Write Every Day: Day 19

Oct. 19th, 2025 08:08 pm
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
"Sometimes [when we] talk about creativity, it can have this kind of feel that it's just nice...it's warm or it's something pleasant. It's not. It's vital. It's the way we heal each other.

In singing our song, in telling our story, in inviting you to say, "Hey, listen to me, and I'll listen to you," we're starting a dialogue. And when you do that, this healing happens, and we come out of our corners, and we start to witness each other's common humanity....

If you want to help your community, if you want to help your family, if you want to help your friends, you have to express yourself. And to express yourself, you have to know yourself. It's actually super easy. You just have to follow your love. There is no path. There's no path till you walk it." – Ethan Hawke, TED talk: 'Give yourself permission to be creative'

My day 19: Not much this morning. I started to plan my Yuletide sign-up, and I wrote an alibi sentence. This afternoon we went out for a late lunch (have to grab the opportunity when the sun comes out), took a bit of a walk along a stream, and saw Grace: a prayer for peace, a film about an Aotearoa / New Zealand artist (which is why this post is a bit late). Tomorrow I need to finish my flashfic.

The tally
Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 17: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 18: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Write Every Day: Day 18

Oct. 18th, 2025 05:51 pm
china_shop: Guo Changcheng writing in his notebook (Guardian - rookie taking notes)
[personal profile] china_shop
"I used to wonder if it wouldn't be better just to haul off and quit hoping. Just protect my own inner brain, my own mind and heart, by drawing it up into a hard knot, and not having any more hopes or dreams at all. Pull in my feelings, and call back all of my sentiments... and, yet … the pleasures, and the displeasures, the good times and the bad, are really all there is to me.

[They] are the yeast that always starts working in your mind again... and then, all at once, no matter what has happened to you, you are building a brand new world again, based and built on the mistakes, the wreck, the hard luck and trouble of the old one."

– Woody Guthrie, in A Race Of Singers by Bryan K Garman

My day 18: My routine falls apart at the weekend (which is fine). I wrote a short meta post for [community profile] sid_guardian and left a meta comment on it. That'll do. Having a quiet night tonight, too.

The tally
Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 17: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Write Every Day: Day 17

Oct. 17th, 2025 04:49 pm
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
"Because in the age of likes and follows, we have confused the reward of creating with the reward of being praised for creating, and why wouldn’t we? Our culture has never celebrated aspiring. Our culture celebrates markers of success. You meet a writer at a party. Oh, have you ever been published? When we could ask: what are the stories that inspire you? What is the story you most want to tell? We have to rewire the way we talk about art, the way we think about artists. The job of the artist is not to skip to the good part. The job of the artist is to make art when no one gives a damn, when no one likes or follows, when we are not being comforted by compliments and praise."

– Leigh Bardugo, via TedX

My day 17: I added 617 words to my flashfic. The story is supposed to be a little missing scene about time travel. Perhaps inevitably, given one of the characters is a deposed king, politics has reared its head, so it's still going. Oops! Not to worry, I still have plenty of time to finish it.

I also slightly tweaked a gift fic. I was thinking about the question of how to portray emotional beats/responses, showing without telling. In tandem with that, I started wondering if my POV characters have been tending too cerebral lately. Do you prefer characters to think through the implications of things or just to gut-reaction? (Does it depend on the character?) How do you express emotional beats? Are your descriptions primarily physiological (pulse, breath, etc) or something else? Do you have a technique for conveying feelings as they arise, or is this just something you do instinctively?

As well as writing, I went with Andrew (partner) to our favourite outdoor cafe (which is being forced to close down in a few months, oh no!) and sat in the blustery northwesterly, then did grocery shopping. This evening our friend is coming over for the last two episodes of Kdrama Low Life, and I'm making enchiladas.

The tally
Day 16: [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] sylvanwitch

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Write Every Day: Day 16

Oct. 16th, 2025 04:35 pm
china_shop: New Zealand painting of flax (NZ flax)
[personal profile] china_shop
Welcome to Write Every Day! I'm [personal profile] china_shop, and I'll be your host for October Part 2! (Much, much thanks to [personal profile] cornerofmadness for sharing the month with me. ♥)

For the regulars who have been doing this a while and just want the details: I'm on NZDT (UTC+13), and I plan to post between 4pm and 6pm local time, which should line up pretty well with [personal profile] cornerofmadness's posts. Please comment on the most recent post, and specify what day(s) you're checking in for.

