#monthly writing progress 2023

[angst-in-space]

december '23 writing progress (and yearly wrap-up!)

december progress:

words written: 19.4k

most words written in a day: 1.8k

least words written in a day: 0

yearly total: 187.2k

projects worked on:

ya sci-fi book rewrites

misc notes

works published in december:

none

december goals [i did not complete a single one of these LOLOLOL]:

write ~1k a day (except on holidays)

write like 100ish words of other projects a day (fics, planning projects, etc.)

write about 33k total (to meet my yearly wc goal of 200k)

finish…..ya sci-fi book rewrites… please….

finish editing ch 10 of sylvix dreamscape (idk if i’ll be able to post it by end of the month/year but… maybe lol)

finish edit letter for friend

january goals:

sigh. finish ya sci-fi book rewrites. please. please i'm so fuckin tired.

start working on line edits?

work on query package

errrrm maybe send out like. one query. just for funsies.

edit sylvix dreamscape fic ch 10

WRITE FANFIC!! HAVE FUN GODDAMMIT

finish edit letter for friend

maybe work on outlining adult sci-fi wip again

notes:

well uhhh uhhh i did not meet a single one of my december goals. so that's....not great! i had really hoped to finish my ya sci-fi book rewrites by end of the year but alas, i still have 9 chapters left *sob* (i thought i only had 7 but recently realized i need to add two more chapters. cool. cool cool cool coolcoolcool.) but it's fine!! it's fine!!! i rewrote about 14k of my book in december and i'm finally entering the final arc so AAAAA. IT'S HAPPENING.

that is still gonna be my main priority for january (rewriting my book, that is). i'm hoping i will FINALLY finish but then again i've said that for like the last six months so we'll see lmfao. and if i DO finish rewrites, hoping i can delve into line edits woooo!!!

i'm hoping to also start doing a bit of querying prep this month (*screams internally*) by which i mean i just wanna at least start refining my query package—i technically have one already that i used to apply to mentorships and whatnot, but it's badly outdated now so uhh need to fix that! i had told myself i'd start querying by end of this month (even if it's just like, sending out One Query for the heck of it). not feeling like that's very likely but... who knows!

but also....i've been so burnt out on my book lately, i really just wanna write at least SOME fanfic this month. i want to write things for fun again, i miss it. :(

2023 wrap up:

total words written: 187.2k most words written in a month: 25k (november) least words written in a month: 9k (october)

works published/updated:

"are we going somewhere" ch. 2

"you're a dream, i'm never waking up" ch. 9

"altea rising" ch. 15

other wips:

ya sci-fi book rewrites

adult fantasy book

sylvix pacific rim au

mathablossom bedsharing fic

red skies ch. 8

altea rising (editing ch. 16 and writing ch. 19)

planning sapphic princess/pirate book

planning adult sci-fi space western dads book

kazurei post-canon fic

2023 goals:

write every day

write at least 200k words

finish more drafts of my ya sci-fi book

send ya sci-fi book to betas

start querying ya sci-fi book

make progress on adult fantasy book (possibly try to finish a first draft)

outline another book

finish editing/posting sylvix dreamscape fic

finish editing/posting renga fic

finish writing altea rising and maybe start posting the unpublished chapters

start working on red skies again

work on sylvix pacrim au

work on at least one of my wenzhou fics

finish at least a draft of matchablossom bedsharing fic

keep working on twiyor practice kissing fic, maybe finish a first draft?

a huge maybe but perhaps start sylvix 50s/spy au if i have time/energy

notes:

*scratches head* well uhhh damn i did not really...do anything i wanted to get done this year.... LMFAO. and even the few things i checked off are things i like barely worked on/started. so, ouch 😅

in my defense... i did not foresee how much work i'd have to do with my book revisions this year. at the beginning of the year i thought i was going into line edits—but around april i realized i needed to do a full rewrite. so i essentially had to start over, and rewrote *checks notes* roughly 83k of it so!! as you can imagine...that was rather time consuming and i did not have much time to work on anything else.

but... i'm trying to look on the bright side: the reason i started over is because of how much i've learned about writing from my mentors and my critique group etc. and looking at my draft from last year vs. this year, i can see a huge improvement! there is still a lot of work to do on this book—but i do feel like in 2023, i fell more in love with the story and characters than ever before (like to the point where i essentially have brain rot for my own ocs... LOL). and i feel like after 2.5 years of hard work, i am starting to see the "real book" starting to emerge from the chaotic mess it was before. so, that's very exciting!!

which brings me to: i'm hoping to maybe....MAYBE...dip my feet into the querying trenches in 2024. i had kinda hoped to do this by end of 2023 but...once again i grossly overestimated how ready my book was at the beginning of the year lololol. but i do feel like once i finish this big rewrite, i'll have less structural/overarching things to fix and more scene-level and line-level edits which (fingers crossed) hopefully will not be quite as involved as, yaknow, rewriting my entire book word by word! SOOO i may be sorta sending out the occasional query as i work on line edit-y stuff (esp bc querying is so slow nowadays haha) so yeahhh haha *sweats profusely*

there are a few other original projects i hope to make progress on this year. firstly, i'd love to continue working on my first draft of my adult fantasy arctic monster wip (maybe...finish a draft? i kinda doubt it but maybe!!). i also hope to keep working on planning a couple other projects, including planning sapphic princess/pirate wip and space western dads wip—both of which i'm very excited about. :)

