thedailywriter | Member Posts

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

Challenge #13

TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.

There are so many great communities here on dreamwidth, such as

fancake, and so many others I could tout. But today I want to talk about

socialshakespeare, a community that does audio-only cold readings of Shakespeare plays each month (*also a general note: the Shakespeare fandom on Tumblr is just fantastic, with amazing analysis and discourse).

I have not participated in a

socialshakespeare reading yet, because: (a) time constraints; (b) utter lack of voice-acting talent; and (c) I'm chicken. But it's such a great, fun concept, and they often choose plays that are a bit more neglected -- performed less, not always on Shakespeare class syllabi, etc., which is cool. Here is a more detailed description of the community and here are the guidelines, with links to complete rules and expectations. Each month they announce the new play and there are sign-ups for which character part you want to read. They also post surveys so people can vote on the next play.

Maybe someday I will participate, lol. But for now, I'm passing the info along for others who might be interested because it sounds like so much fun.

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swingandswirl

In previous years, I would fall off the posting wagon for a week, then two weeks, then months and more. I'm determined not to do that this time, so have an update on what I've been up to before I slowly catch up on

snowflake_challenge over the course of the next week!

- The weekend of the 17th/18th was my city's major literary fest. I only went to three panels (one with a Supreme Court judge, one with a historian who is the grandson of two major Independence-era politicians, one with the author of a legal handbook for women) since the others weren't really my jam, but I enjoyed all three.

- I got bookses! Defying the Odds (about Dalit entrepreneurs), Reclaiming Bharat (about the unexpected rebuke India delivered to Modi in the 2024 election), The Lion of Naushera (about a little-known Muslim hero of the 1947 war with Pakistan), One Way To Love (a contemporary romance about a young Indian Muslim couple), Engineering A Nation (about M. Visvesvaraya, a pioneering colonial-era engineer and administrator), and Swadeshi Steam (about one man's effort to create an Indian-owned shipping company and break the British monopoly on maritime trade).

- The fest was also on Sunday, but I did not go (I regret this, in retrospect) because I needed to prepare for a trip.

- What was this trip for, you ask? To attend the wedding of my dad's cousin's son. I have never met this dude, or his bride, in my life. But because I'm Indian (and because Stepmum had the sense to stay home with the dogs so Dad had a free plus one), and also because that branch of the family is LOADED, I was invited. (Seriously, y'all, this wedding was nuts. Three days at a five-star resort, accomodations all paid for; we just had to get our butts there.)

- This was a fancy enough wedding each event (welcome dinner, haldi ceremony, sangeet, muhurtam (actual ceremony), and reception came with dress codes. With specific colours. Luckily, I could use clothes I aready owned for the sangeet, muhurtam, and reception, and I found a cheap burgundy flapper dress for the welcome dinner and a yellow kurta for the haldi, the latter of which I got many compliments on ^_^

- The wedding was as fun as an event I have zero personal stake in could be. The bride's family is North Indian, so while the ceremony itself was as traditionally Tamil Brahmin as could be, there was also a baraat and a sangeet, which were fun to look at from the sidelines. The ceremony itself I can only presume was lovely, since the same thing happened as most Tamil weddings I've been to - we couldn't actually see jack on account of all the photographers/videographers/idiots with phones. I wish they'd done what a buddy did and had TV screens up so we could actually SEE S and S getting married. The reception was a lot of fun, too - some great speeches, and the MCs were hilarious.

- Getting to see family was lovely, even if Favourite Cousin S and her husband couldn't make it. I did get to spend time with dad's-sister Aunt S and dad's-cousin Aunt S, and no-longer-tiny Cousin S, which was great, and get to reassure various members of Dad's family of my continued good health. I also got to talk to various family members about the diaspora experience, which provided fodder for Amita fic, so that was nice, lol.

- The food, sadly, was kind of disappointing, because who has a destination wedding in Goa and serves practically no Goan food? My family, apparently. (Okay, in fairness, Tamil Brahmins are strict vegetarians so I don't know if they could have been convinced that anything Goan, which is famous for its fish and pork, was vegetarian even if it was.) That said, the food they did serve was excellent, as befits a Taj hotel. The best part was aloo paratha for breakfast, especially since they had a different Goan curry each morning to eat it with. No Goan food at lunch or dinner, alas.