For everyone else: what is Write Every Day and how does it work? )

I go to London Writer's Salon Antipodean Writers' Hour on weekdays, and that usually starts off with an encouraging/inspirational quote. Here's one someone shared a while back.
"When you go mountain climbing, the first thing you’re told is not to look at the peak, but to keep your eyes on the ground as you climb. You just keep climbing patiently one step at a time. If you keep looking at the top, you’ll get frustrated. 
"I think writing is similar. You need to get used to the task of writing. You must make an effort to learn to regard it not as something painful, but as routine."
–Akira Kurosawa, via The Script Lab




My goals and check-in
This morning I wrote 1,028 words of flashfic for the current "Brilliant" round of [community profile] fan_flashworks. I'll finish it tomorrow, and then... has anyone seen Bon Appétit, Your Majesty who'd be willing to beta? :-)

Writing goals for the rest of month include not stuffing up my arms, so this afternoon I walked along a local mountain-bike trail, through the trees, then met up with my partner for hot drinks and chocolate brownie by the sea. The weather has been cold, wet and windy lately, but yesterday and today the sun finally came out. Yay!

Other goals for the next 16 days: finish my flashfic, finish a treat I started for [community profile] guardian_wishlist, sign up for Yuletide, and write something for the next (amnesty) round at [community profile] fan_flashworks. Other than that, I'll see where the spirit takes me.

How about you? Did you write today?

Update

Oct. 16th, 2025 12:20 pm
mergatrude: white blossoms on a green background with the text "spring" (Spring)
[personal profile] mergatrude
Wednesdays reads: I got a couple of Dymocks (bookseller) vouchers and treated myself to The Cat Who Saved Books and it's sequel The Cat Who Saved The Library, by Sosuke Natsukawa. Am enjoying the first. I'm also listening to The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle, the third book in the Edinburgh Nights series by T.L. Huchu, and read by Kimberley Mandindo. She sounds exactly like Ropa in my head.

Watching: Dude is making me watch Superstore (yay, Mark McKinney!) which is a lot of fun and also somewhat wince-inducing. We're at the end of S3. We've also been watching Lego Ninjago, which is ridiculous but I can't look away. I'm still a sucker for kids shows and this one has clever writing and the animation is fun.

Gaming: I'm slowly progressing with Ori and the Blind Forest, which is challenging but surprisingly I'm meeting the challenges. I also completed Monument Valley which was free from Epic Games last month. Dude traded in his X-Box X (because of Microsoft shenanigans with their online options) for a Play Station 5, and is loving it. He made me buy a controller and is making me play Sackboy: A Big Adventure, which is adorable! We're also going to tackle Cult of the Lamb in co-op mode.

Other: I've been on leave, so am making progress on my incredibly tedious sock yarn project, and am close to finishing one of the knit scarves I'm working on. I've also been doing a new jigsaw, and am now dealing with All The Leaves. It's very pretty. )

Daylight savings has kicked in and I've been going for a walk every evening after dinner. The weather is windy, but that's October for you. What isn't usual for October is temps in the mid-to-high twenties!

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Oct. 15th, 2025 02:32 pm
sage: The text no kings with a crossed out crown on a yellow background. (No Kings)
[personal profile] sage
books (Osman, Kingfisher x 3, Mohamed, De Nicola) )

The Vampire Lestat NYCC extended trailer! <333


yuletide
There's so much good stuff in the tag set, it took me forever to pare down my signup. I still might change it.

yarning
so much yarning! )

rl
Speaking of spending money, I got a new laptop, as my old one is 7 3/4 years old and Win10. The old one still works mostly fine, thank Lenovo, but the Prime Day sale was too good to pass up. I've been working on getting all my old software transferred over. Slowly.

healthcrap )

#resist
This coming Saturday: No Kings Day 2. If you're protesting, please stay loud and stay safe. I'm there with you in spirit, wearing an inflatable frog suit and passing out water. (The color for the protest is YELLOW, btw, but I like the inflatables. And I look like a zombie in yellow.)

I hope all of y'all are enjoying the Fall/Spring weather, such as it is so far, and that all is well in your worlds. <333

p.s. This No Kings icon is shareable. It and tons of other protest graphics are found here. Feel free to link & share!

Dear Yuletide Writer

Oct. 14th, 2025 05:12 pm
sage: a white stag on a black background, captioned "Yuletide" (yuletide)
[personal profile] sage
Thank you so much for writing for me! Please don't stress over the optional details. Write to please yourself and I'll be delighted!

Requests )

Wishlist! I made things! :D

Oct. 9th, 2025 11:22 am
china_shop: Zhao Yunlan stretched out on a stool. (Guardian - ZYL sprawled on a stool)
[personal profile] china_shop
I made four things for Wishlist (one a little late) - two Weilan and two ChuGuo, two very General Audiences, and two not so much. :D

  • Title: to those who wait (1567 words) [General Audiences]
    Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
    Relationships: Shen Wei & Professor Zhou (Guardian), Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
    Additional Tags: Pre-relationship (sort of), First Meeting (for one of them), alternate first meeting, Coincidences/Fate, alcohol consumption, Urban Setting
    Summary:

    Shen Wei had planned to pour his professor into a taxi, spend a few hours patrolling the city as the Black-Cloaked Envoy, and then get to work on his literature review or perhaps draft a proposal for establishing a school system in Dixing. He was already constructing arguments for the latter in his head. But Professor Zhou was distracted by something down the street and set off with surprising vigour for someone who, a moment ago, had barely been able to extract his credit card from his wallet.

    Shen Wei was obliged to follow in his wake.


  • Title: defying gravity (1507 words) [Mature]
    Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
    Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
    Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Established Relationship, domestic setting, Inspired by Fanart, Blow Jobs, Clothed Sex
    Summary:

    “Like this?” Zhao Yunlan hops onto the stool and stretches to prop his feet on the nearest ottoman. His elbows automatically find the edge of the breakfast bar behind him. He knows it looks a bit ridiculous—Da Qing never spares an opportunity to mock him for lounging like this—but it's surprisingly relaxing.

    And Shen Wei clearly appreciates the view. His throat bobs as he swallows. “Like that. Are you—comfortable?”


  • Title: Supportive (1807 words) [General Audiences]
    Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
    Relationships: Guo Ying/Yu Jinlan (Guardian), Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
    Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Handwavy fix-it, POV Outsider, Gossip, slight social awkwardness, tiny misunderstanding, Getting Together, (ChuGuo getting together I mean), Established relationship for Guo Ying/Yu Jinlan obviously
    Summary:

    Guo Ying tells Yu Jinlan about his first day at the SID.


  • Title: a tempting fate (3238 words) [Teen and Up]
    Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
    Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
    Additional Tags: Episode Related, episode 18, Fight Club Case, Time Travel, Time Loop, Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, minor first aid, First Kiss (for one of them)
    Summary:

    Chu Shuzhi bends sideways so he’s right in Xiao-Guo’s face. “Xiao-Guo, look at me! Did something happen out there? Have you been hypnotised?”

    Hypnosis wouldn’t explain the change of clothes. And Xiao-Guo is actually laughing at him now. He pats Chu Shuzhi’s knee, too, and leaves his hand there as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.



My other late gift is still an extremely long, extremely messy draft, so I'll see how that goes...

ION, check this out!

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Oct. 8th, 2025 03:53 pm
sage: image of the word "create" in orange on a white background. (create)
[personal profile] sage
books
Checkmate (The Lymond Chronicles #6) by Dorothy Dunnett. 1975. cw: war, murder, offscreen sexual assault, subsequent PTSD. The exciting conclusion to the series. No lie, this one was rollicking, despite an overuse of untranslated French.

still reading: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Book one. So charming.

still reading: Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed. 2023. Graphic novel. Shubeik lubeik translates to "Your wish is my command" in Arabic. This version of Egypt is modern except it has wishes that come true, and are regulated (and black market). Great concept. I'm only 20% through, but it's a good book so far.


yarning
finished a yellow bunny and the above calico Cat Stitch scarf. The scarf sold this morning (without even me listing it first) & another person wants to get a custom one made! Yay! I worked on a grey and black kickbunny at yarn group Sunday and had a nice time. I'm nearly finished with it, though now I have a commission to recreate a cat's favorite turkey leg toy with wool and catnip. And scarf customer reminded me that xmas is coming and it's time to to work on stocking the shop! I ordered more catnip & hopefully won't run out of silvervine yet. All in all, a productive week!

healthcrap
The drooping eyelid is making me crazy -- double vision, blurry vision, the eyelid being in the way of seeing. more healthcrap )

#resist
October 18: No Kings Day 2!

I hope all of y'all are doing well and can see with your regular number of eyes. :g:
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