Dear ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
littleblackdressex creator,
Jul. 5th, 2025 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anaraineI do have gifts enabled, and treats are always welcome.
( In general... )
( Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Makoto )
( Bleach: Yumichika, Shinji )
( Harvest Moon SNES: Jack )
( Naruto: Haku, Kagami, Tobirama, Touka )
I need to put this feeling into a drug and huff it
Jul. 6th, 2025 09:21 pmcrantzAnd then waited a month or so for a response.
I got in!
I made all my zines, made stickers, packed up my Ceramic Objects, made a sign and day of we got there in plenty of time, had no problems at set up (minus needing to borrow some tape from the front desk of the art gallery where it was being held) and it went great!
I actually sold stuff! People wanted to buy my writing and my art! I made back the cost of everything! And I talked to so many people and the only bad part is I am one of those people who has to deliberately make facial expressions and it had been so long since I worked in retail I had forgotten the facial movements for a customer service smile and my brain was relaying to me that the muscle movements I felt weren't 'friendly smile' they were 'death rictus'.
But everyone was very nice, no horror stories at all! And it feels so amazing people wanted creative stuff I'd done, you have no idea!
In other news, the latest 'episode' of the Star Trek game I run finished. It was a Beach Episode with lots of Section 31 bullshittery where the players rolled as horribly as possible at every juncture. It was kind of beautiful. However, they got in some AMAZING character moments they hadn't before I would call the whole thing a massive success. The person I'm running these games for primarily and I are now planning the next episode with some very interesting stuff I have to keep under my hat for now.
The Cthulhu/Catthulhu game is going well. I'm managing good player participation, the modifications of the game are going well, and I decided to do a pretty bold move this session that really deviated from the module but got a clue across to the cats that I could not have had them discover otherwise. They also really liked my latest npcs - Pasta and Devil the hippy and military dogs, and Lucille the mangled but healthy and wellspoken cat who keeps/protects the murderous npc Bogdan.
Previous NPC successes were Wiggle and Squeak, the guinea pigs who thought that now their owner was dead, they were going to inherit the house. They had renovation plans. And Fraulein Hoffman, who to her and everyone else's surprise is not a cat but an opossum and possibly having an affair with Burgocat Hans.
I've been having trouble making Pathfinder comics lately, or even HamsterBandit Industries comics lately. I have a lot of pencils and scripts but actually committing to finishing has been tough. I'll wait for a 3 am manic period I guess.
A Sunshiny writerly ways
Jul. 6th, 2025 07:31 pmcornerofmadness
Challenge #2
Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like
Now that I'm a college professor and not seeing patients any more, I have one thing I like about summer. I'm OFF WORK. Other than college sucks. Yeah I love to garden and swim but you can do both of that indoors and that's my preference. I'm heat intolerant. Summer literally makes me sick. Yeah I'm an autumn/winter kinda lady.
Yes I can appreciate all the good things that comes out of summer but yeah not really for me.
But I do have something about love written...or at least sex... have that story I wrote in a week 15K + here is chapter one. I'm proud of this one If Anything's Worth My Love, It's Worth a Fight It's Hazbin Hotel and it's naughty
Open Calls
Eldritch Prayers (Cthulhu Mythos Poetry Anthology)
Anomaly August 2025 Window science fiction stories under 300 words in length
Unseen Agreements Speculative stories that explore hidden bargains, mysterious contracts, and eerie agreements by Canadian authors
Dark Age Press August 2025 Window For Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Horror on the Range Horrifying Wild West Stories
Common Bonds 2 Stories that belong in the fantasy or science fiction genre, have a clear aromantic MC, & centers around a non-romantic relationship
Tractor Beam Volume 3 Speculative Fiction, Soilpunk (they're claiming to pay 1000$)
Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in July 2025
SQUID Online: Now Seeking Submissions.
22 Young Adult Publishers that Accept Unagented Submissions
From Around the web
How Authors Can Promote Books Using TikTok and Instagram
Juxtapositions Can Make Great Sentences
Generate Greater Book Profits in 4 Easy Steps
Gazingly (Lovingly) Into the Abyss—Introducing Horrormance, the New Genre-Blending Sensation so...apparently I've been reading and writing this without knowing it had a title
How to Subtitle Your Book to Encourage Sales
Story Development: The Overlooked Revision Opportunity.
Plot Holes? I Prefer to Call Them “Opportunities for Interpretation”
How Writers Can Stay Hopeful in a Tough Publishing Climate
From Betty
Constructing a Compelling Romance
Should Your Fantasy World Resemble Earth?
Adding Dance to Your Fictional Culture
The Gravity of a Single Word: Why Writers Must Choose with Care
Write Your Manuscript Like an Endurance Athlete Trains
The What Ifs of Building Believable Alternate History
How to Avoid Apostrophe Abuse
The Living, Breathing Novel
The Emotion Amplifier Playbook for Antagonists
Three Hidden Reasons Writers Procrastinate
How does a comp title help a self-published book’s marketing plan?
A Writer Can Rely on the Unreliable Narrator POV
Aquarium photos!
Jul. 6th, 2025 09:08 pmautobotscoutriella( photos under the cut to spare your reading page )
Not pictured: the cownose ray in the stingray touch tank that took a liking to me. Her name was Big Splash and she lived up to it. I was still damp when I got home six hours later.
Julé! 06/31
Jul. 6th, 2025 07:03 pmkat_lairYouTube algorithm threw this at me tonight and on this occasion the YouTube algorithm was bang on. This is, in fact, relevant to my interest. No, I've never heard of them until today. No, I did not know any of their names (I do now so A+ marketing). But what I do know is that this is the kind of soft queer pining vibe I'm absolutely into. And it's a bop.
