Weird, right? Having a blog post up. It's... it's been a couple weeks, huh? I'm back to having a Tuesday off, hence me working on this blog again. Hooray!
Aaaand then I'm working next Tuesday so I can have the following weekend off for my wedding anniversary so.... See you guys again in October???
My coworker says her daughter's wedding was gorgeous and went wonderfully, so yay. Also, congrats to both newly wedded daughters to both of my coworkers. My other coworker's been grumbly about not getting to eat solid foods while recovering from her oral surgery, but she had a check-in yesterday, so hopefully everything healed properly and she's back to normal.
Which means, after next week, where, as I mentioned, I'm taking a few days off so Hubby and I can just have a day to snuggle for our anniversary, I should FINALLY be back to a normal schedule of having Tuesdays and a random second day off per week.
At least, until late November/early December where I may or may not be taking time off to at least see my mom and sister for Thanksgiving. If nothing else, I'll be taking time off for Hubby's birthday.
Plus, both the coworker whose daughter just got married this weekend and myself still have over 100hrs of PTO to chew through, so who knows if there will be more sprinklings of "just taking it for mental health reasons" days. We both feel guilty about ever taking the time off though, because that means the other two workers don't get days off that week. So, who knows?
I feel like I'll be sprinkling more random vacation time in next year though....
OH! And also I want to sneak in a quick congratulations to Dragnime who just got engaged this past week! So happy for you two.
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I think that's all the extra housecleaning I had to do this week. So let's get into some writing updates for this supposedly writing-centric blog, huh?
First and foremost: there is none.
I've been super tempted lately. I've had scenes and mini-plots bouncing in my head. I just haven't had the time or energy to get them OUT of my head.
But I was tempted.
Ronoxym and ChibiSunnie had their birthdays this weekend - Happy Belated to both of you - and I figured "now's the time to break out of my funk! Write stories for them so you can still gift them something without physically delivering or mailing it."
Buuut then I remembered that my story gift for Ron kept me a MONTH to figure out last year, and I had no clue what to do for this one. Try to continue the story? Start from scratch with a completely different concept? Try to find something fanfic wise that he'd appreciate? I was at a loss.
Chibi, however, I had just talked about some fun headcanons with regards to Fruits Basket. Mostly, it was images I hoped the creator Natsuki Takaya would eventually do, or fanart people would make. Things like
Kyo proudly introducing Kazuma (Shishou) to Hajime, or Kazuma getting introductary cooking lessons alongside a 5yo Hajime. Or Machi and Kakeru fighting or Yuki's attention, creating a weird sort of poly relationship. Or just Yuki living as a normal teen/young adult as he and Machi go on double dates with Kakeru and Komaki, and perhaps Machi and Komaki are "forced" to interact as yet again Kakeru vies for most of Yuki's time.
Anyway, as I mentioned, these were just scenes. I could do something quick though, right? Even a little drabble would be a surprise to Chibi, and I know she'd cherish it because I gifted something specifically for her, but also because it would be the first bit of narrative writing I've done since the pandemic hit. Considering how much support and encouragement she's given me over the years, but specifically through this one, and considering how much time and effort she puts into ALWAYS making me a Christmas and birthday card each year, I thought it would be a fitting honor to FINALLY get out of my writing funk by creating a story for her birthday.
Alas. It was not meant to be. The week FLEW by (but also dragged on?) and before I knew it, her birthday had arrived and I had nothing to show for it. I debated writing something anyway and still posting it during the weekend of her birthday, but I still ran dry. All of those scenes I stated in that spoiler box above? Like I said, they would be great artwork; freezeframes of these sweet moments. Pictures that didn't need words or even actions to fully capture the essence of the scene.
That, and, while I enjoy the stories, and mangas in general are a fairly quick re-read, I still haven't really read either Fruits Basket or Fruits Basket Another more than once - aside from a couple of Furuba books - so I don't feel confident that I know the characters of Komaki or Hajime well enough to properly keep in-character and get the scenes right. Not without research - i.e. rereads - and not only did I not have the time for it, but also my mangas are kind of buried in the back of a cluttered room right now. So I REALLY don't have the free time to get any of those stories done in a reasonable amount of time.
However, as I mentioned, it DID keep me a month to gift Ron his story for his 30th, so there MIIIIIGHT be hope for me to still become inspired and get something written for Chibi. Plus, there's always the original fandom that brought us together. I just haven't touched anything "Hey, Arnold!" related in so long. I KNOW I'm rusty in their characterizations....
Instead of getting ahead of the game and doing the research I needed to write gifts for my friends, I spent the week on a completely different project that I've been meaning to do for over a month now.
WAAAAAAAAAY back during the week of August 17, the Miraculous Ladybug fandom decided to host a Positivity Week: a week for the fandom to shut down all of the salt and hate and venom flowing through the fandom, and get back to the uplifting positivity it originally had. During this week, people posted what they liked and appreciated about the show. They shared posts explaining the good qualities different characters had. They supported the creators. They supported fandom creators as well by sharing fics, artwork, gif-sets, videos, etc. Most importantly, there were fanfic and fic writer recommendation lists.
I was actually on one of those lists!
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One of the big reasons I kept falling into my writing funks after joining Tumblr was because I'd CONSTANTLY see fic recommendation lists, and I was NEVER on any of them. And it wasn't like I was simply seeing the same stories over and over again. Sure, there's some stories that just about the whole fandom seems to know about and would suggest, but more often than not the lists were all different. A large variety of stories were getting love and recognition.
I was... I was dumbfounded. This time period was probably one of my deepest bouts with imposter syndrome and there it was: my name on a rec list. Not only that, on a FAVORITE STORY list! Right above one of the fandom's favorite stories: Under Lock and Key.
I feel so guilty that I haven't acknowledged this honor anywhere yet. And for the dumbest reason too, although, I also feel the most justified with this reason???
So, along with the writing funk, I have been staying off Tumblr because I just don't have the free time or mental energy to go through my active dash. Also, as already stated, Tumblr does, on occasion, hurt my mental health because it is one of my main sources of imposter syndrome. That's mostly due to the aforementioned lack of ever appearing in anyone's recommendations or lack of likes/reblogs on my story shares. Also, because my dash would be flooded with new stories, and I would feel worse about not writing anything myself.
This is why, for months on end, I would only log onto Tumblr long enough to check my notifications, see if I had any messages or asks, and then hop back off without ever really looking at my dash. When chicoriii mentioned me in her rec list, I was still at that point of avoiding Tumblr to make sure it didn't spiral me further. So it was especially surprising and emotional for me to see that I had actually made someone's recommended fic list!
But to get to my reason about not instantly acknowledging how honored and humbled I felt. See, since I was avoiding Tumblr, I only knew of Positivity Week within the fandom in vague passing - usually something stated in the top post of my dash when I first log in - and so I hadn't participated in it. I felt guilty jumping in on the last day of it simply to gush at how honored I felt to have been included.
I mean, that was the point of the fan event, right? To lift up the creators and fellow fandom members while also bringing back a positive view of the show itself? So, to gush about how happy it made me to have been on her list would have been a pretty perfect way of closing out the week. At the time, though? Nope. I NEEDED to add to Positive Week if I were to acknowledge the honor of being on chicoriii's list.
