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Challenge Name: The Tortured Poets Department: The Challenge Challenge Deadline: July 1, 2024 Accepted Fandoms: Most + OF, but please ask if you're not sure! Also, for some, please make sure I can read fandom-blind-ish! Accepted Ratings: All Challenge Details: Write a fic (how ever many chapters you want, just please under, like, 20k words) that is inspired by a Taylor Swift song No prewritten entries, but a new entry in a universe/series is totally cool! All entries must be on the FFT archives Include 'For Lost_Robin's The Tortured Poets Department: The Challenge' somewhere in the summary/notes Also please include somewhere (either on here or in the summary/chapter notes) what song you picked! Any Taylor song is acceptable! If a multichap, please have at least two chapters posted by July 1, 2024 Multiple entries allowed! Please only one song per fic! Rewards: Every entry gets a review! First Place: 7 reviews, recommendation on my blog Second Place: 5 reviews Third Place: 3 reviews Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading everything!

Hi! Update time. We're halfway through the month. I have no concept of how long this will take, but progress is being made. I have the initial review of both stories finished. The magic system that I plan to use in story #1 is cataloged and I have identified four specific things I need to work through before I write that will make my life easier (and cut down on the hair pulling, I hope) in the future. That's my goal for the next few days. After that, I get to look at my Main Plot Scenes and dream up cool subplots for this thing to expand the story. I'm very much looking forward to that bit. It's where I have the most fun! After that, I get to go back to my original notes and read through them all, and see if there's anything I've made decisions on, any blanks I feel like I can fill, and any changes I want to make before the writing starts. All that said, if I set a goal of having all that (points up) done by end of April, I'll have spent a month prepping the story. I think I did that with How To Retire... I think I spent at least a month chewing on it and hemming over it before I started any words, and it came out okay. So that's what I'm shooting for. Prep work set before the end of the month. Then, I think it might be time to start messing with words. EDIT: I looked back at my WJ (neato thing to get to look back on!) and I did confirm that I spent a good solid four weeks of planning and plotting and outlining before I even touched words on How To Retire. I had the first chapter very drafty drafted at about the six week mark, and by week 7, I had a bundle of about 20k story words jumping around. So I'm good for the four week mark on planning, etc. (thumbs up) Not that I want to rush the process or anything. It's just good to look back and know that I'm on track, based on previous writing projects. Come to think of it, I also spent a month in planning and rehashing The Outsider before I touched those words, and I already had 40k of those words prewritten, so that's also good to note. ONWARDS!

We're almost at the halfway point of camp nano (HOW?) already so I figured an update was in order The rewrite is going better than expected, tbh. I'm mostly changing tenses and returning to my roots of first person past tense for writing. Another big change is that James is now a student at Arkadia College instead of Polis University. Honestly it makes more sense this way, and him living with Murphy is going to give me so many good future scenes that I'm already eager to write. Content wise, the story has stayed the same, so I think that's why the rewrite has been going pretty well. I've only reworked a handful of scenes but the meat of them are still there. I am a little behind on the schedule I put for myself. I wanted to be done editing by the halfway point so I could write chapter 7 in the second half, but I've been a little busier than anticipated this month (all good/fun things) so I'm learning to give myself grace there. I think I'll just rework my goal so that I finish editing chapter 6 by the end of the month so I can focus on fresh chapters in May. The first three re-written chapters are posted back on the archives, though, and I'm looking forward to sharing the rest with you guys ❤️ Total camp nano word count: 7,961

If anyone needs me I'll be listening to Tortured Poets Department all week 💋. No new words for the wc, but after a couple days of searching some of my favorite songs for this story I've both found a ton of chapter starter quotes and also stumbled onto a plot twist I wasn't meaning to have and now am so ecstatic for. It's pretty typical of me to start writing one story and then watch it turn into something different as I've gotten started so I don't know why I thought this would be any different 🤣. I would also like to thank pinterest for all the heavy lifting it's been doing for me on the ~vibes~ level cause it's the MVP on this NaNo month. Seeing the boxing glove image I used in the picspam above gave me a location for all of the secret meetings that need to happen and not have these people just live in the ministry offices and also gave me a reason for hand-wrapped, sweaty Scorp😜

Thanks. I hope so too. I’ll give more details later, when I’m not busy taking care of her. And so far the advice has been helpful!

@Felpata_Lupin I do have ideas floating around in my head for a sequel to Tiramisu, although only a tiny bit of a few scenes have been written down, mostly as exercises for writing classes. Nothing substantial will be done on it until I finish The Crofter and The Snake because I never leave anything unfinished, although finishing something can take a long time. I'm glad that you are interested in the idea of a continuation of the story of Gerard and Tiramisu.

