marycrawford | Reading

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

corvidology posting in

c_ent

The Best Laid Plans of Ye Xiaoxiao (1097 words) 侠探简不知 | Ancient Detective (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Hei Wu/Qian Mian Ren | Ye Xiaoxiao
Characters: Hei Wu (Ancient Detective), Qian Mian Ren | Ye Xiaoxiao
Additional Tags: Wound Care, Fever, Delirium, Declarations Of Love
Amedia prompted: Ye Xiaoxiao/Hei Wu, a quiet, happy moment together.

All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (972 words) HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Jack | Fang Liangdian/Zhao Li'an | Zhao-zi
Characters: Jack | Fang Liangdian, Zhao Li'an | Zhao-zi
Additional Tags: Restraints, Vanilla is a complex flavour, Inexperienced but game
Dishonestdreams prompted: "You never know, I might surprise you."

Badges of Honor (421 words) L'Oréal "Time Engraver" Commercials
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Time Engraver (L'Oréal "Time Engraver" Commercials)/original character
Characters: Time Engraver (L'Oreal "Time Engraver" Commercials)
Additional Tags: 12 Days of Christmas, The Dongzhi festival, First Time, immortal/mortal, Rebirth
Trobadora asked for: A winter holiday ficlet for the Time Engraver, Sorry, Dora. I wandered off a bit.

The Joke Was on Him (300 words) 双夭记 | The Silent Criminal (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Long Yao/Shi Jingyao
Characters: Long Yao (The Silent Criminal), Shi Jingyao
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Oblivious, Unintended Consequences
Dreamy_Dragon prompted: Unexpected change.

Getting Out of Their Heads (474 words) 猎罪图鉴 | Under the Skin (TV 2022)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Du Cheng/Shen Yi (Under the Skin 2022)
Characters: Du Cheng (Under the Skin 2022), Shen Yi (Under the Skin 2022)
Fangirlishness prompted: Shen Yi is overworked/stressed/gets in too deep and Du Cheng helps to get him out of his head.

A Transformative Evening (785 words) 阴阳师 | Yīn Yáng Shī | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Bo Ya/Qing Ming (Yin Yang Shi)
Characters: Bo Ya (Yin Yang Shi), Qing Ming (Yin Yang Shi)
Additional Tags: Transformation, Pining, First Kiss, Animal Transformation
Shadaras prompted: Transformation.

trobadora

candyheartsex assignments have arrived, and I got what I hoped I'd get!

In yesterday's poll, the majority of people work on one thing at a time when it's for a deadline, but on multiple things at once when it's not. Fascinating!

(Also, in tickyboxes, the majority said they'd tick whichever ones they like. More interestingly, 33,3% of respondents chose "tick them all", but only 11% actually did tick them all. *g*)

For me, I usually have multiple things going no matter what. When I'm in the very final phase of finishing a story, I need to focus on just that; otherwise, there may be a "main" thing I'm working on, but it's hardly ever the only thing. Creativity begets creativity, so the better the writing is going with one thing, the more ideas and snippets my brain produces for other things as well. *g*

Today's writing

Some more

fandomtrees, but also, I had a brainwave and wrote some snippets plus a bunch of notes for an original fic WIP I hadn't touched since 2018. I think my writing brain is starting to function properly again if it's randomly throwing out things like that!

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34063

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21

View Respondents

My oldest WIP that I still hope to finish was started in ...

View Answers

before the year 2000
0 (0.0%)

2000-2004
2 (10.5%)

2005-2009
1 (5.3%)

2010-2014
6 (31.6%)

2015-2019
4 (21.1%)

2020-2023
5 (26.3%)

2024-2025
1 (5.3%)

2026
0 (0.0%)

I last worked on that WIP ...

View Answers

before the year 2000
0 (0.0%)

2000-2004
0 (0.0%)

2005-2009
1 (5.0%)

2010-2014
2 (10.0%)

2015-2019
2 (10.0%)

2020-2023
7 (35.0%)

2024-2025
8 (40.0%)

2026
0 (0.0%)

tickybox is ...

View Answers

old-school
11 (64.7%)

eternal
12 (70.6%)

something I'll tell you in comments
0 (0.0%)

Tally

( Days 1-5 )

Day 6:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 7:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

shadaras,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 8:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 9:

trobadora

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

tehfanglyfish posting in

sid_guardian

Slo-Mo Rewatch Banner with a screenshot of Zhao Yunlan reclining on his couch looking at his phone

Welcome to 2026’s first installment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is the post for the previous installment.

Episode 9 to 22:52

Summary
Lin Jing traces an energy surge linked to the Hallows to a northwest location that also happens to be the area Wang Zheng wants to travel to. Guo Changcheng tries his best to help and inadvertently buys a sex doll for Wang Zheng to travel in. On their way to the mountains, the SID come across Shen Wei and his students who are experiencing car trouble on their field trip. Coincidentally, they are also headed to the mountains. Shen Wei endures Zhao Yunlan fishing for information from Jiajia and using him as a pillow as they continue on to their destination. When their car gets stuck, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan get out to investigate and Zhao Yunlan not only insists that Shen Wei wear his jacket, but also wrangles him into it. As Shen Wei contemplates this development, they hear a scream back at the car and turn to hurry back.

Quotes

Zhu Hong: “I’m just practicing hypnotism. You’re so lucky to be the first guinea pig.”

Zhu Hong: “I’ve never seen [Zhao Yunlan] like this before. Why is he so keen on Professor Shen of all people?

Zhao Yunlan: “Normally I’m the one who gives the orders. This is the first time someone’s ordering me around.”

Detail

Shen Wei awkwardly adjusting Zhao Yunlan's cushion when Zhao Yunlan flops on him remains one of my favorite things.

Questions

How do you feel about the drama’s version of their journey to the mountains versus the airport meetup in the novel? What do you think Shen Wei was thinking when Zhao Yunlan’s convoy rolled up to help with the car trouble? Which Guardian character(s) would you like to go on a long-distance car ride with? What do you think Shen Wei did with the boyfriend jacket after they returned to Dragon City? What is your favorite part of this episode so far? Do you think Zhao Yunlan will become more involved in reviewing purchase orders after the whole doll incident?

(These are just meant to start discussion. Feel free to discuss whatever stood out to you in the first half of this episode.)