So I decided I would thank chi while also lifting up other works of fiction. Then I quickly realized how many stories I loved, and that either the list would be a bit massive or I'd leave out some gemstones. That was when I decided my new project: write up a Tumblr post of my ML fanfic recs, and then link to it when I acknowledge chi's list.
This was a mistake.
Sure, there were the big ones that I could think of right away - usually involving EdenDaphne in some shape or form - but that list was largely stories I know are already fairly big in the fandom because they have some of the highest hit/kudos/comment counts. Not that any of that means I SHOULDN'T recommend them, because I 100% am going to still. No, instead, and especially because of how I was feeling, I wanted to make sure to also promote stories I feel aren't getting nearly enough love. To make sure I didn't miss any, I started going through my bookmarked and favorited stories on AO3 and FFN.
I... forgot how much ML fanfiction I've actually read over the years. I did not read nearly as much HA fanfiction....
I have 42 bookmarked ML fics on AO3 alone, and I was trash at actually writing anything in my bookmark notes, so I knew I enjoyed the stories enough to want to save them, but I couldn't really remember what each of them were about per se, or why I enjoyed them specifically.
Sooooo that's what I wanted to do next: re-read, or at least skim, these saved fics to remind myself why I enjoyed them so I could better recommend them to others. Buuuut, I also had work pretty much non-stop for over a month, so I just didn't have the energy.
This week I finally did. All of my main work at my job was taken care of, and all I really had left was optional busy work. On a particularly slow day I decided it was time to finally start up this project. I figured I could get it done in the one shift.
I was wrong.
It's been over a week now, and I STILL have stories to read back through. I've been updating my bookmarks as I go so that next time I know exactly why I loved that particular story and what I felt was unique about it. I've also started writing recaps of what happened in the last chapter of on-going works, because I always seem to forget by the time they're updated. Sure, it means re-reading the previous chapter first to remind myself what happened, and I'm sure the authors appreciate the extra reads, but it also means I have to calculate reading TWO chapters whenever ONE updates, which usually results in a delay before finding time to read. This way, hopefully I can read the updates a lot sooner.
Sorry, getting off topic. Point is, I've been re-reading a LOT of fics lately, and it's giving me lots of feels. It's been really uplifting and reminding me a lot about why I love this show and the friendly bits of this fandom community. Also, while I'm still not quite ready to write anything myself yet, it HAS been helping grease those mental gears so I'm good to go once I'm back to a more normal work and social schedule.
Also also... I know how I'm going to be spending my next day off on Friday:
Official promo poster
Frozen starts at 6:10 Miraculous Ladybug starts at 8:00
The creator of Miraculous Ladybug Thomas Astruc had stated in past interviews that he initially had a whole expanded world planned with more miraculous bearers and other superheroes. He teased that back in season 1 when Alya gushed about her favorite comic book hero Majestia that Majestia was a real American superhero. Then, there was a comic book run where Ladybug and Chat Noir went to the United States and met Majestia.
This New York special seems to have been inspired by that comic run. Or that both this special and the comic books were both inspired off of Astruc's original world builds for the Miraculous universe.
Either way, I'm excited.
Also also also, to lead up to this hour-long special, Disney Channel will be having a season 3 marathon. True, I can watch them all I want on Netflix, and the airing order on the channel isn't any better than the scrambled mess Netflix has, but still....
I'm hoping re-watching this past season after such a long hiatus, as well as getting some new content to tide the fandom over until the next season arrives in 2021, will help respark my desire to write.
Because I miss it, you guys. I HURT not being able to write for so long! Especially this year when March feels like a decade ago.
Tanuki Facebook sticker by Yanare Ku
Here's to hoping I can get back into the swing of things finally. Here's to Chibi and Ron and their birthdays. Here's to my coworkers' daughters and their new marriages. Here's to chi and her ability to make me cry simply by enjoying my work and wanting to share it with others. Finally, here's to you, dear reader, for staying by me when I've had virtually nothing to say this whole year.
Hey, everyone. Hard to remember it's a holiday, huh? How are we doing? Is everyone staying well, or at least doing the best you can to recover if you already did catch - or suspect you may have caught - the coronavirus? I hope everyone comes out of this fine. Best of health to you all.
If you are concerned about the virus, first thing's first. Please make sure you are getting correct information to keep yourself and your community safe. There is a LOT of panic-driven and just mean-spirited misinformation going around social media lately. It seems to be spreading even faster than the virus itself, and that could put a lot of vulnerable people at risk.
The best place to find accurate and trust-worthy information would be the WHO and CDC websites. Here, I'll even leave you with the links to the pages specifically designated for COVID-19 facts.
Please, keep yourselves properly informed. Be cautious and take this disease seriously, but try not to panic. DO NOT HOARD; get only what you need for about 2weeks, and leave the rest for others who also need it. Social distance yourself, and self-isolate if you are capable of doing both. I know this is tricky, but it really helps a LOT if you are privileged enough to follow through.
A great way to see an overly simplified visualization of the importance of social distancing is showcased in this Washington Post article.
For those of you that have to still be out in public, please be careful. Remember that you don't need a facemask if you are currently healthy and are not taking care of someone who is sick and cannot wear a mask. Just be mindful of the surfaces you touch - disinfect as much and as often as possible - wash your hands properly and for at least 20sec, and keep your hands away from your face unless they have been freshly washed (and make sure to properly disinfect your hands again after facial touching).
Good health to all of you, dear friends. Please look out for each other.
Let's say you ARE stuck at home though, and you've already blown through your To Do list. What's next to keep yourself from going insane?
Well, seems the answer for a lot of people has been
If there's a silver lining to this whole COVID-19 crisis, it's that it sure is a golden time to be a content creator. People stuck at home with nothing else to do but surf the web? All of them craving something to bring them joy? People are just devouring fanart and fanfics, let alone original content that can still be put out.
So, naturally, I'm still stuck with writing burnout/writers block.... perfect.
Ya know what would have been amazing to have completed in time to post right about now? How about One and the Same, instead of it going on the second FULL FRIGGEN YEAR in writing limbo...? Or, maybe my initial desire for the break between seasons 3 and 4: When Love Matters. Heck, I'd even settle for finishing my gosh-dang Fluff Week stories!
At least, thanks to a major assist from ChibiSunnie, I managed to get my Plagg Appreciation Day story written. We'll ignore the fact that I didn't actually publish it until nearly midnight on the 13th, and even then it was only on DA and Tumblr. The story wasn't edited and published on FFN and AO3 - as well as polished on DA and Tumblr - until Saturday afternoon. Whooo... way to go, me!
Anyway, if you haven't yet, you can read the story in those normal four spots.
Summary:It's the second day of the new school year, which also means it's been a year since Stoneheart first attacked Paris. Adrien wonders how he could best celebrate the anniversary of becoming Chat Noir, and how to properly showcase how much he cares for someone very special in his life.
Word Count: 3307 Rating: General Audience
In truth, I was still completely stumped on what to write for this past Friday 13th. Then I got a mini-list of potential writing prompts from Chibi. She's not even in the fandom, but based on what I've told her about Plagg, and based on what I've said here in my blog, she came up with a couple of awesome ideas. I have a handful of new plot bunnies growing on my Plunny Farm thanks to her suggestions.
