit and/or have as a guide for instruction on how to evoke emotions the same way. Just like with the fandom reference, having the photos means I don't have to have the physical book with me in order to re-read a specific scene, nor will I have to spend a great deal of time flipping through and re-reading unneeded passages in an effort to find the one I need.

Either way, it's a great way to study Cashore's writing as I keep going back to those scenes. A way for me to potentially improve my own writing.

I THINK I have the main passages I want - roughly 70 pages out of the 539pg story - and I can return the book in the next day or so. I just need to take the time to re-name the pictures by their page numbers so I can easily double-check that I have them all.

It will be a project, and another distraction from my Camp writing. Oh, glorious "Bitterblue" distractions from writing. First, I read instead of writing. Second, I re-read looking for passages I wanted to photograph. Third, I need to organize the photos before the book is due on the 16th. Finally, instead of working on my Camp project of OatS, I used all of my writing free-time on the 4th working on a "Bitterblue" one-shot. Something I'll talk about below.

But first, I want to see how far behind "Bitterblue" actually put me, and how much I've actually done with OatS.

A previously sold (read: old) word count tracker for Camp NaNoWriMo
Designed by Miss Write
You can find other amazing (and really cheap!) trackers,
calendars, and planner stickers on her etsy: WriteMissWrite

Once you take out the 3330-word "Bitterblue" fanfiction I wrote on the 4th, I wrote 4177 words for OatS... Nooooot the greatest, but still 4000+ more words than I had in June...

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

All-in-all, I should have been at 10,870 words by the end of the week. Instead I had 7004; 3866 words behind. Good start...


As for how far I am now? Only up to 7507 out of 13,044. By the end of the day I'm supposed to be up to 15,218! Camp... hasn't been going well yet again.

I'm writing though, and I have my story for July already done. Again, more on that in a little bit. I'm slowly getting back into the rhythm of the story again, and, as I noted above, I've re-written some chapters already. Finally, I'm meeting some really neat people in my cabin. At least half of the group is really talkative, and we all just chat about once a day. Although, I have been skipping the chat log so far this week so I can pretend I'm catching up on my writing. I'll have to check in at some point, but I know I'll have about 50 messages to read through before responding.

I also found some fellow Miraculers in the cabin. One in particular is working on a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic this month as well. An Enemy AU, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" crossover fic. Their first multi-chapter project. I instantly remembered how it felt to work on “Peeping Tomcat”. I hope Becklemania enjoys the journey. I have their story queued up for post-Camp readings, but if you don't want to wait, you can read what they have up so far over on AO3: Chat Noir's Sing-Along Blog

That's my progress with Camp NaNo so far this month, but how about we back-track to that "Bitterblue" fanfic?

Major Spoilers: "Bitterblue" romantic subplot
(and also the "Graceling" romance subplot)

I was kind of devouring "Bitterblue" as quickly as I could without it being the only thing I did all day outside of working. Again, I'll have to write up a separate blog post just talking about my thoughts on "Graceling" and "Bitterblue" because there is a LOT. Obviously, because it inspired a fanfic.

Actually, it inspired more than just a simple fanfic.... nearly 90% of the way through the story - it's literally about 87%; I calculated it via page numbers - there is a hand-waved sex scene. Technically, "Bitterblue" is within a Young Adult book series, so sex can be implied, but it can't be described.

In "Graceling" the characters are in a make-out session, and then the one questions if they have seabane. In Cashore's world, seabane is an herb that prevents pregnancy if consumed within 24hrs after sex. So... an herbal Morning After Pill, as it were. Anyway, the characters are making out, there is a question of whether or not they have any seabane, the other comments about it being in with their medicines, then there is a line break signalling the end of that scene. The next scene starts with them cuddling and the one character asking the other why it is that only females bleed and hurt their first time. Obviously this is pointing out that at least the one character was a virgin, although it could probably be assumed the other was as well.

It's a sweet moment, but, as I'll discuss more in that Graceling Realms post in the near-future, the relationship build was kind of sprinted through to get to that point. So I don't know if them getting together finally was nearly as satisfying as it could be. On the flip side, it meant we had more story of them being a couple, and it's nice to actually SEE a couple in media, instead of the agonizing "will they; won't they" leading to a joint love confession at THE VERY END of the movie/book/series, and their relationship just left for the audience to imagine.

