#monthly writing progress 2021

[duckprintspress]

Welcome to Duck Prints Press

Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to work with fancreators to publish their original work. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and artists to publish stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. We were founded in January 2021. We're fan-owned, queer-owned, and dedicated to working with diverse creators, whether they be queer, disabled, bipoc, neurodiverse, or any combination of the above!

Current Projects

The Twinned Trilogy by Tris Lawrence (f/f, m/m, and others, three-novel trilogy, modern with magic college setting; Kickstarter to (maybe) launch this winter - you can follow the campaign now!)

Anthology: Many Hands: An Anthology of Polyamorous Erotica (what it says on the tin: poly erotica; Kickstarter ended July 20th. Fulfillment in progress.)

Anthology: A Year of Queer 2023 and A Spicy Year of Queer 2023 (a project featuring stand-alone short stories previously published by Duck Prints Press. Projected for a crowdfunding campaign in late 2024)

Novella: Scrap Metal Angel by Nicola Kapron (modern-with-magic adventure with horror elements, crowdfunding October 2024)

Anthology: A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (what it says on the tin; art and fiction are currently in progress, crowdfunding projected for November 2024.)

Anthology: Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories (writing period underway!)

Monthly short stories are published to our website and our Patreon!

Come read with us - we host a low-key reading challenge on Storygraph, encouraging people to read more queer books!

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September 22nd: A Big Gay Market x Saratoga Pride (High Rock Pavilion, Saratoga, NY)

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Past Projects

Pride Merchandise campaign featuring art by Pippin Peacock (six mythical creatures in each of eight pride colors, offered as die-cut stickers and enamel pins; available on our website!)

Anthology: Aether Beyond the Binary (aetherpunk settings, main characters outside the gender binary; available on our website!)

Hockey Bois by A. L. Heard (m/m, modern sports setting, sloooooow burn romance; available on our website!)

Anthology: Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers" (what it says on the tin; available on our website!)

Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley (f/f, fantasy, novel; available on our website!)

To Drive the Hundred Miles by Alec J. Marsh (m/f, explicit novella, trans male main character; available on our website!)

Anthology: Add Magic to Taste (fluffy queer relationships at magical coffee shops, tea shops, and the like; available on our website! New second edition ALSO available on our website!)

Anthology: And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" (what it says on the tin; available on our website!)

Anthology: She Wears the Midnight Crown (f/f stories set at unusual and creative masquerades; available on our website!)

Anthology: He Bears the Cape of Stars (m/m stories set at unusual and creative masquerades; available on our website!)

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[aswegoalong72]

July 2024 Writing Update

Hello again! It’s been a few months since I’ve done one of these, and I apologize for that! Between art, life, and illness, I haven’t had as much time as I had hoped for writing.

I'm going to be very busy these next few weeks still, especially when I get a chance to get a new art pen, but I'm hoping to still make some steady progress when I can from time to time!

My last update was on March 6th, 2024, back when I would do weekly updates. Instead of doing that and adding unnecessary pressure unto myself, I'll just be doing monthly updates!

Before I formally begin the update, I would like to share a bit of news in regards to the project; I'm re-writing almost the entirety of Piercing The Veil!

Back when I had a bit of downtime to read what I had over in April, I found I had way too much exposition, not enough dialog, or character development. PTV is the first book I ever wrote, and a lot of the early chapters are definitely showing their lack of experience and age. I started PTV in like... 2021, I think. A lot has changed, and I want to fix it up to better represent all that has since then!

I think, or at least hope, that this will be the final re-write before I get the time to actually finish it. There's still yet a lot to add even once this rewrite is done, as this is going to definitely be considered a saga or epic. In my outline, I have roughly 101 more chapters I plan on adding before I can consider PTV "done". Even then, once I do finish it, I'm going to let it simmer while I work on the first four opening novels.

It's going to be a very, very long process before any of these books come out, or are even considered done. I'm hoping that once I get my art pen back, finish my art backlog, and finish reading my friend's webcomic outline, I can devote myself full time into writing. Until then, thank you for sticking along and keeping me company on this journey!

Without further ado, here's my progress since March!

Dawn - 12% complete (9,323 words) -146 words since March, rewrite for "Alkan's Will" underway Yuniv & Semat - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on Dawn to be finished Deep Freeze - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on prior books to be finished To Touch Tenav - ~1% complete (83 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Piercing The Veil - ~22% complete (120,531 words)/(8,610 rewrite) +8 words since March, rewrite well underway Head Above Water - ~2% complete (483 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Book 7* - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished Universal Ideal - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished

That's about where things stand. I expect to maybe get back into the art scene by late this month, finishing my backlog by late September if I push it enough, with writing resuming by early or mid October. I will most likely pour all my time into Piercing The Veil, and maybe a little bit of Dawn as well.

Once I get finished with those two, I'll get into the process of getting beta readers, fixing typos & plot holes, finishing an accurate timeline, and getting art for the covers and chapter titles. I'd like to get a decent part of the way into Yuniv & Semat before I publish as well, that way I don't have as much pressure to release things in a "timely" manner as well.

If, and this is a very big if, all things go according to plan, I should be able to publish Dawn by Q2 of 2025. Dawn is a collection of short stories spanning from the prehistory of Lyratet to the stagnation of civilization in what would be the early 1100s in the Gregorian calendar. It's sort of a primer for understanding Lyratet civilization, their early days, and what drives them in their quest for a better society.

Thank you for reading, and for continuing to stick around! Have a lovely day!

-GB

[pintsizemama]

Decorate the Tree

Day 3

Summary: It’s your first official Christmas with your four lovers, and you want it to be special.

Pairings: Santiago “Pope” Garcia, Oberyn Martell, Dave York, & Max Phillips x You, Santiago “Pope” Garcia, Oberyn Martell, Dave York, & Max Phillips x Female Reader

Fandom: Triple Frontier, Game of Thrones, The Equalizer 2, & Bloodsucking Bastards

Rating: Mature

Warnings: reference to drinking blood (vampire), polyamorous relationship

Word Count: 743

A/N: This is a continuation of Surprise Trip from the 2021 Christmas Writing Challenge.

Day 2 Day 4 Christmas Masterlist Main Masterlist AO3 Join my taglist

You glanced tiredly around your now very cluttered living room. You had spent half the day pulling out Christmas decorations, and then shopping for even more. You were excited. This was the first year you were spending Christmas with all the guys. It had been two years since the five of you hooked up in that hotel room. You had held to the decision to meet regularly for more trysts. For over a year the five of you got together at least monthly—more if you could. Sometimes it wasn’t all four of the men, work and life got in the way, but you hadn’t gone more than a few weeks without seeing at least one of them.

After that first year something shifted. Deeper feelings developed, and you all realized you wanted this to be a more permanent arrangement. Basically, a guy at work started to show interest, and you told the guys. You had no interest in your coworker, but you never kept secrets from these men, so you let them know someone was pursuing you while out to dinner one night. They all went very still and quiet. You knew they discussed it when you excused yourself to go to the bathroom because when you went back to Oberyn’s house, they immediately proposed a plan.

They hated the idea of anyone else with you. You were theirs. So, despite all four men being devout bachelors, they committed to you right then and there. A few months ago you all moved in together, and it was absolute bliss.

Oberyn and Dave didn’t have their kids this year for the holidays, so you wanted to make it extra special to take their minds off not being with their children…hence the decoration overload currently inhabiting your living room.

“Holy shit,” a deep male voice startled you from your thoughts. You turned to see Max and Santi had arrived home.

“Oh, thank God you’re here!” You exclaimed in relief. You kissed them both in greeting.

“What happened in here?” Max asked.

