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borkthemork · 3 years

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Got tagged by @calamity-unlocked for the procrastinating writer ask, and might as well! Always fun to get away from the pains of editing, RIP to Falling Down Dry’s eighth chapter.

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

26.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

220,000.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

A lot. Just...a lot before I got into Ao3 so let’s keep it at that. But mainly I wrote for SU, Amphibia, and FMA.

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

-Death of the Ego

I would say this happened because I wrote this at the right place at the right time. People had been theorizing that Steven would get corrupted ever since the trailer to SUF, and I originally made this as a one-shot...until people encouraged me to start exploring it.

Wouldn’t say it was my best work, but every time I wrote something it meant I improved slowly, and I would always appreciate that no matter the weather.

-Doesn’t Have to be Solo

Oh man, I loved this one! Just a series of connected events with Steven going on his road trip, and learning more about himself and who he was along the way. It also was the fic where I needed a lot of beta readers as time went on, so it made me learn a lot about grammar, prose, and overall the internal rules I developed while writing in general.

-Beyond the Music Box

This was the surprising one! This fic was originally a place where I could archive all the drabbles I written on Tumblr, and y’all really wanted it due to how chaotic my tag format is for this stuff.

It’s surprising for me because I didn’t expect a lot of love when it came to my casual writings since they take I don’t know an hour or so in creating, so thank you everyone who encouraged me to do this.

Just ignore the fact I’ve been lazy at updating the drabbles, shhhh.

-Building One Up

Marcanne, my beloved. Me and my friend kept talking about how Anne was a buff dork and this was at a time where no one really focused on that except mainly on Sasha when it came to strength (for obvious reasons).

I found this slander (I’m joking, by the way) and decided that I needed to write my feelings out on the topic.

And y’all agreed with me so dthdfthtfhtfht.

This also was the first time I had to hone in on a new form of characterization entirely, being that I infused the character’s thoughts and feelings into the way the prose flowed out itself. For Marcy, I went on a pretty analytical front with this piece, and it helped me get into the groove for people like Anne and Sasha and many others over the course of writing.

-Late Night Talks

I didn’t expect this one to blow up at all. I wrote this at one a.m. and y’all just grabbed this fic and ran, I am still confused.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I respond to comments all the time because comments just give a lot of serotonin, you know? Someone took their time out of their day to remark on things I did in the work itself, and it’s just very validating to see. It also creates this environment that says, “Yes, I see you, and you can interact with me anytime you want.” so it’s all about that friendliness unless you’re rude to me back.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Pizza for One. Had an angst kick when SUF occurred so I milked it whenever my motivation got the best of me.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t write crossovers unless you mean a crossover of characters to a new environment and set of rules. I would gladly write characters into the FMA world, oh my Lord!

But I guess the craziest stuff I’d written would just be comedy sketches? Best example would be Joe and Bessie having kids and Marcy having a conniption over it, so take that what you will.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t believe so? I did get one person on my old SU fic asking me to continue while giving me unsolicited advice but they apologized not soon after.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do write smut. I write it privately but I adore characterization and intimacy, and so I try to make rather domestic pieces that connect to the characters themselves. If it has a certain kink, I make sure to research it so I could understand why the character finds the act rather arousing, and I just want to pay respects to the act itself.

Even with our current day and age, there’s still a lot of conservative anti-sex rhetoric going around, and I always try to view the act of physical intimacy in the same lens as one who adores love in all its different facets and forms.

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope to that either!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sadly, no. I do art trades with people and those are lovely to do since we get to brainstorm and make art together, but I’ve never co-written work with someone. If anyone wants to do that, then sure, just hit me up.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

It changes every season, every morning tide, every peace loving hour on the Planet Earth.

It’s Marcanne, right now.

When it comes to ships I always go with the Friends-to-Lovers dynamic, but a lot of the ships I have come from seeing the amount of intrigue in how that type of ship would play out. That could be with Kannao and the amount of commentary over Japanese gender biases, or Royai with their very complicated but extensive adoration and loyalty to one another.