Hello FFT members! If you're looking for a quick writing exercise, it's International Haiku Day! Try your hand at the haiku generator we've posted on our Twitter/X and Instagram or create something entirely your own for a chance to have your writing featured on our social media channels! Participation in this fun, mini activity is not just limited to today, so take some time to ponder before submitting! You'll get a personalized graphic and/or reel made for your haiku as well. 😊 No social media, no problem? Drop your haiku below (make sure it adheres to forum posting guidelines, pls and thanx) and we'll give you your graphics! As a reminder, if you would NOT like to be tagged on any of our social media, please let us know! We want to make sure that we are shouting your praises where you would like us to be while also being respectful of your privacy! Also, if there are certain stories you have posted to our archives that you would not like us to promote, that is helpful for us to keep track of us as well! Thanks all! 💖

Hey @GKWriter! You know, I struggled with this for a long time. Part of me was, "this is gonna be fun!" and the rest of me was, "wow, this is a big job, it's going to take so so long!" The thing that finally broke through for me was that I had already written a short story (10k) of an original world magic system, and I finally thought to myself, "you know, you did this thing over here. You don't have to start from scratch. You could just use what you already built!" Then it took another few months of just letting that idea sit and imagining the hp story using that type of magic. Then it took a year of going off the rails writing something completely different. And now I'm back to this. Oh yeah, you asked me a question, haha. How much worldbuilding have I done? First off, I decided that this would be a Modern-Real-World-Adjacent Magic story. That took a lot of pressure off already. I didn't need to start from scratch. I could rely on Common Knowledge. I didn't have to explain where paper came from, or cell phones, or rebuild the political system. Secondly, I made a list of all the magic that I used in the short story. Just finished a few days ago, actually. Good thing it's a short story, so it only took a few days. Today, I'm putting all of that in order and looking closely at what I used and how I used it, and how I can explain it all to myself so I can use it in a different story and be consistent. So tedious. But I think it's going to prevent a lot of headaches in the future. Right now, for example, I'm looking at a rune-based magic system. Don't want to use wands. (It's too close to HP) My characters basically trace a symbol in the air to activate a magic spell/charm. Then the magic does its thing. I have an ambient magic world. Magic just exists in the world like air. Very similar to HP, it's not explainable or measurable. Typical. However, there is a balancing act I'm playing with, where magic needs balance in order to remain accessible. For example, if some selfish guy goes out there and gathers together a large quantity of raw magic, it's going to affect the magic stability of other places, sometimes locally, sometimes regionally, potentially globally. So that's become the basis for my antagonist archetypes: megalomaniac, selfish powermongers. They're campy and ridiculous, and the accumulation of magic makes them mentally unstable, feeding into the camp and ridiculousness. It's a world problem, as well as a character problem. I'll be playing with themes of addiction and how that applies to mental stability, etc. The world problem will feed into the internal conflict of the antagonist. I don't have specific examples, yet, but the concept seems to lend itself to the antagonists I already have set up in both stories. I found the connection, so I'm leaning on it and building pieces of the world to support it. Setting all that aside, I'm looking at my lists, (right now, in fact. My timer went off, so this is my brain break) I have used the words "spell" and "charm" interchangeably. I am also throwing around the words "runes", "glyphs" and "sigils" all over the place, with no indication of whether they have different purposes. This is something I would like to clarify in my magic system before I move forward. I can see how it'd become a headache later, if I decide that these words have different meanings, and then I have to go through and rename things. Maps: nope. Real-world adjacent. I'm planning to use a global community, so I wanted this to be a Google no-brainer. Aside from the fact that there may be "invisible to the non-magic eye" locations that I get to make-up, of course, such as the island prison for Magics somewhere off the coast of Great Britain. Don't ask me. It's somewhere out there. Magical Societies: This could have been a lot going on here, but I'm keeping it loose. Right now, I have a Cursebreaker who works for the organization I'm currently calling Central Command out of New York City. I also have a Magical Enforcer (the term I replaced Auror with), who works for Central Command based in London. These people are looking for spikes on a "map" (tbd) of unusual magical activity that create local or regional imbalances. There are "rules" that Magics have to follow (tbd) and when those rules are broken, you get these "magical spikes" that tend to disrupt what law-abiding magic users are doing in their day-to-day. Let's just say that I'm following the idea of a power grid. I'm leaving it loose like this, so the stories can develop as they will. I'm imagining that each region would have their own methods and their own laws regarding what is and is not acceptable, depending on cultural norms and the magic within those cultures. I'm keeping the term Central Command for now, with the understanding that "central" and "command" will eventually be more defined within each region as I go. I anticipate there will be differences between the way Americans and British magics use this, as well as wherever else I want to write in the world. Generally, it's the "greater good for all" concept, which, as you can imagine, is a breeding ground for all kinds of future worldbuilding conflict. So, in short (and really, when is worldbuilding ever short, right?) that's where I am. Like, right now. I'm making notes to myself as things ping in my brain, such as "hey, this concept could do that one thing in this story", sticking it on a literal index card and making a stack to physically go through before I start writing the story, to remind myself of interesting things I might consider. I'm allowing myself the freedom of not setting anything in stone yet. I'm reminding myself that anything I'm doing right now is malleable and can grow/change with the writing process... as it does. That lets me keep stock of any conflicting ideas I'm not going to readily reconcile at this stage. One of the big things that throws me off the rails is making hard and locked in decisions. Removing that from the table does wonders for my workflow and allows me to keep going, knowing that I don't have to have all the answers. This feels kind of backwards, since I'm already dealing with fully written out plots and all, but I also remember that I didn't go off and build my world ideas first for that OF short story. I just kind of imagined and plotted short, and went with it. But I do want to get these concepts as streamlined as I can, understanding what I created, how it works, and why I did it that way before I dive back in and revise. Especially when I start replacing the HP magic system with this one. Things will start to shift and change and get more complex, and I want the room to do that within the story. This way, I'll have a structure of notetaking I can just dump it into when that starts to happen. It's a spreadsheet, which I'm planning to print hardcopy, like a little magic manual, so I can flip through it while I'm writing for easy access. My brain doesn't do well with clicking through tabs on the screen. Jotting down revisions and additions by hand in my "magic manual", or sticking things on notecards and making a stack will be a better, nonintrusive way of adding to my magic manual without breaking the flow of words as I write. I've been there, done that, and breaking flow is something I'm planning to avoid doing as much as I can this time around. (I spent a year writing this Regency thing, and the 'stop every five minutes to do research' just about killed me. Learning from that.) How is your progress?

