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Daily Writing

In-story date: 1/20/336 AT  Words written today: 1,672 (goal: 1.667) Quote:

Lucia had a good guess but she licked her lips and said, “I don’t think I should do anything you ask.” “Why?” he asked, looking surprised. “Because of who you are,” Lucia said, trying not to out and out call him a cultist. She really didn’t want him to take insult. She still needed his help to get home.

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Daily Accountability

In-story date: 1/18/336 AT  Words written today: 1,852 (goal: 1.667) Quote:

“You’re alive because of all the things we did for you!” Dad threw his arms out in frustration. “If we hadn’t coddled and protected you, you could have died! Lucia, the world is a terrible place full of people who would hurt and use you. We’ve tried to teach you that people are good, but they aren’t, and it’s time you understand that people are going to use you for their own ends. They are going to hurt you!”

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Daily Accountability

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/ybkTeAJcXN

Join us for updates on the writing and discussions!

In-story date: 1/18/336 AT Words written today: 1,694 (goal: 1.667) Quote:

Once they ‘ported back to Dalton, her friends walked with her as far as the dorms, where Dad and Tim kept her moving toward the cars. They guided her to Tim’s car, still talking about the game, and Lucia drowned out their conversation in self-pitying thoughts about what her friends were doing right now.

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Daily Accountability

In-story date: 1/16/336 AT   Words written today: 1,832 (goal: 1.667)  Quote:

“I’m glad to hear that. I hope that you’ll be Gemini’s true ally in this fight.” Jeran sounded like he was lecturing, and Lucia felt sure that Gemini had to listen to his uncle’s side of the conversation. “Not an enabler who lets him do what he wants and keeps him sick, but a friend who will challenge and support him as necessary.”

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Daily Accountability

So what am I writing right now? Here’s the blurb for Covert Arcana: 

Lord Alexander Layton grew up with all the prestige that nobility and wealth can afford in the North American Union, but that couldn’t save his business from being targeted by criminals. When Agent Lily Byer of the Central Investigation Agency offers her employer’s help, Lord Layton finds himself unnaturally intrigued by her. He has his own secrets to protect, but he couldn’t deny the draw between them. Giving into his growing desire may destroy him. Not giving in to it might destroy his world.

Find Covert Arcana here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67154/covert-arcana

In-story date: 1/16/336 AT  Words written today: 1724 (goal: 1667) Quote:

“Maybe.” Gemini held up a  hand when Simon started to speak. “What if she’s not, and we talk to Orrin about it? What if we get her in trouble? What would she do in retaliation?” “We should consider it, because the flip side is, what if she is, and we help someone out by speaking up?” Simon asked. “Is it worth her making things so bad for us we don’t get Rosemont?” Gemini asked. “Yes,” Lucia said softly. “Anyone being puppeted is terrible.”

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Daily Accountability

Yeah, it’s been a while. This is what I’m working on now, my serial novel that you can find here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67154/covert-arcana

In-story date: 1/15/336 AT 

 Words written today: 1983 

Quote:

“Expect? No. But some of the other applicants will, and that will be points in their favor.” Gemini replied. “We need all the points in our favor, because of me.” “Not just you,” Simon said tersely. “I’m the stark newbie here,” Lucia added. “We all have some not-great negatives here.”

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DA: more writing!

The story is actually getting to the meat of the plot. I’m having a lot of fun with it now. As always, the story/characters are taking on a life of their own, and it’s good to have that again.

Quote (Jobs):  Parjii had just gotten Thakhid back out of the bunk when the woman said, “There! That’s the little alien he had! You do know him! Where’s my credits?”

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I finished this! Please enjoy.

Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: The Mandalorian (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s), Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda Characters: Din Djarin, Grogu | Baby Yoda, Original Characters Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Twi'leks (Star Wars), canon compliant through ep4, after ep4 we're off on our own alternate canon arc, Strangers to Family, Pining, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Frontier Justice, Jealousy Series: Part 9 of The Mandalorian's Jobs Summary:

Mando accepts a job which puts him in confrontation with a recent enemy.

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DA: Oh my god, I wrote today.

Quote (Jobs):  Bastion’s tone promised that he’d be a very big problem if necessary, and Parjii nodded gratefully to him as she took the credits and followed the second guard through the gate and into the building itself. It was colored in neutral browns and grays; the attempt was to be pleasantly bland but it felt she’d been encased in nothingness. The first room was a lobby, but the guard waved her past the people waiting to another room. “Pay up,” he ordered, jerking his thumb at the open door.

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Thoughts on “Hard Vacuum” (Expanse 5.8)

SPOILERS, clearly. As a note, I have read the books, so they’re will be references and spoilers for them, as well.

“Vacuum” doesn’t look like a word to me. Never has, and I suspect it never will.

I want to take a moment and say that the theme of the Expanse is perfect for the show. It harkens to the music on old “inspirational” scifi shows, but is also meloncoly. The latter befits a vision of humanity that is still struggling with inequality and wealth disparity, even as it leaves the bounds of the Earth.

Peaches and Amos still please, though I worry they’re going to ramp up the romance, and they’re not really romantic in the books. They were family, in a way that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with love. I’d forgotten how/why Amos’s story came back to Erik. I wasn’t interested in that part of the story; I was far more invested in Naomi’s story, in the book. 

Ugh, watching Marco use Naomi’s “death” against Filip makes me so mad. I have personal issues watching narcissists manipulate people, but especially watching them manipulate their children.

Reading about what Naomi went through to get away from Marco was rough enough; seeing it play out is a bigger gut punch. I do enjoy watching her science/engineer her way through this emergency. I mean, she pulled several pieces together so get what she needed, and damn near suffocated herself a dozen times to alter the message.

So I’ve read fan-chatter that Bull will be the new Roci pilot, and I guess, sure, but I don’t see the path where we go from “I’m not risking myself to save Holden’s girlfriend” to “part of the crew.” They might not try to fold him into the “family” aspect of it. I hope they don’t pigeon-hole Clarissa in there, either. She wasn’t the pilot, her sister was, and it would stretch belief to have her filling that role.

Drummer! Nothing else, just got excited to see her again.

Oh, it’s heartbreaking watching her crew fight, but the scene where they laugh for a moment provides the hope they’ll make it. Pa’s crew wasn’t given this much depth; you never get a sense for them like I have for Drummer’s crew. I mean, you got to know them as Pa did, but you didn’t get these family scenes.

I do not buy for a second that Matar Kubeliya attacked Marco. I’ll need the show to prove to me that Marco isn’t a petulant little toddler about everything. Until then, he killed them because they “wronged” him and then put in the coverup. Hell, even if the show does prove it, I may still head-canon it.

I mean, I think I hate Marco. The asteroid storyline in the books is just horrifying, and I had a very emotional response to it. I expected the same and from the show, and I haven’t, as much. I think that’s because I knew it was coming. 

Also, I’m calling it: “we must feed and protect the Belt” is 100% the show indicating they’re following through on the storyline that was Marco’s ultimate downfall.

Secretary-General Paster is off to a good start -- with a solid speech. His war council went exactly how I expected -- he knows he has to make a big move, but he can’t figure it out and his advisors don’t agree. He is lost, and unable to weigh the benefits and consequences well enough to make the hardest call of his life. 

Ooo, when Karal told Drummer about Naomi, I thought she was dead then and there. I’m very sad I’m wrong. Watching Drummer mourn Naomi hurt.

I feel like “Tell James Holden I’m in control” should become a thing. Mostly because Holden seems like he needs to be reminded of that sometimes.

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So needed to read the above. I’d been meaning to write an update on my writing, and I’m using this reblog to do it. As you may have guessed, life has hit me hard. Pandemics, insurrections, kids -- it’s all kinda going south right now, it feels like. Right now, all I’m writing are grocery lists. 

What does this mean? It means that there will be a longer break between getting Jobs #9 fully posted (the last chapter should come this week), and starting to post Jobs #10. If things had gone my way, I’d likely be editing #10 right now and writing #11. As it stands, I’m about a third of the way into #10. The good news is that I’m still crocheting; my mental health isn’t so bad that all I can do is play computer games. 