- The actual wedding feast was catered by the ne plus ultra of traditional wedding caterers that the family bussed in all the way from Chennai. (They would have flown them in, but aviation is a shitshow right now and cooking implements are HEAVY.) No naan and butter chicken here - we were served a traditional Iyengar elai saapadu, on a plantain leaf. Yes, I stuffed my face.

- A big difference between Indian, or at least Tamil, weddings, and Western ones? There are also gifts FROM the host family to the guests. Being a family member means I got a sari (a gorgeous green silk one I have to find an excuse to wear). All guests also got something called a 'bakshanam' - basically, a hamper of sweets and savouries to take home with them - as well as a couple more standard favours. Given that my poor carryon suitcase was already full, this presented an interesting packing dilemma, lol. Thankfully I'd taken a collapsible duffel with, so it was all manageable.

- I left on Tuesday, came home late Friday, and spent the weekend being a giant lump. Love my family, but that was entirely too many people and too much time walking on grass in high heels, lol.

Aaaand that was my week. Hopefully all y'all's was less nuts.

vriddy

Cannot sleep due to overabundance of fandom joy tonight (don't cure me). Did my first ever

threesentenceficathon fill today too :D It is not three sentences, but there'll be more opportunities to try I'm sure ;)

Lost & Found | K-9 | Oboro/Fujimaru | <300 words | rated T

Summary: Oboro slips up.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

vriddy

As expected the pacing check didn't really do anything as a pacing check lolsob. The new bits were super fun and the old bits kinda felt draggy. However I have Thoughts regardless! Also I waited to have a 4h block of time to read but tat wasn't enough orz I think it took over a little 5h to reread overall, for 56k words - just noting this down as a reminder for my future self.

I wanted to just "jot down a few notes" but I'm gonna have to use headers again. Whoops. This got long.

Waiting to have a lot of time to do writerly stuff = no

Also: as much as doing a full reread at once appeals, postponing over and over until such a magical block of time manifests isn't reasonable. This is kinda funny to relearn because this used to be a source for writing block for me back in my early writing days (wayyy back). I had to wait until I had a Big Chunk Of Free Time for focus reasons. Things have gotten a lot happier for me since I learnt how to write in 30 minutes (or sometimes 15 minutes!) blocks, and also that doesn't preclude the occasional delightful Big Chunk Of Writerly Time from happening either.

Full reread good for some things, even if not for pacing exactly

Otherwise, the full reread was good to see how the changes hold together. While a rewritten scene toward the end does need a bit more air, the first half where I did the bulk of the work imo flow super well. While I can see the seams where I attached the old to the new, it's mostly because I remember the old version(s). I'm just really really enjoying what the story is turning into. I was a bit worried because when reworking stuff, you can also see what it no longer is and no longer says, but whatever it is now, it sure is something I like :D The chapter that many beta-readers said felt too long, and which is now nearly twice as long, didn't drag at all for me. It's hard to tell if it's because I care too much already about these characters, or because a lot of was rewritten and therefore falsely feels more fresh to my brain, but that's what valiant beta-readers will help me find out soon enough :D

How many drafts is enough drafts?

( writing writing editing blah blah happy :D )

What next?

( Plans! Rough plans! Bad plans! Compels me though )

lightbird

Challenge #12

Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!

Thank you to all of fandom. The creators, the cheerleaders, all the mods of all the communities. You're all amazing.

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labelleizzy

One yay for today:

Today I needed to walk a labyrinth. I knew where one was, I knew I had some things to let go of once I got to the center.

Basic self care to turn off the map app on my way home and go to the local UU.

I do feel lighter. I haven't taken the time and intention to put things in the lap of the gods and ask for help, in far too long.

Meditate. Move. State your intentions, and ask for help. Then leave them there for the gods to do as they see fit.

In this one thing I can follow a Christian saying, "let go, and let God "

Sometimes I just have to surrender the busy brain, the guilt, grief, and anger, and choose a new path.

Spiral in, spiral out again.

vriddy

And with this, we're caught up with the 3 volumes that are out! Very few bonus sketches in this one, instead they used/reused extra panels as if to extend the chapters. Like a close-up on hands, or on a face, or an apple to go with all the Eve and Eden imagery, etc. The effect looks neat when reading, though I do kinda miss getting the cute bonus scenes and sketches!