The winning idea though? It was largely due to this image she sent me.
The literal cheese cake just seemed like SUCH a thing Adrien would do for Plagg. I just HAD to write it into a story, but first I had to figure out how to work it into the story or why Adrien would make it in the first place. Chibi had suggested Plagg's birthday, but that's more complicated than she knew, so I nixed that idea. I instead landed on Adrien celebrating the day he met Plagg. Chibi again suggested that it would be sweet if it were post-reveal so Marinette could help him plan, but I also nixed that idea. Not that it's bad, I, in fact, loved the idea, and have it as one of those Plunnies growing on the farm. The problem was that if they knew who the other was, and they were jointly planning a party to celebrate Adrien meeting Plagg, how could it not also be a party celebrating Marinette meeting Tikki? It happened on the same day, after all. It would detract from Plagg, which defeated the point of the day.
Same issue with Chibi's other suggestion of Marinette NOT knowing what she's helping Adrien do when either a) she runs into him in the grocery store trying to buy the ingredients, or b) he asks her to help him make it. It would be fun to see him try to explain his way out of the cake without revealing his kwami. Problem though is that the story then circles around the Adrienette dynamic, or MariChat one, if Adrien has Marinette assist him while he's Chat Noir so he can explain who the cake is for. That has its own complications, though, beyond focusing on the wrong character(s).
I had the basic idea though, thanks to Chibi, so I started running with it to see what came up.
What came up was about four more false-start stories that ended up focusing more on Adrien's dynamic with Marinette then the Plagg-focused story it SHOULD have been.
In fact, even the finished product of The Truest of Friends felt like it was too heavy with the LadyNoir ship as opposed to Plagg Appreciation. I mean, it DID get there, and people seem to have enjoyed it, but it kept longer to reach where I wanted it to be than I would have liked.
Oh well. It was that story or nothing by the time I decided to commit to it.
Like I said, though, it seems to have done well... ish... It's been up for roughly 3 days and already has these stats.
FFN: 225 views, 10 faves, 6 followers, and 3 reviews AO3: 161 hits, 29 kudos, 4 bookmarks, and 6 comments DA: 32 views, 1 fave, but no comments
Total Results: 418 views, 40 faves, 10 followers, and 9 reviews
Tumblr Notes: 20 notes; 14 likes, and 6 reblogs
FFN reviews:
1. AWWWW... You're right...Plagg need all the appreciations. And nice appreciation date there. And Adrien is such a sunshine...haaaaaa
2. You made me tear up a little. I don't do that often for fiction. :) Thanks for the sweet and wonderful story.
3. Ahhh. Super sweet!. I loved it.. Plagg is such a great kwami and Adrien making the cheeseball was great. Thank you for the great read.
AO3 reviews:
1. Wow! I love the idea. Of course Adrien would want to do something like this.
2. This is amazingly sweet! I love it, Plagg really does deserve more love.
3. <33!!!! this is so sweet, plagg deserves so much love and appreciation <33 T^T
4. OH THIS IS SO ADORABLE AND SWEET AND NICE AND NEEDED! Adrien loves Plagg, and Plagg loves Adrien! These two NEED each other, and they love and appreciate each other, and will make DAMN sure the other knows it.
5. Yes! Way to go, Plagg! And way to go, Adrien, for showing his appreciation. Fantastic job of writing on this! 6. [A review from ChibiSunnie; see below]
I had tagged Chibi to give her credit for the prompt idea, but the story is out of her normal fandoms, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that she had the time to read it. Especially with her busy schedule and tons of fics within her fandom(s) I'm sure she has backlogged.
Still, the amazing ChibiSunnie did take the time to read my story, and left me this lovely comment.
Chibi: Awwwwww this is so sweet and adorable!!! ^_^ Adrien's speech to Plagg made me tear up, and I'm not even in this fandom! <3 I'm so glad my plot bunny and the pic I sent you was able to help spark your own plot bunny to write this story! ^_^
Chibi, you are pure, undiluted awesome sauce! Thank you so much for the idea, for the inspiring picture, and for taking the time to read and review my work!
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Now, if I could get my act together for those other WIPs, that would be fantastic! Especially with the crave for content so high right now.
I mean, to be fair, my Plagg story has already started petering off with the views, just getting a couple trickling in here and there. With the demand for content so great, a LOT of creators are gladly complying. A bunch of them are doing so as a stress reliever for this whole coronavirus crisis; something I'll talk about more in a bit. Due to the high demand and high output to meet it, I'm sure my story is already buried under newer content, and all of my stories would suffer the same fate. Still, I want to try. If I'm going to grab new readers, now's the time, right? Especially since a lot of people now have the free time to actually consume my much larger/longer works.
IF ONLY I COULD FIGURE OUT WHAT TO WRITE!
Hey, stop touching your face! Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.
I'm still struggling with the 'Your Voice' prompt to try to finish off those Fluff Week stories. Let's ignore that I'm well over a month late on these....
I started writing up all of the ideas I've had - in bullet-list plot breakdowns - and why they won't work for what I need for the prompt. Hopefully that will help me weed the ideas out of my head so I can stop circling back to them, and my mind can finally find something that works.
As of right now, I'm still fixated on a trust obstacle course, but I can't think of why Marinette wouldn't have a turn to be blindfolded. Maybe she is, and ALSO starts to pick up that Adrien and Chat Noir sound similar - especially after already suspecting they're the same guy - but have the story told in Adrien's POV since Marinette's realization isn't the focus on what I want to say in this story?????? Instead, bring up Marinette's realization in that final 'Reveal' prompt story??????
Trying to figure this story out is getting exhausting.
So, I'm still at the drawing board for that, and I haven't thought of OatS in MONTHS, so I'm debating if I should try switching gears and working on that again instead of finishing the Fluff Week stories since I'm way past the deadline anyway???? Or do I start on When Love Matters since I can post each chapter as I complete it, and people have the time for long-content at this point????
Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku
I don't know which way is up or which direction to head at this point, but I also feel equally lost not writing at all. Aside from chipping away at my Fluff Week story - with about a million false-starts - and my 2 days working on The Truest of Friends, I haven't really written anything since Valentine's day. I'm gonna lose it if I can't get a story focus soon.
I thought maybe reading other stories might help, because that's a general rule of thumb for writers: you also need to be avid readers.
The decision to read was kind of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I was filled with amazing fluffy feels and I loved the words I consumed. On the other hand, it just seemed to spotlight that I'm NOT writing, and that I'm NOT getting the readers I could be right now.
Also, there's a story in particular that I just KEEP seeing pop up on my dash with comments like "Read this!" and "Do yourself a favor and stop what you're doing to read this" and "THIS IS PERFECTION!" and... while I did enjoy the fic, and I will share it in a minute, it also kind of stung constantly seeing it on my dash.
You guys are amazing, and I love each and every one of you. You guys pick me up and keep me going. But....
My stories have never received a "OMG YOU NEED TO READ THIS RIGHT NOW, IT IS SO GOOOOOOOOD!" reblog or share. And, to be fully honest, that hurts.
