Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: mare on April 03, 2024, 09:09:39 AM
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It's weird, but I can't find the thread we were posting in earlier. It just disappeared! :shrug: So I thought i's just start another one.
Nothing much to say though lol
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That's so weird! I don't see it either. Must have accidentally gotten deleted. Oh well... hope your day is going well!
The weather is a nasty wintry mix here, so I'm staying in and attempting to write all day. I started this one-shot so I'd have something to fill the word count of my April Fool's story, and now I have to finish it before I can make much more progress on my novel. I don't miss trying to balance more than one story at a time, but I guess it's nice to write something different now and then. I've been writing about Kevin for the past three years, so it's about time I took a little break to write a Nick and Brian story. Those two are probably glad I've mostly left them alone lately LOL.
How's your writing going this week? Are your Funko pops providing you with plenty of inspiration? LOL
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I must have accidentally deleted it. Not even sure how though.
We are expecting snow today and tomorrow but thankfully, not a lot. Although I don't really mind it as much anymore since I don't go anywhere ever.
Sometimes it's nice moving away from your main novel to write a short story about someone else. Did you get any comments on AO3? Did anyone actually read it that clicked on it with all those tags? LMAO
My writing is coming along. That's what I'm doing now, well after this. I have a whole routine. Shower, get onto my laptop and come here, check mail and then start writing. I love my little Funkos. Right above my Roys are my BSB IWITW funkos. If I wanted I could have them act this story out because Kevin and Howie are in it as well as David Wright. A Met that I also have a funko of!
I kind of laugh now when I write because, as I've said before, these are both suspense stories and at the moment both of them have become very similar in that Roman has been taken hostage. So, in one I have a teenage version of Roman kidnapped by the MINE serial killer and in the other I have adult Roman taken hostage by the turks who took him in season 2 aka one of the storylines Jessie Armstrong decided to go nowhere with. Poor Roman.
I feel like it's Kieran's fault because before they decided on Kieran, that part was going to Jeremy Strong. He was originally written as an older guy with a wife and kid. Hence the wife and kid in the first few episodes of the show. When they went with Kieran, he took the character and ran in a completely different direction which I think flummoxed Jessie Armstrong resulting in Roman always kind of hanging in limbo a bit with certain things. So, there's some Succession trivia you didn't ask for. The reason I brought that up is because there was a lot of complaining on the Succession twitter about the lack of storyline for the hostage thing that happens in season 2, which you might not have watched. So, I thought, hostage? I'm there! But that leaves me with two very similar storylines and people probably thinking there's something wrong with me if they are reading both.
Hope your writing streak is still going strong! And I hope that some other people pop their heads in this thread as well. Dee came out of her hidey hole on twitter at the mention of Crumbl cookies which I loved. So maybe she'll come back here someday. lol
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Sounds like it's been a little crazy in NY lately! I saw on Twitter that the Statue of Liberty got struck by lightning the other day, and today there was an earthquake? Could you feel it up in Buffalo? And now snow... and, in a few days, an eclipse! This is starting to feel like the beginning of a disaster movie LOL. Stay home and stay safe!
I did get some comments on my April Fool's story! Most of them were from friends who knew full well it wasn't going to be a smutfest, but I did get one yesterday from someone I don't know who may have clicked on it because of the tags LOL. They didn't say, and they did leave a kudo and say they were waiting for the rest, so I guess they liked it anyway.
LOL I love the thought of you acting out your fanfic with Funkos! Now I want a stop-motion animation movie of them acting out a scene while you read it.
I'm glad you've found your new favorite victim in Roman LOL, but I do miss the days when it was Nick being abducted and tortured!
I hit Day 800 of my writing streak on Easter, so it's still going! I've only been writing a sentence or two a day on The World Will Be Waiting because I'm trying to finish the one-shot, but I'm still writing daily. I always make sure I open the novel first so I don't get distracted by the one-shot and forget. I had a pretty good streak going prior to starting my current one, and the only reason I broke that one was because I got distracted by 00Carter when we resurrected that. So I'm determined not to let that happen again LOL.
I don't know if you know because I don't think she ever talked about it here, but Dee had a baby in 2022! I think that's the main reason she disappeared back down her hidey hole LOL. I talk to her every once in a while, and she's going to Cancun, so I will see her there. Hopefully she will eventually make her way back here and back to writing. I loved how active the writing discussion was the last time she came back!
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Yes, it's been wild here in general. We were a little too far to feel the earthquake, but they did feel it in Allentown. We did get some snow over the last two days. I seriously think this all has to do with Trump selling Bibles. The Statue of Liberty, the earthquake, a total eclipse. It's all related somehow. :shrug:
I love that you got a random reader from clicking on your story with that many tags! People on AO3 take their tags very seriously.
I really need a Connor Funko to properly act out my story although I guess I could just borrow one of the Boys for that one. I'm annoyed that the first wave of Succession Funkos didn't include Connor. So typical he just gets glossed over like that!
I have to admit that while writing the AU, I have on more than one occasion typed Nick's name instead of Roman's that I've caught while editing. And I've also had to fix a lot of D instead of calling him Howie because I never established that as his nickname in this story. People would be like and who the heck is this D person?
That's an incredible streak you're one. I think that's awesome! Are you still going to try to write while you're in Cancun?
I did know Dee had a baby because we are Facebook friends, and she had some pictures posted of her baby shower and random pictures of the baby when he was first born. I think it's a boy, right? it's nice she's going to Cancun. It seems like a lot of you guys will get to meet up while you're there. When you see her, tell her and everyone else to come back to the MB. I miss everyone! :bighug:
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Trump is the Antichrist, so it probably is all related. It looks like you had a cool experience with the eclipse! It definitely got a lot darker for you than it did here. It still looked cool, but we only had like 90-something percent totality. I'm just glad it was a nice, clear day so we could see it because it was cloudy and rainy all last week.
I've noticed that about AO3 readers and tags. I'm sure I'm frustrating to them because I post vague summaries, only tag the bare minimum, refuse to tag major spoilers, and rarely give trigger warnings. Sorry not sorry. 🤷♀️
That's weird that Connor wasn't included! You'd think all the siblings would be. I'm sure they'll release him at some point, though; they have Funkos for everything!
LOL I'm sure that's hard to switch to a new fandom and different characters after so many years of writing about the Boys! I sometimes catch myself automatically typing "Nick" when I start a random word that begins with N out of habit - and I'm not even writing a Nick story.
I am definitely going to keep the streak going when I'm in Cancun! And by that, I mean I'm going to get on Google Docs from my phone and add at least one word to my chapter each day LOL. I can't write in public or around other people, so I doubt I'll get much more done than that. But one word is all it takes to keep the streak alive, so that's okay. It takes the pressure off.
Yes, she had a boy and named him Carter! I will tell her! I miss everyone too. There are a lot of people going but, at the same time, a lot of people who aren't. Most of the people I used to hang out with on the cruises, many of whom were from AC, are hardly even active in the fandom anymore, which makes me sad. I guess it's normal for people to move on to other interests as they get older. I've always been strangely loyal and consistent with the things I'm passionate about, so I don't really understand that. Once I fall in love with something, I seem to love it forever. And I've found that it's harder to maintain online friendships that were formed through one specific interest when that commonality is gone. I'm still Facebook friends with a lot of people I've known online for decades now, but we don't really keep in touch beyond that anymore. I'm glad you've stuck around all these years, even when you weren't writing.
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Trump is definitely the antichrist, and it makes me sick that there's a movie coming out about him this year. Starring Sebastian Stan. I mean he doesn't have a big enough ego. This is just something else he's going to use to get try to make it seem like America loves him. I hope it flops majorly and one of my Succession guys is starring in it and I still hope it tanks!
It was cloudy for most of the day here as well, but we would get an occasional glimpse at the whole thing before totality hit and that was really cool too! For a brief minute we were thinking of heading over to Niagara Falls to watch but when we saw the news and how many people were there, we decided to skip that idea. LOL
Hey! A word a day works!
I still don't fully understand the tag thing at AO3. I truly believe no one even bothers to read summaries over there. It's its own beast.
I know! It should have been Connor instead of Greg. Everyone keeps saying they release them in waves so I'm sure he'll be in the second wave of Succession characters along with Tom and Gerri.
I tend to get fixated on something for a long period of time then one day it fades, little by little, but I don't completely lose my love for things ever. I still heart Duran Duran and they were my very first obsession. I tend to hang on to friends more than the thing I was into when I became friends, which is why it does bum me out when people tend to move on from you when you leave a fandom. I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty much deserted by most of my BSB friends long before I really started to lose interest. More like as more and more events were going on and I wasn't going to any of them. Suddenly everyone had something more in common than I did. Now the only time I ever hear from a BSB friend is if I post something about them on twitter. Like I knew with absolute certainty you were going to read that long post I made yesterday but you would also be the only BSB person who would bother. It makes me sad, but such is life. I will always consider myself a member of the BSB fandom. I just don't see me going all gaga crazy about them anymore. Most of the friends I made through the fandom that have since left the fandom, I keep in touch with, ironically. including Kat and Amy from forever ago although Kat is still a very big fan. Amy not so much. I love that you hold on to things you love, it's a great quality to have. So, that's why I stick around here. Not so much for the BSB stuff but for you! and Steph and anyone else when they show up! lol.
When are you leaving for Cancun? Is it next week? Did you have to ditch school? Or is it a weekend getaway? I don't even know how long it is.
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They should have waited until Trump dies to make a movie about him. Then they will have the full story, and he doesn't get to reap any of the benefits. I will not be seeing that one.
I understand the purpose of tags is to find things you want to read and filter out things you don't. That may be helpful in really big fandoms with so many stories that it gets overwhelming, but the BSB fandom is not that big on AO3, so I don't see the point in tagging much beyond the basics. I still prefer summaries as a way to get an idea of what the story is actually about and see a snippet of the author's writing before I decide whether to click on the story or not.
Regarding BSB friends... It's so hard to feel left out and left behind. Even though I've been to a lot of the big events, I still know how that feels. It's disheartening. That's why I will always be in favor of the boys streaming events or doing whatever they can to include as many fans as possible in some way. Even if they're not livestreaming it, I would love for them to record and release the 30 for 30 concert after Cancun. That would benefit everyone. I don't like the attitude I've seen from some people who are going that it should be exclusively for the fans who paid to be there in person. That kind of mentality just further divides us and pushes people who can't go farther away from the fandom.
I appreciate you sticking around here for me and Steph and whoever else decides to pop back on. Likewise, you know I'll always be around for you. I think it helps that we have other common interests to talk about besides BSB. That's what gets hard with some of these other online friendships - it's all based on conversation rather than experiences, so when you run out of common interests and things to talk about, it's harder to keep it going.
I do hope we can eventually meet in person someday and maybe go to a concert together like we'd planned to do in 2020. Hopefully Kieran will make it easier for you to get out and about more. How's that been going?
I leave for Cancun Thursday morning! It goes Thursday through Monday, so I am using my three personal days and taking Thursday, Friday, and Monday off work. I haven't missed a day yet this year, so I don't even feel bad about it. It's going to suck coming back Monday evening and going straight back to work on Tuesday, but hopefully it will be worth it. I wish you were going!
I hope you're enjoying your Succession rewatch! I wish I could get into it the way you are. I haven't even made it through Season 1! To be fair, I haven't tried watching it in a while, but it didn't suck me in the way I was hoping it would after seeing you gush about it. I haven't given up on it completely, but I also haven't felt compelled to watch an episode in a while either. I really haven't watched much TV at all lately. I've spent more time either writing or playing The Sims LOL.
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I agree with you! It’s too early to be making a movie about Trump! Especially with an election coming up. I don’t get it!
The few fics I’ve read on ao3 I haven’t even looked at anything but the summary which should really be the first thing there but it’s at the very end. I feel like you have to actually click on the story to read the summary. So weird!
Yeah, I’m not sure why so many people were against the streaming. It’s not like it’s lessening their experience. They have nothing to lose. That’s why I made that student loan analogy way back when that was happening.i would love to meet up sometime. Even if it’s not a concert. We should all do a BSB meet up minus the BSB lol come to Niagara Falls it’s lovely.
I have a love/hate relationship with Kieran. I’m also still trying to get used to him. I haven’t really taken him for a real run around yet. The legs aren’t in place which means I’m using my legs to move him around. The first time I used him was for the eclipse. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. I still have to rely on my sister to get out of the house because she has to carry him down the stairs.
Ooh I bet these next few days are going to drag for you! But I’m glad it’s more than just a weekend. You might be a zombie on Tuesday but hey, maybe you can call in sick? lol have a great time!!
I’m loving my rewatch! I always catch little things I missed the first go round. I just finished episode 6 of season 1 again lol I hope you do decide to pick it back up. I noticed more people started giving it a try after it won all the awards. The second season & 4th were stellar but of course I loved the whole thing. On the whole I’m not really watching as much tv this year either. Besides succession. There seems to be such huge gaps between seasons now especially with the streaming shows.The Sims, I used to play that but I quickly got bored, but this was at the way beginning. I’m sure it’s more exciting now!
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Hi everyone :)
I see Wales isn't the only place getting terrible weather, it's been like winter here and rained almost every day for I don't know how long. But hopefully that means a nice summer. I can hope anyway lol.
I wish I was in Cancun seeing the boys, but I'll just have to look out for people's videos on YouTube. Hope everyone there has an amazing time.
I've not been up to much really, saw the Amy Winehouse movie as couple of days ago, what a tragic waste of a life that was.
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Hi Steph!
Was the Amy Winehouse movie a documentary or a movie movie?
Seems like everyone is having a good time so far down there, it's only day one but still it was nice seeing everyone happy. My timeline on twitter yesterday was nothing but Cancun and Taylor Swift. lol
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Yeah, I’m not sure why so many people were against the streaming. It’s not like it’s lessening their experience. They have nothing to lose. That’s why I made that student loan analogy way back when that was happening.i would love to meet up sometime. Even if it’s not a concert. We should all do a BSB meet up minus the BSB lol come to Niagara Falls it’s lovely.
Oh, I knew exactly what that analogy was really referring to, and I was right there with you. My friend Liane brought a selfie stick and stood there selflessly recording every event in its entirety (or as long as we were there and could see) so she could post them on YouTube just to spite the people who wanted to keep it exclusive LOL. Her videos aren't professional quality, of course, and we weren't up close for anything because we didn't want to spend our whole vacation waiting in the sun to get a good spot, but better than nothing!
I would love to go to Niagara Falls sometime, especially now that I have a valid passport again and can get into Canada and back.
LOL I know I'm the one who asked about Kieran, but for a second, I forgot what you were responding to and thought you were talking about having a love/hate relationship with Culkin and still trying to get used to him. Finally realized/remembered we were talking about your wheelchair. Too funny. I'm sure it is an adjustment, and it definitely seems like it would be awkward having to use your legs to move him around. Do you not have the foot plates yet, or have you just not put them on?
It's funny, I got into The Sims when it first came out and played it obsessively for quite a few years in my teens. Then, when I started teaching, I guess I just got too busy for it and gave it up. I was hesitant to take it up again as a hobby because of what a timesuck it is, but I finally caved and downloaded it the week I had Covid a couple years ago... and, yeah, it's still just as much as an addicting timesuck as it used to be. I will go months at a time without opening it at all, but when I'm actively playing it, I can play for 8+ hours without even realizing how much time has gone by. In my current game, I made the Boys and a bunch of my fanfic characters and created their houses and other settings I've used in stories. It's obsessive and creepy, and I love it. It's what I do for "inspiration" when I want to spend time in my story world without actually writing. LOL
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Cancun was a lot of fun! It was great to see the guys and friends I don't get to see very often. But, as with any BSB event, there was also a lot of standing/waiting around (in the blazing sun) and battling crowds of people. I didn't personally witness a lot of bad behavior, but I hear there was pushing among the people who were desperate to be up front. The day of the 30 for 30 concert, which was scheduled to start at 8:15, people were already lining up at 9 a.m. Other people skipped the concert to sit in front of the smaller stage where the after parties were held so they could be up front for that and try to get selfies, which I think is even crazier, considering that concert were what most of us were looking forward to the most! My friends and I went to every event but didn't worry about getting there super early or trying to push our way to the front, so we didn't have any direct interaction with any Backstreet Boys. Instead, we enjoyed the pool and the food and our random animal encounters, which started on a high note with the lemur we saw right after we arrived and went downhill from there, ending in a dead cockroach on the sidewalk as we were leaving the resort LOL. Despite slathering myself in SPF 100 sunscreen, I am super sunburned and beyond exhausted... but, of course, it was worth it, and I would do it all again! But I can't wait for the weekend so I can catch up on sleep LOL.
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That was incredibly nice of Lianne. I loved that she did that. I know a lot of people really appreciated it. And good for you guys not worrying about standing in line all day just to get the best spots or interact with the guys. You were at a luxury resort, why not just enjoy it.
The Canadian side of the Falls is far nicer than the American side, but it's a great perk to only be twenty minutes away from Niagara park, not that we go all that often because there's a lot of stairs and it, like so many other places, is not really handicap accessible, but there are plenty of places to park and just sit and look at the falls. People in western NY get a special driver's liscence which allows us to go over the border without a passport.
I do have the legs on Kieran now, but before they weren't on. LOI have no beef with the Culkin it's the love hate with the chair.
I might have to revisit the Sims one day. That sounds like a blast including your characters in there. I would imagine that would easily suck me in as well. I could play Simscession LOL
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I saw every one randomly posting from Cancun and that seemed to be the general consensus. Very nice but really crowded and a lot of waiting and standing around. I would imagine it wouldn't be ideal for someone like me, although I did see a few people on scooters driving their way towards the stage. I wouldn't think they'd be great in the sand, but I guess the resort probably rents them out.
I was getting so annoyed with some of the posts about people complaining about the song choices for that concert. I get that was the focal point of the entire trip for some people but for many, I bet it was their very first concert from the boys. I think sometimes people forget that there's fans and then there's FANS and sometimes it's the FANS that get a little carried away by things. Like being annoyed that IWITW was performed for instance. I had to bitch about that, even though there was a lot more I wanted to say lol
As far as the multiple repeats on the DNA set and this other concert, a lot of people saw that DNA set a ton of times not just once and they had no problem listening to the same songs over and over again. Some of these people, maybe never got to see the DNA show and didn't mind hearing the same songs repeated. I was glad to see that they did sing a bunch of songs they haven't performed in a while though, like Siberia and Poster Girl!
I also saw people bitching about fans not knowing the words to all the songs or even knowing all the titles. Again...FANS know all the bonus songs and B sides and all the words by heart. Fans probably only know the biggest hits so it makes sense those would be the ones they'd want to hear. That was driving me crazy! I know you totally get it. I wish everyone else did.
I'm sorry you got burned. I would imagine it was hot as hell. Was it a dry heat at least? Or was it humid? I could've done without the roach sighting lol but with heat comes those lovely bastards. I'm glad you'll get a chance to catch up on sleep this weekend. Only two more days to go! This week has really dragged, and I didn't even go anywhere. LOL
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So glad you enjoyed Cancun, sounds like fun apart from people queuing ridiculously early, but you always get that for events and I bet it's always the same people too. I wouldn't be able to handle the sun and the heat either and would be frazzled as I'm fair skinned and burn easy too lol. Hope you aren't too burnt. I'd hate to see all the creepy crawlies that the heat brings, I'm bad enough when I see a spider or wasp in my house.
Mare, the Amy Winehouse movie was a movie about her life, it was good, but sad too.
I've never played The Sims games, I'm not really a game person, but that sounds like one I could like if you can create your own characters and houses etc.
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I saw every one randomly posting from Cancun and that seemed to be the general consensus. Very nice but really crowded and a lot of waiting and standing around. I would imagine it wouldn't be ideal for someone like me, although I did see a few people on scooters driving their way towards the stage. I wouldn't think they'd be great in the sand, but I guess the resort probably rents them out.
The resort actually seemed pretty accessible! There were ramps everywhere that had stairs, and every event space had an ADA section with seating and open spaces reserved for wheelchairs/scooters. I saw plenty of people in wheelchairs who looked like they were having a great time. The concerts were held on the beach, and we stood in the sand, but there was a paved terrace in back that still offered a decent view and an ADA section that was accessible via a paved walkway. I know there were accessible rooms, too, but I'm not sure how many. It seemed like it would be doable for you, from an accessibility standpoint. Something to consider for if/when they do more of these. It sounds like they will - the Boys didn't outright confirm it, but Kevin hinted at it, and the resort staff were telling people they signed a contract for four years.
I was getting so annoyed with some of the posts about people complaining about the song choices for that concert. I get that was the focal point of the entire trip for some people but for many, I bet it was their very first concert from the boys. I think sometimes people forget that there's fans and then there's FANS and sometimes it's the FANS that get a little carried away by things. Like being annoyed that IWITW was performed for instance. I had to bitch about that, even though there was a lot more I wanted to say lol
As far as the multiple repeats on the DNA set and this other concert, a lot of people saw that DNA set a ton of times not just once and they had no problem listening to the same songs over and over again. Some of these people, maybe never got to see the DNA show and didn't mind hearing the same songs repeated. I was glad to see that they did sing a bunch of songs they haven't performed in a while though, like Siberia and Poster Girl!