None of that's really the point. My point is that the same hand-waved, literary "fade to black" in "Bitterblue" left me wanting. The romantic tension was SOOOO much more intense in "Bitterblue", plus I felt like there was an honest to goodness love triangle situation. I would be equally happy if Queen Bitterblue ended up with either of two suitors hinted at throughout the book, and at the same time, I'd be equally heartbroken that she didn't end up with the other.

Then there was page 471:

She woke from a nightmare of falling. Ashen, herself, bones, everyone, everything falling. She woke crying out and thrashing and was astonished, then devastated, to find Saf there holding her, comforting her, for this time she was truly awake, and with Saf, all the other truths of the waking world rushed back. And so she clung to him to push them away, pressed herself against him. She felt the length of his body against hers; she felt his hands. She heard his whispers, let him fill her ears and her skin. She kissed him. When he responded to her kisses, she kissed him more.

"Are you certain you want this?" he whispered, when it became clear what was happening. "Are you certain that you're certain?"

"Yes," she whispered. "Are you?"

That's the end of the page. So I flip it over to 472, expecting more, like it was in "Graceling." I was itching for more literary fore-play, as it were. Instead, I got this as I began reading page 472:

* * * * *

What it did was return her to herself. For Saf reminded her of trust, of her capacity for comfort, her willingness to be loved. So that afterwards, when the pain came rushing back again, fresh and relentless, she had the strength to bear it, and a friend to hold her while she sobbed.

Like... what!? That was it!? "Are you?" and then "yup. They did the deed."? Tease! In truth, especially with the line "and a friend..." - considering the characters in "Graceling" instantly acknowledged they were lovers after - an innocent mind could POOOOOOOSSIBLY think the two just made out all night or something. The only real CONFIRMATION confirmation was on the NEXT page:

It was early morning when her growling stomach woke her. She opened her eyes to light, and the strange comfort of the dream. Then, memory. Aches, all over, from [CONTENT REMOVED DUE TO FURTHER SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK, JUST KNOW IT WAS DEPRESSING STUFF], from crying, loss, from Saf.

This is even LESS subtly followed by Bitterblue dressing herself, and asking Saf to wait a moment before getting dressed, because it was too dark before and she had never seen a naked man. Once Bitterblue returns to her chambers, she takes some seabane, and laments the complicated situation surrounding the first time she'd have to consume the herb.

So... yeah, it's pretty obvious what happened between pages 471 and 472, and it was eating away at me that we didn't get more. Again, I know that explicit content would have never made it into the book, but I still wanted MORE. I needed a greater pay-off for the Bitterblue/Saf romance subplot.

My only option was to write it myself.

I used cues from the rest of the chapter, things like Saf's comforting voice, his use of her alias Sparks, the fact that Saf held and comforted her in her grief, and the above line: "For Saf reminded her of trust, of her capacity for comfort, her willingness to be loved."

I also used this line from page 473:

How loyal and gentle Saf had been with her, and without her asking it of him. As quick to love as he was to anger, as quick to warmth as to foolishness, and he had a tenderness she wouldn't have expected from him.

Now that I had these main clues as to how everything went down to use as a foundation, I spent those precious writing moments over the holiday to write me some "Bitterblue" smut.

Because apparently, if it's summer, it's the Season of Smut for LycoRogue...

END OF "GRACELING" AND "BITTERBLUE" SPOILERS.

To catch up anyone who skipped over the above spoilers... I wrote smutty fanfiction for the book "Bitterblue."

Now, to be completely fair, there are nearly 1700 words before I even START really getting into the sexual aspects of the story, and actual sex doesn't occur until after 2300 words - 4 pages - into the story. On top of all of that, the last 300+ words are post-sex after-care and snuggles.

So, really, at about 760 words and barely more than a page of content, the sex itself is a small fraction of the overall story.

The story is more fluff with a side-order of smut.

Which is probably why it's the first bit of smut I released out into the world.

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

Yeah. I know. I'm.... anxious about this story being consumed by strangers.