I amuse me, and that's what's important. Also I think I have finally untangled ch 24 of Burrough House!

Hi, everybody . A little catch-up. I have written a fair amount more of the chapter to which I referred in the above post, and it is giving me an opportunity to do what some reviewers have been wanting, namely, a thawing out of the frosty relationship between Howard and McGonagall. It fits in well with what has been going on, and I'm pleased with it. At present, writing needs to be fitted into available periods of the day, such as very early morning, or after dinner when it's too dark to work outside. On the home front I am doing mega yard work. (I knew it would happen.) Lots of mowing, lots of raking, lots of weeding, lots of chopping, lots of filling organic debris bins. On Saturday I did that stuff for 6 hours (10:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. with a 15-minute lunch break). Today I started up again after church and went until 5:15 p.m. Tomorrow I work in the morning but will do more weeding and mowing in the afternoon. The time of year when the temperature is a little warmer (60's F) and the day length is a little longer and the vegetation just explodes. It's official: I did not lose any plants in the January deep freeze! Fun today at church. During the coffee hour a member of the church (his children are about the same age as mine) asked how my writing was coming, so I told him it's chugging along and I got good comments on my most recent chapter (Chapter 31). He wanted to know what it was about, so I had to back up to Chapter 30 to give the proper lead-in to Chapter 31, and I told him essentially what happens in these two chapters. He was enjoying it very much, having fun, interrupting from time to time to give his comments on the narrative. I told him how I researched the logistics of drilling the hole in the office door, and he said that as soon as he heard, in the narrative, how Tracey had mentioned the cordless electric drill while she and Howard were standing against the corridor wall, he instantly knew what they were going to do with it. That impressed me. If I were not the author, I don't think I would have guessed it. I hope you are all having some progress and much fun.

Chapter 30 of The Snake Within is up! (Almost) all cast Valentine edition

Hi, Diana! Thank you so much for stopping by and for all the encouragement! Unfortunately, NaNo has been very slow so far, and life way too hectic, but I'm hoping to make some progress today... maybe? Sooo... questions... Actually, no, I haven't... I spend a lot of time imagining what my characters are going to do or say in this situation or that, but I've never actually had a conversation or an interview with them... but I think I'd really like to try, because it sounds fun! I was reading @Pixileanin interviews with her characters in her Novel Nest, and they are so clever and it really seems like something very interesting and helpful to do, so I'll have to give it a try and see what happens! As for things I've learnt about them... well... I've discovered that James is much more fragile than I imagined him to be, and has a lot of unresolved grief and trauma that he's been burying deep inside because he's too scared of facing it. I've found out that Sirius is, in many ways and strangely enough, the wisest out of the Marauders, and in a similar way Ron is the wisest in the Golden Quartet (not including Samantha here, who's obviously the wisest of the whole group ). I've found out that Draco, with all his being super clever and cunning and a maniac of control, deep down he's only just scared of remaining alone. And Ginny only wants to not be a disappointment for her family. I'm not sure if my reply makes any sense either, but these are the things I could think about at the moment... Uhm, no... I don't tend to listen to music while I write, I usually prefer to do it in silence... and while it can happen that a particular song inspires me, I don't have playlists or songs to go with my projects... it's just not something that I do... Uhm, not sure? It's been five years, and I'm sure I've grown as a writer, but also I can't think of anything specific at the moment... mostly, I'm trying to follow my characters along and see where they'll lead me (I am and will always be 100% a pantser, which can be a real struggle at times, because it's so easy to lose track of your story... but I also like it that way, I guess) I'm doing a terrible job at replying to these questions, I'm sorry... I love Spring! My favourite season! I love the longer and warmer days, the sunny weather, the flowers blooming! I love the feeling of rebirth that Spring brings along, if you know what I mean... During this Camp NaNo, or in general? Because, as I was saying, I haven't really managed much so far... Normally, I'm just happy when I manage to put a few words on (virtual) paper... it's hard to find the time and the right mindset to write, with the frantic lives we have, so just managing to sit down and devote a few hours to writing is an achievement, and I think Camp NaNo is a great push for it. This community is wonderful for offering support and encouragement, and just the will to be part of the excitement of NaNo has been in the past enough to give me the push I needed to make the effort of pulling words out, which is all I ask for Camp NaNo. Again, I'm probably making a terrible job at answering your questions... but this is how I feel about these times of the year... (Oh, and of course a big achievement would be if tea triumphed over coffee in the "Race to the death" thread... but recently the coffee lovers always seem to prevail... one day I will have my vengeance... )

I can absolutely put you down as a maybe! I think I'd prefer if it's just one song per fic, just so judging's a little easier. Multiple entries are completely welcome, but I'd prefer if each entry only has one song attached to it (and I'll put this in the rules in case anyone else was wondering) But notes work! I'll be reading all of the entries, so as long as it's somewhere in there, it's all good! I just want to know what song it is so I can listen to the song while reading. Participants: dreamshadow RogueSlytherin starlitcastles (Maybe)

Hello Robin! Okay, should mention that I saw title and was thinking: "Oh gosh, I need to listen to her album. I haven't yet!" and I know that I will. Just give me time. I did, however, read your thread and am glad that it's pertaining to her songs! She has many wonderful and amazing songs! I'm still listening to a few albums that I missed out on but do love a lot of the ones that I've heard and definitely interested in this challenge! Is it possible that you could put me as a maybe for now? If I do, it'll be an OF one shot or short story inspired by her songs! Also, random question relating to her songs and hope this makes sense but what if we're inspired by more than one of her songs? Can we put that we're inspired by the songs in the notes before or after the story/fic that we're posting?