“I need your help,” you began. “I want to get this all sorted and the tree up before Oberyn and Dave get home. Then we can all decorate the tree together.”

“You know what? I’m not even gonna ask,” Santi chuckled. “Just tell me what you need me to do.” A little over an hour later the three of you had made a lot of progress. The tree was up and almost everything was organized.

“I’m gonna order some dinner,” Santi said as he glanced at his watch. “They’ll be home soon, and I’m sure they’ll be as hungry as we are.”

“Good idea,” you agreed.

“Max, you eating what we’re having or…something else?” Santi asked.

“I’ll eat with you guys,” he answered. His hot gaze fell on you. “I’ll have ‘something else’ for dessert.” You shivered in anticipation. Max didn’t always feed off of you. He was afraid of going too far and hurting you. But when he did, it felt so damn good. You felt strong arms wrap around you from behind.

“Would you like that, sweet cheeks?” Max whispered in your ear. He ran his nose up the side of your neck. “You want me to suck on this beautiful throat later?”

“Mmm, yes please,” you moaned. Just then you heard the front door open. Dave and Oberyn walked in, their eyes widening slightly at the scene before them.

“Wow,” Oberyn said. “You’ve been busy.” Max dropped his arms so you could rush forward to greet the others. After kissing them both you stepped back and surveyed them. They looked tired, but relieved to be home.

“Are you guys up for some tree trimming?” You asked.

“Of course, baby girl,” Dave said as Oberyn nodded. You clapped in excitement.

“Yay!” You cheered. “This is going to be so much fun.”

“Dinner’s ordered and on the way!” Santi called out. You assigned tasks to everyone, and the five of you got to work. Elf played on the tv and in no time at all the tree was done. Dinner arrived, and you decided to eat in the family room so you could admire the tree. You all sat on floor around the coffee table while you enjoyed dinner.

You couldn’t wipe the smile off your face. Your life had changed so much in the last 2 years, and you couldn’t wait to see how much better it would get.

Day 4

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[supernovadragoncat]

My SanSan Year In Review (2023)

Another year of amazing SanSan shipping! This year was a very productive writing year on a lot of fronts, so I wanted to share my progress and give a sneak-peak of what's to come...

Previous Year In Reviews: 2020 | 2021 | 2022

⚡️ 2023 Highlights ⚡️

I hit my ten year anniversary of writing for SanSan in February. Here's to another decade of writing for this ship!

I finished Moonchild and Origins, two WIPs that'd been sitting unfinished for quite awhile.

I conceptualized, drafted, edited, and posted a multi-chapter fic, Devil Inside, within the span of nine months. A first for me!

✍️2023 Word Counts ✍️

Devil Inside: 117,765

Origins: 40,170

Moonchild: 21,619

Folktales: Limerence: 11,031

Total: 189,985 words

🔮 What’s on tap for 2024? 🔮

As I'm sure most of your know, I've turned Gods and Monsters into an original work, Bloodlines. The first novel is done and going through the last round of beta feedback before it's off to editors. In the meantime, I'm pulling together cover art concepts, back jacket copy, and all the requisite pieces for publication. I'm also working on the second book in the series.

My author website will go live once I set up my newsletter, which will provide monthly updates on progress, a sneak-peak of what's between the covers, cover art reveal, and so much more. I am getting my socials set-up under my pen name and will flag those soon. You'll be able to follow me on tumblr, instagram, and BlueSky.

🤞My biggest (writing) priority in 2024🤞

Probably goes without saying that Bloodlines is the top priority. I'm planning an early 2025 release date, but more to come on that. I may dabble in SanSan throughout the year and would love to make some progress on Spellbound, but we shall see how the year plays out.

In the meantime, you can keep up with me and so many other amazing SanSan shippers in the SanSan Writers Guild Discord server! It's a blast over there, so feel free to join us!

✨ Onwards ever, backwards never ✨

[dedalvs]

Fiat Lingua Top 10 for 2022

It's been a good year over at Fiat Lingua, the once-monthly conlang journal that's been posting steadily since September, 2011. I created Fiat Lingua over ten years ago with the idea that it could be something like the Rutgers Optimality Archive: A place where conlangers could post work that either they wanted to showcase, or work that was in progress. We've had tons of contributors over the years, and some standout work I'm really proud of.

Behind the scenes, we have a number of metrics available to us, and one of them allows us to know what the top posts are over a given amount of time. So, for fun, here are the top 10 visited posts for this year (though, note, the numbers for the December post will be down a little bit, since it didn't have a full month. Still, though, it's incredible, so if you get a chance, take a look at this full novel Jim Hopkins wrote in his language Itlani).

NUMBER 10

We have a tie...

"Moya Abugida" (June, 2022) by Carl Buck: A detailed description of how to write the unique abugida of the Moya language.

"Die Wichtigkeit von Conlangs in Medien" (November, 2021) by Jonah Behring: A German language article on the importance of using authentically created conlangs in films and television shows.

NUMBER 9

"Wóxtjanato: A grammar" (January, 2022) by Jessie Sams: A conlang by the amazing @quothalinguist about a culture whose planet has suddenly and unexpectedly acquired a second moon.

NUMBER 7

We have a tie...

"Names Aren't Neutral: David J. Peterson on Creating a Fantasy Language" (March, 2019) by David J. Peterson: This was an article I wrote for an online magazine, but then the magazine went under, so I reclaimed it and put it up on Fiat Lingua. It's about why coming with "random" names for sff can often prove problematic.

"Tone for Conlangers: A Basic Introduction" (April, 2018) by Aidan Aannestad: A lot of conlangers are interested in having tone in their language, but don't really know how to go about it, and this is a great introduction.

NUMBER 6

"Afrihili: An African Interlanguage" (April, 2014) by William S. Annis: Afrihili is an a posteriori auxlang from the late 60s that uses Bantu languages as its source, and it is fascinating! One of my all-time favorite auxlangs, and William provides a wonderful introduction.

NUMBER 5

"An Itlani Wedding Blessing" (August, 2014) by James E. Hopkins: A lovely wedding blessing Jim wrote for, if I remember right, a friend's daughter who was getting married.

NUMBER 4

"Dothraki & the Nostratic Super Family" (February, 2015) by Charlotte Peak: For her MA thesis, Charlotte wrote a paper on how Dothraki could fit into the theoretical Nostratic super family. A fun read!

NUMBER 3

"Patterns of Allophony" (April, 2015) by William S. Annis: Definitely one of the most popular papers on Fiat Lingua, William illustrates graphically a number of very common sound changes.

NUMBER 2

"Slides for Linguistics 183: The Linguistics of Game of Thrones and the Art of Language Invention" (September, 2018) by David J. Peterson: In the summer of 2017 I taught a class on language creation at UC Berkeley. I uploaded all the slides I used in that course as one massive .pdf to Fiat Lingua.

And now for the top viewed article for 2022 on Fiat Lingua...

NUMBER 1

"A Conlanger's Thesaurus" (September, 2014) by William S. Annis: This is consistently the most accessed article on Fiat Lingua, and I don't expect that to change. The article is relatively short, compared to the information and use you can get out of it. William Annis details ways in which languages relate words to other similar words. For conlangers who struggle either with coming up with words that are different from English in meaning, or who struggle with coming up with words at all, this reference article should prove very useful. Using the word maps in this article, you might be able to come up with words you never dreamt of before, but words which could exist in some language. A great resource for conlangers who are desperately trying to break out of the influence of their L1 or L2!

