It's All In The Details

How's everyone's 2019 been so far?

For me, it's been.... interesting. For the most part, I'm upbeat. I'm wearing a warrior attitude and charging head-first into this new year. I'm DETERMINED to make it good. I'm not giving things weight if it's not crucial to my life in one way or another. I'm re-organizing my priorities. I'm loving life.

I've also tripped up twice already, falling into a daily funk of "Nope. Don't want to do anything but sit here in my PJs." So, three steps forward, one back? Still forward progress overall, so I'll take it.

Another snafu is that I SOMEHOW injured my left wrist on Friday. I have not an inkling of a clue as to what the HECK I did. I was kneeling at work to measure something, and then I braced myself on the edge of a piece of furniture as I stood back up, mostly because I'm too out of shape to stand up from a kneeling position without bracing myself....

Anyway, the surface I braced myself on was soft, and I got up straight without tripping or anything. It is a move I'm sure many have done throughout the course of humanity, and a move I KNOW I've done countless times without injury. And yet, SOMEHOW, this time I pressed too hard on my left arm or something? Because a pain shot up through to my shoulder.

Friday evening and all throughout Saturday, I kept my wrist wrapped in an ace bandage. Sadly, due to work injuries at previous employers, I've gotten pretty skilled at wrapping wrists and ankles. Sunday I switched over to wrapping my wrist - and my knee, which decided to join the party randomly - in sports tape. Yesterday the pain was almost unnoticeable, but my wrist is still stiff, and if I bend it at JUUUUUUUUST the right angle the pain flairs up briefly and shootingly. If home care of bandaging, icing, and heat don't get me back to normal by Friday I'm definitely getting it checked out, but right now it seems to be an inconvenience that's healing itself.

To be fair, I've been writing nearly non-stop since I injured myself, which both proves it can't be THAT bad, and that I'm an idiot who's clearly not letting myself fully rest in order to heal.

Whoops.

I've got stories to write, dang it! I can't stop because my off-hand decided it wanted to injure itself!

Speaking of, I actually managed TWO chapters of "Woven Heartstrings" this past week!

Woven Heartstrings

Summary: Chat Noir needs a Christmas gift for Ladybug. Marinette is a very crafty and creative person, so Chat Noir asks her for some help in making a gift for his lady. While hesitant in aiding Chat Noir’s attempts to woo her superhero self, Marinette reluctantly agrees. Although, after a week of working side-by-side with Marinette, Chat Noir’s not so sure he wants to gift the scarf he’s making to Ladybug after all.

Status: Chapter 3 of ? (I don't even know anymore... 7?)

Ships: MariChat with hints of LadyNoir and Adrienette

Rating: K / General Audiences

Universe: This story DOES NOT take place in the “It’s You” universe along with “Peeping Tomcat.”

Spoilers: This story is Season 2 compliant, and therefore has mentions of minor spoilers from Season 2 of Miraculous Ladybug

Yeah, that "I don't even know anymore"? As per usual for me, this story has taken on a life of its own and is taking longer to tell than originally planned. As of right now it seems I'm writing a new chapter for each day that passes in the story. The story started a week before Christmas - I think I figured out that it started on December 18th, but I'll get to that later - so we'll say seven or eight chapters now in total? We'll see where it takes itself.

In the meantime, have fun with the latest two chapters if you haven't read them yet!

"Chapter 2: Crafting"

On FanFiction            On ArchiveOfOurOwn            On DeviantArt

"Chapter 3: Connection"

On FanFiction            On ArchiveOfOurOwn            On DeviantArt

Yeah, sorry for the crappy title for chapter 2... I just.... I dunno, it was a weak chapter for me. It was a struggle to keep people in-character for some reason, the story wasn't going the way I wanted at first, it kept me WAY later than I wanted to write, edit, and post, and by the time I was done I had no further energy to spend another three days coming up with a good title.

In truth "The Request" isn't really gangbusters of a title either.