( Ren's jacket )

( Eve's profile )

( Gaku's profile )

( Ren's clothing )

( Fujimaru's clothing )

( Kagari's clothing )

( Bonus illustration )

vriddy

Wrote most of this during the blergh days last week. I started this Hugging series while touch-starved during the covid lockdowns, but there's something grounding about focusing on the senses like these fics usually do. It helps.

Obviously a sense of grounding also adds to the angst considering Hawks can fly and what Dabi does to his wings later in canon, but! The baked-in angst is part of their charm and appeal ;)

Grounding | Boku no Hero Academia | Dabi/Hawks | 500 words | rated T
Part of the Hugging series

Summary: The clock on their time together may be rushing towards its last few ticks, but that doesn't mean they don't get to make every moment count.

Read it on Dreamwidth on AO3.

vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted and commented on bnha_fans.

Commented on common_nature.

Commented with a prompt on threesentenceficathon (one guess as to which fandom ;D)

Promoted malagraphic, followfriday.

Signal boosts:

A new round of threesentenceficathon started, open till February 15th :D Prompt and fill, and have fun!!

lightbird

Challenge #11

In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your own post with the wishes you granted if you feel comfortable doing so.

I did this already on the day of Challenge #5, so I'm considering this one done. Yeah, it's cheating a little, but it's been a day, lol.

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vriddy

Got that idea in mind when we saw Momijikawa cooking in chapter 194 a few weeks ago; better get it out before canon manages some kind of version of it XD

open invitation | Wind Breaker | Sakura & Momijikawa | 615 words

Summary: Momijikawa cooks for Sakura.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

vriddy

The delightful

sisterdivinium made FANART of Oboro and Ren from K-9 and IT IS GLORIOUS!!! :D :D BEHOLD! It's so cool. It makes me grin every time I look at it. I am so happy. There's very few fanworks for the series out there, I think the fanart we found can still be counted on one hand. (There was cosplay too :D) Including this lovely piece!! THIS FANDOM IS GROWING EVERY DAY CLEARLY \o/

Please admire too :D -> HERE <-

(Also there are three K-9 prompts on the

threesentenceficathon that I'm aware of 👀 In case it's of interest to the SWARMS of K-9 fans out there!!!! Bookmarking for..... reasons.............)

vriddy

Reached a couple of milestones yesterday, and I'm mentally basically ready to shift back into working on my original projects. Just trying to remember where I'm at with everything. Also cool milestone alert!

Milestone alert: GYWO monthly goal for January, reached! ;)

With my pledge, I should write 12.5k words a month, and now I'll have reached it at least once this year!! It feels really good to start the year being on track. As much as Time Is A Construct, I think I should be careful not to set myself up for big editing projects in January in the future, in general.

I'm so surprised that over 5k of that was for a Spring Thunder fic. Like. I do write freely for tiny fandoms! But usually it's more like coughing out a vignette or a missing scene, or a tiny fix-it to deal with canon stress. Not a full hurt/comfort rescue mission. In the end though, I wrote it for the same reasons I wrote those shorter vignettes in the past: it feels good :D It feels right. It was fun. AND I get to reread and enjoy something tailored to my id in the future :D I was delighted with myself by the end of the first draft, hopefully that'll hold when I return to it for edits :D

Time-sensitive fics

I'll likely just let most of the unposted stuff I wrote rest for a while. Couple of exceptions I have in mind:

Well I do need to proofread and post my Candy Hearts assignment. That would be good to do on time XD
For my last 600 words to reach the milestone yesterday, I wrote something for Wind Breaker that will probably be invalidated by a new manga chapter next week. I'd like to clean that up and post it so there's a chance it can be enjoyed as-is for a few days before becoming canon divergent XD
Not really time-sensitive, but I want to post a couple of BNHA fics to get them out of my mind. One was written a couple of years ago for a collaborative project that never quite completed its landing and I think it's long enough. I need to free my mind of it before I forget it even exists.

Original stuff

( Cursed Witch pacing check )

( Soul Thief edit preps Take Two )

This was supposed to help me figure out what to do this morning, but it didn't really help in the end! Maybe I'll see if there's a fic in an editable state. I know there's a couple of finished drafts in there, but for some of those I wanted to do a canon review first... Gah!! So many fun things to do, so little time :D

lightbird

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board)

CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE AND CREATE A MINI MOOD COLLECTION OF THREE (or more) ITEMS THAT EVOKE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT. You don’t have to limit yourself to visual media, or collect the items into a special format like a square (though you can if you’d like).

