#I get a feeling it's going to be my April nano

[precuregremlin]

I guess I’ll sit here until next week working on Mirror Magic Precure.

[ashen-crest]

writeblr games & events

@sabrina-author was asking about tumblr writing events, so I figured I’d put together a list of everything I’m currently aware of. please feel free to chime in with more, as I’m sure I’m missing things!

Ongoing Events:

World-Building Wednesday: send asks to fellow writeblrs with world-building questions

Blorbo Thursday: same, but with questions about OCs (blorbos)

Storyteller Saturday: same, but with any kind of writing question. can be about the writing process, their wips, etc.

Smut Sunday: post a spicy excerpt or prompt list

Fluff Sunday: (I think this is or was a thing?) post a fluffy excerpt or prompt list

Note: for ask-based events and games, you can always ask anonymously if the person has anon turned on for their inbox.

Ongoing Games:

Ask Games: you’ll see folks reblog ask games now and then, which are just lists of questions (like this one). you send an ask with one of the questions (usually sending the phrase or symbol that represents that question), and they answer it. 

Picrew Games: usually just links to a picrew with rules like “design your OC with this picrew” or “design a cupcake/fishbowl/object that represents your OCs.” (Like this one.) you can tag other writers to do the game as well, but that’s totally optional.

Find the Word/Word Search Game: for this game, you take a set of words (like...soft, run, fast, and hard), then search for them in your wip, then post the snippet that uses that word. You can either grab words from someone else who has done the game, or you can make up your own to get a game started. in the snippet post, you also tag a few other writers and give them words to search for. I usually do three or four words, to keep it manageable. Here’s an example from a diff writeblr.

Last Line Game: you post the last line (or group of lines) you wrote, then tag a few other writers to do the same. Here’s an example.

If you’re not sure who’s comfortable being tagged in certain games, you can always create a post saying “interact with this post if you’re okay being tagged in games.” I have a list in my notes doc of who has said they’re okay with it and I refer to that list when I go to tag folks.

Time-Specific Events:

March: potential Pitch Event by @moondust-bard

April: Camp Nano (not a Tumblr-specific event, but several folks here participate; from the same org as Nanowrimo, see link below)

July: Camp Nano (same as above)

November: Nanowrimo (same as above)

Again, if I’m missing events, or if there are organizers I should link to events, please feel free to reply or rb with that info.

[nanowrimo]

4 Steps to Making Each NaNoWriMo Event Your Own

While many people look forward to the 50K challenge in November, our upcoming Camp NaNoWriMo challenge in April can be a good time to try a new kind of writing project or set a goal of your own. If you’re looking for tips on personalizing your NaNo experience, NaNo Participant Stephanie Braxton has some advice! NaNoWriMo is known for being the Write 50,000 Words in 30 Days challenge. Like many things in life, National Novel Writing Month, and all of its accompanying events throughout the year, are what you make of them.

I’ve always been someone who liked writing by hand. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found more convenience for the habit of writing in a composition book than a laptop. That is how I tackle NaNoWriMo three times a year, with a cheap Papermate pen and a $1 black and white composition notebook. I set my own goal, which is often dependent on what’s going on in my life at the time and what project I’m working on. If you find yourself enchanted by the community and atmosphere around this challenge, but you’re scared or unable to commit to November’s 50k challenge, maybe try it another way. There are some things you’ll need to do first though.

1. Figure out your normal.

No matter how you write, find what is a normal and easy pace for you. For me, I can usually do 30 pages handwritten in 30 days, easy. That is my normal, average pace. It is the baseline from which I figure out how I can challenge myself.

2. Decide how much to challenge yourself.

This part may take some trial and error. You may have to adjust your goal if you realize the original one is not working. Even though I conquered a 75 page goal in the past, sometimes life is being crazy or the story itself is not cooperating, and I'll have to lower my goal to 50 pages. The flip side of that is what happened to me last November, when I started out with a 50 page goal and ended up writing 78 pages.

3. Find ways to give yourself a boost.

I take my writing everywhere. I’ve written in the car while waiting at the dentist. I’ve taken a book light and attached it to my notebook, and written in the floor of my kids’ bedroom while I’m waiting for them to go to sleep. It doesn’t always work, but when something is important, we can find time for it.

4. Realize that each NaNoWriMo event is different.

It can be discouraging when you see people who commit to this challenge every year always hitting 50,000 words. Do not let that stop you from trying. Social media contributes to this falsehood that we should be able to do everything at 100% all the time, and that is just not always the case. I’ve had some epic flops of NaNoWriMos, but then I’ve come back to the challenge the next time and nailed my goal. Like writing itself, it has highs and lows.

Though I’ve had some good non-NaNoWriMo writing months, I find this challenge gets me to do more than I would any other time. Even being a rebel who always does handwritten and always does page goals instead of word count, I would not change the November event at all. Honoring the original idea that created NaNoWriMo isn’t stopping me from making this challenge my own. In my opinion, the spirit of the event is just to get to writing, and that’s what it does for me, nearly every time.

I hope as April approaches, you feel that magic in the air that makes all writers put fingers to keyboard or pen to paper.

Happy Writing!

Stephanie Braxton is a working mama of two, married to a Forever DM of Dungeons and Dragons. Daylighting as an administrative assistant for a non-profit focused on adult literacy, she writes whenever and wherever she can purely for the joy of it. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

[nimonabigbang]

🎇Attention All Nimona Writers! 🎇

If you are planning on writing a story, event or not, there is a wonderful site you can use that lets you pace yourself on a daily word count.

NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month)

About NaNoWrimo:

"NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page."

How It Works for Writers (their links are included as well in the quotes because why not):

"Once a writer (or soon-to-be writer!) signs up on our site, they can participate in our programs in a variety of ways. Prefer to write on your own timeline? Set independent writing goals and work at your own pace. Prefer the exquisite pressure of an ambitious deadline and enthusiastic community egging you on? Set an official challenge goal during National Novel Writing Month in November or Camp NaNoWriMo in April or July. You’ll receive resource-packed messages (and the occasional celebratory gif) from us, and if you reach your word-count goal, you can access a special winner page with sponsor offers and more.