For Marcanne, it’s all about that playful banter that could definitely bubble out of the surface if you just (bangs table) allow them to communicate and be transparent fully. (cries)

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Sadly, that Anne fic with her confiding in Hop Pop after they get settled in her house. After what happened with the sneak peek, I realized that this fic would need a lot of build-up to be satisfying and I didn’t have the strength to do a 10k build-up to Anne crying.

Maybe I’ll finish it, we’ll see.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Writing strengths would be concise prose and characterization. I am a worry wart, I worry over the importance of each paragraph and how it all forms and transitions together, it’s just a part of how I work a great deal of the time. And man, characterization is the big one for me, if I don’t understand how the people work and could theoretically function in the story itself, I feel absolutely lost.

Which is also the reason why I’m struggling right now with FDD Chapter Eight, because Marcy’s reaction to Yunan keeps eluding my grasp!

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

I overthink a lot. Concise prose is great but I force myself to get all fancy and massive with details since I’ve got to unless I want a specific part to be so quick and unmeaningful, and this leads to pacing issues or just not enough intended time for people to breathe in the fic itself.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I need to get a beta to make sure I don’t sound like an asshole, haha. I do love other languages, they are beautiful and can add a lot towards an audience who does know the language itself, but it depends on the work I’m doing.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

That would be uhhhhh, my memory is lacking but Minecraft. The whole videogame had a wish fulfillment atmosphere to it, and since I got rather obsessed by how anything could happen in the engine itself I went with it.

19) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

When it comes to me, my own perception of my art changes day to day. Back when I first posted the Lapidot fic I thought it was the best thing I’ve ever done even though now, with the knowledge I have from workshops and betas, that the style I drafted had a lot of grammar and prose mistakes that I wouldn’t make in the future. It is pretty subjective, but for now I think the best fic I could look at right now would be amestrian catcher (set something ablaze).

Thank you Calamity once again for this! And I’ll be tagging @resplendent-chungus, @aanau, and @golddragon387!

#tag game #personal

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whatsarasaid · 4 years

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Aaaaay, since I love your writing style, I decided to seize the opportunity and send you a prompt! 😍💞 So, how about a drabble about the first time Fragile brought Higgs to her beach? Thank you!

Evidently, I really wanted this because I wrote it faster than anything I’ve ever written before. It also went from a drabble to a mini fic. Thanks for the prompt, Anon! I had a great time with it. 🖤

title: shoreline sickness. fandom: death stranding. rating: teen & up. word count: approx. 1200. characters: higgs monaghan, fragile.

—

Click, click; click, click.

The rapid succession of the pen nib contracting and retracting kept in time with Higgs’ thoughts.

Space was limited in the compact cities, so when Fragile Express and Western Courier Co. merged, they opted to share the office located in Fragile Express’s central hub. It was tight, but Higgs didn’t mind. It gave him a front-row seat to his new partner’s abilities. Fragile wasn’t one to show off, but neither did she attempt to hide her extensive DOOMS. On top of accompanying premium shipments through hazardous trails dense with BTs, he often caught her jumping throughout the facility when she was in a hurry. She’d blip in-and-out like a flashbulb, the scent of sea-salt always trailing close behind, so pungent it taunted him with its taste.

Click, click; click, click.

Higgs watched her as she mapped out new routes for their outfit. She was lost in her problem-solving with her pretty brow slanted in concentration, the green glow of the three-dimensional landscape reflecting off her delicate features as she scrutinized its geography. What marvels had she seen? How could she just sit there, scrolling through maps, when she had experienced The Beach? The Beach.

Click, click.

Higgs pondered the possibilities a link to The Beach could bring, how it could connect them. Knit the broken fabric of humanity back together. Sure, they were knotting the world through cargo, but could that grid be stretched further? Net-in the corners of civilization? Without access, he’d never know.

“Is everything alright?” Fragile interrupted, “You’re staring.”

“My apologies,” Higgs shook his head and graced her with his most charming smile, “Sometimes I feel like my brain gallops this way and that and I’m just along for the ride.”