Too many songs to choose from, but I'll somehow narrow it down 😂 I'm in 🙌

This is a given but I'm absolutely in Some variation of Emma/Memma but I have no idea what song yet, this will be fun!

He has told me to journal for the writing project to get into Anne Boleyn's head so this thing will practically write itself. I even bought notebooks for that purpose. He said not to worry too much about research right now, which is fine by me cause none of my sources are even working. It doesn't help that I have been having to help take care of my stepmom, who has an LVAD. I haven't wanted that to be public yet but I figured it's part of why I have trouble getting writing done so I may as well tell everyone.

Hello! So I haven't updated this in a while. I have some news. My historical writing project is going well. I am getting help from an award winning writer for it. He is a friend of my father's. Quite exciting! I have been trying to actually write but life keeps getting in the way. I hope to have more story updates for you all soon though. I hope to get to discuss my writing more with you all in the near future. I hope you all are doing well!!

Day 18 UPDATE! Words written today = 0 Total word count for challenge piece = 7,754 words Days remaining until the deadline: 9 days It's been a while, whoops! 🤭 I have been writing, but for the wrong WIP as it seems I am well into procrastination mode for this challenge deadline! 🤦‍♀️ Words written in the past week: tmmatmp - chapter 19 of my whump collection. 8002 words! The fact that it's longer than the current challenge piece I've been working on since February was a bit of a wake-up call to just how much I've been procrastinating lmgmah - a short fluff oneshot to celebrate me finishing my current course of therapy. 934 words. So I have been busy busy busy just not with my main objective. Using this update to tell myself to get on with it as the deadline is looming!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final report on Project Tempus Linea! Before the Time Guides announce the team that revealed the identity of the Time Thief, we need to ensure our records are in order for future Travelers’ reference: The Travelers The Tardis - WriteYourHeartOut, The Impossible Girl, Aphoride, prideofprewett, PinsandKneazles, and Pixileanin The DeLorean - Owlpost68, Oregonian, Predictable Chaos, inmyownlittlecorner, Witty Wayfarer, and Bat Stitch Crazy The Past Both teams of Travelers got acquainted with their equipment and the mission in this round, and then got right into it! Here are the review numbers from the first round: The Tardis: 181 reviews The DeLorean: 107 reviews Round 2 In the Present, a lot of time was spent learning about the team back at Tempus Centrum. Our Travelers still found time to leave plenty of reviews! The Tardis: 112 reviews The DeLorean: 100 reviews Round 3 And in the Future, our Travelers took on a near-endless slew of pathways in stride. The Tardis: 156 reviews The DeLorean: 155 reviews R&D Those back at Tempus Centrum left a total of 60 reviews to enhance the time equipment and increase our chances of catching the Time Thief! Thanks to dreamshadow, RonsGirlFriday, magemadi, crimson quill, Godspeed, Felpata_Lupin, and Oregonian for your support! Team Leaders Top reviewers: The DeLorean Predictable Chaos – 192 reviews The Tardis Prideofprewett – 146 reviews Writer Updates: 2 recommendation blogs were posted There were 21 updates to writers' journals 80 reviews were responded to 15 forum responses were posted 10 stories were posted or updated Reviews: 811 reviews were left for the team event 60 reviews were left for rising through the ranks grand total of 871 reviews were left from beginning to end! 2727 points earned by The Tardis and The DeLorean combined And now, it is time to reveal the winner of the Project Tempus Linea review event! With a total of 1510 points, your winners are.... The Tardis! Congratulations to our winners! And congratulations to The DeLorean, with a total of 1217 points, for their productive search through time! And now, for the reveal of the Time Thief... The Cat From Outer Space!! We still haven't caught onto his swift trail, but we're closer than ever thanks to everyone's efforts ⏲️ Thank you to everyone who participated in this event!! Can't wait to see the final results of the Inky's soon

Honestly, all we really need to exist are vibes, anyway. coffee: 6 notebook: 1 laptop: 14 playlist: 14

I don't do as much writing longhand as I used to - I mostly write straight onto the computer these days. Maybe I should give it another try! I confess to being a bit of a fountain pen enthusiast - I think my handwriting is better with a fountain pen than with a ballpoint, although there are people who would say that it's still pretty terrible...

Chapter 02 || Live fast and die young and stay forever numb I am somehow 7,955/10,000 word goal 😶 And I've posted 2/2 chapters for NaNo 🤯. Thank you to everyone who's stopped by my nest and checked out the first chapter. Your encouragement has been so motivating 🙌 I really wasn't expecting to get this much done this quick and there's a real part of me that wants to trash all of chapter 2 and start over but I'm resisting the urge and trusting the process of pushing forward for now 😂 . These two knuckle-head assassins decided to bring the spiciness earlier than I planned it to be part of the story, but hey. Grief. Anger. Penchant for murder. It happens, ya know?

