Playing with words

So the kids are back at school, and my classes haven't started yet, which gives me a bit of a breather for a couple of weeks. It's just such a relief to have the house to myself again in the mornings? 😅 Even doing chores is nice. One neat thing: the kids came back from school with Chromebooks just in case the current State of Emergency turns back into full on lockdown. Aren't we all glad we are hosting the Olympics and COVID is now raging through our mostly unvaccinated population? 🙄 

I just went through my f-list and did a little housecleaning - I'm guessing if you haven't posted in more than a year (or you know, ever) you probably don't even remember your password to your DW/LJ, nonetheless care that I revoked access to my locked entries, but if this assumption was all wrong, please let me know! 

Fall love meme going on here! Here's my thread. 💜

Also got a Keeley/Rebecca fic in my fandomgiftbox that I didn't get a notification for but was somehow revealed anyway? It's sweet and sexy and deliciously in character: go read it! (T, 1106 words, no warnings)

Finally, I made a GIFset to celebrate Moses Ingram's Emmy Nomination (Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series) for The Queen's Gambit. Not sure I have the spoons to do TBS and ATJ too, although they also received first time Emmy nominations as well! (I also want to do the Ted Lasso cast but sooooo many of them got nominated that I've given up on that preemptively! 😅)  I actually had to replace my laptop because I borked the old one (blue screen of deeeeaaath) trying to update the drivers. 😭 Silver lining: PS now runs like a dream because I got an i5 instead of my usual Celeron but having to screencap stuff all over again really bites. Fingers crossed the old drive is recoverable, since the tech guy sounded pretty positive I could fix it myself, but I'm still too chicken shit to try. 😬

Challenge #12

In your own space, resurrect an old meme. Have fun with it!

So since this is supposed to be old, I went back and looked through my old LJ entries. And since somebody on tumblr TQG chat didn't know what shipping was (what), I'm bringing back this ship meme!


♛: my “FOREVER” pairing

Arya/Gendry (GoT, ASoIaF)
Cloud/Tifa (FFVII)
Okay this list is going to be long- really anything I've written fic for, lbr

♔: my “sometimes” pairing (if i’m in the mood)

Brienne/Jaime
Sansa/Tyrion
Christopher/Barabas

旦: my “friends-with-benefits” pairing

Valkyrie/Thor
Batcat 

I usually use that kanji in the context of 旦那 (husband) actually, but I'm guessing they didn't have a better/SFW symbol? LOL

☆: my “adele” pairing (“WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAAAALL”)

Root/Shaw
Bran/Jojen
Sansa/Margaery
Bucky/Natasha
Jackson/April 
Jon/Dany
Mike/Ginny
Thor&Loki

This list could also be spitefully long, lbr. 

☁: my “angst” pairing

Dani/Grace
Gideon/Harrow
Red/Blue
Beth/Benny
Jon/Dany
Anakin/Padme
Anakin&Obi-Wan
WandaVision
Derek/Julie

Also pretty much every pairing I've written fic for. XD
 

✖: my “hate sex” pairing

Sansa/Yara
Root/Shaw
 

۞: my “working on it” pairing

Colin/Penelope (Bridgerton)
Sansa/Podrick
Mike/Ginny
 

ℨ: my favorite threesome

Arya&Gendry&Hot Pie
Bran/Jojen&Meera
 

☄: my “crack” pairing

Sansa/Yara
Reeve/Rufus
Ruffnut/Eret

AO3 Title Meme by china_shop (I ganked this from tielan

Of the 20 most recent titles of your AO3 works (I am assuming just fic, not meta. Also I skipped older fics I re-posted from ffnet.)

1. How many are you happy with?

I re-titled one I hated, so 19. LOL

2. How many are... not great?

Speechless because I think it's not perfectly apt. But Incoherent isn't as striking, so I kept it. :P

Also The Watcher because readers get the wrong impression that it's about Jon. (It's about Sansa and it's based on this GIFset. Yes, I know that Jon said it; doesn't matter. It's a Stark thing. Also yes, I know about the watcher on the wall line. Sigh.)

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?

I usually title my fics before I write them, but since pinch hits/exchanges start with an external prompt instead of My Own Blazing Idea, my usual process for them is all backwards and I'm usually struggling to label properly as I write. Thus: Pearls of Wisdom, Speechless, OK Cupid and Encounters With a little help from my friends.

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?

Everything else- they're like my thesis statement! This goes for all my chapter titles, too- they are literally the title of each part of my outline. Bound, for example: Threads, Ply, Warp/Weft, Snag, Unravel, Cleave, Splice, 結び (musubi: knot)

This got me into trouble with Bend it, because I had originally planned it to be a two-shot. I broke it into three chapters when the second chapter started getting unwieldy long so I had to break its title in half too. So yes, the second chapter is called, "(Or " and the third, "Break)". LOL I know I'm a hack okay.