“Well, let me know if you crash into any ideas about these routes. I don’t know where else to cut corners and still keep the porters safe.”

Higgs rolled his chair over to the holographic drafting table where she was working. He had no qualms about saddling right up right next to her, their shoulders pressed together. Getting in another’s space revealed a lot about them. That Fragile didn’t shy away said something about her bravery. Whether or not that bravery was foolish, he had yet to learn.

Pointing with his pen, Higgs traced out a mountain passageway through the three-dimensional projection, “We used to go through here every once in a while. It’s a pain in the ass—rocky and overgrown—but no BTs. It’ll cut down a bit of time. Maybe twenty minutes.”

Fragile hummed in approval. He knew she counted every second. Any reduction in delivery time was a win. As she entered the calculations into a separate datapad, losing herself in the betterment of her business, Higgs realized this was his chance.

Propping an elbow on the desk with his chin on the heel of his palm, he casually threw out, “There might be a way to use The Beach.”

Fragile kept typing but quirked an eyebrow in interest, “How so?”

“Not sure yet, but I’ve been turning it over,” he shrugged, “Never been to a Beach, though, so I’m not familiar with the parameters, physics—hell, anything. But it seems like a waste not to look into it.”

After throwing a glance to the clock in the corner of her datapad, Fragile stopped working to meet his gaze, “I’ve got an hour before I need to be at the sorting bay, why don’t I take you to The Beach to get your creativity going?”

Higgs almost dropped his pen. Convincing her was easier than he thought it would be. She really just offered to take him to The Beach. The Beach. Like it was nothing. His jaw went slack as he started to comprehend what was about to happen. Ever since he’d dragged that body to the grove outside of that rusted-out Oklahoma bunker, felt the majesty of decay seeping out through its seams, he had longed for this.

“Really, Higgs,” Fragile mirrored his position on the desk, cheek braced with a fist, “If you wanted to go so bad, you could have asked me sooner. I wouldn’t have minded.”

“That obvious?”

“That obvious. Now, come on,” she rose from her seat, “let’s go to The Beach.”

Unsure of the process, Higgs stood and let her guide him in front of her with her hands bracketing his shoulders. The height difference was awkward, and she had to reach. She said something about the jump requiring touch, so he hooked his hands over the crooks of her elbows. It was almost like an embrace.

“Cozy,” he quipped, “Don’t you need your fancy umbrella for this?”

“Not if we’re just going to my Beach and back. But taking people isn’t easy,” Fragile shushed him as she closed her eyes, “Stay quiet, so I can concentrate.”

They lapsed into silence, and Higgs became aware of their tandem breathing. It seemed like a sacred ceremony. Beaches were personal, and Fragile was permitting him to see hers. He stilled in reverence, allowing his neck to dip until his forehead grazed the stray hairs at the top of her head. As he exhaled and his lids slipped shut, he let himself be consumed by this prayer.

(In a world where whales leapt from tar pits and the dead haunted the earth, belief in the supernatural made utter sense to him.)

The air fissured and snapped with chirality, electricity reverberating in his teeth, leaving an acrid flavor in his mouth. It was like they were in a vacuum, a void, where there was no air, no light, no sound, and yet everything in the universe was pressing in on them all at once. For a split-second, he felt it again. That undercurrent of power which crackled from corpses as they necrotized.

It felt so good.

It was over as quickly as it began. The world came rushing back with such speed that it made his ears pop. But it was different. Instead of steel beneath his boots, he felt the ground gave way as pliant sand. A soft breeze whispered against his eyelashes. The air was dense with moisture.

Higgs dared to open his eyes.

Unraveling his fists from the nylon fabric of Fragile’s jumpsuit, he took a step back and observed the coastline before him. It was monochromatic. Black razor ridges towered against a silvery sky, while smaller jagged rocks poked through the dusty blankets of sand. Along the shore, stalks of kelp rolled in the white-capped tide. The ocean depths beyond called out as the hush of water faded in-and-out, a most perfect symphony for these holy grounds.