* * * * *

And that's it for 2022! I'm looking forward to posting more conlang articles next year. If you are a conlanger, a conlang-researcher, or conlang fan who has something to say in .pdf format about a conlang or conlanging in general, please consider submitting something to Fiat Lingua! We take any and all articles related to conlanging in whatever form you have them. I'm also happy to help you think up ideas, or refine those ideas you have. There is no strong review like in a fancy journal: I just want to get what you have up. I'm especially in interested in hosting personal conlang stories—stories about how or why you started to create a language, or your experience creating your own language—personal stories that are often lost, but are so vital, as there is an absolute dearth of literature about conlangers! If you think you have even the seed of an idea, please get a hold of me! I want to share as many stories and ideas as I can.

[gamersonthego]

GOTG Review: AI: The Somnium Files and Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir

This is the next game in my Backlog Roulette series, where each month I spin a wheel to randomly select a game on my massive backlog that I must play (though not necessarily to completion). These wheel spins occur on the monthly preview episodes I co-host with my friends on The Casual Hour podcast.

Not every game on the Backlog Roulette wheel is going to be a winner, and they’re not meant to be. Many are games I curiously picked up on a sale or remembered from an old tweet or offhand comment from a friend. 

That was the case with AI: The Somnium Files. Someone described it as a Persona adventure game, and that was good enough for me to snag it on the cheap and hold onto for a rainy day. But it only took a couple of sessions to realize that while The Somnium Files isn't really what I had in mind.

AI is a detective game at its heart. You embody Special Agent Kaname Date, an acerbic yet disaffected gumshoe with a missing eye. In its socket instead is an AI robot called Aiba who pulls double duty as a sort of Zelda Navi-like character while also giving you a host of super powers (like being able to see through objects or hacking into phone records remotely). But despite having these tools available to you, it only makes the moment to moment gameplay even more of a hunt-and-peck ordeal. 

I just couldn’t get into it, especially once my AI eye turned into a scantily-clad anime waifu for little to no reason. The writing goes into a very creepy and horny mode once this transformation occurs, and that was enough for me. Maybe if the game was more fun to play, I’d have been able to overlook it, but after already being bored and frustrated by the larger mechanics, it ended up as the final straw.

Reeeeeal classy, Date.

So instead of slogging through AI: The Somnium Files any further, I put it down in favor of a different Japanese detective game that also happened to be on the Backlog Roulette wheel. One much more stripped down and straightforward (and much less horny), Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir. 

FDC is a series of two mystery games that (as the name implies) released on Nintendo’s Famicom console. While the 1988 and 1989 originals never saw a release outside of Japan, Nintendo and developer Mages remade the games from the ground up to release worldwide on the Nintendo Switch in 2021. 

What a difference 30+ years can make.

Loading up the first game, The Missing Heir, the interesting mix of new and old hits you immediately. Gone is the pixel art of the 1988 version, replaced by hand-drawn backgrounds and anime-inspired character designs. The chiptune music tracks have all been updated to more modern instrumentation as well. But ever-present is the simple list of actions and dialogue options of the UI.

And it plays like an old adventure game too, requiring you to select some of the same dialogue options multiple times (or in specific, untold sequences) to unlock further options to progress the story. Occasionally, the game will highlight options in yellow to tell you of new options that have just opened up by some trigger, but that is not always the case, nor do these highlighted options always further the plot either. I can appreciate how a detective game should leave the player room to actually make deductions on their own, but oftentimes in The Missing Heir, I would end up cycling through every dialogue choice multiples times, just crossing my fingers I would finally hit upon the right sequence or frequency. Eventually, I would give in and pull up a spoiler-free guide to cut down on the repetition and get through the story.

Because unlike AI: The Somnium Files, Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir actually has a fun story to uncover. Originally being a Famicom game, it’s no Sherlock Holmes, but there are ample rug pulls and intrigue, culminating in a twist you can probably see coming, but maybe not in quite the way you expected. Despite being a game centered around a murder (or two, or three), it’s just kind of a pleasant little experience to work your way through. It’s even got me interested in playing its prequel, The Girl Who Stands Behind.

AI: The Somnium Files may have ended up being a bummer for me (though other people seem to really enjoy it, according to numerous reviews), I’m glad it led me to a game I enjoyed much more. And even better, I was able to trim two games from my backlog this month. That's value, baby!

[tryslora]

Hiya! I absolutely love your spreadsheet, it gives me such joy to use and I also delight in seeing it arrive every end of year (one of the best gifts!). I was wondering if you would give us a little behind the scenes? What is your process like in developing it? What makes you decide to add in a new category (love the new addition of time btw!!). I really just love it but wanted to ask about it and find out from the mind behind the magic!

Hey @candybarrnerd!

I swear, I have seen this Ask, I have just been trying to remember enough to say something useful and entertaining! Sadly, my original spreadsheets from 2012 through uhh... 2015... seem to have been lost, although I did just think of another location to check (which I shall do shortly).

HAH I found them. Cool. I do see blank spreadsheets starting immediately with 2013, but do not remember when I started to share them. Through 2016 at least, the blank sheets are dated uhhh early January. So. I feel like mid-December is a definite win now!

In 2012, my base goal was to create something to help me track my writing and tell me that I was moving forward, kind of like NaNo did in November. The spreadsheet looked super different in terms of tabs. I didn’t even have the NaNo style graph then! The Wordcount, Daily Graph, and Monthly Graph tabs look pretty much the same. I had tabs to track things I had posted as well. 

It’s almost identical in 2013--I hadn’t started tracking year to year, yet, either! However, the Monthly Totals tab has a goal, and words to goal, for the first time, along with an average/day. I’d started to notice that ups and downs were good, and started thinking about goals, but hadn’t yet made it to pledges and automating the spreadsheet.

In 2014, with the third year going, I decided I wanted to see how things matched up between the years. Especially since 2013 was such a weirdly productive year (never happened again). The first early Annual Comparison tab came in that year--no totals, just a chart that kind of showed how they matched up, along with an average.

That was also the year that the AO3 stats page first appeared, which I am pretty sure was in response to the meme that goes around. I was like. I have a place to keep that information so I can see how it changes over the years!

2015 brought in pledges! In its first form, I just wanted those NaNo style charts, and the pledges were place on that tab. It pulled numbers from wordcount, but nothing was really automated yet. But I had my pretty charts finally.

I mean seriously. These were why I made the sheet originally back in 2012 and i didn’t actually implement them until 2015!

In 2016 I realized I wanted to see the totals for each year on the Annual Comparison page. Like. that seems obvious? Yet. It took me that long...

In 2017 the spreadsheet as it is, mostly, came into being. The color coding was added due to, I think, a conversation with @froggydarren who had implemented it in their copy and showed me. I may not have shared that until 2018--keep in mind, me using something may predate sharing it by a year.

But in 2017, in my spreadsheet, I brought in the way the Monthly Totals tab looks now (without instructions) so a pledge could be set there, then it carries automagically into the Pledges tab for graphing and calculations. 

Why? I AM LAZY. I wanted it to get easier and easier to use. More instinctive to see what was working and what wasn’t. Easier to put numbers in one place and everything else be automated.

2018 continued as is. In 2019, I started adding more automation with a year end date, and being able to recalculate words to goal on the Monthly Totals page based on where we were in the year and current progress. 2020 brought in the Range/Median on the Annual Comparison tab. All of this was driven by me just... wanting to see more information. I like numbers, but mostly, I like a visual way of knowing I’m okay, even if I feel like I’m not.

Like I say: ZERO DAYS ARE OKAY.

2021 brought a few changes. For one, I started embedding instructions in the spreadsheet itself because y’know, it’s big. And confusing. And I wanted to be helpful as folks were using it! I had realized by that point that it had gained a life of its own, and that is SO AWESOME I also added the Weekly Graph tab based on a conversation in the @weekendwritingmarathon Discover server.