Here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

kat_lair

***

Better post this now before this year's fics start appearing...

Well, I did not manage my

getyourwordsout goal (largely because after Tricks I just stopped writing for six weeks) but I did reach total of over 100k though only 57k posted on AO3. I also passed 500 works on AO3 and in 2026 I will almost certainly pass 1 million words.

Fics published in 2025 by Fandom:
(I've only provided AO3 links cos I'm lazy, but all are readable on DW too, let me know if you'd like a link. My AO3 is locked for users only but if anyone needs AO3 invites please let me know, I have plenty)

American Idol RPF
Trial (Kris/Adam, G, 100 words)

ATEEZ
Whispers (Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa + Park Seonghwa/OMC, G, 100 words)

방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
First Spark (Namjoon/Yoongi, G, 100 words)
Metamorphosis (OT7/ambiguous relationships, G, 544 words)

Being Human
Home (Mitchell/George/Annie, T, 100 words)

Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment
Awkward (Ryan/Shane, G, 100 words)
Better the Demon You Know (Ryan/Shane, M, 6422 words)

Cobra Starship
electric dreams (Ryland/Alex, G, 100 words)

Doctor Who
Mercury Lane (Tenth Doctor/The Master (Simm), G, 1134 words)

Enola Holmes
Courting (Un)Conventions (Enola/Tewkesbury + Sherlock/John, G, 837 words)

Fall Out Boy
Price (Patrick/Pete, T, 100 words)

Firefly
Grow Together (Kaylee/River/Simon, G, 501 words)

Given (Anime)
Second Chance (Kaji Akihiko/Nakayama Haruki + Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka, T, 5517 words)

Guardian RPF
Closer (Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong, T, 2072 words)
no finer details than yours (Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong, T, 905 words)

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Choice (Gretel/Hansel, T, 100 words)

Harry Potter
A Kiss (Bellatrix, M, 100 words)

The Hobbit
Together (Fili/Kili G, 100 words)

K.A.R.D (Band)
like what you (don’t) see (Matthew Kim | BM/Kim Taehyung | J.Seph + Kim Taehyung | J.Seph/OMC, G, 720 words)

Life on Mars
Boiling Point (Sam, G, 100 words)
Year of the Cat (Gene/Sam, G, 2111 words)

The Lost Boys
Flashback (Michael/Sam, T, 2553 words)

MCU
Shatter (Bruce/Tony, T, 100 words)

My Chemical Romance
Dribble (Gerard/Frank, E, 1142 words)

Original Work
climbin’ up to reach your land (OMC/OMC, T, 3291 words)
(i’ma) make a move (OFC/OFC, T, 2789 words)
Tribute (OFC/OMC, T, 2059 words)

Panic! at the Disco
Mismatched Magic (Ryan/Spencer, G, 100 words)
safe landing (Ryan/Spencer, G, 1035 words)

Person of Interest
Ruin (Finch/Reese, G, 100 words)

Primeval
Celebrate Tonight (Nick/Stephen, G, 1295 words)

SEVENTEEN
Thorns (Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, G, 100 words)

Stargate Atlantis
Midnight Tea (Teyla, G, 100 words)
Protector (Lorne/Sheppard, T, 2248 words)

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series
Antigen (Kirk/Bones, T, 2111 words)

Stray Kids
Summoned (Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, G, 100 words)
when to fold’em (Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N + Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, M, 1392 words)

Supernatural
Struggle (Sam/Dean, T, 100 words)
Veil (Bobby, G, 100 words)

Wheel of Time
Architect (Rand/Elayne, G, 163 words)
Burgeoning (Nynaeve, G, 100 words)
Patience (Bair & Egwene, G, 191 words)
Vernal (Aviendha, G, 737 words)

The Witcher
The Winter of Our Contentment (Geralt/Jaskier, T, 4581 words)

阴阳师 | Yīn Yáng Shī | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming)
touch me slow, touch me sure (Bo Ya/Qing Ming, E, 8984 words)

***

Meme Question

Leitmotifs of the year:
- Return of the Drabble
- Is This Original Fic I See?
- Old Fandoms, New Fandoms
- Gifting Things

Most popular story:
By every AO3 metric: The Winter of Our Contentment, because The Witcher fandom is still active af apparently.
Observation 1. This was the year I archive-locked all my fic and the overall drop in hits, kudos and comments compared to last year has been noticeable. Why are people still relying on reading without an account when the invite codes are relatively easy to get?
Observation 2. The second most popular fic by hits is Dribble which is a filthy pwp. I'm amused by the difference between the kudos to hit ratio between this and The Winter of Our Contentment, ~10% vs ~27%, which suggests that many people are apparently reluctant to make it known that they read and liked filthy porn. Which is hilarious to me. Baby, this is fandom, let go of your shame.

My best story this year:
Metamorphosis for the theme. Better the Demon You Know and Protector for the world-building. when to fold'em and Vernal for the voices. Mercury Lane for the sense of place. Antigen for the concept. climbin' up to reach your land as a personal favourite.

Hardest story to write:
I struggled with the ending of the climbin' up to reach your land quite a bit. Emotionally speaking, probably Metamorphosis.

Easiest story to write:
Most of the drabbles I wrote in one sitting, often one after another, and it was good to get back to that instant sense of accomplishment. like what you (don't) see I wrote in one sitting too after being smacked by the MV. Year of the Cat was also a quick write. And Second Chance came out pretty quickly under deadline pressure. (i'ma) make a move was a fun breezy fluff piece.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Ugh, idk... Metamorphosis? But like it was never going to get a lot of attention given the theme and the ambiguous relationships. Maybe climbin' up to reach your land as I think it would appeal to anyone who's into incest-ships. Tribute has a bad ass female war general. Just saying.

Most fun story to write:
I had fun with a lot of the drabbles, but especially Awkward, Together, Mismatched Magic

Fluffiest story:
Mismatched Magic, no finer details than yours, Year of the Cat (kittens! scampering!). Actually The Winter of Out Contentment is pretty damn fluffy, seeming as it's essential 4,5k of huddling for warmth. Erm, okay, safe landing. (i'ma) make a move is cotton candy. Fuck, listen, fluff and angst are like my bread and butter.

