the wings that you burn turn to ashes, my dear

I've officially changed my project for April's Camp NaNoWriMo.

One of my goals for 2021 was to get back to working on One New Message, specifically addressing it's structural issues. As the draft stands now, it's a great skeleton, but it doesn't have any meat on its bones. As I read through it again, trying to decide if I was throwing an "official" plot structure at it, I realized that, while I can save a lot of the dialogue, my writing has changed a lot since I wrote the original draft.

I started this novel in 2014, after I had a dream about Andrew McMahon, a girl working in the mall, and a fashion show (a plot idea long since abandoned). I finished it as part of NaNo 2015, and got about halfway-ish through its sequel, One More Song. I have a better idea of where this story needs to go now, and I'm going to take a crack at the rewrite.

I'm in the process of making a new Scrivener file for it, compiling notes from three different reviews (from Bailey, Meg, and Meghan - Matt read all of it while sitting in the lobby before work one morning and just kept coming over like, "AMIE WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WANT TO RIP MY HEART OUT WITH THIS SHIT also I found a typo" so his review doesn't count) as well as the reread I did in 2018.

Yes, I let this shit sit since 2018. I am not good with second drafts.

But, with my notes for each scene, and being able to pull from the first draft when I need to, I feel like this is a suitable project for this April. I'm also going to be running write ins for my region, which we haven't done in the past for Camp, so I feel good about my chances of getting a lot done. Even if it's not finished on April 30, I haven't worked on original works in so long that it's an accomplishment either way.

I've also written a few original scenes for this round of Yahtzee at getyourwordsout. Those need some polishing, but I'll post those over here eventually.

Right now I'm feeling very productive, and surprisingly not harping on myself for everything I'm fixing in this novel. If this draft is successful, then I can look at improving it further in hopes of maybe getting something of publishable quality. We'll see how it goes. ♥

I finally made a timeline for the Steve/Darcy fics I'm working on and it tops out at 11 one-shots.

Eleven. O_o

that's a project that's never gonna get finished

The good news is that four are already drafted. runicmagitek has parts #1 and #2 for beta, and parts #4 and #7 are written - #4 had originally been #3 until I made the timeline and changed things around, and #7 is the prompt that started this entire thing in the first place. Part #3 is part of a songfic challenge on tumblr, to Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes," so assuming I don't drag my feet on it, I might be able to knock it out fairly quickly and then beta #3 and #4 together.

I also get to see Andrew McMahon again on Friday, and I'm driving down to CT for the concert. Writing this week will probably be random, but I've also already met February's goal for word count, so I can afford to miss two days if I need to.

Also, my fics for chocolateboxcomm went live this week! I managed three fics for the challenge that I'm rather proud of. I'll post links over here once authors are revealed next week.

So. Gonna give DW a go again as far as actually updating things goes. I'm still slightly annoyed that I no longer have access to the email to get my old account back so the username doesn't match all of my other accounts, but that's okay. The Tiny Ninja moniker is now linked to not only one of my favorite RP characters I've written, but also all of my crafting stuff, so it's a fitting second choice. My intention is to use this as a writing space, a rambling space, and hopefully find some community again, the way I had with LJ (before it shit the bed) and IJ (before all of my games fell apart and I lost touch with everyone).

As far as NaNoWriMo went, well. It officially went off the rails about mid-November. My writing partner took a step back to focus on her health, so finishing Ghosts on the Corner is on hold for a while. Her health is 100 percent more important and we can finish that in Camp in April, maybe. I hit a block with the Elemental Story, and while I managed to drop 10k in words on it, I feel as if I haven't even started and now don't know where to go because I write fight scenes so poorly. I'll get back there eventually... I hope.

Also, my grandmother passed the week of Thanksgiving. She was 89, fiercely independent, and was able to pass as she wanted to, in her own home on her own terms. It's one thing to know a thing will happen, and yet another to know that she wasn't "sick," just that it was her time. This Christmas will be the first time I won't be writing her thank you notes (she kept all the ones I wrote her, and my mother has them waiting for me when I come down for Christmas), and I will be making her peanut butter ball recipe and sobbing the whole time.

Instead, I started writing whatever the fuck I wanted, as one does. And that ended up being Steve Rogers/Darcy Lewis fic that started by finishing a prompt I was given on tumblr and it then sprawled into its own series. I'm picking and choosing what movie canon to use - because let's face it, a lot of the MCU sucks - and what snippets I want to write. I'm hopeful that people will actually read it and enjoy it, though I'm likely not going to edit anything until after the new year. The series still needs a title, too.

I did write Highlander fic for the first time in a looooooong time! I hope the recipient enjoys it :3 Trying not to be nervous while I await their reaction.

...I should also finish the damn rewrite of One New Message, but I'm lazy. Should also import the parts of tumblr I want to save, namely the #shitjonsays entries, but that will have to be later, since I'm hellbent on not looking at tumblr on the 17th.

For now, it's a week until Christmas, my shopping is done and I only have to wrap up a few presents and package up some to ship out. It's snowing and I'm off from work and my oldest, Q, still has school, so it's just Gabs and I home today. Thinking I might make it a lazy day.