"I'm a leaf on the wind...

Sometimes I think about posting more often but I don't, in all honesty, have much to say, lol. I've been rewatching Guardian with a couple of folks (we're going slowly this time around); thinking about picking up vidding again so I can make a Ye Zun vid, a sappy Weilan vid, and an angsty Weilan vid (yes, I've thought enough about this that I already have some concrete ideas; the problem is that my vidding software is on my old laptop and I think I have to uninstall it from there before I can install it on my new one); and watching BTS performances (I also indulged myself yesterday and bought a physical copy of their album, the concept photos are so soft).

Anyway, writing updates!

520 exchange: Went live on Monday! I got the most amazing gift from kitshunette - Wherever the tide takes me. It's artwork + plot for a Pacific Rim AU which I adore (I look for those in pretty much every fandom I'm in). Please check it out if you haven't already.

My own offering was: Human Courtship Rituals, As Witnessed By A Member of the One and Only Cat Tribe for Blue. As you can guess, it's a fic about Weilan from Da Qing's pov. I had so much fun writing this fic.

....I feel terrible about this but I am very very behind on reading the 520 fics. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but my reading in a fandom tends to drop significantly when I start writing in it. I think it has to do with having trouble pulling myself out of my own headcanons and stories enough to immerse myself in someone else's? It's harder with long fics than short ones which sucks because I generally love long fics.

wipbigbang: I submitted my snippets yesterday for the art claims so *fingers crossed* that my fic will get picked up by an artist. The fic itself is coming along slowly. But it's looking like it's gonna be over 20k words when it's done.

Alien invasion fic: Still stalled. I actually know what's supposed to happen next, I just keep putting off writing it.

Other fics: I have an idea for a Weilan fic inspired by BY and ZYL's new shows, though I haven't watched any of them so it's really just the premise of the new shows and not the shows themselves. I started writing a Hades/Persephone fic based onbonibaru's prompt at the bunny farm. I had the urge to write a really angsty canon tie-in fic earlier today but that passed.

Saw this on bonibaru 's journal and thought it was interesting. Link to do the test is here.

1	Magical Connection (Telepathy, etc)
2	Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings
2	Seemingly Unrequited Pining
4	Accidentally Fell In Love With The Mission Target
5	'Falling For A Coworker/Teammate Is A Bad Idea' Except This Is Fiction So It Works Out
6	Vampires/Werewolves AU
6	Supernatural Creature/Human Romance
8	Coffee House AU/Food Service AU
9	'They All Work In An Office' AU
10	Soulmate Identifying Marks (Tattoo, Red Thread of Fate, etc)

( Rest under the cut )

I don't know if I could really say this is accurate for me, because what I feel like reading really depends on so many factors - how I'm feeling that day, the characters involved, the fandom, etc. I've read and loved almost all of these tropes at one point or another. Except maybe the actually unrequited pining, because that's a lot of hurt that I don't need in fic. (Which is the same reason I tend to avoid fics with Major Character Death.)

On the one hand, I really want to take part in some writing challenges. I thought pretty hard (okay, not really) about doing the 52 short stories in 52 weeks one but then I looked at the prompts and I realized I couldn't write those prompts. Well, alright, the whole point of a writing challenge is to just write. And to have something to write about. But the thing is that I already have fic ideas that I really want to work on and I kind of hated the idea of spending time writing other stuff when I should probably use that time to actually write out the stories I've been wanting to for at least a year. And yet, those stories won't come. Why.

Okay, I think maybe what I'll try to do is this: one short story per month. Any length, even just a 100-word snippet. Maybe even just a small scene or a couple of lines from one of the story ideas I have. Anything. As long as I write something. Because I do think the only way I'll get better at writing is if I keep practicing. So, that's gonna be my writing/fandon goal this year. Write something every month.

...and it's already almost the end of the first month. *SIGH*

So I've been working on a zombie fic for the past couple of months and like, I'm having a lot of fun with it but I don't know how bad it is that I really don't have much background knowledge about it. On the one hand, I feel like everyone who writes a vampire story creates their own vampire lore - in some books, sunlight hurts/kills them but in others, it doesn't affect them; in some books, garlic affects them and in others, it doesn't. So why can't I create my own zombie lore, right? I hope that's how it'll come across to my readers, anyway.

I love supernatural stuff but usually it's vampires, werewolves, witches, and shifters. Not zombies. I don't think I've ever read a book about zombies, though I have read several zombie apocalypse fics which are usually from the perspective of humans fighting off zombies. The only zombie movie I've seen was the Will Smith one - what was it...oh, I Am Legend (thanks, IMDB) - and I couldn't watch half of it because the shaky hand-cam effects were making me nauseous. I also wanted to watch Walking Dead but same problem (what's with all the shaky effects in zombie movies/shows?). I've been meaning to watch World War Z but haven't gotten around to it yet. But yeah, I think that's it. And then one day, I decide I want to write a zombie fic. Where did that even come from? Lol.

And now, after 11,000 words (and it feels like I've been writing this forever, how in the world do people write novels???), I think I'm nearing the end except that I woke up this morning with an idea for a zombie apocalypse follow-up fic, set in my universe where basically zombie-ism is like a chronic condition that's managed by regular doses of brains. Ugh, what am I getting myself into?