Most angsty story:
*points above* But maybe Metamorphosis takes the win here too we it's high on hurt, thin on comfort. Special mentions to Whispers, Veil, Shatter, electric dreams, like what you (don't) see, Antigen (though has a hopeful ending)

Sexiest story:
For outright porn, Dribble. For slow burn and an extended, gentler sex scene with touch starvation and first time feels, touch me slow, touch me sure

"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Ehhhh *waves hand* Idk, there were some morally grey fics (when to fold'em) and plenty of incest (Flashback, Choice, climbin' up to reach your land, Struggle, Grow Together) but maybe A Kiss. For the sadism.

Biggest Disappointment:
As always, not finishing some of the longer wips, or poetry really though I did get back to that a little bit. I stopped writing entirely for about six weeks after losing Tricks, and I'm not like disappointed about that per se, just acknowledging that it happened and I'm still slowly coming back.

Biggest Surprise:
I did not expect to a) write in an anime fandom and b) for that to go as well as it did, so for Second Chance to get into a fourth place of 'most popular' was fun to watch. Writing as much Original Fic as I did.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
Idk, nothing where I brought clear receipts... Wait, wait, I did, sort of, for Celebrate Tonight. (no, not for that!). I also don't think I wrote anything particularly unexpected. Ooooh Kat likes power dynamics! What a surprise...

Best summary?
I've used a quote from the fic as a summary for almost every single one this year so mostly what's left is this:

In which Akihiko decides that Mafuyu and Ritsuka need role models for a healthy relationship. You know, because he's such an expert on the topic. Somehow, this becomes Haruki's problem.

( Best First Line - I refuse to pick just one )

( Best Last Line? - Lines. LineSSSS )

( Favourite line/passage of the year? - sorry not sorrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy )

Story I haven't yet written, but intend/hope to:
I've signed up for

getyourwordsout with the same goal (150k) that I failed to reach this year, largely because I love their spreadsheet an unholy amount. I'm hoping to finish and post some of the longer wips, either the ones I'm writing alone, or the numerous shared stories with

dreamersdare and I want to get some of the Unmarked Place fics (bandom bdsm au co-written with

pushkin666 ) to AO3. I'm currently just playing around with

fandomtrees fics.

***

mekare posting in

drawesome

I'm currently updating my Neocities art site again and found two artist webrings that I thought would be of interest:

Neocreatives Webring - this one has grown so big (500+ artists) that it now functions as a directory.

Adult Artist Webring - this is MUCH smaller but I'm glad those artists have found a way to connect on a new platform after being kicked out almost everywhere.

mific posting in

drawesome

Deep pink banner with clusters of red and pink hearts and challenge text.

 Challenge #75: Romance

 It's been a heady, romantic holiday season for some of us in fandom, so the first theme of 2026 is ROMANCE! You can draw characters from a romance, or put characters from any fandom, or no fandom, into a romantic situation. Or you can draw and paint anything connected with romance, whatever that means to you - like an anniversary, gifts, or a romantic memory. Make it as schmaltzy as you like, or as tragic and angsty, and don't forget "enemies to lovers", and other romance tropes! ❤️

The challenge will run through February as well, to cover Valentine's Day.

A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of February.

mific posting in

drawesome

December and 2025 are over, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you this past month? This past year?

Did you sign up for or take part in any fandom activities in December, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you currently trying to meet a deadline? Feel free to share upcoming art challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, and so on.

trobadora

As usual (and as I hoped for), fandomtrees has a one-week delay, so now I have a much better chance of finishing more than one thing, heh. Here is the latest admin post with the trees that still need gifts.

Also, candyheartsex sign-ups have closed, and three more people in my fandoms signed up after I had already gone to bed! Can't wait to find out what my actual assignment will be.

Today's writing

I worked a little on one

fandomtrees treat, started planning another, and did some brainstorming for

candyheartsex. It's still all slower going than I'd like, but I'm feeling much better, so there's that.

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34059

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 19

View Respondents

If I have multiple works I want/need to finish by the same deadline, I ...

View Answers

write and finish them one after the other
11 (57.9%)

work on multiple things in parallel
7 (36.8%)

something else
1 (5.3%)

When I'm working on things without deadlines, I ...

View Answers

work on one thing until I finish or give up
6 (31.6%)

work on multiple things in parallel
13 (68.4%)

something else
0 (0.0%)

When I have tickyboxes, I ...

View Answers

tick one
5 (27.8%)

tick them all
6 (33.3%)

tick whichever ones I like
15 (83.3%)

something else
2 (11.1%)

Tally

( Days 1-5 )

Day 6:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 7:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

shadaras,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 8:

china_shop,

trobadora

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

sdwolfpup

Happy More Joy Day 2026!

Image is of the orange shrimp Muppet, Pepe the Prawn, in a tutu performing a classic looking ballerina move. Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear are watching him. Text says "More Joy Day! (Why a prawn in a tutu for the mascot? Why not?) Wake Up Joy Man!"

Welcome to the 19th More Joy Day!

The goal for today is to seek out and give a little joy to others, in the hopes that it will expand outward into the world. As the TWOP recapper Jacob said:

...you continue to stand, and you continue to remember that you’re not alone, and with reverence for this fact, you can’t help but add to joy. Which is your entire job, from the day you’re born until the day you die: more joy.

This is our job more than ever. We can build a better world than this, and it starts with small acts of community and caring for each other.

Please post your little bits of joy, whether performed online or in physical space, on Tumblr (tagged with some version of More Joy Day), in the comments of this post, and/or on Bluesky or wherever you are, so that we can all enjoy them. :) I'll try to reblog when I see them pop up in the tags here!

Need more info or ideas? Read all about it here! The ultimate goal is to do just one joy-filled thing for someone(s) today; either something small, like paying someone an unexpected compliment or leaving a short comment on a fanwork; or something big, like writing a fic or making a vid or buying groceries for someone. The smallest amount of joy helps, and is a kindness that wasn't there when you started. Online OR offline counts! Whatever you can manage is wonderful - there is no joy-shaming on More Joy Day! Happy More Joy Day to you all!

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: Peaceful working music

kathleen_dailey

New Warp-Drive Propulsion Concept Moves Fictional Starships Closer to Engineering Reality

The resemblance to the twin nacelles of the USS Enterprise is not merely aesthetic ... but reflects a potential convergence between physical requirements and engineering design, where science-fiction architectures hint at practical pathways for real warp-capable configurations.

mumblemumble

(2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024)

2025 was the year I completely lost my writing mojo, and also the year of Zhang Kangle. For me, personally.