All 2022 brought was a refinement to the instructions provided, and 2023 of course refined those even further by creating documentation on Google Drive so I don’t have to retype everything every year (PHEW).

Time was added this year purely as a reaction to the hell that I went through in 2022. A year ago (today), my mom fell. Everything went haywire after that, taking care of my folks, and I’m just really recovering. There’s been a lot. So much. And I also had a lot of projects that were time intensive but not words.

Remember what I said about feedback? I needed to know I was moving forward. So. TIME. I can now see that hour I spent working on my author site, or critiquing, or the next @welcometophu Kickstarter coming in the summer, or any other publication things (like EDITING jeebus that takes forever).

Pretty much, every enhancement I’ve made comes down to: - it’s pretty - it’s easy to see/visual - I’m lazy and it does it for me - I need to see progress in a new way - I want to make it easier to share

So uhhh that may not have been as entertaining as you’d hoped, but I found it really interesting to look back at my first spreadsheets. I’d have to go really digging to figure out when I first started sharing it... that’s one thing I don’t know. Because I created the blank copy for myself anyway, and I think I started sharing once because I was talking about it, and someone asked, and I was like SURE HERE and posted it. And so. Here we are.

<3 Thanks for asking, and I’m really glad you like it!!!

[lexiklecksi]

Bucket list for 2022 completed!

In the beginning of 2022, I've reflected on all the things I couldn't do in 2021 due to the pandemic and other reasons. Instead of making New Year's resolution, I wrote down the following bucket list (in no particular order). I have no idea how I achieved so much in one year, but I've completed my bucket list for 2022! This is deeply personal, so only read furthermore if you are interested in my personal life.

publish my poetry anthology: published on 22.01.22 via BooksonDemand. Buy it here!

write 15k words for my wip during NaNoWriMo: I only wrote 7k, mostly because I moved apartments but I’m still proud of my slow progress (follow me on NaNoWriMo)

read 22 books in 2022: if you’ve followed my reading challenge on GoodReads, you know I barely made it, but I did!

open an Etsy shop to sell handmade goods: I did, but then Etsay raised all fees and I had to close it shortly after opening it

start studying: in April I started studying media design

take a social media detox for 2 weeks: I voluntarily didn’t use social media at all during my 2 weeks long summer vacation, and then I accidentally destroyed my phone and had to wait 3 weeks to get a new one

craft and create art: not as much as I wanted to, but I've crocheted a lot and participated in some dtiys art challenges

watch more movies: I’ve watched 10 movies in cinema and many more on Netflix, HBO and Disney+

commission an artist to draw my ocs: I've commissioned three talented artists to draw my ocs! On the left you see my main character, the dragon girl Enya Arati, drawn as a gift by @loopyhoopywrites and on the right is my mage oc Saoirse Dearbháil, drawn by Dasha Bune

swim in a lake: I've spent a lovely summer day at a lake with my friend @silversynthesis

make more plant babies: just have a look! I love my collection of cacti und succulents

go on a vacation (with my boyfriend): we went to Cyprus 🇨🇾 to visit my grandparents and enjoy the summer in autumn

swim in the sea/ go to the beach: I swam in the sea every day of my summer holiday

get engaged: I got engaged with my boyfriend/ now fiancée at the beach of Aphrodite’s rock, the goddess of love 🥰 ah I love him so much and can't wait to marry him <3

go to a concert: I had a blast watching two of my favourite bands in concert 🤩

meet my friends more often: I’ve finally met all my friends which I couldn’t meet the years prior due to the pandemic, but I can’t show you photos because I only and rarely post photos of me here

move together with my boyfriend in our first flat: We moved in together in November and I couldn't be happier!

save money/ don’t spend money on unnecessary things (exception: if they make me really happy): thanks to that exception, I didn't save money, but I've mostly spent it on things that make me very happy (art supplies and art by fellow artists)

monthly therapy session: I continued my therapy and I'm in such a good mental health state that I won't need therapy in the new year.

slow fashion/ don’t buy more than 22 new clothes: I bought 18 new clothes, 8 were fair fashion and 5 secondhand

[mariacallous]

Story by Paula Erizanu. Edited by Eilish Hart.

The autonomous region of Gagauzia in southern Moldova is home to roughly 160,000 people. Also known as Gagauz Yeri, the region is mainly populated by Gagauz: a Turkic minority that is predominantly Orthodox Christian and, as a lasting consequence of Soviet hegemony, Russian speaking. Like the more famous breakaway region of Transnistria, Gagauzia declared itself independent in 1990 amid the USSR’s slow-motion collapse. And although it reintegrated with Moldova just four years later, Gagauzia’s relationship with the central government in Chișinău remains tense. In a dispatch for The Beet, Moldovan journalist Paula Erizanu reports on how this autonomous region, which was established to safeguard the Gagauz language and culture, has retained its Soviet-era Russification and Moscow’s political influence. 

This article first appeared in The Beet, a new email dispatch from Meduza featuring original reporting on Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Sign up here to get our next issue delivered directly to your inbox.

As I arrive in Comrat, the capital of the autonomous Gagauz Yeri region in southern Moldova, I see a boutique near the bus station advertising consultancy services for getting Romanian citizenship — in Russian, the lingua franca of the region. Most of the ads posted on pillars around town offer job opportunities in the European Union. 

Like all state institutions here, the town hall has three inscriptions, written in Gagauz, Romanian, and Russian (the region’s official languages). A granite monument out front informs passersby about a 250,000-euro ($245,000) EU project that created a tourist information office inside the multipurpose building. (The office is empty, as the person who runs it is on holiday, according to the person in charge of the legal consultancy office next door).

A 77-year-old woman is resting in the hallway. “How am I supposed to live on a 2,300-lei [$118 monthly] pension while prices are skyrocketing?” Vasilisa asks with tears in her eyes. The ongoing energy crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine has led to an astonishing 34 percent inflation in Moldova. 

Lidia Ostaș, an energetic, 34-year-old woman working for Gagauzia’s education department and as a Romanian language teacher, arrives at the town hall to take me to a couple of trilingual kindergartens to observe the learning process there. I assist in two classes with children aged five to six, learning the days of the week in Romanian and Gagauz, respectively. The 20-minute lessons involve games, singing, and dancing to keep the children engaged, entertained, and learning. The kindergarten is mainly run in Russian, but children alternate Romanian and Gagauz language activities every day. 

In theory, the trilingual kindergarten program has existed since 1994, when Moldova adopted a law granting Gagauzia autonomy. “But we had no materials to work with, and no method to guide us,” Lidia recalls. Since 2021, after a four-year pilot program, all 57 state kindergartens in Gagauzia now share the same curriculum and books based on modern teaching methods. The teachers I meet are passionate about their jobs and go beyond their textbooks: they look for nursery rhymes and games online, or even translate or write new ones themselves. “While this is much better than what we had before, we can only do so much if there's no linguistic environment for them to practice their skills,” Lidia explains. 

Indeed, most people in Comrat speak to me in Russian and admit to knowing only a bit of Gagauz and even less Romanian, Moldova's official language. At her office in Gagauzia’s education department, even Lidia’s colleagues come to her for help with Romanian language documents destined for the capital, Chișinău. “There have been free programs to learn Romanian before, but they have to be complemented by career-progression incentives,” she says. “For instance, if you can't speak Romanian, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to become the head of a [public] institution.” 