Either way, once you’ve signed up, you can explore our how-to materials, make writer friends in the forums, join your local region(s) to see what’s going on nearby, pop in on the occasional virtual event hosted by NaNo HQ, make buddies and join writing groups, get inspired by pep talks from authors like Gene Luen Yang, Roxane Gay, Kacen Callender, John Green, and N. K. Jemisin, and—of course—track your writing progress, novel or otherwise."

Feel Free to check out the rest of their site for more information as well!

CB the Mod Uses this Religiously!

I also want to let you know that I (CB) use this site for every single one of my stories when I get close tof inishing them, I also use this for other big bangs that I wrote for. While it is for the NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) challenge, it can be utilized for everything!

Back to the Big Bang:

So, big bang writers, if you have trouble pacing, or are worried about that, please use this to give you some peace of mind for the event. And if you need to adjust the word count, or due date, either make a new project, or edit the one you're working on!

[starchaserdreams]

Erm, hello!

I am an aspiring writer. I have these stories in my head that I love and want to write about. But when I try, it's the absolute worst shit I've ever seen in my life.

Sorry, what I'm trying to ask is, any tips for younger writers who have no idea what they're doing...?

Hi! I have no idea what I'm doing ever, but I'll try to answer as best as I can. I'll start with generic advice, then say what works for me specifically. Sorry this got so long.

We're all kind of fumbling through life. The writing habits that I have have come from three sources:

a) hearing what other people do and building from them. I'm always in one writers group or another (currently I'm in a local writers group, and I'm regularly involved with two different NaNoWriMo groups in November, one locally and one virtually) and I've picked up a lot from them

b) a metric fuckton of trial and error. Because while part (a) is great some of the time, most of the things that work for other people don't work for me. I can't set a strict schedule at the same time everyday. I can't edit for a long time after I write.

c) NaNoWriMo (see link) helped me SO MUCH. I don't think everything can be written that way, but in terms of getting a handle on your own voice, preventing yourself from stopping to edit, and letting the story flow on its own, NaNo is amazing. It's a great starting point. Editing can come later, once the words are done on the page.

If you're unfamiliar, it's a (totally free) event that happens in November every year where everyone tries to write 50,000 words of a brand new novel in the span of one month. That's 1,667 words per day, so there isn't much time to stop and edit as you go. You just keep going. It's a competition against yourself rather than anyone else, to see if you can accomplish the task. It's also a community based event, so you can commiserate with other writers about the bad and celebrate with them about the good.

They have smaller events in April and July, but to really get the feel of it, November is when it's a party (or a rollercoaster, either way). I went to write-ins in cafes, bars, grocery stores, on the subway, etc. The event is a whole vibe, and now they have in person events again (they paused for covid). If you want to stay virtual, they have that too!

And as for what works for me:

1.

This most certainly wouldn't work for everyone, but it's my current strategy:

I think best when I'm in motion. By far. So most of my storyboarding I do while walking or driving, and I dictate into the notes app on my phone.

I do most of my dialogue this way too, because speaking it out loud makes it feel more like a conversation and more natural. I won't dictate the narration, but I'll include action tags. So it comes out like "Anthony: *flings door open, eyes wide* what in blazes are you doing??" (I add punctuation later)

Then when I get home, I often have several thousand words of notes to work from. My notes file for my last fic was 30k words, almost all of which had been dictated. It's a lot. It might sound daunting.

But it was done while out for a walk or drive, so it felt easy and effortless. And then when it came time to actually write, I got 48,000 words of a first draft done in 8 days (about 15k of which was just copy pasted from the outline. The whole time it felt like cheating and using guidelines to write the actual story, but it was all my original work, just done at different times.

2.

Keep writing as an exciting treat rather than a chore.

I've started to create little writers retreats for myself. My friends and I rented an AirBnB for two nights this winter, where the entire goal was reading and writing. Sure there was sitting around the fire talking and eating good food, but we built it up so that the writing was the exciting part. It worked SO WELL. We did writing activities together too, not just staring at a word doc. We did character studies and made little AUs to imagine our characters in.

A friend and I took a six hour road trip for another writers retreat too. We spent the 12 hours (RT) in the car talking about our stories and characters. We'd started with dozens of prompts so we'd have enough material, and we never ran out. Then we took rest stops at gas stations and restaurants and did little 15 minute writing sprints. It really got me fired up. I wrote 6,000 words over the two days of that retreat!

Keeping writing fun can be big things (my sister and I did a writers retreat like that in Hawaii) or little things (I always treat myself to a donut and a coffee on Sunday mornings and then have a leisurely morning in the cafe writing).

I can't say if any of this will work for you, because I can't even say whether it'll still work for *me* in a few years. But I hope it's food for thought!

Anyway this is like one million words long so sorry about that, hope it was interesting.

[ye-it-is-skeet]

2003 Alternate Caravaggios✨✨✨✨

Watching 2003 they gave.. four or five episodes..? That showed many different dimensions, two including alternate versions of the Turtles and their world basically✨ (The Leosagi can wait until later, heh). To get to the point, I have drawn my OC Gio into the 2003 universe, and now he's drawn into these alternate universes✨ (including one I made up that Gio goes to in that string of episodes✨) -Info-Dump Beyond This Point-

Going in order I suppose, first up is the Super Turtle Team's own: Nano-Turtle✨✨ ..Ahem.. His power is that he can manage technology with his mind, some techopathy✨ He isn't that knowledgeable of HOW to operate some technology... but one day he found Nanites, being the hive-mind sort of technology that simply needs to be told what to do, was manageable✨ Not like that first bit would be brought up in conversation of that episode, but ye✨ He simply told the nanites to make him a suit to protect the parts that weren't shell✨ Not a real tech suit really just for protection because it's not Nano-Turtle's area of expertise. He uses tools for most fights because he'd need the materials to tell the nanites to make something (which there is no time for in a fight), and sure if they fight a robot Nano-Turtle could be VERY helpful. But other than that he needs a quick and easy way to battle, that being pre-prepared tools and weapons✨ Since Sliver has all the same powers he could also just make Nano-Turtle's nanites stop working, which is another reason Nano-Turtle sticks with tools for a fight. I dunno, I don't normally make comic-book heroes, but he's good✨