Helga G. Pataki from "Hey, Arnold!"
by Craig Bartlett

Serena/Usagi from "Sailor Moon"
by Naoko Takeuchi

But, as I stated above, the story IS mostly fluff, and it's for a fandom that seems to have mostly died off after "Bitterblue" released in 2012. Pretty much all other smut I read for this book - because; research - was published between 2012 and 2015. I think there MIIIIIGHT have been one in 2017? As for all OTHER forms of fanfic for the fandom? Again, there are still some posting in 2019, like me, but most of it seems to have tapered off in 2015... MAAAAAAYBE 2017. The franchise as a whole has 110 fanfics - including mine - on AO3.

So, it's clearly a small fandom, especially since I never heard of the trilogy before, despite it coming out over 7yrs ago. The fandom has petered off it seems. I don't know if anyone would be looking for new "Bitterblue" fanfiction, let alone wanting to read smutty fanfiction.

So.... I'm "safe," right? It's cool to post this story because who's really going to ever read it... yeah?

Says the woman who is currently awkwardly trying to promote the darn thing...

Meh, the difference is that you guys aren't TOTAL strangers to me. I mean, sure, I might not know who a lot of you are, but you faithfully come back here, right? You enjoy my writing. I do know at least 10 of you, I'd imagine. It's not QUITE the same as having "strangers" find it.....

....

Why did I post this story again?????

Because I didn't just post it to AO3, where I can throw up a slew of tags and mark the story as explicit sexual content.

I knew I couldn't post it to FFN, and I probably wasn't going to get anywhere on DA with an "Adult Content" block on a story; something most don't go to DA for anyway.

But.... I DO have my Tumblr... and the mature/explicit content is "hidden" behind a "read more" link. And there's no pictures to get my story flagged... in theory....

So far so good, and there aren't any notes on the story, so I don't know if anyone even read the thing or if everyone just went "Oh... smut... moving on then." Perhaps I won't get flagged....

AAAAAAANYWAY. I DID have a few people read it on AO3 though.

Wolfhearted is my "I don't feel ashamed when I talk dirty around him" friend, my "he doesn't judge; nor should he" friend, my "okay, it's safe to send my smut to him" friend. He's already read "Rensin's Conquest" - my Jolene smut - and he absolutely loves "Some Like It Flame Broiled" - my Trish/Devon smut inspired by Ronoxym's own smutty AU story for these two. I'm actually still periodically going back to SLIFB in order to tweak and re-do so it's not so cringey, and Wolf reads each rewrite....

So, I sent him my "Bitterblue" smut. He agreed that it was more a cavity-inducing fluff story that just so happens to include sex. He had one critique, and, the more I think about it, the more I kind of agree with him, but I'm not going to bother to go back and tweak....

I then told one of my readers, back when I thought I was going to be too shy to share the story here on my blog, that I had the fic up. I don't think she has an AO3 account, so I knew she wouldn't get a notification.

That was it. Those were my two readers over the holiday. I was pleased with that. Especially when Wolf told me he enjoyed the story. I also got this unofficial review from the aforementioned reader:

OK!!! Now I have to go and read it!!!!


I'm back! That was awesome. I have to admit it has been way too long since I read the trilogy. (I read it when it first came out). Now I want to go back and reread it!!!!

So, uh... yeah. Neat. Two good reviews from people I "know" - in truth, I don't KNOW know the above reader, but she's a faithful one, so close enough? - and I was content with my work.

Then, unexpectedly, last night I got an AO3 notification that I had a kudos and a review on my story!

you don't understand how thirsty I am for [CONTENT REMOVED DUE TO SPOILERS] content ALWAYS and to have some tender and loving smut in the year 2019 is truly a blessing THANK YOU

Um....

Maki Natsuo from "Love Lab"
created by Ruri Miyahara

Marinette from "Miraculous Ladybug"
created by Thomas Astruc

Okay, I had a good review from a complete stranger. I'm seriously good now...

However... since it IS - at least, for right now - my "one completed piece of fiction per month" for July... for any who are interested in this sort of thing... um... yeah... here's the link.

