Midsummer garden

Jan. 21st, 2026 07:56 pm
mific: (Garden salad)
[personal profile] mific
More pics from the garden - mostly flowers this time with everything in full bloom other than the roses, which are in between. These were taken a few days ago before solid rain set in, so what with a planned power cut 8am-6pm today for maintenance work, a quiet day today. Went for a moderate drive to get lunch out (excellent sushi) and charge my car battery, and now the power's back in time to download a bunch of fics to survive AO3 being down for way too long. I'm feeling virtuous as I made a rice cooker full of bean, veggie, chicken & chilli stew. Very tasty.

I'm still marinating in Heated Rivalry everything and it's helped with creating in other fandoms - an SGA and a due South secret Santa fic in late Dec and several SGA ones more recently for another exchange (will be unanoned soon). Gave myself for-real goddamn eyestrain from too much screen time reading and scrolling tumblr - inflamed, watering eyes, blurred vision, the whole nine yards. I'm being marginally more sensible about breaking up screen time with other activities now and that's resolved it, thank goodness. Too wet to garden, but. Anyway, garden pics follow, and here's hoping you're all doing okay! (Click through for large size)

Read more... )
tafadhali: ([art] intricate rituals)
[personal profile] tafadhali posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: Gimme Sympathy
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Music: "Gimme Sympathy" by Metric
Pairing: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Summary: We're so close to something better left unknown

AO3
| DW | Tumblr

Dear Crow Contracts Creator,

Jan. 20th, 2026 09:20 pm
settiai: (Dragon Age -- offensive)
[personal profile] settiai
First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥

More details under the cut. )

(no subject)

Jan. 20th, 2026 04:25 pm
nestra: (Default)
[personal profile] nestra
Wow, I only made one post last year? I'm here every day, reading, so I keep up with anyone still posting here.

I didn't put up the Yuletide polls this year. Just didn't have the oomph. It's been an oomph-sapping kind of year or so, hasn't it? (Fuck me -- just looked it up, and it's literally the one-year anniversary of that shitbag's inaguration.)

ANYWAY. Fun stuff. Things I have posted since...a while ago.

911 )

Heated Rivalry )

The Pitt

Bet

So as you can see, I'm generally obsessed with those three things. Putting more silliness and gay porn into the world.

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 20

Jan. 20th, 2026 11:21 pm
trobadora: (terrible)
[personal profile] trobadora
What I did during my lunch break: assemble Ikea shelves \o/
What I didn't do during my lunch break: write /o\

(And then the entire afternoon was non-stop meetings until smoke came out of my ears.)

Today's writing

A little more than an alibi sentence, but not much more.

WED Question of the Day

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16


I find ...

View Answers

shorter fic easier to write than longer fic
10 (62.5%)

longer fic easier to write than shorter fic
3 (18.8%)

something else (see comments)
3 (18.8%)

I mostly write ...

View Answers

drabbles and ficlets (<1k)
2 (13.3%)

short fic (1-3k)
5 (33.3%)

medium length fic (3-6k)
4 (26.7%)

longer fic (6-10k)
2 (13.3%)

long fic (10-20k)
0 (0.0%)

very long fic (20-50k)
0 (0.0%)

epic fic (>50k)
2 (13.3%)

I often write ...

View Answers

drabbles and ficlets (<1k)
9 (64.3%)

short fic (1-3k)
11 (78.6%)

medium length fic (3-6k)
8 (57.1%)

longer fic (6-10k)
7 (50.0%)

long fic (10-20k)
2 (14.3%)

very long fic (20-50k)
1 (7.1%)

epic fic (>50k)
3 (21.4%)



Tally

Days 1-15 )

Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 17: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 18: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 19: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 20: [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

on the road

Jan. 20th, 2026 03:00 pm
the_shoshanna: Shane and Ilya on the Vegas roof (Vegas)
[personal profile] the_shoshanna
I'm in Massachusetts visiting friends and family, and the US border guard was even brusquer and more unfriendly than the one the last time I crossed the border. They used to be reliably genial-while-professional, and now they're barking grumpy questions at me -- and I'm a white English-speaking US citizen with a NEXUS card (pre-screened, "trusted traveler"). A Canadian friend who drove across the border last year said that guards were going down the line of cars waiting to approach the booth and pulling people out to interrogate them on the side of the road, and who'd a thunk it, everyone they pulled out was brown. (When I crossed yesterday, I was the only car in sight, which I'd love to think was because Canadian travel to the US is way down, but probably had more to do with the extremely bad weather forecast that day. I managed to get south of the storm band before it hit, though.)

My obsession with Heated Rivalry continues, though I'm trying hard not to be That Fan at people. I have successfully recommended it to two board members at my church 😈 A friend I'll spend a week with this summer wants to watch it with me then, so I have that to look forward to, and there's a chance I'll get to watch it with other friends this weekend, if they're interested. Meanwhile I'm reading a lot of fic, but also freely DNFing anything that isn't working for me, whether for characterization or bad grammar or spelling it "Rosanov."

["Why, oh why, do people keep incorrectly capitalizing dialog-tag fragments like this?" She wailed. -- I mean, I know why they do it: because autocorrect sees the punctuation ending the quotation and thinks the dialog tag is a new sentence, and the writer is foolishly trusting autocorrect over the evidence of every published text they've ever read. But it drives me nuts; my sense of the flow and pacing of a sentence is very much guided by its punctuation, and this is like hitting a pothole every time.]