Take a Wild Guess where THIS Gio is from? ..W-Wrong. He's from the Bad Future Donnie was sent to. This episode was definitely one of THE DARKEST episodes, and I can only imagine how Donnie feels about his family knowing what happens when he, or any of them, would disappear. But this isn't an info-dump about Donnie, it's an info-dump about Gio Call it being lazy, but I decided that this drawing of him is the last thing anyone even REMEMBERS of him. Nobody knows where Gio IS. Basically, with all the death and Leo and Raph fighting, and everything going on.. Gio was going through a LOT of emotional turmoil and struggle. He was constantly stressed, sleep-deprived because he was still worried about where Donnie was.. His family was his comfort during change, and in the changing world as his family left and fell apart.. just took its toll on him. He did good fighting while he was there, it was one thing to take out his turmoil on. He was more reckless however, not thinking about anything but destruction of the enemy for causing all this pain. He never was good at handling his emotions, but now there was no reason to push them to the side. It could be a thing where Mikey just talks about Raph and Leo and Splinter, then Donnie asks to gather their brothers to defeat Shredder, Leo and Raph arrive. Then Donnie turns to Mikey and asks about Gio. Mikey explains how nobody knows where he is, or if he's alive. He just left one day, walked around grabbing some items and left. Donnie's still able to stop Shredder and such but ye. Gio just cracked and nobody knows where he went. Or if he's alive. If he's dead then his brothers can tell him Donnie came back in heaven. If he's alive and just somewhere else.. well unless April can find him he doesn't know his family is dead, or that Donnie was okay. *pats pats for Gio*

There isn't much to this one, visually and in story, but basically this is the universe Gio was sent to: Genderbent. ..It was that or a universe where they were never mutated but.. what would he even do? He meets.. *tries to remember the names* Levina, Diana, Rachel, Marianna, and Catarina in a universe where the genders are.. bent obviously. Gio doesn't like being plopped in a new place without his family or at least a comfort item, so he's on edge and maybe the female TMNT just take him as some rude guy. He does explain he's from a world where he and his brothers are just them but, obviously, male. Gio maybe helps them fight or something, I dunno, I didn't put much thought into this universe. There could be some dialogue when he returns and explain where he was maybe Mikey chimes in all, "Which girl version of us was the prettiest? Me?✨" And then Gio just goes to bed because he did not like his adventure. And he envies Donnie for going to a miserable world instead of where he ended up.

Now these aren't alternate universes, BUT.. I watched a video compilation of the Dark Turtles and initially drew just Dark Gio because I liked the Dark Turtles✨ But ultimately caved and drew Gio in the future outfit and.. the style change.. I don't like this style. But it's better than when the teetlez have EYES. They look cursed in some way (the redrawn tots look very cursed too, I've seen clips), and if they all have the big shiny eyes it takes away from their personalities. Mostly Raph because how can he be angry tough boy with big shiny baby anime eyes? Hate Rant aside, Gio doesn't like being in 2105, he never liked travel of any kind. It's unfamiliar, uncomfortable. But his brothers are there and he spends the first few days stalking around, and familiarizing himself with where he is. Dark Gio is fun for me✨ His jaw can unhinge like a snake, not really a controlled thing however, when he talks his jaw just opens and ye, so he wears that thing on his face to hold his jaw. It may also serve as a device Darius uses to shut him up. Because Dark Gio inherited the curiosity genes and also speaks his mind without think, and Darius doesn't like when Dark Gio suggests, "Did you create us for destroying the turtles or to deflect your failure?" and remarks such as, "Ah, of course, because losing to the turtles was done on PURPOSE. Maybe next time design clones who will lose on ACCIDENT." Dark Gio just also spends a lot of time thinking to himself. He meets Gio and is suddenly VERY curious about who Darius had cloned him from. But he also just wants to destroy Gio because his existence is the cause of his miserable existence. While fighting (either with his brothers or the turtles), he will just take off his face thing, unhinge his jaw, and begin eating his opponent✨

[laufire]

WRITING WOES: MARCH

in general

a few things conspired to slow down my writing (online course, sprained wrist that thankfully is alright now), but I'm still keeping up with my habit goals (get your words out in dreamwidth).

original fiction

I wrote ~3k words of Underground Elysium's first act (it'll have five acts total, though this doesn't say much as the lengths won't be consistent lol). I'm following Freytag's Pyramid for this one, Because of Reasons, so this is the "exposition + inciting incident" and I took a bit from this teaser I already had, but that's basically all of Act I complete (its first draft, at least; there's still a lot to be done in rewrites), so I'm proud.

I also set to finish with the drafting process for Petal Decay for this April's Camp Nano. I want to get that short story to a place where all I can do is get some outsider perspectives on it, before I know what to do with it moving forward.

fanfic

l wrote the first drafts of the first three chapters of my Young Justice WIP. I definitely have to go over them -this is the "introduction" part, where I'm practically rushing to get The Actual Story started lol, and some additions will be needed so they don't feel like I'm just eagerly jumping from point A to B to C etc. in order to get there. But I'm keeping up the rhythim I set for myself, which rn matters more. First I get the skeleton of the story out, then I add the rest.

I also wrote 5 out of 6 chapters of my Immortal Jason WIP (it's a 5+1 fic). The sixth one is resisting me smh. The premise shows various Bats finding out that Jason doesn't die, and the final chapter is, of course, Bruce's. So it's where everything comes to a head and I've built it up in my head as this... Thing. I'm going to let it rest for at least a week, maybe two, and then see it with fresh eyes.

Those (continue with the young justice wip as I've been, finish Immortal Jason & publish it) are basically my goals for this month, fic-wise. I also want to make more detailed outlines (although still leaving room for improvisation) for fics I'll tackle after I'm done with Immortal Jason and Petal Decay, like the Delena Marriage of Doom wip, or Journalist Dick. AND I want to write at least one of the scenes from my 5+1 Chalant one-shot (which is a "companion" to the young justice wip, so I want to have it ready when that's done).