@dreamshadow I know you said chapter 6 is going to be in Oliver's POV. Is there anything you can hint to us that we'll see in his perspective? i'm looking forward to getting into oliver's pov again! yup, we'll see more of his views on lavender and more about his feelings around who he is as a person. the reader is still learning about oliver considering at this point if people have read more in the jasmine and tea leaves then they know lavender pretty well. its going to fun is exploring oliver more and learn the things that make him tick and how he fits into lavender's journey and how lavender fits into his life. we'll see archie reappear. Without spoiling anything, do you have a particular scene in blue skies that you're most excited to write? yes, there is probably two scenes between oliver and lavender that I've had in my head for quite a while which i'm excited to write because they feel very vivid. i'm not sure quite where they fit into the story yet though. What is one trait about Lavender that you admire? Do you see any of yourself in her? her ability to get up again when she's been knocked down. she's brave and always putting through her pain, she's been a lot emotionally yet she still finds herself being able to put herself out there again and again. she's not perfect but she pushes herself to be emotionless fearless to love parvati, heal from the war, to open and love oliver. lavender is probably one of the characters that is most like me in a way. I've definitely never been through what she has but like lavender I feel like I'm a person with big emotions like if i like you or hate you then you'll know. she's more like me than my other main character, bee anyway. What are you looking forward to most about writing the Seamus/Michael one-shot? Is there any particular reason you chose Michael instead of Dean? I think I always had an idea about how I like the idea of the dynamic between the four gryffindors so two couples didn't fit into that, friendship wise it was always lavender/seamus then parvati/dean as similar personalities. michael and seamus's story took place in 7th year while they were hiding and they didn't know if they were going to live or die, that's a special set of circumstances around their romance. dean was already gone by that point and wasn't present. dean being gone led seamus to open himself up to get to know someone else which ended up turning into something romantic. he always had lavender but lavender also had parvati there too.

I'm having a lot of fun writing a scene with Howard and Joel trying to find out more about the adobos. We hadn't seen much of Joel or the adobos in the last few chapters, so it's time to check in with them again, especially since Howard and Joel were nominated for Best Friendship in the Inkys last month, which means somebody liked them, so I'd better make them live up to expectations. However, the time is now past 10:00 p.m., so I should go to bed. Will have plenty of time to write tomorrow, along with endless weeding. My potatoes are sprouting (when you dig potatoes in autumn, you never find them all, and in spring the remaining ones sprout up.) So I will get the veggie garden all weeded, and then the little potato plants will look so cute!

What Means Most Chapter 22 Valentines Day Thoughts... Technically been up a little while but I had accidentally reposted it as chapter 23 too, I deleted it, the next actual chapter 23 will be up soon. Please forgive my forgetfulness. With Sirius Black Chapter 6 What's the Passwords?

@GKWriter hey!! Slow is a good way to describe it. The last few original projects I did, I just jumped right in, but this time, the story is already formed, and its up to me to steep it in a world that has enough room for multiple stories. I'm taking my time with putting all the pie es together, both getting more specific, and also keeping things vague enough that it can grow and develop organically. I haven't touched the words yet. That's why it feels slow. I mean, I have 30k already between two stories. Not writing actual words doesn't give me that sense of progress, but I keep reminding myself that all this pre-writing will eventually pay off. I've only been at this for a few weeks. I should give myself some grace. How about you?

How is everyone's OF writing going? I have to say it's been slow going for me...

Hi, everybody. Inspired by @Pixileanin's massive overhaul of her previous writing, as described in her Novel Nest, I decided to dedicate this morning to the untangling of the threads of the many simultaneous plotlines in Crofter/Snake. I was losing track (or at least a solid grasp) of the timelines of all the things going on at once, so I untangled them and listed them all carefully and chronologically, popping back and forth from chapter to chapter to make sure I had every detail spotted and nailed down in its sequence of the events. This was immensely helpful to me, since I had let things get stirred up like a rat's nest in my mind, and it was necessary to sort it all out so that I could see where I was again. Kind of like cleaning off the top of my two work tables. Then in the afternoon I was able to charge ahead with my writing, and I noticed that the story line is getting close to November 1997, which is a significant point in the story. If you liked Chapter 31, you will like these November scenes also. But first we have to get through Hallowe'en (see Maggots on my AP), plus all the ongoing stuff. I hope that everyone's writing is progressing as everyone would wish. And it's only 3 months until JulNo, so there's another opportunity just a short way down the road. 🏃‍♀️ <-person running

DAY 9 UPDATE! My starting word count was 6,563 words. Words written today = 452 Total word count = 7,019 words Gave myself the day off yesterday to catch up with some household things and sleep. 🤪 Had a therapy appointment today and got to chat to may therapist again about my writing which was lovely. I spent today listening to some podcasts (true crime and F1) as well as watching Max Fewtrell stream on twitch. Favourite line(s) written today: “What, no! I am offended you would think I’m gonna offer to treat you to dinner and then take for you a fricking Nando’s. I can drop you off home, dress up in something fancy, pick you up again and take you somewhere much, much nicer. I can get reservations anywhere in a heartbeat.” (Again, replace fricking with another F word) 😇