I also saw people bitching about fans not knowing the words to all the songs or even knowing all the titles. Again...FANS know all the bonus songs and B sides and all the words by heart. Fans probably only know the biggest hits so it makes sense those would be the ones they'd want to hear. That was driving me crazy! I know you totally get it. I wish everyone else did.
I get your point about the songs. While I was happy to be there and would have listened to the Boys sing the phonebook, I'm not gonna lie and say I wasn't disappointed with some of the setlist for 30 for 30. I assumed it would be mostly hardcore FANS going to this who would want to hear the deep cuts, and I guess that was the wrong assumption to make. I think some people probably voted for their top 30 BSB songs of all time, while others tried to be strategic about choosing 30 songs we've either never heard live or haven't heard live in over a decade. If I was listing my top 30 songs of all time, of course it would include IWITW, Everybody, ALAYLM, etc... but since I knew I would hear all those Friday night, I went the other route and voted for the songs I haven't heard them sing in a long time or ever. I was disappointed that they only sang 4 of my 30 picks, although I was happy to hear the other deep cuts they did, even if I didn't vote for them. But hearing so many of the hits that we'd just heard two nights earlier instead of the songs so many of us were hoping to hear was frustrating. But, hey, majority rules, so if those were the legit results, it is what it is. I hope the Boys put together their own setlist of deep cuts next time and don't leave it in the fans' hands because I think they were a little surprised and disappointed to be singing so many of the same songs, too. They kept saying stuff like, "Don't be mad if you don't hear your favorite song. This is what you guys picked!" and acknowledged all the repeats.
I'm sorry you got burned. I would imagine it was hot as hell. Was it a dry heat at least? Or was it humid? I could've done without the roach sighting lol but with heat comes those lovely bastards. I'm glad you'll get a chance to catch up on sleep this weekend. Only two more days to go! This week has really dragged, and I didn't even go anywhere. LOL
It was in the upper 80s, sunny, and humid every day! I didn't even bother to put on makeup because I knew I would just sweat it off, so I guess it's a good thing I never got close to the boys because I looked like a hot mess the whole time LOL. Not that that would have stopped me if the opportunity had presented itself. But at least there was no pressure to look cute for a planned meet and greet LOL. Thankfully, the only roaches I saw (2 of them) were outside and not in our room. There were also stray cats running around (we saw two fucking by the pool one day LOL) and so many clever birds that would swoop in and steal food from the buffets. And deer! We saw multiple deer at night. Never saw any lizards, which was surprising.
I am so glad it's Friday! In addition to being exhausted, I'm now sick... not sure if it's Nick Plague or just from being around so many people, eating from buffets, or the change in weather. I definitely need a couple days to catch up on sleep and do nothing!
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I've never played The Sims games, I'm not really a game person, but that sounds like one I could like if you can create your own characters and houses etc.
It's so much fun! I haven't played any other video games regularly since I was a kid, but The Sims is fun because you can play it however you want. Building/decorating houses is my favorite part, probably more than the actual gameplay, but that's fun too.
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It's nice to hear it was so accessible because honestly, it sounds like the kind of vacation I'd like. Was the hotel room included in the package, or was it all independently done? Did you pay something just to see the boys? Depending on how much the flight would cost plus the event, meaning how much they jack up the price from the normal, maybe I'd do it. That's a big maybe lol I'd be one of those people who would want to get there at least a day before the event and leave a day or two after, if I'm going on vacation, I'm going on vacation.
I only follow a very few BSB people, so I was confused to see my feed bombarded with BSB tweets during Cancun but then I realized it was the 'for you' feed. I saw a lot of posts from a lot of first time BSB concert goers on my feed. People who had never seen the boys in concert or met them ever. That's why I brought that up, I understand why you were disappointed though. Yes, no one should ever leave anything up to the public to decide anything. Maybe they should have made it a pick one of these three songs...yada yada yada. At least if they are doing it again, hopefully they learned from what went on this time to improve for next time.
I'm sorry you're sick! I bet it's a little from column A- all the people and B- Nick. You should have brought some of your Nick plague antibacterial soap with you!
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Everything was included! Room, food, drinks, concerts and events, even transportation to and from the airport. The only thing that wasn't included was airfare. And there was a payment plan so we didn't have to pay everything at once. It was nice knowing that everything was paid for by the time I set foot on the plane. I brought some cash for tips, and that was about all I spent there. You should definitely consider going if/when they do this again! And I agree with flying in early or staying a day later if possible. I probably wouldn't be able to do that because of work, but I wish I could have or at least taken an extra day off to sleep when I got home.
That's so surprising for me that people who had never been to a BSB concert would go to something like this, but good for them! Go big or go home, I guess. There were also plenty of husbands/boyfriends there with their wives/girlfriends, and I assume they probably voted for the hits if they voted at all.
I had my Nick sanitizer with me and used it, but alas, it wasn't enough.
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That's great that there was a payment plan. It's a great feeling knowing everything is taken care of before your trip. That's how I feel about the cruise. I made my final payment and now all I have to do is board the boat and look for a hotel to stay in the night beforehand. If they announce another thing, let me know. Just in case a miss it. I'd have to convince my sister to come with because I know I wouldn't be able to do things on my own. It'll be a hard sell, but we'll see lol
Yeah, I agree that it's a weird time for a first experience, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it was such a landmark anniversary.
Hope you're feeling better!
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Yay that your cruise is paid off!! That is a good feeling!
I'll let you know when they announce it. Hopefully they won't for a little while. I think last year, they started hinting at it in May, and we booked over the summer. I hope you can come and convince your sister to come, too! The nice thing about this is, even if she's not a big fan of BSB, she can still enjoy the vacation aspect of it - the pool, the beach, the "free" food and drinks, etc. She wouldn't necessarily have to go to all of the BSB events.
I am finally feeling almost back to normal! I went to bed at 9:30 Friday night and stayed in bed until noon on Saturday, and that helped LOL. Even managed to get a few hundred words written last night and finish the chapter I've been working on all month, so hopefully I'm back on track with my writing, too.
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So glad you're feeling better after catching Nick Plague :) Also good to hear you're writing again
Mare, I bet you can't wait for the cruise, it's a good feeling when you've finally paid it off as it feels real then. We're going on a cruise in June, this will be our second one as we loved last years so much.
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Yay that your cruise is paid off!! That is a good feeling!
I'll let you know when they announce it. Hopefully they won't for a little while. I think last year, they started hinting at it in May, and we booked over the summer. I hope you can come and convince your sister to come, too! The nice thing about this is, even if she's not a big fan of BSB, she can still enjoy the vacation aspect of it - the pool, the beach, the "free" food and drinks, etc. She wouldn't necessarily have to go to all of the BSB events.
I am finally feeling almost back to normal! I went to bed at 9:30 Friday night and stayed in bed until noon on Saturday, and that helped LOL. Even managed to get a few hundred words written last night and finish the chapter I've been working on all month, so hopefully I'm back on track with my writing, too.
Glad you're feeling back to yourself! Sometimes all it takes is a good night's sleep or two lol
I'm sure your readers will be happy to know you've finished your chapter!
That's how I'll try to sell it, that she doesn't have to do the events if she doesn't want to. But it also depends on how much more expensive it is because they will be there. I know my sister and she'll bring that up. Even if I don't want to go to see them, I'll still be paying for them, argument. Honestly, I would probably skip out on some of the events as well only really wanting to go to the concerts. I know I can't play volleyball and I don't really care about watching other people do things.
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So glad you're feeling better after catching Nick Plague :) Also good to hear you're writing again
Mare, I bet you can't wait for the cruise, it's a good feeling when you've finally paid it off as it feels real then. We're going on a cruise in June, this will be our second one as we loved last years so much.
I'm really excited about the cruise. At this point it's probably one of only two items I have on my bucket list that I'll get to actually accomplish! Have fun in June! It seems like the general consensus is once you go cruising once, you'll want to do it forever! I hope that happens to us. I'm pretty frugal, but I would be able to afford a cruise every other year perhaps! I don't spend money on anything else really besides books. lol
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I'm excited for you both with your cruises! Sounds like fun!
I hope the Boys come up with better events when/if they do another Cancun thing. The only one that was really fun was AJ's karaoke event. Brian's was my second favorite because it was inside with seating, which was worth putting up with Leighanne and Baylee LOL. At least Leighanne didn't sing... but Baylee sang his solo music, and Brian didn't, which was disappointing. I would honestly rather they do fewer events but make the events one that involved all five guys and were something entertaining to watch. I love Kevin, but watching him DJ is not entertaining. I love Nick, but sitting in the sun on the hot sand for two hours to watch him play volleyball was also not that entertaining. And I love Howie, but I did not get any guacamole or shots at his Guac and Shots event, so... meh. I'm not complaining, but this is just another example of things looking more fun on the Boys' social media than they actually were for the average fan who was there LOL. So you could totally skip out on some of the events and do something more fun. The concerts and the game show they did were the best parts!
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Yes, I think I'd only be interested in the concerts or if they did something all together with the exception of maybe if Howie does one of those Howie eatz things lol
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Today someone asked me in a comment if I take requests. I've never heard of that before. Do you have any idea what that means? I'm assuming she or he is asking if I'll write a story based on something they want? Is that a thing? LOL
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Yes, that's exactly what that means. It is a thing. I would not recommend doing it LOL. I tried writing a story or two based on someone else's idea that they wanted me to write back in the day, and it did not go well. Even if it's a decent idea, I've found that it's harder to maintain enthusiasm for an idea that isn't mine.
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I mentioned that at the moment I had 3 WIP and I only enjoyed writing Roman and siblings centered Fics and wasn't into ships. I haven't heard back from the person so maybe they've moved on lol
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Hopefully! People can be so pushy. I don't mind people throwing out suggestions as long as they can accept the fact that I may not use them. It bothers me when people I've never heard from otherwise do that, though. Like, have you even read my work?? How come you've never left a comment before? So rude.
I enjoy your occasional tweet thread about the importance of giving feedback, btw. The lack of comments on AO3 is really pathetic. I feel like I can't complain because, if you sort stories by number of comments within the BSB fandom, many of my novels show up on the first page... and yet, I get very few comments there compared to what I used to get on AC. And most of the ones I do get are from the same few people. (Thanks, Steph!) I always reply, too, which then doubles the total number of comments. I don't like that replies count because that is also misleading. I don't know why people there - even fellow writers - are so reluctant to comment. You don't even have to be registered or signed in to do it!
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I know! I hate that about the replies to comments too!
Thanks! It's a rant that needs to be ranted every once in a while. lol I read a girl's short story last night and left a comment and saw I was the only one who did. Then I looked at her kudos and noticed all these names of people who actually write stories in the fandom and for some reason it made me really angry! It's like, they all know how important feedback is and they are too lazy to leave just a good job! Or something like that? I get it, a little with people who don't write. They may not understand how time-consuming writing tends to be, but writers get it.
The lack of feedback is crazy on AO3. I wish that stupid kudos button didn't exist. People hit that thing and think okay there ya go! We all did a lot better giving feedback on AC. I wish I could go back and see how many reviews I had and read the ones I got. I think we were spoiled there. I know I had way over 100 reviews typically on most of my more popular stories, and that didn't include our author responses which as you know is another pet peeve of mine. People who don't respond to their reviews.
At least the girl who randomly requested something, actually has left a couple reviews. But yes, don't make a request after not saying anything or like I said in my rant, don't let your very first comment be "How come this hasn't been updated?" lmao *smack!*
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Yes, I kinda get it for people who don't write. They may not realize how much it means to most of us or may not know what to say. But writers can't make that excuse. That being said, I also see so many posts pop up on the Fanfiction subreddit complaining about receiving "hateful" comments just because someone said something that was less than a 100% positive, gushing, glowing review, and I can see how that would be a deterrent to people who already feel awkward about commenting. I guess you never know how the other person is going to react to what you say. The younger generation seems a lot more worried about triggering or offending people than we ever were.
You can still read your reviews on AC! When you're logged in, go to Account Info and Reviews Received. They're all still there. We were definitely spoiled, but we also established a culture of reader-writer interaction and set the expectation that people leave reviews and reply to reviews through our many discussions on this forum. There's not really a way to do that on AO3, other than modeling the behavior you want to see from others. (This is a very teacher response LOL.) I could definitely be better about stepping outside my comfort zone and reading other people's stories, but unless the summary sounds interesting, I don't read much fanfic anymore aside from what I'm writing.
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Oh, I'll have to try that, thanks! I remember in my head thinking, as long as I have at least one review per chapter posted, I'll feel like the fic is on the right track. now it's like as long as I have at least 10 comments on the entire thing, maybe it's not that bad.
Yes, this younger generation is very sensitive. That's why I read the room nowadays. Luckily the few fanfics I have read have been incredibly well written, but even if they weren't, I would just go for the standard, great job! I enjoyed this, type reply. I know I've seen people complain about reviews where the person has told them they wished they didn't ship so and so because it's not believable. If you don't want to read about so and so, then why read this? I don't really venture onto the fanfiction subreddit. They never really talk about anything I feel like I understand.
I still wish AO3 had a forum. They would benefit from one. I miss the old days!
Today is my posting day for one of my stories. We'll see how it goes. This one tends to be pretty popular; we'll see if the requester comes back. LOL
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LOL I know what you mean. I pay a lot more attention to hits on AO3 than I ever did on AC. I figure as long as the hits are going up, I'm doing something right. One of the few things I do like better about AO3 than AC is the way it records hits. It's based on IP address, so one user clicking on a story counts as one hit, no matter how many chapters they read, and it doesn't record a hit when you click on your own story. If I remember correctly with AC, every click counted as a hit, which inflated the number and made it less accurate.
The fanfiction subreddit tends to be geared more toward shipping and fanfic based on fictional media than what I write, so I also feel like the discussions can be hard to relate to and chime in on. I tried to be a regular on the RPF subreddit when it was created because it was smaller and less overwhelming, but even there, a lot of the posts revolve around ships, which I'm not into. I'm not opposed to writing another slash at some point if inspiration strikes, but I don't "ship" any of the Boys together sexually or romantically. I much prefer bromance to romance. Most of my romances are between one of them and an original female character, but I think I'm in the minority there. AO3 does have its own subreddit, which I guess is the closest thing to its own forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/ Definitely not like AC, though.
Happy update day! I hope you're getting some good comments on the chapter you posted.
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We haven't done any Q&As here in a while, but I thought of a question. This is for you, Mare, but if any other writers pop in and see it and want to weigh in, please do!
I was just wondering if any of your writing habits have changed since you came back from your hiatus. If I remember correctly, you used to be more of a panster or plantser than a planner - as in, you would just write and see where the story took you instead of planning everything out in advance. That always impressed me because I probably would have written myself into a corner or plot hole trying to write suspense without a plan. Do you still write that way, or have you become more of a planner? Feel free to comment on anything else that has changed or stayed the same for you!
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Oh, I had no idea hits went based on IP addresses there. I knew it wasn't counting when I clicked on it, because I frequently had to do that to remember names of my original characters and I liked that the hit count didn't move when I did that. So, does that mean that, like Kudos, only one hit per address which means all the hits are all new people? Or possible same people who just aren't logged on? If it is, then that is kind of encouraging. I didn't even pay attention in the slightest to hits on AC. isn't that funny? But, on AO3, I feel like that's really the only way to know if people are actually reading. But then again, are they just clicking in then clicking out? People just need to leave friggin' comments! Problem solved!
I got two comments on this new chapter. One from my steady reviewer. Thankfully this story has one of those and one from an occasional one. No newbies yet. Although I have to say with this story, I do tend to get a lot of random comments from people I haven't heard from before which makes me feel good too. That it's not always just the same one person leaving all the reviews. This one already has more hits in the 9 chapters I posted as opposed to my MINE serial killer story that it just surpassed, even though that one only has one more chapter to go and is at 24 chapters total. The only difference between the two Roman gets abducted stories is that the first one I mentioned has him paired with Gerri. Annoying lol
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Planster lol I like that! Yes, I am still very much a planster. I never fully know where my stories are going until I get there. Same as before, I have a general idea and most times I have a vague ending in mind, but how I actually get there is anyone's guess. I guess the closest I get to planning is just making sure I'm always at least one full chapter ahead of myself, just in case I don't like the direction I'm going, I'll have time to change something. I don't know why it works for me, especially in suspense, but it just does. I had no idea the serial killer was going to be the MINE killer until I was about three chapters in and decided to have that be one of the things the police didn't report on the news. It's also a little exciting to write that way, for instance, I currently do not have the slightest idea how I'm going to resolve this hostage situation I have Roman in now. LOL Like not one iota, I'm just going to let my characters get out of it themselves.
I don't really think all that much has changed for me. When I first started up, I had a hard time keeping a flow. I sometimes didn't feel like writing, but now I feel more comfortable with it again and like you, try to write a little every day. I have it scheduled into my daily routine, After I shower, I come in here and write for at least an hour. Even if part of that is coming on here and responding to you. I generally only check this forum during my writing time. Sometimes I have a double writing day, usually when I update because it takes me almost an hour to html everything, so I tend to come back in the afternoon to write write.
Oh, I guess the thing that has changed is my willingness to write female characters now. I kind of enjoy writing Gerri, even though she's not always attached to a partner, but before I never even considered it. I still have difficulty writing Shiv for some reason. I even had an original female character in my first story, which I agree with you, people don't tend to like. I seem to pop in at least a handful or original characters in everything I write now.
I guess a question I have for you and anyone else, now that the boys are older and really have established their family lives, do you tend to write them as they are now? Like this age? And if you do, do you incorporate their real families? Or do you find yourself writing them when they were still younger? I think I'd only ever be able to write old school BSB before the wives and kids.
I know you tend to give them an original female character over their real wives, but do you have them as middle-aged men? and do they have children? etc...
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So, does that mean that, like Kudos, only one hit per address which means all the hits are all new people? Or possible same people who just aren't logged on?
This is how AO3 describes hits in their FAQ section:
"A hit is registered every time a visitor navigates to a work's page, with the following exceptions:
- If two visits in a row come from the same IP address, only the first one is registered.
- Moving between chapters in a work will only register one hit in total, not one hit per chapter.
- If you're logged in, hits are not counted when you visit your own works.
Note that hits only log the number of visits to a work, not the duration of the visit. "
So some of them are repeat readers coming back different times, but it's not logging multiple hits per person per reading session like AC does. Unfortunately, you can't tell how many of them are actually reading full chapters and how many of them are just clicking on and clicking out again.
Congrats on already getting two comments! It's nice that you're hearing from a variety of people, not just the same ones every chapter. That seems like new people are discovering your work. Awesome! Do you think the pairing with Gerri increases readership?
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Planster lol I like that! Yes, I am still very much a planster. I never fully know where my stories are going until I get there. Same as before, I have a general idea and most times I have a vague ending in mind, but how I actually get there is anyone's guess. I guess the closest I get to planning is just making sure I'm always at least one full chapter ahead of myself, just in case I don't like the direction I'm going, I'll have time to change something. I don't know why it works for me, especially in suspense, but it just does. I had no idea the serial killer was going to be the MINE killer until I was about three chapters in and decided to have that be one of the things the police didn't report on the news. It's also a little exciting to write that way, for instance, I currently do not have the slightest idea how I'm going to resolve this hostage situation I have Roman in now. LOL Like not one iota, I'm just going to let my characters get out of it themselves.
I like the term plantser too! LOL That makes sense and does sound similar to how you used to write. It's impressive that you don't seem to write yourself into corners and plot holes with your suspense stories - or, if you do, you figure out a way out of them, which I guess is what makes it exciting for you! I would probably just get writer's block and give up, which I have done with suspense stories in the past LOL. Suspense is not my forte, but the last one I completed was pretty intricately planned out ahead of time. I can't imagine doing it any other way nowadays.
I still skew toward the planning end of the spectrum, but I'd consider myself more of a plantser on my current novel too. Like you, I have an idea of where it's going and some plot points planned out, but I figure out how I'm getting from point to point as I go. I'm trying to be more character-driven and let my characters take the reins instead of forcing them to go in a certain direction. Usually they still end up going where I want them to go, but every once in a while, they surprise me. A few chapters ago, there was a spark of something between my main character, Kevin, and another character who was never meant to have anything more than a platonic relationship with him. I was like, "Whoa, where did that come from?" but I was kind of intrigued by it, so I just kept writing the scene the way it wanted to play out, which was not at all the way I had planned it. And now I find myself questioning whether it's something I want to pursue further, which would change my plan for the rest of the story, or whether I should keep the relationship purely platonic, which I respect. I usually don't change my mind on big plot points like this so late in a story, so this is new territory for me, and it's a little bit scary... but, like you said, also kind of exciting? Anyway, it was on my mind last night, and that's what sparked that question.
I don't really think all that much has changed for me. When I first started up, I had a hard time keeping a flow. I sometimes didn't feel like writing, but now I feel more comfortable with it again and like you, try to write a little every day. I have it scheduled into my daily routine, After I shower, I come in here and write for at least an hour. Even if part of that is coming on here and responding to you. I generally only check this forum during my writing time. Sometimes I have a double writing day, usually when I update because it takes me almost an hour to html everything, so I tend to come back in the afternoon to write write.