It was everything.

Higgs let out a long low whistle and turned to give Fragile a wink.

She smiled at his antics, “I’m guessing you approve?”

“It’s beautiful,” he returned her grin with a lopsided smirk that revealed a single too-sharp canine, “Absolutely fuckin’ beautiful.”

#death stranding #higgs monaghan #fragile (death stranding)#prompts #anonymous

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i-got-these-words · 5 years

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If the 19 days gang were in a Boku no hero AU, what would their quirks be????

So, my first reaction to this was: Wtf is a boku no?

I have since enlightened myself, but I fear my little drabble is not worthy of being a crossover; my insight into this universe starts and ends with Fandom (Wikia) lol.

I’m sorry, anon.

I tried.

#ugly crying

It was way past curfew. But that was nothing new.

High-pitched winds howled and hissed into the night like avenging harpies, hostile and hungry.

Barred windows rattled as blustering gales belted the building. Bitter. Biting. Brutal.

Thunder rumbled, restrained and reticent, unlike the tempest tearing through the city, and Guan Shan watched as an answering flash of light flickered in Zheng Xi’s eyes.

“What the fuck do they want with him?” Guan Shan asked, pissed and impatient. He could feel the charged particles in the air buzzing with Zheng Xi’s rage and he wondered, not for the first time, how Zheng Xi could look so calm and composed as he cracked the skies in half.

“He’s an empath,” He Tian murmured, his voice low, his words measured. Almost like he was talking to himself. It was the kind of tone Guan Shan had come to associate with He Tian reflecting, deliberating, piecing details and drafting plans.

“A low-level empath,” Guan Shan countered, trembling because how dare they abduct Jian Yi. Delicate, defenceless, dramatic Jian Yi, who could drone for hours about the unjust legislation pertaining to Quirk Censorship and Suppression. “He’s practically quirkless.”

A crackle of static.

A brief blitz of purple-white around Zheng Xi’s clenched fists.

The smell of an electric burn.

“He is just an empath, isn’t he?” He Tian turned to Zheng Xi, brows knitting close.

They hadn’t switched the lights on, and the shadows cast through the windows chased each other through the classroom, over the chairs, and into the corners.

“Zheng Xi?” Guan Shan prompted when the silence stretched too long to pass for a pause. “What is it?”

A weighted sigh. “He didn’t want me telling –” Zheng Xi cut himself off. And Guan Shan quelled the urge to scoff. In a world where secrecy was paramount to their survival, the quartet had pledged honesty between themselves – so that at least, in the safety of their circle, they could be true to themselves and to their quirks. “You already know that he can sense emotions, but he can also… augment them. Absorb them.”

“Create them,” He Tian sullenly surmised. “Shit.”

Mind control.

Guan Shan reeled with the possibilities that that level of power presented. There was no way Quirk Control was going to let that kind of ability roam freely. Unreined. Unchecked. And there was no way the Anti-Hero Association was going to miss out on making it theirs.

“We’re all he’s got,” Zheng Xi stumbled over his words and the static in the air thickened. “He didn’t want you thinking he’d forged our friendship with his quirk and –”

He Tian interrupted with a hand on Zheng Xi’s shoulder. “We’ll get him back. And we’ll make those fuckers regret ever laying a hand on him.”

Nodding, Zheng Xi looked up at Guan Shan, purple shocks sparking in the depth of his eyes. “We can’t get him back without you.”

Guan Shan blinked. Realised what Zheng Xi was asking of him. “I can’t control it yet,” he rasped, afraid but also furious that he’d had to spend his entire life pretending to hone a mediocre hydrokinetic ability, when, really, he was a blood bender. Unrefined, his quirk was volatile as it was versatile.

“But we’ve been working on it,” He Tian added, a soft smile caressing his lips. Offering his hand, palm up, towards Guan Shan, He Tian said, “You can do this. I know you can.”

What if I kill somebody?

Like he’d read Guan Shan’s mind, He Tian offered his other hand too, two palms facing the ceiling. Waiting. Calming. “You control it. It doesn’t control you.”

