Signing up for challenges/events seems to be the best way to get me writing again. I haven't been able to participate to the fullest extent, but I'm just glad I've been able to get some stories done. Hopefully I can keep up the pace for the whole event.

I've been thinking of my WIPs, too. I do want to return to Triple Game at some point, but I need to make time for a reread/rewatch first, I think. But I still love the idea and miss writing for YGO.

As for Miraculous stuff...that's harder, because while on some level I have ideas that I want to write for it - I have that partially finished Ghost!Marinette fic that's been hanging out for years, for instance - it's just hard to justify it to myself when I...actually haven't kept up with the show. At this point there's more of the show that I haven't watched than I have. And I don't know how to reconcile having lost interest in watching the rest of the show with still wanting to write fanfic for it. Part of me says I should write anyway and just tag everything "Season 1 / 2 vibes" or something, but there's a mental block there for me whenever I try to write that says I shouldn't write for something I haven't seen all of.

It's different with Star Wars, because there's a distinction there for me between different parts of the franchise, where the first six films are the "core" I can base off of, and everything else is extra that I can add in as I like. So I don't feel the need to see/read everything there, because most of it is "optional" in my mind (and there's so much of it that almost no one actually does engage with everything under the Star Wars label). But with Miraculous it's actually the direct continuation of its "core" media, it just...lost me somewhere along the way. I don't really know what to do with that, when most everything else I write from a place of love for the source material, and for Miraculous...it's just the premise I like. I don't know, I guess I'm just not the kind of writer that can say "screw canon!" very easily; even when writing AUs, I still feel like I engage with the source material in some way. But at the same time, it seems like such a shame to leave behind the ideas I still have for that fandom, and I genuinely did have fun writing for it in the past.

I don't know. I'm also trying to branch out more, write for more than one fandom at a time. I've made some progress in that area that I'm happy with, but I want to keep going. The trouble with that is keeping up with reading/watching/playing things and still finding time to write, which is hard enough even when not actively getting into new stuff. (I bought, and I know I'll be into the NieR games, the soundtrack is phenomenal and that's like 70% of the reason a fandom sticks with me, honestly - but finding time to sit down and play them, through all the endings...yeah). I expect things are going to get even busier for me, too, as the community theatre season is starting up again, and moving and working on the house, and work is getting closer to product launch, and everything.

Still, I want to write. And I'm going to try to keep at it.

I was busy yesterday, probably will have more busy days in the near future (trying to get involved in the local community theater), but I'll try to make time to write where I can.

Today I wrote: 973 words

I worked on: a Star Wars oneshot

Excerpt:

No, it had to have been the hidden Sith, come out of the shadows to do his butchery by his own hands. Even if that had not been enough evidence, the oppressive cold that now suffused the Temple, that bit into the mind and bound the lungs, deep and dark and bitter in a way that Ilum could never be – that unnatural chill would be evidence enough that this was the work of the Sith. A thousand years would not be enough for the horrible echoes of the slaughter to fade.

Not as much written today, but I did manage to fix my sewing machine, so it was still a productive day.

Today I wrote: 322 words

I worked on: a Star Wars oneshot

Excerpt:

“The Jedi have betrayed the Chancellor, betrayed the Republic. But it’s not too late for you, Ahsoka. Renounce the Jedi and help put an end to their insurrection, and you will be spared.”

She just stared at him. This couldn’t be real. This was a nightmare, or some twisted vision that had dumped her into a reality where up was down, and where the people she knew and trusted most promised death at their hands. First the troopers, and now Anakin...only a vision could explain how the whole galaxy had turned inside out in an instant.

Too cold in the house to feel much like writing today (and too late in the evening to bump up the thermostat; if it's too warm I can't sleep), but I did get a little bit done.

Today I wrote: 215 words

I worked on: a Star Wars oneshot

Excerpt:

“They’re still coming after us,” he said.

“Those are my men,” Ahsoka said. “I know them, they wouldn’t do this.”

“But they are doing this! They’re going to kill us if we don’t get away,” Whie snapped.

As expected, I didn't get any writing done yesterday. I did get a nice breakfast, lunch, and dinner all on company dime, though.

Today is back to routine (mostly - I slept in instead of exercising), so I was able to fit some more writing in. This fic is going to be a lot sadder than my usual fare - it's an Ahsoka doesn't leave the Order fic...but decidedly not a fix-it :(

Today I wrote: 531 words

I worked on: a Star Wars oneshot

Excerpt:

She hit the ground, hard, her sabers shuttering off, her death-tight grip the only thing keeping them from flying across the room. But Ahsoka hardly noticed this against the noise in her head and the nausea rising in her gut. The Temple, Coruscant, the galaxy, spinning and spinning and screaming wordlessly and she didn’t know why.

“Padawan Tano!” Whie exclaimed, his own saber deactivated as he ran toward her, the sparring match forgotten. “Ahsoka! What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t feel that‽” she managed between gasped breaths as she wrenched her mind away from the maelstrom in the Force.

I feel, since taking a year+ break from writing, that my writing is now very rusty. Even after a few weeks back at it, I'm still feeling this way. I know the only way past this is to keep writing and improving, but it sure is discouraging. On the plus side, I did figure out how I want to end this particular fic, even if I'm still a ways off from actually writing that part.

Today I wrote: 408 words

I worked on: Hallowshots

Excerpt:

It was a routine, but unlike everything that had come before it, Adrien thought this was one he would be satisfied if it continued forever. He felt happier than he had been since his mother vanished, and he no longer caught himself fantasizing about escaping to go to school, but instead about hanging out with Marinette. If he fantasized about escaping at all, it was to go searching the streets to uncover the truth behind Marinette’s death, with her at his side, showing him the city as he’d never been allowed to experience it.

He hadn’t acted upon this fantasy, of course, but...he wondered if he might, soon. There was something about Marinette that made him want to be brave.

Yeah, I think Hallowshots will be a "last week of October" thing this year.

Today I wrote: 343 words

I worked on: Hallowshots

Excerpt:

Marinette, Adrien decided, was going to be a terrible influence on him.

I didn't get any writing done over the weekend (or yesterday), unfortunately. I think Hallowshots will have to be an event for later in the month. I will just keep working through it until I have things ready to post.

Today I wrote: 347 words

I worked on: Hallowshots

Excerpt:

“Ready for the most mind-numbingly boo-ring experience of your afterlife?” he dared to whisper as the adults moved away.

“Must not be so bad if you’re making jokes like that,” Marinette said, clearly amused.

“Oh no, it’s bad,” he said. “But I’m glad to see you’re in higher spirits.”

Not sure when I'm going to start posting Hallowshots this year. I think I want this one to be the first one posted even if I already have one done, just because previous years have been all Miraculous fics, so it makes sense to me to start with a Miraculous one as well. So I'll try to get this one finished up by the end of the weekend so that I can figure out a posting schedule. I have ideas for four fics total, so about one a week sounds good. I'm going to the SWE conference later in October, though, so I need to plan around that since I won't really be able to post anything while I'm there.

Today I wrote: 522 words

I worked on: Hallowshots

Excerpt:

“So you’ve probably only been dead for a few days, at most,” he concluded. Marinette looked away, out towards the rain beating against his windows. Adrien winced. She clearly didn’t really like talking about her death, and he supposed it made sense that she wouldn’t want to think about it. If she was wandering about as a ghost, it probably wasn’t any kind of peaceful end.

But if they were going to figure out how to help her move on, then they would have to discuss it, and find out the truth behind her death. Otherwise, they’d never know what unfinished business she had left before she could pass on.