AAAAND I WANT TO WRITE FIC AGAIN!!!! i really neglected my fic writing in 2023 and i miss it terribly. 😭 i have a lot of wips i want to continue/finish—but i think main priorities will be editing/publishing the last chapter of sylvix dreamscape fic, trying to finish posting at least one of my other ongoing multichapter fics, working more on sylvix pacrim au, aaaand... finishing a draft of one of my other wips perhaps? i don't know, i'm trying to be gentler with myself since i think i had too many specific goals for 2023 and could not meet any of them haha. sooo re: fic writing the general goal is "just have fun and see what happens."

here is to more progress in 2024!!!! 🥳

2024 goals:

finish ya sci-fi book rewrites/edits

work on query package

send out at least one query

start a writing blog/newsletter

continue first draft of arctic monster wip

finish outlining space western dads outline (and start a draft?? maybe?)

continue planning sapphic princess/pirate book

post last chapter of sylvix dreamscape fic

update one of my other ongoing multichapter fics

work on other misc. fic and JUST HAVE A GOOD FUN TIME!!!!

[muffinlance]

State of the Muffin Report 2023-24

Happy belated birthday to my fanfics! Little Zuko turned six back in March. <3 

Behold, my annual roundup stats, because you can get fanfic from the math teacher but you can’t get the math out of the fanfic:

[id: Screenshot of an excel spreadsheet showing my 2023-24 word counts. Important info is that over six stories, I wrote 104k words, for a monthly average of 8.6k and a daily of 284 words. End id.]

Fanfic:

After not touching the birthday fic itself since 2019, Little Zuko v the World is finally finished! Woooo.

Otherwise, a slow-but-steady sort of year on the fanfic front.

Serious Face Writing & RL:

Li’s Friends has now raised $4,206.21 USD for wildlife charity, not counting gift matches. <3

Finished the second book in my original fic series, Fox’s Tongue; The Skin Stealer’s Son officially launched yesterday! (Affiliate link, so that if you happen to buy it, Amazon pays me extra money for the privilege.)

I also created a secondary tiny human, and she is a DELIGHT. She was last seen a half hour ago crawling after her brother like a particularly aggressive tripod, Hop on Pop in one hand, and slap-screaming at it until he read it to her. My children. <3

Year Six (2024-25) Goals

Fanfic: 

Gonna finish the new case of Dark Night in Ba Sing Se. Gonna finish it so good. (This is a donation fic for the winner of my Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction and is therefore due by the end of the year, so woo artificial timelines! Ah external motivations, how I missed you from my school days.)

I’m incredibly excited for Blindsiding Badgermoles, and have that same lovely external motivation in the form of my sensitivity reader, so planning to focus on that this year.

Finish the current book of Towards the Sun. We’re currently on the final field trip, so that should be very doable. —I say, using the exact same wording for the third year in a row. Honestly this one’s less a goal than a joke to see how many years it’s actually going to take me. And hey, I’ve been making progress! We now have the delight that is Lady Jun! Third year’s the charm?

Serious Face Writing & RL: 

Get a solid start on Fox’s Tongue Book Three, Face of the Wolf King.

Get out large print editions of the first two books.

Continue raising children.

Special thanks this year goes to First and Secondborn, who blessed me with the ability to still manage over 100k in a year, which is way more than I anticipated at this time last year.

Cheers,

MuffinLance

[barbwritesstuff]

Thicker Than - Monthly Update

Happy full moon everyone! I hope you had a great month.

I've updated the public Thicker Than demo:

You can play it here.

Please let me know what you think.

I’ve been mostly working on Chapter Six this month. It’s still early stages, but I’m hoping it’ll be really fun when it’s finished. I also fixed up some issues with existing chapters (eg, added new paths to get to certain scenes etc.) which was something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

However, overall, I’m not very happy with this update. It’s really short, and a lot of it I think needs to be reworked and fixed up.

Real life has been a bit messy recently, which I think is why I haven’t been writing as well as I usually do.

But, even though I’m not 100% happy with the update, I still wanted to share it just to show my progress and keep getting feedback. I’m really grateful for all your encouragement and the ideas you’ve been sending my way. There are some I haven’t had time to implement yet, but they’re on the list of things I’d like to do.

Here is the link to my KoFi page if you'd like to support me or sign up for weekly updates.

Happy hunting, vamps. 💙

Update details:

As of the 27th of November 2023

Added more scenes to Chapter Six

Added new achievements

Several bug and spelling fixes

Additional Words: 15,365 (excluding commands)

Total Word Count: 148,336 (excluding commands )

[shepherds-of-haven]

Happy New Year, everyone! I thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective on the game's progress over the last year... Shepherds of Haven has grown so much from the little demo I posted in January 2018, and it continues to steadily build and flourish in so many different and exciting ways! Here's a look at just some of the things we accomplished in 2023!

I added 143,151 words to the game (2.5 main chapters, 8 new character interludes) in 2023: the equivalent of writing the longest Lord of the Rings book in one year! We also broke our huge 1 million word milestone—without including code—meaning Shepherds of Haven is now officially twice as long as War and Peace, and almost as long as the entire 7-book Harry Potter series... and all in a single game!