Guan Shan hesitated, but he’d had this same discussion with He Tian time and again. When they were alone together, training. And, simply, when they were alone. He knew He Tian was right. He knew he couldn’t afford to be afraid, not now with Jian Yi in the clutches of the AHA.

Gingerly, Guan Shan placed his hands just above He Tian’s, hovering, but not quite touching. He felt the familiar rush of blood. Marvelled at the pull, the push, the beats of an intimate pulse. Sensed its warmth, its strength, its urgency.

He and He Tian must have been standing like that for a while – Guan Shan losing himself in the rhythm of a river of blood as it propelled through the chambers of He Tian’s heart, as it thrummed under He Tian’s skin, and prickled just under Guan Shan’s palms – because Zheng Xi cleared his throat.

“What about you, He Tian?” Zheng Xi asked, electrical currents in the air zinging with exigency. “I know you’ve got the skipping down, but… have you ever travelled with someone?”

Dropping his left hand, He Tian turned back to Zheng Xi. “Yeah,” he said, throwing Guan Shan a tender look. “But only once.”

He Tian had gone through life feigning a subpar speed quirk; his ability to trap time – manipulate it, make it his own – would have made him a prime target for the fuckheads recruiting for the AHA.

“Could you do it again?” Standing from his seat, Zheng Xi took He Tian’s free hand in one of his own. “Could you do it with more than one person?”

A thunderbolt sliced through the darkness beyond the barred windows. The whip of a sonic wave shattered through the wailing of wet winds.

Guan Shan stilled as Zheng Xi slid a hand over his, their palms just shy of being in contact – because no blood bender could know the touch of life.

The tingling electrical tides touring through, above, and under Zheng Xi’s skin made Guan Shan’s heart stutter and, between that and the torrent of He Tian’s blood, Guan Shan could feel his quirk tripping over itself in excitement, the bloodlust so real and raw he could taste it.

“I don’t know,” He Tian replied, solemnly. “But I’ll be damned if we don’t try.”

#19 days #tianshan #zhanyi #bnha #boku no hero academia #he tian #mo guan shan #zhan zheng xi #jian yi #drabble #fanfic #fanfiction #ask-box #my hero academia

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katiesthoughtson · 3 years

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A Year of Hobbies (Halfway)

Sometime in 2020, I was hit with a terrifying realization - maybe I don't do anything. This, naturally, was a bit of an exaggeration. I have plenty of hobbies pre-this exercise including reading, yoga, and taking care of my growing forest of houseplants. However, these core hobbies, for the most part, have been a part of my routine for as long as I can remember.

Like most people, the COVID pandemic brought on a period of serious self-reflection and careful reconsideration of my lifestyle. One of the many changes that I began to embrace was trying new things. It was brought on, in part, by the sudden need to entertain myself over months at home, as well as my discovery of the role of novelty in happiness (as I learned on TikTok). This period, coincidentally, was the first time in my life (well, since age 5) that I haven't been in school or working full-time. Or both. Free time had to be filled and so, I challenged myself to try one or two new hobbies each month. I created a list at the end of 2020 with all the possibilities and have picked a few each month. Some have stuck. Some flopped. But all were attempted.

Here are my results.

January: Cross-Stitching and Writing Fanfiction

I figured for my introduction to this challenge, I'd start by resurrecting two hobbies that had fallen to the wayside.

Cross-stitching was recommended to me by a friend, irritated by my inability to watch a movie without looking at my phone. I am one of those people that needs something to do with my hands though, so she passed me a cross-stitching set, gave me a quick tutorial, and off we were.

For January, I bought a new pattern from an Etsy shop and worked on it as often as I could. I typically did so while watching The Crown, feeling particularly British. It was fun, but very slow work. My least favorite part is easily threading the needle. I did like the final product in the end. In the months since, admittedly, I have not picked it back up. I would like to though, so maybe it'll be resurrected eventually for the second time.