Not to guilt trip any of you to start doing that of course.
Gaaah! Wait, no! What am I saying!?!?! Hacker Girl Facebook stickers
by Birdman, Inc.
Sorry. Again, the love that you all have shown me is amazing, and I love it, and I'm always humbled by how much love I DO get from you fine folks. I don't mean to diminish anything you guys do at all. You are all 100% rockstars!
I'm just.... I dunno, I'm feeling super insecure about my writing ability again, I guess. I don't know if it's because I write too long, or not often enough, or my stories aren't fluffy enough, or - ironically - not angsty enough, or if they are TOO close to canon instead of being new and exciting, or if there isn't enough overtly romantic content, or what the deal is. I'm still just this obscure writer in the fandom, despite adding content to the fandom for months - and even years - longer than some of these writers that are getting all of this love and promotion.
Not to say that they DON'T deserve the love. They do. Like I said, I'm planning on sharing one of the stories here myself. By no means am I trying to take anything away from these amazing writers. I am enjoying their content, and I'm elated they are adding to the fandom content. I just... I dunno... I want some of the pie too?
Hacker Girl
Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc
BAH! Don't mind me. Sorry. Like I said, I'm just in a mood right now. Once I get out of this writing funk I'll be fine.
So, let's instead focus on these stories that either ARE getting that love I've just talked about, or they totally SHOULD be.
The story in question that has been getting all of that love? Well, seems one of the artists I follow - Yunyin - had her birthday the other day, and so a relatively new content creator - chatnoirinette - wrote yunyin a story for her birthday, based on chatnoir's favorite piece of fanart yunyin has done. The image is of Future Chat Noir coming back in time to yell at Adrien for being a moron; drawn after the episode "Stormy Weather 2" aired last year. I have also absolutely loved the artwork, but I never thought to write a story based off it.
Summary:An older Chat Noir shows up in the middle of a class field trip with a special mission for his younger self.
Word Count: 4315 Rating: General Audiences
The story is amusing. First, it's fantastic to watch Older Chat Noir and Plagg both be so exasperated with the teenage Adrien. Second, the way that even Older Chat Noir is confused on how time travel works is equally amusing. Third, there are just these real sweet moments as Older Chat Noir leaves breadcrumbs for Teen Adrien without actually giving away the kid's future. On top of that, the interactions between Older Chat Noir and Older Ladybug are adorable. Finally, Bunnyx adds her own level of humor which is greatly appreciated.
Also, considering where the story left off, while it is complete as-is, it DOES leave an opening for more story. So it will be interesting to see if chatnoirinette continues, and if so, how the story will further develop.
Like I said, people are GUSHING over this story; at least, in my little corner of the fandom. So if you haven't gotten to this story yet, seems now is the time.
Now, early on in this post I mentioned that a lot of content creators seem to be using their art and writing as a means to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. I've seen some amusing bits of fanart based on the virus, such as this fanart where Nathalie refuses to let Hawkmoth use the despair in the world to create an army of akumatized supervillains. The little knocks on the panic that has sprung up from the pandemic, and things like social distancing and self-isolation, are amusing to see in these much more lighthearted bits of work. I love that content creators are trying to lighten the mood with their respective craft.
One such content creator actually caught my attention based on their title.
I've mentioned this in past blog posts, but I follow a Tumblr page that posts promotional links to Love Square content an algorithm finds on FFN, AO3, and Wattpad. Oddly enough, even though I didn't list The Truest of Friends as love square, since I think I did tag LadyNoir for the opening of the story, my Plagg-centric story did pop up in the feed.
ANYWAY! My point is, since I was trying to find artwork, and the like, in order to see if it could help inspire my own writing, I wasn't in the mindset to actually read anything the other day. I saw the icon for the story-promotion Tumblr, and I just quickly scrolled along. I breezed past quite a few stories - because, as I've mentioned, people are dumping content online to help ease the pain of the isolation - and I wasn't really paying any attention to any of the stories I scrolled past. Then something caught my eye: the title "The Toilet Paper Crisis."
Considering how RIDICULOUS this whole toilet paper hoarding has become, I had a nice chuckle at the title. I was then going to move along again until I noticed the author: writeringoodfaith, a repeat reader of mine that I've been talking to a bit in the FFN PMs. I'm always a fan of sending love back to those who share it with me, and the story itself was fairly short - I could read it on my lunch break - so I dove right in.
Summary:It may have been Adrien's first time getting groceries but don't judge, ok? He's been busy gaining financial independence from his father, moving out of home, and guiltily ignoring daily news updates from Nathalie. Only one task remains between him and true independence: locating toilet paper. Maybe the girl laughing at him in this empty aisle can help?
[AU, covid-19 references]
Word Count: 1478 Rating: K+, Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older
Watching Adrien and Marinette flirt in an empty toilet paper aisle is just adorable. Adrien's flirty puns are terrible, but Marinette's response to them is perfect. These two dorks truly are made for each other. Also, since WIGF was mostly concerned about the spread of misinformation, Marinette gives some real-talk advice to Adrien as to what he should do to keep himself safe during the pandemic.
It's just a cute little piece. Why not give one of my lovely readers some love in return?
Fastforward to yesterday. I was again struggling to figure out what to write, and was kind of obsessively checking my email, getting those sweet sweet endorphins from seeing another email telling me I had a review, or a new fave. There were no such messages in my mailbox around my work lunch break, but there WAS an email alerting me to a new fanfic written by zenmisery. You might remember me gushing about her and mostlovedgirl / chanceuseladynoire over their Fluff Week story Two Hundred Seventeen Days.
Well, I've been a failure of a fan when it comes to going back to read their previous works, but I was too tempted to NOT read Zen's newest story. I was killing time over lunch anyway. I needed something to inspire my own writing. Let's plow through the 6600+ words!
Summary:Ladybug tells Chat he needs to finally move on. He does. She has mixed feelings.
A birthday gift for mostlovedgirl
Word Count: 6687 Rating: Teen and older
Apparently there were a lot of birthdays this week for content creators I follow....
This story is just fantastic! It's a little angsty with Ladybug telling Chat Noir that they just cannot be together, and Chat Noir struggling to move on, and Marinette having conflicting feelings when she finds out that Chat Noir has a legit crush on someone other than Ladybug.... GAAAH! So good! Also, I might have an extra connection to this story because it hit so close to home in a couple of elements.
First, Ladybug's reasoning behind telling Chat Noir to give up on her is very reminiscent of why I had Arnold break up with Helga in my sadly unofficially abandoned "Hey, Arnold!" story What Is Truly Meant To Be. So, that interaction rang true on a whole different level than I feel it did for most of the readers. Second was later in the story when Marinette realizes she's torn between Adrien and Chat Noir, and feels like she's cheating on both of them because her heart can't decide between them. I have the same exact sentiment laced throughout One and the Same, complete with
Marinette freaking out that Adrien FINALLY likes her back and asked her out and NOW is when she realizes she likes Chat Noir back!?!? NOW is when she doubts her feelings for Adrien!?
But don't fret, readers, because the story isn't just angst. Oh no! No, this is a rollercoaster of a story with plenty of highs as well.