"Sparks for the Moment"

On ArchiveOfOurOwn        On Tumblr

My story on AO3 is actually up to 8 hits as of this writing, so that means 5 other people read it!? Eeeeee

Grey from "Black Clover"
created by Yūki Tabata

Well... I was brave and shared the story with the world, smut and all. So... that's where I'm at with my writing. Is anyone else doing Camp NaNo? How are you doing with your writing?

I'm going to go hide in the corner for a few hours until I forget I also promoted my smut here on my blog, so I guess I'll catch you guys again either next week or later this week if I can get that Seven Kingdoms Trilogy/Graceling Realms blog post up...

We'll Just Ignore That Week

Yup, I'm trying again.

Wow... I just... I completely missed last week! Sorry, folks! Is that the first time this year? I think it was the first time this year... It's just... that week really got away from me. It's been... hectic....

Two weeks ago, I still had HUNDREDS of pages to read in "Bitterblue" by Kristin Cashore before it has to go back to the library today. I had to work on the research portion of my "Meet Lia" mini-series for my on-going "Meet My OCs" project. I had to figure out my finances so I could pay for my portion of the car repairs. I had to organize my house, go to Zumba, prep for my trip down to visit my mother, and write a new and completed work of fiction for the month.

I... don't think I organized my time well.

First and foremost, I was able to get my finances all sorted out so I had enough to pay my portion of the collision repair bill. So check out how pretty my car is again!

It feels fantastic to drive my own car again after almost exactly a month! I did have a bit of a hiccup right out of the gate though, since my car has power steering to the point where I can use the heel of one hand to turn the steering wheel, whereas the Miata we had been borrowing did NOT have power steering. I had to muscle that thing around curves all the time, especially at slower speeds. When Hubby's friend told us "it could take a turn at 30mph no problem" I didn't realize he meant "it kinda NEEDS to go that fast in order for you to move the wheel at all."

Anyway, when I got my car back I forgot to take into consideration that I didn't need to do arm exercises before making a turn, and so I nearly over-turned and ran into a ditch pulling out of the collision center's parking lot! I did it a second time closer to my homee when I nearly steered right into the curb. Thankfully, I got the rhythm of my car after those two hiccups, and I was able to correct fast enough to stay in my lane of the road both times.

THAT would have been fun: leave collision center; wreck car all over again 2min out.

Anyway, that was Friday, 6/21. Wednesday, 6/19 - the day after my last blog post - I couldn't do anything writing or reading wise at work as I ran around changing sales tags all day; then Zumba and after-Zumba walk. Then I showered, ate, and spent SOME time with Hubby, so not much writing to be had even after work. Thursday was work again, and then Omnibladestrike's weekly visit. I can't recall at this time what I did at work, but if I had downtime, I was probably playing catch-up on my reading.

Friday, along with "pick up my car finally!" was also catch-up day for reading, for cleaning, for laundry, and for writing. I knew I wasn't going to really have time to do much outside of socializing while visiting Mom this past weekend, so I needed as much writing done as possible before I headed down on the 28th. That meant less than a week to work on "Meet Lia," my monthly fiction writing, and my blog since the 21st was also my last day off before my trip.

It was a LOT to do... and I do NOT know how to manage my time. I was able to get about half-done with everything before I panicked about how little time I had left and switched to a different project. Leaving them all incomplete instead of having at least ONE completed task and leave one or two not started...

Not a real confidence booster before heading into July's Camp NaNoWriMo. A trend that followed me into the new month as I only managed about 100 words last night.

What's worse is that, much like in May, I had no clue what to even write for my monthly completed piece of fiction. I had been so focused on the "Meet Willow" and "Meet Lia" posts that I wasn't thinking of any new content. I debated for the briefest of moments to write something with them, but I just couldn't think of what.

Then I spent Monday evening/Tuesday morning chatting with ChibiSunnie. We talked about a whole slew of things, but one of the topics that stuck with me was a bit about Fruits Basket. Specifically, she was telling me about the latest manga for the series called Fruits Basket Another. It's basically Boruto or X-Future. Namely, it continues the story by following the children of the original cast of characters. It's extremely short compared to the original manga series - only about 12 chapters/3 volumes long - and just concluded after 4yrs.