Writing Fanfiction is a much older hobby from back in my tween days. I wrote a number of Fanfictions that are buried somewhere in a dark corner of the Internet now. I figured I should see if the joy of writing Fanfiction has stuck over the years or gone to the wayside.

The latter transpired. I wrote a few long Fanfiction pieces, some shorter drabbles, and didn't find any of it particularly engaging anymore. I admire the craft, I appreciate all the writers who write beautiful works for no compensation, and I respect it immensely. However, writing Fanfiction is no longer for me.

February: Origami and Dancing

Another two hobbies that deserved resurrection.

I did a LOT of origami in elementary school. I probably made 1000 paper cranes in 5th grade alone. I could've done them in my sleep. The joy of getting origami paper back in my hands was so awesome. It felt like stepping back into a time capsule and unlocking my 5th-grade self. I can no longer autopilot cranes, but I pulled up some YouTube tutorials and started folding. I've made all kinds of shapes - whales, cranes, hearts, dogs, crabs, fish. Not all of it was easy. In fact, some of them were very frustrating as I twisted and tore and unfolded papers, but I pushed through. This challenge isn't always going to be easy. Not all of these hobbies are going to come naturally, but you can still have fun.

One of the highlights of this challenge has been learning that I can still have fun without being perfect. Am I creating the most beautiful origami crab to ever exist? No. But what counts is the fun I had doing it.

I do love origami still, although I do it less often. Mostly because I don't really know what to do with all of them. But, any opportunity I can, when writing a letter or giving a gift, I pull out a fresh sheet and get to folding.

I was a dancer for many, many years. My "retirement" came at 18, after a 13-year long career spanning from hip-hop to Broadway to classical ballet. To get back into dancing, I pulled up more tutorials on YouTube (what a wonderful website) and taught myself K-Pop routines. There are so many fun K-Pop dance choreographies and videos for them all. Over the month, I learned NCT 127's "Regular," Blackpink's "How You Like That," Twice's "Fancy" and "I Can't Stop Me," and Aespa's "Black Mamba."

My favorite part about dancing was the exercise. These routines provide a serious sweat and are now one of my ideal ways to workout. In fact, it doesn't even seem like working out, and although I tell myself I'll just do the 30-minute tutorial, I find myself practicing the routine even longer and into the next days to perfect my moves (or just flail a bit less). I might not be ready to join a girl group, but I am having a lot of fun remembering my love for dance.

March: Journaling and Coffee

Journaling has always seemed so aesthetic and a huge recommendation from professionals for dealing with mental health. Finally, I caved and decided to give it a try. One of my primary motivations was documenting these (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime events. I don't want to look back at this time when I'm old and not remember what it felt like to read the news or witness these global events or all the ways that life has changed. I bought a notebook from Barnes & Noble and got started.

At first, it was tough. I had no idea what to write about some days and found myself mostly just spiraling about my problems. In fact, I was even worried that it was a detriment to my mental health and encouraging me to ruminate more. This tide quickly turned and now I journal every day, even 4 months later. It has become a helpful way for me to express myself, process issues, and monitor my growth. I love reading back on my early journal entries and reflecting on the problems I was worried about that no longer are that big of a deal. I am now a complete proponent of journaling.

My second hobby of the month was coffee - trying new ones and making my own at home. My parents have a fancy Keurig machine that I've never truly attempted to use. So, I dug out the user manual and actually figured out what all the buttons do. I tried different types of coffee, learned how to froth milk at home, and bought syrups. Dare I say, I now prefer my own homemade coffee, made just the way I like in the comfort of my kitchen.

I also took this month as an opportunity to order all kinds of things from Starbucks. I tried matcha lattes (fine, but not my favorite. I need to experiment more with these), a nitro cold brew (ew), and a macchiato (good stuff). I mixed up my normal iced caramel lattes with cold foam and different milk. I am now a much more confident Starbucks consumer with full awareness of the menu. It has always been a goal of mine to have a coffee order longer than 3 words and through my March crash course, I achieved it.