Just for the sake of completeness, I'm including things that were revealed in January, even though I already gathered them up in a separate post.

( All the fanworks, and a lot of navel-gazing. )

ranalore

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: productive
Current Location: the jianghu (don't i wish)

trobadora

The headache is gone today! My head still feels a bit like it's been through the wringer, but otherwise I feel human again. Phew!

Today's writing

Slow to start, but I hope to write some more tonight. And hopefully tomorrow things will be fully back to normal. Fingers crossed!

Tally

( Days 1-5 )

Day 6:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 7:

china_shop,

trobadora

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

mekare posting in

c_ent

A recent

snowflake_challenge prompted to talk about pets (real life, or canon pets) and instead I made two pieces for Hulijing from Mysterious Lotus Casebook:

Preview: a dog and man in hanfu

Full view in my journal

the_shoshanna

kass recently reminded me of this post I made fourteen years ago(!) titled “sex, and slash sex scenes,” in which I discussed how

slash was the only genre of literature I had ever found [at the time I found it, circa 1989] that followed the characters into bed and back out of it; that investigated and demonstrated how the people they were outside of bed were connected to the people they were in bed; that modeled how to be with someone in everyday life, go to bed with them, and then wake up next to them and continue everyday life with them. In slash, "everyday life" wasn't differentiated from "sex life." Who people were outside of bed and during the day critically, obviously, demonstrably influenced how they behaved in bed with each other, and vice versa; but the characters never lost themselves or turned into different (wimpy wispy sappy) people because they had fucked. (Okay, sometimes they did, but those were the bad stories, the ones we mocked.) The two parts of life weren't disjunct; indeed, they were crucially connected, mutually influential, even indivisible. In fact, that indivisibility was often the whole point.

Kass wondered how this might relate to Heated Rivalry, which I continue to be moderately obsessed with. I’m really grateful to her for pulling this up (hi,

kass! Thanks!),

because I think it relates a lot.

HR has gotten a lot of press for being horny, for being extremely sexually explicit. (And hot. Which there's nothing wrong with. Fiction is often created with a goal of making the reader happy, or sad, or angry, or tense, along the way as part of the experience; "hot" is also a legit way for fiction to try to make the reader feel. Not that I think the people reading this need to be convinced of that!) But the sex is not "gratuitous" (i.e., existing only to make the reader hot); it is absolutely integral to the story being told. The way Shane and Ilya relate to each other through sex is what their relationship is built on. The long, detailed, explicit sex scenes are the places where they (and we) discover how they relate to each other: where Shane learns that Ilya may be an asshole but he is also scrupulously concerned with Shane's sexual consent, where Ilya is charmed by Shane's dorkishly careful folding of his clothes (the moment when, according to Rachel Reid, Ilya fell in love), where they learn to trust each other, to work together; and also where they are most vulnerable to each other and have to deal with that. (Or fail to deal with it. Cf. tuna melts, oh my heart.)

The sex scenes' importance as character development is illustrated in the negative by episode 3, the Kip and Scott episode. We get very little, comparatively speaking, of Kip and Scott in bed, because we don't need it. Kip and Scott have their own issues and concerns, but they're not sexual ones. We see them in bed so that we can see Scott say how into Kip he is, and his own moment of asking for explicit consent; and so that we can see a moment of them laughing together in bed, having fun, which I don't think we see Ilya and Shane doing until episode 6 ("Sir, I'm just the bellboy!"). Other than that we don't need to see the actual sex; the important sexual aspects of their relationship are conveyed by things like Scott flinging himself onto Kip on the couch (can I just say, those eyeglasses give me "sexy Daniel Jackson" vibes!) and by the "Can I fuck you?" "Absolutely" exchanges. The sex scenes in HR overall aren't "gratuitous," as demonstrated by the fact that, when they're not serving plot and character development, they're not there.

And it's illustrated even more in episode 5, which has no sex scenes at all, although Shane and Ilya have sex twice in it. The friend I did the Boxing Day marathon with commented, "We don't need to see the sex, now that they've learned to use their words," and I was like, "Yes! Words like 'Shane' and 'Ilya.'" And of course the sex in episode 6 is warm and playful and emotionally intimate in ways that they've never had before, and it's important for us to see that.

(Check out this paired gifset paralleling the ep 1 and ep 6 blowjobs: almost exactly the same moves, but one in a dark secret hotel room and one in the sunshine they both deserve. My heart.)

Basically, HR is the absolute quintessential of what I said in that 2011 post I was so glad to find in slash.

There are a lot of other reasons I love HR. I want to have the brain to post about its sound design at some point! But it is a god damn master class in telling a story involving, and through, sex.

(I lost some time trolling icon communities -- remember those? -- looking for a good HR icon, but none of the ones I found really worked for me. So I went with this one, because when the credits rolled on ep 6 as I finished my watchthrough with

dorinda, I punched the air and exulted, "My tax dollars at work!")

tinny

Heated Rivalry dominated December:

TV finished

Heated Rivalry! It was so good! It's on HBO Max and Crave. I really liked the first two episodes, there was a ton of sex, and other people much more eloquently explained why that's not a bad thing: the sex is the plot!
I hated ep three, depriving me of the main pairing I love, but I see how it's necessary as context for later episodes. Since I knew that going in, I waited until I was ready for it and just treated it like a different show. That worked for me. I loved the last three episodes again, there was a ton of romance. *A lot* of thought went into the show, and it's all intentional, and that's such a change from the things I usually watch where I rant at the writing all the time. Here, there's almost nothing to rant at. Plus, it's pretty much exactly what I'm most looking for in a tv show: m/m sex and m/m romance. \o/ I will probably read some of the books this year, and likely write up a review for the show if I find the time.