What’s my current timeline? No idea. I’m taking steps to ease my stress. I’ll probably start to feel better if we get through 1/20 without a high-level US official being assassinated. I can’t promise anything, but as a left-leaning person who believes that humans have value because they are beautiful, unique individuals who deserve to be healthy, sheltered, and have enough to eat, the Trump administration was pretty hard on my soul. Add in four beautiful children, two of whom (and possibly three) are special needs, and the only emotions I seem to feel is irritation and exhaustion. I didn’t know that exhaustion was an emotion, but I guess it is.

tldr: I’m not writing right now, don’t know when I will be again, but am working to improve 

Experiencing burnout in an area you love doesn’t mean you are no longer passionate about that thing, or are any less good at it. It’s often an indication that there are other parts of your life that need your care. A garden looks most beautiful when every flower is watered, and you deserve to nourish yourself in the same way. You will flourish again.

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Chapters: 2/4 Fandom: The Mandalorian (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s), Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda Characters: Din Djarin, Grogu | Baby Yoda, Original Characters Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Twi'leks (Star Wars), canon compliant through ep4, after ep4 we're off on our own alternate canon arc, Strangers to Family, Pining, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Frontier Justice, Jealousy Series: Part 9 of The Mandalorian's Jobs Summary:

Mando accepts a job which puts him in confrontation with a recent enemy.

Come and read it, folks!

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DA, sorry, there was an attempted coup tonight edition

Today was shopping day, and by the time I was done with that, fascists and racists had tried to take over my capital. I spent today balancing between watching the news (an unusual activity for me) and taking care of my mental health by crocheting and watch the new Expanse (a usual activity for me). So I didn’t write at all today, and that’s okay. Some days, the world is on fire, and you’re allowed to not wrestle words out of your head.

I hope everyone reading this is safe tonight. I love you, my fellow humans. Be good to one another, and have a good night.

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Expanse thoughts

Filip is breaking my heart. You can see how much he wants to know Naomi, how much he wants her to come “back” to the Belt and be one with his father. You can see how he wants to save her so badly, for her to join and approve of his father’s ideology. And when he breaks with his father (which you know will happen), it’ll make the things he’d done worse. I love that they’re starting to connect through stories.

Marissa was seriously not my favorite character, but in the end I like her relationship with Amos. I’m still enjoying that in the show, so I’m looking forward to where this goes. It’s good to see him taking about the people he cares about, and physically caring for Marissa. It’s especially fun watching her trying to catch up to his thinking as he navigates an uncivil world. I’m sure the morality of what he did to the prepper will be discussed further in fandom, 

“Drummer... and associates.” I was waiting for Drummer to icily say, “Spouses” but then I realized that she doesn’t owe Marcos any kind of explanation. Good on her. I really want Drummer to be the one to kill Marcos, when it finally happens. Honestly, I’m not recalling 

The worst part of Marcos’s ideology is that he isn’t wrong. The Inners have treated the Belters terribly. They have “killed [them] slow”. His method of addressing those woes is horrific and doesn’t help the Belter’s situation. It might make the Belters feel better, to feel like they’ve struck a blow and made themselves feel big, but it won’t help them in the long run. 

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Blessings be unto you, as well.

I call upon the fan fic writing gods to bless you with the perseverance to finish one of your unfinished drafts. 

May your fingers dance along the letters upon your device with ease, may the devil of distraction stay far from you, and may your work not need much editing.

I pass this blessing upon every fan fic writer out there.

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DA, the kids haven’t won yet

Though they’re trying to beat me down and grind my soul into nothing. But I’m still here.

Today, I thought I was working on Prince of Alderaan, only to realize that it was Jobs’ turn. So I worked on Jobs 10 today, despite having mentally prepped for Prince. Thankfully, I know where Jobs is going, just a matter of getting my brain to turn those plans into coherant. words. I was able to today, so yay!

Quote (Jobs): When she’d stopped shaking, Parjii went to find the gallery. It was small, though honestly larger than the Crest’s, and she systematically went through it. Once she had a sense of the supplies and tools, she started to make dinner.

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DA, this is actually working edition

I don’t have a long message tonight, other than I was working on the Side Jobs project today, so that’s what my quote is from. I’m just stoked that I’m actually writing semi-regularly again. 

Quote (Side Jobs):  A-1 Technologies sat wedged between a brothel that specialized in Bothan workers and a “juice” bar where you could get your drinks served with spice. The only reason Ryku’s shop didn’t look out of place was a small sign that offered personalized computer programs. Most people assumed that meant that the shop did illegal slicing, and it did, but Ryku’s main line of business was the brokering of information.