nothing to see here

Not a whole lot going on in my corner of the world, to be honest, but here I am anyway.

The weather continues to be perfect. We actually had to switch the heat on over the weekend, and we’ll probably be leaving it on here a some point in the near future. It’s supposed to be a bit warmer today, but then cool down again after some rain tomorrow. I am all for it. I love autumn, and this year’s is shaping up to be quite nice. :)

I got my flu shot last week. First time ever getting it, too. It kind of knocked me out for a couple days, but other than a touch of fatigue and soreness at the injection site, it wasn’t too bad. And now I’m hopefully protected from this year’s flu strain! Though I guess it could be like the last couple of years, where the strain has been a rapidly mutating one and the vaccine doesn’t offer enough protection... but here’s hoping it isn’t. Or if it is, that I do not catch it. I had the flu once, in ninth grade, and it SUCKED. So I would like to avoid repeating that experience.

I got the supplies for my other cross-stitch projects! So I’ve started on both of those. They’re going to be challenging for different reasons, I think. The Rivendell poster is full coverage, which means every square on the chart is a stitch, so that’s gonna be a bit of a marathon. Meanwhile the pattern I selected for my SIL has 20 different colors, which means a lot of starting and stopping. I’m having fun so far, though, and I’m making sure to take breaks so I don’t totally burn myself out. Christmas is like 70 days away, after all, and I’d like to get these done.

You know what else is approaching? NaNoWriMo! Which I think I am going to do this year, though I have no idea what wordcount I will be shooting for. 50k seems a little insane, especially since I haven’t really written anything in weeks except a couple prompt fills. So like... 10k, maybe? I don’t know. I’m using an old novel idea that I did for NaNo about 10 years ago. That particular draft got lost when my hard drive fried a couple years later, and I’ve done a lot of development on it since, so... it’s basically like a whole new story, right? Right.

As I said, I am trying to get back into the writing groove by doing prompt fills for 100words, ficlets, and shortfics. I did a few iterations on an idea for one on Friday. And I started a longer fill last night that I’m hoping to finish today. I would like to get back in the habit of writing most every day, so hopefully this prep and NaNo itself will be a good conduit for that.

Not much else going on. My mom and niece’s birthday is next week, and mine is the week after that. (Yes, they have the same birthday. My mom basically got the best birthday present ever: a grandchild. :P ) I’m hoping that I get what I asked for for my birthday: a Switch Lite. Fingers crossed, I guess. I also don’t know how to feel about turning thirty, which is just a whole Thing, isn’t it? I know it isn’t that bad, but... yeah. Curse the inevitable forward march of time, etc. I’ll live.

Hope you all are doing well, as ever.

Like. A very little bit. Still feeling kind of “blah” about everything, to be honest, but at least I’m not stuck in a whirlpool of depression? Currently, anyway.

Some things:

- I watched the Steven Universe movie the other day. For one, I’m SO glad Cartoon Network decided to air it without any commercials, because that made watching it so much easier (I DVR’d it, so). It was a delight from start to finish. Loved the songs (especially “Other Friends”, which I’ve been playing nearly on a loop since I watched it; it’s a fantastic villain song that really leans into the villain’s early cartoon aesthetic). Loved the story (which, as is usual for SU, allowed everyone to be complex individuals, even the villain). I will probably watch it again sometime soon, because it’s just gorgeous. I can’t wait to see where the show goes next (it hasn’t been officially announced, but I believe the show was renewed for at least one more season, and given its popularity, I wouldn’t be surprised if the renewal was for multiple seasons).

- I started listening to the podcast Writing Excuses. It was rec’d to me by someone on getyourwordsout and I like it so far. I’m jumping around, though I might listen to Season 10, which is intended to be a writing masterclass of sorts, all the way through. I like that the episodes are about 15-20 minutes apiece, too. I do wish it was available on Spotify, though, because having to navigate the iOS Podcasts app is downright nightmarish. That aside, though, I do like it. I even did a little brainstorming exercise and came up with some new story ideas, so that’s nice, I suppose.

- I mentioned back in May that I’d had some blood testing done and found out my B12 levels were low. I got injections for a few months, and I just got a second round of testing done to see how much it helped. Apparently it has helped a little bit, but my doctor wants me to get a few more shots over the next few months and see if I can get up to a normal level. So I’ve got to schedule that.

- I’ve once again got a passel of library books to read. Why do I keep doing this to myself. It doesn’t help that, thanks to depression, I haven’t really been in a mood to read anything. But I’ve got four books out that need reading before the end of the month, and. Yeah. Need to get on that.