For now, let me direct you to

* my friend

machinistm's heated rivalry tag
* the heated rivalry comm

gamechangerhr
* the hockey podcast "What Chaos!" reacting to every single episode with genuine enthusiasm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us7Pok5nDRc

TV new (ongoing)

Love on the Turquoise Land (17/32) - a modern fantasy/horror cdrama with Dilraba Dilmurat as a mystical sword fighter. I started watching for her, and by now probably would still be watching even if she wasn't on it. It's ... not good, exactly, but I love it anyway? I got over halfway through it in a few weeks. The horror aspect is not my thing at all, but it was only strong in the first episodes, and after that it started focusing more on vampire rituals and a general good vs evil fight and the horror took a backseat. I'm happy with that! I am very much enjoying Dilraba's actual voice (yay! she doesn't usually get to dub herself! This is cool!) and seeing her fight monsters. I am ranting at how illogical all the vampire lore is (they're called Earth Fiends but everything screams vampire to me), but fwiw once you disengage your science brain, it's fine. Giving the vastly overpowered FL a damsel-in-distress moment made me grit my teeth, but it did lead to the ML taking care of her for three eps straight, and I am not complaining about that at all. The character interactions are really good! I love the fighting, bantering, h/c, and budding romance between the ML and FL. The central mystery sounds interesting, and even though I don't trust the book author (who also wrote Parallel World) to plot herself out of a wet paper bag, the plot seems to hold together so far. Since Heated Rivalry has finished, this is the show I'm most motivated to watch right now. It's on viki.

our times

Our Times (03/38), a 90s retro "IT students go professional" cdrama with Wu Lei and Hou Minghao. The costumes are amazing (bell bottom jeans and corduroy jackets galore), and I really am enjoying the retroness of it all, especially the way the cut scenes are interspersed with actual old footage from Chinese cities, e.g. the construction of the tower in Shanghai. I immediately imprinted on Wu Lei's character (who is a bit of an arrogant asshole but gets beaten up twice in the first episode woah, see another cap). I only watched three eps so far, but liked those a lot. The only downside is that the show triggers my embarrassment squick (they are so incompetent as computer salesmen omg!), so I have to go through it slowly with many breaks. We'll see. It's on wetv and youtube.

TV continued

Still The Long Ballad (43/48), I don't want it to end. omg why do I love this show so much? I haven't loved a historical cdrama this much since Lost You Forever. Whenever Ashile Sun is on screen I go awwwwww. I'll enjoy the rest of the drama at a slow pace, while it continues to give me life. <3

I haven't dropped A Moment But Forever yet, but also haven't watched a whole ep this month.

TV (dropped)

I got halfway through Love at Night, and once the leads got together, which always makes me happy and is the main reason I watch anything, I immediately lost my motivation to continue, lol. I guess it just wasn't otherwise good enough. I might pick it up again, once I'm done with Turquoise Land? Maybe? I'm not holding my breath, though.

I realized that To My Shore is airing now, a Chinese BL (one of those sneaky international China-Thailand co-productions), and I watched half an ep, but I think it's too dark for me. For whatever reason, they keep picking the non-con ones to produce. *sigh* I prefer my romance consensual.

Extraordinary, a shorty cdrama with 20 15-min episodes about a computer nerd who transmigrates into a playboy in the past and basically transforms his family into the richest family around using his modern knowledge of business and weaponry. There's a cross-dressing FL (who he immediately sees through, lol), but otherwise it's mostly comedy of the type I'm not too fond of, and I dropped it again after a few eps.

Rewatches/Watchalongs

The HPI watchalong finished season 5. Unfortunately, there are no subs (yet) except French ones. We tried auto-translated English ones *once* and then decided that French will have to do. We enjoyed it very much but now it's over. *sob*

We started Nothing But You after that. Now on episode 6 already, we're going through it fast because we don't want to spend a year on it. So far looking good in the *show everyone how good this cdrama is* department. \o/

Still watchalong-ing When A Snail Falls in Love with my other friend, and will move on to Nothing But You after that as well.

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

amperslashexchange is an exchange for ambiguous relationships. It has two pinch-hits left, including one for the Guardan novel, Guardian drama and Guardian RPF. The current deadline is January 9, 11:59 PM UTC.

Here are the exchange rules, and you can claim a pinch-hit here if you can help out!

dancing_serpent posting in

c_ent

I'm sorry to do this, but I need to take a bit of a break for a while. I'm not in a good place right now mentally, and I'm hitting a limit where running this comm has started to feel more like work than fun.

First of all, I will keep doing the weekly chats - those are the least stressful for me, and as long as I'm still watching dramas I'll have something to contribute to them. I'll also keep up with the maintenance, i.e. tracking the comm, creating tags, commenting, etc.

But for now, I'll put a break on running the Wishlist Wednesday and the Quick Rec Wednesday posts. Participation on those has been very low in general, and remember, you're always welcome to post requests or recs directly to the comm!

I might keep up posting the Did You Make a Thing? entries, let's see how I'll feel towards the end of the month. But again, you're always welcome to post your fanworks directly to the comm!

As for the Topic Tuesdays, I don't know yet. They might still happen sometimes, but not necessarily on the regular, second Tuesday of the month. I love them, but they're also the most stressful entries for me. Coming up with topics is hard, even with help from you. Especially so, when I have no experience with or no opinion on a certain topic, and struggle to play host to those discussions. But don't let that deter you. Whenever you want to talk about something, please simply make a separate discussion entry to this comm.

I adore our picspam collections, but they're also the most work intensive entries, so I won't make any promises.

I also won't make any promises or predictions about the time frame of these changes. Who knows? Maybe I'll be perfectly fine again next month and return to the regular schedule. But maybe it will take me a year instead. What I do know is that I'm not done with c-ent in general, there are still plenty of dramas to watch and books to read, and I'm looking forward to doing so!

I'm a bit sad about all of it, but I'd rather take a step back now and still enjoy c-ent, than turn the whole thing sour for me.

And if anyone had interest in hosting one of those formats for now, I'd be fine with that, too. PM me, if you like, or if you feel unsure about it.

kathleen_dailey

I don't think about my old neighbourhood very often, but today I received a message that mentioned the imminent sale of the Beacher Café (or maybe it's already sold--the website is gone), which triggered a frisson of nostalgia.

I remember the many fannish conversations I had at that café, a place that I still associate with an otherworldly, altered-state-of-consciousness period of intense reading and writing and imagining and analyzing (just like what I'm seeing now with friends who are immersed in Heated Rivalry creativity). For some reason--its lighting, its layout, the artwork on the walls, the general ambience--that particular café felt like a portal that, if entered at the right moment and in the right mood, might transport us to a dimension where we could catch a real-time glimpse of the universe and characters that preoccupied us so strongly.