The only one I really like is "Connection" but I might go back at one point and have each chapter be a yarn, crafting, scarf, and/or crocheting reference.

As of right now though, that's too much effort. Sorry, Taurus Pixie.

Poor titling or no, it's wonderful to see how much love this impromptu story is getting! I'm actually in a little bit of shock at how many faves, follows, kudos, and reviews emails I get daily.

I didn't think to do my normal "24-hr stats" like I did for “Peeping Tomcat”, so these are stat totals thus far: posting of chapter 1 on 12/24 through this writing on 1/8.

FFN: 1,319 views, 36 faves, 53 followers, and 12 reviews
AO3: 1,046 hits, 105 kudos, 12 bookmarks, and 6 comments
DA: 28 views, 4 faves (2 people on 2 different chapters), but no comments

Total Results: 2,393 views, 145 faves, 65 followers, and 18 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 12 likes

A little clarification here. Two people - Seirenpoison and AndreaDragonheart - faved two chapters each on DeviantArt. Seirenpoison, whom you might remember as the lovely lady who drew me some "Peeping Tomcat" fanart, faved the first two chapters of "Woven Heartstrings", while AndreaDragonheart skipped over the first chapter and faved the second and third ones. So, technically there are four faves, but it was the same two people who would have only be able to fave once on any other platform.

I also don't want to take up the space to show the 18 reviews, but here are the main sentiments:

1. Awwwww!
2. This is so cute. I'm loving this story.
3. The emotions are so strong and subtle at the same time. I love the balance.
4. The characters are spot on!
5. Your details about crocheting are so amazing.
6. You're making me want to crochet!!!!

That last one is a surprise to me, but it's been included in like 4 or 5 different reviews. HAHA! Well, good to know my crocheting details are encouraging people to try it - or get back into it - themselves.

As for the Tumblr notes? Well, the announcement of the new story only got a reaction out of Pixie, who liked and reblogged. The announcement of the second chapter garnered seven more likes, but no reblogs. The announcement of the third chapter on Sunday has four more likes thus far, but no reblogs again.

So, I'm not entirely sure where all the views are coming from, but I'm loving it! Especially since I'm also starting to get faves and follows on "Peeping Tomcat" again as a result! Sadly, I wasn't expecting the resurgence, so I don't have the specific stats for the views that came after I posted "Woven Heartstrings." However, here were my stats a week after I posted the final chapter of PT:

FFN: 21,420 views, 138 faves, 212 followers, and 89 reviews
AO3: 6,821 views, 265 kudos, 38 bookmarks, and 30 comments
DA: 454 views, 37 faves, and Seirenpoison commenting on 3 chapters

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

And here are my stats now:

FFN: 29,427 views! 163 faves, 217 followers, and 96 reviews!
AO3: 8,339 views, 302 kudos, 47 bookmarks, and 31* comments
DA: 2,010 views! 39 faves, and Seirenpoison still is my only commenter

Total Results: 39,776 views! 504 faves, 264 followers, and 130 reviews

Can we talk about how the DeviantArt views QUADRUPLED since I finished my story!? Sadly, the 8th chapter Guilt remains the only chapter with no faves... Also, that asterisks after the AO3 comment count is to indicate that those are 31 initial comments. A few of them turned into comment threads between me replying and then getting a response. In total, there are 68 comments on PT.

Also, thanks to emails, I know that PT received at least 5 more kudos on AO3, one new fave on FFN, and 3 new FFN followers since "Woven Heartstrings" went live about 2 weeks ago. I also have a new author follow on FFN.

I guess people want fluffy MariChat stories. Who knew?

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By the way, that was a joke. Just about everyone knows that Fluffy FanFiction wins the day....