- The kitten we took in back in July is getting neutered on Tuesday, and then I don’t know what we’re going to do with him. I get the feeling my parents kind of want to keep him, which means we really ought to let him get acclimated to the rest of the house and the other cats. I don’t know. It ultimately is not my call. I just wish my parents would stop being wishy-washy about it and make a decision.

Littler Things:

- I started a Neko Atsume (remember that game?) cross-stitch pattern. Not of one of my favorite cats, just one of a kitty I had the floss colors for. :)
- I abandoned that idea of doing a post every day on the WordPress blog. Though I do need to post one or two of my drafted posts, just to keep it active. But every day was way too much.
- I need to get back into doing writing and reading and stuff regularly. I feel like I’ve kind of let my days devolve into just sitting around doing nothing a lot, and I would probably feel better if I did things.

Hope you’re all doing well. Best wishes, as always.

Kitten update: he's still adorable. We gave him a bath yesterday, and he put up with it fairly well. He did try to get away a couple times, but other than that, there wasn't any crying or clawing, so that's a win in my book. He is exceptionally playful now, and he loves to get in the way when I'm trying to do something in here. But that's how it is with youngsters, so I don't begrudge him.

Other updates:

- I am slowly but surely making my way through the Good Omens TV show. I've watched the first two episodes, and half of the third (up to the opening credits). I would have watched the rest of ep3, but my internet decided to crap out and I couldn't get it to work again. That said, I am deeply enjoying the series. It reminds me a lot of Pushing Daisies, which I absolutely adore, so that's about a million points in its favor. And it's just... delightful. Can't wait to get to the end of it. And maybe reread the book at some point, too.

- After a week and a half of fits and starts, I'm writing again. On a random story idea I've had for a while, but that I wasn't planning to touch at all at any point this year. At this juncture I"m just writing whatever strikes my fancy, and so it's pretty plotless, but I don't care, so long as I'm getting words down. It's a werewolf story with a female lead, though I'm trying to avoid a lot of the female werewolf tropes I've seen before in fiction (mainly that female werewolves are... b*tches because being a werewolf means (for whatever dumb reason) that you can't have kids, and then also mean because they don't enter into the leadership of the pack and just dumb patriarchal stuff like that). So I'm playing with a lot of ideas and stuff, and just writing whatever works for me at the time.

But hey: it's words. That's all that matters.

- I need to start reading again. I finished the library book I'd been reading, The Radium Girls, which was an excellent if harrowing read. So I'd like to get back into Priory of the Orange Tree, but I just... haven't been reading? So maybe I need to whet my palate with something I've read before. I might pull a Pratchett or a McKinley off my shelf and read that, just to get back in the groove of it.

- Also need to get back into doing cross-stitch (which was on hold because I'd been doing at my desk in the spare bedroom, which is now a Bad Idea because Kitten) or crochet or knitting. Just. Making something with my hands. I've been playing too many video games, it seems like. Need to make something for a change.

- In the non-interior realm, Nintendo announced the Switch Lite yesterday. It's basically a handheld-only Switch, which after some reflection I don't have a problem with? I don't play a lot on my WiiU anymore; I'm mostly sticking with my 3DS. I don't want to get a full-on Switch and then let it gather dust because it's too many steps to turn it on (thanks, executive dysfunction). So I think this handheld unit will serve me just fine. (I will say, though, reading the comments on an article about it was both amusing and frustrating. As someone pointed out, if you're asking "who is this for", it's obviously not meant for you, so shut up.) That said, I wish we knew at this point whether or not Animal Crossing: New Horizons is going to have handheld mode. I'm guessing yes, given that it's probably going to be their flagship release for next spring, but... it'd be nice to know before I got one and found out I need to buy something else in order to play ACNH.

- Garden update: My squash plants (the zucchini and the pumpkin) fell victim to squash bugs YET AGAIN this year. We got several good sized zukes off the zucchini plant, though, and a couple of smallish pumpkins, so it's not a total pointless loss, but STILL. STILL. I was so upset when I found squash bug eggs on the pumpkin last week. And then on the zucchini. I'm not surprised about the pumpkin, given how its vines were going everywhere, but I'd really been hoping that, with the stilts for the planters my dad made, the zucchini could avoid that plague this year. But I guess not. At least the tomatoes are still doing okay. I've got enough off them to make tomato sauce this weekend.

...Can't think of much else going on. Hope you're all doing well, of course. Best wishes and all that.

I feel like I haven't been doing anything lately. I'm not as energized as I was a few weeks ago, which is annoying, because I'd like to get things done, but they're just not happening anymore.