I'm not exactly a visual person, so the mood board is kind of out, lol. I went with music instead.

Anyone who has ever watched Hey Arnold! knows that when it comes to music for it, it's all about the jazz. So here are some tunes!

(1) Jordu by Irving "Duke" Jordan

Here is the version by Clifford Brown and Max Roach. This upbeat song, or at least parts of it, could definitely have been background music for an episode.

(2) On Green Dolphin Street

This beautiful, bittersweet song, written by Bronisław Kaper, was actually the soundtrack of the 1947 historical drama/disaster film Green Dolphin Street (there's a ton of drama in this, but it actually has a happyish ending), and although the movie soundtrack is performed in a more straightforward orchestral classical style the song became a jazz standard. There are many great versions of the song, but I like this one a lot. Though there is lots of truly laugh-out-loud humor in Hey Arnold!, there are also many poignant and some truly heart-breaking moments in the show, too. I think this melody captures that mix very well.

(3) L'il' Darlin' by Neal Hefti

A definite choice for adult Helga and Arnold.

The Count Basie Orchestra recorded and performed this song as an instrumental, which you can listen to here. It's a gorgeous tune and arrangement. And so sexy for our favorite OTP.

John Hendrix later wrote lyrics to the song, and his jazz vocalese trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross recorded and performed the sung version with Count Basie. You can listen to their version here. The lyrics are as perfect as the tune (of course Arnold is the kind of man who likes to stay home in the evening, if he's with Helga), and Annie Ross's solo in the middle is *chef's kiss*.

And while that trio was terrific, I also want to link this performance of the song by the Seattle Academy Onions, a terrific high school jazz choir. This performance is from over a decade ago, but it's a fantastic arrangement of the song and really worth listening to, especially if you like jazz choirs and vocal ensemble music generally.

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duskpeterson

So famed is the Empire of Emor for its law system that many foreigners do not realize that Emor holds accomplishments in other arts. Foremost among these arts is medicine.

Until the practice of medical training was formalized in Emor, the knowledge of how to heal was informally passed on by peninsularean men and women who received no special training. Despite these drawbacks, some of the healers were quite good; Koretia's healing women deserve special mention. But the creation of the Medical Academy during the period of the Middle Charas caused knowledge of healing to leap forward immensely. These days, many a healing woman, priest, or bard will travel north to spend time in the Medical Academy, learning valuable lessons.

The Physicians' Quarters next door were created after the Medical Academy, as a place to allow students to work under experienced doctors. The Physicians' Quarters cares for city residents and a select number of soldiers who are undergoing lengthy convalescence.

Because of the doctors' important work, visitors may find it difficult to obtain entrance to either the Quarters or the Academy. I've found that dropping a rock on my foot does the trick.

[Translator's note: The protagonist of Death Mask begins his journey at the Physicians' Quarters.]

vriddy

Lots of bonus sketches in this volume! In order of appearance:

( Bonus sketch - Mother and child )

( Bonus sketch - Oboro and Kagari )

( Bonus sketch - Teasing Fujimaru )

( Bonus sketch - Eden heights )

( Bonus sketch - Fujimaru )

( Bonus sketch - Kagari in boyhood )

( Fujimaru's profile )

( Kagari's profile )

( Sasakura and Domon short profiles )

( Oboro's clothing )

( Bonus sketch for chapter 8 )

( Bonus illustration )

svgurl

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

Challenge #9
Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

There are so many tropes that I love but I'll try to narrow it down, though I'm sure I will forget a couple.

Amnesia: I lean toward partial amnesia rather than complete, but I'll read both! There's something really appealing about a character trying to figure out what has changed in their life since the last thing they remember, especially when it comes to the love interest. Seeing them look at a relationship with new eyes or try to struggle to remember the already established one gives me both angst and humorous possibilities, both which I enjoy. And I love it from the other side too! Where the LI wants them to remember but also wants to help them heal at their own pace (while pining!).

Canon Divergence/Fork In the Road: There are always points in canon, or even pre-canon, where I wonder 'what if x had happened instead of y' and it's just interesting to explore the possibilities.