Oh, I guess the thing that has changed is my willingness to write female characters now. I kind of enjoy writing Gerri, even though she's not always attached to a partner, but before I never even considered it. I still have difficulty writing Shiv for some reason. I even had an original female character in my first story, which I agree with you, people don't tend to like. I seem to pop in at least a handful or original characters in everything I write now.
It's nice you've gotten into a daily writing routine! That has definitely helped me be more consistent. I'm the same way as you; I usually shower first, then make a cup of coffee and write before I get too distracted by anything else. If I wait until later in the day, it's usually harder to get started.
It's nice that you're more willing to write female characters now! That makes sense with the change in fandom, though. The BSB fandom doesn't have any female "characters" except for the guys' wives, and it feels weird to write about them in anything other than minor roles because they're not celebrities. I like creating original characters, but like you said, not everyone wants to read or write about them. I'm glad you have some good female characters to work with!
I guess a question I have for you and anyone else, now that the boys are older and really have established their family lives, do you tend to write them as they are now? Like this age? And if you do, do you incorporate their real families? Or do you find yourself writing them when they were still younger? I think I'd only ever be able to write old school BSB before the wives and kids.
I know you tend to give them an original female character over their real wives, but do you have them as middle-aged men? and do they have children? etc...
I've written both ways, but most of my recent stories have either taken place in roughly present day with the guys as middle-aged men or specific time periods in the past where most of them were still with their current partners. My current story takes place during the IAWLT era, so most of the guys have kids and are married, and Nick is soon to be engaged to Lauren. The only difference is that I killed Kristin in first story in the series, so Kevin is widowed and dating an original character. Mason exists, but Max does not. I don't write much about the other guys' wives or kids because the focus is on Kevin, but Mason gets a fair amount of story time. I don't usually like writing about their real kids, but I'm enjoying Kevin and Mason's father-son relationship in this story. Mason feels almost like an original character because I don't know much about the real Mason, so I just make up most of the details. He's only 5 in this story and was a baby in the first one, so I just try to make him act like a typical little boy that age.
That being said, I still try to find ways to avoid writing about their families as much as is possible/realistic. In 2020, I finished my ER crossover, which took place in 1995, so there are no wives/girlfriends and kids in that one. I also wrote a survival story that year called The Road to Bethlehem that was about the five of them quarantining in a cabin together to work on the Christmas album during the pandemic, which worked well for leaving their families out.
I still don't like denying the existence of their families or creating fictional families for them, unless it's an AU, so it's either include them as necessary, find creative ways to write around them, or set everything in the 90s. And as much as I love 90s BSB and dynamics of their relationships in those early days, I do enjoy writing them as adults. It's easier now than it was when I was a teenager, and they were in their twenties LOL. I figure forties and fifties can't be that different from late thirties.
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This is how AO3 describes hits in their FAQ section:
"A hit is registered every time a visitor navigates to a work's page, with the following exceptions:
- If two visits in a row come from the same IP address, only the first one is registered.
- Moving between chapters in a work will only register one hit in total, not one hit per chapter.
- If you're logged in, hits are not counted when you visit your own works.
Note that hits only log the number of visits to a work, not the duration of the visit. "
So some of them are repeat readers coming back different times, but it's not logging multiple hits per person per reading session like AC does. Unfortunately, you can't tell how many of them are actually reading full chapters and how many of them are just clicking on and clicking out again.
Congrats on already getting two comments! It's nice that you're hearing from a variety of people, not just the same ones every chapter. That seems like new people are discovering your work. Awesome! Do you think the pairing with Gerri increases readership?
Interesting. I need to read FAQs. I am admittedly very lazy when it comes to stuff like that, which you probably know about me lol I complain about not getting AO3 but I haven't done all that much to rectify that either.
I got a third comment yesterday. This one is pretty successful. And yes, I think that Gerri and Roman together make a huge difference. I am pretty sure most people do searches according to pairings, so they are more apt to click on this one than they were my other one. It's kind of funny though, because Roman has been alone this entire story except for the first chapter so besides being 'together' in name, that's all there is because part of the plot behind this is the fact that Gerri doesn't want anyone to know they're a couple. So, I've managed to totally Gypsy Rose Lee their relationship. LOL Which is fine by me because even though I've grown more comfortable writing female characters, I still don't enjoy making them couples.
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I still skew toward the planning end of the spectrum, but I'd consider myself more of a plantser on my current novel too. Like you, I have an idea of where it's going and some plot points planned out, but I figure out how I'm getting from point to point as I go. I'm trying to be more character-driven and let my characters take the reins instead of forcing them to go in a certain direction. Usually they still end up going where I want them to go, but every once in a while, they surprise me. A few chapters ago, there was a spark of something between my main character, Kevin, and another character who was never meant to have anything more than a platonic relationship with him. I was like, "Whoa, where did that come from?" but I was kind of intrigued by it, so I just kept writing the scene the way it wanted to play out, which was not at all the way I had planned it. And now I find myself questioning whether it's something I want to pursue further, which would change my plan for the rest of the story, or whether I should keep the relationship purely platonic, which I respect. I usually don't change my mind on big plot points like this so late in a story, so this is new territory for me, and it's a little bit scary... but, like you said, also kind of exciting? Anyway, it was on my mind last night, and that's what sparked that question.
Considering how I write, surprisingly I don't really write myself into corners all that often. Most of my ideas for the next chapter comes to me during the night as I'm failing to go to sleep. So, I might feel stuck, but then a lightbulb pops up on top of my head and I'm able to move forward. I think one of the reasons the lack of readership or whatever it is concerning the MINE story is because of how intricate the plot was. Not that anyone would get how hard that is to write a complicated suspense storyline unless you've tried it yourself, but the fact that no one is reading what I consider to be some of my best work is annoying! LOL
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It's nice you've gotten into a daily writing routine! That has definitely helped me be more consistent. I'm the same way as you; I usually shower first, then make a cup of coffee and write before I get too distracted by anything else. If I wait until later in the day, it's usually harder to get started.
I agree. If I wait until later, there's less incentive to write.
It's nice that you're more willing to write female characters now! That makes sense with the change in fandom, though. The BSB fandom doesn't have any female "characters" except for the guys' wives, and it feels weird to write about them in anything other than minor roles because they're not celebrities. I like creating original characters, but like you said, not everyone wants to read or write about them. I'm glad you have some good female characters to work with!
It is easier to write the females in this fandom because they are already established characters and with designated parts to already play. It's been a nice change writing a strong female lead all by herself though. I didn't think I'd enjoy that as much as I did. Not sure how people felt about her, but they did continue reading and no one said anything bad about it, so I take that as a good sign.
I've written both ways, but most of my recent stories have either taken place in roughly present day with the guys as middle-aged men or specific time periods in the past where most of them were still with their current partners. My current story takes place during the IAWLT era, so most of the guys have kids and are married, and Nick is soon to be engaged to Lauren. The only difference is that I killed Kristin in first story in the series, so Kevin is widowed and dating an original character. Mason exists, but Max does not. I don't write much about the other guys' wives or kids because the focus is on Kevin, but Mason gets a fair amount of story time. I don't usually like writing about their real kids, but I'm enjoying Kevin and Mason's father-son relationship in this story. Mason feels almost like an original character because I don't know much about the real Mason, so I just make up most of the details. He's only 5 in this story and was a baby in the first one, so I just try to make him act like a typical little boy that age.
That being said, I still try to find ways to avoid writing about their families as much as is possible/realistic. In 2020, I finished my ER crossover, which took place in 1995, so there are no wives/girlfriends and kids in that one. I also wrote a survival story that year called The Road to Bethlehem that was about the five of them quarantining in a cabin together to work on the Christmas album during the pandemic, which worked well for leaving their families out.
I still don't like denying the existence of their families or creating fictional families for them, unless it's an AU, so it's either include them as necessary, find creative ways to write around them, or set everything in the 90s. And as much as I love 90s BSB and dynamics of their relationships in those early days, I do enjoy writing them as adults. It's easier now than it was when I was a teenager, and they were in their twenties LOL. I figure forties and fifties can't be that different from late thirties.
Okay, interesting. I think writing them became increasingly difficult for me as they got older. At first people really enjoyed reading the bromances, but then I feel like as they settled, everyone became more about romance. It's weird you don't really hear Romance as a genre anymore. It seems like it's all about 'shipping' more so than calling it a romance.
I had forgotten you wrote and ER crossover. I was going to ask as a question, do you find people are asking for crossovers more? It might just be because this is a show, but I find that so many people are just taking shows or movies that already exist and plopping the Succession people in them. Like Bridgerton, or The Bear, stuff like that. I don't think I'd ever really be successful at anything like that because unless I really knew the show, I would feel lost. I know you're a huge ER fan so I'm sure it was easy for you, but I had toyed with the idea to do a BSB Supernatural crossover back in the day, but I couldn't handle it.
I do think an Only Murders in the Building crossover might be fun, but again, not that comfortable with that show, but that might be a fun one to play around with. LOL
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I got a third comment yesterday. This one is pretty successful. And yes, I think that Gerri and Roman together make a huge difference. I am pretty sure most people do searches according to pairings, so they are more apt to click on this one than they were my other one. It's kind of funny though, because Roman has been alone this entire story except for the first chapter so besides being 'together' in name, that's all there is because part of the plot behind this is the fact that Gerri doesn't want anyone to know they're a couple. So, I've managed to totally Gypsy Rose Lee their relationship. LOL Which is fine by me because even though I've grown more comfortable writing female characters, I still don't enjoy making them couples.
LOL Genius! Great way to lure in people who ship them without actually having to write much about them together.
Considering how I write, surprisingly I don't really write myself into corners all that often. Most of my ideas for the next chapter comes to me during the night as I'm failing to go to sleep. So, I might feel stuck, but then a lightbulb pops up on top of my head and I'm able to move forward. I think one of the reasons the lack of readership or whatever it is concerning the MINE story is because of how intricate the plot was. Not that anyone would get how hard that is to write a complicated suspense storyline unless you've tried it yourself, but the fact that no one is reading what I consider to be some of my best work is annoying! LOL
That's good! Lying in bed at night is a good place to get ideas. So is the shower. I'll also get them driving to and from work sometimes. I always feel so inspired on my way home, and by the time I get home, I'm too tired and hungry to write anything. Hence why mornings work better these days.
That is so frustrating when you put all that effort into writing a complicated plot, and it turns out well but gets little to no response from readers. I've been there before, and it sucks. But so much is dependent on readers' preferences. For example, AU stories rarely do as well as canon stories, and gen fics are not as popular as romance.
Okay, interesting. I think writing them became increasingly difficult for me as they got older. At first people really enjoyed reading the bromances, but then I feel like as they settled, everyone became more about romance. It's weird you don't really hear Romance as a genre anymore. It seems like it's all about 'shipping' more so than calling it a romance.
Yes, we probably sound old-fashioned calling it "romance," but that's what it is. In the BSB fandom on AO3, there seem to be more slash stories shipping the Boys together than platonic bromances. Romance with original female characters is still pretty prevalent there too. But slash has made a big comeback. I don't mind slash as much as I used to because at least it's still centered on the guys, but I still prefer bromance. It is definitely harder to come up with those bromantic storylines now that they're middle-aged men who don't really hang out with each other much outside of work. That's where a little creative license and occasional killing of wives comes in handy LOL.
I had forgotten you wrote and ER crossover. I was going to ask as a question, do you find people are asking for crossovers more? It might just be because this is a show, but I find that so many people are just taking shows or movies that already exist and plopping the Succession people in them. Like Bridgerton, or The Bear, stuff like that. I don't think I'd ever really be successful at anything like that because unless I really knew the show, I would feel lost. I know you're a huge ER fan so I'm sure it was easy for you, but I had toyed with the idea to do a BSB Supernatural crossover back in the day, but I couldn't handle it.
I do think an Only Murders in the Building crossover might be fun, but again, not that comfortable with that show, but that might be a fun one to play around with. LOL
Considering it took me like 8 years to write the ten-chapter ER crossover, I'm not surprised you forgot about it LOL. I talked about it here way back when I was first planning the idea, but it was always a side project, so I didn't devote much time to it until 2020. I had fun writing it, though, and I think it turned out pretty good.
No, I don't think anyone has ever asked me to do a crossover LOL. It may just be due to differences in fandoms. Most of the BSB crossovers are with other musicians. I still see NSYNC and Eminem being paired with BSB in the tags. I have mixed feelings on crossovers because they only really appeal to people who are familiar with both fandoms, but they are fun to write. They're also a challenge, though, because you do have to be really familiar with both. The ER one was a natural fit for me because I love ER, and so was the Harry Potter one I was writing until The Cursed Child ruined it for me. But I'm not sure what other fandoms I could write that knowledgably. Maybe The Walking Dead? But I don't think I have another zombie apocalypse story in me LOL. Only Murders in the Building would be fun and a great opportunity to write a mystery! But that does sound like a challenge.
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I can't believe people actually ask you to write for them, especially if it's someone who you don't know and doesn't even comment on your stories!
I keep saying I'm going to get back into writing and then don't do anything about it lol. I've had ideas, I just can't seem to motivate myself to write anything. It's been so long.
The Cancun event sounds like only the actual concert would appeal. I wouldn't be interested in watching Howie do shots, or Kevin DJ either. Don't even think I'd be interested in Nick playing on the beach either, I'd rather be in the shade and cool somewhere :) I sound old lol
I would love to write a crossover fic, or read one if it was about something I love (like Walking Dead, Supernatural). I did my own crossover one on here years ago with Supernatural. I quite like the idea of setting them in a historical romance, like Pride & Prejudice meets BSB.
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I know! I'm an evil genius. I just got another new reviewer for that story, so I don't think people have caught on yet. I'm in the process of doing that with a new story I'm writing as well. This time I'm being a double evil genius because not only have I paired him with Gerri but also a male character Mencken, which you probably have never heard of because he comes later on, but he ends up being the guy the Roys get behind as the next presidential candidate. In the show, he's very much patterned after Trump except for the fact that he's played by Justin Kirk who is a hottie.
Next to Roman and Gerri, there's is the next biggest ship because of Roman's up in the air confused sexuality. I've only written two chapters of that one and posted one, because even implied slash is hard for me, so I wasn't totally sure if it was a story I was going to pursue, but like the other one, I've been able to write their encounters as an afterthought. Roman shows up at the hotel then he's back and his desk and vaguely talks about it in flashback. LOL We'll see what happens.
That MINE one is an AU so that might be it as well, but like I said, they enjoy their crossovers over there and seem to enjoy them as AU characters. Most of the time, those crossovers have to have them not as the real authentic Roys for it to work. I don't know. I'm posting the last chapter of that MINE story today, maybe it'll be one of stories that will get discovered later on and have more success. I should have paired Gerri and Roman in that one, although he' a teenager and she's still an old lady and married. Don't think I hadn't considered 'accidentally' adding that tag though. hehehe
Did you not enjoy the cursed child? I never read that one. I don't think I'd ever try an Only Murders one, because of the fact that I'm not all that comfortable with that fandom, but a murder mystery might be fun. I read a novel called Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it was a great murder mystery and hilarious. The author breaks the fourth wall a lot. I am thinking of trying a story like that perhaps. you should check that novel out, it was great. I just found out they're making it into a MAX series. I can totally see Kieran playing the lead.
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I can't believe people actually ask you to write for them, especially if it's someone who you don't know and doesn't even comment on your stories!
I keep saying I'm going to get back into writing and then don't do anything about it lol. I've had ideas, I just can't seem to motivate myself to write anything. It's been so long.
The Cancun event sounds like only the actual concert would appeal. I wouldn't be interested in watching Howie do shots, or Kevin DJ either. Don't even think I'd be interested in Nick playing on the beach either, I'd rather be in the shade and cool somewhere :) I sound old lol
I would love to write a crossover fic, or read one if it was about something I love (like Walking Dead, Supernatural). I did my own crossover one on here years ago with Supernatural. I quite like the idea of setting them in a historical romance, like Pride & Prejudice meets BSB.
Well, there ya go, Steph! If you decide to do Cancun, i'll be your hangout buddy. LOL
I even had trouble with Supernatural. I did a one-shot Supernatural story and was surprised at how hard it was for me.
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I keep saying I'm going to get back into writing and then don't do anything about it lol. I've had ideas, I just can't seem to motivate myself to write anything. It's been so long.
The Cancun event sounds like only the actual concert would appeal. I wouldn't be interested in watching Howie do shots, or Kevin DJ either. Don't even think I'd be interested in Nick playing on the beach either, I'd rather be in the shade and cool somewhere :) I sound old lol
I would love to write a crossover fic, or read one if it was about something I love (like Walking Dead, Supernatural). I did my own crossover one on here years ago with Supernatural. I quite like the idea of setting them in a historical romance, like Pride & Prejudice meets BSB.
I wish you would get back into writing, Steph! I'm sure it's easier said than done, especially after it's been so long. Maybe start small with a one-shot or something. A crossover could be fun, too. Mare, how did you get back into it?
The concerts were definitely the best part of Cancun! Most of the other events were hot and hard to see unless you got there super early to get a good spot, which would mean being even hotter and more crowded. I wish they would go back to cruises instead. The cruises were better - not as big/crowded, not as hot, and the guys were more accessible. But it was their first time doing this, so hopefully the organizers will take the feedback they got and find ways to improve it for next time, if there is a next time.
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Did you not enjoy the cursed child? I never read that one. I don't think I'd ever try an Only Murders one, because of the fact that I'm not all that comfortable with that fandom, but a murder mystery might be fun. I read a novel called Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it was a great murder mystery and hilarious. The author breaks the fourth wall a lot. I am thinking of trying a story like that perhaps. you should check that novel out, it was great. I just found out they're making it into a MAX series. I can totally see Kieran playing the lead.
I have mixed feelings on The Cursed Child. It was entertaining enough, just reading to see where it went, but it was glorified fanfic. J.K. Rowling approved it but didn't actually write it herself, and that was very apparent. Some of the characters were written way out of character, and some of the plot points were so random and weird. The play is coming to Chicago later this year, and I'm not sure if I want to see it or not. But the main reason I say it "ruined" my crossover is that it included an idea I was planning for mine, and now I don't feel like writing it anymore LOL. I dunno... it's one of those stories I haven't officially discontinued but haven't actively tried working on in years. Maybe someday.
A murder mystery does sound like a fun challenge! I'll have to check out that novel.
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I got back into writing mainly because of all the giant holes that needed filling in Succession. Not that there were major plot holes, but there were no flashback episodes or anything like that, so a lot of stuff was mentioned in passing as if we were privy to what happened and that kind of killed me, so I needed to create those stories. Plus, it was a wide-open ending, so what happens next was up for interpretation . That's what really got me back into it. The ideas were gnawing in my head for so long, that I HAD to write them to get them out.
I wish I had done that after watching the finale of Merlon a billion years ago. It never occurred to me that I could write the ending I pictured, and that people might want to actually read it. LOL
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That's interesting. I didn't realize that JK didn't write the Cursed Child. Isn't that play like really really long? I'm not sure I could sit through a play for more than 90 minutes. A musical, yes, but not a play. Ugh, that is annoying though when someone steals your idea, even though they didn't realize they did!
I'm having a writing fail today. I'm not really feeling the new one I'm writing just yet so haven't been able to focus on it, plus this is the first time in a while that I haven't been feeling all that great. It's probably the changing weather. It seems to really affect me. After this I'm probably going to go watch TV or something lol
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I got back into writing mainly because of all the giant holes that needed filling in Succession. Not that there were major plot holes, but there were no flashback episodes or anything like that, so a lot of stuff was mentioned in passing as if we were privy to what happened and that kind of killed me, so I needed to create those stories. Plus, it was a wide-open ending, so what happens next was up for interpretation . That's what really got me back into it. The ideas were gnawing in my head for so long, that I HAD to write them to get them out.
I wish I had done that after watching the finale of Merlon a billion years ago. It never occurred to me that I could write the ending I pictured, and that people might want to actually read it. LOL
That must be nice to have so much fresh inspiration and this whole new world to write about! That's a credit to the Succession writers, too, for developing these characters with backstories worth exploring more. And writing your own alternate ending is a great way to get into fanfic.
That's interesting. I didn't realize that JK didn't write the Cursed Child. Isn't that play like really really long? I'm not sure I could sit through a play for more than 90 minutes. A musical, yes, but not a play. Ugh, that is annoying though when someone steals your idea, even though they didn't realize they did!
Yeah, I don't think I realized either until I read it and looked into it more. I'm surprised JKR signed off on it... but, then, she's done and said a lot of things that have surprised me in the last few years, and not in a good way.
I just looked up how long it is, and it's 3 and a half hours, which includes a 20-minute intermission. That is pretty long, but I guess if it's entertaining enough, I could sit through anything.
It just goes to show that my idea was not very original. It also came across super cringe the way it was written in Cursed Child, which made me less interested in following through with it in my own story.
I'm having a writing fail today. I'm not really feeling the new one I'm writing just yet so haven't been able to focus on it, plus this is the first time in a while that I haven't been feeling all that great. It's probably the changing weather. It seems to really affect me. After this I'm probably going to go watch TV or something lol
Aw, I hope you're feeling better by now! That happens to me too - both the changing weather and the writing slumps. It's hard to get into a new story. Sometimes the first chapter or two go really well, and then it slows down, but sometimes it's a struggle from the first chapter and doesn't pick up until I get further into it. I hope you get over that hump soon!