Sure, the moment Chat Noir says goodbye to Marinette after confessing to her that he's moving on from Ladybug, and Marinette strongly encourages him to ask the new crush out, is bittersweet. However, the interactions between the two of them leading up to that point is comforting and adorable. Plus, the MariChat moment at the end of the story is FANTASTIC and steamy and Adrien is such a Good Boy. I love them. I love these two beans so much! The Adrienette moments are pure fluff, and I ADORE watching Adrien bring out his more Chat Noir side in order to flirt with Marinette.
THAT. IS. MY. JAM!
I also love the tag-team of POV between Adrien and Marinette. It works so well together; seeing both halves of the puzzle before they can piece them together. I was on edge the whole time, and - as bad as this sounds - I was glad coronavirus has made customers a touch scarce, because it gave me time post-lunch break to finish this awesome story.
My only qualm is that it ends on SUUUUUUUCH a glorious cliffhanger! The story is complete as-is, and it's amazing as-is, and I love the "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!?" way of closing out stories. There's a reason I love The Lady or the Tiger so much. At the same time, though? I WANT MORE! Zen has a long list of WIPs though, so if she does continue the story, it probably won't be for a while. Still, I am DOWN for continuing to read this story the second she posts another chapter.
I know that Zen and MLG are like me in the fact that they like to respond to every comment they get on their works. With that in mind, I was back in my email this morning checking to see if a) Zen had replied to me, and if so, b) if there was anything to reply back to in return. The answer to both was yes, FYI, but that's not the point.
The point was that a different email caught my eye.
Just after midnight this morning, MLG uploaded a new story as well! As far as I know, this wasn't a response to Zen's story for her. It was just coincidental that she also uploaded so shortly after.
Summary:“I promised myself I wouldn’t wait to do this a second longer than I had to.”
“Adrien, what are you talking… about…” The last word died on her lips as she turned around.
Word Count: 1036 Rating: General Audiences
I knew I should have just started straight into this blog post so I could actually be done by noon, but it was only about 1000 words. I HAD to see what MLG had posted. So, I had breakfast and read a cute little fic.
ALL. THE. FLUUUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFF.
Adrien's proposal was just perfection for the kid. It was so sweet and sincere and had nods to their meeting. And there was the Rule of Three used in reference to him referring to her as his friend, his princess, and his partner.
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The imagery MLG painted in my head was fantastic. So much so that I now REEEEEEAAAAALLY want to physically see it. If you know a fanartist, or are one yourself, and want a cute story to turn into a fancomic, I HIGHLY recommend this drabble.
Regardless of if there's artwork that comes out of it, you should totally read this story for happy feels to carry you though this trying time.
So.... yeah. Those are my fic recs for this week, I guess. They're all fairly short reads, which works for me since my days run pretty much the same as they always have.
OH! I also absorbed some non-Miraculous Ladybug story content this week when Hubby and I went to see Disney/Pixar's Onward. I knew the premise of the movie - two elf brothers go on a quest to find the last traces of magic in order to bring back their deceased father - I even made a Fullmetal Alchemist joke when I found out about the premise. So, I knew this movie would be a touch hard on me. For those who don't know, my father died of cancer when I was 13. I didn't care how rough this would be, I was still determined to watch this movie anyway... and I was a wreck!
Oddly enough, the desire of the brothers to get their dad back, and the limited interactions with him they did have wasn't the emotional part for me. The bonding between the brothers, and the regrets they had about not having enough time with their dad was what killed me. I'm choking up again just thinking about the movie.
Between this and Coco, Pixar is trying to kill me with these Dead Father movies.... and between Onward and Frozen, Disney is trying to kill me with these Disconnected Siblings Bond movies...
I LOVE YA, SIS!
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I'm so glad I was able to squeak the movie in before the theaters were all shut down for at least 2 weeks. Pixar never disappoints with their new content. Their sequels? Hit-or-miss, but the original stories? Love them all!
Well, I hope this epic helped ease your boredom while cooped up with these self-isolation mandates. Stay well, my friends. I'll catch ya next week.
So... uh... ya know my New Year's Resolution to not skip blog weeks? That lasted real well, didn't it?
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I'm going to try to make up for it with a double post today. This one will explain what I've been up to the past two weeks, and another one will talk more about my writing progress/process and my gushing about the fanfics I've read so far this month.
First though...
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Yeah, I'm a bit late in wishing all of you a happy V'day, but that's unofficially the theme of this month, it seems.
So... yeah... the past two weeks....
Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books
by Bryan Lee O'Malley
First of all, I have to thank Mama Hen ChibiSunnie for strongly advising me to just throw up my "This Blog Post Is Still Under Construction" temporary post last week. You'll find out why in a moment. I thought I could at least do a brief blog post to recap my chaotic week last week, but I ended up spending about 3hrs on it - hours I could have spent working on other writing - and still never finished it, so I eventually caved and listened to Chibi.
In all honesty, I thought I was going to be able to do a smaller "week recap" post last week because I had slowly been adding to the post all week long. I completed a chunk of my story? Recap it quick on my blog draft. Read a fanfic I wanted to promote? Link it on the draft. Did something that prevented me from writing that day? Take a couple minutes to explain that in the draft.
All I had to do was edit and fill in the transitions. Simple. And I probably would have been able to get it done on time last week, but then I got to the fanfics I wanted to promote, and... that's where a lot of the time was eaten up.
To help me get inspired for Fluff Week, and to see how others interpreted the prompts, I read close to a dozen stories, at least three of which were on-going works I started following. By the end of the week though, I was starting to forget which plot went with which story, so I had to skim through them to remind myself which was which... and that's where a lot of the time went last Tuesday.
That and working on my own stories. Dear lord, did I do a lot of writing so far this month. Perhaps more than I have for most NaNoWriMos. If I haven't been at work, I've been writing... or rather... pulling my hair out trying to figure out WHAT to write.
The Kyoru Week prompts were only one or two word prompts, and while I did struggle a tad, in the end I was able to come up with SOMETHING everyday, and got them written, edited, and published within a fairly decent hour.
Lovesquare Fluff Week, though?
NuaNia Facebook sticker
by PRANEAT
I don't know if it's because I had too many options, or because, for some reason, I was thinking only of angsty stories based off of the prompts, but I struggled hardcore.
Here were the prompts for the week:
Concert
Trust
Flowers
Your Voice
Comfort
AU Day
Reveal
The event ran from the 6th through the 13th, and the prompts were shared in December, and again in January, so we all had more than enough time to prep for them. Also, including the 6th as one of the days, that's 8 days to complete 7 prompts:
February 6th
February 7th
February 8th
February 9th
February 10th
February 11th
February 12th
February 13th
And yet, I only managed THREE prompts before Valentine's day. I wrote the day 1 prompt 'Concert' and the day 3 prompt 'Flowers', although the one I wrote for 'Flowers' does also have an undertone of the prompt 'Trust'. I then eventually went back to write the actual 'Trust' prompt. The thing that killed me was that I was only publishing every OTHER day instead of daily. And, on top of that, both of those stories were posted at 2am, AND when Hubby and I both had to work the next day. So I end up crashing by about 10pm the next day. Heck, even yesterday I fell into that same pattern of "post early in the morning after a long day; go to bed at 10pm." This awkward sleep schedule of "stay up until 2am; crash at 10pm the following night; wake up early due to fully resting and stay up until 2am again; crash at 10pm" has been slightly killing me.... which is why Chibi wanted me to take a bit of a break. And I thank her for her concern.
