Welcome to the Year of the Pig (Boar)

Found via Google Images

Sorry, this was the best quality I could find for this scene. It doesn't get enough love.
Scene from Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) by Mel Brooks

Happy Lunar New Year for all who celebrate it! A day to once again start over fresh. A day to relieve debts from the year past, and to look forward with hope of luck and prosperity.

None of that has to refer specifically to finances, by the way.

While celebrating Lunar New Year is not part of my heritage or culture, I do still like to wear red, avoid knives and scissors - using a blade is thought to cut good luck from your year - and use the date as a reminder that there's still time to make this year the way I want it. I may have stumbled out of the gate in January - eating too much, not exercising enough, leaving the apartment a mess, slacking on my writing, etc - but there's still almost 11 full months left. The year isn't trashed yet.

So, join me, everyone, in this renewal of the year, of your resolutions, of your perspective on life. You can do this. I can do this. We can do this. We let 2018 kind of suck for most of us, but we can wrangle 2019 and mold it into the year we want.

While I didn't really get to reading last month, I can play catch-up this month. I can hit that reset button. I can also use this day of rejuvenation to re-focus on "One and the Same." Especially since I finished "Woven Heartstrings." I can do better with household chores, healthy eating, and getting in more exercise.

2019 is not yet lost!

But to backtrack, yes, I DID manage to complete "Woven Heartstrings"! I cut it close, posting to some sites as late as 11:45pm on January 31st, but I hit my Drop-Deadline of completing even the epilogue of the story before January was done. Now, to take down my Christmas tree.....


Should you like to read the conclusion of that Christmas story I wrote for Taurus Pixie, you can now find the completed work on my normal three sites. Or, if you just need to read the epilogue....

"Epilogue"

On FanFiction            On ArchiveOfOurOwn            On DeviantArt

Also, if you are like both my mother and Wolfhearted, and prefer to read offline, a quick reminder that you can download my story via AO3.

Along the top of the story, you'll see a button marked "Download".
If you click on it, you'll get this drop-down menu.

I personally download PDFs to then read via Adobe Reader,
but I believe some e-readers use the MOBI and EPUB formats.
If you want to put the story on your e-reader, please check
to see which format works best for it.

You can also easily print via PDF if you want a physical copy to flip through. It IS an 8-chapter, 32,000+ word story though. So it will be a LOT of pages. If that's what you prefer though, I'm all for it. I just wish to spread enjoyment with my stories, so I won't judge how you consume them.

Oh, and speaking of "spreading enjoyment," if my reviews are any indication, I managed just that! I can't believe my reviewers. They are so sweet, and what they said about my story makes me tear up. So, if you are one of my readers/reviewers, know that you make my day, and you are my life-blood. Thank you so much!

And, since I'm apparently a stats-nerd, might as well see how "Woven Heartstrings" did. I'm not QUITE a week out from when the last chapter posted, but close enough to get a rough feel for how well the story did. After that first week of a chapter posting the readership tends to die off. At least, for me.

Anyway, here's the over-all stats for WH:

First Posted: 12/24/2018           Completed: 1/31/2019
Total Days to Write: 41             Total Days Published Online: 44
Word Count: 32,222                   Total Chapters: 7 plus epilogue

FFN: 6,913 views, 69 faves, 104 followers, and 33 reviews
AO3: 2,593 views, 219 kudos, 26 bookmarks, and 20 comments
DA: 152 views, 8 faves from 3 people, but no comments

Total Results: 9,658 views, 296 faves, 130 followers, and 54 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 69 total; 63 likes, 5 reblogs, and 1 comment

Top 10 Review Trends*:
  1. This is just so cute/sweet/fluffy** (20 reviews)
  2. I love it! (16 reviews)
  3. Awwww (8 reviews)
  4. You have the characters down pat/it's like reading a script (7 reviews)
  5. "You made me tear up/cry" and/or "this is tugging at MY heartstrings" (6 reviews)
  6. "Your story made me want to crochet/knit/craft" and/or "now I want to make my own Worry Dolls" (6 reviews)
  7. This story is so warm/comforting/homey** (6 reviews)
  8. The gifts were perfect (5 reviews)
  9. "I like that you move slow with Marinette and Chat Noir" or "I appreciate that you keep them as friends with a hint of something more" (4 reviews)
  10. Repetitive Taurus Pixie freak outs at how awesome the story is (every chapter)

*Disclaimer: Many reviews contained overlapping trends, and so the Top Ten counts do not properly reflect INDIVIDUAL reviews, i.e. - one review could count towards the "awww", "this is cute", and "I want to crochet" categories, and is counted as one review for each (making it look like 3 reviews)
**Disclaimer: 8 of the "this is so cute/sweet/fluffy" reviews were by Pixie; one per chapter, and most of the "Story is cozy" reviews are also Pixie.

Some other review trends that didn't hit the Top Ten were "Thank You" - be this from Pixie herself, or some other reviewer thanking me for taking the time to write/share the story - as well as "this is so good" and "I want more" and "I can't wait to see what happens next" and "keep up the good work/please keep writing."

I also received a couple of guest reviews, which is sweet, but also a bit annoying on FFN, because I can't respond to them!!! So, in case you are one of the guest reviewers, here's my response:

Guest: I'm not the one this story was intended for, but i have to say: You're THE BEST gift giver EVER! THANK YOU!

No, guest reviewer, thank YOU, for taking the time to read and review my story. Also, D'aaaaw for thinking I'm the best gift giver ever. I love that a gift for Pixie felt like a gift to others as well. I'm truly humbled that you think that way. You are amazing, and thank you for letting me know!