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Succession is known for its writing. They give us fanfic writers a lot to work with.
I know what you mean about JKR. I've been so disappointed to hear her thoughts on things. I hate when people you admire turn out to be giant douche bags!
I am feeling a bit better. The weather has been so drastic, it's in the upper 80's today and then it'll drop to the 40's and then back up again. Stupid climate change.
For me, the first few chapters are always more of a struggle then the end. It's getting into the rhythm I have trouble with sometimes. Once I get that, then the rest usually flows.
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Ugh, JKR. I am disappointed in her, too. She's entitled to her opinions, but I wish she would read the room, realize how much her words have hurt people, and apologize instead of continuing to act like a troll online. I muted her on Twitter years ago so I wouldn't have to see her posts, but I still get wind of them whenever she's trending for tweeting something offensive. I will always love Harry Potter, but she has completely tarnished her legacy with this anti-trans tirade, which seems so out-of-character for her, considering love and acceptance are such major themes of the series. I don't understand it. But I can separate the art from the artist.
I'm glad you're feeling better! I hate those drastic weather changes, too. It's like a roller coaster. I'm always late to switch out my clothes for the next season because you never know when it's going to get cold or hot again.
Same here about the beginning vs. the end. It's almost always harder for me to start a story than it is to finish it. Sometimes I have slumps in the middle, but once I get to a certain point in a story, I know I'm still going to finish it eventually, even if it takes me a long time.
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Does anyone else do their writing on Google Docs? They've had this AI feature that I got the option to beta test about a year ago. I had fun playing with it a bit, giving it writing prompts to see what it would come up with, but I've never used it for my real writing. The little stories it wrote reminded me of how I wrote as a kid - a lot of telling, not showing. Plus, the writing, while technically proficient, comes across as very generic and soulless - just what you'd expect from something written by a computer and not a real human being.
Anyway, today when I opened my doc to write, I noticed a new sidebar on the right side of the screen called Gemini, which I guess is the new name for Google's AI tool. It had a summary of the content of the first few chapters in the doc that was surprisingly correct and coherent. I've been playing around with opening other stories and asking Gemini to summarize them, and it's crazy how quickly and accurately it can do it. It does have its limitations - it can't seem to read poetry and only summarizes part of longer documents. Still a cool tool, but also a little scary... 😳
Has anyone else played around with AI for writing or anything else? Thoughts?
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Ugh, JKR. I am disappointed in her, too. She's entitled to her opinions, but I wish she would read the room, realize how much her words have hurt people, and apologize instead of continuing to act like a troll online. I muted her on Twitter years ago so I wouldn't have to see her posts, but I still get wind of them whenever she's trending for tweeting something offensive. I will always love Harry Potter, but she has completely tarnished her legacy with this anti-trans tirade, which seems so out-of-character for her, considering love and acceptance are such major themes of the series. I don't understand it. But I can separate the art from the artist.
I'm glad you're feeling better! I hate those drastic weather changes, too. It's like a roller coaster. I'm always late to switch out my clothes for the next season because you never know when it's going to get cold or hot again.
Same here about the beginning vs. the end. It's almost always harder for me to start a story than it is to finish it. Sometimes I have slumps in the middle, but once I get to a certain point in a story, I know I'm still going to finish it eventually, even if it takes me a long time.
I hated reading all those things JKR was saying and you're right, reading her work and then seeing her actual beliefs made no sense to me. I felt like an entire underlying theme of those books was acceptance. I guess one thing those books were missing were the inclusion of any LBGTQ people though. So disappointing. I also tend to separate the people from their politics or beliefs as well. If I didn't, I don't think I'd have any friends lol
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Does anyone else do their writing on Google Docs? They've had this AI feature that I got the option to beta test about a year ago. I had fun playing with it a bit, giving it writing prompts to see what it would come up with, but I've never used it for my real writing. The little stories it wrote reminded me of how I wrote as a kid - a lot of telling, not showing. Plus, the writing, while technically proficient, comes across as very generic and soulless - just what you'd expect from something written by a computer and not a real human being.
Anyway, today when I opened my doc to write, I noticed a new sidebar on the right side of the screen called Gemini, which I guess is the new name for Google's AI tool. It had a summary of the content of the first few chapters in the doc that was surprisingly correct and coherent. I've been playing around with opening other stories and asking Gemini to summarize them, and it's crazy how quickly and accurately it can do it. It does have its limitations - it can't seem to read poetry and only summarizes part of longer documents. Still a cool tool, but also a little scary... 😳
Has anyone else played around with AI for writing or anything else? Thoughts?
I've never really used Google docs. We used it at school. Everyone's iPads were linked to it and I used it that way, but never just for me. I stick with Word because that's what I've always used. I have never used AI for anything. I did notice that when I post onto AO3, occasionally if I stay on a button too long or hit the wrong one with my sausage fingers, sometimes a prompt will come up saying let chatGPT fix this for you. No thanks! One day Mersey and I were playing around with the chat feature. More her then me. We were talking about how some of the writing on sites like reddit seem like the stories are all generically written so I was giving her prompts, and she was putting them into the AI and then short stories were coming up. LOL Like you said, it was accurate when it came to summarizing but it was also flat and definitely made by computer. I'm just glad that as a teacher, I don't have to deal with that. Do you have kids trying to use AI to pass off as their own? I would think 4th grade is still young to try that crap, but you never know.
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I guess one thing those books were missing were the inclusion of any LBGTQ people though.
Well, not directly. But then she came out with all that "behind the scenes" stuff after the fact, like that Dumbledore was gay all along. I'd like to think that, if that series had been written a decade or two later, she would have included a gay relationship or two along with the straight ones, but that would have been pretty controversial for a children's book series in the 90s and early 2000s.
I also tend to separate the people from their politics or beliefs as well. If I didn't, I don't think I'd have any friends lol
LOL Thankfully, my family and close friends are all pretty liberal, but I do have to separate the two when it comes to coworkers. I unfollowed so many coworkers and acquaintances on Facebook during Trump's presidency so I could still maintain some shred of respect for them.
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I've never really used Google docs. We used it at school. Everyone's iPads were linked to it and I used it that way, but never just for me. I stick with Word because that's what I've always used. I have never used AI for anything. I did notice that when I post onto AO3, occasionally if I stay on a button too long or hit the wrong one with my sausage fingers, sometimes a prompt will come up saying let chatGPT fix this for you. No thanks! One day Mersey and I were playing around with the chat feature. More her then me. We were talking about how some of the writing on sites like reddit seem like the stories are all generically written so I was giving her prompts, and she was putting them into the AI and then short stories were coming up. LOL Like you said, it was accurate when it came to summarizing but it was also flat and definitely made by computer. I'm just glad that as a teacher, I don't have to deal with that. Do you have kids trying to use AI to pass off as their own? I would think 4th grade is still young to try that crap, but you never know.
Google Docs is a decent Word substitute. I like that it saves automatically and is accessible from anywhere, so I no longer have to worry about saving docs to flash drives to move between my desktop and laptop. The biggest downside I've encountered is that it has a word count limit. My super long stories literally won't fit in one document on Google LOL. But I don't even have Word anymore, so it's either that or Open Office.
Thankfully, my 4th graders are too young try using AI. The most they do is plagiarize by copy/pasting directly from the internet, which is painfully obvious. But I feel for teachers of older students. I think it would be hard to detect and even harder to prove, since you can input the same prompt and get a different result each time.
The toolbar keeps popping up each time I open my story, so this time, I let it come up with a list of suggestions. One of the suggestions was: "The sentence beginning with "The tiny bra top showed plenty of cleavage..." could be rephrased to be less sexually suggestive." Considering that sentence was in a sex scene, I'd say being sexually suggestive was the point LOL. It also finds my use of medical terminology in a hospital scene "vulgar" and thinks some of my sentences are too wordy. The last part is probably true, but otherwise, I'll take its advice with a grain of salt.
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Well, not directly. But then she came out with all that "behind the scenes" stuff after the fact, like that Dumbledore was gay all along. I'd like to think that, if that series had been written a decade or two later, she would have included a gay relationship or two along with the straight ones, but that would have been pretty controversial for a children's book series in the 90s and early 2000s.
LOL Thankfully, my family and close friends are all pretty liberal, but I do have to separate the two when it comes to coworkers. I unfollowed so many coworkers and acquaintances on Facebook during Trump's presidency so I could still maintain some shred of respect for them.
I have a fair number of friends and distant family who are republicans, but thankfully most of them are quiet about it. The ones who are the most vocal I keep snoozing, so they can see my posts, but I can't see theirs lol
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Google Docs is a decent Word substitute. I like that it saves automatically and is accessible from anywhere, so I no longer have to worry about saving docs to flash drives to move between my desktop and laptop. The biggest downside I've encountered is that it has a word count limit. My super long stories literally won't fit in one document on Google LOL. But I don't even have Word anymore, so it's either that or Open Office.
Thankfully, my 4th graders are too young try using AI. The most they do is plagiarize by copy/pasting directly from the internet, which is painfully obvious. But I feel for teachers of older students. I think it would be hard to detect and even harder to prove, since you can input the same prompt and get a different result each time.
The toolbar keeps popping up each time I open my story, so this time, I let it come up with a list of suggestions. One of the suggestions was: "The sentence beginning with "The tiny bra top showed plenty of cleavage..." could be rephrased to be less sexually suggestive." Considering that sentence was in a sex scene, I'd say being sexually suggestive was the point LOL. It also finds my use of medical terminology in a hospital scene "vulgar" and thinks some of my sentences are too wordy. The last part is probably true, but otherwise, I'll take its advice with a grain of salt.
Your toolbar seems like a snob! LOL
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LOL Right? I think it's a prude! Cleavage... how scandalous!
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I've been trying to think of a new topic to discuss, so here are a few questions about original characters. When you create original characters, can you picture how they look in your head? Do you base their physical description on real people or make it more generic? If your story were a movie, who would you want to play them?
I wrote a blog about this for my site last night, based on my realization that the woman in the new version of that annoying Jardiance commercial looks just like my Sims version of Dawn, a character from the current story I'm writing. She is not who I picture in my head when I'm writing Dawn, but then, neither is Sim Dawn. They do both fit the description and general look of Dawn, though. (Side by side comparison: https://i0.wp.com/dreamers-sanctuary.com/fanfic/wp-content/uploads/dawnjardiance.jpg) In actuality, when I was creating Dawn, I based her appearance and personality on a friend of a friend that I've only met a couple of times, like ten years ago LOL. Inspiration comes from strange places.
That got me thinking about how some of us (not you, Mare, but definitely me LOL) used to have to find photos of celebrities or models to put in our cheesy banners. I almost always had a look in mind for my character first and then tried to find someone that fit that look, but I wonder if some people did it the other way around. I don't actively go looking for people to portray my characters in banners anymore, but when I describe them in my stories, I do sometimes use real people as inspiration. For example, the other major OC in my current story is Natalie, who I imagine as looking similar to Natalie Portman, Victoria Pedretti, and Minka Kelly. Again, I don't actually picture any one of those actresses in particular when I write her, but they all have the same type of look I had in mind for her. But then, I have other characters that I honestly have no idea who I would "cast" to play them in a movie because I didn't base their appearance on any particular people. I can still picture them in my head, but I don't have anyone to compare them to.
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That's a good question. Who knew you'd be writing about the Jardiance lady lol They do look eerily similar.
I never picture anyone in my mind when I write my original characters. It isn't until I have written them for a little while before an image even pops up in my head. That might be weird, but I feel like everything I do writing wise is weird. Once I do visualize them it's never someone famous. I guess maybe an amalgam of different people. Even when I wrote BSB and now with Succession, the main characters don't always look in my head like how they look in real life. Many times, when I would write Nick, he wouldn't really look like the Nick we know. In fact, some of the time, the Nick I pictured was a brunette. I guess I never shared that before. It's been the same with Roman etc... a little Kieran but a little not.
It's mainly personalities I might borrow from people. I modeled Mimi in my Tumbledown story to mimic Kieran's real life wife Jazz. At least how she comes off in public. But in my head, she doesn't really look like Jazz. I do this in my dreams as well. I very rarely dream about people I actually know. I always see faces that aren't familiar to me, even when they are supposed to be someone I know. I couldn't even really describe any of them the way you just did, because I'm not sure I would be able to solidify one distinct image.
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Once I do visualize them it's never someone famous. I guess maybe an amalgam of different people. Even when I wrote BSB and now with Succession, the main characters don't always look in my head like how they look in real life. Many times, when I would write Nick, he wouldn't really look like the Nick we know. In fact, some of the time, the Nick I pictured was a brunette. I guess I never shared that before. It's been the same with Roman etc... a little Kieran but a little not.
I'm the same way! I can picture characters in my head, but it's not a very clear picture. It's like I'm seeing them from across the room without wearing my contacts or glasses - I can tell whether they're tall or short, what type of body they have, their hair and skin color, etc., but I can't make out their distinct features. Even if I could draw well (which I can't), I'm not sure I could draw a portrait of them that I was happy with. When I make them on The Sims, I'm just trying to create a sim that looks sort of like what I see in my head. I think it's because, like you said, they're really just an amalgam of different people's features. I've heard that the brain can't create a new face from scratch, that the faces we see in dreams are composites of faces we've seen in real life. If that's really true, that would be a reasonable explanation for this. When I dream, I usually know where I am and who I'm dreaming about, but the people and places never look the same as they do in real life.
It's funny that you brought up the "canon" main characters because that was going to be my follow-up question. Again, same here - the way I see the Boys when I'm writing about them as characters is different from how I see them in real life. I'm not sure if that's because I've changed them through the events of the story or because I insert some of myself into them or simply because of the way the human brain works, but I do know what you mean. I can't even really explain how they are different - it doesn't come down to something as simple as having a different hair color or missing a leg LOL - but there is a definitely some distinction between the real and fictional versions of them that goes beyond the circumstances of the story.
I was also going to ask about your experience with rewriting a fanfic as original fiction, like you did with Mel's Tree. Did you picture the characters differently in the published version as you did the fanfic, or did you still see some version of the Boys, just with different names?
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That's a great way to describe it. Seeing them from across the room almost blurry.
Rewriting Mel's I did picture totally different characters than I did with the BSB version. I had to reimagine them a bit, but not as much because it was already an AU, so they were more of the original characters than the boys anyway. Rewriting Shadow Woods was more of a challenge because they were the boys, and I actually did picture them as them for that one.
Random note: I just got a comment from someone saying they were more aware of my story than the elections in their country. I'm assuming she's from Mexico. I wish I was more aware of my story than our upcoming elections. I'd be a lot happier. lol
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That's interesting that you had different experiences with Mel's vs. Shadow Woods, but it makes sense, given that the Mel's Tree was already AU.
LOL I also wish I could block out our upcoming election and focus solely on my story instead. Writing and reading are great escapes from reality!
In other news, I'm finally on summer break! Yay!
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yay!!! Good for you! Do you have any fun plans this summer?
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My family rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN for a week in July, so I'm looking forward to that. Otherwise, no major plans, just going to relax and write!
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I've never been to Pigeon Forge but everyone I know who has gone there says it's really a great vacation. I wish I had got myself there while I lived in Nashville. No plans are sometimes the best plans! It's nice just getting to sleep in I bet! Even though for me, I would still/am still waking up at 5 am every morning. LOL
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I've been down there once before. Pigeon Forge itself is very touristy and geared towards families with kids, but the area is beautiful. They have a crime museum that is one of my favorite museums I've ever been to, so I'm looking forward to taking my family there. They also have a Titanic museum that I have not been to and am excited to see.
Sleeping in is definitely the best part! It's my second day of break, and I already stayed up until 6 a.m. playing The Sims last night LOL. Doesn't take me long to get into summer mode!
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Wow! Here I am at 9:20 PM trying not to go to bed for the night. LOL
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Have you ever written a story and you write a very intense chapter, but all your comments focus on a very minor thing? I'm grateful for the comments, but for this last chapter which had a lot of intense moments, all my comments are focused on the fact that Gerri is about to tell Shiv about her and Roman's relationship. I've gotten four comments so far, which has been nice, but all of them are YAY!! I've been looking forward to this chapter forever! Meaning my next chapter. Meanwhile, my next chapter is already written and doesn't make that big a deal of this reveal. Now I'm like should I rewrite it and make more of a deal? Is this what everyone has really cared about all along? Am I going to piss off all my readers? I wish I had the type of brain that gave more importance to the romance side of things. My life would be so much easier. lol
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Yes! I have one on-again, off-again reader who comments on the most random things that may or may not even relate to anything that happened in the chapter, let alone the most important parts. Sometimes it's funny, but it can be really frustrating when it's for a chapter I was hoping/expecting to get a big reaction on. I think the worst was for this novel I wrote a few years ago called A Heart That Isn't Mine, which reads like one of my typical medical drama/romance fics for the first half until a huge twist that turns the second half into an intense suspense/body horror. When I posted the first chapter that was intended to make readers go, "Wait, what??" and start to realize not all was as it seemed, this girl left a comment on it asking when I was going to change my site layout because I'd had the same one for a while. Literally nothing about the story or the content of that specific chapter. I'm usually happy to get any comment, but that one annoyed me! Thankfully, I had a few other regular commenters on that story who came through with the kind of reactions I was hoping for!
I'm glad you're getting comments, but sorry they aren't focused on the intense moments you expected them to. That's hard when readers seem to care more about an aspect of the story that seems less important to you. You don't want to let them down by glossing over what they see as a big moment they've been looking forward to, but at the same time, it sounds like the reveal isn't that big of a deal in terms of the overall plot. As far as rewriting goes, I guess you could reread that scene and maybe revise it to make it more dramatic, but only if you want to and feel it would fit with the rest of the chapter. You never know what little things readers are going to fixate on.
I'm with you on the romance thing. I write it, but I'm not sure I write it well. Sometimes my readers see things differently than I do when it comes to my characters and their relationships, and that's okay, but it does make me question if I'm totally off-base with how I'm writing them.
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Wow! That's annoying! I hope it wasn't the first comment you got on it. All the anticipation and then when are you changing up your site? LOL Ugh!
I think I mentioned earlier that to get more readers I made this story Roman and Gerri but to avoid having to write them together I had Roman kidnapped in the first chapter, and he's been kidnapped ever since. To figure out a way to have him be abducted in chapter one, I had them together at his house and they were getting ready for a party. To make it believable that someone as protected as Roman could be abducted I decided that Gerri didn't want anyone to know about them. That's why they couldn't arrive together, so he lent her his driver/bodyguard to drive her over first and then he'd go over later. And that was the end of that. Well, everyone took that little tidbit of info about them hiding their relationship and turned it into the main plot point of the story. My first few comments were about what happened but then I hope Gerri tells them about their relationship soon. As if during all this stuff happening, she'd be like oh by the way I am your brother's Babygirl. LOL So I guess I should've seen this coming. At the very end of this chapter Shiv asks Gerri if something is going on with her and Roman. Yikes!
I think I may revise a bit. It's not important to me, but at the moment it's something like, "Oh yes, Roman and I are a couple." And Shiv saying, "Cool, I thought so....so anyway..." lol Maybe I'll make her reaction more visceral or something.
Last night, I did get a really long and nice comment and she actually did mention everything that happened in the chapter. Of course, it ended with her saying, I can't wait to see what Shiv has to say.
As for romance, I know I write it poorly. I am not a romantic person in real life. I hate Valentine's Day. I hated it more when I was in a relationship then I do now that I'm single. So, I can't imagine I'm any better writing the stuff. But like you said, it's funny because readers do see things differently for me as well.
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Thankfully, I don't think it was the first or last comment on that chapter. But yes, very annoying! And normally I would be happy to discuss my site layout, but not in that context LOL.
Ah, so Roman and Gerri's secret relationship was more of a plot device than an important part of the plot. I guess the readers can't see inside your head to know that that was your reasoning, but it's funny what seemingly small things they fixate on. But sometimes those little plot devices end up being bigger parts of the story. In A Heart That Isn't Mine, I had to have Nick separated from Lauren at the beginning of the story to make the situation I put him in more believable, so I came up with the back story that she'd had a stillborn baby between Odin and Saoirse, and the grief was what tore them apart. (This was 2018, before Saoirse was born and before Lauren miscarried the baby girl.) The stillbirth was only a plot device, but once I committed to that back story, it became a part of the plot that affected Nick throughout the story. If I were writing it now, I would probably just have Lauren leave him over the rape allegations instead and skip the dead baby subplot because that made an already dark story even more depressing, but I didn't think of that then. Anyway, I guess my point is that you should go with whatever feels most realistic, even if that means turning something that was intended to be a small part of the story into a bigger part. But if it seems more realistic for Shiv's reaction to not be a big deal, stick with that! You know the characters better than I do, and you can always explain your reasoning in an author's note if you want to justify it to your readers.
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Thanks for the advice. I decided to keep Shiv's reaction the same but made a bit more dialogue around it and added a Gerri and Roman flashback and then I added Kendall into the mix and made him have a more negative reaction, blaming Gerri for everything that happened by using Roman's bodyguard instead of leaving him there. I feel much better about the chapter now. We'll see what people think. Since it's such a built up in my mind chapter now, I most likely will not get any feedback one way or the other. Because isn't that the way? LOL
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LOL Yup, that seems to be how it goes, unfortunately. I'm glad you're feeling good about the chapter and hope it does get a good reaction!