I honestly have no clue why this week in particular was so rough for me. Again, I didn't have this issue with Kyoru Week.
Also, there were tons of other authors who managed to churn out the Fluff Week prompts daily - and at really good quality too - so I am doubly concerned for my own inability. Have I burnt myself out already? Not even 2 months into the year, and without really writing anything in January? Am I rusty from the lack of practice last month? Even though I had the Lukanette story mostly done before starting Fluff Week, was my torn attention to blame? Why am I not one of those prolific writers who has about 40 plot ideas bouncing around in their head at all times and going "OOO! Ooo! I can finally use that one!"?
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Speaking of those other writers, I want to talk more about them and their writing, but, as I mentioned, I'll save that for my double-post.
Getting back to my writing, I had hunkered down to try to finish the Lukanette story for the Lovebugs and Snakecharmers Secret Admirer event. It was still a bit patchy for most of the week. Friday, Feb 7th, I had off, and we had a bit of a snow storm again, so I spent literally the whole day in my pajamas, only switching out in the evening when I showered and put on new pajamas. Got to love those days, right?
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When I had paused for lunch, my "quick" secret admirer story had ballooned into 7500+ words, and I still had a fair share of writing to do! I did kinda sorta stumble onto a plot... so... there's that, I guess.
Well, when I posted my astonishment about my story's size to Tumblr, I was amused at the encouragement (re: enabling) I received.
CaptainMalcolmReynolds said "Mine was supposed to be short and is 5K words. *sigh*" and Taurus Pixie told me "I won’t be complaining! Just means more awesomeness to read!" I even had one of the mods for the event - justknitstuff - chime in first with "Mine just reached 5K, and I still have a full scene and a half to go. I hear you…"
Seeing that last one KILLED me, because... who was I writing my Lukanette story for but justknitstuff! No one was supposed to know who their secret admirer was, so even though Knit was the main mod for the event, presumably she didn't know I was her Secret Admirer. And yet she encouraged! Was the FIRST to do so, no less!
Later, when I stopped again for another break, I commented that my story was now up to 8800 words! I joked that I was taking bets on whether or not I'd surpass 10,000 with this story. To which Cpt Reynolds replied with "I’m pretty sure nobody is going to object to MORE!" and "Whoo hoo!"
Then, when I finished my first draft, I replied once more with the final word count: 9,990. But I also still needed to do some editing, so I wasn't sure which direction that word count would travel. I mostly got pushes to keep going. Cpt Reynolds again jumped in with "11 more words! 🤣🤣🤣" and Knit also encouraged (enabled) with "Add on words! I’ll leave mine for a day then go back to fix up a portion and end up adding a whole new section!" When I laughed them off with a "LOL, you two know not what you’re encouraging. XD" Knit responded with "*encourages away* XD"
I was in stitches knowing she was unknowingly encouraging me to expand upon the story I was writing for her!
So, anyway, I'm 100% blaming Reynolds and Knit for me finishing with a story 10,943 words long.
Ya-Ya
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by Birdman, Inc
Trying to polish everything was a task and a half, and it kept me far longer than I wished. Mostly because I was still working on it off-and-on past the 7th, when I was supposed to be focused on Fluff Week. Or on my weekly blog post. Or both. I needed to make sure my Lukanette story was done though, so it took priority, my blog and the other event be damned.
Besides, I needed a distraction from Fluff Week. As I mentioned above, I did NOT do well with Fluff Week. Was I overthinking? I still don't quite know. I DO know, however, that there were just SO. MANY. OPTIONS.
There's the standard Love Square of Adrien and Marinette (Adrienette), Adrien and Ladybug (Ladrien), Ladybug and Chat Noir (LadyNoir), and Marinette and Chat Noir (MariChat). But there's LOADS of other combo options birthed from season 3. In case you haven't watched it yet, I'll drop them in a spoiler box.
Adrien and... LadyNoire, Multimouse, or Dragonbug
Chat Noir and... Multimouse or Dragonbug
Mr. Bug and... Marinette, LadyNoire, or Multimouse
Aspik and... Marinette, Ladybug, LadyNoire, Multimouse, or Dragonbug
Snake Noir and... Marinette, Ladybug, Multimouse, or Dragonbug
And if you're feeling really goofy, you can switch out Adrien for Bananoir, and Marinette for either "Trash Marinette", "Marino", or Bikerbug. These are just Adrien and Marinette in costumes without their powers activated, either because they don't wish to be their superhero selves, or because they are somehow missing their powers.
Also, all configurations including Chat Noir can be switched out for Chat Blanc instead.
For those that didn't click, depending on how goofy you get, and where you draw the line with them being a "new pairing" within the Love Square "rules", there was anywhere between 17 and 38 new configurations!
SO. MANY. OPTIONS.
In truth, I mostly focused Core Love Square to keep the complexity down to a minimum, but there was always the OPTION to use one of the dozens of other combos. Add in the vagueness of the one-word prompts, and... I think it was too much for my mind to narrow down? With Kyoru week it was simply Kyo and Tohru. That's it. Two people. The only real option I had to choose from was what time frame I wanted to put them in: pre-relationship, late-manga, officially together, or married. Also, most of the prompts were somehow key bits of the core Kyoru relationship: the paper flower Kyo gave Tohru, both of them being afraid of getting abandoned again, both of them fearing they are being selfish in their need for the other person, and 'Firsts', 'Desire', 'Forever', and 'Birthday Wishes' are fairly generic Romance prompts.
In contrast, except for 'Trust' and 'Reveal', the prompt options for Fluff Week aren't anything truly specific to Adrien and Marinette. It's just.... it's tough.
To try to clear my head, and help transition me from my Lukanette story to a Love Square piece, I helped beta-read for Cyhyr during that snow storm on the 7th. And somehow managed to accidentally delete bits of the document while critiquing it!
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Thankfully, she still had the original document, and it seems like she was able to piece back in the parts I somehow managed to delete, so... all's good. I have yet to go back and re-read to see how the rest of her editing went, but I'm glad I didn't screw her over too badly.
After THAT mini-disaster, I finally cracked my knuckles, so to speak, and got down to business: my first story for the Fluff Week event. While the 7th was technically the second day of the event, as I noted above, it was also the 7th day from the end date. So I could either start with prompt day 1 and be considered "late" or "the proper day"... whichever. Even if I was late compared to everyone else already posting their 'Concert' prompt stories, I'm sure no one would mind too much. Right?
My next blog will go into more detail about how I came up with my story. What I'll say here, however, is that it kept me until around 9pm to FINALLY lock in an idea, and then, between writing, editing, and formatting it for the different websites, I didn't have it published until about 2am.
Since I was so focused on my own stories - both the Lukanette one, and what I was going to do for the Love Square prompt 'concert' - I didn't read any other Fluff Week stories until the 8th. Before then, I didn't have the time, and I didn't want what everyone else was doing somehow influence what I wrote.