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

As for the other guest review, I addressed that in a past blog post. The long and short was that I was freaking out about possibly portraying Gabriel in too sympathetic a light, and the guest told me to not worry about it. So, thank you again, Guest, for the encouragement and reassurance.

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Now, going back to my other stats, I wanted to note the faves over on DeviantArt. Yes, there are 8 of them, but only 3 people faved chapters. If DA were like the two fanfiction-specific sites, those three could only fave my story once each, so, as always, it skews the over-all favorite/bookmark counts, but I'm running with it. Those three people over on DA that favorited my story were AndreaDragonheart, keemi121, and the wonderful Seirenpoison, who had drawn me that lovely fanart based on the Chat Noir Appreciation Festival at the end of “Peeping Tomcat.” So, thank you, for giving my story love on a forgotten site for sharing writing. I do realize most people think drawings/pictures when they think DeviantArt.

Overall though, I'm super impressed with the love my story got, and I hope it's showing me trending towards being more read/recognized within the fandom. I don't know if I'll ever catch up to the more renowned authors for Miraculous Ladybug, such as TheLastPilot, MidnightStarlightWrites, imthepunchlord, Baneismydragon, Megatraven, LNC, HariWrites, buggachat - who is mostly known for her comics, but they still count - SKayLanphear, BullySquadess, and the late Maerynn, but I'd be happy to be included in a Fic Recommendation list at least once.

Also, I've read at least one story from each of the above authors - aside from SKayLanphear and BullySquadess - and they truly do deserve those top-billing slots. As for the two authors I haven't read yet, there's nothing really against them, but their stories are LOOOOOONG, so I just haven't set aside the time to tackle them. I'm talking 200,000 words and 40+ chapters with no end in sight. Buuut, they both have a story that is in the Top 5 Most Popular within the fandom on AO3. Bully specifically. When I filtered via most views, most comments, AND most kudos, the one story The Ladybugs and The Bees has the top slot. It only falls to the #2 slot with regards to Most Bookmarks, surpassed only by Heartstrings by taylortot.

It's in my Read Later list, but who knows if I'll find the time....

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Anyway, my point is, thank you, to everyone who took the time to show "Woven Heartstrings" some love. You guys are awesome, and, as I said before, my life-blood.

Now to get back on track with "One and the Same."

I'm still working non-linearly; writing whatever scenes inspire me, and hope I can thread them together later. Right now I'm still wrestling with the final chapter. It's already epically long at like 8 pages, and I have no clue how much longer it's going to go on.

The real snafu though, is the struggle for whose POV it should be in. The same issue I had while writing the final chapter of WH. There's just something about sharing the spotlight that makes the final chapter so hard for me. I want the audience to know how BOTH Adrien and Marinette feel as a story comes to a conclusion.

It was a bit easier with WH since it was in third person, so I could head hop juuuuuust the slightest bit. It wouldn't work professionally, which was something I really struggled with. However, I reminded myself that fanfiction doesn't have to be professional quality, and it seemed to work well enough that the head hopping didn't confuse anyone or jar them out of the story. In fact, it seemed to evoke MORE emotion, because, while the chapter was mostly following Adrien/Chat Noir, the reader could still glimpse into Marinette's head for a second or two.

I wasn't 100% a fan, but it worked, and people enjoyed it, so I'm running with it.

Problem with OatS is that it's going to be written in tag-teaming first-person. I was originally going to go with third so I could peek in to the thoughts of the other character when needed, but it was pointed out that a sequel to a first-person POV story should probably also be first-person POV. It would feel too disconnected otherwise.

So, now I'm stuck. The final chapter was supposed to be Marinette's as she sorted through everything that happened throughout the story. But, then it became definitely Adrien's as he tried to come back from the climactic drama. I'm writing the chapter in third person to see who the chapter truly belongs to, but I still can't decide.

Yes, it is very much Adrien's chapter for the most part, but there are still crucial bits where Marinette definitely has to be in charge.

If I can't figure this out by the time I get to revising the whole thing, I'm just going to wave the white flag and go a bit experimental. Again, as much as I try to remain professional so it is proper practice for whatever original story I might write someday, fanfiction is actually rarely written to professional standards.

My potential solution? Just tag-team the darn last chapter. I'll be sure to have proper headings as the POV switches so people won't get confused. I'll also have to rework a bit of what I wrote thus far so I'm not flip-flopping POVs every third paragraph or something. It won't look professional. It will definitely look experimental. I just hope it won't tear people out of the story by doing the final chapter this way.

Also.... I need to figure out how to tighten it up a bit. I get that there is a LOT to unpack, and it won't be realistic if things are resolved faster than I'm making it. However, which would my readers prefer? Something closer to the show, in which a major issue/emotion is talked about briefly - just so it's addressed - but resolved fairly quickly just for time sake? Or should I keep it realistic? Allow the characters to truly work through it in a satisfyingly accurate pace, but have an 11,000-word chapter???

Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

This story will be the death of me.

So, please send me prayers or good vibes or lend me your Muse; whatever you wish/believe in. Because I need massive inspiration if I am to get this whole thing figured out before my "end of March/beginning of April" deadline....

Here's hoping I can snag some luck, perspective, and determination from the Lunar New Year.

Charging forward like a boar!

Kagura Sohma from the 

Fruits Basket manga and anime

by Natsuki Takaya

Found via Google Images