Fake Dating/Relationship/Marriage of Convenience: Whether it is for something low stakes like needing a date for a wedding or trying to escape the "helpful" matchmaking of friends/relatives or a little more high stakes like going undercover, this trope is just fun and full of pining, angst, and potential for others, like misunderstandings and accidental love confessions. All of which I enjoy. I like it when one half of the ship has feelings or both have feelings and think that this is all they can ever get. Or when they don't even consider each other and slowly fall for one another while they're "pretending". This extends to marriages where the ship gets married for "reasons" and then just doesn't want to divorce but thinks the other one doesn't want that.

( a few more )

vriddy

Currently spending a few days with a(n otherwise lovely) person whose approach to "keeping informed" doesn't jibe with mine, and I Am Not Thriving! \o/

So a bunch of happy things:

1. Someone in my Dreamwidth circles shared delightful, gorgeous fanart an artist made of their fic. This reminded me of meeting an old fandom friend again after several years. At some point, we were looking at each other's phone background because what was it? A cute pet picture maybe? A partner or kid photo? Nope! It's art that we were lucky to receive for our respective stories! Haha. What a gift. She used a stunning scene based on a Yuri on Ice fic of hers, and mine is this peaceful, joyful piece from

fluffyblaire for the Sheep Farming AU.

2. Woke up too early, but I got 30 minutes of cat cuddles for my trouble!! Biscuits then full purring engines the whole way through. She's resting against my foot now, using it as support while she begins the daily ablutions.

3. I'm writing a hurt/comfort fic for Spring Thunder that is scratching exactly the right kind of id for me right now. I can barely explain why except that it just works and it's like immersing myself in a rose bath every time I go back (*). And the advantage of waking up too early is that I should get to spend a couple of hours in there before getting on with the rest of the day!

(*) DISCLAIMER: I have never taken a rose bath. I imagine it to be gently scented, but not overwhelmingly so. The bath water would be Just Right the entire time, too. The petals would stay artfully placed above the water as well.

4. Hm... Can I get to 5? I would like to get to 5. I would also like to write, though. Let's pretend I'm holding onto the other two for SUSPENSE! Oh no wait I have another one: I had a tasty cup of coffee while I was gearing up for wakefulness, and now I'm going to brew a delicious cup of tea before settling in with words in my mental sanctuary.

5. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED A HAPPY JOYFUL THING MAY BE MENTIONED LATER WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

Feel free to mention joyful things on your mind in the comments, too! Big and small, I will gorge myself on them all. Also do share about rose bath experiences. I'm interested.

vriddy

dolorosa_12 wrote a post about the Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure which includes helpful suggestions for concrete action.

lightbird

Challenge #9

Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

Road trip!!! This remains one of my favorite tropes/themes. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a great show all around, with terrific story writing, characters, and so many themes worth analyzing. But I also loved the traveling "road trip" aspect of it, and the way the main characters had adventures on Appa (the AtLA equivalent to on the road) as well as in the different places they landed.

Road trips and journeys feature in so many of my favorite classic movies, too, in all genres. It Happened One Night is a really fun romantic comedy in which the characters travel by bus then hitchhike, and get into all kinds of humorous situations on the way. The Searchers and True Grit (original and remake) are excellent westerns that use this trope. And of course, Hitchcock's great North by Northwest, though a thriller, features a chase halfway across the country by cars, train, cabs, and planes.

Of course there is always conflict and drama, and serious stuff going on in more serious movies, going on during the journeys. But I love the way the journeys bring out those conflicts and play a part in helping the characters resolve things and grow.

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Writers

snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 13

I'm back! (Also, Indian weddings are insane.)

New K-9 fic: Lost & Found (Fujimaru/Oboro)

Post-editing round "pacing check"

Waiting to have a lot of time to do writerly stuff = no

Full reread good for some things, even if not for pacing exactly

How many drafts is enough drafts?

What next?

snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 12

Yay for today!

K-9: Volume 3 extras, with translation

New BNHA fic: Grounding (Dabi/Hawks)

Community Thursday

snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 11

New Wind Breaker fic: open invitation (Sakura & Momijikawa)

K-9 fanart \o/ For me!!!

Writing status/check-in/where am I at?

Milestone alert: GYWO monthly goal for January, reached! ;)

Time-sensitive fics

Original stuff

snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 10

FIC: Physicians' Quarters and Medical Academy (Tempestuous Tours)

K-9: Volume 2 extras, with translation

snowflake challenge #8

Happy things

Signal boost: Ukraine

snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 9

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