April: Baking and Watching Movies

Over the years, baking has been suggested to me as another mental health related activity. Many of my anxious peers like baking as a way to calm themselves, but I, a person lacking a sweet tooth, have never attempted it. In April, I fired up Pinterest and attempted 3 recipes: blondies, brownies, and pecan chocolate chip pie.

I can see the appeal of baking. It was really calming to mix all the ingredients together, follow a recipe, and see the finished product. The blondies were probably my favorite of the three. Honestly, I can't see myself baking all that often in the future. Like I mentioned, I don't really have much of a sweet tooth, so all my desserts were handed off to my family to enjoy. I know that there's baking that isn't sweet, and I'd like to approach that territory eventually, but I would say that baking probably isn't going to be a go-to hobby.

As mentioned above, I do not like watching movies. They are long and I simply cannot sit still for that long. However, I am tired of movie references constantly going over my head. I decided to expand my repertoire by finding a list online of the (apparently) best 100 movies of all time and decided to put a dent in it. I didn't get through them all, but I did watch The Devil Wears Prada, The Matrix, Heathers, and Spirited Away. A movie a week for a person who previously probably only watched 4 movies a year was a big step up.

I liked all 4 of the movies I watched. I made time for them in my week, sometimes splitting them up into multiple viewing sessions. I wouldn't say I'm a film expert yet, but I'm on my way. Slowly.

May: Making TikToks and Crossword Puzzles

I watch a lot of TikToks. Too many, some could say. I love their witty humor and creativity and spins on a common concept. I have learned that there is much going on in those clips.

Making TikToks is harder than I expected. I made a few that will stay in the drafts forever. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out filters and transitions and green screens. I did post a few, delving into booktok with a reading recap at the end of the month and posting some aesthetic content, but I can't say that I found making them fun. I liked it a bit and I could see how it would be fun, but for me, I found the process of editing and filming and trying to sync everything up perfectly to be a process that I personally do not find enjoyable. I'll stick to be a consumer, not a creator.

I also started doing crossword puzzles and I have a newfound love. I've done them anywhere I can find them, although my favorites are from the New Yorker and the New York Times. There's something so satisfying about seeing the words come together and having that flashlight moment when you solve a clue. I started doing them with my brother too, which made it even more fun as a bonding experience. I have been consistently doing crosswords ever since and cannot imagine my life without them. Big fan. I love that there is finally an outlet for all my years of random accumulated knowledge.

June: Running and Blogging

I hear many people talk about the joy of running. I admire them and their physical strength. I have been doing cardio throughout the year, so I figured running wouldn't be a huge transition. I laced up my sneakers and downloaded the Couch to 5K running plan.

My first few runs were done on the treadmill at home to get a feel for it without public judgment. I was surprised by how exhausted they made me. After working out daily, I did not think running should've had that much impact on my body, but alas. I eventually started running outdoors to appreciate the wind and look at something that wasn't the wall of my basement. Perhaps picking this hobby in the heat of the summer was a bad idea, but I ran at sunset so it was a bit cooler and I had beautiful views. I actually really like running outside. However - tragedy struck. I did something to my knee, putting me on the sidelines for about a week. I iced up my knee and did some light walks. As I'm writing this, it's the end of the month and I can say that I don't love running. I definitely like other kinds of exercise more, but I do want to return to this at some point when it isn't boiling and humid outside. I haven't totally given up yet.

This, what you are reading, is the aforementioned blog. Setting everything up and deciding on a name took some time. Thinking about ideas took more time, as did drafting and writing the posts. I also underestimated this hobby too, much like TikTok. I figured I could post weekly, if not multiple times a week, but this was not the reality. I do really like blogging though and would like to keep up with it moving forward. I'm not going to commit myself to any kind of schedule, but it does feel nice to have a name picked out and a platform established for my future blogging endeavors.

The Present

That brings us to now - halfway through, 12 hobbies attempted.

This challenge has been incredibly fun. I've loved having something new to talk about and something fun going on every month. I like stretching myself to do new things and attempt hobbies that I've always seen others enjoy. It's been hard and there have been some ups and downs, for sure. Not all of my hobbies have brought me immense joy. There were roadblocks and stumbles and a literal physical injury, but I do feel great about my progress. I've gotten exactly what I wanted out of this challenge so far - an expanded mindset, novelty, and happiness.