[touchingmadness]

Camp Nano Progress Update #1

The first week of Camp Nano is complete, and I'm actually really happy with my progress! I expected this month to be a little rough for me, since I'm usually pretty active in the (currently shut down for good reason) Nano forums and tend to use the energy of other writers to bolster me through the event. And yeah, I'm writing a lot less than I would be under those conditions. But I'm still writing, and I'm still enjoying what I'm writing, and that's what really matters to me.

Excerpt:

You spend the rest of the day loitering around a city that would be far more beautiful if it wasn’t smack dab in the middle of tourist season. Instead, the streets and beaches are teeming with well-off people getting away from their well-off lives and generally spoiling the atmosphere with their existence. You can’t help but feel bad for the people who live here, even if you’re sure they make a pretty penny off of these people. And so will you, it seems, when Soren nudges you with a smirk and proceeds to nick the coin purse right off of a wealthy man’s belt. It takes everything in you not to gape at him, but you do cast around your gaze discreetly. The menace is subtle and slick, good with his fingers and anything that requires him to be quiet and look innocent, but this is something entirely different than what you’re used to from him. Sure, he’ll pilfer anything left unattended for too long, but pickpocketing is a whole other game. You have no objections – these people could do with lighter pockets – but it’s not going to be good for either of you if he gets himself caught. “Watch yourself,” you sign as he shoves the pouch into his bag. He sticks his tongue out like a child, fingers flying. “Watch me yourself.”

Statistics and reflection under the cut.

Just the Numbers

I've added 6,302 words to Let the Light In in the past week, bringing the total count for the project up to 23,611 words. Most of these new words have been in Chapter 3, although a few were used to round out Chapter 2 at a healthy 7,942 words. I've written on 5 out of 8 days, with my highest wordcount day occurring on April 8th, with 2,132 words written.

Notable Scenes

Group cuddles. I cannot stress this enough. Group cuddles!!!

A thieving contest started by the savior of the universe. Hell yeah.

Lounging in the ropes on a boat. Showing off like a cat.

First kiss (angst edition). Not quite to first kiss (soft edition) yet.

Making Big Decisions

I've already stated that I'm quite happy with what I've written, and while that's true, I have had some decisions to make. There was one scene I got myself especially tripped up over. I wanted to use it to develop the dynamic between my POV character and a member of the party, but I recognized that the pretense under which I had them sit down for a conversation didn't ring true for either of them. I wrote a good chunk of it, and it's still in my draft, but I know for a fact that it's going to be scrapped. I'll replace it with something more naturalistic later.

Based on where I'm at in Chapter 3 and how much I have left to cover, this one's going to be a lengthy one. That being said, I'm standing by my decision to segment the first three chapters (which span over the first act of Dragon Quest XI) the way that I do. Narrative cohesiveness is more important to me than content balance, especially when I know that Chapter 4 is going to be an absolute baby chapter, since it only encapsulates a short story that happens in the game's interlude.

A decision I still need to make is where I'm going to start the narrative for Act II in Chapter 5. This is more about the logistics of the source material and the fact that the player character is not my POV character for this fic. Basically, at the beginning of Act II in DQXI, you have to regather your party members. If you follow the story, you regain my POV character fourth, but you can get him third if you decide to wander. I haven't decided how I'm handling this in the fic yet, because there are benefits and drawbacks to both, but I think I'm going to write it as though he's acquired third and remove/edit scenes later if I decide to go in the other direction. Final decision will likely come down to how good those scenes end up being and how well they integrate with the rest of the chapter.

Moving Forward

The rest of Chapter 3 is going to be mostly relationship development for the main pairing and the party as a whole, which I am so excited for! I have a lot of funny, goofy little ideas planned to really cement all these Fools™️ together, though the thieving contest scene and its aftermath will likely remain my favorite. It's nice to have this downtime with them before the plot and angst pick back up again. I don't anticipate finishing Chapter 3 this week, as there's some lengthier scenes I have planned, but I'm perfectly content to linger in these moments, especially since that's why I'm writing this.

I hope everyone else's writing journeys are going just as great! My inbox is open if you want to infodump or chat! 💖

[daisyvramien]

HAPPY CAMP NANO PEOPLE !!!

So, you're curious about this thing called Camp NaNoWriMo, huh ? Well, buckle up Buttercup!! Think of it as the road-tripping sister of NaNoWriMo (that's November's version, in case you're new to the family). April's Camp NaNoWriMo is like her July twin, always up for a spontaneous writing journey with a side of literary shenanigans and, of course, camping!

Now, here's the difference: during Camp NaNoWriMo, you're the master of your writing destiny. No rigid 50,000-word goal here, you get to set your own word-count target. Want to write an epic poem based on a shopping list ? Go for it! Feel like penning a short story collection about sentient pineapples ? The forest is your oyster, my friend.

But wait, there's s'more! (Yes, pun intended) If you're new to the NaNoWriMo scene, Camp is like dipping your toes into the literary lake. You can set a goal that feels just right for you and still be part of this crazy (lovingly), supportive writing community.

Oh, and did I mention the campfire sing-alongs ? Okay, maybe not sing-alongs, but we'll definitely be cheering each other on, hosting special events, and offering support like marshmallows at a bonfire.

And the best part ? If you conquer the official Camp NaNoWriMo challenge, you'll earn exclusive digital badges, a printable certificate (because who doesn't love a good certificate ?), discounts and goodies from sponsors, and an extra leaf on your writing streak laurel. Yes, you read that right: extra leaf, extra bragging rights. So hop on the Nano's website here and, if you're interested, we're hosting campfire writing sessions (digitally, yeah, but the ambiance is there), writing sprints, funsies and games as well here in the Fox' Den!! DM me to get an invite!!