A lot goes into game creation behind the scenes, including the coordination and creation of visual assets for the game—like character cards, codex entries, maps, portraits, and backgrounds—fun stuff for the fans (like the MC info template we created), and songs for the official soundtrack. As the game creeps slowly and determinedly towards its initial completion, that also means learning new things as a solo developer to prepare for the future, like learning to build an official website, researching business and tax practices, and beginning to think about how to conduct testing, publishing, and marketing down the road. Much of what I enumerate here hasn't been made public yet and will continue to cook in the background for a while, but I'm very proud of the work I've gotten done this year and will be excited to unveil more in the future!

And of course, for even more Shepherds of Haven content, I've added and completed even more stories for our little library on Patreon (which also has sizable word count at this point): The Bridge of Bones (a Trouble and Riel murder mystery), O Happy Dagger (a dark adventure featuring Briony, Chase, and Red), and The Hunt (a wild tale involving Tallys, Halek, Shery, and new kinds of spirits, fey magic, and Elves) were all serial stories completed in 2023, while Some Kind of Virus is a cyberpunk zombie apocalypse AU that will continue to be updated with new chapters monthly.

A full list of the Shepherd short stories and serial novellas (with links) can be viewed here!

I hope you enjoyed this session of Shepherds of Haven Wrapped! Honestly, this doesn't actually cover everything I've been working on, but some things can't be packaged and listed out neatly, or otherwise won't seem very interesting to anyone else but me! 😂 As we inch through Chapter 9 and get more interludes done (only a few more main chapters to go), I'm hopeful that I'll also be able to find time to work on my next novel, but we'll see if the Shepherds schedule ends up ramping up or settling down as we work steadily towards finishing the main story!

One important thing before wrapping up is to acknowledge your guys' role in this wonderful, wild journey. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your invaluable contributions to the development of Shepherds of Haven. Whether you took the time to share links to the game, supported its growth on Discord or Patreon, left encouraging messages or asked interesting questions, reported bugs, or showcased your remarkable works of fanfiction or fanart, I am sincerely thankful for the unwavering support from this amazing community! Your collective efforts have played a pivotal role in shaping the world of the game into what it is today. Words cannot adequately convey my gratitude for your support, and I am truly blessed to have such a passionate community surrounding this project.

As we step into 2024, I am filled with anticipation for the developments awaiting Shepherds of Haven. Big things are on the horizon, and I am so excited to share these experiences with you! Thank you for being an integral part of this journey, and here's to the continued growth of our shared little world. Cheers to 2024—may it be a year filled with creativity, adventure, and joy! 🎊

[blissfullyecho]

my daily & weekly routine (2023)

self care | studying | health | working | etc.

figured i would write my daily routine that i’m going to adhere to for the next few months— at least until summer semester starts for me (in may) but that’s still TBA.

first, let’s start with my goals until summer semester.

get accepted back into school and pass my entrance exam

get hired to start the patient care technician program at the hospital i want to work at in march so that i can gain hospital experience and i can start working in healthcare (this is the hospital that i want to become a nurse at also)

lose 40 pounds + form a habit of daily exercise

work as much as possible (try to aim for at least 5x a week) until the patient care tech program starts (which is only a 5 week program but i’ll be unable to work those weeks) — my goal is to get caught up with some bills/debt and have $5,000 saved so i don’t have to worry about working during the patient care tech program

move into a new apartment either in downtown or on the beach

grow in my faith, self-love, and be more knowledgeable

so basically, my goals for the first part of 2023 is working on my career, going back to school, and getting my health and finances together.

i would like to start my business, but i want to first focus on getting accepted back into school and getting my career started; then starting my business.

moving on to my daily routine/ tasks, and my weekly and monthly routine

daily:

study for at least 3 hours a day for my school’s placement exam (math, reading, and writing) — an hour each day for each subject

exercise at least 30 minutes a day to start with, eventually graduating to an hour a day

until my phone interview next thursday for the patient care tech program, i’ll spend some time going over interview questions to get myself more prepared— spending at least 30-45 minutes going over that each day

daily bible reading and prayer

reading at least 1-2 chapters per day of a self-help book

listening to at least 1 podcast or educational video each day

follow my morning/evening beauty routines like skincare, showering, haircare, and eventually make it a habit to get ready every morning (this will have to wait until my grandmother gets better honestly— i don’t have the time)

adhere to a cleaning routine and clean as i go so i can spend less time cleaning and more time thriving in a well-maintained environment that’s beneficial to both my physical and mental health

weekly:

to track my weight loss progress, i will measure myself and weigh myself 1x per week (saturday)

go to work at least 5x each week or work at least 5 shifts (some days i might work doubles)

take a weekly practice test of each of those subjects (math, writing, and reading) (sunday)

attend church (in person or online) each week (sunday)

i should also mention that i lost 1.7 pounds this week.

[strangebiology]

Free Resources I Made for Nonfiction Book Writers - $$$

If you're writing a nonfiction, non-memoir book, you're welcome to join my free monthly video chat group Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress (ANBIP.) If you join you'll get the recap emails and the invites to meetings, but if you don't like meetings, then just enjoy the emails. Note that it's sort of a professional group so we talk about book writing as more of a job than some universal higher calling or whatever.

Through that, I've had a few people ask me for some of the following documents in this journey, so I decided, why not just make a copy for sharing so that anyone can find them, instead of just people who email me? Feel free to use these as samples, share them, whatever. But first:

What I wish I had known before the book: While I'm here, before you start your book proposal, I learned too late that you can get paid $80,000 to write one at a journalism fellowship! People do that at the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship, The Scripps Fellowship at the Center for Environmental Journalism, and probably the other Knight Journalism fellowships that I haven't looked into. So, keep your ears open for fellowships if you're thinking of starting a nonfiction book proposal.