Each chapter of "Woven Heartstrings" also falls between 3,000 and 3,600 words, so they're vastly shorter chapters this go. Another plus, since fanfic readers tend to consume content when they're filling short bursts of time, such as waiting for their next class, waiting for an appointment, riding on their commute, relaxing on their lunch break, as they have their breakfast and/or dinner, just before bed, etc. They don't want to be drawn into a long chapter they might not be able to finish before they have to do their next activity, or when they're trying to unwind to go to sleep.

I get it. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing my 11,000 word chapters if the story calls for it, but I get it. I'm sort of an acquired taste. People need to dedicate time to read most of my stuff, instead of my stuff helping them fill the awkward amount of time they already have.

So, it's nice that I have a few one-shots, and now this smaller story with shorter chapters. It's a way to showcase my writing and make people WANT to dedicate the amount of time they'll need to read through "Peeping Tomcat", and in turn "One and the Same" once I'm ready to post that.

Speaking of.... yeah.... I haven't worked on OatS in nearly a month. I've been focused on WH. And I mean FOCUSED. Yesterday I was nervous that I wrote myself into a corner. I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I feared that chapter 3 ended up meandering too far from my original plot. I ended up spending about three hours yesterday trying to figure out where my plot went, and if my original concept would still work.

It doesn't fit EXACTLY how I wanted it to go originally, but I still like the direction the story took me.

But, for reals, I took NOTES on what I'm doing so I won't write a dead-end by accident. Just.... don't look too close at the notes if you want to avoid spoilers.

My main concern was that Adrien was taking too darn long to crochet a blasted scarf! I needed him to have time to do other things for the plot I was working with, but if he spent three days making just a third of a scarf, and the story starts a week before Christmas, would he be done in time!?

Fear not. After going back through what I wrote, I realized my subconscious had it all sorted out for me.

Chapter - and day - one had him practicing how to crochet until he's "perfected" it enough to feel comfortable making his scarf. Chapter - and day - two had him actually starting the scarf, but he's only at Marinette's for a little over two hours, and that's with a few distractions and interruptions. In the end, I think I estimated he finished the evening with the equivalent of, at most, 90mins of work done. In chapter 3 I didn't specify how long he worked on the scarf, but I imagined about 20mins by the fireplace, and then another 2hrs or so at Marinette's.

After scouring the internet for the better part of a half-hour, I found that the average beginner using a half-double stitch and medium weight yarn - both of which are true of Adrien - could complete a scarf in about six hours, if not faster. Again, I was nervous that our little bean was taking WAY longer than that. Day one he spent more than an hour to crochet a 12cm square. Creating a scarf long enough for Ladybug would be roughly 165cm. Yes, a lot of those above notes were me figuring out the proper length of the scarf. I also tried to figure out, if Adrien kept his pace of 12cm per hour, how long would it take him to hit the full 165. It was NOT fast at all.

But I remembered that he was still learning and practicing those first 12cm. When he actually started his scarf on Day 2, he knew, more-or-less, what he was doing, and could therefore work at a faster pace. I figured about a cm - or roughly one row - every 130 seconds. Still a little slow, but he's still a beginner, and his claws could be an issue with the yarn, slowing him down further. I then figured he could move a bit faster - about one row every two minutes - when he was out of costume and didn't have his claws to contend with. He would also start working faster as he became more confident with his skills, as well as no longer being distracted by Marinette.

I slowed him down again as he figured out color switching, but he was mostly monitored by Marinette for that, so his pace didn't slow TOO far.

After probably an hour of doing calculations and mental adjustments to try to keep the crocheting pace "realistic" I was satisfied that I had done it correct all along. I just need to go back and tweak a word or two in chapter 3, but that was mostly because I caught an inconsistency when I went back through my story thus far.

So, uh, YAY, BRAIN! It's good to know I have it all realistically figured out even when I don't have it all realistically figured out.

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Also, yes, this is indeed the extreme attention to detail I put into all of my stories. Is it any wonder why it takes me so long to get a chapter up? Or that I'm STILL world building for two different story concepts YEARS later? I'm a stickler for realism, especially in my fantasy stories. If the author can't even figure out a realistic crocheting pace for a beginner, how can you trust them to create a realistic magic consistency?