Anyway, the point is, much like the original Fruits Basket, apparently the parents don't make much of an appearance as the story focuses more on the high schoolers. Kind of sad, really, since it would be great to see 30-something, 40-something, and 50-something versions of the original cast. The real reason we were talking about this series though, aside from it simply being more Fruits Basket, is that the children of the three main characters of the show are also the main characters of this new manga series. Between the main cast briefly appearing here and there in the series centering around their children, and the flash-forward/epilogue of the original Fruits Basket, you get a glimpse into Tohru's love life and how happy a life she maintains for the rest of her days.

For those who want to get into the series, or have just started it, I don't want to give away who Tohru ends up with, but Chibi and I talked about a distinct and slightly odd way he shows her affection, and I hoped it continued into their adulthood. I threw out a bunch of headcanon scenes of when, how, and why he'd show her affection that way, and Chibi ate it up. Which, of course, encouraged me to keep thinking about them.

THIS WAS IT! This was the story I was going to tell for June! Now, the title alone for the story is probably a Tohru Endgame spoiler, so if you DO want to go into Fruits Basket spoiler-free, please skip on ahead a bit...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Everyone who wanted to avoid spoilers has passed by? You guys either know the endgame or don't care? Alright, so I was specifically wondering about that little head bonk Kyo does to Tohru.

I came up with scenarios of him still doing that to refocus her throughout their life together, and I just HAD to write them out; they were too cute not to!

Thus "Love Taps" came into being, and was published on Wednesday, June 26th.

"Love Taps"

On FanFiction      On ArchiveOfOurOwn     On DeviantArt     On Tumblr

SUMMARY: Kyo’s little head bonks carry more meaning and more love than anyone could ever truly know. Anyone besides maybe Tohru, who reflects on an entire lifetime of receiving the loving raps on the noggin.

One-shot

WORD COUNT: 2952
RATING: General Audiences

Yeah! I posted the full story on Tumblr too! The story follows Kyo and Tohru - Kyohru - until they are 73, so it does also include spoilers for Fruits Basket Another; whatever I could grab from the wikis, spoiling myself be damned! So keep that in mind if you want to give my one-shot a read but haven't had a chance to read the newest manga and/or the "Three Musketeers Arc" companion stories. Now, TMA centers around Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame, but, from what I gathered via the wiki, there are some flash forwards in this arc that also spoils bits of Fruits Basket Another. So... fair warning... because I included as much as possible in "Love Taps" to make it canon compatible.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

OKAY! SPOILERS OVER NOW! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PART!

The key thing to really take away from this fiction piece, whether or not you read it, is how much Chibi helped inspire me. We always pop out so many plot bunnies when we talk, and it was fun and refreshing to actually take one of those bunnies to maturity. She also greatly encouraged me by commenting about how perfect the headcanons were and how much she wished the manga creator Natsuki Takaya would actually draw them out to make them canon.

Well, Chibi, they'll be canon to us!

As I was publishing them, I thought it was fitting to have this story be dedicated to her. I haven't gifted Chibi a story in years, and she was beyond due for another one.

It was also nice to switch up fandoms for a few minutes. I flew through this story after work on Tuesday, June 25th. More on this later. For the quick recap, I gave Hubby a heads up, and squirreled myself away on the front porch to soak in my daily sunshine while I wrote. I then finished it up in the house, because my laptop was dying, and sent the first draft to Chibi late that night. I warned her that my eyes were glazing over towards the end, so please ignore the roughness of it. She seemed to enjoy seeing the headcanons written out.

The next day she saw that the edited version was published as a dedication to her, which was apparently a bit of a surprise. She completely gushed on my Facebook promotion for it, gushed on her reblog of my posting to Tumblr, and gushed in her review on AO3. She's just adorable! I mean, look at these!