To the resources...

Results from my agent search Note: most people suggest Publisher's Marketplace, so, even though I didn't like my results from looking there, there is surely a reason everyone else does.

My Book Proposal & how I contacted the agent Result: contract with MIT Press to write a book about dead animals and $50,000 advance.

My Proposal for the Sloan Grant Result: I got $56,053 for the book Carcass. Also, at least two other people in my group got the grant, and one mentioned that she never would have known about it if it weren't for ANBIP, nor would she have applied!

List of suggested grants to apply to Note: most of these book grants--and most legit ones in the world--require a traditional contract. I find a lot of "prizes" for people without trad contracts are not grants at all, but an effort to get you to think you "won" what is, in effect, a contract. That's fine if the contract is fine, but don't let them stroke your ego with the words "you won" if you think you could get a better contract elsewhere. A grant is more like free money.

I also got $500 and some free resources--and miiiiight get some more money in the future?--from a program called Investing in Wyoming's Creative Economy, so, maybe your state has something similar. IWCE is brand new (started in 2023) so we'll see if it even continues on. MANY funding opportunities only exist for a few years before they run out.

My contract with my fact-checker

How I found Science Advisors & how I described their task Note: I really just made this up, as with the contract with the fact-checker. I'm just some person and I'm only giving these to you because I couldn't find anyone else's that may have been done better! Make a copy, read through it carefully, and make all the changes you need to yours. Or if you already have a better one to look to, send it to me and LMK if I can send it to my colleagues at ANBIP!

Spreadsheet National Park Artists in Residences Applications Note: I have never got any of these, and most don't pay or work well for writers, TBH. But I know a science writer who did get one. Also, I only included the ones I liked in this spreadsheet and left out the historic parks. Here's a map of more and the National Park Arts Foundation. I only apply to free ones because I noticed that one residency said they got 800 applications and the fee was $120, which, mathematically, is like paying $96,000 to do it (and that one paid $4,000 to the winner.) Also: state parks and BLM land have Artist in Residence programs!

Copy of #PublishingPaidMe spreadsheet (I didn't make this, and I don't recommend making graphics or pivot tables from this as some of the numbers are def wrong)

Book Progress thermometer

That's all for now! If you found this helpful, just pay it forward by being open with your experience for the next people who ask you.

PS. My next task is finding events to hire me to do talks about the topic of my book, which is dead animals. I know some authors make plenty of money on speaker fees after their book is launched! But I'm struggling to find events/places to speak because I mostly only want to go places where I am paid, but I also worry about a conflict of interest if I'm paid by organizations I've covered--or even, orgs that promote or protest anything that I've covered in general! I don't want to be a PETA-funded journalist or a Safari Club International-funded journalist either. If you have experience with setting up a book tour where you profited financially and were journalistically clear, I'd love to hear your story!

[librarycards]

hello everyone, and welcome to the final installment of my quarterly favorite books of 2023! this fall has been interesting in terms of reading: my attempt to balance the sheer, necessary pain of keeping up with current events with a desire to continue enjoying transportive fiction, especially as I make my final rounds of edits to my forthcoming novel. it's been me exploring the influence both of thematic and random texts on my dissertation-in-progress. this has resulted in a somewhat unusual final quarter for me: of the above texts, only two are fiction. no straight-up poetry made the cut, either. a weird (but wonderful) round-up for a weird time in my life and history, I guess.

as you likely have time off school or work this month and into the new year, consider picking up a book or five to carry you into 2024. you can view my other recommendations for this year here: 1 / 2 / 3. I very specifically recommend Atef Abu Saif's The Drone Eats With Me of my list this year, given the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

if you like these lists, check out my substack, where i write a free monthly list of media recs, as well as my book rec tag (linked above). and with that, here are my top nine books between Sept. and Dec. 2023!

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Pidginization as Curatorial Method: Messing with Languages and Praxes of Curating

Atef Abu Saif, The Drone Eats With Me: A Gaza Diary

Mairead Case, Tiny

Shelley Parker-Chan, She Who Became the Sun

Stephen Kuusisto, Planet of the Blind

Lynda Barry, Syllabus

Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas

Micha Frazer-Carroll, Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health

tagging people below to share their faves. No pressure, and if you're not tagged and want tot share yours, please!! tag me in your posts, mutuals or not. I love reading them.

@heavenlyyshecomes @sawasawako @capricornpropaganda @stephen-deadalus @discworldwitches @sadhoc @materialisnt @punkkwix @tirragen @xxxjarchiexxx @passerea @metamatar @myalgias @felgueirosa @secretcircuit @aldieb @bioethicists @trans-axolotl @oddmerit @boykeats @artuhmes @oatsmilk @feypact @campgender @fatehbaz @handweavers @abstractlesbian @closet-keys @querxus @pf2e @probablymoons @osmanthusoolong @ghostzvne @poipolycule; my beloved @gwenderqueer AND anyone else who wants to!!!

[parkerlyn]

August 2023

Play The Nameless | Patreon | Discord

Hi again all!!

A short update to kick off the month! I’ve been trying to trudge through the writing I lost in my version control mess, and almost done rewriting that which has been a good moral boost!

I was happy to get a lot of sketching and art done last month too :) In addition to the schedule below, I’ll be posting more WIPs and sketches as they come up on Patreon.

Patreon ICYMI

Last month had the usual unreleased content screenshot, and also had...