Details, man. They're a killer.

And once again, I wonder how I can get a job as a script supervisor, because then maybe my attention to details could be useful....

...oddly enough, though, I'm terrible at paying attention to details in my everyday life. Like, if you dyed your hair without warning me that you were going to? If a business just opened on Main Street? If someone is wearing a new blouse or jewelry? If one of my friends GOT A NEW CAR without giving me a heads up? Nope. Not going to notice. At most I'll get an uneasy feeling that something is "off" but lord help me to figure out what....

I'm weird. Okay?

Point is, I have an almost hourly break-down of each day within the story, so I can keep track of what Adrien and Marinette are doing from December 18th through to about 10pm on Christmas. I know the pace Adrien is crocheting at now, and I can make sure he has the time needed for everything I want him to do.

Specifically, I figured out what her gifts to Chat Noir and Adrien are going to be. That's what the yellow sheet of paper has notes on.

My only remaining issues are Adrien's gift to Marinette, and a way to showcase certain things that I know to be canonically true to my story, but I haven't QUITE figured out how to present them in the story. I think I have time to sort those out though.... for the most part.

So it's back to working on chapter 4 I go, with hopes of being able to pick up the pace a bit faster as I progress: much like Adrien's crocheting.

As for OatS? Fear not, kiddies. I am NOT abandoning this story. I firmly believe working on WH is helping me with this larger project.

As stated above, having smaller, shorter stories like "Woven Heartstrings" is a good way to garner readers, and to prove my writing is worth the time spent reading it.

Trying to get "Woven Heartstrings" done before its too far past Christmas, especially now that I have about four more chapters to write instead of just one, means I'm learning how to write and edit faster, which are skills that can help me out when I get closer to my "End of March/Beginning of April" posting deadline for OatS.

Finally, OatS can quietly brew in the back of my mind while I focus on this story. Have it be a bit of a palette cleanser so I can start fresh and renewed once I'm done with WH. Seeing reviews for my existing stories definitely helps as a motivator as well.

Oh! This post is getting pretty long and I haven't talked about my resolutions again! Well, I guess I'm aiming to chat about them a bit next week, but I'll close out with at least listing them:

1. Try yet again to write at least 4 out of 7 days of the week. 
2. Post at least one new completed story per month.
3. Finish and post my fanfic sequel "One and the Same".
4. Win NaNoWriMo again this November.
5. Continue my weekly blog post routine.

What are your resolutions? Let me know in the comments.

In-story Calendars are the Key

It's only been a week since the US mid-term elections? Wow. While this year has been flying by - wasn't it JUST summer!? - this week just craaaaaawled.

Makes you think I had time to write then, doesn't it?

HA!

ha....

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I'm not even going to post my word-count NaNo calendar this week. Yes, I ended up writing about 900+ words during last Tuesday's writer group word-sprints, but since that night I only added 200 words.... yesterday....

We're nearly at the half-way mark, and I'm not even at 5000 words.

To be fair, my third-ever NaNo in 2014 just barely had over 3000 words written, so I've at least surpassed that. I don't know if I'm going to hit half-NaNo stats like I did with my other two non-wins, but I'm trying.

I'm still struggling to find my groove with this story. When I'm in my flow I can crank out words pretty quickly. I can tear through my daily word-count goal in an hour or two; three tops. I mean, Build Your Own Luck started off as a simple headcanon thought that Tom made The Bracelet to try to cheer up Marinette, and as I was writing up my fan theory about it the one-shot birthed from my head like a 2800-word Athena. Same with my "ah-ha moment" when it came to the characterization of Gabriel Agreste, and that "simple" headcanon turned into a three-part character study on Tumblr; the three parts combined being like 11pgs long or something....

When I'm not in the groove though? It takes me two hours to write 211 words.

In an attempt to become re-inspired, I spent the week doing something you're "not supposed" to do during NaNo; during any first draft, really: edit. Too many writers get stuck trying to make their first draft the FINAL draft that they never actually complete it.

There is a writer in my local group who has read us the FIRST CHAPTER of her story about half-a-dozen times. Keep in mind that we only meet every other week, and there were some sessions where she didn't read. She FINALLY moved onto the second chapter, barely, only a week or two ago. That's about six months just on the FIRST CHAPTER.

She wanted it perfect. She needed it to be perfect. She just couldn't move on until she got the exact word she needed in this sentence, or until that sentence had the perfect structure. Omnibladestrike is very much the same way. He wants his first draft to be perfection, so he edits and edits and edits before ever moving past the first chapter. It's a dangerous trap, because struggling to hit perfection in that first chapter, while you're still learning about your characters and world, tends to kill an author's inspiration and motivation. You don't see progress, so you feel that lack of development, and the story tends to die. Or at least goes into hibernation.

This is why, NaNo participant or no, you really shouldn't edit the first draft. Just get the crap on paper; polish later.

That all being said, sometimes editing what you have thus far is helpful. As you edit you discover things that helps you push forward in the story. As you figure out what you don't like about the chapter and why, you also see character or world development you didn't know before, and it helps you create more of your tale.

Omni did it with his one original story. He was stuck in the first chapter, and with all of his re-works he realized what wasn't working for him was the history and basic build of the culture he created. Since they are the backbone of his story, finally figuring out that's what he needed to fix - and figuring out what works better for him - rejuvenated his writing spirit. At least, for a little bit.

For my fellow writer at group, each edit brought out a bit more character development. Each pass made the characters more real to her, which made her more invested in her work, which helped her move past that intro. The environment became more solid to her as well.

And now with me? Well, as I went back and re-read the scenes I excitedly wrote in September, I felt the energy I once had for "One and the Same." I remembered why I want to write this story. I think I was too much in my head. I think I worried too much about "what if it's a flop? What if people don't think it's a decent sequel to PT? What if it ends up being self-indulgent crap?"

First of all, fanfiction readers LOVE self-indulgent crap because more often than not they want the same self-indulgence.

Story all about fluff with little plot to it? Just the couple having a pillow fight while watching a movie together? That's some of the most popular stuff on FFN and AO3!

Secondly, as ChibiSunnie, Ali Luke, Cyhyr, and Jowy's Pixie all pointed out to me: don't write for the audience; write for me. The audience will find it. If I enjoy it; they will.

I keep telling DFL this whenever she's concerned that her Babylonian-era story isn't as "flashy" as some of our other stories. How is it that I can hand out writing advice, but never seem to hear it myself?

I needed to re-find my story, and my love for it. My NEED to tell it, the same way I NEEDED to tell “Peeping Tomcat”. I'm still not sure the story grabs me the same way; pushing me to tell it. I am getting more excited though.

I went back through bits of PT to get some of my in-universe canonical timeline figured out - pre-established events such as the launch of Gabriel's newest fashion line, for instance - and then continued working on it for OatS. Getting a better feel for what's happening when in the world around Adrien and Marinette helps me figure out what they're doing. Despite the fact that they're characters and I can totally have everything revolve around their story, I like making the world feel more real by NOT having it revolve around them. I like having things happen in the world and having my characters react or have to organize their lives around it. So knowing dates to important things helps me plot overall.

The next bits are going to have minor spoilers, so just scroll pass quick if you want to avoid them.
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Okay, for those of you who don't care about spoilers.... here's a "for instance" of that world-events-help-me-plot concept, using the aforementioned Gabriel line launch as an example. Gabe has decided that he likes Marinette's portfolio and wants to meet with her, but he is too busy with his launch - and.... other... priorities - to be able to meet with her until the new line is on the market. I now know that this leaves Marinette in a sort of limbo for a week, which gives her more than enough time to overthink things. Which also means it is the perfect time for some MariChat goodness as Chat Noir tries to calm her down, and remind her that she's a fantastic designer.