Hi, everyone! Yesterday I was wrestling with a small scene in which Howard and Blaise Zabini are having a conversation apropos the connection between Howard and Tracey that is beginning to be a topic of gossip. It made sense that Blaise would have something to say, and I like him as a complex, ambiguous character. So I wrote this scene and was not satisfied with it at all, so I wrestled with it some more, and it got better, but I still wasn't convinced that it belonged in the story. Set it aside, went to bed. This morning I picked up the paper and read it again; it sounded much better in the light of day. When I came home from church at about 12:15, I checked out two of my plants (a big English laurel and a red rose bush) that had been hit hard by the January freeze, to the point where I was not sure they were still alive. English laurels and some rose bushes are looking stricken all over town. These were the last two of my plants that were still hanging fire as to Alive or Dead. But today they were both showing growth buds, so in the true spirit of Easter, they have arisen from the dead. I was so happy that I had to telephone my daughter and tell her that the final two critical patients were going to pull through. 😄 Then I asker her if she had time to listen to my scene with Howard and Blaise. I trust her completely for judging my writing. She said yes, so I read it to her, and she approved. She said that I had struck just the right note of ambiguity in the conversation between Blaise and Howard, not so simplistically Slytherin/Gryffindor black/white as one sees in the original seven books. They (Blaise and Howard) are not friends but they're not enemies either: they're sort of circling cautiously around each other, testing the waters. Will work on it some more today after I make progress on chopping up a large fallen branch from last winter. Love to all! P.S. I wrote the above report at about 12:30 but it didn't post when I hit submit (that happens to me sometimes). So now it is 7:47 p.m. I have learned from experience how to make my posts reappear when they don't post initially, so it's no longer a freak-out when that happens. After lunch I went outside and worked in my yard, chopping up the branch, but also pulling/digging a lot of weeds that were threatening to go to seed. Had to quit at 6:10 p.m. because it was starting to rain. Will try to do some more writing tonight. My daughter's approval of what I wrote yesterday really perks me up, gives me confidence. 😁

DAY 6 & 7 UPDATE! My starting word count was 2,585 words. Words written today = 1,157 Total word count = 3,742 words for this oneshot. AND IT'S FINISHED AND POSTED! I wrote about 100 words yesterday for the challenge piece, I was just too tired to post the update. The sooner we get the European F1 races back, the sooner my body clock will fix itself. As for today, I thought it was going to be another slow day as I've been up since 5 am for the F1 race in Japan. It was a slow morning once the race finished, and I was quite distracted with the post-race buzz and just binging some Netflix. However, I sat listening to my playlist for a bit and it got the creative juices flowing again! So much so that I managed to finish the oneshot and upload it to Tumblr and AO3. Mission accomplished! Well, that one anyway. Songs on the playlist include: Wildfire - Alternate Version by SYML Lover by Taylor Swift Tonight by Coasts Over by CHVRCHES Paralyzed by NF lose it all by Sam Tompkins Stupid Deep by Jon Bellion Hoping to get back to the challenge piece again tomorrow, the current word count for that stands at 6,546 words. I still have the main plot to write, aka the middle. But it's slowly coming together so I'm not going to start panicking for another ten days! 🤪 Favourite line written today: She'd also called him to tell him everything she personally would have screamed at the reporters, and he’d giggled so much he’d cried.

Story Title: Savage Love Pen Name(s): RogueSlytherin [FFT]; ChippewaFalls [AO3] Fandom: Harry Potter Next Generation Link(s) and Rating: +Link, M Advisory: Violence, Character death, Sexual content, cheating Genre: Angst, Crime/Mystery, Dark Main Characters: Lily Luna Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter, Original Characters Pairings: Lily/Scorpius, Lily/OC, Albus/OC Site(s) Posted On: FFT, AO3 Complete or WIP: WIP Summary:

Hello Chiara! I understand the feeling of not wanting to Nano or at least during this time considering there's probably a lot of other things you could be doing or would rather be doing but am glad that you were able to decide to partake! Oh, and not being able to resist? I feel that's actually a good thing though! I'm in the same boat as you in that regard as well! Ahhh don't you love it when work absorbs much of your time that you could or rather would be doing? Come again, I feel that. It's great that you're able to post some things and that you're feeling encouraged to write more while doing so! Nothing like more writing after getting started on writing again...right?! If Nano helps you with the writing progress then huzzah for that! (Am glad to hear that it's also helped you out in the past too! That's awesome! <3) Friendly reminder to self to continue working on reading the first Jimmy Portman story so I can actually check out The Snake Within but yay for another chapter or two! The characters and Valentine's Day, you say? Ooh this should be interesting! Well, I'm sure whatever you decide or find while drafting, writing, or any other synonym that you want to use here, do hope that you're able to go as far as you can or further than you've been! You can do it! You got this! I believe in and am cheering for you! Go Chiara! Ooh a challenge entry for the Murder challenge on here…that sounds very interesting! If it’s a one shot, definitely would like to see what you have in mind for the story as well! Even if you haven’t, it’s still good because it’s a mystery and there’s also suspense as to: ooh what is she writing!?! I’m sure that whatever you decide for this challenge entry will be pretty great! If you have a third project, plunny, idea or anything else that is, can, and or needs to be written then I am hoping that you're able to do so as well! It's good that you have at least two other stories that you can already start or work on! Whether it's your OF works, Honeymoon, or any projects in that "Maybe One Day" folder, hope that you'll be able to start, continue, or go from where you last left off as far as progress goes! As for questions, I've decided that I not only come here to check out your nest and comment but leave some here so that way you can be motivated and or encouraged to write so here we go: 1. Have you ever had a one-to-one interview, conversation(s), or talked to any of the characters that you’ve written so far? If so, what are some of the things have they said or mentioned that you can recall? If it’s more as a muse or already knowing who your character is, what is something that you have learned about them? (Hope this question makes sense!) 2. Do you have a playlist for any of your projects this month? If so, what artists and musicians as well as songs are on there? 3. Regarding Snake Within, has there been anything that you might of learned while writing it or still feel like you’re learning as you’re writing it? 4. Since Camp Nanowrimo takes place during Spring, what’s your favorite thing about it? 5. What has been something that you consider a writing achievement of your own during Camp Nanowrimo whether big or small? Hope you enjoy answering those questions and that it helps you even if it's just a little bit! Wishing you the best of luck for this writing journey as well as the rest of April's Camp Nanowrimo to you as well and hope that you can achieve or do whatever you put your mind to it as far as writing goes! 💛 Sincerely, Diana/Di