Bonus Art: Game night with the Magesmith, the Healer, Eila, and the Alchemist

Bonus Writing: Sage POV on meeting the MC

Bonus Sketches: Sage sketches (18+) and some D&D/TOH fanart

Bonus Sketches: Healer/Magesmith thirst traps (aksjskak)

August Patreon Schedule

Aug 2 - Progress Update | Call for September Art ideas (HS + Sa)

Aug 9 - Monthly Preview Screenshot | September Art poll

Aug 23 -  Bonus Writing: Healer POV, meeting the MC for the first time

Aug 30 -  Bonus Art: RO Outfit Swap | 18+ Art: Oisein Sketches

July Donation Screenshots

Lastly, accountability screenshots for my donations are below. Differing amounts are to cover individual processing fees.

Thank you again for your support! More updates soon and stay safe out there.

xoxo Parker 🧡

Play The Nameless | Patreon | Discord

[the---hermit]

02|10|2023

October is here but autumn is taking its time to very slowly show up, days are still warmer than they usually are in this time of year, and only a few leaves have already changed colour. My week started slowly, I only worked on my English lit class. I read the entire second act of Richard II and started the third. I have also been slowly watching The Hollow Crown episode on Richard II. I have been watching the sections corrisponding to what I read during the day, that way I can see how the actors deliver their lines, which I have found very helpful to better understand the text. It's also been very useful to rememeber the characters. Aside from reading the play to prepar for my classes at the end of the week I had my therapy session, and now I will sit down to crochet a bit. I have yet to decide what audiobook I should listen while working on my project, since yesterday I finished The Burning God by R.F. Kuang. I still have to process I am done with this series, and I haven't yet written a review, but that will be posted as soon as I can.

cozy hobbit autumn activities and productivity:

read first thing in the morning

read for more or less an hour RIchard II before leaving the house

had my monthly therapy session (which was actually very chill, and definitely a good start for the month. What I want to be more consistent in now is to track my sleeping since it's not going super well still, and write down somewhere things I feel like I should bring up in therapy during the month)

help my dad with groceries

listened to today's episode of re:dracula (I am anjoying this podcast so much)

daily Irish practice on duolingo (I feel like in the past week I have been doing good progress and I feel like I have a renewed exciment for this little daily hobby)

read a bit more of Richard II in the afternoon

looked online for a book I cannot find in a physical store

continued working on my crochet project

📖: The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly, Richard II by William Shakespeare

[angst-in-space]

may ‘23 writing progress

words written: 12.2k

most words written in a day: 1017

least words written in a day: 29

current yearly total: 71.4k

projects worked on:

- ya sci-fi book revisions - finished editing sylvix dreamscape ch 9! - red skies ch 8

works published in may:

none

may goals:

- write about 20k total - work on ya sci-fi book revisions (rewrite like, 2-3 more chapters?) - maybe work on adult fantasy book more?? - finish editing ch 9 of sylvix dreamscape - work on sylvix pacrim - work on kazurei fic - finish new red skies outline - maybe actually….keep writing red skies?? - work on misc other fics if i have time

june goals:

- write about 20k - rewrite 2-3 chapters of ya sci-i book revisions - post ch 9 of sylvix dreamscape - edit chs 3-4 of renga fic if i have time? - maybeee start editing ch 10 of dreamscape fic? - keep working on ch 8 of red skies - work on other fics (sylvix pacrim, kazurei post-canon, matchablossom fic, etc.)

notes:

well that was... a bit of a rough month! i’ve felt a little stretched thin recently....as with the past, well, i guess couple years at this point (yikes wtf) a lot of my efforts have been going into my ya sci-fi book. and between trying to rewrite the whole book, getting a lot of feedback, and trying to go back and revise previous chapters it’s ummmm it’s a lot!!! i feel like it all kinda got to me this month so i felt kinda overwhelmed and disheartened for the past couple weeks, but i think i’m feeling a bit better about it now lol. and even though it was a struggle, i rewrote (almost) two chapters and also got to show a few more chapters to my critique group & mentor, so getting that feedback is encouraging!

i also finished something this past month that i’d put off for ages which was...i finished editing chapter 9 of sylvix dreamscape fic, yaaay! i was particularly worried about this chapter (yes i say that about every chapter, shh) so that’s a big weight off my shoulders haha. it’s in my betas’ hands now, sooo as soon as i get their feedback i can finally do final edits and post that. yippee!! (i also realized it’s officially been more than two years since i started posting it....oh my god. oops.)

aaaand lastly i actually wrote a bit of chapter 8 of red skies....my klance space opera au that i haven’t updated in over 4 years LOL but i’ve just felt very compelled to work on it recently so, i hope to make a bit more progress on it this month!

sooo yeah during june i’m hoping to rewrite a couple more book chapters, plus work on some misc fic writing/editing/posting and it’ll be a real fun gay time. oh yeah that reminds me, happy pride month!! 🏳️‍🌈

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #35 | 09.26.23

Hi everyone!

Hope the beginning of Fall has been kind to you all <3 To be Frank, it has not been Kind to me LMFAO. But I'll get into that, so let's dive in yippee!

Before I do, someone liked this post recently, which was such a throwback. It was before the full demo was out and everything!! I was so young and full of life. I'm going to sprinkle some comparison shots of the new assets with the old ones to break up the text and also walk down memory lane with me! (Full GUI not shown as I'm still waiting on the assets)

Chapter Cards (Left: After | Right: Before)

The "Progress"

I'm going to structure this devlog a little differently from the usual template. The main reason being, for those of you who didn't see, I have not been feeling Myself recently.