ON FACEBOOK:
Aaaahhhhhh you're so sweet to dedicate this story to me and I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT'S SO ADORABLE AND SWEET EEEEEEEEEE THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D I left a proper review up on A03, but eeeeeee thank you this made me so happy to read and I love that you got inspired from our convo!! ^_^ <3 Aaahhhhhh my heart is all full of the fluff from this! :D <3
~~~ Followed by 3 different love-themed FB stickers ~~~

ON TUMBLR:
I already squeed on facebook and A03 but EEEEEEEEEE I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH IT’S SO SWEET AND FLUFFY AND MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!! :D :D :D :D Thank you so much for dedicating it to me! ^_^ *sends you all the hugs* :D
~~~ Followed by 7 different Fruits Basket anime hug screen caps ~~~

AND THE AO3 REVIEW ITSELF:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THIS WAS SO SWEET AND FLUFFY AND ADORABLE AND I LOVE IT SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D Aaahhhhhh and you dedicated it to me, that's so incredibly nice of you, THANK YOU!!! ^_^ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 This is exactly how I imagined those scenes when we were talking about all of this last week and I'm so happy that convo inspired plot bunnies that you loved enough to bring to life in this story!! :D Your writing is lovely as always and I can absolutely picture this whole story as a canon future for them!! :D Aahhhh and it was so fluffy and sweet it made me tear up a bit at how cute and happy and wonderful their life is together! ^_^ <3 Thank you for writing this story, it absolutely brightened my whole week!!! ^_^ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

So... I guess I did good?


Chibi wasn't the only person to give me some love for this story though. Now, I derped up and didn't jot down the 24hr stats like I normally would, but here's where I am as of this writing:

FFN: 94 views, 5 faves, and 2 reviews
AO3: 167 hits, 14 kudos, 1 bookmark, and Chibi's comment
DA: 10 views and 1 fave

Total Results: 271 views, 20 faves, 1 bookmark, and 3 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 12 notes; 9 likes and 3 reblogs

FFN reviews:
  1. *squee* I get to follow you to a new fandom! HOORAY! I really hope [spoiler; content removed] keep going, too!
  2. This was so sweet, showing all the different meanings behind [spoiler; content removed] over the span of various special moments throughout their life, it was just perfect. Admittedly, I didn't remember [spoiler; content removed] in the manga (though truth be told it's been a long time since I've read it), so when he first did it in the new anime series my heart all but exploded in joy. I'm still such a fangirl for this series and for [spoiler; content removed] in particular haha. Anyway, lovely writing, absolutely adorable and heartwarming. Great work!

One of the reblogs off Tumblr was a Fruits Basket fanblog by fruits-basket2019, and their tags included "#this was so cuteeee" So.. yay!

fanfictionrecommendations-com found me again and once more liked one of my stories. It will be interesting to see if any of them ever show up on their site.... Perhaps I should check in on that to see if any of my fandoms were showcased in the past few months.

Anyway, I know the above stats are fairly small compared to the week-long stats I get on my ML stories, especially when one considers how popular Fruits Basket is right now. However, I AM talking post-endgame for Furuba, and I do warn that it contains spoilers for FBA, so perhaps a lot of fans are steering away to avoid spoilers? Perhaps there are those who aren't fans of the canon endgame pairing that are also avoiding the story? Or perhaps Furuba fanfiction isn't as popular as ML fanfics? Also, new Furuba episodes come out on Fridays, so maybe no one is looking for fanfiction on Wednesdays or Thursdays?

Regardless of the reasoning, the actual ratio of kudos/likes/reviews to views seems to be smaller than with ML, which means when someone reads this story they have a higher percentage of reacting to it - by way of likes/kudos/bookmarks/follows/reviews/etc - than my ML readers. I also remember having roughly 20 views on FFN within the first 24hrs, and around 80 hits on AO3. I think I also had something like 5 likes and the 3 reblogs on Tumblr within those first 24hrs. The fave on DA was within the first couple of hours after publishing. That's exciting, right?

Heck, that first review I shared a few paragraphs up? The one about following me into a new fandom? That's from faithful reader ChubbyUnicornMama. They've been following me since I published "Woven Heartstrings" for Taurus Pixie. My heart swelled a touch to see that they did indeed read something non-Miraculous related. Apparently they have that much faith in my writing that they would read it, even if it's outside of their current fandom. Now, they DO know the story behind Fruits Basket, so they didn't go in cold or anything, but still, it was sweet that they had that faith. I then got a bit of a chuckle when I realized the review went up barely 30minutes after I published the story! Unicorn must have instantly gone to read after getting the alert!

Generated by Bitmoji

I feel so loved right now! I can't even express it properly. So, thank you, ChubbyUnicornMama for the love, and thank you, ChibiSunnie, for all the gushing. EEEEEE.