Chapter 5 (after 27 months) of Sirius Trouble is up!

DAY 5 UPDATE! My starting word count was 1,503 words. Words written today = 1,036 Total word count = 2,585 words for this oneshot. We returned to the whump collection today. I like these alternating days as it's giving my brain a nice break! I hate that you can tell whenever I'm writing my go-to pairing because I'm easily doubling my words written in a day, but I'm closer to finishing this and getting it out of the way. I don't have a favourite line written today, but I have made some fake Twitter posts to use alongside the writing, and they look super cool. I can't share them as they will be against the guidelines because of the real people thing, but they look fantastic, and I even have some regular readers guest-starring as fans (with their permission, of course). For some reason, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been my go-to background noise today 😅 I'm up early the next two days as Formula 1 is racing in Japan, sessions at 7 am tomorrow and 6 am Sunday, so who knows how much I will get done over the weekend, but we'll see!

DAY 4 UPDATE! My starting word count was 5,591 words. Words written today = 776 Total word count = 6,405 Back to the challenge piece today! I've pretty much finished the ending, including the first kiss and leading up to it. I forgot what romantic and sexual tension was like to write, but I think I've got it nailed for now, I'll revisit it later on when I edit. I've also figured I can tag on a little epilogue which could be fun to do as well. I've had a different playlist on the go today, mostly for vibes, but it has been somewhat of a distraction because there have been some banging tunes I couldn't resist singing and dancing along to in my seat! I'm feeling the pull to keep going with what I was doing yesterday, but I won't update the word count. It would be nice to get it finished and posted so I can focus on my challenge piece more 🤪 Favourite line written: (who's gonna see this? No-one, shhh) “That may be correct, but I can still pull together a wicked dinner outfit. You’ll be surprised. Do you trust me?” “No.”

DAY 3 UPDATE! (YESTERDAY) My starting word count was 416 words. Words written today = 1168 Total word count = 1585 for this oneshot. Today, I took a break from my challenge piece to focus on chapter 18 of the whump collection on my AO3 anon account. The prompt was invasion of privacy, with the characters dealing with the paparazzi harassing them. This and two previous chapters make a mini-series, with readers requesting more which has been awesome. My muse decided to switch things up and focus on this today, back to my go-to pairing which is why I’ve written more than in previous days. I had to pop over to my parents today as my niece (11 y/o) is staying over for the school holiday week, and we were colouring at the kitchen table while I was also writing a bit on the side. Favourite line written: "Are you seriously telling me you didn't want to deck any of them? Fricking vultures." (replace fricking with another F word, I just don't want to get in trouble posting that on here)

DAY 2 UPDATE! My starting word count was 5,071. Words written today: 490 Total word count so far: 5,561 I ended up writing some of the ending today, which I don't normally touch so early on into a fic. My muse wanted to have a go at the 'Lovers' part of the Friends to Lovers and write some of the glorious payoff scene where the characters finally get together! 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 I went to a therapy appointment today so I was writing on the bus, in a Wetherspoons, and at home. Music's been in my ears all day, and it was nice to get some fresh air and change scenery as my therapy appointment was an hour away. Even chatted to my therapist about mu writing schedule, mostly how I'm much kinder with it compared to how I used to be. I could probably write some more today but I'm incredibly tired, and it's probably time for an early bed! 😴

DAY 1 UPDATE! NaNoWriMo page +here if it works. My starting word count was 4,428. Challenge piece has been in progress since February. Words written today: 561 Total word count so far: 4,994 Note: Numbers won't add up perfectly, I'm tracking my words written today in sprints. I'm not including extra plot notes on the side in words written today but they will be included in the total word count because of the numbers on my Word document. Twitch streamers have been the backdrop to my writing today rather than music. Sacha Fenestraz (iRacing) and Matt Amys (Call of Duty). Out-of-context sneak peek 👀:

Thank you for this, Di! 🫶 1. Forgive me if not all of these are tropes. My go-to's are usually canon-compliant missing scenes, hurt/comfort and angst (whump or sickfics), and character backstories. Missing scenes usually help me to get into the character's head and find their voice. Hurt/comfort and angst are usually my best work because I can pour my own experiences into them, and they're usually outlets when I'm having bad days. There's just something cathartic about projecting onto your comfort characters! Character backstories seem to always be what my multichapter fics turn out to be. Once I've found the character's voice, I enjoy exploring them more deeply and how we came to know them in canon. Not sure why this is the case, but it's a definite trend! 2. Pepsi Max. I'm not a tea, coffee, or water drinker and enjoy the occasional Red Bull or Monster when my energy is down the drain, but Pepsi Max or Pepsi Max Cherry is always on the cards. 3. I think I use music for motivation more than inspirational quotes! The right music can get me in the mood or take me out of it if I need a break. Music is a necessity for me, writing or not. 4. I do have a playlist! As I said above, music plays a vital part in my writing, and I adore character and fic playlists that can get me in the zone. Some songs for this fic include: Someone To You by BANNERS A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay Tonight You're Perfect by New Politics Rock My Body by R3HAB, INNA, & Sash! Long Live (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift Lost In Your Light (feat. Miguel) by Dua Lipa golden hour by JVKE I Love You Always Forever by Betty Who 5. Currently, the fic that I'm most proud of is a whump collection I accidentally started on my anonymous account. I have a whump collection on my main too, which was for Febuwhump 2021 with clearly defined prompts and deadlines (one a day for 28 days!) and it was the first major fic challenge I ever did, so I'll always be very proud of that one too. For the accidental one on my anonymous account, I found that I was posting a few vent fics and one day just shrugged and said what the hell, I might as well throw these all together. It quickly got lots of attention and people even requested specific scenarios, and it's grown massively! Between December 2023 and now, it's 17 chapters and almost 40,000 words! I'm stopping at 20 for my own sanity, but it's truly been a wonderful ride! Thank you again! 🫶

We all lead busy lives. Whether that busyness is due to school, work, family, sports, or any combination of those, all of us have a lot of stuff on our plates at any of time. And despite this, many manage to write like fiends and upload chapters at a ridiculous pace. I struggle with this. When I have a whole bunch of work to do in real life, I tend to put writing on the back burner and forget about it for a while. For those of you who manage to continue writing while accomplishing those tasks, how do you do it? How do you balance writing with life?

I think this is the best place to share this. My friend has a writing blog about balancing life and writing. She's a mom of 2 boys and has her own editing business and writes herself. I met her on twitter, she has the same last name as mine before I got married and I always look at people with similar names to see if we have anything in common Lol. In this case we do and the rest is history. I find her blog style to be humorous and helpful with a lot of realism. Life happens and we need to give ourselves some grace but also push ourselves to be the best we can be without trying to be perfect. I hope this helps, Writing Blog for November/new posts once a month

Hi guys - I don't know if anyone has been working on their OF projects (I know for me, it's been a bit off and on) but how's it been going? I've just posted a couple of extracts from two of my projects over on my writer's journal.

I agree! Regrettably I stopped writing when I started my masters just because it was all too much. And then I'd stay up all night and hash out a whole one shot and then go an entire year without being able to put pen to paper (or letters on a word doc as it goes these days!). I find consistency harder as adulting demands attention, but last 2 months I've set aside 3 hours every weekend to write. I've arguably fallen short of my writing goals, but at least I'm becoming better at utilizing the allocated time for writing-related activities!

For me, it seems to come in cycles. I'll have several weeks where output if great, six to ten pages a day. Then comes horrible writer's block, apathy about writing, and frustration on the days when I do feel like writing but can't get anything decent on paper/file. (Sigh!)

Yes, this is a big problem for me too. If I stay at home, there are too many other suddenly imperative things that I have to do first. Some of it really is imperative, such as putting out a "fire", but often I'm just avoiding facing that blank paper, filling my mind with imaginary stress, so I suddenly start to wash dishes or recycle newspapers. Going to another place (not the library, too many interesting books & magazines) such as the parish hall of my church when nobody else is there is helpful for me. And carving out a chunk of time and putting it on the calendar like an appointment ("Parish Hall, 1-2 p.m.) is useful. If I know It's only going to be an hour, I feel less impelled to deal with those newspapers and dirty dishes right now.

Ressurecting this wonderful topic as it's something I've been thinking about so much lately. I work full time, and unfortunately now I'm in management have to take some of it home and am getting ready to start my masters degree. I already struggle finding as much time as I'd like to write outside of my other hobbies (gaming & horse riding) and honestly fit it into my limited gaming time when I can. I've already made peace with the fact I'll have less time when I start my masters, but how do all you studious guys manage to find time? As I know you all work as well, I did when I was at uni but I took a huge writing break when I did my first degree. I don't want to give it up postgrad. I suppose on the whole in answer to the question above, presently as said above I just make time. I fit it in when I tell myself, do you really need to do that quest again? No, I can write instead. I agree, saying no is important if you need some writing time to yourself.

I make time. I carve out slices of my life and tell people no when they ask me to fill them with social activities or something else. There are always going to be "other things" I need to do, but writing is my passion and I treat it like that. Some nights I know I can't write, but if I can't write during the work week, I make sure if I'm hiking on a Saturday I leave the afternoon open to hole up in a cafe with a cup of coffee and knock out some copy edits or something. It's all about time management and telling people no.

This is such a pertinant question. I'm not here to provide a solution but rather talk about how I'm not balancing it all that well. Guaranteed that grad school isn't a walk in the park, but the free time I get, I end up watching TV or Netflix or just lazing around. I get so many plunnies, but I always never pen them down thinking "now isn't the right time". Will there ever be a right time?