This month I found myself all out of sorts. While I felt like I was making progress and doing so much everyday read: fighting for my life, when I looked back on things at the end of this month, I didn't feel like I really did much.

On a higher level, I finished fulfilling Kickstarter physical rewards, opened a Kofi shop of the remaining merch, edited Druk's route and continued writing Etza's route, updated assets and code for the updated demo, and then general commission stuff (BGs from Vui, soundtracks from Peter, etc.).

But overall, Alaris felt largely like it was kinda sitting at around the same spot as it did when I entered this month. Which made me a little sad! I had wanted to make So Much Progress on Alaris because next month I won't be able to work on it really. Then, I realized I haven't taken a break from game development since I started it two years ago HA!!!

The Real Progress

Development for me has been back-to-back. Chapter releases every 1-2 months during my first half year of development, Full Demo release shortly after, Kickstarter shortly after, Full Game Development shortly after. When I was feeling burnt out from Alaris, I made intertwine. Then I was Heavily Involved in the development of two games shortly after.

All of this on top of my IRL responsibilities, which include a job, PhD school, and well, functioning as a normal human occasionally.

And then here we are at the end of September 2023, and I'm wondering why even though I creatively want to work on Alaris, I find my brain literally just getting too tired to think.

Etza CG (Left: After | Right: Before)

I think ever since the Kickstarter, I've put a lot of pressure on myself to consistently put out LOTS of updates for each monthly devlog. I don't want people to think I'm not working on things or I'm not committed to delivering after giving me their hard earned money. But now, with two years under my belt, I'm realizing that is... HMM maybe too high of a standard to put on myself for my first game ever. There are many much more seasoned developers than me who don't put that pressure on themselves (which is Good and Healthy).

So this month, I debated scrounging around and gathering all my crumbs to give you all a devlog that you'll be satisfied with. But I decided ultimately that wouldn't be good for me and would honestly not be the most transparent way to present the current process of things.

And so. Here I am. Head in my Hands. Letting you all know that while I'm not "burnt out," I am.... only human LOL (one human at that). And so some months, like this one, will just not have much progress to report. Not because I'm not working on it or any other deeper reason. But because it's physically impossible and unreasonable for me to be continuously pushing out a steady stream of content.

In-Game Sprites & BGs (Left: After | Right: Before)

Next month, I'lll be taking a vacation. It's actually my first Big, Official one in a Long Time! I'm very excited for it. And while I did initially think about working on Alaris while I was traveling on trains or things like that, I decided to respect my own need to be a Human and just take a break for once in my life. I don't even want to say I Might work on things, because that sentiment alone will pressure me to make some progress. So yes. Next month, there will be no devlog or updates. But please rest assured, I am "working on Alaris" by letting myself just Exist and Rest Up!

Not an Alaris screenshot but it is market research that deserves to be included because I played House in Fata Morgana recently and it was Phenomenal!

Thank you all for understanding and your continued support. I'm extremely appreciative to have such a kind and patient community. Hope you all have a wonderful October filled with Fall Treats, and I'll see you in November! <3

[barbwritesstuff]

Thicker Than - Monthly Update

Happy full moon! I hope you've all had a wonderful month. I love October. Here in Australia, it's the right mix of spooky and springtime.

It's time for another Thicker Than demo update.

I made a lot of progress this month and am excited to see what everyone thinks.

This update features a couple of steamy scenes, a romance reveal, and a possible showdown with a hunter. I also added a few more options and choices in Chapter Five to make the time skip less jarring, especially for reluctant vampires. I hope you like it.

Play Thicker Than Demo

This is still a work in progress, so if you have any feedback, or spot any errors, please let me know.

As always, you can contact me by messaging me here on Tumblr, by emailing me (barbara truelove writes at g mail dot com), or by messaging me on my KoFi page.

You can also commission me and get weekly demo updates on my KoFi page for just $5 a month... which is like... a dollar per update. So, check it out if you haven't had the chance to yet.

Update Details:

As of 28th of October 2023

Chapter Five is finished

Chapter Six is in progress (currently incomplete)

Several bugs and spelling mistakes fixed

Additional Words: 33,875 (excluding commands)

Total Word Count: 132,971 (excluding commands )

[templetogavage]

Monthly Measurement: December 2023

To celebrate December 2023, here’s a roundup of 31 posts from last month that I quite enjoyed.

December 10th 22:35: https://www.tumblr.com/peanutbuttergainer/736379009300086785

This excellent photoset depicting a funnel feeding and its aftermath shows off @peanutbuttergainer in some excellent positions. Click through for some more photos.

2. December 12th 16:57: https://www.tumblr.com/exxjockk/736538917387550720/do-you-have-any-clothing-which-you-just-cant-fit

@exxjockk shows off in an outgrown shirt. Check out the rest of the tumblr for a record of his impressive gain.

3. December 13th 10:31: https://www.tumblr.com/mortiskiller/736605222096551936

Denial roleplay is always good- who doesn’t want to watch a fat guy get fatter while pretending he’s getting thinner any day now? @mortiskiller has a great sense for storytelling, and his voice is an excellent instrument- I haven’t watched the video in full, but I don’t need to in order to sincerely recommend it.