For everyone else who read, liked, left kudos, reblogged, faved, and/or bookmarked my story? Thank you as well for taking time with my little experimental journey into the Fruits Basket world for a minute.

Anyway, getting back on track! I told you about TWO weeks ago, but what about LAST week? Why did I miss my update? How did my Furuba story affect that?

Well, as I mentioned towards the top, Friday, 6/21, was the only day off I had that week so I could take this past weekend to visit my mom and sister. That meant I didn't have the 4+ hours first thing Tuesday morning that I normally take to write up these posts and edit them. I was at work, and I just couldn't work on my post like I wanted.

I MEANT to work on my blog post Monday night so it was all queued up for Tuesday at noon, but I was tired from running around trying to get things sorted the previous day. I also had my last Zumba class before the instructor went on a week-long vacation, which meant I really couldn't afford to skip it. I'm glad I didn't for more than exercise/health reasons. It was a nice stress reliever, even if the stress piled back on after taking a nearly 2hr break from everything, but more importantly, my niece joined me and my sister-in-law. School got out early as the school year came to a close, and so my niece spent most of the day with her mom. My sister-in-law didn't have enough time to do a sort of hand-off to her husband before Zumba, so Niece came with! She sat in the corner and watched us, but it was still fun to have her there and then walk with them after class was done.

Point is, between work - where I was actually kept fairly hoppin' - Zumba, post-Zumba walk, showering, dinner, picking Hubby up from work, and spending time with him... I ran out of time to write up my blog post so it was set to go last Tuesday. I mean, late in the day I had the chance to work on my blog post, but instead I watched the latest Fruits Basket - since I ran out of time to do so over the weekend - and then chatted with ChibiSunnie about it. When it was after 1am, I realized that I NEEDED to go to bed. No blog pre-write time.

Generated by Bitmoji

I then figured I could use my downtime at work to write up the post so I could just publish it late when I got home. Noooope. Yet again I was actually kept fairly occupied at work, and I still needed to make sure I didn't fall behind on my reading, so my downtime was spent working on that. On top of that, the discussions Chibi and I had the night before kept poking at me. I knew that I wanted to write them up for my monthly fiction project.

The day spun out of control fairly quickly for me as my head swam between the reading to get "Bitterblue" done before it was due back at the library, working on my "Meet Lia" posts for my Sunday deadline, writing up my Furuba fanfic before heading down to my mom's on the 28th, and playing catch-up to write my blog post... I also had a writing date set up with Omni, which largely means either talking about both of our projects - something I didn't need on my end - or focusing solely on his story to help him out. Whether or not we focused on Omni, it meant I wasn't writing anything myself. I also needed to fold laundry and start packing for our trip, and cleaning the house... I couldn't mentally map out how to find the time for everything!

Frazzled, I asked Omni for a raincheck, and we agreed to spend an hour or two of our Thursday meet-up instead to chat about his story. Having some time freed up, I then messaged Hubby to tell him he shouldn't expect to see me much that day as I HAD to get writing done. Once I got home, I quickly changed out of my work clothes, then squirreled myself away on the front porch.

I should have instantly started on my blog post. However, I knew I wanted to have SOMETHING to talk about in my post, completely forgetting that I originally wanted to use an uneventful writing week to finally talk about my thoughts on "Graceling."  So, I prioritized writing my fiction over getting my blog post done before Tuesday's end. That way I could share my story with you fine folks in that week's blog post.

As I mentioned above, writing the story kept nearly all night to do, mostly because of the research I had to do to figure out Tohru's adult life. Eyes glazing over, I shared the story with Chibi, then passed out knowing I didn't even have the post written up to publish first thing Wednesday morning.

Wednesday was spent editing the story, more reading, and trying to mentally block out my co-worker's incessant whining about how bored she was since we barely had any customers. I managed to get the story published between 2pm and 3pm, and I then focused on "Meet Lia" instead of my blog post... because I can't prioritize properly....

Honestly? I can't recall what I did Wednesday evening instead of working on my blog post. Especially since I didn't have Zumba. I think I tried to get a head start on my reading? Did I get suckered into my husband's new JRPG? I can't recall, and I was too frantic to remember to do my time audits.