It's been decades since I've lived in that time-forgotten lakeside neighbourhood, but I'll never forget the irreproducible synergy of people, ideas, and passionate inspiration of those days.

tinny

I was unfortunately not very consistent about writing down things in December. Once I realized on December 6 that I'd already forgotten three things again that I'd failed to note down, my motivation dropped considerably for the next two weeks. Which is why there are now only

( 8 (+2 related) things I learned in December )

tinny

I had expected the first Snowflake Challenge to be "update your intro", so I did that. :D It wasn't quite that, though. The first part of the challenge was "introduce yourself", so I guess close enough. :D Snapshot of my current dw profile page:

tinny profile 2026

I only updated the icon comms and changed a few icons in the color bars. Nothing much new, really.

The second part was "why do you do the challenge and what you you hope to gain from it"? Idk? I'll just see which challenges speak to me and then I do them. I did this in previous years as well, and it suits me fine. I usually just pick a few challenges that I like, no more than five, usually, and then I do those.

Here's my post from 2025: challenges 2-6 challenges 14+ and my own

Here's my post from 2024: only challenge 5, the icon scavenger hunt

Here's my post from 2023: challenges 5-10, 12 and 13

Lets see what this year brings, shall we? :D

What I'll also do this year is try and think about my creative process, and there's a new comm for that:

cultivativity

I'm looking forward to this, too!

trobadora

Third headache day in a row; this sucks. (Today is a bit better than yesterday, but I want it to go away! *kicks it*)

Today's writing

Just a little

fandomtrees work, but I'm really losing momentum here. :(

(I did finish my

candyheartsex letter last night, at least. Now I just have to hope someone requests something I can write ... Sign-ups are still open until tomorrow, btw!)

Tally

Day 1:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

philomytha,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 2:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 3:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 4:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 5:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 6:

china_shop,

trobadora

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

kathleen_dailey

Toronto sex store receives letters from U.S. Department of War.

[Grace] Bennett questioned whether or not the American soldiers stationed in Bahrain have been directly notified on what they are allowed to order to the country.

"I don’t know why they’re sending me very cross letters saying, 'Stop sending items that could cause bodily harm to this country,'" Bennett said. "This sounds like a you problem. The call was coming from inside the house."

marthawells

I updated my sticky post with: PSA: if you get an email out of the blue that is supposedly from me, offering to help you with marketing or other publisher services, or asking for money, it is not me, it is a scammer. Also, if you see me on Facebook or Threads or XTwitter, that's not me either.

This is a very common scam now, one of the many scams aimed at aspiring and new writers.

***

I'm still sick, ugh

***

Nice article on Queen Demon on the Daily KOS:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/5/2361356/-The-Language-of-the-Night-Martha-Wells-takes-on-colonization

One of Wells’ most compelling gifts as a writer is the way she interrogates trauma, and trauma is very much in evidence in her recent works, especially in both Murderbot and The Rising World. Where the Murderbot stories form an enslavement narrative as personal journey and healing, the Rising World series applies a wider cultural lens to trauma and loss.

Kai has seen his world ripped apart twice: the way to the underneath, the world of his birth, is shut off; the world of his above existence, the world of the Saredi, is also gone, both of them murdered by the Hierarchs. (You could argue that the third traumatizing loss-of-world is losing Bashasa, but that lies in the gap between past and present narratives.) In the past narrative, a vanquished Kai himself is imprisoned in the Summer Halls until Bashasa frees him and he joins the ad hoc rebellion.

dorinda

Happy New Year! Uh, belatedly! Time really got away from me...I fell ill right after Christmas, and am just now starting to play catch-up.

I got to write The Sting this year!:

What Wouldn't I Do For That Man (11779 words) by Dorinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Sting (1973)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Henry Gondorff/Johnny Hooker
Characters: Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker (The Sting), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Con Artists, 1930s, Gay Bar, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Nonverbal Communication, First Time, Post-Canon
Summary: Johnny strained for the faintly crackling feeling of awareness he'd gotten used to, looked for those tiny shifts of head, hands, stance—but nothing doing. Henry's attention was fully on the matinee idol and the idol's on him, murmuring in their own closed circle, while Johnny watched them like a stray through a cafe window.

Okay, so, this was new. He'd gotten on top of every knuckleball Henry had thrown him so far. You just had to watch, and then you'd see. Nobody ever said it was always going to be a goddamn delight.

Alphabetotter had some intriguing prompts, including an interest in Johnny discovering a really big intersection between the grifter and queer communities, and that snagged me by the imagination right away. There's a lot more historical context I find thought-provoking but didn't have any reason to include or at least explicate in the story itself, so maybe that'll have to come up another time.

trobadora

Dear

candyheartsex creator,

thank you so much for writing a story or creating art for me! I've requested and received all of these fandoms before - some I've requested for many, many years, and often with the same prompts, because when I really enjoy something, I immediately want fifty more takes on the same thing. *g* So don't worry about repeating things! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships I requested.

Everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.

My AO3 account is

Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.

General Preferences

( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )

Fandoms and relationships

In somewhat alphabetical order - note that some sections are expanded compared to the sign-up form:

Jump directly to:

绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, Huo Wensi/Luo Fei & Qin Xiaoman
Grimm: Nick/Renard, Renard/Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette, Renard & Elizabeth, Renard & Henrietta, Elizabeth/Kelly
镇魂 | Guardian (TV): Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing
Grimm/镇魂 | Guardian (TV) crossovers: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Renard, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette, Shen Wei & Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette & Shen Wei, Renard & Shen Wei, Renard & Ya Qing, Renard/Ya Qing
Legend of the Seeker: Cara/Darken Rahl
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia/Jabberwocky
Sherlock (BBC): Sherlock/Moriarty, Sherlock/Moriarty & Eurus
Time Engraver Crossovers: Time Engraver/Zhao Yunlan, Time Engraver/Jiang Yang, Time Engraver/Luo Fei
天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers - priest: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
山河令 | Word of Honor: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu & Luo Fumeng
长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing

( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, Huo Wensi/Luo Fei & Qin Xiaoman )