And that's just one example.

I have two full notebook pages working out the timeframe of OatS, and I'm not even to the midpoint of my story yet.

Obviously don't read if you don't want spoilers, but this should
give you a rough idea of what my week looked like.

I also jotted down more on my PT and OatS calendar-stylized timeline. Problem is, the days in OatS are going to be a bit more eventful, and I'm having a hard time scribbling everything into the little squares I made for PT....

OatS events aren't in stone quite yet,
so they're written in pencil...

 Now that I have a more solidified timeline - or at least the makings of one - I'm starting to slot in those pre-written scenes. So while I was re-reading them to try to re-find my story I also tried to polish them so they had better continuity between them.

As of right now I have two tweaked scenes: the MariChat ones. I'm still not entirely sure the lead-in to them, but I'm loving the interactions between Marinette and Chat Noir, especially since one is told through Adrien's POV and the other is told through Marinette's. Watching Adrien's reaction to Marinette through his eyes, and then later through hers, was so much fun to play with. Trying to show Marinette's confusion while in Adrien's POV, and then trying to show Adrien's angst through Marinette's POV was also so much fun. These poor dense little beans have no clue what is going on with the other, and it's beautiful.

So I think I need to just stay here for a week or so. I need to focus on the MariChat goodness, and sprinkle in some Marinette confusion with Adrien acting more like Chat Noir. I actually thought of the opening to one of those scenes this morning. It's not terribly much, but it's something:

"Marinette! Hey, Marinette, wait up!" Adrien waved down to me from outside Miss Bustier's classroom on the second floor. He jogged to the top of the stairs, but about half way down he was blocked by the crowd of students descending to the school's courtyard.

While we were waiting for Adrien to catch up with us, Alya playfully elbowed me and stifled a chuckle.

"Whatever he wants seems pretty urgent," she teased.

I blushed. It sounded like she was implying that there was something romantic there, but I knew that couldn't be true. Adrien only saw me as a friend. He only ever saw me as a friend, and that's all he'll ever see me as.

The crowd was heading down the stairs too slow for Adrien apparently, because with about a quarter of the way to go he just hurdled the banister. With his legs dangling along the outside, he slid the rest of the way down, pushing off about a meter from the bottom. Landing gracefully on his feet, he jogged over to us.

"Did- did he just-" Alya wagged her head between me and Adrien.

It was fine that she couldn't finish her question, because I wouldn't have been able to register it anyway. Adrien. Adrien Agreste. The reserved and refined love of my life. He just slid down the stair's banister. At school. Who else have I seen do something like that? My mind was short circuiting.

It needs some polishing, but, hey, that's another 241 words I didn't have yesterday! And now I'm just 99 words shy of 5,000.

More importantly, though, is that it's the start - or rather middle - of another scene! This would be the chapter when we first see Adrien trying to act more like his Chat Noir half while he's in civilian form, and particularly around Marinette. A way of maybe getting a bead of how she feels about his more goofy and carefree self when Paris isn't in danger.

Writing Adrien with his Chat Noir personality is going to be so much fun. Having Marinette's brain implode as she's trying to connect the dots will be equally fun.

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OKAY! PEEPS WHO WANTED TO AVOID SPOILERS! IT'S SAFE TO READ AGAIN!

I think I need fun again. I'll go back to angst and akuma attacks later.

I also need to figure out a soundtrack for my story. That stuff really does help me. It drowns out the rest of the world - which has been majorly distracting me this past week - and gets me into the proper mindset. While I was working on the PT edits the first half of the year I frequently listened to songs on repeat to get me in the proper mood. I even stated which ones I was using here in my blog, if you wanted to go back and check that out.

I don't really have anything set up for OatS though, which could be a small part of the problem.