Well, guess what the biggest trend was for the prompt 'concert'? I'll give you a hint, it WASN'T the direction I thought everyone was going to go in.
You got it. Looked like about 60% of the stories were actually Adrien performing a private piano recital for Marinette/Ladybug. I flipped through them so quickly - and some, admittedly, I didn't finish reading - that I don't have them really noted, but in nearly all of them Adrien was practicing his piano by himself; playing a sad/melancholy song. Marinette - either as herself or as Ladybug - hears him play, "interrupts" his performance, and then Adrien continues to play for Marinette/Ladybug alone. The two end up snuggling on the piano bench as Marinette gets lost in the sweet and professionally performed music.
Guess what I did for my 'Concept' prompt story?
Somehow I still managed to get a review saying, "This was really nice! That was original to think of a private Adrien 'Concert'."
So... uh... cool?
Anyway, out of the other stories involving Adrien playing for Ladybug/Marinette, one in particular stuck out. I'll go more in detail about my review for the over-all Fluff Week collection in my next blog post, but I did still want to give a quick shout out to LoveSquare Week 2020 by LittleLottieWrites.
Getting back to my writing, though, Saturday was a bit chaotic at work, and then we had a late start to Anime Night. I was going to use the delay to work on my writing some more, but I was just drawing such blanks. I did some cleaning instead, hoping the mindless tasks would help me come up with SOMETHING. Still nope.
I struggled some more on Sunday, now trying to play catch-up by writing both the Day 2 and Day 3 prompts of 'Trust' and 'Flowers'. On top of that, I had initially thought of doing the Day 4 prompt of 'Your Voice' so I was "caught up" with everyone else doing the event.
Instead I bounced between "what can I do for trust that hasn't already been done either on the show or in thousands of fanfics; their entire relationship is nothing but trust...." and "Okay, what can I do with 'flowers'????" Eventually I thought back to Kyoru Week. One of the prompts was 'Paper Flower' and I decided I'd just steal that. I'd loop back to 'Trust' at some point, but I'd at least focus on the prompt for that day. I would recreate Kyo gifting Tohru the paper flower scene. How though?
I'll get into the nitty-gritty of it in my next post, but the long and short is that I decided on Marinette helping make paper flowers as part of the backdrop for a Kitty Section music video, but then ran out of time to actually finish, a la her frantic To Do List schedule in the season 3 episode "Gamer 2.0" or her equally tight time table in "Bakerix."
I was excited to have thought of SOMETHING finally, even if I was still a day behind because I couldn't take my mostly-day-off to come up with two stories. Buuuuuuut, just like with the first prompt, by the time I was done writing, and formatting it for the different sites, it was about 2am again. So I wasn't even on time with the 'Flowers' prompt anymore. I didn't even take the time to edit it before publishing. I then went back and tweaked a touch about mid-Monday, and was surprised that it actually didn't need too much editing. Go me! Anyway, you can find the polished version at my normal four sites.
I've gotten back into Zumba finally, after a long 3 months of not having the time. So Monday I went to work, I went to Zumba, I had a nice heart-to-heart with my sister-in-law, who does Zumba with me, I found out my almost-7-year-old niece has FINALLY gotten into Miraculous Ladybug and is kinda obsessed with it (girl after my own heart), and then I went home to shower, have dinner, and spend some time with the hubby. I toiled over going back and working on a story for the day 2 prompt of 'Trust' as well as working on the day 4 prompt 'Your Voice'. In the end, I passed out at about 10pm without writing anything, but deciding I was going to shift the prompts around so 'Your Voice' is the penultimate one.
Last Tuesday, as I stated above, I attempted to write up my "what I've done this week", but you can see how long this already is. In the end, I caved and agreed to Chibi's suggestion. I had every intention of coming back and finishing the post before going to bed that night, or at least while at work on Wednesday. Clearly neither happened.
My Tuesday was fairly packed between errands, spending time with Hubby, and then writing group. I was actually a little excited because it would be one of the rare times I could read a full WIP before I actually published it. One of the few instances where I could actually work in the critiques for that story, as opposed to using the critiques to know what to improve upon for next time. Also, since I was aiming to read my Lukanette story, it would be mostly original - due to it being an AU story - so it would be easier for the others to critique, and easier for me to follow the critiques. For most of my stories, the things the other members critique are largely canonical elements I have no control over anyway if I'm going to stay true to the show.
So, yeah, a story they could actually critique, and I could actually include said critiques in the finished project. I wasn't sure about taking the time to read over 10,000 words worth of story, but I've done it in the past when there's barely anyone else there, and no one else had something new to read.
This was not one of those weeks.
Two other members took up the full time, which was a little bit of a bummer, but at the same time, they are working on wholly original works that they wish to professionally publish some day. The one in particular is working on a murder mystery story, so we got into quite a lengthy discussion about the structure of murder mystery stories, whether or not she's leaving the proper breadcrumbs, did the red herring work well, etc. It was a fun discussion, and it felt like her story got the rest of the group more involved than critiquing my story would have. So no hard feelings, just a touch bummed.
Flying solo, I focused hard on my Lukanette story last Wednesday. The story didn't need to be published until the 13th, but I wanted it done. That way it would be super simple to just format, upload, and be on time with the deadline.
OH! Hi, Irony. What are YOU doing here?
Right... me uploading the Lukanette story on time...
Before I get to THAT.
After polishing up the Lukanette story, I was determined to get another Fluff Week story done before the event ended. The Lukanette one wasn't supposed to be published until the 13th anyway, so I "had time" - not really because of my crazy Wednesday schedule, but we'll ignore that. It kept me a bit, but I did eventually think of something for the 'Trust' prompt, so I went back to that. It turned out actually mostly angst with just a bit of comfort/fluff at the end.... whoops. Oh well. It was done, so up it went.
You guessed it, I was up until the wee-hours of the morn posting that, then I still had to get up to go to work. This time, though, I didn't go to bed at 10pm. All because I'm an idiot.
There I was on Thursday, all set to start publishing the story at about 3pm or so. Plenty of time to get it done before work ended and I went straight into D&D night. Buuuuuut then I thought about the fact that most of my other multi-chapter stories had cover art to go with them:
Heck, even I Don't Care has cover art, and it only has the 2 chapters... so far. Really, the only exceptions to this "a story with multiple chapters has cover art" rule of mine are:
The main reason I started focusing so hard on having cover art for multi-chapter stories is so they have a tie-together over on DeviantArt. People see the cover art as the promo picture, and know it's part of the same story. That way I don't have to include the title and "Chapter #" for each piece.
Well, my Lukanette story had 7 chapters, so I guess I needed cover art for it. What I SHOULD have done was publish the story, THEN made cover art, went back, and updated with the art. That way the story itself was up at least. Instead, I prioritized the cover art, and didn't finish by the time work was out.