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When you posted your stories on AO3, did you post all of them or just certain ones? I've posted just about everything I've written post-Broken/BMS. None of the stuff I wrote before Broken is worth posting because it's so immature and poorly-written compared to the stuff I wrote as an adult. When I started posting that stuff, I had just finished rereading most of it for a series of retrospective blogs I did leading up to my site's anniversary in 2020, so I took that opportunity to fix all the typos I'd found and flagged while doing that. It took a long time, but it was worth it to me, and I did most of that during the pandemic when I had plenty of time. But I never got around to posting Broken and BMS. I told myself that would be a summer project one of these years, but I keep going back and forth on whether I want to or not.
Being the oldest stories I would even consider posting on AO3, they would need the most editing - and I'm talking purely fixing typos and grammar errors, not editing any of the actual content. They're also incredibly long, which makes the thought of editing, posting, and backdating that many chapters overwhelming. And while both stories will always have a special place in my heart, they are definitely a product of the time they were written and the age I was when I wrote them, and there are some parts that are pure cringe. I'm not sure they would even find an audience on AO3.
That being said, even though those two stories aren't representative of my best writing anymore, I still think of them as my magnum opus. I doubt I'll ever be as obsessed with one of my own stories as I was with those two. Broken used to be (and may still be?) the story I'm best known for, so it seems a shame not to have it attached to my pen name on the most popular fanfic archive. And BMS would be the longest BSB fic posted there, which, I admit, I would take pride in. I will probably never write another novel that long. So there's a part of me that does want to post them, even though I'm dreading the amount of work and cringing it would involve LOL. Anyway, that's one thing on my mind when it comes to fanfic.
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I didn't post all of my stuff on there. Only the ones that I felt were worth the time. After posting them, there were some chapters of stories that posted with no problem but then there were a lot of chapters of stories that posted with weird symbols where I guess the coding was different from AC to AO3. Every single comma, apostrophe and quotation mark was messed up. I fixed a lot, and it took me forever and honestly, it wasn't worth it. After posting all the stuff I did on AO3, barely anyone read them. If I go back and look at my stats, the number of hits or kudos or comments are so small it was hardly worth all the effort. So, my thinking, and this is probably true for you too, the people who still read BSB fiction have most likely already read our most popular stories. I have had a few random people suddenly give me kudos for my older stuff but that by far is a rarity. Some most likely only clicked on them only to realize it was me since my AO3 penname is different than Mare. I wouldn't waste my time and energy moving your stuff over there unless you know there are newbies who are maybe reading what you're posting now who might have never crossed paths with either of those stories. Maybe you can ask in an author's note at the end of the next chapter you post, or you can always include a link to those stories on your actual site.
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Yes, I remember that issue with the formatting! So annoying! I think it was an issue with something Microsoft Word does to certain punctuation marks that didn't translate when copy/pasting into AO3. The weird marks even started showing up in stories on AC, too. I think I went back through my Google Docs and used find/replace to fix all those punctuation marks. When I post stuff on my site and AO3, I paste it in as plain text to get rid of any formatting that may be glitchy, but then I have go back through and re-do any italics or other formatting I want. That's what makes it so time-consuming and why I'm reluctant to take the time to post all 350+ chapters of Broken/BMS.
I think you're right, though. People who have been reading BSB fic long enough have probably already come across those stories and read them if they wanted to. People who are newer to the fandom may not have, but I'm not sure I would want Broken to be someone's introduction to my writing because it's not representative of my writing style anymore. If I eventually post it on AO3, it will include an author's note that explains that. But even if I don't, I do have a link to my site on my author bio on AO3, so people can still find them that way.
I've had the same experience with my older work not getting as much engagement as the stories I've actually posted on AO3 as I wrote them. It makes sense, considering some people there have probably already read them. Also, I backdate them to their original post date after I finish posting them, so they would only be found by searching tags or looking at my works page.
What I'll probably do is hold off on posting Broken and BMS until I see how long my current story ends up. The way it's going, I might be able to take the top spot on word count without BMS LOL. It's already longer than Broken and will almost certainly be longer than Song for the Undead, which would make it my second-longest novel.
Anyway, thanks for your input!
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Where do you see the stats where it would say what the longest fic in the BSB fandom etc. is or does it show when you sort by? I'm back on my computer for the third time today which is a lot for me. Because of making changes to that chapter I talked about, I've fallen behind. I still need to edit it. I am posting that one tomorrow.
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You can sort by word count once you're within a certain fandom or tag. I'm not obsessed with stats, but I am a numbers person, so I like to have an idea of where my works stand within the fandom for different stats.
I didn't expect you to reply this fast, so I can tell you've been on the computer more than usual. I hope your writing/editing went well. I probably should have updated yesterday because I have a chapter finished, but I haven't edited it yet and kinda want to hang on to it until I see how the next chapter turns out. I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants now that I've run out of buffer chapters and am basically posting as I write, even though I typically wait at least a week to post. But I've been so slow lately that I haven't been able to build a buffer back up.
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I'll have to try and play around with that. I went on earlier to search by stories most recently updated in the Succession fandom but mine didn't show up. Not even for all the way towards the beginning of June, so not sure what's up with that. I probably did something wrong. That site vexes me.
My writing did go well. Like you, I like to stay at least one chapter ahead of a story, so I was able to write next week's chapter which is the last one that I have really had stuck in my head. Now I'm in the same place you are. I'm not sure how much more I have to say but my brain will not let me end on an odd numbered chapter so that means I'll have to come up with at least one more than anticipated. My other one I've been writing; I don't necessarily write ahead on it. I have a method to my madness giving Tues - Thurs that fic and Friday through Monday this one. So, with the other one, if I don't have a chapter ready to post on Thursday, then I'll skip the week and post it the next week. The one I work a chapter ahead; I always post it on Mondays. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so schedule oriented. LOL
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Sometimes AO3 takes a few minutes to reflect recent updates, so if you sorted immediately after posting your chapter, your story may not have showed up at the top. But if you waited longer or had still updated it in June, it should have showed up among the most recent stories. Not sure why it wouldn't have otherwise, unless you had something else checked under the tag options to filter it out when you searched? Or it could just be a glitch.
I'm glad your writing went well! I hear you with the ending on an odd number thing. I wouldn't like that either, unless it was a multiple of 5. 25 chapters is perfect. 21 or 29 is unacceptable. I could live with 23 or 27 if I had to, but it's not ideal.
A schedule seems like a good way to balance the two stories. I know readers appreciate a predictable update schedule, too. For a while, I was updating every Saturday, until I ran out of chapters. Now it's whenever I have an update ready, but I still typically wait until Saturday. I don't think I could handle more than one ongoing story anymore. I haven't even finished the one-shot I started for April Fool's Day. I'm okay with having something like 00Carter around as a side project that I write on once in a blue moon, but it would be hard for me to balance more than one multi-chapter fic that readers expect regular updates on without having finished the whole thing first. Do you ever find it difficult to stick to your writing schedule? If you feel more inspired to work on the Friday-Monday fic on a Wednesday, do you let yourself, or do you stick with the Tuesday-Thursday fic?
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I have a spreadsheet where I keep a list of all the stories I've written and their word count so I can keep track of how many stories and words I've written. (Like I said, I'm a numbers nerd LOL.) The discussion about ending on an odd-numbered chapter inspired me to add a column for number of chapters. I haven't always been that way with wanting to end on a friendly number (ideally, a multiple of 5 or 10, but if they have to land somewhere in between, even numbers are better than odd); my early stories are all over the place. BMS is the first story I remember making a conscious effort to end on a nice, round number, which is why it has 200 chapters, plus an epilogue, plus a post-epilogue, instead of a Chapter 201 and 202 LOL. But ever since then, almost all of my multi-chapter fics have ended on good numbers: 10, 15, 25, 50, 80, 90, 120...
I also added a column to average the word count per chapter, and it was funny to see how that has gone up over the years. For the first couple years I wrote, I was averaging under 1000 words per chapter. Then I was in the 2-3k range for quite a while. In the last 5 years, though, my average has crept up from around 3k to 5.5k for my current story. This is why I can't maintain weekly updates anymore LOL; my chapters are too long and typically take longer than a week to finish, unless I'm really inspired and have a couple good writing days in a row.
Have you noticed any change in your typical chapter length since you came back from your hiatus?
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Sometimes AO3 takes a few minutes to reflect recent updates, so if you sorted immediately after posting your chapter, your story may not have showed up at the top. But if you waited longer or had still updated it in June, it should have showed up among the most recent stories. Not sure why it wouldn't have otherwise, unless you had something else checked under the tag options to filter it out when you searched? Or it could just be a glitch.
I'm glad your writing went well! I hear you with the ending on an odd number thing. I wouldn't like that either, unless it was a multiple of 5. 25 chapters is perfect. 21 or 29 is unacceptable. I could live with 23 or 27 if I had to, but it's not ideal.
A schedule seems like a good way to balance the two stories. I know readers appreciate a predictable update schedule, too. For a while, I was updating every Saturday, until I ran out of chapters. Now it's whenever I have an update ready, but I still typically wait until Saturday. I don't think I could handle more than one ongoing story anymore. I haven't even finished the one-shot I started for April Fool's Day. I'm okay with having something like 00Carter around as a side project that I write on once in a blue moon, but it would be hard for me to balance more than one multi-chapter fic that readers expect regular updates on without having finished the whole thing first. Do you ever find it difficult to stick to your writing schedule? If you feel more inspired to work on the Friday-Monday fic on a Wednesday, do you let yourself, or do you stick with the Tuesday-Thursday fic?
I put in Succession as the fandom and then Roman Roy as the character and pressed search and things showed up by the date they were updated but mine weren't there. I just did it again now. Who knows?
I agree about the fives too. I have stopped at chapter 25 before, that seemed to be fine. The last one I actually finished I stopped at chapter 20 but then I included the epilogue at the end of the chapter just so I wouldn't end on chapter 21 LOL
The schedule does help since for some reason, I always find myself working on two stories at once. I think that's what I did when I first started writing fanfic forever ago. The ideas just all came flooding out. I'm pretty sure this is the last time I'm doing that. After my Monday one is done, I'm just going to work on the Thursday one. Now that it's summer, the time I would spend in here on the computer, I'll be more likely to want to go read my book outside on the rocking chair. But to answer your question, I haven't done that yet, but I might today for the first time. Write more on the one I just updated yesterday while I have a thought about how to continue in my head. Not too much more, but at least a starting point. I very rarely will do that though. Normally today would be back to the Thursday story especially since I never write ahead on that one, but I told everyone in my AN at the end of last week's update that I wouldn't be updating it this week so I feel like I can take my time.
It's funny you mentioned your April Fool's fic because I was going to ask you if you did continue on that one or not.
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I have a spreadsheet where I keep a list of all the stories I've written and their word count so I can keep track of how many stories and words I've written. (Like I said, I'm a numbers nerd LOL.) The discussion about ending on an odd-numbered chapter inspired me to add a column for number of chapters. I haven't always been that way with wanting to end on a friendly number (ideally, a multiple of 5 or 10, but if they have to land somewhere in between, even numbers are better than odd); my early stories are all over the place. BMS is the first story I remember making a conscious effort to end on a nice, round number, which is why it has 200 chapters, plus an epilogue, plus a post-epilogue, instead of a Chapter 201 and 202 LOL. But ever since then, almost all of my multi-chapter fics have ended on good numbers: 10, 15, 25, 50, 80, 90, 120...
I also added a column to average the word count per chapter, and it was funny to see how that has gone up over the years. For the first couple years I wrote, I was averaging under 1000 words per chapter. Then I was in the 2-3k range for quite a while. In the last 5 years, though, my average has crept up from around 3k to 5.5k for my current story. This is why I can't maintain weekly updates anymore LOL; my chapters are too long and typically take longer than a week to finish, unless I'm really inspired and have a couple good writing days in a row.
Have you noticed any change in your typical chapter length since you came back from your hiatus?
I love you and your spreadsheets! You really are the queen of organization. I have never really kept track of my overall word count, but it's the chapters I watch. I have noticed I tend to write about 3,500 a chapter. Sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. My first chapters always tend to be longer than the rest but for the most part, I tend to gauge where to stop by the word count. I think that has always been a pretty consistent thing for me even in the before time. With the exception of the first few stories, I wrote. Mizpah was all over the place LOL i do think the overall count was less though. I might have considered stopping after 2,000 words or so. Now I feel like that's not enough to truly get out what I want to say.
It's so funny, because when it comes to books, I generally set a goal of 100 pages a day and sometimes I surpass that, but when it comes to reading on the computer, I feel like 3,500 is my maximum. The few Succession stories I've tried, the one shots were 5,000 plus words and I didn't get through them and because they were one shots, they were harder to pick up where you left off. This one person wrote a one shot that was well over 10,000! It should have been broken into chapters. The way it was set up, it would have been really easy to do that. I'm not sure why she chose to keep it one length. It was good, but I stopped and started so many times, I lost the plot. I think this is another reason why I don't use my Kindle. Although, at least with that, you can bookmark where you left off.
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I put in Succession as the fandom and then Roman Roy as the character and pressed search and things showed up by the date they were updated but mine weren't there. I just did it again now. Who knows?
Sounds like you're using the Search Works feature? I tried it that way and was able to find The Invisible Child on the first page of results, but only if I set the Sort By to sort by date updated. When I sorted by Best Match, which is the default, I didn't see it on the first page, even though the other stories displayed there were updated in June. I have no idea how it determines the order for Best Match since all of your stories are clearly Succession fics starring Roman Roy.
What I do to filter or sort the fics for a certain fandom is go straight to that fandom's category through the Fandoms menu at the top of the page (I have BSB's category as my bookmark to AO3), then use the dropdown menu on the Sort and Filter box on the right side of the screen to sort them by whatever stat I want. Here's the Succession category page: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Succession%20(TV%202018)/works It sorts by date updated by default, so I can see The Invisible Child on the first page. There's no right or wrong way to use the site, but I find this way quicker and easier when I'm just trying to sort or filter for a common tag within a fandom.
I agree about the fives too. I have stopped at chapter 25 before, that seemed to be fine. The last one I actually finished I stopped at chapter 20 but then I included the epilogue at the end of the chapter just so I wouldn't end on chapter 21 LOL
LOL I totally get that with the epilogue. Whether I even have an epilogue or not is sometimes dependent on the number of the last chapter. If I get to Chapter 50 and still need one more chapter to wrap it up, that chapter becomes an epilogue, whereas if the second to last chapter is 49, the last chapter is just called Chapter 50 LOL. AO3 has turned me off to using prologues and epilogues because of the way it automatically labels the first chapter Chapter 1. If I post a separate prologue, then the numbering is off for the whole story, which I hate. So on my old stories that do have a prologue, I just posted the prologue and Chapter 1 as one big chapter.
The schedule does help since for some reason, I always find myself working on two stories at once. I think that's what I did when I first started writing fanfic forever ago. The ideas just all came flooding out. I'm pretty sure this is the last time I'm doing that. After my Monday one is done, I'm just going to work on the Thursday one. Now that it's summer, the time I would spend in here on the computer, I'll be more likely to want to go read my book outside on the rocking chair. But to answer your question, I haven't done that yet, but I might today for the first time. Write more on the one I just updated yesterday while I have a thought about how to continue in my head. Not too much more, but at least a starting point. I very rarely will do that though. Normally today would be back to the Thursday story especially since I never write ahead on that one, but I told everyone in my AN at the end of last week's update that I wouldn't be updating it this week so I feel like I can take my time.
It's nice to see you so inspired again! I bet coming back after all these years and writing for a new fandom does feel a lot like the first time again. My writing slowed down a lot while I was getting my master's, and after I finally finished the novel I had been working on that whole time, Sick as My Secrets, I was in a slump for about a year and a half where I hardly posted anything because I couldn't focus on any one particular project long enough to make enough progress on it to post. I had all these ideas and stories started but couldn't seem to commit to any of them. But once I finally got going on one, I've been able to gradually finish most of them, one by one. But I've realized I do best when I stick with one project at a time. I'm slow enough as it is without getting distracted by other stories LOL.
It's funny you mentioned your April Fool's fic because I was going to ask you if you did continue on that one or not.
I haven't worked on it since April! Whoops. I am fully planning to finish it at some point this summer, but I haven't been the most productive on The World Will Be Waiting lately, so I'm trying to get that one in a good place first before I take a couple days to hopefully finish the one-shot. Even one-shots take me forever to write anymore!
It's funny, though - that April Fool's story has way more hits than any of my other one-shots and even some of my novels, just because of its title and cringey smut tags LOL. I wish I actually enjoyed writing smutty Frick/Frack slash because clearly, that's what people on AO3 want to read! I thought my Nowie slash might do better there, but nope, no one cares about Nowie slash. If I ever write another slash, it needs to be about Nick and Brian. Which I wouldn't be opposed to someday, with the right idea, but I just can't do the porn without a plot. My attempts at porn WITH a plot are cringey enough LOL.
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I love you and your spreadsheets! You really are the queen of organization. I have never really kept track of my overall word count, but it's the chapters I watch. I have noticed I tend to write about 3,500 a chapter. Sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. My first chapters always tend to be longer than the rest but for the most part, I tend to gauge where to stop by the word count. I think that has always been a pretty consistent thing for me even in the before time. With the exception of the first few stories, I wrote. Mizpah was all over the place LOL i do think the overall count was less though. I might have considered stopping after 2,000 words or so. Now I feel like that's not enough to truly get out what I want to say.
It's so funny, because when it comes to books, I generally set a goal of 100 pages a day and sometimes I surpass that, but when it comes to reading on the computer, I feel like 3,500 is my maximum. The few Succession stories I've tried, the one shots were 5,000 plus words and I didn't get through them and because they were one shots, they were harder to pick up where you left off. This one person wrote a one shot that was well over 10,000! It should have been broken into chapters. The way it was set up, it would have been really easy to do that. I'm not sure why she chose to keep it one length. It was good, but I stopped and started so many times, I lost the plot. I think this is another reason why I don't use my Kindle. Although, at least with that, you can bookmark where you left off.
3500 is a good length! I try to aim for somewhere in the 2-5k range, but for whatever reason, my chapters have been longer in this story. Many of them are one long scene, too, so it's not like I'm just combining too many scenes that could be split across multiple chapters. I'm not sure if it's the story itself or the way I've been writing it. I have literally worked on this story every day since I started it 2 years ago, and while I've had plenty of good writing days where I write over 1000 words in a day, most days I just add 100 or so words at a time. I think working on it a little bit each day like that makes it harder to see the forest for the trees. I end up with really detailed scenes and long conversations that sometimes veer off-track from where I thought the chapter was going. And because I'm being self-indulgent and plantsing this one, I just let it happen and see where it takes me... but it's led to chapters and the story as a whole being longer than I anticipated.
I don't read enough fanfic anymore to even know how long is too long for me in terms of word count. As long as something holds my attention, I don't mind reading longer one-shots or chapters, but I agree that shorter is probably better because it makes it easier for people to take a break and find their place again if they need to.
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We were talking about movie scores on Twitter, so I thought I'd bring that conversation here, since that's my typical writing music. If I remember correctly, you don't usually listen to music while you write, right, Mare? Is that still true?
I go through phases as far as what I listen to (or don't listen to) while I'm writing, but in general, I find that instrumental music helps me focus. I've been firmly back on the music kick for my past couple stories. I've found a few YouTube channels that have ambient music from movies set to pretty backgrounds or videos. My favorite is Ambient Worlds because their videos are really pretty and an hour or more long, so I can put them on my TV for background ambience when I write in my living room. My other favorite is The Ambient Score, which has shorter videos that are typically around 15-30 minutes.
It's been fun discovering good music from movies I haven't seen. I really love the score from The Last of the Mohicans. I've never watched the movie, but I kept coming back to the music from it while writing My Brother's Keeper. I listened to that and "Arrival of the Birds," which was used in The Theory of Everything, a lot. How to Train Your Dragon also has a really good score. One day, I clicked on a video of music from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and as I was listening, I was like, "This is just an instrumental version of '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' by Bryan Adams." That was when I learned that that song was from that movie. Never knew!
My nerdiest new music discovery of the past year or so has been this playlist of medieval renditions of Star Wars music: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9PLUrw0CbcSx6jZ5sO1W8wY_P0QsiVkb&si=h8FF_MlZrOR28b5M Apparently, there is this whole genre of music called "bardcore" that does medieval-sounding covers of pop songs. It's pretty great! Might be some fun music for your workouts, cooking, and cleaning!
Today I've been on a James Newton Howard kick. I love a lot of his scores, especially The Village, Lady in the Water, and King Kong. He's one of my go-tos when I can't decide what to listen to.
Do you have any recommendation s for me? I tend to like pretty, sad-sounding music when I'm writing, but sometimes I go the opposite direction and listen to more epic, action-packed stuff like Pirates of the Caribbean and any John Williams score just because it's good.
I hope you don't mind all my posts today! I'm clearly in summer mode and having the kind of week where I'm glued to my computer. But I've been doing more writing than playing The Sims, so that's progress!
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Thank you for the AO3 info. I did what you mentioned, and I was able to find my work.