I got about 75% through Crazy Rich Asians before I decided I didn't want to finish it. Mostly because I was tired of reading about these horrible people being horrible to each other. I get that the author is essentially making fun of the obscenely rich, but it just wasn't clicking for me. I could see that something additionally horrible was about to happen to the heroine and I just... did not care anymore. So that's been shelved DNF on my Goodreads, and hopefully today I can start something new.

I've written a little bit, but not a whole lot. I feel like my enthusiasm for writing has run out, in a way. Hoping to write something today, but we'll see how that pans out.

On the other hand, I have thrown myself back into fiber arts with a vengeance. I mostly finished up the crochet baby blanket I've been working on off and on for most of the last year. I still need to weave in the ends, but it's done, and can be delivered once that last bit of finishing is done. It's meant to be for my brother and SIL's first child, whenever they have one.

After finishing up that project, I picked up some cross-stitch again. I got the Stardew Valley cross-stitch book for Christmas, and I bought up what I needed to stitch a portrait of one of the bachelorettes with my Christmas money. I tried making a start at the project in April, but with everything going on with my grandfather's death my heart wasn't really in it? But the last few days I've gotten quite a bit done on it, and it's really starting to come together, which is exciting.

Speaking of Stardew Valley, I started a new game yesterday, mostly because I found a cool building mod that I wanted to try out. I don't know if I'll be playing a whole lot until I get my new monitor, but I did set up some time to play co-op with a friend of mine today. So that's gonna be fun. :)

I ended up only watching two of those movies I rented. Blade Runner and Loving. Loving was really good, and I thought Blade Runner was just okay?? I watched "The Final Cut" i.e., Ridley Scott's actual director's cut (the version called the "director's cut" was actually a workprint that got released without Scott's supervision; the Final Cut was supervised by Scott). And it was... just okay, to me. I feel like the movie wasn't interested in the same things I was interested in (which was mostly the character of Rachael, the Replicant who didn't know she was a Replicant). Also I wasn't fond of the way the film used Asian culture as a shorthand to exoticize the future Los Angeles. That said, I'm interested in seeing the sequel that came out a little while ago, just to see where they take those themes of humanity in the inhuman, which is something I've always been very interested in both as a writer and a reader/moviegoer.

I have high hopes for today--I'd like to write, start reading a new book, do my chores, cross-stitch some more. Maybe watch another episode of Good Omens, now that I'm done with the movies. My mom wants me to go to a new bakery that opened in town and pick up some cupcakes (which is easier said than done; the bakery's sold out in like two hours every single day since it's opened).

So hopefully I can make all that happen. Anyway. Hope you're all doing well, as ever.

So, as I said in my last entry, I thought I'd share a little bit of what I've been working on this week. Without further ado:

---

( Wall of Text and Horizontal Rules )

Hope you all enjoy! :D

So I'm planning to participate in getyourwordsout 's 7 Days 7 Stories challenge next week, as I mentioned before. I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible, and that means plotting and planning and hoping. A lot.

Here are the ideas I've got laid out for myself:

( Read more... )

I've still got work to do, obviously, but this is where I'm at right now. Sunday is just a couple days away, so I suppose I ought to get back at it!

Things seem to be going a little better for me. I'm still reading that McKinley book, and I wrote! Words! Of fiction! Two days in a row!!

Both of them were very short prompt fills, one for 100words and one for getyourwordsout. But hey, all words are good words, and I'm not complaining. I'll post the fills at the end of this post so you can read 'em if you want.

I'm honestly glad to have written anything at all, because honestly it's just proof that I still can. I know my writing tends to come in cycles and I should probably get used to that, but it's just... frustrating sometimes? I would like to write most days. Like, more often than not, but I'm not terribly good at that, it seems like. I get overwhelmed and stuff and yeah. I don't know.

Anyway. I'm hoping my days continue to improve. I think I'm gonna go digging around for another prompt to fill today. (If anyone can rec some prompt comms or sites or whatever, that'd be great.)

The fills in question:

100words fill: prompt: escape

TRON: Legacy fic, POV character Quorra.

( You're running away. )

getyourwordsout fill: dialogue prompt: "You can go by yourself."

TRON: Legacy fic again. AU where young Sam is on the Grid the night of Clu's coup, and Tron has to save him.

( He carries Sam... )

I'm not sure if it's the new med or circumstances or what. But I'm feeling better.

I had fun with my nieces on Sunday afternoon. We took them to see my sister at the hospital (she's a nurse) and one of her coworkers painted my older niece's nails. So when we got home, I showed the girls my nail polish collection, which is extensive, and they loved it. I also let my older niece pick a color for me to paint my nails. She picked green, because it's her favorite color, and I had some green glitter polish, too, so I layered that on top. 