Good luck fearless campers! 📝🦊🌟🏕️✨

Wishing you the best smores, vibes, tunes to dance to and I hope you're able to make all your goals a reality!!🌲🔥

Writing marathons can be exhilarating, but it's important to pace yourselves and remember that self-care is just as crucial as hitting those word count goals. So, between your epic writing sprints and plot-twist brainstorming sessions, make sure to:

🍃 Take Breaks: Give your brain a breather every now and then. Step outside, stretch your legs, and soak in the sights and sounds of nature (or your local coffee shop – no judgment here!).

🍲 Eat: Fuel your creativity with nourishing snacks and meals. Remember, a well-fed writer is a happy writer! So, stock up on brain food like fruits, nuts, and maybe a chocolate bar or two for good measure.

💤 Rest: Don't underestimate the power of a good night's sleep. Your imagination needs time to recharge, so make sure to get plenty of rest to keep those creative juices flowing.

💧 Stay Hydrated: Keep a water bottle handy and sip regularly to stay hydrated. Trust me, your body (and your brain) will thank you!

🌿 Get Some Fresh Air: Step outside and bask in the glory of the great outdoors. A breath of fresh air can work wonders for your mood and your creativity.

🧘‍♀️ Practice Mindfulness: Take a moment to center yourself and practice mindfulness. Whether it's through meditation, deep breathing, or simply taking a moment to appreciate the present moment, mindfulness can help clear your mind and boost your focus. 🌟 Remember the real Goal: To have fun. If it's starting to be taunting to you, take a break from it. Your work isn't going anywhere, you can take a break for a few days, I promise. Have funny activities in between and try to not burn yourself out.

Remember, writing is a marathon, not a sprint (we do have some though in the Fox' Den if you're tempted). So, be kind to yourselves, listen to your body, and don't be afraid to take breaks when you need them. Your story will still be waiting for you when you return, I promise! 📝🌟

[sovvannight]

My Year in Writing, 2023

And this is another situation where I wish I could pull up last year's post to use as a pattern, but I can't because my writing blog got deleted, so I'm feeling a little lost.

But I can at least see the graphs I made last year in my writing progress tracking spreadsheet, so that give me a bit of a hint as to what I would normally post here.

I wrote 183,465 words on 2023. It's my third year in a row of increases (thank you, Julie and the Phantoms!) and my first year over 150k, which was my goal for the year. I'm at 856,124 words since 2017.

I'm also super excited about winning NaNo for the first time since 2017. November was my most productive month, followed by February, when I spent most of the month working on Baby, This Rain Changes Everything, which I guess I was just excited about because I had a lot of 1k+ days.

Part of the 44k increase from 2022-2023 was due to NaNo, but I also increased my average daily word count for non-NaNo months from 291.8 to 387.5. And I do write every day--December 31 was day 2,395 of my write-ever-day streak.

What I Wrote

Other than 2% of my words for the year for Garfield, a Teen Wolf Movie fix-it fic, everything else was for Julie and the Phantoms: 81% on various scenes for Electric Boogaloo, 12% for Baby, This Rain Changes Everything, and 5% on two different AU fics that I may convert to original fiction instead.

Plans for 2024

So, the saying goes something like, "Write a million words, throw them away, now you're ready to be a writer." I didn't realize it until I was writing this up, but I'm going to hit a million words next year.

And I have to admit, in the last few months, I've started to think about writing and publishing original fiction. And that's partly because the JatP fandom is dying--I'd think the drop in kudos was because I suck, but I've seen declining kudos for new fic by big name fans, too, so it's not just me. No judgement on the fandom, it's just the nature of things. I've left a couple of fandoms myself because of a new hyperfixation. But at the same time, I had this AU idea in the spring, and thought to myself, are you really going to write a whole novel-length fic for 20 kudos?

I think I'd rather earn a couple hundred bucks instead, which seems like about what I would net if I self-pub. And I'm poor, so any little bit helps. Plus, I don't know, I just feel ready. It's partly because I read some pretty bad books this year, and it's like, OK, this got published, and in one case it got optioned and made into a TV show, and I feel like I can do better.

So, my plan for 2024 is:

Write the last ~9 scenes for Electric Boogaloo.

Write season 3, AKA the Electric Boogaloo sequel. Boogaloo is probably going to reach somewhere around 300k total, but I'm aiming for something more like 150k-200k for the sequel.

Finish the two Arrow fics I still can't give up on, even though I haven't worked on them in years. One just needs another 2k, and the other maybe 15k.

Transition to original fiction, taking the idea I had for a JatP boy band AU and "filing off the serial numbers" as I go. (Or something else--who knows what I'll be most interested next fall!)

In terms of word count goals:

I want to hit 50,000 for NaNo in November. For April and July Camp NaNos, I want to write 1,000 a day, so 30k and 31k.

I want to take it somewhat easy in the three months after NaNo events, so May, August, and December - 600/day, or 18,600 words/month.

For the other six months out of the year, I'm going to try doing "NaNoWriWeek" or 1,667 words/day for the first week of the month and then 600/day for the rest of the month, which will get me around 25k per month.

All of this totals up to about 300,000 words.

[nanowrimo]

“My World is Going to be a Beacon for Joy and Happiness”: Interview with Daphne Ashling Purpus

NaNoWriMo is inviting our community members to become monthly donors and help nourish our creative community! This week, long-time NaNo writer and monthly donor Daphne Ashling Purpus shares her story of creativity and community care across all the areas of her magical, colorful life. Tell us about your first NaNoWriMo. What drew you to tell your story with us?

I first heard about NaNoWriMo on a blog I was following in 2011, and while I’d never written creatively before then, I really needed a new challenge. The feeling of writing my first novel was euphoric beyond belief. To think that I’m nearly ready to publish my 14th novel and already started on my 15th (15,697 words so far this Camp session) just boggles my mind!!! I really don’t have words for what this means to me personally.

How have you participated since then?

I have won NaNoWriMo every year for 11 years and counting. According to the NaNoWriMo website, I’ve now written 1,217,353 words in all sessions. I have done both Camp and NaNoWriMo events every year since April of 2012 (some of those records got lost when the site got upgraded, but I’ve never missed a Camp session). So that makes 11 NaNoWriMos and 21 Camps, for a whopping total of 32 events! I can’t believe it!