***
B5 Double Drabble: No Choice
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:52 pmbadly_knittedTitle: No Choice
Fandom: Babylon 5
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: John Sheridan.
Rating: PG
Spoilers/Setting: Z’ha’dum.
Summary: Sheridan has been warned about what will happen if he goes to Z’ha’dum, but he goes anyway.
Written For: Challenge 477: Amnesty 79 at
fan_flashworks, using Challenge 274: It's A Trap.Disclaimer: I don’t own Babylon 5, or the characters. They belong to J. Michael Straczynski.
A/N: Double drabble.
FAKE Double Drabble: Tangled In Love
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:39 pmbadly_knittedTitle: Tangled In Love
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG-13
Written For: Challenge 457: Tangled Up at
drabble_zone.Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: The boys wake up the morning after a night of loving.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.
Double Drabble: Dramatic
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:30 pmbadly_knittedTitle: Dramatic
Author:
badly_knitted Characters: OCs, Jack, Ianto.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 872: History at
torchwood100.Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The Hub has been invaded by human criminals…
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.
The Agatha Christie reread: The Hollow
Jul. 6th, 2025 03:04 pmscripsiThis is a spoiler-free post.
The Hollow was first published in 1946, during Agatha Christie’s Golden Age. It’s not one of her more well-known mysteries, which I always thought was a bit strange, because it’s my favourite Christie. On the surface the plot is typical for her: A murder in a stately home where several guests have gathered for the weekend. Hercule Poirot investigates. Personally I think this book is rather invisible because it belies a very common statement about Christie, that she only writes cardboard stock characters with no depths and complexity. In The Hollow we have plenty of complex characters and I would say the main theme in the book is obsession. Obsessive love, obsession for science, the artist's obsession towards their work, and so on. If you wanted a stock Christie, you may be disappointed. There is also the fact that even if this is a Poirot novel, he doesn’t enter until halfway, and he is actually not the first to figure out who the murderer is. In fact I’ve always felt this book may have been better liked if there had been no Poirot in it at all. Checking the publishing order, this was the first Poirot since 1942, and Christie had written five books in between. I wonder if the publisher put pressure on her to include Poirot in this one… You also get the POV from more characters than usual. I have never read any of Christie's Mary Westmacott novels, but I’ve read that The Hollow is more like them in writing style.
( Read more... )
What I have been reading, June edition
Jul. 6th, 2025 02:45 pmscripsiWhat I finished reading in June was the first four books in the YA Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud, The Screaming Staircase, The Whispering Skull, The Creeping Shadow and The Hollow Boy. Husband wanted to rewatch the Netflix show, and as I hadn’t seen it, I joined in. I liked it, and as it ended after one season, which covered book 1 and 2, I promptly started to read the books.
The concept is that the UK is suffering from a spreading ghost infection, and as being touched by a ghost is fatal unless you get medical aid, it’s not a good thing. It doesn't help that only children and teenagers are able to actually see the ghosts. So gifted children work for ghost hunting agencies, which is a pretty nifty device for putting teenagers in the forefront of the action, while still not always being very sensible, because teenagers. The narrator is a girl, Lucy, who starts working for the very small agency Lockwood & Co, and gradually they are getting closer and closer to why this ghost infection has started.
I find the books very enjoyable. Lucy is a pretty engaging narrator, if not always a stellar character. But my favourite character is Skull, a ghost trapped in a jar that only Lucy can talk to.
I also actually counted the books I’m in various stages of reading… Yikes! I think I should focus on finishing some of them this month. Here they are, in no particular order.
The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud
Det ockulta sekelskiftet (The Occult Turn of the Century) by Per Faxneld. How occultism influenced a number of Swedish artists in the late 19/early 20th century.
Never Flinch and Fairy Tale by Stephen King
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (A re-read.)
A Better Man by Louise Penney
Furstinnan (The Princess) by Eva Mattson. A biography over the 16th century Swedish queen Catherine Jagiellon.
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Towards Zero by Agatha Christie
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg
The Treasure by Selma Lagerlöf
This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles
well I finished it
Jul. 5th, 2025 09:09 pmcornerofmadnessI also got my first Arackniss pin. It's funny. The character isn't even canon (yet), just part of the background notes from years ago and everyone has a take on him. Me included. I was not expecting to have such fun with him but he's a blank slate. Now I'm actually dreading seeing Arackniss in actual canon.
Speaking of it, now Season 3 (S2 hasn't even aired yet) has had all its music leaked. It's such a shame. And I know some Hazbin fans will buy it. If there wasn't a market, people wouldn't steal this stuff.
I started editing through the new cryptid story. Had a panic attack when there was at least two scenes missing. Found it later and then some of it was duplicated. UGH HOW? But that's the good news. This story was very close to being way too long. It's not done but I didn't have much left to play with and the villain isn't even here yet.
FAKE Double Drabble: Best Dad Ever
Jul. 5th, 2025 06:13 pmbadly_knittedTitle: Best Dad Ever
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Bikky, Ryo.
Rating: G
Setting: Early in the manga.
Summary: Bikky breaks something.
Written Using: The tw100 prompt ‘Accident’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.
Doctor Who Drabble: Perfectly Aligned
Jul. 5th, 2025 06:02 pmbadly_knittedTitle: Perfectly Aligned
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: The Doctor.
Rating: G
Written For: Challenge 937: ‘Syzygy’ at
dw100.Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The Doctor knows something the locals aren’t aware of.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who, or the characters.