That's all I can really ask for.

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carpemermaidtales · 6 years

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So tell us about writing Changing Tides! It was incredible.

I’ve let this ask simmer in my inbox for a little bit just because I was so elated and overwhelmed to receive it that I needed that long to gather my thoughts lol!! Thank you so much for sending this ask!!! So, Changing Tides. Almost 110,000 words (it actually was over 110k in its final draft and was trimmed down in editing). Basically three stories in one because of the timeline that begins in 5th year, then skips to 8th year, and then ends in a postwar setting a few years after 8th year. I’m not even sure what to say when talking about the fic other than Big™️ haha!Basically, I’m crazy and jived with so many of @saltkat‘s lovely likes and prompts that I had the wild idea to set out to write all of the prompts provided in a chronological order so I could include everything requested.I owe giant thanks and allllll of my appreciation to all of my beta/alpha readers and people that I reached out to with specific questions. Basically anyone who let me talk their ear off with my wibbles, I love you all! Without their help this fic would still be waffling around in a mess of notes wondering how to grow up big and strong to be a fic someday.Going to cut it here behind a read more for some spoilers and because I ramble on a bit haha.

Deciding that the fic would need to be a slight canon divergence happened pretty early on in the planning process, and it was a lot of moving parts to keep straight on the timeline, even with a fic that still follows most of the canon events with only slight tweaks in order to get Draco into Dumbledore’s Army and giving him an inciting reason to start questioning whether or not he believes in the cause his father is pledged to. It was quite a challenge and changing this one thing still had me thinking of a surprising number of things affected! I’m not sure if I’ll be taking on any more canon divergence, slight or more in depth, any time soon because it was a lot to keep in order. It’s one of the things that made this fic’s outline the most intense and detailed one I’ve ever worked with, and that’s coming from someone who plans out a lot about my fics lol!!One of the other things I decided pretty early on in the process was Harry’s love of gardening and plants and finding peace with them when he needed to stick his fingers into dirt as a coping mechanism for when things got to be too much. Out of everything, his journey through 8th year and into adulthood is probably my favorite part of the whole story. I’m extremely proud of this fic, it now firmly holds the top spot for my favorite work, and I’m just a little bit impressed that I was able to write such a long fic in two months (because I lost pretty much all of August due to the wedding). There were times (often) when I worried about the scope I was going for and whether it was too big to stay on pace. I basically ended up writing 50k of it in like two weeks towards the end of the project.One of the other things I wanted to explore a little with in this fic (and we’re getting into some spoiler-ish things here, though it’s not really a spoiler for the story line) was to play around with non-penatrative sex, which is how the 69/fingering scene came about. I’m really pleased with that whole scene!I ended up with a fic that’s a canon divergence where Draco joins Dumbledore’s Army, an 8th year fic that begins to deal with ptsd and mending bridges and creating a sense of camaraderie between the other 8th years, and an auror partners fic where Harry also gets to find out more pieces of his past with connections to family he didn’t know about and reconnects with his culture as well as comes full circle on the mental health front while also making important choices about his happiness and his career. Which... is all just so wild to me that I was able to write all of these things into one fic and find a common thread to connect it all together. When I write it out like that -- and that’s not even including all of the other little details that are in the fic -- it sounds like five different fic ideas, but it’s actually all together in one story!Writing such a long and involved story definitely takes a little bit of a toll. I haven’t written anything, save for a couple of drabbles, since completing it and am slowly working myself back up to other projects I need to return to and new writing projects I’m doing this year. I’ve said a couple of times that 2018 is the year I’m focusing on more of my own WIPs, so slowly but surely I’m dipping my toes back into writing.Thank you so much for sending me this ask!!!

#carpemermaid answers #anonymous #carpemermaid writing #more like carpemermaid babbles her little mermaid head off while talking with the void lol #Anonymous

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