( Grimm: Nick/Renard, Renard/Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette, Renard & Elizabeth, Renard & Henrietta, Elizabeth/Kelly )

( 镇魂 | Guardian (TV): Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing )

( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Renard, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette, Shen Wei & Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette & Shen Wei, Renard & Shen Wei, Renard & Ya Qing, Renard/Ya Qing )

( Legend of the Seeker: Cara/Darken Rahl )

( Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia/Jabberwocky )

( Sherlock (BBC): Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes, Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes & Eurus Holmes )

( Time Engraver Crossovers: Time Engraver/Zhao Yunlan, Time Engraver/Jiang Yang, Time Engraver/Luo Fei )

( 天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers - priest: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu )

( 山河令 | Word of Honor: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu & Luo Fumeng )

( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )

trobadora

Most people find deadlines help them finish things! So do I - but what they mostly do for me is make me start actually working on a thing rather than just noodling around and/or writing bits and pieces. While I do write and finish things on my own, that depends heavily on initial motivation and inspiration - whereas with exchange fics, I often find that when I do start working on something, inspiration comes along anyway. But first I have to get started! - And, well, executive function and all that ... *g*

Today's writing

I still have a headache, and everything is very slow-going, but I'm working on

fandomtrees.

(And also on my

candyheartsex letter, which is almost finished ...)

[No question today because headache.]

Tally

Day 1:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

philomytha,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 2:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 3:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 4:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 5:

china_shop,

trobadora

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

trobadora

New Year Book Meme, via

calliopes_pen:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

I'm quoting the sentence in context, just for additional fun:

Schließlich sagte Fidelma in ruhigem und vernünftigem Ton: "Ich bin wieder in Ordnung, Grian. Du kannst mich loslassen."

Definitely happy to take that for 2026!

(The book is Peter Tremayne's Tod auf dem Pilgerschiff - the German translation of Act of Mercy, one of the Sister Fidelma mysteries. I happen to also have the English version in ebook form - there, the paragraph in question reads, "Finally Fidelma said in a quiet and reasonable tone: ‘I am all right now, Grian. You may let go.’")

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

And here are the answers to the hands quiz!

There were some very excellent guesses, and almost all characters and scenes were guessed in some fashion. The only one where no one came close to guessing the scene was 8d, which is a not very recognisable flashback. I'm totally impressed with everything else, though! Congrats! :D

( 44 answers behind the cut )

And that's it! Thank you all for playing, and/or enjoying the picspam! ♥

trobadora

Going by yesterday's poll, most people only sometimes know how the story will end when they start writing. I envy the ones who usually do - I used to be like that; the ending was what I started out with, long before I came up with the beginning. But in recent years that's changed more and more: I come up with a fun beginning, and then end up flailing because I don't really know where to take it. /o\ I'd really like to change that again, but I'm not sure how.

Also, most people in the poll said that if they don't know the ending, they'll just write the story until it gets there. More envy! But at least I'm not the only one who can only write bits and pieces until I know what I'm aiming for.

Today's writing

I've been having a headache all day, and if it weren't for

fandomtrees reveals approaching, I probably wouldn't have written more than an alibi sentence. As it is, I worked a little on the treat I started yesterday, and I think I'm figuring out the ending, so it's good that I did.

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34042

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 24

View Respondents

Do you find deadlines helpful for writing?

View Answers

yes, they help me write
4 (16.7%)

yes, they help me finish things
12 (50.0%)

no, they only make me nervous/anxious
3 (12.5%)

no, they don't do anything for me
4 (16.7%)

it's more complicated; I'll explain in comments
4 (16.7%)

tickybox is not a writer/has never had deadlines
0 (0.0%)

Tally

Day 1:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

philomytha,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 2:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 3:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 4:

china_shop,

trobadora,

ysilme

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

trobadora

In yesterday's poll, seven people said they never forget to write! I'm so envious, I want to know your secret.

(On busy days, sometimes when I finally have free time, I'm just mentally exhausted, and I remember nothing that doesn't come with dire urgency and a big fat red alert. *g*)

Also, in the tickybox question, "tock" is winning out over either of the "tick" options, and several people each ticked one of the boxes or all three, but none ticked two out of three. Fascinating! :D

Today's writing

I started a new

fandomtrees treat today, and it looks like it's coming together! But I don't know yet how to end it, and as I said yesterday, that's always difficult for me. I'll just have to poke at it some more until I figure it out ...

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34040

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28

View Respondents

When I start writing ...

View Answers

I usually know how the story will end
8 (28.6%)

I only sometimes know how the story will end
17 (60.7%)

I hardly ever know how the story will end
3 (10.7%)

If I don't know the ending ...

View Answers

I write the story until it takes me there
21 (80.8%)

I try out different endings until I hit on the right one
0 (0.0%)

I can't write more than bits and pieces until I figure it out
4 (15.4%)

I can't write it at all until I figure it out
1 (3.8%)

I do something else, which I'll explain in comments
0 (0.0%)

Tick-tock

View Answers

goes the clock
18 (100.0%)

Tally

Day 1:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

philomytha,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 2:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 3:

china_shop,

trobadora

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

kathleen_dailey

"No nation in the world could achieve what America has achieved yesterday or frankly in a short period of time," [Trump] said of his administration's actions. "We are going to run the country."

The international rule of law is clearly no longer a foundational system. Next thing we know, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and jurisdictions yet to be named--along with all their resources--will be (or may already be) action items on this demented criminal's agenda.

And we're not even a week into the new year. May the Goddess or her equivalent help our poor world.

mumblemumble

I wasn't going to make a vacation post, because the thought of doing a whole writeup was too overwhelming, but

sakana17's and

grayswandir's posts inspired me to at least share some pictures from the Hong Kong portion of the adventure. I was lucky enough to meet gray (and unfortunately missed sakana by a few days), and got to hang out with wenella (the wenella), who was the absolutely kindest host and took me to all the nice places.

So, pictures.

( Read more... )

tinny

Here's my last icon drop for 2025! All challenge icons I've made in November and December and haven't posted to my journal yet. For

bestof_icon purposes, these icons were all made in 2025.

ETA 03.01.: I have added 39 more icons to this post that I had forgotten to add to previous icon drops!