4. December 15th 1:38: https://www.tumblr.com/lovingbarbariancomputer/736752892123414528

While the associated story isn’t to my taste, the picture and the writing were sufficient for this one to make the cut. In general, @lovingbarbarbariancomputer tends to tie American values, culture, and aesthetics to fattening men in a way I personally quite enjoy- I’d recommend a quick sampling to see if you like any posts yourself. 5. December 15th 18:03: https://www.tumblr.com/gentlerubz/736814869056274432/something-ex-vegan-idk

Todd Ingram’s poutine habit practically demands this treatment. @gentlerubz delivers, showing the ex-vegan character after he’s completely ditched his old diet. Excellent art as always. I recommend skimming the blog for characters you’d like to see fattened up.

6. December 19th 11:24: https://www.tumblr.com/beauxned-blog/737152167138508800

Deeply embarrassing to find a man with so little body fat as attractive as I do, but sometimes football players just have something special. Much thanks to @beauxned-blog for sharing this picture of James Ferentz. 7. December 19th 17:40: https://www.tumblr.com/chasing-gayns/737175782238076928

At this time of year, anything Santa-themed tends to draw my focus. Cute guy in red chugging milk with the caption “Santa in training”? I’m easy to please. @chasing-gayns has made a pretty compelling advertisement for his Patreon here, if I’m honest, so I’m rewarding it by spreading it.

8. December 20th 7:58: https://www.tumblr.com/thetumarchive/737229785122668544

@thetumarchive is providing an important service here, supplying feedist Christmas prompts. A bit late to be sharing them on my part, perhaps, but there’s always next December.

9. December 20th 18:31: https://www.tumblr.com/overfed-meathead/737269629996695552

From the beginning, @overfed-meathead has had a unique look, due to the commitment to building muscle and fat, but this picture really shows off just how hard he’s gone on it. The only thing that could improve this photo would be him snacking with the other hand.

10. December 21st 9:31: https://www.tumblr.com/13uckaroo/737326241807482880

@13uckaroo mostly posts furry art, which is not usually my thing, so I had to share this piece, which is definitely my thing. I love the art style, and I love watching a gorgeous man turn into a Santa.

11. December 22nd 10:39: https://www.tumblr.com/overfed-n-overweight/737421120372932608

Thanks to @overfed-n-overweight for sharing this gem. Here’s a cute fat guy performing some athletic feats. Look at how proud of himself he is!

12. December 22nd 17:04: https://www.tumblr.com/fat-male-celebrities/737445350859784192

It’s not the largest change, but something about this progression posted by @fat-male-celebrities strikes me as particularly hot. Partially the beard, partially the grey, and partially that Mauricio Pochettino is a former player turned manager.

13. December 23rd 11:05: https://www.tumblr.com/thegainingdesk/737513343630344192

@thegainingdesk has done something I never would have expected- posted a gaining-related statement fic for The Magnus Archives. If you don’t know what that means, you may enjoy it less than I did, but it’s a short horror-themed piece about a man being fattened up by his landlord, so give it a shot even if you don’t have the fannish context. If you like this style, check out https://www.tumblr.com/thegainingdesk/737185437925457920/the-grommr-profile-of-dorian-grey.

14. December 24th 13:35: https://www.tumblr.com/pettyheft/737613389259538432

@pettyheft plays the part of a fat Santa chugging his milk. No cookies in sight, unfortunately- but perhaps they’ve already been eaten.

15. December 24th 16:43: https://www.tumblr.com/sandwichfella/737625208927748096/2-month-before-and-after-im-going-way-faster

@sandwichfella ended the year with a 2 month before and after. Not bad, though of course I’m looking forward to the 1 year before and after…I’ll keep an eye out.

16. December 24th 17:26: https://www.tumblr.com/largeluke24/737627917164658688/get-more-from-largeluke-on-patreon

A fat boy in a Christmas sweater shaking his belly like a bowlful of jelly. A very festive present from @largeluke24 this year.

17. December 24th 22:53: https://www.tumblr.com/thebeautyofbigger/737648509966254080

@thebeautyofbigger decided to dress up as Santa getting lightly buzzed before his big sleigh ride- I question whether this is ideal for someone about to make a trip around the world, but I approve of the extra calories.

18. December 25th 2:24: https://www.tumblr.com/boneyardbellybabe/737661769138536448

I actually have this same outfit, albeit in two parts rather than as a onesie. @boneyardbellybabe wears it better.

19. December 25th 10:52: https://www.tumblr.com/sometimesgaining/737693743745007616

What an excellent present! And I’m glad we dispensed with the need for wrapping paper, better to see what we’re going to get. @sometimesgaining looks incredible here- the bow is a nice touch, but the camera quality also does wonders for the already gorgeous belly on display.

20. December 25th 10:59: https://www.tumblr.com/ntls-24722/737694166033760256

The rare post from outside our little containment zone that I will include, here’s a post about how annoying it is when sexy Santa takes are muscular and not fat. Fat Santas are way sexier.

21. December 25th 18:31: https://www.tumblr.com/pigjolt/737722622306140160

I’ve already included a few along these lines, but @pigjolt looks so good in this festive sweatshirt chugging milk that I couldn’t resist. Merry Christmas indeed.

22. December 25th 23:33: https://www.tumblr.com/snackkattackk/737741579277713408

I love how little @snackkattackk is trying with this costume to be anything other than a sexy Santa. I mean, of course, you have the accoutrements, but that shirt is leaving little to the imagination.