You've told me that you write your novels with a purpose in mind. Can you tell us more about the purpose of your writing and why you self-publish?

I write fantasy because I like it, and so do many of my students (I’m a volunteer tutor for students at our alternative high school). I’m LGBTQIA+, as are many of my students, so I try to write novels showing the importance of diversity, the importance of kindness and community, and the importance of all life.

I self-publish because I want total control over my stories and because, at least in the beginning, I was too inexperienced to be chosen by the traditional publishers. But after all the work I put into my stories, I wanted to see them in print for both me and my students.

You're one of the most colorful people I know—literally! What draws you to bright colors and the use of bold colors in your house (and on your cat walks)?

I'm a flaming queer, and I also can only see bright colors. I think there’s way too much beige/neutral in our world, but my world is going to be a beacon for joy and happiness, I hope. My home and my own pink hair make people smile, and that’s a very good thing.

You're a writing tutor in addition to writing. Why do you tutor kids, and what have you learned from them?

Actually, I don’t tutor writing, I’m a volunteer tutor in math—all levels from 4th grade through pre-calc. I have over the years discovered that there are many ways to learn. Many of my students have been told they are stupid and can’t do math. I work with them to discover how they learn and to prove to them that they certainly aren’t stupid.

Why do you give to NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo has given so much to me, showing me that there are millions of people all around the world also telling their stories. I need NaNoWriMo, probably more than it needs me, but I give to help ensure that it will continue always. NaNoWriMo helps more stories survive, especially in these troubling times.

One of the things that's important to NaNoWriMo is how stories connect people—how a sense of belonging is built through our stories. How do you feel that writing or reading stories has given you a sense of belonging?

Just knowing that I’m not alone in my quest to tell my stories gives me a sense of connection with others.

Top row depicts Stella and Wilson. Bottom row depicts Ghost and Emmett.

You’re a lover of animals, I know. What role have your pets played in your writing?

Oh, yes, my pets through the years have definitely helped me (and also walked on keyboards, etc). And when I’ve lost a pet, I have honored them by naming a character in my next book after them. Since I write series, those pets get mentioned in many books.

Check out Daphne’s books here! As encouragement to all her fellow Wrimos, Daphne has pledged a one-time USD $5,000 matching gift for all monthly and one-time donations made during the month of April. To date, we have more than 600 Wrimos providing year-round care through their monthly gifts. Join your fellow Wrimos and start a monthly donation today!

[sleepyowlwrites]

Happy STS! Do you have any writing goals for this year, like finishing a certain wip or trying out a new genre, etc?

Yes! My writing goal is to finish the first draft of Dirt in the Doing (city story). I have made no progress so far, but I have written 6,936 words this month, which feels incredible after so many months barely writing anything. So I'll take it. I'm hoping for a really productive camp nano in April like I had in 2022 when I first started to write city story. I'm about halfway through, and now I just need the plot heavy back half. It's going to be a shorter shorter first draft, probably, since I'm an underwriter in general, but I don't mind. If I can get the template out there, the second draft will be easier. Relatively.

Thanks for asking, Garden

[winterandwords]

📝 Camp Nano April 2023: Day 8

Passed 10k words today! The goal only exists because I had to put a number in a box, but it still feels nice to hit a number that gets a Nano badge.

As fun as it is zero drafting, I kind of miss doing interesting things with language because I'm really just firing THESE THINGS HAPPENED and strings of dialogue onto the virtual page at the moment.

I know that's my zero drafting process, it's great and I love it, and sometimes the interesting language things happen in amongst it all, but just know that I'm going to be sharing some really bog standard stuff in tag games for a while.

[ageless-aislynn]

It’s very late but I felt the need to say hi and tell y’all that I made my Camp NaNo goal! Whew, I am SO relieved, it was looking a little bleak for a while there.

Sad to say, though, I didn’t accomplish ANYTHING I was hoping to. I was hoping to get a couple of chapters done on various WIPs or alternatively, do a bunch of chapters on something like “15 Minutes” that still has a ways to go. Instead, all I got done were 11 frickin’ drafts of “Recreation” chapter 3. Yes, my entire Camp NaNo was taken up by ONE CHAPTER of ONE FIC. 😐

I mean, that’s nice that I did a lot of work on that. I ended up almost completely scrapping my original chapter 3 after trying to salvage it with a ton of drafts and finally coming up with something better but... I’m still disappointed that ch3 isn’t even done (out of the 12,556 words of my 12,500 goal, only about 1k of them are of this newest draft, so it needs about another 1k at least to finish, maybe more). So I just feel kinda

but not all the way to

thankfully but still more like all I was doing was

when all is said and done. 😐

Anyway, here’s Master Chief with a pupper, so this post now has some true substance to it. 😛😉

Also, we have some nakey Spartans with Cortana...

annnnnd some nakey Cortana, for substance of a WHOLE different sort! 👀😁😇

Will be responding to messages and such ASAP! If i missed anything, feel free to let me know, also. 😎👍

Love to you all, frens. Whew, I’m so glad to have finished this Camp, this one was a grind. 😕 Hope you had a better time if you did Camp yourself. Otherwise, I hope you’ve had a nice April. 🤗💖

[umhuhwellthen]

Hi hello everyone the rabbit brainrot is sinking in but the turtle brainrot is still going strong, so instead of working on my wips an au that keeps haunting the back of mind may soon be coming to light,

It's a miyamoto usagi x rise donnie single dads/sugar daddy au

It's comic usagi with only a few backstory/relationship tweaks to better fit rottmnt world.

Donnie is aged up and Shelldon is aged down to make him around Jotaro's age but a few years older.