The writing sprints last week were the largest chunk of my writing thus far. In part that could be because I was in a distraction-free room for two hours with the sole purpose of writing. In part, it could be because I finally fell into a flow towards the end of the session. After threading together disjointed scenes from my "follow your muse" hopping the first few days, I was able to write a pretty steady stream of words; doubling the amount I had written thus far that day.

I know part of that final word dump was because I built off the energy of the music I was listening to. In particular, I absorbed a whole bunch of energy bouncing back and forth between two songs:

POP/STAR by K/DA

(sung by Miyeon and Soyeon from the Korean band (G)I-dle,

and American singers Madison Beer, and Jaira Burns)

I've been pretty much full-on obsessed with this video. This K-pop skin set for the League of Legends champions Ahri, Akali, Kai'Sa, and Evelynn has an amazing promotional video. The music has energy, great vocals, and is catchy as hell. But the skin designs are beautiful; my personal favorite is Akali, the one with the glow-in-the-dark spray paint who raps. And the animation is so gorgeously smooth with awesome choreography, intriguing visuals, and the exact feel of an actual K-Pop video. It's just such a high-energy piece that gets me pumped up every time.

The other video I had on loop?

Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling, feat Lzzy Hale

Lindsey Stirling? Lzzy Hale from Halestorm? Tons of energy with an electric violin? I mean, yes!? It has a melancholy to it, and a push pass defeat. It is just the perfect "fighting an akuma" song for me. There's angst there, but there's also determination. Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir trying to win the day, just like the victimized villain being brainwashed by Hawk Moth's akuma, and just like me ignoring how few words I have written and instead focusing on how many I CAN write before the month is out. We all need that push.

Also... Lzzy Hale's voice has always been inspiring to me. I mean, there's also this song for one of My Girls...

I Get Off by Halestorm

Willow anyone? The girl's teenage hormones made her come up with some.... interesting illusions. I think in a much more literal sense the song also very much fits Jolene.

Both a bit of a far cry from what I'm doing right now with sweet and innocent Marinette and Adrien!

Oh, and who could forget this other Halestorm song... a bit of a dedication from Willow to Devon... whoops. Sorry, son.

It's Not You by Halestorm

Now part of me wants to make an AMV of this song using Ladybug to Chat Noir. The song is a bit mature and a bit more aggressive than the actual characterizations of these two, but it would be fun to go a little hard with their characters.

Especially with lines like "someone who has raise the bar" and "you've probably never been shot down before" both hinting at Chat Noir's Adrien side in opposing and ironic ways.

After a quick search on YouTube I did find one AMV done to this song, but it's just a bunch of quick shots of Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe... but done in such a way that I have no clue what's going on. Is Adrien singing the song to Chloe about Marinette? Is it to Marinette about Chloe? Is it Chloe to Adrien, suggesting a love for Marinette? Or vice versa? I mean with the shippers in this fandom any of the above could be accurate.... And to make things more confusing, Lila is randomly thrown in at the end???

Nope. I need to find an editing program and make one myself.

Buuut, that's for Future Me. Present Me has to stop being distracted by side projects, and answering emails, and trying to play catch-up on Tumblr.... which is a bit of a Sisyphean task since my drafts - i.e. read in more depth and/or reblog later - are now way over 700 posts deep, and I seem to add more than I empty out....

I need to lock myself down and just WRITE, DANG-IT!

So that's my goal this week. Not to catch up to the 21,666 words I should have by the close of the day today. Although, if I literally did nothing but sit and write all day today I could totally hit 16000+ words. My goal isn't even to write the 1667 words that make up the daily NaNo word goal. My goal isn't going to be to write the 11,669 words this week that is the standard weekly NaNo word goal.

Nope. None of that. My goal this week is to write SOMETHING. Something this week that makes me not embarrassed about my progress. My goal is to write enough that I'll proudly put that NaNo calendar up on this blog again.

I can't do that until I stop writing here though. Until next week then!