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?

Only two: Speechless and With a little help from my friends. Revelations, Discretion and A Third Path have all song chapter names and corresponding lyric epigraphs though. And I still like writing with a playlist, it's just not my only thing now.

6. How many are other quotes?

Familiar is a twist on a quote straight from Valkyrie|Brunnhilde's mouth. 

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?

Smitten- It's both a love story and the story of how a demi-god "dies"
Blind Faith- this one is pretty literal. What if looking at the Death Star flashpoint blinded Jyn?


8. Which best reflects the theme of the story/fanwork?

Deep Tie Knot- "because some ties are soul deep." This is the kind of knot surgeons make on sutures deep within the body cavity. Also the timeline of this one crisscrosses.
Bound- Red String of Fate reference, plus the "loving ties" reference
Collateral both the idea of the handmaidens putting their lives up for Padme's and the idea of them being collateral damage 

9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork?

Fork it- Ariel giving up on Eric but not on herself
OK Cupid- Miles being chill with what Aunt May wants

10. Which is your favourite?

Smitten! Correct Maui's grammar and come up with an apt title why don't I? Runner up is Cleave (chapter title in Bound). Both completely opposite meanings fit the stories they are titled with! :DDDDD

via verdande_mi - Thank you!

1. What are the five newest additions to your to-read list? These are all recs from IRL friends. I don't link to goodreads from here because I want to keep fandom and real life accounts separate.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Educated by Tara Westover- this one is actually on my holds list on libby too
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole

2. What are the five oldest additions to your to-read list? Hmmm, I need to review this list and put holds on things.
Three Thousand Stitches: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives by Sudha Murty
The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

3. How many books do you have listed as read? 149

4. How many books are in your to-read-list? 17 I mostly just go straight to Libby instead of referring to this list at all though, TBH

5. Are there any authors who is more heavily represented in your have read list? 
Ilona Andrews. I started using Goodreads to keep track of what I had read last year, so it's heavily biased towards my recent reading habits

6. Are there any author who is more heavily represented in your to-read list? 
No, everybody one there is listed once. Whereas on my Libby, there are three Rebecca Solnit and two Toni Morrison books on hold. 

7. How to do you sort your books?
Read, Want to read, Abandoned

8. Do you participate in the 2020 reading challenge? 
Yes

9. Do you participate in any discussion groups? 
No

10. How many books have you read so far this year?
40

11. How many books are in you currently reading?
1- Wildfire. It came up early in my holds- couldn't resist. LOL

12. Do you write reviews? Do you read reviews? 
Yes, but on here, not on goodreads. I read reviews to see if other people thought the book was ZOMG amazzzing or ho hum. 

13. Any other goodreads feature you use? 
If I search quotes they often come up on goodreads. I like keeping track of books I've read on the app.

14. Do you follow any interesting authors or other people worth mentioning?
Not on goodreads? I follow a couple on tumblr and facebook. Goodreads will email you if the author of a book you rated highly has a new release anyway.

It's Puzzle Meme Time!

Below are 10 female characters from 8 fandoms. Fandoms listed in the tags, characters chosen have been discussed by/had fic written by me sometime, and are not repeats from meme 1 or meme 2. Try to guess who they are from the clues!

1. May Parker
2. Ariel
3. Natasha Romanov
4. Arya Stark
5. Chihiro Ogino
6. Olenna Tyrell
7. Aerith Gainsborough
8. Sansa Stark
9. Beth Johanssen
10. Astrid Hofferson

2, 4, 7 and 10 have names that start with A.
3, 6 and 7 are dead.
3 and 9 have been to space.
3, 4 and 10 were trained to fight.
1 and 6 are older women.
2, 3 and 8 are redheads.
5 and 7 are in touch with the spirits.
1, 3 and 9 know their way around a computer.
2, 5 and 10 are from canons aimed at children.
4 and 8 are sisters.

ETA: Bonus clue: #6 is a murderer. 

ETA: YAY Totally cleared this year! :D Sorry Natasha was in so many clues but I kept finding connecting threads! Also yes, 3/10 characters from GoT may seem like overkill but like, if you have seen my fic for the past year you probably understand. LOL

So I know I've been very quiet here this past year, but I didn't stop reading during that time. I've tried to read more books by WOC and queer authors because honestly, I'm just tired of stories where the white guy ends up the center of the narrative and redeeming himself no matter how shitty and abusive he was. 

According to Goodreads I finished 52 books this year, and I'm currently reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, which is due in 4 days so it miiight end up being 53? (ETA: Finished it and loved it to bits too!) LOL I have no idea why I've gravitated so much to historical fiction so much this year, but some other stand outs were definitely The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (I ugly cried. SO BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL.) and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr which also broke my heart but was absolutely wonderful. I might ask for Yuletide fix-it fic for it next year. 