Yesterday was looooong. Got up at 3:45 so we could go see my dad off at the airport in Nashville. Had a massive pancake breakfast at a Bob Evans down there with my mom, and then when we finally got home at 8am I went to sleep for a few hours. Then I just did random stuff--cross-stitch, Stardew Valley, and so on. I also sat outside for an hour on the patio and got some writing done. So go me, on that front.

With regards to writing: I am trying to work on planning out my novel idea again. I joined a small writing group at the library, and the lady running it is encouraging us to focus on one project, so... novel. I am trying to figure out character stuff for this novel, and I'm really not sure how well it's going. To be honest, I feel like I don't know anything at all about developing characters, or even just writing stuff in general. I feel really clueless, and while that's not... that's fine, I guess, but I thought I knew what I was doing, and it turns out I really don't. So maybe that's something to bring up next month at the writing group meeting.

I do want to work on other stuff, though. The Outpost needs (NEEDS) to be finished this year, so I should really work on that. And I've still got ideas banging around for that Pacific Rim/TRON crossover. It's just a lot of stuff, and I'm not sure what to do about it all. There's that whole getting-things-started thing again. I just need to sit down and do the work, but it's hard sometimes.

But that's... whatever, I guess? It's stuff, but I'm not letting it take over my brain at the moment. I'm glad I've written something and made some progress. Hopefully I can keep doing that today and the next day and so on.

Don't really have much planned for today. I ordered some yarn for the crochet baby blanket I started, and that's getting here today, so I'm excited about that. I had to stop working on it because I was almost out of yarn, so it'll be nice to work on it again.

So that's all nice, I guess. I'm glad to be doing better, and I hope it continues.

First off, the cupcakes: [ Follow this finely-crafted link! ]

And now the rest of it:

Haven't been up to much. I've done like 600 words of writing over the past two days, which... isn't great? But oh well? I don't particularly care all that much, though I would like to reach 10k on Camp NaNo, and maybe even halfway on my getyourwordsout goal of 75k.

Yesterday was spent baking cupcakes and then this morning was spent decorating them. Thank goodness they were pretty low maintenance cupcakes this year. I like having all that done, because my brother and SIL are coming up for the party, and I'd like to hang out with them a little bit.

Oh, I also spent Thursday afternoon sitting outside and writing and stuff? And then I got a horrible sunburn for my trouble. Mostly just on one arm, and I got some aloe gel for it, but it hurt like a sonuva Thursday night and yesterday morning. Today I'm not feeling it at all, thank goodness, though my arm is still pretty red. I'll live. Though I will admit it's times like these that make me which I'd inherited my dad's skin, which mostly browns instead of burning. (Apparently that's due to some Cherokee blood a few generations back on his side.) That said, I don't mind being fair, but I have to remember next time to put some sunblock on before I go sitting around in the sun. 

Not much planned for today. Got my niece's birthday party, of course, and I've got three movies I need to watch or otherwise just return or whatever. I'm going to try to watch them, but I don't know.

The last several days have been severely uneventful. Well, kind of.

I've been reading and rereading these awesome Pacific Rim fics, which make a much more satisfying sequel to the movie than the actual one. (if you're a PacRim fan and would like to read these fics, you can follow this lovely link. The first two fics in the series are complete, and make a nice coda + sequel to the first film. The third one is incomplete, but has been updated quite recently, so.)

Speaking of Uprising, I saw it again on Saturday. It's still aggressively mediocre. It's not full-out terrible, which is somehow the worst part. There are some good ideas there, and I just wonder at some of the decisions they made creatively. There were four screenwriters, and I think three editors? Which certainly explains a lot. Like, my god. No wonder it felt so tonally disjointed sometimes. I just... it could have been so much better. I would get into it more, but I don't know if anyone following me wants to see it and hasn't or whatever, so yeah.

I'm working on a fic idea based around one of the major twists. It seems to want to have a plot, but I don't know what the plot would even be. And my muse isn't talking, of course. Maybe I should just freewrite about it. See what comes out. I kind of want to share a snippet, but... spoilers and crap? Maybe in a separate post. 

In other writing news, I am trying to write a novel. Or rather, trying to plan a novel. It's not going very well. I'm oscillating between like four different plotting techniques, and that is either a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not sure what I'm doing, and I don't know where or how the book ends, or if I want to make a sequel happen, or anything like that. Which is not a good place to be. I wrote a sort of summary of what I know happens today and got 1k out of it before I petered out, which isn't bad, certainly, but there are huge gaps in places and I'm just not sure how to fill them.

That's really all that's going on. Well, there are other things, but I think I'm gonna sit on them for a little bit. Hope you're all well and such.