23. December 26th 10:02: https://www.tumblr.com/fat-male-celebrities/737781147804778496

A fun selection of photos from @fat-male-celebrities showing a chubby footballer, Kevin Pannewitz. I don’t know the context for the last two photos, but I appreciate the belly peeking through.

24. December 26th 22:28: https://www.tumblr.com/roundnfuzzy/737828117777874944/onlyfans

Santa jiggling his bowlful of jelly. Transfixing preview from @roundnfuzzy.

25. December 27th 12:19: https://www.tumblr.com/devilmaychub/737880382974869504/every-day-ive-been-eating-so-much-cheesecake-late

A sweet little description of being a gainer with a sweet tooth. @devilmaychub may be straight, but his description here applies just as well for those of us on the other team. Grab a dessert while you read it.

26. December 27th 12:54: https://www.tumblr.com/anorthsidecub/737882576848666624

Sometimes a simple GIF is all you need. All it’s missing are some milk and cookies, which I will choose to imagine @anorthsidecub has just off-screen.

27. December 27th 15:04: https://www.tumblr.com/dangercocktail/737890742552395777

A beefcake showing off his belly. Enough said. @dangercocktail might be more known for fiction, but I might also check out the rest of this Tumblr now.

28. December 27th 16:04: https://www.tumblr.com/dilfcontent/737894555383447552

While his brother may have achieved fame outside of football circles recently, @dilfcontent has correctly identified which Kelce I’d like to see more of.

29. December 27th 16:33: https://www.tumblr.com/babelnimrod/737896386296692737

Just a big fat guy, looking fat. @babelnimrod always shocks me, somehow, whenever I see photos. I don’t know what it is, but that belly always looks fatter than I remember. Well done.

30. December 28th 22:23: https://www.tumblr.com/tytoalbion/738009007160213504

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gainer Content. Either way, a cute guy with a belly belongs on my blog. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good bulk.

31. December 30th 18:16: https://www.tumblr.com/urges-to-gain/738174632959655936/aftermath-of-a-pizza-stuffing-do-i-look-bigger

What can I say? A fat man eating and rubbing his jiggly belly is exactly what I like to see. Thanks to @urges-to-gain for giving us a nice note to end on.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays (or, at least, were grateful for the excuse to pig out). Here's to December, and to 2023, even if it's a bit late.

[velvetfoxgames]

Infinite Blue - October 2023 Update

Hello everyone! We've reached the estimated date for when Infinite Blue was slated to be released on Kickstarter. We're not quite there yet, but we have made some great progress. For this update, we'll go over where we're at and give some estimates for how long the rest of development will take.

Artwork

A general overview:

Sprites: Complete

Stickers: Complete

Alternative outfits: Complete

Item art: Nearly 83%

GUI: ~70%

Backgrounds: ~72%

Chatroom art: 88%

CGs: 70%

Some of these won't take very long to complete, such as the item art and chatroom art. CGs will need the longest period of time to complete with an estimated 4-5 months.

Writing

Writing is at about 80% complete. One route still requires some heavy revision, but the others will only need a few more passthroughs to be considered done. This should be accomplished in the next few months.

Music

The new music tracks are close to being finished! The original music from the demo is also getting an update. So we're well on track in regards to music.

Programming

A lot of features have been programmed in already, so the wildcard for this will probably be testing and certain things we haven't done yet, like setting up the currency system. We can't accurately give an estimate for programming, but we'll keep everyone updated as time goes on.

Voice Acting

Once all the scripts are finalized, we'll be able to work on voice acting. This should only take a few weeks to get the files in and ready to be programmed into the game.

So when will Infinite Blue release?

Taking everything into account, we're currently looking at the first quarter of 2024. We're a little disappointed it will be delayed, but based on observation, game delays are pretty much par for the course! And we wouldn't want to rush development, or the people working on the project.

The good news is we have made great progress, and we are on the road to finishing.

Thank you so much for your patience and for all of your support. We know how excited you are for this game, and we are too! We'll continue our monthly updates so you know how we're progressing. Thanks again 💙

Thanks for reading!

🌦️ For weekly updates and extra content, join our Patreon!

🌦️ Follow us on Twitter and join our Discord

[seepunkrun]

Another month, another OTW newsletter that makes no mention of what the org is doing to fight racist harassment on its platforms.

You know what else it doesn't mention? That the minutes for the March 27th Board Meeting have finally been posted. This was the meeting with the first ever update on the OTW’s diversity work.

Why not send the OTW a note requesting they add a regular section to future newsletters for updates on their diversity, equity, and inclusion work? You can send it to Communications or the OTW Board. If you've already sent them a note, send another. I did.

Here's what I wrote:

It's been almost a year since the OTW published its vision statement pledging greater transparency and I am once again writing to ask that you add a dedicated section to the monthly OTW newsletters to provide updates on the organization's anti-racist work. Making this a regular part of your newsletters will show this work is a priority for the org and that there is progress being made, even if it's incremental. For example, April's newsletter missed an opportunity to join the conversation about racism in fannish spaces when it didn't even mention that the minutes from the March 27th Board Meeting have been posted, a meeting that included the first ever update on the OTW's diversity work. A summary of this update would have been an excellent addition to the newsletter. After all, fans can't read this information if they don't know it's out there!

You’re welcome to borrow or adapt my letter. If you write your own, considering sharing it to encourage others, and please, spread the word.

And, now, a little fact-finding poll:

[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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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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