‘The kids speak Russian with their families’

Despite the region’s autonomous status, the Gagauz language seems to have been dying rather than flourishing since 1994. Lidia’s mother is also a kindergarten teacher in Congazcicul de Sus, a village near Comrat. “When she first started working during the Soviet era, all the kids spoke Gagauz at home and she had to teach them Russian from scratch — ‘this is how you say hand, eye,’” Lidia tells me. “Now, the kids speak Russian with their families and she has to teach them how to say ‘hand’ and ‘eye’ in Gagauz.”

In response to the deliberate Soviet policy of Russification, the Gagauz language underwent a revival during the Glasnost era. In the late 1980s, as Romanian speakers across Moldova reclaimed their language and culture, the Gagauz also advocated for a return to their own heritage. The Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University in Chișinău launched a popular Gagauz language degree program. But in 2005, after Comrat State University successfully fought for a monopoly over the study of Gagauz, the department was closed down. Today, Gagauz is only taught there as a Master’s degree for teachers of the language. 

The Russian language’s dominance comes with political implications: it means Gagauz people consume more Russian than Moldovan media and tend to have pro-Kremlin political allegiances, despite the fact that most investment in local infrastructure comes from Chișinău, Turkey, and the European Union. “Our princess,” says one corner shop vendor, referring to Moldovan President Maia Sandu, “has gone to New York to ask for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria.” The breakaway region in Moldova’s east has had some 20,000 tons of Soviet ammunition and 1,500 Russian soldiers stationed there as “peacekeeping troops” since the Transnistria War in 1992. “But they have been there for 30 years, since we were one country, [the USSR],” the vendor adds.

Like Transnistria, but unlike the rest of Moldova, Gagauzia has preserved its Lenin statue in the center of Comrat, as well as its Soviet-era street names. Three years after Moldova gained independence from Moscow in 1991, the southern region was given autonomy following tensions and clashes between Chișinău and Comrat, which the Kremlin had fueled since the Soviet Union’s final years. (According to former MPs Ion Hadârcă and Alexandru Arseni, the last head of the USSR’s Supreme Soviet Anatoly Lukyanov threatened Moldova's officials with “two autonomies” if they didn't participate in the 1991 referendum, which would have legalized the 1940 Soviet annexation of present-day Moldova.) 

Speaking at Comrat State University in September, President Sandu announced a 2023 Romanian language program for adults in Gagauzia. Later that same day, during a meeting at Gagauzia’s legislature, the representatives of the People’s Assembly asked her why she calls her native tongue Romanian rather than “Moldovan” (as the Soviets called it, to promote a new national identity, separate from Romania). They also asked why she wasn’t going to Moscow to negotiate cheaper gas prices — a question popularized by pro-Kremlin political parties in Moldova, in an attempt to blame Sandu’s administration for rising energy prices and the ensuing inflation. Gagauz and Moldovan media affiliated with pro-Russian parties presented the visit as a defeat for Sandu.

A couple of weeks later, the Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop came to Comrat. He encouraged Gagauz people to learn Romanian and condemned Russia's aggression towards Ukraine. The Gagauz government-affiliated press did not report on these statements. 

‘I don’t want to lose my culture’

“In Gagauzia, all politicians are pro-Russian because Russia is financing these political projects. There is no pro-European political offer,” says journalistMihail Sirkeli, from the independent regional media portal nokta.md. (In Comrat, I counted at least four billboards advertising his Russian-language political show, The Cost of Freedom.) 

Having Gagauz as a native tongue and speaking both Russian and Romanian fluently, Mihail argues that the solution is for political parties entering Gagauzia’s People’s Assembly to be subsidized by the state budget, just like the parties that make it into the national parliament in Chișinău. “We need autonomy for Gagauzia to represent Gagauz interests and help with regional socio-economic and cultural development, not in order to promote Kremlin interests and Soviet nostalgia,” he underscores. “But Gagauz people are currently not demanding this. They don't care about Gagauz language or history. Formally, we have three official languages in Gagauzia, but all the laws are adopted and published in Russian only.”

One man who does care deeply about Gagauz heritage is hip-hop artist and producer Vitalii Manjul. In the early 1990s, Vitalii discovered hip-hop on MTV and started rapping in Gagauz. “I was rapping about money, cars, authority. Now I try to use humor to speak about more important issues, like spirituality, love,” the 51-year-old tells me. For the past 15 years, Vitalii has also been collecting old Gagauz songs and reinterpreting them with modern R&B and pop elements. “Young people think these are new songs, but I tell them these lyrics are 100 years old,” he says. 

In his mission to promote Gagauz culture among the new generations, Vitalii collaborates with other young singers at his Comrat studio, called Kolay. Kolay means “easy” in Gagauz, Vitalii, who is slowly transitioning from rap to reggae, explains. “I wish for there to be no war, no national misunderstanding, I want everything to be easy,” he says, alluding to his “Rastaman outlook to life.”

Vitalii declares himself a cosmopolitan with plenty of cultural influences from across the globe, but he still feels rooted in his Gagauz heritage. “I don't want to lose my culture,” he says. “Imagine if I forget my native tongue — who will I be?”

[crispn-n]

February 🎁💙💛

hey! I might start to write a monthly post where i post a recap of comms/freebies/whatever i got where people draw or write for my ocs!!! Not gonna include all of them, probably just some highlights with selected themes or topic.

I need to yap my thoughts somewhere and hopefully could appeal to you considering to support the creators if u like their work🥰

====

It was valentine month.... it was supposed to be a month full of LOVE!! (of my otp)

Let's make this post adorable fureren comms I got/send around that month that fits the occassion back then 🥺💗

[ Artist, from left to right : Arutaego, Yachichan, Chokore_4 ]

────── {⋆ Talk corner 1 ⋆} ──────

The last one was requested on february, but only got finished around April. It was a very worthy wait for furerenchwan summer-flavoured full course meal!!!!!!! AAH working with Reci is always a pleasant experience ;; v ;;

On this opportunity I tried to propose an idea "fureren sociolla date" for the sketchpage !! 💅💄 I have been wanting to draw a date inspired by the viral sociolla date videos. It fits them well, Frey is totally a boyfriend who will tag along inside the shop with Allen--Willingly learn and observe like a gentleman he is! (Pluus, also stepping in to stop her shopping haul lol)

Here're some sketches that is related to my sociolla date delulu. I hope to draw them out too myself in the future! hehe

During the progress; Reci suggested an idea where Frey is (sloppily) trying to apply a liptint on Allen for the first time ever. And I immediately agree with the idea!!!!! I like that in this piece, it seems Frey trying his best to get into Allen's interests as well.

By the way, while we're at it, I also want to show you this complete set of decorated icons comms from Reci as well. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!! look at thems!!!!!

I'm thinking of getting another of these with my other ocs... maybe darlene and george...?🥺🥺? o-or wouldn't the whole six PABear family be great addition as well🧸..?! Gosh seeing the customized decoration around the character that resemble their character and personality ...!! Its so addicting....the artist always so good making them and put their own spin to the color palette!

Will reci accept this workload however... TT v TT let's just see in the future..!

────── {⋆ Talk corner 2 ⋆} ──────

For the 2nd picture : When I received the sketch for the first time I literally jumped and very normal about it like WAH!!!!!!!! kak yachi's art is always so rich in expression and i love it!!! first thing i think when i saw frey on each picture is like, oh my god... they are so silly.... stupid... and in love.......(????) i LOVE it, they depicted their personalities perfectly. Allen's super cheerful and Frey.... frey's silliness beneath his serious composure is so real......

Additionally ; it is super amazing to be able commissioning yachi to draw fureren again.

The left one was comm'ed around 2021. When i haven't really started shipping them and yet working on their lore. CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT.... (note that it also consist allen's old design) When Yachi drew them like that, i was awakened.......Oh... i really like seeing frey and allen having this kind of interaction......

So this piece meant so much to me. Its great that in 2024 I could have them draw these two again with new designs (And i appreciate kak yachi heartwarmingly remembers them and said they enjoyed drawing fureren ; v ;! Its a honor ...!)

Oh oh oh! Additionally, since February also Frey's month. I managed to commission a frey-birthday-ish fic from Matheo (a writer). It was SO GREAT Q Q I havent got time to publish it on my toyhouse bc i want to draw a thing or a two thats related to the fic. maybe i will just publish it next year on his birthday bc i tend to share my fic stock like much very much later

oop and the first picture was a lovely cookie box commission! I fell in love at the first sight, i really hope i could find more interesting and cute ych like that~!!

Anyways, thats all for this post!

[duckprintspress]

February 2024 Created Works Round-Up!

Duck Prints Press’s monthly “created works round-ups” are our opportunity to spotlight some of the amazing work that people working with us have done that ISN’T linked to their work with Duck Prints Press. We include fanworks, outside publications, and anything else that creators feel like sharing with y’all. Inclusion is voluntary and includes anything that they decided “hey, I want to put this on the created work’s round-up!”

Check out what they’ve shared with us this month…

-

Eliot Rocks the Memory Palace, Chapter Four: Art by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

art || the magicians (tv) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || teen & up || creator choses not to use warnings || complete

summary: After dinner, Monster!Eliot takes Quentin sightseeing in New York City by moonlight.

There's a lovely view from the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building.

And the Monster set a nice cheery fire blazing in the bay.

Heights are fun.

other tags: falling, heights, possession

TUMBLR - AO3 - INSTAGRAM

​

All We Need Is One Good Day (Any Day That You're Alive), Chapter 1 by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

fiction || the magicians (tv) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || mature || creator choses not to use warnings || 2,097 || work in progress

summary: A fluffy fic mixing the books by Lev Grossman with the show from SyFy, in which Quentin and Eliot do get to spend that summer together, but build on their immediate friendship to get together from day one of Q's classes.

AO3

​

Mosaic Haiku, Chapter 10 by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

fiction || the magicians (tv) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || general audiences || creator choses not to use warnings || 124 || ongoing series

summary: I'm writing a series of haiku about Eliot and Quentin's lives together at the Mosaic (the timeloop lifetime in which they loved each other for 50 years). Just like the patterns they build there, I'll forever be adding new haiku, but yet the story is also always complete. My hope is to reflect the beauty of all life, just like they did.

AO3

​

Sailing to Blackspire, Chapter 5 by EliotQueliot / @eliotqueliot

fiction || the magicians (tv) || m/m || quentin coldwater/eliot waugh || explicit || creator choses not to use warnings || 11,539 || work in progress

summary: Quentin says he's staying with a Monster for all Eternity.

Eliot says, "Hell, no. Not without me."

In which Eliot and Quentin use their time aboard the Muntjac on the way to Castle Blackspire more wisely.

In this chapter, the friends continue to do their best to find alternate ways to turn magic back on, without Quentin and Eliot getting stuck in Castle Blackspire.

other tags: Canon-typical danger. Also, regarding the fic as a whole, please heed the rating. This is AU, but jumps off from canon at a specific point within 3x13. The characters don't know what I'm trying to fix because for them it hasn't happened (and in this fic, it never will). But Eliot (his POV) clearly knows that Quentin's life is ultimately in danger.

AO3

​

never a god by ilgaksu / @ilgaksu

fiction || mysterious lotus casebook || m/m, poly (one gender: male) || li lianhua/fang duobing/di feisheng, di feisheng/fang duobing || teen & up || creator choses not to use warnings || 1,077 || ongoing series

summary: The evening shift at the House of Scarlet Delights starts out just like any other.

other tags: Post Canon, Sex Work, Genderfluid Li Lianhua

AO3

​

bringing a gun to chekhov's house by ilgaksu / @ilgaksu

fiction || dune (2021), dune - frank herbert || f/m || paul atreides/chani kynes || explicit || creator choses not to use warnings || 1,895 || work in progress

summary: Chani sees him first in lectures. This is because he can’t stop staring at her. It’s unsubtle. It’s derivative. It’s the start of every novel written by a white man drowning in his own midlife crisis. Chani is wise to it; to him.

After a while, she realises she’s still looking right back.

other tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Academia, Postcolonialism, Breakup

AO3

​

On Writing Combat and Sex Scenes by Tris Lawrence / @tryslora

writing craft blog post || original work || no ships || teen & up || no major warnings apply || 1,523 || complete

summary: This post talks about writing sex and combat (and no, I do not mean combative sex). It is primarily SFW.

TUMBLR - PILLOWFORT

​

[heartsleevemag]

House of Harm releases atmospheric dark pop single, "Roseglass," ahead of new album

written by Jude McDonald

Word-of-mouth is a powerful thing for emerging bands and artists lately, as audiences begin to crave more organic sounds and feelings from their favorite artists. Bands capitalizing on this are able to build deeper relationships with their listeners, one that stems from mutual dedication to music and the understanding that uniquity is key. 

One such band is House of Harm, a trio out of Boston, Massachusetts, comprised of lead singer Michael Rocheford and guitarists/synth players Cooper Leardi and Tyler Kershaw. House of Harm made their debut in 2017, and have been slowly amassing a fanbase that appreciates and understands their dark pop leanings, resulting in almost 50,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Today they released the single “Roseglass,” a four-minute track that feels darkly ethereal. The band has been described as “shadow pop,” a term that feels fitting as the days get shorter; this single is perfect for the gloom and colder weather. With lyrics like, “Mirrored safe from the shame inside / Misled to instill all of the honesty that lies,” the band is exploring themes of self-deception and wishing things could be different. Rocheford described the single as being “about the human cycle of putting yourself into situations where you feel like you’re an intruder for the sake of a better outcome later,” something that is only reinforced by the music video the band released along with the single. 

In the video, the band stands in a market in southeastern Massachusetts, with Rocheford crooning the lyrics as passersby make their way through the stalls. Some choose to ignore the band, others jumping in front of the camera or simply walking through the frame without concern. But the band looks directly into the camera for most of the video, creating a sense of vulnerability despite the public setting that only gets more intense as the song progresses. That vulnerability is what the band hopes to perpetuate with their upcoming album, Playground, out December 1. They started writing the album in 2021 and narrowed it down from 75 songs to just 10 worthy tracks, that they feel build a cohesive world for the listener to get lost in. 

You can listen to “Roseglass” wherever you stream music, and if you’re a dark pop fan or simply want to hear more from House of Harm, be sure to pre-order Playground. The band is also playing three shows this week, tonight in Philadelphia, tomorrow in New York, and the following day in Boston, so be sure to check out the tour dates here if you’re interested in hearing House of Harm’s atmospheric sound live. 

[kymmiejournals]

2021 Essential Weekly Digital Planner + Stickers by The Pink Ink

This post contains affiliate links. If you take action (i.e. make a purchase) after clicking my affiliate links, I’ll probably earn a few bucks which will help keep this website running or just to buy a cup of coffee. You know I only recommend products that I actually use, love and trust, right?

Hi friend,

Are you ready for a new year? This is probably the first 2021 digital planner featured in this blog and I know it’s still several weeks away from 2021 but I’m just so excited to say goodbye to 2020. I can’t wait for the borders to open so I can travel already, or to eat out and do some retail shopping and much more!

Today’s feature is about the 2021 Essential Weekly Digital Planner by The Pink Ink. If you haven’t already, read my honest review on the Project Planner or Yay Sticker Book 5 by The Pink Ink as well.