I also didn't have time to finish the artwork, let alone publish the story, before our D&D session started up. So I had to wait until 11:30 or so at night to start working on everything. I won't get into the details here as to why, but I always publish my stories in this order: DeviantArt, FanFiction, AO3, then Tumblr. Then I promote on Facebook, and over on Twitter. Well, DA was fighting me as I was trying to upload all seven chapters of my story. The website kept glitching and lagging... it was a mess. It was about 2am again by the time the story was fully published on DA. Buuuut, it was a Tumblr event, so I HAD to have it published on Tumblr before I went to bed! So I was up until about 4am trying to format and post to Tumblr. I noticed that the formatting of my image was off - it didn't save the way it looked in the editing program - but I was too tired to care. I'd fix it later when I published to FFN and AO3.
I crashed. I woke up about 7:30 later that morning. Then I saw the email from the event mods that they didn't have my Lukanette story in the AO3 collection, and they want all stories in before making it live. The email also reminded me to not publish to any other site or even sample some of it on social media, that way all recipients get their stories at the same time, and can be one of the first to read it.
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So.... it was an ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN event, that was just PROMOTED on Tumblr.... Also, since AO3 is the trickiest site to include cover art with your stories unless you know the proper HTML, it would be the last site I worried about with regards to HAVING cover art ready.
Which means, if I was paying proper attention, I would have just published the story to AO3, like I was supposed to, and then I could have spent Friday working on cover art in order to publish to the other 3 sites once the collection on AO3 was live.
I did this ENTIRELY out of order, and royally screwed up. I didn't even properly publish by the deadline!
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Thankfully, the mods were all super-chill about it, and I was just encouraged to publish to AO3 as soon as possible. I was also told that I wasn't the only person they were waiting on, so.... there's that.
Friday I tried to rush through publishing to AO3 as fast as I could, but I was at work, and - surprise, surprise - they actually needed me to DO my job. I'll go into more detail with the next post, but the long-and-short is that I didn't manage to get my story properly published to the AO3 collection until 1pm-ish. Thankfully, as I was told, I wasn't the only one they were waiting for, so the collection itself didn't go live until closer to 6. I feel a touch less guilty, but I still had it up on DA and Tumblr - and I remembered to tag that Discovering Miraculous Writers blog this time, so it was already reblogged to that - when I wasn't supposed to have the story anywhere else until it was live on AO3.
This is why you need to fully read the instructions, kiddos.
Anyway, now that it's live, you can check out my story in the normal four places.
After that chaos, I needed a bit of a breather. Plus, it was friggen Valentine's Day. So Hubby and I had a stay-at-home date night. No computers. No social media. No mobile games. Just us, a nice dinner, and movies as we snuggled.
I ended the day reading the Lukanette Secret Admirer story written for me. And, as luck would have it, my (not so) Secret Admirer was none other than MalcomReynolds! There were 14 people, so the odds weren't THAT slim that she'd luck into having me as her recipient, but still...
I randomed into another weekend off, so I figured I could use the Saturday and Sunday off to play catch-up on Fluff Week. Technically, the event ended on Thursday, but I wanted to participate, and By George, I was going to finish!
Saturday, though, Hubby wanted to head to a game store to pick up another army starter pack for the "A Song of Ice and Fire" miniatures tabletop game he started after our date-day last month. Since it's a decent drive - about 40 minutes or so - and the store had open tables specifically set up for tabletop army games, and Hubby had the spare cash on him, he bought yet another army starter pack, and we just stayed to play. He completely demolished me this go because I did NOT play my army of Free Folk at all the way they should have been played. Because, ya know, I have the strategic mind of a five-year-old. Still. I had fun.
The trade-off, though, was that we ended up spending the better half of the day out there - between driving, purchasing the starter sets, setting up the starter sets, reading what they did, picking out our army units, the game itself, packing everything up, dinner, then the drive home - and when we got home we went straight into Anime Night with Omnibladestrike. So no writing that day.
No big deal. I still had a relaxing day with the Hubby, and got socializing in. Plus, I probably needed a break from writing. Marinette's Song was already up, and the Fluff Week event was already over. No major rush. I would have liked to have finally put up last week's blog post on Saturday, but whatever.
Sunday I'd make up for it. I had Sunday off, and Hubby was at work for six hours. I could write, clean the apartment, and/or respond to ChibiSunnie's messages to me on Facebook that I had been neglecting. I had plenty of time.
Before I knew it, I ended up spending that alone time catching up on the three Fluff Week fanfics I started following after day 2, back when I was reading what everyone else did for the prompt 'Concert'. I read more of the story I linked to towards the start of this blog - LoveSquare Week 2020 by LittleLottieWrites - as well as Chasing Feelings by CoffeeComicsGalore, and the breathtakingly amazing Two Hundred Seventeen Daysco-written by the equally talented mostlovedgirl and zenmisery. So, collectively, I read probably close to 50,000 words, if not more. Add in the time it took for me to review each chapter? Well, there's your 6hrs right there.
Technically, 5hrs, because I did spend about an hour trying to reply to Chibi before taking a break to write my own stories... only to still have no clue what to do with the rest of the prompts and reading instead.
The rest of Sunday - after picking up Hubby - was spent with more bonding time, some cleaning, dinner, and me FINALLY becoming inspired for my 'Comfort' prompt from Fluff Week. I had been deciding between about five different options, but, thanks to talking it over with Hubby, along with thinking back to my original fandom of "Hey, Arnold!", I was able to lock in what I wanted to do.
Of course, along with the other nights, I didn't start writing until close to 8 or 9pm. By the time I was done with the story, let it sit for a little bit, went back to edit, and then publish to my four normal spots, it was 2am again. I'm sensing an unfortunate theme here....
This one is at least actual fluff this time, and I'll get more into it with my next blog post. In the meantime, enjoy the fluffiness of Domestic Adrienette.
As I mentioned at the top of this post, I was fairly wiped yesterday, so I crashed at about 10pm. I did ponder a bit on the next prompt I want to do: AU Day. Just before bed, I rewatched the Ouran High School Host Club episode "Haruhi in Wonderland." Which is basically an AU episode where the show does an Alice in Wonderland crossover. It's not a great parallel, and the characters joke that's mostly because Haruhi is too logical and too confrontational to be a proper Alice. The episode ends with Haruhi waking up to discover the Host Club dressed up for their Wonderland event, and she quips about how with the Club it's hard to truly know when she's awake.
I still haven't locked in what I want to do with my AU chapter, but I know I want it to be either a dream sequence, or some sort of role play - LARP, MMORPG, D&D or a D&D parody I create for the ML universe, performing a play, etc - and I want the story to zero in on Marinette crushing on Chat Noir, possibly even starting to piece together who Chat Noir could be, or that Adrien seems a lot like Chat Noir... something like that.
Then the prompt 'Your Voice' will be Adrien's turn to start piecing Ladybug's identity together. Finishing with the prompt 'Reveal'.
I need to figure out 'AU Day' first though.
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I know I was recapping two weeks, but even with my "shorthanding" and "handwaving" details, this still became MASSIVE! So I'm going to tap out now, and start working on the second post. I have no clue when I'll be able to get that one up today with the errands I need to do, plus Hubby wants to get in another game of A Song of Ice and Fire Minis, but I'm planning on getting the next post up before bed.
Wish me luck on that.
Also, be sure to stay up-to-date with me by following my Tumblr, my Twitter, or sign up for the email... the emails SHOULD work, as long as you don't happen to be Charlotte.
Anyway, gotta run!