Geoff and I have started the new season of The Pitt, and certainly I'm liking it so far! It's interesting how much less chaotic the ER seems than it was in the first couple episodes of the first season. I'm very curious about all the characters they've introduced (and about where Mateo, the World's Hottest Nurse™️, is), and I love seeing Whitaker now a fully qualified MD with his own little ducklings following him around. (Is he still living with Santos?) I don't see an overarching plot yet other than "just how suicidal is Dr. Robby?" but/and I'm looking forward to seeing where it's going.

Comfort Foods

Jan. 19th, 2026 08:54 pm
settiai: (Spices -- girlboheme)
[personal profile] settiai
I've been trying various new foods from Aldi (and experimenting with ways of cooking them in some cases), and I've found my new favorite comfort food for cold winter nights.

A bowl of their creamy curry bisque with toast made with bread, butter, and their shredded swiss & gruyère cheese is absolutely delicious. I've found it works really well for when I want something relatively quick and filling that's not too heavy.

I've also found a yummy way of using up russet potatoes that are starting to go a bit wrinkly or getting too many eyes on them, which I have happen way too often since it's just me eating them and even I struggle to make it through an entire small bag of potatoes before they start showing their age. I'll peel one and chop it up into something resembling cubes, toss it in a teaspoon or so of olive oil, and then add garlic power, onion powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. Then I dump it in my air fryer on 400°F for twenty minutes, shaking them halfway through.

The potatoes are great by themselves with some sour cream/ketchup/ranch/whatever you want to use, or they work as a side dish for breakfast or dinner either one. I especially enjoy them with an over easy egg and a slice or two of bacon (which I've also started making in the air fryer since my microwave here in the hotel is on the fritz again).

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #10

Jan. 19th, 2026 03:19 pm
teaotter: two hands in red mittens cup a snowball in the shape of a heart (snowhands)
[personal profile] teaotter posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #10 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 19

Jan. 19th, 2026 11:01 pm
trobadora: (terrible)
[personal profile] trobadora
In the first draft poll, 30% of respondents usually produce a first draft that's very close to the final draft, and no one usually produces first drafts that barely bear resemblance to the final draft. And most respondents (57%) at least sometimes produce a first draft very close to the final draft. *g*

For the "usual" question, slightly more people have too-wordse first drafts (25%, compared to 20% for too sparse), whereas in the "sometimes" question, too sparse is more common (38%) than too words (23%).

(70% of respondents believe that tickyboxes know no such thing as overkill, btw!)

As for me, it differs wildly - I used to produce very clean first drafts that didn't get changed much during editing/betaing, but for the last several years now it's been much more inconsistent. The more I struggle with either writing or finding time/energy to write, the worse my first drafts get - because sometimes I just have to get something, anything, down first, or I won't get anywhere at all. But it's pretty frustrating, so I want to get back to how I used to write, and I need to figure out how to do that with less time and energy than I used to have ...

One thing's remained the same, though: my first drafts are generally too sparse, which is why they always grow - sometimes considerably - during editing as I flesh them out and add in all the things that I had in my head but didn't put in the actual text. *g*

Today's writing

Again not as much as I'd like. I need to actually sit down and finish something, but it's hard to find the energy.

WED Question of the Day

Today I don't have a poll, but instead a request for advice: when you're low on energy, do you have any strategies that make it easier to write? Or to get started writing, at least? Because I often find myself just staring blankly at a page for way too long until I somehow get going, and I'd really rather not. *g* When I have more energy, I can usually get there much more easily, which is really unfair. :p

(I want to be writing! I feel better once I actually get started writing! But getting there is such a pain on some days. *grumbles*)

Tally

Days 1-15 )

Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 17: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 18: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 19: [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
mific: (TV (old))
[personal profile] mific
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - a GoT prequel set some considerable time before GoT, and has a 9.2 rating on IMDB so far (which mostly seems based on fans having loved the book and feeling the show hasn't fucked it up so far in ep 1). Anyway, it was mostly fine, but nothing spectacular. Sir Dunc is a hedge knight's squire who's trying to pass himself off as a knight at a tournament. He's dirt poor so it's all very homespun and common folky so far. Presumably the show's world will get more complex and interesting as we go on.
My main gripe was the shitting scene, to which my reaction was you've gotta be shitting me! Dunc has a projectile shit from a standing position (slightly bent forward), like one of his horses but with way more rearward velocity. Was it supposed to be "gritty reality"? Because no one shits standing up like that ffs, and if they did it'd for sure go all over their legs. Presumably there's nothing wrong with his legs so why the fuck not squat like a normal, limber young person? Stupid nonsense, which I can only assume was supposed to be humorous. I was not amused.

The Pitt - I'm not liking it quite as much as season 1 so far but that's probably me finding anything not HR a bit lacklustre. Very happy Dana the charge nurse is back and in fighting form, and am enjoying all the usual suspects. One major plot point is that Dr Robbie's about to go on sabbatical and is being replaced by a new female consultant with whom there's a lot of friction as they do things very differently. She's a fan of generative AI for note-writing, for example. I can see they wanted the drama of the clash, but did they have to make her uptight, rulebound, female and with a Muslim name? Sigh. I really hope the drama's not going to play out in as stereotypical a way as it's currently threatening to, but the writing was good last time, so they get the benefit of the doubt.

Landman season 2 is on Prime, and is excellent as always. Superb writing, great acting and characters. It's about a Texas oil industry guy who is 2IC to the company CEO, and who does all the hands-on practical management and troubleshooting, including dealing with the local drug runners, wells blowing, and workers getting injured etc. His wife and daughter at first glance seem complete rich dumb blonde stereotypes, but underneath that facade both are interesting and funny, and cunning in the ways of their people (mostly at manipulating men). I enjoy it.

Profile

wickedwords: (Default)
wickedwords

October 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
1516171819 2021
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 21st, 2026 03:18 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios