shadowfireflame

"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

sid_guardian and left a meta comment on it. That'll do. Having a quiet night tonight, too.

The tally
Day 16:

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cmk418,

cornerofmadness,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 17:

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cmk418,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

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.

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:

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

trobadora,

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.

china_shop

Welcome to Write Every Day! I'm

china_shop, and I'll be your host for October Part 2! (Much, much thanks to

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

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

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

guardian_wishlist, sign up for Yuletide, and write something for the next (amnesty) round at

fan_flashworks. Other than that, I'll see where the spirit takes me.

How about you? Did you write today?

pennswoods

Tomorrow is the Chicago Marathon and I am not running that. My marathon season is over and instead I am focusing on 5k races to work on speed (the marathon is 42.2k so one runs that a lot slower). As part of my kickoff in my 5k training, I ran a 5k race today which was one of my university's homecoming events. This race is meant to serve as a time trial to gauge what my current speed is so I can build upon it and get faster for my next race, the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot!

The course is a bit hilly and I'm not as fast as I was a few years ago, which is a little hard for me to handle. I'm always worried about the effects of aging on my ability to do things and the specter of perimenopause and the dramatic changes it inflicts on the body (e.g., accelerated muscle loss) is eating into my confidence. On Thursday, I walked most of the course to get a feel for where the hills would be so I could adjust my pacing and expectations. I didn't sleep well last night due to a number of factors but I arrived 50 minutes before the start of the race with something of a plan. My goal was to run under or as close to 25.00 for 5k which is 5:00/kilometer or 8:03/mile. A part of me was worried I was overestimating myself and that I'd end up coming in well over that, but I tried to put that out of my mind and just focus on running smart. Running smart also means adapting to the course (e.g. not getting down when my pace drops on the uphill) and also not starting too fast and blowing all my energy on the first kilometer.

I'm not going to lie - it was hard and I doubted myself along the way. I made the decision to look at my watch minimally and to focus on distance and only on pace at certain times (mainly to check I wasn't going too fast the beginning and to also check my speed once on each hill). The big hill did hurt and I found myself gasping a lot as a way to tighten my stomach so I would not vomit. I've never gotten sick while running but today might have been the closest I came.

Early on, I was passed by a boy who was supposedly 13 but looked 8 years old and then a man pushing a double stroller with two children in it. That was humbling. There were not a lot of women near the front of the race, but there was one that I took turns passing and being passed by until about halfway through when I passed her on the ugly hill. The final kilometer was both downhill and flat, but I was feeling tired and anticipated that I would be passed by other women. I let go of my goal of sub 25 minutes and focused on running sub 26. No other woman passed me and based on the time between cheers behind me by race volunteers, I was well ahead of whomever was behind me. I pushed until the finish line, feeling shock to see the time read 24:18 because I knew my pace was nowhere near that fast. When I stop my watch, I saw that the course was short (4.84km) explaining the surprisingly fast finishing time. My actual pace for a 5km was a 5:02 meaning I would have finished in around 25:10 which was still pretty close to my goal considering the long ass hill.

What was shocking but gratifying was being approached after I finished to be notified that I was the first place woman overall. The woman I had been jockeying places with in the first half of the course finished 40 seconds behind me in second place. I thought I'd have a good chance of winning my age group (Women 50-59) but in no way did I think I'd be I the top 5 for this race. Here's me crossing the finish line looking super exhausted and clueless that I was first.

This was a bit of a morale booster and it gives me a nice starting point for my 5k training. And I also got a ridiculously giant trophy.

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!

Guardian is now my most-created-for fandom on AO3!

Guardian is now my most-created-for fandom on AO3!

china_shop

guardian_wishlist was a fantastic success. *twirls everyone who participated and made gifts* *and also everyone who's enjoying the collection* <3 <3 <3

I received four amazing presents, all beautifully tailored to my id, wow! Srsly, I could not be happier!! :D :D :D