I'm not sure if I'd still be able to write if I were still working. I had taken so much time off from writing that if I was actually still teaching and decided to make my way back, I'm sure I'd be going at a much slower pace, if any at all. It makes sense you really slowed down when you were going for your masters. With all the extra work.
I love that people clicked on your story based on the tags you used. Some of those tags are just...yikes! in general. Let alone that people really use them for real stories. LOL
I don't think I could do the little bit each day way of writing, because of my awful memory. I'd most likely just start repeating myself and the particular way I write, you would probably be able to tell that's what I was doing. I've never been a very good stop and go writer.
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We were talking about movie scores on Twitter, so I thought I'd bring that conversation here, since that's my typical writing music. If I remember correctly, you don't usually listen to music while you write, right, Mare? Is that still true?
I go through phases as far as what I listen to (or don't listen to) while I'm writing, but in general, I find that instrumental music helps me focus. I've been firmly back on the music kick for my past couple stories. I've found a few YouTube channels that have ambient music from movies set to pretty backgrounds or videos. My favorite is Ambient Worlds because their videos are really pretty and an hour or more long, so I can put them on my TV for background ambience when I write in my living room. My other favorite is The Ambient Score, which has shorter videos that are typically around 15-30 minutes.
It's been fun discovering good music from movies I haven't seen. I really love the score from The Last of the Mohicans. I've never watched the movie, but I kept coming back to the music from it while writing My Brother's Keeper. I listened to that and "Arrival of the Birds," which was used in The Theory of Everything, a lot. How to Train Your Dragon also has a really good score. One day, I clicked on a video of music from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and as I was listening, I was like, "This is just an instrumental version of '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' by Bryan Adams." That was when I learned that that song was from that movie. Never knew!
My nerdiest new music discovery of the past year or so has been this playlist of medieval renditions of Star Wars music: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9PLUrw0CbcSx6jZ5sO1W8wY_P0QsiVkb&si=h8FF_MlZrOR28b5M Apparently, there is this whole genre of music called "bardcore" that does medieval-sounding covers of pop songs. It's pretty great! Might be some fun music for your workouts, cooking, and cleaning!
Today I've been on a James Newton Howard kick. I love a lot of his scores, especially The Village, Lady in the Water, and King Kong. He's one of my go-tos when I can't decide what to listen to.
Do you have any recommendation s for me? I tend to like pretty, sad-sounding music when I'm writing, but sometimes I go the opposite direction and listen to more epic, action-packed stuff like Pirates of the Caribbean and any John Williams score just because it's good.
I hope you don't mind all my posts today! I'm clearly in summer mode and having the kind of week where I'm glued to my computer. But I've been doing more writing than playing The Sims, so that's progress!
Yup, still need complete quiet when I write. If the TV is on in the other room, I have to shut it off or close the door. If I were to listen to music, I'd be completely distracted and just end up listening to the music and conduct along. It's a musician thing. I don't think any of us can just listen to an instrumental piece without conducting it, especially if your bands have played them and with a lot of those pieces they have. LOL
I tend to enjoy TV scores more than movie although my go to movie score guy without a doubt is Danny Elfman. I can listen to his music all the time. The Braveheart soundtrack is great as well. Don't recall who that was though. When I want to feel sad it's, John Williams score to Schindler's list. The main theme music in particular.
As far as TV. Can't go wrong with Ramin Djawadi - he did the music for game of Thrones. Bear McCready, the Battle Star Galactica and See soundtracks are great. Nicholas Brittel who scored all of Succession, and Andor, which is another great score.
A great sad sounding track Langsam - we gave it a go. Nicholas Britell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkSNb2iVyXI
There's also Andante Risoluto -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2l-GKWBbtw
okay now I'm going down the rabbit hole, so I need to stop trying to find all these soundtracks and write. LOL
I love when you post a lot! Keep it coming. I have to say I'm back because I didn't write a single word this morning. LOL
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Thank you for the AO3 info. I did what you mentioned, and I was able to find my work.
I'm not sure if I'd still be able to write if I were still working. I had taken so much time off from writing that if I was actually still teaching and decided to make my way back, I'm sure I'd be going at a much slower pace, if any at all. It makes sense you really slowed down when you were going for your masters. With all the extra work.
I love that people clicked on your story based on the tags you used. Some of those tags are just...yikes! in general. Let alone that people really use them for real stories. LOL
I don't think I could do the little bit each day way of writing, because of my awful memory. I'd most likely just start repeating myself and the particular way I write, you would probably be able to tell that's what I was doing. I've never been a very good stop and go writer.
It's definitely harder to write when I'm working full time. It was almost impossible when I had homework to do for my master's classes on top of teaching, so I really only had time to devote to fanfic on my breaks and over the summer.
It has helped me to get into the routine of writing in the morning instead of trying to do it in the evening after I get off work because I'm usually too exhausted. But working on it a little bit every day at least keeps me invested and makes it easier to get started on weekends when I have more time. It does sometimes lead to me accidentally repeating myself though LOL. If it's within the same chapter, I usually catch it when I'm rereading and revising, but I've also started using the search tool on my site to look up words and phrases that I might have used in previous chapters of the same story to see how many similar discussions the characters have already on whatever topic LOL.
Yeah, some of those tags... yikes is right! I took them all from existing tags on other people's stories and laughed the whole time I was adding them all. I can't imagine trying to write about some of that stuff, even as a joke, let alone seriously. Maybe it's easier when it's about purely fictional characters, but that may make it even funnier, especially when you consider some of the media people write fanfic for.
That made me think of another question: Do you find it easier to torture fictional characters than the Backstreet Boys? I know you never wanted to kill a BSB in a fic, but would you kill a Succession character? Just wondering if your mindset on that kind of stuff has changed now that you're not writing RPF.
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What you said about wanting to conduct the music makes sense! I didn't think about that, but I can see how that would be distracting. I can't usually listen to music with lyrics for the same reason; I tend to sing along and get distracted. If I'm already in the zone and really inspired, then sometimes it's fine, but that's not usually the case.
Thanks for the music recommendation s! I like all the composers you named. Braveheart is one of my all-time favorite scores! That was by James Horner, who is probably my favorite composer. He also did Titanic and Avatar, which has a beautiful score as well. Schindler's List is on my writing playlist too, as is music from Game of Thrones. I haven't watched or heard the music from Battlestar Galactica, but Bear McCreary also did the music for The Walking Dead, which was also great.
I like the piano music from Succession! I enjoyed both the ones you linked. It's interesting listening to music from something I haven't watched because I don't associate it with a specific scene like you probably do. In some ways that's better for writing because I can make it fit whatever situation I'm writing about, but I always wonder how it was used originally.
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I am always afraid I'm repeating myself. Halfway through my last chapter, I had written a flashback about the first time they called themselves a couple and I had to stop because I thought I vaguely remembered coming up with a flashback about how they became a couple earlier in the story and to make matters worse, it wasn't even the same scenario. I made two different stories about the first time they dated. LOL I'm glad I caught that.
When I edit, I find myself using a lot of the same words for no reason. I'm a real 'though' culprit. I must delete about 5 of those per chapter. I put them in everywhere. I also tend to use way too many hes in a paragraph. One thing I have changed from when I used to write BSB to now, with the exception of my very first story, all my other ones have been in third person. In BSB I used to always write in first person and only occasionally use third. Because of that, sometimes my descriptors are lacking. He is the worst. I find myself coming up with such stupid things to say. "The well-mannered kidnapper said," being my favorite.
Torturing characters is much easier than doing it to real life people. I don't feel as guilty, especially when I go into their emotional states and family troubles. I mean that's what the show is all about so it's fine to talk about Ken having suicidal tendencies or Roman having an eating disorder. But saying those things about Nick was a little harder because he was a train wreck in real life. About killing. I'm still not sure if I would kill one of them off. It wouldn't be an ethical thing for me though, just doesn't seem like something I'd want to do, for now at least.
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Oh, yeah...singing as well. I would totally sing along. I forgot to mention when I replied to your earlier post, that I have listened to a lot of those bard core things. I used to use them in my classroom when talking about arranging and how you can change the genre of a song while still keeping the melody and words.
I'm not really familiar with James Newton Howard. I'll have to listen to him. I think I've told you before that I never watched The Walking Dead, but I would sometimes just watch until the theme song played then change the channel. Lol Apparently Bear does a lot of video game soundtracks too. I wasn't aware of that. That's a whole other beast.
Yes, those two songs are from the final season. I think it has the best music then the other three. I completely relate them to what happened in the show. The We Gave it A Go I would not have much cared about because it was a Tom and Shiv scene, but the music had me balling. And the other one was from the very final scene of the series. When it stops the show ends.
I decided to come back before bed to answer these. I did manage to write at least a half a page today so yay me!
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I am always afraid I'm repeating myself. Halfway through my last chapter, I had written a flashback about the first time they called themselves a couple and I had to stop because I thought I vaguely remembered coming up with a flashback about how they became a couple earlier in the story and to make matters worse, it wasn't even the same scenario. I made two different stories about the first time they dated. LOL I'm glad I caught that.
When I edit, I find myself using a lot of the same words for no reason. I'm a real 'though' culprit. I must delete about 5 of those per chapter. I put them in everywhere. I also tend to use way too many hes in a paragraph. One thing I have changed from when I used to write BSB to now, with the exception of my very first story, all my other ones have been in third person. In BSB I used to always write in first person and only occasionally use third. Because of that, sometimes my descriptors are lacking. He is the worst. I find myself coming up with such stupid things to say. "The well-mannered kidnapper said," being my favorite.
Torturing characters is much easier than doing it to real life people. I don't feel as guilty, especially when I go into their emotional states and family troubles. I mean that's what the show is all about so it's fine to talk about Ken having suicidal tendencies or Roman having an eating disorder. But saying those things about Nick was a little harder because he was a train wreck in real life. About killing. I'm still not sure if I would kill one of them off. It wouldn't be an ethical thing for me though, just doesn't seem like something I'd want to do, for now at least.
Sorry I didn't reply yesterday; I'm in Michigan visiting my sister. Heading home Sunday!
I'm glad you caught that before you posted and had two different flashbacks with two different version of how they became a couple LOL. I wonder if your readers would have noticed? I always worry about messing up details like that, especially in a long story where it gets hard to remember everything I've written. I've gotten better at keeping a list of character notes in my outline and updating it whenever I add something like that to the story so I can keep it consistent, but I still catch those inconsistencie s sometimes.
I've learned through Reddit that third person POV is heavily preferred over first person for fanfics, so that's probably a good thing that you switched. My current story is in first person because its predecessor was, but I'll probably go back to third person after this unless I have a good reason to write in first. I prefer first for slash stories because it cuts down on the overuse of male pronouns and makes things less confusing, but otherwise, I prefer third. I don't mind writing or reading first, though, as long as it's in past tense. I'm not a fan of present tense stories; I hope that trend goes away soon.
I'm not surprised to hear that torturing fictional characters is easier. I still struggle with that RPF guilt, although obviously not enough to make me stop LOL. It goes back to what we said before about seeing them differently as fanfic characters than we do as their real life selves. If I couldn't separate fiction from reality, I would not be able to write half the stuff I do.
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Oh, yeah...singing as well. I would totally sing along. I forgot to mention when I replied to your earlier post, that I have listened to a lot of those bard core things. I used to use them in my classroom when talking about arranging and how you can change the genre of a song while still keeping the melody and words.
I'm not really familiar with James Newton Howard. I'll have to listen to him. I think I've told you before that I never watched The Walking Dead, but I would sometimes just watch until the theme song played then change the channel. Lol Apparently Bear does a lot of video game soundtracks too. I wasn't aware of that. That's a whole other beast.
Yes, those two songs are from the final season. I think it has the best music then the other three. I completely relate them to what happened in the show. The We Gave it A Go I would not have much cared about because it was a Tom and Shiv scene, but the music had me balling. And the other one was from the very final scene of the series. When it stops the show ends.
I decided to come back before bed to answer these. I did manage to write at least a half a page today so yay me!
I bet the kids enjoyed listening to the bardcore songs. I think they're so fun!
James Newton Howard composed the music for The Hunger Games trilogy and most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies, among other things. He isn't as well-known as composers like John Williams and Danny Elfman, but I really enjoy a lot his scores. They make great writing music because they can create a mood without being distracting.
The Walking Dead does have a great theme song! I appreciate shows that still have theme songs and credit sequences. Game of Thrones is another really good one, so good that they've reused the same theme song for House of the Dragon.
You'll probably hear the Succession theme in the Olympics this year, unless Ilia Malinin changes his figure skating program before then. That was a great choice of music for him. I've gotten some good writing music from watching figure skating, especially in other Olympic years, so I'm looking forward to that!
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Sorry I didn't reply yesterday; I'm in Michigan visiting my sister. Heading home Sunday!
I'm glad you caught that before you posted and had two different flashbacks with two different version of how they became a couple LOL. I wonder if your readers would have noticed? I always worry about messing up details like that, especially in a long story where it gets hard to remember everything I've written. I've gotten better at keeping a list of character notes in my outline and updating it whenever I add something like that to the story so I can keep it consistent, but I still catch those inconsistencie s sometimes.
I've learned through Reddit that third person POV is heavily preferred over first person for fanfics, so that's probably a good thing that you switched. My current story is in first person because its predecessor was, but I'll probably go back to third person after this unless I have a good reason to write in first. I prefer first for slash stories because it cuts down on the overuse of male pronouns and makes things less confusing, but otherwise, I prefer third. I don't mind writing or reading first, though, as long as it's in past tense. I'm not a fan of present tense stories; I hope that trend goes away soon.
I'm not surprised to hear that torturing fictional characters is easier. I still struggle with that RPF guilt, although obviously not enough to make me stop LOL. It goes back to what we said before about seeing them differently as fanfic characters than we do as their real life selves. If I couldn't separate fiction from reality, I would not be able to write half the stuff I do.
Oh, fun! I hope you're having a great time.
I sometimes wonder about that too. If the readers catch all the inconsistencie s. Sometimes when I go reread an older chapter to remember something I'll wince because I notice oops the name of the store I used changed or I forgot he mentioned that already. No one's ever said anything.
I know when I read things, I never really notice. I'm reading a novel now that's a sequel to a story I read forever ago, and I really loved that novel but for the life of me, I can't place the main character of this one at all! I mean I know she was in the first one because I remember the description, but who she was and what she did, no clue! I even went back and checked the Goodreads summary and my own review and neither of them mention this person! I feel like how I do when someone tries to friend me on FB and we have a million friends in common and supposedly were in the same click but I have no clue who they are! Anway, maybe after a few chapters, I'll figure out who the main character is. I guess the good news is, you can read this sequel without having to have read the first book. LOL
Not to go off on a tangent, but this one girl named Leslie, who always comments on my posts and always talks about oh my god I remember when we went there! That was so much fun!!! And I STILL for the life of my have no idea who she is! I have messaged all of my high school friends and most of them are the same as me. It's like this person was a part of our group, which admittedly was big, but not one of us has a clue who she is!
I always prefer reading and writing in first person, but I know what you mean. It seems like the general consensus enjoys third person. Most of the things I read are third person, but sometimes there is too much emphasis on description and not enough dialogue and for me the dialogue is what moves a story along.
It is a good thing we can separate real from fiction. I try to do that with people too. Not to always judge them for certain things they say and try to separate that from other things I like about them. If I didn't do that, i'd hardly have any friends. Especially when it comes to politics! LOL
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I bet the kids enjoyed listening to the bardcore songs. I think they're so fun!
James Newton Howard composed the music for The Hunger Games trilogy and most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies, among other things. He isn't as well-known as composers like John Williams and Danny Elfman, but I really enjoy a lot his scores. They make great writing music because they can create a mood without being distracting.
The Walking Dead does have a great theme song! I appreciate shows that still have theme songs and credit sequences. Game of Thrones is another really good one, so good that they've reused the same theme song for House of the Dragon.
You'll probably hear the Succession theme in the Olympics this year, unless Ilia Malinin changes his figure skating program before then. That was a great choice of music for him. I've gotten some good writing music from watching figure skating, especially in other Olympic years, so I'm looking forward to that!
I enjoy finding out about new composers. I'll listen. I can already imagine what he sounds like based on the movies you mentioned.
Most of my favorite shows have had stand out theme songs. It's one of the things that always pulls me in. I am one of those annoying people that never ever skips the intro when given the chance. Sometimes that ends up being the best part of the episode. LOL Another killer theme song is The West Wing.
I have seen his program a lot. Kieran's wife posted it on Instagram. That's actually not the theme song though. It's more of a mashup of the background music. Including the Etude I posted earlier. I use the theme for my ring tone! I never answer my phone but I let it ring all the way through so I can hear the song! LOL Another classic!
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Oh, fun! I hope you're having a great time.
I sometimes wonder about that too. If the readers catch all the inconsistencie s. Sometimes when I go reread an older chapter to remember something I'll wince because I notice oops the name of the store I used changed or I forgot he mentioned that already. No one's ever said anything.
I know when I read things, I never really notice. I'm reading a novel now that's a sequel to a story I read forever ago, and I really loved that novel but for the life of me, I can't place the main character of this one at all! I mean I know she was in the first one because I remember the description, but who she was and what she did, no clue! I even went back and checked the Goodreads summary and my own review and neither of them mention this person! I feel like how I do when someone tries to friend me on FB and we have a million friends in common and supposedly were in the same click but I have no clue who they are! Anway, maybe after a few chapters, I'll figure out who the main character is. I guess the good news is, you can read this sequel without having to have read the first book. LOL
Not to go off on a tangent, but this one girl named Leslie, who always comments on my posts and always talks about oh my god I remember when we went there! That was so much fun!!! And I STILL for the life of my have no idea who she is! I have messaged all of my high school friends and most of them are the same as me. It's like this person was a part of our group, which admittedly was big, but not one of us has a clue who she is!
I always prefer reading and writing in first person, but I know what you mean. It seems like the general consensus enjoys third person. Most of the things I read are third person, but sometimes there is too much emphasis on description and not enough dialogue and for me the dialogue is what moves a story along.
It is a good thing we can separate real from fiction. I try to do that with people too. Not to always judge them for certain things they say and try to separate that from other things I like about them. If I didn't do that, i'd hardly have any friends. Especially when it comes to politics! LOL
Yup, it's been nice to see everybody!
Generally, I don't think most readers pay as much attention to the details of our stories as we do, but then there are those that are either very invested in the story or just have a good memory for details and will recall something or catch a mistake I wouldn't have expected them to. Since a lot of your readers seemed to care more about Roman and Gerri's relationship, I wonder if they would have noticed if you changed the back story of that.
I don't tend to notice or fixate on details like that unless it's something I've read multiple times or something about it was particularly memorable. I'm sure it's even harder to remember characters when you read as many books as you do. I watched the first episode of Season 2 of House of the Dragon earlier this week and had to pause and look up a character list to remind myself of the kids' names and who they belonged to because all their names are very similar, and I couldn't keep track. I probably should have rewatched Season 1 before I started Season 2 because it's been a while. I remembered the most important plot points but forgot some of the details like that.
That's funny about your "friend"(?) Leslie that no one quite remembers! I hope she really did go to high school with you and isn't just some creeper who's pretending to have known you. Do you have yearbooks you could look back at?
It was interesting to me to see such a strong preference for third person among fanfic readers because first person seems more popular for published fiction nowadays. What I've gathered is that there is a different expectation for fanfic because it's about familiar characters; readers want to see those characters' names repeated throughout the story and don't think writers should be writing from those characters POV unless that's how the original source media was written. Hunger Games fanfic written from Katniss's POV or Twilight fanfic written from Bella's might be fine, but they don't like Harry Potter fanfic written from Harry's POV because those books were originally in third person. I can kind of see the logic in that, even though it doesn't matter to me. I just choose the POV that seems like it will work best for the story I'm writing. First person works well for stories that focus on the emotional experience of just one or two main characters, whereas I prefer third person for stories with a lot of important characters. I agree with you that third person tends to be more descriptive, though, which can be a good or bad thing. I like description, but I also find myself skimming past paragraphs of description to get to the dialogue when I read - like you said, the dialogue is what moves the story along. I was more prone to writing in purple prose when I wrote in third person. I sometimes have a harder time maintaining a consistent tone when I write in first person, though. Sometimes it sounds like a real person telling a story, and sometimes it sounds too literary.
LOL Yes, that is a good point - you have to separate the art from the artist and the politics from the person. Otherwise, it would be hard to be friends with or a fan of anyone. If they're a good person otherwise, I can usually overlook major differences in opinion/preference on politics, sports teams, etc.
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I enjoy finding out about new composers. I'll listen. I can already imagine what he sounds like based on the movies you mentioned.
Most of my favorite shows have had stand out theme songs. It's one of the things that always pulls me in. I am one of those annoying people that never ever skips the intro when given the chance. Sometimes that ends up being the best part of the episode. LOL Another killer theme song is The West Wing.
I have seen his program a lot. Kieran's wife posted it on Instagram. That's actually not the theme song though. It's more of a mashup of the background music. Including the Etude I posted earlier. I use the theme for my ring tone! I never answer my phone but I let it ring all the way through so I can hear the song! LOL Another classic!