Tools and Resources

Any note-taking app (ex. Goodnotes or Noteshelf, etc.)

iPad 2019 7th Gen (10.2”)

Apple Pencil 1st Gen

Replace your Apple Pencil tips

Paperlike matte screen protector

Details

1 PDF file format of the planner (Monday start January 2021 - December 2021)

1 Goodnotes file with stickers already pre-cropped 

52 PNG file format of stickers that are cropped and has transparent background

 It has 123 functional pages in total

2021 Essential Weekly Digital Planner

Cover

This Cover page is so chic and simple, you just want to leave it as it is but you can totally personalize it by adding your name or IG handle.  

Index

The Index serves as an introduction before you start your planning. It includes helpful links to get you started and also has a special and exclusive discount code for your next purchase.  

Yearly

This is what I call, the Year at a Glance page where you can mark important dates and be able to track your plans for the whole year easily. There’s also a section where you can put your primary Business and Personal Goals then Top Tasks and Notes.  

Quarterly

This Quarterly Plans page help you focus on both Business and Personal Goals for the whole quarter. The numbers on the upper right corner are clickable to each quarter.  

Monthly

Monthly page is perfect for when you need to track your activities and tasks for the whole month. You can use highlighter to mark the dates for when you have recurring tasks. On the bottom right portion of the page, you’ll see tabs to redirect you to the Weeks, Monthly Budget and Monthly Notes. 

Weekly

So when you click the Week tab on Monthly page, you’ll be redirected to this Weekly page where you can track your schedule for the whole week without having to go through each Daily page. You can even add your routines and work in progress.  

Monthly Budget

Monthly Budget page is perfect for your expenses and savings throughout the whole month where you can manage your subscriptions and bills to pay conveniently. You also get to see your cash flow and how much you’ve earned or spent this specific month.  

Monthly Notes

This page is for those times when a random idea pops into your head and you need to write it down so you won’t forget it. Either put those ideas on the List section or write more details about your idea on the Notes/Brain Dump/Ideas section.  

More section

More section is what I like to call, Template section where there are several clickable tabs to redirect you to each unique page-layouts for your certain needs like Travel, Grocery, School and such.  

List / To Do

The List is a two-column page where you can put all your tasks randomly.   While To Do is still a 2-column page, but this time with 4 different sections where you can list your goals per category, per quarter or per subject.  

Content Planner

Content Planner can be used to track your progress and interaction in your social media, blogs and groups. You can do this for the whole quarter or just for the month if you have so many articles or blog posts to publish.  

Project Planner

This page is for your projects - may it be in school, at home or just your personal ones. I use this page to track my progress and budget for my ongoing project which is #GetPlannerFeatured but I also use a more detailed planner where I can focus more on the Project itself.  

Tracker

The Tracker page has 4 rows where in my case, I use to track my weekly goals like Fitness, Skin Routine, Water Intake, Sleep, Medicine and such then on the Notes/Journal/Thoughts section is where I put all my experience or what I feel after completing the whole week.  

Travel Plans

My most favorite page of this planner. It has a unique boarding pass ticket template where I put my memoji as my photo, aside from my flight details. There are 2 flights section for those who have connecting flights or layover. Perfect for business trips, school field trips, conference, personal vacation or just a random getaway.  

Journal

This is a Lined-template page where you can totally write anything under the sun!  

Education

This is probably my go-to page whenever I take my online courses or workshops. I can also track how many classes I have already took and my login credentials to each online sites.  

Grocery List

Who doesn’t love shopping? This 3-column page has 6-lined sections which you can use to make a list of your To-Buy for Grocery shopping.  

Meal Plan

This page is perfect for those who are trying to maintain their diet and also those who want to plan their menu a week ahead so they can shop for ingredients beforehand.  

Fitness

Same with Meal Plan, the Fitness page has also a box-layout for the week to help you plan your workout ahead of time to become consistent with your routine. Instead of just a List template, there are 2 blocks where you can either put your mantra or just add images that will inspire you to push through.  

Graph

I use this Graph page as my Inspiration or Mood Board but you can totally use this page in any way you want!  

Plain Page

The Plain page can be used to put your own sticker set, add random notes and doodles or maybe do some Journaling with headers and banners. It’s totally up to you!  

Notes section

The Notes section has clickable tabs to 6 Lined pages and 6 Dotted pages. The symbols on the right corner of each tabs indicate if it is Dotted (shaded circle) or Lined (3 parallel lines or dash). 

2-page Free Stickers

I decided not to show you the stickers so you can be surprised! 😉 What’s even more amazing is that this digital planner is also a part of a bundle, so you can save more and enjoy your planning and note-taking even better. You can purchase this planner alone or the whole bundle with the Yay Sticker book 5.  

Check out my other reviews for The Pink Ink:

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Links

The Pink Ink on Instagram

The Pink Ink on Etsy

Shop at The Pink Ink’s website

Buy 2021 Essential Weekly Digital Planner here or here

Notes

All stickers used are from the Yay Sticker Book 5 except for the Plain page. For an actual image of the planner or sticker book, check the item listing.

feedback

What do you love most about this digital planner?

Any questions or suggestions about this blog post?

Get access to Freebie Library!

[sselleb]

Happy 26th to me. Best life lesson during my early 20's.

tl;dr You can reinvent yourself.

As cliche as it might sound, mindset is key to any of your goal. Discipline, consistency, and commitment to succeed just follow after. It's amazing to realize ONCE AGAIN that we are all capable of adapting and improving. Now for my case, the most challenging part is how "effective" am I to shift my view of things to actually set the proper mindset to make things happen.

Most of the time, it really takes a real slap of painful reality for me to realize things. In previous years, I kept having this recurring scenario of "perang nauubos parang bula." I don't even pay for anything except for my food and renting fees.. and yea my shopping. I kept telling it to the people close to me and I know, at the back of the mind, that the solution to this is so direct and simple. I know what to do. Record everything and live below my means. Easy. I can even see my "peers" manually recording their expenses everytime. They do it, I can do it too, right? So I do it for a while.. and we're back to the "where did my money go" scenario again. It sucks not knowing what's happening why I can't stick to my goal habits. What I realized then is that I didn't set a goal. I was doing it for the sake of doing it. To do something consistently is a lifestyle change. Establish a system, make it rewarding, make it as simple as it can be, and continue doing it for the rest of your life (without even breaking a mental sweat).

What particularly worked for me is first "quantifying" my current status and then there follows "projecting" my goal in a specific time frame. Up to a point where my goals crunched down to a target per day/week/month. As much as I love excel/google sheets, this (essential) step really gives me the bird's eye view on what I can achieve and what I should do TODAY to make it happen. This also makes me realize that missing my target for the day (worse for even consecutive days) have a SIGNIFICANT effect to my goal; it may prolong my goal time frame or decrease my progress for that specific timeline.

Application #1 Personal finance.

I lived in a household and parents with little/no sense of good financial habits. It was really hard for me to establish my PF system because I grew up mindlessly buying things as long as we/I "can afford" it. Now that I earn my own money, setting up rules on what, why, when to buy things is new for me. It took months of absorbing books/forums/blogs/videos for me to come up with my own cashflow sheets and system what/why/when I should I allocate money for a specific expense/investment.