Rambles/Ideas about this below:

Donnie(+the rest of the gang) are all grown up adults, Leo and Raph still live in the lair, Mikey has moved out but rooms with April, there's background caseynardo(Cassandra not Junior) and Leo's considering moving out too, or to expanding the lair/taking another part of the sewers as home to live with Casey, Draxum is entertaining the idea of moving in with Splinter, aroace sunset duo because im aroace and say so, and this fic/au is all about self indulgence baybeee

Oh yeah about Shelldon being younger than canon, so Jotaro is also younger than canon, daycare-1st/2nd grade age range, ill have to review child development stages for specific age but its a toddler/kid era Jotaro and kid Shelldon. Basically Shelldon started out the same as canon except his first form was a lot more robotic with less personality and when the guys reprogrammed him he gained sentience like how 2k3 Nano did, starting out with having the mind like that of a young human child before maturing, because tech gaining sentience is like being born. So Shelldon isn't teen son to another teen but actual toddler son to teen, and yes he goes haywire but its more he's programmed to no longer favor Donnie and Donnie ruins his fun playtime and doesn't realize what he's doing is wrong or too far cuz he's a toddler he doesn't know what morals are or what's socially acceptable and the only reason he gets what object permanence is is because he's advanced ai.

Anyway by the time of meeting Jotaro Shelldon is now a kid instead of toddler(3rd/4th grade I'm thinking), and Donnie is in his mid-late 20s. Usagi is older but idk by how much, not like creepy agegap, but enough between them that Usagi feels like as the elder he should be taking charge instead of relying on the younger man. And Donnie is just like, we are two parent-aged adults of sound mind and body able to make our own decisions, I have free time/money, you don't, let me take care of you.

This is what happens when you binge read leo#sagi/leoi#chi/usatello/doni#chi fics and they don't scratch that specific itch and then you remember that one post going; Cant find that fic/fanart you want? Make it yourself.

Also in my mind its

Donsagi-for both yui#chi usagi x donnie(any) and miyamoto usagi x donnie(any)

Usatello- specifically for miyamoto usagi x donnie(any)

Don#ichi- specifically for yui+#chi x donnie(I've only seen this with rise donnie but ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ any )

Censoring so it doesn't show up in tag , my own personal preference, everyone has their own

To explain why I'll be tagging posts of this with specifically usatello only

Also what brought on this au was Usagi and Jotaro feels and seeing cute fankids of Donnie(and other turts but mostly Donnie's) and remembering buddy daddies anime and reading kakairu with accidental/purposeful baby acquisition and then the realization of fanon!yui&$chi usagi being discount Miya and remembering my yearning for donsagi fics that had storybeats usually found in leo#+_sagi fics

And then that one post about "yeahyeah world weary battle harden warrior taking the never worked a day or suffered in his life prince, but what about the role reversal? With the one never knowing a gentle touch and only with a purpose to serve being served instead, loved and cradled and treated gently instead of roughly? By one with maybe not physically power, or they do but it's hidden behind pretty smiles and soft skin, but power nonetheless, to take care of them to lavish them with gifts and the like? Instead of only caring for others and never themself"

Wow I wrote a lot more than I was meaning too

But yeah this au is mostly about giving Miya nice things(except the devil on my shoulder that I will be calling Stan said I needed to put some bitter into the sweet but it's mostly backstory so I let it slide)

I've heard of being productive when you're sick but this menstrual hormones work ethic is kinda off the shits

Anyway this started as purely a Single Dads AU, with a meet-cute(or meet-ugly, depending on your perspective) where Usagi kinda, accidentally, sorta, kidnaps Shelldon while picking up Jotaro from school/daycare

But then the joke of successful businessman/genius inventor Donnie being mistaken as Usagi's sugar daddy wouldn't leave my head, and I was reading Usagi comics and he had some sad boi hours and I was like Nooo and then I was rereading the issues I had read with Mariko, Kenichi and Jotaro to get references for wips, and remembered the tragedy of Usagi's and Jotaro's relationship and went NOOOOOOO.

And decided that Usagi deserves nice things, I need to wrap him in bubble wrap and give him his son or let him HAVE A FUCKIN FAMILY STAN YOU FUCK FIRST YOU TAKE HIS KID AND THEN KEEP HAVING HIM INTERACT WITH KIDS AND HIS SON AND BE GOOD AND HAPPY BUT YEARNING AND FLEETING AND THEN YOU GAVE HIM MOMMY ISSUES ONTOP????? HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH ANYTIME AN OLDER WOMAN IS KIND AND MOTHERLY TO HIM OR THEY BOND OR SOMETHING SHE HAS TO DIE AND BY HIS HAND NO LESS??? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN! DID USAGI'S MOM DIE IN CHILDBIRTH??? IS THAT WHY THERE'S NOTHING ABOUT HER AND WE ONLY SEE HIS DAD? A NEVER ENDING CYCLE OF KILLING HIS MOTHER? AND WE'RE NOT EVEN FUCKIN GOING INTO HIS LOVELIFE. STAN EXPLAIN YOURSELF

Huh.

Anyway, "You're stupid, I like that in a man." Etc etc Jotaro wants a younger sibling new Donnie clone baby(because Donnie and Usagi are definitely the type for wanting/having a large family)

This was supposed to be a silly self-indulgent au id draw sometimes and now I'm drafting a fucking fic

[crackinglamb]

2022 Writing Round-Up

Tagged by @pikapeppa, thank you lovely! 💕

Tagging @ir0n-angel (go ahead and include all your beta work), @lilbittymonster, @bogunicorn, @natsora, @demarogue, @serial-chillr, @dreadfutures and @rosella-writes. No pressure! Feel free to answer these categories or come up with your own if you want.

So, I'd actually already put together a thing for this, then Pika tagged me. 😂 This got super long, so most of it will be under a cut.

Words posted: 267,008. This total has had subtracted from it the amount that already existed for the two carry over fics (WG and Just Like Fire). So this is actually what I posted this year.

Additional Words Written: ~78K. I have a couple things on the back burner that haven't been posted yet, but they have been written, so they should be counted. Plus there's a few chapters of WG not yet published.

Grand total of words: 345K.

Fandoms: 3

Highest Kudos: She's My Plus One at 139. (WG doesn't count, not being new)

Highest Hit Oneshot: Pride, Squared at 1207.

New Things I Tried: I joined two new (to me) fandoms this year. I finally finished the Dr. Who fic I'd been lackadaisically working on for over a year and played (read?) The Wayhaven Chronicles for the first time and was inspired.