Something I'm correcting this week. I already have yesterday filled in, and I'm up to the minute on today's audit thus far. I also remembered to mark the monthly calendar with what writing I was working on. I'm striving to do better with this custom-made planner I printed.

Anyway, the point is I STILL didn't have the blog done Wednesday evening. So that was my goal while at work on Thursday. I didn't get very far. I was busy early in the morning, and then I did more reading and caught up on my mobile games over lunch... and a touch beyond. I didn't get started on my blog post until around 1pm, so close to 24hrs after my Furuba story published. I worked on the stats, dropping them into a blog draft as I went. However, figuring out how to format Chibi's squees so I could keep those emoticons in a blockquote... it was more exhausting and took up more time than I gave it credit when I went in to the task.

Before I knew it, the work day passed me by, I didn't have all the stats properly logged, especially when they were still updating, and I hadn't written much of anything for the blog outside of the stats and reviews. When I got home, Omni was already here, and Hubby was showing off his new JRPG video game. As agreed, Hubby continued playing his game while Omni and I chatted about his story for about an hour or two. Then Hubby made us all soft-shell tacos, and we switched gears.

I STILL needed to finish folding laundry and pack for the trip, so I begged Omni to bring his copy of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" movie. He had wanted us to watch it with him for nearly a year now, and I couldn't watch our normal subtitled anime. I needed to focus on something other than the TV, and having a show with English audio meant I could still follow the plot without gluing my eyes to the TV the whole time.

We watched the movie. I folded laundry and packed. We chatted a bit more. I had Omni watch the next Fruits Basket episode in my re-watch because I didn't need to see the TV to know what was going on anymore. I think Omni and I are now up to episode 5? I feel like the Culture Festival is the next episode for us to watch this week, so... whichever episode that is.

Anyway, with the socializing, folding, and packing, I had no time to go back to finish my blog. "Okay," I told myself "Wake up super early Friday morning to work on it then!" Nope. I mean, I still woke up early for me - about 6:30am - but I spent that time showering, shaving, finishing the packing, getting breakfast ready, and whatever else I needed to get sorted before the trip. I ran out of time to work on the blog post or the "Meet Lia" posts before Hubby and I had to leave. But, hey, we actually left for my mom's on time. That's kind of a first. My sister even joked that it might snow!

Instead, we just got caught in highway construction traffic, and got lost when I tried to self-detour... so we got to my mom's an hour later than intended. You win some you lose some?

Throughout the weekend, I DID have some downtime at my mom's here and there, but I was so drained at that time I didn't have the energy to write anything. I barely had the energy to even unpack my laptop. I think I used it for a grand total of about 20min the whole weekend. At that point I figured it was too late to worry about the "Meet Lia" posts, and it wasn't worth trying to get last week's blog post up. I waved the white flag and submitted to missing my first week of the year.

I'll have to write up a post focused solely on my thoughts about "Graceling" and "Bitterblue", and then double-post one of these weeks to make it up.

When I got back home Sunday evening I meant to take the time to work on publishing the "Meet Lia" posts, and I even hid in the bedroom to do just that. Except I passed out a few minutes in....

Hacker Boy Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

So, with only the overview/background post figured out, I FINALLY published the first "Meet Lia" post last night. I already got a like from both Skarabrae-stone and ChibiSunnie, as well as Chibi confessing that Lia is her favorite of my OCs. Honestly? Since Lia is basically just me with most of my friends - whereas Willow is me with Hubby, Trish is Angry Lyco, Jolene is AU Lyco, and Amara is just Emo Girl - I get why she might take a shine to her.


But this post is beyond epic as I tried to catch up on TWO crazy weeks!

Generated by Bitmoji

I STILL need to read 126 pages before writing group at 6pm tonight so I can return "Bitterblue" and I need to work on my Camp NaNo project - which I ran out of time to fully talk about, but I AM working on "One and the Same" again; hopefully third time's the charm. I have to work on more "Meet Lia" posts, and the blog post to make up for missing last week. I'm off to a great start with this epic post publishing two hours late.... Seems I'm not getting a break until August.

Generated by Bitmoji