Emergency happen (circa 2021)? Late monthly compensation? I don't even stress about it anymore. I just keep being mindful of my expenses, always plug the numbers in all the time, AND tadaaaa: (that's my net worth over time lols ok nerd na kung nerd) (hopefully maalala ko iupdate to by Feb 2023 haha [Edited 02/16/23: I gotchu younger self])

The most wholesome lesson on this is that at the end of the day, money is just "form of value." As mentioned, I save for a goal. I save to spend it somewhere. Example, I save to have a "emergency fund" or buffer money for a year. I also save to buy a house; to have a comfortable space to do my hobbies and be relaxed and happy and secured. I also save then invest to have "fund" to buy essential things when I'm old (yea I DIY this instead of paying insurance agencies). That kind of stuff. I don't earn a lot of money but small amount of money per goal accumulate over time - even though it fluctuates up and down. I mean, look at the graph 🥺 My young fresh grad self wouldn't even expect that.

Application #2 Personal fitness.

As of writing, Sept 2022, I am starting to apply all of the habit making system stuff I did for my finances to my fitness life. Eating has always been a source of "satisfaction" for me. I eat until I feel weak from being so full. I have NO SENSE of "enough" if that makes any sense. If I did not reached this ~65kg weight, I wouldn't even thought of dieting/being mindful for what I eat and exercising purposely. Before, (same with my finances thing), I limit my food for the sake of feeling starved and "feeling deprived". I exercise for the sake of saying yea I ran or jog yea. I had neither "quantification" of my current status nor "projection" of my target weight/shape for a specific time frame. But now, I do. Let me make my excel/google sheets and see on December 2022 what the trend is saying. If I do this right, aha! this "habit making system" hack really does work for me :)

[Updated 02/16/23]

Goal: Lose Weight

Quantify your Current Status: 64kg

Project your <Goal> Target and Time frame: 54kg (mid-normal BMI); 4 months

Starting off, I don't know how the heck would I lose 10kg. I didn't study health-related concepts in college. I am nowhere knowledgeable (at the very least) in those fields. So, I consumed blogs, forums, journals, podcasts, and videos talking about this stuff. There are disagreements here and there on different concepts, because at the end of the day, we live on different biological bodies and living situations. But my main takeaway to all I read is that:

To simply lose weight (aka burn both fat and muscles) is to eat/input fewer calories than how much your body burns/output <;certain> calories.

This is what they usually call "CICO" or calories-in calories-out. Intermittent fasting (tho I think they come with other health benefits) and Keto diet essentially works under CICO principle as well. Read more about that here: r/Fitness Wiki.

---- START OF NERDY PARTS

If you opened that link, there is this word they call "TDEE" or Total Daily Energy Expenditure. That will quantify the <certain> calories that my body burns. I used this (tdeecalculator.net/) to compute my TDEE reference value. But note that's not 100% accurate! So I used an adaptive TDEE google sheets here. Essentially, if you log your weight and calorie intake (working on automating this!), it will compute the average TDEE that corresponds to your current activity level. It's going to be biased if you are gaining water weight (by weighing random times of the day or if it's THE time of the month) or if you're not accurately tracking calorie intake so I try not to use it obsessively. As per my calorie tracking, I use Lose It app because I like their free features better than of MyFitnessPal. At the end of the day, remember that the point of all of this is just to help you be mindful of your food choices and portioning. Personally, putting corresponding (quantifiable) weight to it just works for my brain 😅

---- END OF NERDY PARTS

So, how's it going?

Before proceeding, I want to first apologize to anyone reading this (most especially to my thesis adviser) for not (actively practicing) including axis labels to my graphs.✌️But for your reference, the top part is ~65kg and the goal weight (in neon green) is 54kg. YES GIRL TARGET REACHED! 🎉

I'm still working on maintaining my weight for more than 4 months (the time frame of my weight loss) to allow my body, mind, and "food sense" to settle on what's "normal" and "moderate".

TO BE CONTINUED~

Application #2.1 ../Workout Routine

In addition, I'm also working on my "exercise regime". Currently, I'm into cardio. I just identified my current goal (spoiler alert: base volume training for 10k or maybe more, and improving my PR until the end of the year). I'm incorporating little strength training every week but I'm still figuring that thing out.

Application #3 Book reading.

Hard goal: Two books a month. Stretch goal: One book a week.

Application #4 Creative hobbies.

Soft goal at the moment: Building my own blog with nerdy data stuff in my everyday life using my own (paid) domain, built by myself (yes web developer yarn).

Watch out for my "life lesson I learned during my latter 20's" when I turned 30 to see how these on-going goals would worked out! 😂

[angst-in-space]

september ‘21 writing progress

words written: 30.4k

most words written in a day: 1897

least words written in a day: 138

current yearly total: 217.7k

projects worked on:

- ya sci-fi novel - sylvix dreamscape fic - wenzhou modern au - narumitsu commission

works published in september:

“wherever i end up (i end up with you)” - chapter 1 (wenzhou)

september goals:

- reach 50k in novel draft (aka write ~15k more words) - finish sierra bday fic - finish narumitsu commission - publish ch 5 of sylvix dreamscape fic - finish draft of ch 6 of sylvix dreamscape fic - edit renga fic, possibly hand off to betas - work on matchablossom fic - start wenzhou fic if time - start fic for [redacted]

october goals:

- reach somewhere around ~70k in novel draft - finish narumitsu commission (possibly edit/post?) - publish chapter 5 of sylvix dreamscape fic - work on ch 6 of the dreamscape fic - edit like...maybe the first chapter of the renga fic at least?? - publish ch 2 of wenzhou modern au - finish editing ch 3 of wenzhou modern au (maybe post?? we shall see) - perhaps finish draft of ch 4 of the wenzhou modern au?? - start writing fic for unfolding melody zine!

notes:

well i uh didn’t do so hot on my september goals huh 😅to be fair... working on a novel has taken up a good deal of my writing energy so i should probably give myself credit for that LOL. and i did reach 50k in my current draft which i am super excited about!!!!

and well even if i didn’t complete everything on my september list, i at least worked on most of those things and/or came close to finishing them! 

besides working on my book, most of my efforts this past month went into working on the narumitsu commission––which has uhhh gotten Very Long, because i’m me and always get carried away lmao. but tbh i am really happy with it so far and can’t wait til i’m able to post the whole thing (ideally by the end of this month? we’ll seeee)

i also finally finished editing ch 5 of the sylvix dreamscape fic and it has been beta’d! i just gotta do a few more edits and post it, which will be sometime next week. still gotta finish up a draft of ch 6 so i can start editing that as well so, hopefully will be able to delve into that soon.

this past month i also finally started posting sierra’s (extremely late) bday fic which is a wenzhou modern au!! i’ve had such fun writing it and can’t wait to post the rest of it! so yeah hoping to do a bit more editing/drafting/posting of that during october. 

i have not started editing the renga fic yet, but hoping to do that soon!! ....i feel like it may be unrealistic to try and post it by the end of this month so uhh i’ll probably shoot for next month on that one, but depends on how much editing it needs.

aaand lastly, i am super excited to be a writer for unfolding melody zine, which is an ace attorney/klapollo zine!!! so i will be working on a draft of my piece for that. i really love the concept i decided on and i think it will be a lot of fun. :D

...so yeah once again i have probably bitten off more than i can chew anddd i have like an embarrassingly large backlog of things to write/edit but uh we’ll see what i can do!!! 😤

[arimeghlen]

December Goals 2021 | Monthly Goals

It's time for the last goals of the year!  November was more of a success than I expected, especially since I got ill again for over a week and then got a mass of orders that just kept me busy.  But having the structured system has definitely helped keep

It’s time for the last goals of the year!  November was more of a success than I expected, especially since I got ill again for over a week, my cat’s been ill and needed a lot of care and then got a mass of orders that just kept me busy.  But having the structured system has definitely helped keep me on track. Last Month’s Goals Let’s look at how I got on with last month’s goals. 01 – Decide on…