I also joined in Camp NaNo this year, as well as in November. Totals for the year – April: ~23K; July: ~16K; Nov: ~22K

And I did my first exchange! I wrote two fics for the Solavellan Hell Exchange in July.

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: WG, of course. I'm coming up on two years of continuously writing and posting that behemoth.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: In, Through, Beyond. Written, beta'd and ready for posting in roughly 30 hours.

Favorite Thing I Wrote: Pfft, like I can choose.

Like a Slingshot Around the Sun was an absolutely self-indulgent thing that came out of me after a lot of thought about how Imogen would totally fall for Bull if not for Solas.

A Fallow Season gave me all sorts of Feels(tm) for Lark Cadash and Solas.

My Blood On Your Hands, Your Teeth In My Skin was a giftfic for the mods of my first exchange, and gave me a chance to finally, finally put some words together for my other Lavellan, Laani.

Favorite Thing I Read: Considering how many times I've gone back to read it again, Groceries, by Candyholly. A Nine/Rose timeloop fic.

Writing Goals for 2023 – Finish WG. I'm so close. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Granted it's the train labeled 'sequel', but we don't need to talk about that just yet. Among the fics sitting in the WIP pile is the full version of Maker Damned Fools (Hawke/Varric), which will begin posting on Jan 2. I'd like to get Of Ruins and Restoration (Cadash/Solas) finished too, so I can start posting the rest of it. I'll be joining another exchange (this time it's open to all Solasmance), and Fluff-uary is coming.

New Works: 13

It was actually a pretty busy year in terms of new works. And the continuation of a couple ongoing WIP's. But I've slowed down considerably, even though my wordcount doesn't appear to agree. It's been a long five years of constant creativity and I'm Tired(tm). I'm calling it now that next year won't be nearly as big.

I've listed all of this year's fics with links and gushed a little:

Little Things – I got into The Wayhaven Chronicles late this year. And this wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. F!Detective/Mason, but Book One early relationship. Rated T for some language and suggestive moments. Because Mason of course. ~5400 words.

In, Through, Beyond – A Mirrorverse gift for @exalted-dawn. (The Mirrorverse is a collection of OC crossovers from the DAFF server, check it out here.) She'd posed a question to me about Imogen McLean and Lark Cadash meeting and how that might go. And apparently I had a lot to say about it. Rated E for shameless smut, including a threesome. 'Ware the tags. ~11.6K words.

Round Robin Volume 2 (SFW) – Speaking of the DAFF server, for our second anniversary we once again had a collaboration of prompt fics, round robin style (where each person writes a bit then passes it on to the next person). This is the one I participated in. Each chapter contains the prompt and ensuing ficlet written from it. It's mostly crack, written with the intention to be ridiculous, but I feel like this year we might have taken it a bit too seriously. I am genuinely proud of how the second prompt came out. Rated T for crude humor and mild violence, respectively. ~8800 words.

She's My Plus One – After many, many years of lurking in the fandom, I finally wrote a Dr. Who fic. Nine/Rose written from the Doctor's POV, this is a slice of life, 'could be canon' variation of the x + 1 trope. With a wild left turn at the end into AU territory because canon and I are very rarely on speaking terms. Rated M for sexual content at the end. ~12.4K words.

Like a Slingshot Around the Sun – An AU of an AU. A what-if for Imogen and Iron Bull based around the premise of 'what if Solas and Imogen didn't patch it up after the Storm Coast?'. Plotless porn, with Bull being my favorite service top. Rated E, obviously. ~5400 words.

I'll tell you my sins (and you can sharpen your knife) – Originally written as a gift for the Solavellen Hell Exchange. Stuff happened and now it's just a treat for everyone who participated in the exchange. A post-Veil look at how Solas might beg forgiveness from Lavellan. Rated T for some suggestive themes, fades to black. ~3600 words.

My Blood On Your Hands, Your Teeth In My Skin – A gift for the mods of the Solavellan Hell Exchange, because y'all deserved it. Lahalaan Lavellan has been waiting a long time for her moment in the spotlight. I'm kinda sorry it was such an angsty one, but hey, it's Solavellan. And this one is a dark!Solas to boot. Rated E for explicit sexual content that isn't truly smut...but it is. ~5K words.

A Fallow Season – The DAFF server has weekly prompts. This was the first time one of them grabbed me by the throat and demanded to be written. It started off as a drabble, then grew. And grew. Lark Cadash and Solas, in the final winter of their lives together. It's dark and tragic and beautiful. While I've placed it in Lark's series, it will not be how OR&R ends. Rated E for eventual smut. ~4600 words.

Violas and Jonquil – Rounding out Flowers for Fen'Harel with a soft ending for Ellisora Lavellan and her onetime-god lover. Fun fact, each work in this series is posted on the anniversary of the one before it. Rated G. ~1900 words.

Make It a Good One, Peaches – The final work in Til It Squeaks. Mortality comes to visit Carly Lavellan many, many years after the events of Twist and TSM. It's more sweet than bitter, but it is rated T for major character death. Tissues are available upon request. ~1700 words.

Soft In Skyhold – This year's Fluff-uary offering. 28 prompts, 28 chapters of Imogen and Co. being soft. This year Angel and I decided to make each prompt also work platonically, and as such, I determined that I would keep all of them SFW regardless of ship dynamics. Rated T for shenanigans and language. ~28.9K words.

Pride, Squared – A question/prompt given to me in the DAFF server posed the premise: Imogen between Solas and...someone else of the Fade persuasion. It became what it says on the tin. An Imogen sandwich on Pride bread. Rated E for threesome smut. 'Ware the tags. ~2700 words.

Earth Pizza and Qunari Street Food - Ages ago, Angel and I brainstormed a scene where Dorian had handprints on his butt in flour. It was always intended to either be part of Twist or TSM, but there was never room for it. So it became its own story. Carly cooking, Bull cooking, and found family. What more do you need? Rated T for some very mild angst and Adoribull shenanigans. ~4600 words.