Sci-Fi and Fantasy:
I really liked King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, which is set in her Grisha Universe and set after her incredible Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom, but follows the POV of Nina, Nikolai and Zoya instead. Nina's grief was so visceral and real in the first part of the book. It felt so realistic, how it still felt so huge and endless to her that her getting over it mid-book and then getting a new love interest right away was actually jarring instead of triumphant. IDK, Nina is still one of my faves, but I disliked this particular choice. I'm shipping Nikolai/Zoya now too. Really love getting Zoya POV, as she was such an antagonist in the original Grisha books. 
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi was fantastic and I can't wait for the next! 
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw was good and absolutely haunting. (What a great twist! I loved figuring it out!)
Also liked the worldbuilding and style of Heartless by Melissa Meyer but not how the story ended. Am waiting to see how she's re-told other fairy tales before I make a judgement call. Blood of Elves (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski was decent too, but now that there is a Netflix show I doubt I will ever get off the waitlist for the next.
I also read The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller and adored both. I am going to buy paper versions so I can re-read and flip through for my favorite parts again. The other stand out this year that I want a real version of is The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Just such a beautiful coming of age tale.
I finished all of Mercedes Lackey's Hunter series in a few days and I really enjoyed it- wish her publisher had liked it more too. Also likely to be a Yuletide wishlist item. Also finished Sarah J Maas' Court of Thorns and Roses series and I sort of wished she had stopped at book 3, which was definitely the best of the bunch. Great love scenes. I really liked how her main protagonist changed lovers from the first book to the third. Good for her. I've read a couple interesting, action packed books by Ilona Andrews too, but since it seems I started both in the middle/end of the series (Innkeeper Chronicles, Hidden Legacy) I'm currently waitlisted for the originals. Legend by Marie Lu was a good beginning but my interest petered out mid-series when she split up her protagonists. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was pretty good. Incredible worldbuilding and man, the stakes are so high now! I should get the next book soon.

Some books that were highly recced but that I didn't love: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Weight of Feathers by Anne-Marie McLemore and Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter. Also really didn't like The Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat. I think it's supposed to be an anti-hero/redemption sort of situation, but honestly, I can't ship it when when one party is actively abusing the other.

Currently on my Libby bookshelf: Gideon the Ninth, Water Logic, Magic Bites, Uprooted, Clean Sweep. Which is a lot, but I have at least another week off, so I have faith in my ability to devour a good book in a few hours. It's just that if I really love the universe and characters, the story swirls around in my head so much after!


YA Fiction/Romance: To All the Boys I've Loved Before series by Jenny Han was wonderful! The Netflix movie was fabulous too, and I can't wait for the next one! The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was pretty good too. Year One by Nora Roberts was kind of laughably bad by the end? Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren was cute and I read some more of their co-authored books, but this was the best of the lot. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell didn't wow me, but it was good. Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan started out strong but all the adults behaving terribly just sort of annoyed me by the end. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas was excellent! I love her teenage POV and dialogue- I think it's as good as or slight better than The Hate You Give.

Non-Fiction: Becoming by Michelle Obama was my definite favorite. To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins and At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider were the two travel memoirs I finished this year- both good, but not groundbreaking? Packing for Mars and Bonk by Mary Roach were both interesting, funny and as usual, kind of gross. Also greatly enjoyed What if? by Randall Munroe (of xkcd). I mostly finished Here We Are, a book of feminist essays by Kelly Jensen, but I had to write Yuletide right when it and a whole bunch of other books were due, so I just had to let them all go back to the library, but I just checked and I could take it right back out now, so this might get finished. The NF book I really want to take out again that I didn't even open is The Notorious RBG.

Any recs for me, oh f-list? Which books blew you away this year?

The usual friending meme!


And I'm skipping Day 14 and 15 for now because I'm still drawing a blank and my husband wants to go sightseeing now, haha.

( TV stuff )

( Movies, books, music )

( Numbers )Okay, f-list show me yours! 

Ganked from senmut 

I actually just looked at the numbers a few days ago, so this is good timing! (I'm nearing the end of my latest notebook, where I plot out fic arcs, bingos and GIFsets, so I wanted a summary.) Plus OTW is currently doing another drive for funds- I spend a lot of time on AO3, so I was happy to donate. One thing: I wish AO3 did stats by chapter, like ffnet does! 

Total: 31 works, 203489 words posted since 2013. In general: I write an average of 3439 words per piece/chapter (although they range from 100 to 8500 words), and I tend to complete one thing every three weeks or so. 

( Numbers blahblahblah )

Inspired by wheatear

To celebrate Women's History Month, here's a meme! I have selected 15 female characters from 15 fandoms. Try to guess who they are from the clues! Fandoms listed in tags, characters chosen are mostly my faves. :)

( Guess the character! )