Here is a nice medley of James Newton Howard's music from M. Night Shyamalan's movies: https://youtu.be/EO-q-24cXEY?si=1XpTAALCU-RnCw3G The Village and Lady in the Water are two of my favorites of his scores.
It depends on the show, but there are some I never or rarely skip the intro for - Game of Thrones, Dexter, ER, and The Walking Dead, to name a few. Streaming has been good for show intros because they're not limited on time like network shows, and they can give the option to skip intros for those who find them annoying when they're binging a show.
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Yup, it's been nice to see everybody!
Generally, I don't think most readers pay as much attention to the details of our stories as we do, but then there are those that are either very invested in the story or just have a good memory for details and will recall something or catch a mistake I wouldn't have expected them to. Since a lot of your readers seemed to care more about Roman and Gerri's relationship, I wonder if they would have noticed if you changed the back story of that.
I don't tend to notice or fixate on details like that unless it's something I've read multiple times or something about it was particularly memorable. I'm sure it's even harder to remember characters when you read as many books as you do. I watched the first episode of Season 2 of House of the Dragon earlier this week and had to pause and look up a character list to remind myself of the kids' names and who they belonged to because all their names are very similar, and I couldn't keep track. I probably should have rewatched Season 1 before I started Season 2 because it's been a while. I remembered the most important plot points but forgot some of the details like that.
That's funny about your "friend"(?) Leslie that no one quite remembers! I hope she really did go to high school with you and isn't just some creeper who's pretending to have known you. Do you have yearbooks you could look back at?
It was interesting to me to see such a strong preference for third person among fanfic readers because first person seems more popular for published fiction nowadays. What I've gathered is that there is a different expectation for fanfic because it's about familiar characters; readers want to see those characters' names repeated throughout the story and don't think writers should be writing from those characters POV unless that's how the original source media was written. Hunger Games fanfic written from Katniss's POV or Twilight fanfic written from Bella's might be fine, but they don't like Harry Potter fanfic written from Harry's POV because those books were originally in third person. I can kind of see the logic in that, even though it doesn't matter to me. I just choose the POV that seems like it will work best for the story I'm writing. First person works well for stories that focus on the emotional experience of just one or two main characters, whereas I prefer third person for stories with a lot of important characters. I agree with you that third person tends to be more descriptive, though, which can be a good or bad thing. I like description, but I also find myself skimming past paragraphs of description to get to the dialogue when I read - like you said, the dialogue is what moves the story along. I was more prone to writing in purple prose when I wrote in third person. I sometimes have a harder time maintaining a consistent tone when I write in first person, though. Sometimes it sounds like a real person telling a story, and sometimes it sounds too literary.
LOL Yes, that is a good point - you have to separate the art from the artist and the politics from the person. Otherwise, it would be hard to be friends with or a fan of anyone. If they're a good person otherwise, I can usually overlook major differences in opinion/preference on politics, sports teams, etc.
I don't tend to pay attention to the small details either unless it's something that is repeated throughout. Like if they talk about so and so's auburn hair and use it a few times but then two chapters later they say that person has blonde hair. I notice things like that, but otherwise, it has to be pretty major for me to remember.
I have a heck of a time remembering plot lines from one season to the next, especially if it's been more than a summer we'd have to wait between seasons. Remember, back in the old days when we used to only have to wait three months for a new season which was on average 20 - 22 episodes long? Those were the days! I feel like as the wait time between seasons gets longer, the episode count gets shorter. Now it seems most of them are decreasing from 10 to 8. I know it's nice for the actors because they can work on multiple things now instead of being stuck to one series until it ends, but for the rest of us, it sucks! Like all this waiting for Stranger Things and it's only going to be 8 episodes long. It almost seems like a waste of time, unless they are the best episodes ever!
Leslie definitely did go to my high school. The best we can come up with is that maybe she was a friend of a friend and hung out with us occasionally. Another weird thing about her, is she wasn't involved in any of the arts. Not choir or band. Which is primarily where my click came from. :shrug: she's a mystery. At least she's really nice. LOL
What you said about the first person, third person thing does make a lot of sense. A lot of books now tend to mash up the two. Depending on the character, they either were told first person or third, which is kind of confusing, until you get the hang of reading like that. I've read quite a handful of books that have done that. My eyes tend to gloss over all the descriptive text to find the dialogue as well, unless the writing is so fluid it doesn't bother me.
I just tend to stay silent when people are being cancelled because I very rarely will refuse to watch or read something by somebody who ends up being a terrible person. I'm watching them be someone else, not them. Or reading their characters not an autobiography. Especially when it comes to the sports people, who by all rights many of them are not great people. LOL
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Here is a nice medley of James Newton Howard's music from M. Night Shyamalan's movies: https://youtu.be/EO-q-24cXEY?si=1XpTAALCU-RnCw3G The Village and Lady in the Water are two of my favorites of his scores.
It depends on the show, but there are some I never or rarely skip the intro for - Game of Thrones, Dexter, ER, and The Walking Dead, to name a few. Streaming has been good for show intros because they're not limited on time like network shows, and they can give the option to skip intros for those who find them annoying when they're binging a show.
Thanks! I will listen to that when I do my legs later!
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As much as I like being able to stream so many shows on demand, I do kinda miss the old days of network and cable TV - the 20-some episode seasons that ran from September to May with only three month in the summer to wait for the next season. It was just long enough to leave you hanging and give you that sense of anticipation but short enough that you could still remember what happened when the next season started. And it was nice when everyone at school or work watched the same shows on the same nights, so you could talk about it the next day. I like that more of the streaming services are releasing new episodes one at a time instead of dropping a whole season at once. Binge-watching shows can be fun, but there are so many now that it gets overwhelming trying to stay caught up with everything my friends are watching so I can participate in the conversations about various shows. I do have faith in Stranger Things to be worth the wait, and this next season may have 8 super long episodes like Season 4 did, but still... they take a ridiculously long time to finish a season, especially for a show with so many child actors that have rapidly outgrown their roles.
I don't mind when the POV changes from one character to another, but I'm not a fan of books that switch between first and third person. That is jarring to me. I guess I don't really get the point of writing it like that.
I'm the same way. I like what I like, regardless of the people who created it. I just don't care that much about most authors/musicians/actors/athletes on a personal level. BSB are the major exception, and it would take worse than voting for Trump or rape allegations to make me stop supporting them, let alone stop listening to their music.
Another movie score I really like is Transformers by Steve Jablonsky. The first movie was one of the dumbest movies I have ever wasted my money on watching in theaters, and I haven't bothered to watch any of the others, but they do have great music!
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Even when shows do stream entire seasons at one pop, I usually only watch one at a time. Sometimes I even try to do once a week, but it's harder to do that in the summer when there's nothing else on. I've only watched the first two episodes of The Boys so far, although I may watch another one today. I'm hoping the Stranger Things final season will be worth the wait. I'm also looking forward to the last season of The Umbrella Academy which I also loved but have been waiting forever for. It's kind of the same situation as Stranger Things but only with one of the characters. All the others were older, but this one was only a teenager who is supposed to be as old as all the others, but he doesn't age, which now should be interesting because when the series started, he was sixteen but between Covid and the strike, he's now 21 and looks it. LOL
I listened to the James Newton Howard link you shared. It wasn't the kind of music I was expecting. Because of the creepy factor of the movies, I was expecting more of a Philip Glass sound. These were really pretty but simple melodies. Thanks for sharing! I'll have to check out Steve Jablonsky too.
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Whether I binge or just watch one or two episodes a day depends on what time of year it is and what else I have going on. If my writing is going well or I'm on a Sims kick or something, I only watch TV while I take a break to eat. But if I have nowhere to be and nothing better to do, I can easily watch multiple episodes a day of a show I'm hooked on. I watched the whole first season of Stranger Things in a weekend. I will probably try to savor Season 5 more, knowing it's the last, but then I'll have to try harder to avoid spoilers. I'm almost caught up with The Boys; I have two more episodes in Season 3 to finish; and then I'll be ready to start Season 4.
Those simple but pretty melodies are what I like about James Newton Howard. I think that's what makes it good writing music, too. It's pleasing to the ear but not distracting. Last week, I found an 8-hour version of The Village score and listened to it on and off all day while I was writing without getting tired of it. His full scores have some creepier parts, but the pretty parts add so much emotional impact that I don't think M. Night Shyamalan's good movies would be nearly as good without them. That's true of most movie music, though.
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I never did get around to watching The Boys last night. I usually don't even put the TV on until after dinner. I like to watch Lester Holt and then I'll watch a show or two. Usually, my sister and I will watch something together or baseball is on. I spend most of my day alternating between writing and reading. I can't seem to watch more than two episodes in a row of anything, even Succession. I don't think my brain is wired to pay attention for that long. That's why I tend to struggle with movies. I've done better with watching them in one sitting, but for quite a while it would take me two sittings to get through one movie.
Same with music. I can't listen to music all day long. I kind of surprised myself with how little I actually listen to music now that I'm not teaching. I used to listen on the car rides on the way to and from school and obviously all day during school and then when I got home while I was making dinner. Now I only listen when I clean or exercise.
Movies would be nothing without the score. Especially true for thrillers and huge epics.
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My attention span for movies has decreased, too. I started Oppenheimer a couple weeks ago, and I don't think I even made it 30 minutes into the movie before I turned it off LOL. I haven't gone back to it. Maybe someday. I tend to prefer TV shows, too. I finished Season 3 of The Boys last night and started 4 today, so I'm almost caught up! Everyone who told me I would like that show was right; I really do!
I mostly listen to music when I'm driving, writing, or messing around on the computer. Sometimes cleaning, but usually I just have the TV on in the background while I'm doing housework or cooking. I used to listen to music while I was walking or mowing the lawn, but lately I've been listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos while I walk on the treadmill.
My project this week has been attempting to transfer my site to a new web host because my current one keeps jacking up their prices to renew my plan. I've only changed hosts once before when I moved from good old Yahoo/Geocities and redesigned my whole site with Wordpress back in 2012. It was terrifying then because I had no idea what I was doing. I thought it would be easier this time because everything I read made it sound like such a straightforwar d process - follow these simple steps, and your site should be up and running on the new server in no time! Yeah, no. I've been working on this for three days now and only just managed to get my site functioning and looking right on the new server tonight. I still have to point my domain name at the new server and hope that works the way it's supposed to. What a pain in the ass. It's probably not even worth it to have a personal fanfic site anymore with everyone reading on AO3, but I still take pride in maintaining it and wanna make it to 25 years next year!
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Hello everyone :)
Wow Julie, your site is 25 next year, that's quite an achievement.
Mare, I wish you had written an alternative ending to Merlin as that ending was the worst in TV history lol.
I'm not enjoying being back in work after a two week cruise. The cruise was really good apart from Tim picking up norovirus and being quite unwell for a couple of days. And it was hot lol. But what did I expect from a Mediterrean cruise in June. Thank god for aircon on the ship and the cabin.
I think I might have some fanfic reading to catch up on as had no internet on the ship and wasn't paying P&O's internet prices. It was actually nice to be away from social media on sea days, and just have a quick look and put a few photos on FB on port days (and check on family lol).
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I saw your post on Twitter about moving your site. I can't believe it's going to 25 years! That's amazing!! I was going to ask you about that. It sounds like a giant pain in the ass. I hope it transitioned smoothly. Everyone is hiking up prices for everything nowadays! That's why I'm kind of surprised that AC is still functioning. I thought by now, it would be gone. I'm glad it's still around but every day I click here thinking one day it's just not going to exist anymore.
I surprisingly got through Oppenheimer in two sittings. It was slow and didn't fully have my attention the entire time, but at one point, it did get interesting enough to pull me away from scrolling. I just watched The Iron Claw which I thought I would like because...brot hers. But it wasn't that great. Maybe with a better cast and a much better screenplay. Tonight, since there's no baseball and my sister's out of town, I am going to watch American Fiction, which is something I've been wanting to see for a while.
Because of the rain delay last night, I watched the third episode of The Boys. I love how they are just totally mocking MAGAs relentlessly. I mean the whole series has kind of alluded to them, but I think Erik Kripke was finally you know what? F them! Let's just totally go balls to the wall this year! You'll see what I mean. I plan on starting The Bear soon, but it still annoys me it's being called a comedy. My brain can't get around that fact. It's a great drama! But a so-so comedy.
I tried to get into podcasts, but for whatever reason, they don't seem to hold my attention either. Admittedly I listened to the old Bunny Ears podcast which was Macauley's just to see what he said about his family and Kieran and that's how I found out a lot of crap, but other than that, I've tried a ton but can never seem to get through them. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd swear I had ADHD lol
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Hello everyone :)
Wow Julie, your site is 25 next year, that's quite an achievement.
Mare, I wish you had written an alternative ending to Merlin as that ending was the worst in TV history lol.
I'm not enjoying being back in work after a two week cruise. The cruise was really good apart from Tim picking up norovirus and being quite unwell for a couple of days. And it was hot lol. But what did I expect from a Mediterrean cruise in June. Thank god for aircon on the ship and the cabin.
I think I might have some fanfic reading to catch up on as had no internet on the ship and wasn't paying P&O's internet prices. It was actually nice to be away from social media on sea days, and just have a quick look and put a few photos on FB on port days (and check on family lol).
Hi Steph! Your cruise seemed nice. Lots of beautiful places. I'm secretly scared of catching a stomach bug on the cruise. My immune system isn't that great and because of the buffets etc... hopefully not though. I bet it is hard going back to work after a nice vacation like that. Are you planning on cruising again?
Speaking of cruising
I'm still a little stressed about how I'm going to get around. I rented a scooter but I'm worried about getting into things, like the buffet and restaurants and shows with a scooter. The only other thing I have is a walker. I can't use just a cane anymore and my sister doesn't want to drag the wheelchair and I can understand that because I rented the scooter. our cabin won't be big enough to hold all my handicap equipment. I'm sure I'm not the first person who's had this problem. I'm hoping it will be easier than what I picture in my mind. I can't believe it's only two months away. I have been talking about this cruise forever! LOL
It'll be nice unplugging for at seas days. I am bringing two books with me because in my head, I can't picture what it would be like not being on my phone all day long.
I agree Steph, that Merlin ending was garbage! I'm still mad about it! It deserved so much better!
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Hello everyone :)
Wow Julie, your site is 25 next year, that's quite an achievement.
Mare, I wish you had written an alternative ending to Merlin as that ending was the worst in TV history lol.
I'm not enjoying being back in work after a two week cruise. The cruise was really good apart from Tim picking up norovirus and being quite unwell for a couple of days. And it was hot lol. But what did I expect from a Mediterrean cruise in June. Thank god for aircon on the ship and the cabin.
I think I might have some fanfic reading to catch up on as had no internet on the ship and wasn't paying P&O's internet prices. It was actually nice to be away from social media on sea days, and just have a quick look and put a few photos on FB on port days (and check on family lol).
Welcome back, Steph! It looks like the cruise was lovely! I enjoyed seeing your photos on FB. I bet it was hot, though, and that's too bad about Tim getting norovirus... no fun!! I hope you were able to avoid catching it, and I'm glad you had a good time otherwise. It's always so hard going back to work after a holiday!
I bet it was nice to have a break from social media. I go through phases, but most of the time, I'm too attached to my phone and computer. I don't usually post much, but I spend a lot of time scrolling LOL.
I haven't updated my site/story in a few weeks, partly because I've been trying to figure out this transfer thing, but I have been writing. I've finished two chapters and am well into a third, trying to build a buffer back up so I can get back to semi-regular updates. I am just so slow. I can't believe it will be 25 years next year either! Who would have ever thought?
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I saw your post on Twitter about moving your site. I can't believe it's going to 25 years! That's amazing!! I was going to ask you about that. It sounds like a giant pain in the ass. I hope it transitioned smoothly. Everyone is hiking up prices for everything nowadays! That's why I'm kind of surprised that AC is still functioning. I thought by now, it would be gone. I'm glad it's still around but every day I click here thinking one day it's just not going to exist anymore.
I surprisingly got through Oppenheimer in two sittings. It was slow and didn't fully have my attention the entire time, but at one point, it did get interesting enough to pull me away from scrolling. I just watched The Iron Claw which I thought I would like because...brot hers. But it wasn't that great. Maybe with a better cast and a much better screenplay. Tonight, since there's no baseball and my sister's out of town, I am going to watch American Fiction, which is something I've been wanting to see for a while.
Because of the rain delay last night, I watched the third episode of The Boys. I love how they are just totally mocking MAGAs relentlessly. I mean the whole series has kind of alluded to them, but I think Erik Kripke was finally you know what? F them! Let's just totally go balls to the wall this year! You'll see what I mean. I plan on starting The Bear soon, but it still annoys me it's being called a comedy. My brain can't get around that fact. It's a great drama! But a so-so comedy.
I tried to get into podcasts, but for whatever reason, they don't seem to hold my attention either. Admittedly I listened to the old Bunny Ears podcast which was Macauley's just to see what he said about his family and Kieran and that's how I found out a lot of crap, but other than that, I've tried a ton but can never seem to get through them. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd swear I had ADHD lol
It has been a huge pain in the ass! Everything I read made it sound so easy - just use a plugin to back up the site, download the backup file, reupload it on the new server, change a few settings, and voila! Unfortunately, every plugin I tried had the reuploading part behind a paywall or wouldn't work with a site as big as mine, so it became a huge hassle, trying to find something that would work. I ended up doing most of it manually, and I'm still not sure exactly what I did that finally worked to get everything transferred and showing up right. I tried it so many times that when I finally got into the back end on the new site, I had duplicates of a bunch of files, so I spent hours last night going through everything and deleting the duplicates. I also had to re-input all the settings for my layout by hand because that wouldn't transfer. If I'd known it was going to be that much of a headache, I might have just bit the bullet and paid the price like I have the last few times I've had to renew. Hopefully I can stay with this new host for awhile so I don't have to do this again for a long time LOL.
I'm surprised AC is still around, too! That means Ash is still paying for the domain and, I assume, some sort of hosting plan. Even if it was set to autopay, he would have to update his credit card info every few years when it expires. I'm glad he's still paying to keep it around as an archive, but I wish he would figure out how to fix it and make it functional again.
I may give Oppenheimer another try at some point. I'm sure it is good once you get into it. It's certainly an interesting part of history.
I absolutely love how The Boys parallels our social-political climate of the last few years. It's gotten more and more blatant with each season. It's funny because it seems like the kind of show some of the MAGA crowd may have enjoyed in the beginning, being violent and gory - I wonder if any of them stuck with it long enough to see the parallels and realized they were on the side of the villains. But I bet most of them quit because it was too "woke."
I have to be doing something mindless while I'm listening to a podcast. Usually that is falling asleep LOL, but like I said, mowing the lawn or walking works, too. I mostly listen to true crime podcasts, but occasionally I branch out into history or other stuff. I actually found a fanfic one the other day that is pretty good so far! It's called The Fanfic Writers' Craft, and it's two female fanfic writers talking about... well, their craft LOL. I'm only on episode two, which is about plotting, but so far I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. I often feel like the stuff I write doesn't really fit in with the discussions I see on other fanfic platforms that revolve around ships and smut. But their conversations have been more general so far, and they both write Harry Potter fic, among other fandoms, so when they give specific examples from their own writing, I at least know the characters they're talking about. I would never be able to just sit and actively listen to it without doing something else, though. I want to watch the podcast/interview Angel did with Taylor Lautner and his wife (who is also Taylor Lautner LOL), but I will probably have to put it on the TV or watch it in spurts while I walk on the treadmill because it is really long, and I don't have the attention span to sit and watch the computer or my phone for that long LOL.
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I never caught a stomach bug from any of the BSB cruises I went on. Nick Plague, maybe, but that manifests as more of a cold than stomach issues. At the risk of giving TMI, I did have diarrhea for several days after returning from Mexico, which I'm sure was from the buffets, since I didn't drink the water down there. The buffets there were kind of gross; we watched birds swoop in and steal food right from the buffet. Between that and having food sitting out in 85-degree heat, I'm sure they were full of germs. I don't remember the food from the cruise buffets being very good, but the dinners we had inside the actual restaurants/dining rooms were much better! I would stick to places where you can sit down and order something as much as you can.
Do you have an accessible cabin? You are definitely not the first person with mobility issues to go on a cruise, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get around. I follow a couple of YouTubers who are full-time wheelchair-users, and they have gone on cruises and seemed to have a great time... but you never know what goes on behind the scenes that doesn't get filmed. Have you looked at reviews or anything online as far as accessibility goes for this cruise line/ship? You'll have to let us know how it goes. I'm excited for you and hopeful that everything will be fine, but I totally get the anxiety of trying something new and not knowing what to expect. I tend to overthink everything and imagine the worst-case scenarios, but it almost always turns out way better and easier than that.
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People always make things sound easier than they actually are. How annoying! I'm glad you finally got it to work though. I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass putting everything in manually must have been. I hate doing even the simple HTML to put my chapters up on AO3, let alone the complex stuff you had to do! Hopefully it'll all be worth it and you'll stay where you are for a very long time! At least until your 35th anniversary!