Teasers:
Squid Game

( 103 icons, mostly Wu Lei dramas, but also Guardian, Heated Rivalry, HPI, Love on the Turquoise Land, and some movies )

Concrit and comments very welcome! Take and use as many icons as you like, credit is appreciated. If you want to know whose textures and brushes I use, take a look at my resource post.

Previous icon posts:

dancing_serpent posting in

c_ent

kathleen_dailey

Surreal Estate will not be back for a fourth season. I really liked everything about this show--the concept, the characters, the execution.

One by one, my comfort-viewing favourites are disappearing (or in the case of Hudson & Rex changing so drastically for the worse that the show is no longer watchable). At least Wild Cards is apparently coming back.

tinny

Mount TBR 2025 Book #07 Rivers of London #07

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovich
Rivers of London #07

Peter uncovers clues that the Faceless Man Martin Chorley is executing the final stages of a long-term plan rooted in London's two thousand bloody years of history.

thoughts - slightly spoilery

* I still like Peter's POV, although in some scenes he's still a little bit too naive considering all the things he's seen.

* What I liked a lot is that he doesn't always react ideally in tense/dangerous situations. I found that very realistic.

* I'm not quite sure what to think about the psychological stuff, the colleague who needed counseling after working with Peter, etc. I guess it's a good thing to be mentioned seven installments into a series, but Peter is still being very cavalier about it.

* I really liked how he went back to talk to the river, by making a sacrifice to the Mother, which he (not quite but mostly) knew how to do, which makes sense because he really knows a lot about the rivers by now. She accepted it because she knows and likes him and knows it was given in the right spirit. He still gets important parts wrong and almost suffocates in the process, angering the sewer authority friend he persuaded to let him go into the sewers alone, against regulations. All of this was just hilarious.

* I very much liked all the conflicts he had with Leslie in this book. Her motives are discussed, and they very uncomfortably reminded me of typical reactionary views. Which is kind of a pity, because Peter is often wrong with his quick judgements, and it would have been fitting to have him be wrong about Leslie, but I don't think he was.

* I also very much liked the fairy he found in his cell, and that she's related to Molly. That was so heartwarming and cute!

* There wasn't all that much about his immediate family (neither his parents nor Beverly), but what there was was cute, too. And some of it thought-provoking, because he apparently had never thought about the fact that Beverly is very very old and he is not, and what consequences that will have on a relationship. The Old Man and his wife were setting an interesting example there (and an option for the god to make his lover somewhat immortal).

* I'm not sure what happened with Mr. Punch in the end, and why it even worked. So I guess the main plotline of the book somewhat escaped me. Oops.

4 stars - very quick read as usual, and some things I really liked and hadn't expected

Because I forgot to take this draft with me on vacation, I'm posting it after the reviews for books 8 and 9, so this is the last post for my 2025 Mount TBR challenge. I failed it by three books. /o\ I blame work for this, and I hope that will be less stressful in 2026.

I was trying to catch up at the end, and got to "almost two" - if those had been the last two, I would have made an effort to finish them both. As it was, even that would not have helped, so I wasn't motivated to do that. Those will be the first books of 2026, then, since I've already started both of them.

1 - 5 stars - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 [DW link]
2 - 2 stars - Miss Merkel: Mord auf dem Friedhof by David Safier Miss Merkel #2 [DW link]
3 - 4 stars - Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Toby Daye #10 [DW link]
4 - 1 star - Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin [DW link]
5 - 5 stars - Murderbot Diaries 1-4 by Martha Wells [DW link]
6 - 4 stars - Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur/We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter [DW link]
7 - 4 stars - Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovich Rivers of London #07 [DW link]
8 - 3 stars - Der Markisenmann by Jan Weiler [DW link]
9 - 3 stars - The Village Teacher by Liu Cixin [Graphic Novel by Zhang Xiaoyu] [DW link]

sakana17

跨年快乐！🎆🥳🎉 I hope you'll all have a better 2026 than 2025! ♥

I haven't posted since October, somehow. I don't know why I didn't manage any posts in November (although... the latest farmboys mini-show was airing 😅), but I didn't post anything in December because

thevetia and I went to China!

Where: Hong Kong -✈️-> Hangzhou (iykyk) -🚃-> Shanghai
Highlights: meeting

grayswandir, going to museums in each city, going to Shanghai Film Park(!)
Weather: We were very lucky! It only rained during the day once (in Hangzhou), and the temperatures in Hangzhou and Shanghai were not as cold as we'd been bracing ourselves for. The weather in Hong Kong was warm and pleasant.

( Trip, part 1: Hong Kong )

( Hong Kong logistics/recommendations )

trobadora

I haven't done this meme in a few years, but I thought I'd do it again this year!

My writing year started out strong; then I crashed for a few weeks in March, and by the time I was recovering, it all fell into a ditch due to work-related lack of time and sheer exhaustion. July and August ended up my worst writing months since the start of WED. But I recovered toward the end of the year, even though work picked up again in November, so the end result was pretty good anyway!

Some statistics:

Total number of posted stories in 2025: 12 - one fewer than in 2024; I hope to write more things again in 2026!

Total word count (posted): 88,174 - about 18k more than 2024: while I wrote fewer stories, many more of them were on the longer side. In fact, this is the second-highest amount of words I've posted in a year, only beaten by 2018 with 97,933 words.

Total word count (written): 155,611 - about 6k more than 2024. The last time I wrote more than this was in 2018; I hope to get back there some day.

Highest monthly word count (posted): 30,631 (December) - almost 20k of this is due to

ficinabox reveals being delayed for three weeks; the rest is Yuletide.

Highest monthly word count (written): 57,548 (February) - my best writing month since I started keeping track in a spreadsheet back in 2014! Of course part of that was that I ditched my

highadrenalineexchange fic post-deadline and wrote something entirely new, LOL. Maybe it's no wonder that I fell into a slump after HA reveals in early March. *g*

Most words written in a day: 6,583 (1st March) - the final rush to the HA finish line!
Fewest words written in a day: 1 (9th September) - before my writing started to recover a bit towards the end of the month.

Months I actually posted fic: 6 - one fewer than 2024.

( more meme and numbers )

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Mainly, I want to write more words than in 2025, finish more stories, and post fic in more months.

Current Mood: contemplative

TV finished

TV new (ongoing)

TV continued

TV (dropped)

Rewatches/Watchalongs

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