Sometimes I think he just forgot about AC totally, but like you said, I'm also sure he's paying so I think he understands how many people have their stuff archived on there. I'm not sure if he'll ever feel inclined to make it more than an archived site though. It seems like a lot of work to get it up and functioning again only to have a very few people posting. By now, everyone has moved on or even stopped totally. It would be nice if this place did function as a mini AO3 though. Some fandoms but not the crazy amount on that site. If I knew how to do stuff like that and had the means and totally felt I would be able to devote my time into it, it would be something I'd take interest in, but that's the thing. I'm not sure I am that motivated anymore.
As far as the Boys. I think up until this latest season, many of the people that watched the show that are the same people he is mocking, haven't quite realized it. There is NO way to not get it now though and from some interviews I've seen, some of those people are mad.
How ballsy of those people to start a fanfic podcast! I love talking about fanfic and writing etc... but there would be no way I'd ever consider that! Although, it does seem that fanfic doesn't have the cringe worthy reputation it used to have. I guess thanks to 50 shades of Grey and some others, it's become more mainstreamed. I still won't be telling anyone I write it, who doesn't already know.
Sorry to hear you got sick after your Mexico trip. Yeah, those buffets man. I have such mixed feelings about them. On the one hand I LOVE them! But so many people, so many germs. Those other restaurants all cost money. The cheapest is Johnny Rockets. Most of the other restaurants are at least $50 and up per person. We are definitely going to be dining in some of those and the main dining hall, but there's no way to avoid many trips to the buffet. Especially for a 9 day cruise.
I have done a lot of research on that ship to the point, I think I'll be able to navigate it from day one. I know people do use scooters on there, just not sure how easy it'll be to drive one into a dining room or a restaurant etc.. I'll probably have to park it and depend on my walker. I haven't seen a single video of handicap people on a cruise, but I've also been looking specifically for my boat because it does change from ship to ship. Liberty of the Seas is one of the older ships on the Carnival line, so it doesn't have a lot of the amenities that the larger and newer ships have. I also tend to overthink and catastrophize everything before it happens. I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that! LOL
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I probably made it sound worse than it really was when I said I had to put everything in manually. I didn't have to do much HTML coding other than editing one file to reflect the new server information. It was more going into the settings for the Wordpress theme I had customized (my layout) and manually changing each one (images, colors, fonts, sizes, etc.) back to how I wanted it because none of that transferred. But today I transferred all the little subdomain sites I have for my collaborated stories (Code Blue, 00Carter, Song for the Undead), and the theme settings for those seemed to transfer over fine! So that saved me some time, but I don't know why those worked and the main site didn't. Oh well. Making progress!
Yes, I agree, it probably would be more work than it's worth to get AC functional again. Most people have moved on. I do miss having our own little version of AO3 for BSB fics and the other fandoms people here write. That's just another reason why it's important to me to keep my site going, so I have somewhere else besides AO3 to post my stories as a backup. Hopefully Ash will give us some warning when/if he inevitably decides to let the domain expire. I think I saved copies of all the stories I wanted to save and my reviews a few years ago when we thought the site was going down for good. That's all I really care about.
I believe AO3's code is open source, meaning anyone could rightfully use it to create their own similar archive, but that still requires paying for a place to put it and having enough skills to be able to run it and troubleshoot when something goes wrong. I wouldn't know what I was doing with that kind of a site either. But, like you said, I'm sure anyone could learn with enough motivation. That's how I learned how to make my site, first on Microsoft Word LOL and then on Wordpress. I taught myself through trial and error and a lot of googling LOL.
Yes, this season of The Boys makes it very obvious who they're mocking LOL. I'm on Episode 2, where they go to the Truth Con. Spot on portrayal of the right-wing conspiracy theorists!
LOL I would never record my voice talking about fanfic on a podcast either. These two go by their AO3 usernames and never say their real names, which helps to make them more anonymous, but I would still be afraid someone would recognize my voice. You're right, though, fanfic does seem to be more mainstream these days. I don't think it's as taboo with Gen Z as it seemed for older generations. I'm with you, though; I will still never tell anyone in real life that I write it, unless they already know.
That sucks that the restaurants on the cruise cost extra money. Now that you say that, though, I don't remember eating at any real restaurants on the BSB cruises; it was either the dining room for dinner or the buffets. The dining room food was good, though, so definitely do that when you can. I can't speak to specifics because it's been so long and I didn't have accessibility in mind when I went, but all of the BSB cruises were through Carnival, and I know there were people in wheelchairs and probably scooters on them. We were never on Liberty of the Seas, but I think Imagination, the ship we were on for at least 2 out of the 3 I went on, was also one of the older ships, so it probably had similar features.
Here is a disabled cruising video from two of my fav YouTubers, Cole and Charisma: https://youtu.be/fWLnqFkPZFs?si=csfEroE_5W0nInPj I'm not sure what cruise line this was, so I'm not sure if it will be helpful at all or not. If you search their channel for the word "cruise," they have another video where they did a Disney cruise.
Hopefully all goes well, but at least you'll have your sister around to help if it doesn't. The staff on these cruise ships are usually friendly and helpful, too. I'm sure they will try to accommodate you however they can and make sure you have a great time!
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Oh, that's much better than having to HTML everything. Still a major pain in the butt though!
I do miss our little community as well. It was a special time back in the early 2000's when we had AC this MB as well as LD to chat about all thing's fanfic and fandom. It makes me wonder if every other fandom had the same thing, or if we were kind of just special. I'd like to think it was just us. I do hope Ash will give us a warning before the site officially goes away. I saved all the stories I cared about on AO3 but I didn't save reviews. I still haven't gone on there to see if i can access them the way you told me about yet.
Episode two had me cracking up! That's when I could see the lightbulbs going off on some of the knuckleheads. The conspiracy theorist was great! I don't know if you got to episode three yet with the whole cult in the basement of the pizza shop. LOL
Thank you for that link. Even if it's not the same ship, at least maybe I'll pick up some tips. I plan on possibly making a video about the accessibility on my cruise. I know I say that now, but we'll see.
Yeah, there's a list of places that are free, like the buffets and a pizza shop and the main dining hall but everything else you have to pay. It's a flat rate and I think you can order as much as you want, but drinks aren't included unless you have a package, which we will probably be getting. At least the soft drink one. We're not sure if we're going to do the one that is a little more expensive but includes coffee because I can't live without at least one cup of coffee every morning. I am thankful I'll have my sister with me. I think sadly, I've moved passed being able to do things like travel independently anymore. I haven't driven in over a year, but I still haven't had the emotional strength to get rid of my car. I'm sure that'll change when I need the money, but for now I'm still paying monthly insurance and registration etc... just in case I miraculously will be able to drive again someday. :crazy:
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Good news! I changed the settings on my domain to point to the new server last night, and that went fine and actually worked much faster than the 24-48 hours they said it could take. So the site is officially up and running on its new server, and so far so good! I'm gonna update and post a new chapter in a little bit.
I miss that time period, too! I guess it was inevitable that people would move on as we got older and discovered other interests and other social media platforms, but forums like this just lend themselves better to the kind of discussions we had/have better than social media.
Reviews are definitely still accessible if you log in to AC. I'm glad I saved mine. I lost years worth of feedback emails from my early days writing when I let my old Hotmail and Yahoo email addresses go inactive, and I regret that. It's not like I would go back and read them often, but it's nice to have the option when I get nostalgic and revisit old stories.
I'm on Episode 3 now and just got to that part where the guy bursts in demanding to see where they're keeping the kids LOL. I haven't finished it yet, though.
You should make a video if you feel comfortable doing it! I'm sure it would be helpful to others who have the same questions and uncertainties you do.
I can't remember if I bought the beverage package on any of the cruises or not, but it seems like a good idea for the coffee and soda, especially if you're not going to drink a lot of alcohol. It would get boring drinking just water or juice otherwise.
Totally understandable that it would be hard for you to let go of your car and the idea of driving again. I'm far from an expert on MS, but can't it go into remission, where the symptoms get better? I would probably hang on to the hope of that happening, too. In the meantime, have you looked into hand controls or anything like that? I'm not sure what that costs and how much practice it takes to relearn to drive that way, but it may be an option.
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I saw your post about your update. Congrats! I'm glad that it's up and running.
As far as MS. It's a really complicated disease. I can only really explain the kind I have. There are a ton of variations and not everyone has the same symptoms which is why it's such a bitch to diagnose. I have the most progressive form of the disease (naturally lol) It's called SPMS. Basically, when it hits this stage there are no remissions, you just get progressively worse. My doctor thinks I probably have had it since I was in my early twenties based on my medical history and questionnaire I had to fill out. I was just never officially diagnosed with it. At that point it was in the relapsing/remission stage which is why it wasn't ever diagnosed. I would have symptoms for a while and then it would go away, and I'd feel better. Had I been the type to go to a doctor whenever I felt sick, I most likely would've been diagnosed much earlier and could have maybe prevented going downhill so fast, but I mean, the symptoms for me showed up as migraines, dizziness and achy legs. Things that could be explained away by other factors. By the time it was too hard to ignore, the legions were fairly visible on my brain. It is what it is. There's really not even that much that can be done about it. Most of the medicines on the market are for relapsing MS. There are more severe treatments like chemo even and infusions. The problem is most insurances don't cover a whole lot of those and unless you're rich, you can't afford them. And even those are primarily for people who still go into remission. It's weird. As far as hand controls, I don't know. The cost and relearning how to drive doesn't make much sense for someone like me, who doesn't really work and barely leaves the house. I do also hate driving. A lot. I'm a nervous driver so controlling things with my hands would be too much anxiety for me. Keeping my car is more of a mental thing.
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Thanks! And thanks for explaining more about MS. It does seem very complicated. A woman my mom worked with had it, and she must have had the relapsing/remission kind or been in that stage of it because sometimes she would need a cane to walk, and other times you would never even know she had it - she seemed totally fine. I was hoping your experience may be similar, but I'm sorry to hear that's not the case. That is really frustrating that the heavy-duty treatments are so expensive and not covered by insurance - I hate our healthcare system. But it doesn't sound like it would be worth it to pursue that, given the side effects and the fact that there's no guarantee of it working for you.
Same with hand controls for your car - if you don't even like driving, it doesn't seem worth the cost and effort. I get that; I've always been a nervous driver, too. I've gotten more confident over the years, but I still prefer to let other people drive if they offer (unless they're a terrible driver). I can also understand wanting to keep your car anyway, though. I would probably have a hard time giving mine up, too.
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Yeah, I think it's about independence. At least as long as I have my car, I feel like if I need to go somewhere, I can. Once that's gone, I have to rely totally on my sister or other people to get places. I hate that. It's been the worst part about this whole thing, not really having much independence anymore. I've always been used to being on my own. It's been an adjustment, even living with someone else after all those years being alone. I worked with someone at one of my schools who also had MS and her name was also MaryAnn lol she had the relapsing kind and besides every once and awhile having vision troubles, you'd never even know she had it. She never had an issue with walking ever. For her it was all in her upper body. Vision and hand tremors. So odd.
I watched a video of that couple you sent me. They are adorable and just seem so likeable. Some people just translate to video so well. I feel like I come across with strong serial killer vibes lol He was in a wheelchair so it wouldn't quite be the same thing, but it was still nice just watching a video of their experience.
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I'm sure that is so hard. I would also struggle with losing my independence and having to live with someone else again. I can see how that would be the worst part for you.
I love Cole and Charisma! I discovered their channel when I was researching for my last story, but now I just watch them for fun. I've always said they need their own show on TLC! It would be nice to see some normal, functional couples with healthy relationships to contrast the dysfunction and toxicity of 90 Day Fiance and a lot of their other shows LOL.
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I would totally watch it if they managed to get their own show. I have never watched any of the other ones you've mentioned but yes, it would be nice to see normal people in the spotlight for a change.
I'm back for a second time today to upload my chapter onto AO3. It was funny to see how much people were freaking out about not having access to that site. I guess it makes sense if you normally read a ton of fanfiction. It was actually back by this morning by the time I was finishing up my writing, but I decided to just keep with the plan and update it when the site was supposed to come back.
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I saw everyone freaking out about AO3 being down the other day, but it was back online by the time I tried to get on, so I didn't even notice. Glad they got it up by the time you were ready to post!
It's been a slow writing week for me so far, but I did finally get going on my April Fool's one-shot (the real version) again, so maybe I just needed to write something different. The only problem with that is that, after like 3 years of reading and writing almost nothing but first person POV, I just caught myself randomly switching the POV from third to first mid-scene. I wrote over 400 words in the wrong POV before I realized it! Whoops LOL.
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Hi Steph! Your cruise seemed nice. Lots of beautiful places. I'm secretly scared of catching a stomach bug on the cruise. My immune system isn't that great and because of the buffets etc... hopefully not though. I bet it is hard going back to work after a nice vacation like that. Are you planning on cruising again?
Speaking of cruising
I'm still a little stressed about how I'm going to get around. I rented a scooter but I'm worried about getting into things, like the buffet and restaurants and shows with a scooter. The only other thing I have is a walker. I can't use just a cane anymore and my sister doesn't want to drag the wheelchair and I can understand that because I rented the scooter. our cabin won't be big enough to hold all my handicap equipment. I'm sure I'm not the first person who's had this problem. I'm hoping it will be easier than what I picture in my mind. I can't believe it's only two months away. I have been talking about this cruise forever! LOL
It'll be nice unplugging for at seas days. I am bringing two books with me because in my head, I can't picture what it would be like not being on my phone all day long.
I agree Steph, that Merlin ending was garbage! I'm still mad about it! It deserved so much better!
Unfortunately I did end up with the damn norovirus bug and had to have a couple of days off work. I ended up with it 6 days after Tim. I have a bit of a phobia about being sick, so this was awful. There was a lot of it on our cruise and we were three hours late boarding because they were supposedly doing a deep clean to get rid of it. Obviously they didn't clean enough, and people just weren't washing their hands enough either.
It hasn't put me off cruising again in the future, but I'd probably do adult only and a smaller ship.
You don't have to worry about getting around on a scooter on the ship. There were loads on ours. Ships are very accessible places in my opinion. And the crew are very helpful too. I bet you can't wait, not long to go now!
My advice would be to wash your hands before going into food places, don't rely on the hand gel as it doesn't kill norovirus. Take anti-sickness medication with you just in case (I wish I had) and just enjoy your cruise. It will be lovely :)
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Welcome back, Steph! It looks like the cruise was lovely! I enjoyed seeing your photos on FB. I bet it was hot, though, and that's too bad about Tim getting norovirus... no fun!! I hope you were able to avoid catching it, and I'm glad you had a good time otherwise. It's always so hard going back to work after a holiday!
I bet it was nice to have a break from social media. I go through phases, but most of the time, I'm too attached to my phone and computer. I don't usually post much, but I spend a lot of time scrolling LOL.
I haven't updated my site/story in a few weeks, partly because I've been trying to figure out this transfer thing, but I have been writing. I've finished two chapters and am well into a third, trying to build a buffer back up so I can get back to semi-regular updates. I am just so slow. I can't believe it will be 25 years next year either! Who would have ever thought?
I didn't avoid norovirus :( first time I've had anything like that in 22 years.
Yes, I think we are all so attached to our phones these days. I don't post constantly on social media, it's usually if I go somewhere, or pictures of the cat lol. So it was nice to just be cut off from it for a couple of days.
Hope you managed to sort out your site :)
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Mare, sorry to hear your type of MS is the most progressive type. Someone in my work has it and sometimes walks with a stick but other times seems fine. And it's shocking that treatment isn't available unless you're rich. I'm sure it would be the same here the way our health system is going.
I hope your cruise ship is as disabled friendly as mine was. Even the theatre had some extra wide rows for wheelchairs, scooters and walker access. They really do include everyone.
We didn't have a drink package as neither of us are big drinkers and there's no way we were paying over £1000 for what would probably be one alcoholic drink per evening (turns out we didn't even have that lol). There we lots of restaurants included in the cruise price, but some speciality ones which you pay a bit extra. We did one of those. I'd say stick to the main dining room as much as you can as the buffet can be a bit hectic at times and that's where you're more likely to pick up any germs as who knows who has touched the food and then put it back.
I need to watch the new series of The Boys, still not got around to it yet.
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I saw everyone freaking out about AO3 being down the other day, but it was back online by the time I tried to get on, so I didn't even notice. Glad they got it up by the time you were ready to post!
It's been a slow writing week for me so far, but I did finally get going on my April Fool's one-shot (the real version) again, so maybe I just needed to write something different. The only problem with that is that, after like 3 years of reading and writing almost nothing but first person POV, I just caught myself randomly switching the POV from third to first mid-scene. I wrote over 400 words in the wrong POV before I realized it! Whoops LOL.
I have done that a ton of times! It's hard when you're used to reading or writing one way and switch to another. Glad you got the motivation to continue on your other story.
I have been feeling like crap for the last couple of days and my sister just tested positive for Covid, so I'm pretty sure I've got it too. She used our last Covid test, but I'm feeling the same way I did the last time, minus the terrible cough. I'm still coughing but not nearly as bad.
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Unfortunately I did end up with the damn norovirus bug and had to have a couple of days off work. I ended up with it 6 days after Tim. I have a bit of a phobia about being sick, so this was awful. There was a lot of it on our cruise and we were three hours late boarding because they were supposedly doing a deep clean to get rid of it. Obviously they didn't clean enough, and people just weren't washing their hands enough either.
It hasn't put me off cruising again in the future, but I'd probably do adult only and a smaller ship.
You don't have to worry about getting around on a scooter on the ship. There were loads on ours. Ships are very accessible places in my opinion. And the crew are very helpful too. I bet you can't wait, not long to go now!
My advice would be to wash your hands before going into food places, don't rely on the hand gel as it doesn't kill norovirus. Take anti-sickness medication with you just in case (I wish I had) and just enjoy your cruise. It will be lovely :)
Ugh! Sorry you got sick! I am the same as you, Steph. Stomach bugs are the ONE thing I can't tolerate. Everything else, I'm okay to deal with, but when it comes to having to puke, I'm not a fan. Not sure if anyone is, but yeah...ick! Thanks for the tip about the hand washing. I'm pretty obsessive about that already. I am going to buy all the motion sickness meds just in case and thanks for easing my mind about the scooter. I am very excited!
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Mare, sorry to hear your type of MS is the most progressive type. Someone in my work has it and sometimes walks with a stick but other times seems fine. And it's shocking that treatment isn't available unless you're rich. I'm sure it would be the same here the way our health system is going.
I hope your cruise ship is as disabled friendly as mine was. Even the theatre had some extra wide rows for wheelchairs, scooters and walker access. They really do include everyone.
We didn't have a drink package as neither of us are big drinkers and there's no way we were paying over £1000 for what would probably be one alcoholic drink per evening (turns out we didn't even have that lol). There we lots of restaurants included in the cruise price, but some speciality ones which you pay a bit extra. We did one of those. I'd say stick to the main dining room as much as you can as the buffet can be a bit hectic at times and that's where you're more likely to pick up any germs as who knows who has touched the food and then put it back.
I need to watch the new series of The Boys, still not got around to it yet.
Aww thanks! Yes, your co-worker most likely has the relapsing kind. It's the most common. I'm hoping they'll have those extra wide seats for the theater. I know some ships make you reserve seats, but I think the theater in this one is a first come first serve situation so there's no seating chart of the actual theater. I already know I'll have a hard time squeezing through the casino because the rows are really narrow but I'm hoping if I do go in there, I'll be able to park it outside and use my walker. I'm going to send my sister to check out all the things first before I try to venture in. Yeah, the alcohol drink package isn't worth it, especially for me. I know if we didn't have to do it together, my sister would've totally gotten it because she could pack away over a drink a day, but I barely have one alcoholic drink a year, let alone night. LOL
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Oh no, Steph, I'm sorry you ended up getting sick, too! That's the unfortunate part of cruising, the fact that germs can spread so easily when you're stuck on a ship with that many other people and eating at buffets. Gross. But I guess it's worth the risk! Frequent hand-washing/sanitizing is good advice. I would also second bringing something for seasickness. I never got seasick on any of the three cruises I went on, but some of my friends did. You just never know until you're there, especially if you've never cruised before, so it's better to be over-prepared and not need it than to not bring anything and regret it. I hope Mare's ship is as accessible as yours was, too!
Mare, sorry to hear your sister has Covid! I hope you don't have it again, too! I remember how rough it was for you the first time around. If you do have it, I hope it's more mild and goes away faster this time.
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Mare, I hope you have mild covid this time and aren't unwell with it. At least you shouldn't catch that on the ship as you should have some immunity to it for a while.
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It was election day here yesterday, so this morning I woke up to find out we have a new prime minister and the conservative party have been more or less wiped out. Hoping the new government will do a good job, but we'll see. I don't suppose change will happen very quickly.
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I can tell this is a really mild case, if it is covid which I think it is because I can't smell anything at all, and my sister is the same way. I've got a cough but not nearly as bad as the last time.
I saw the results of your election. Seems like the better side won for the first time in a while. A lot of the people who I follow on twitter are from the UK. Succession has a big following there and it seems like that's the guy they were all hoping would win and most of their politics align with me, so I'm hoping it'll be a positive change for you. Let's hope the same happens here! I'm scared to think that this might've been the last July fourth we've celebrated as a democracy. I can see orange Hitler wanting us to celebrate on Jan 6th instead from now on. Yes, I have a very grim view on life these days. LOL
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I still can't believe Orange Hitler could be elected again!
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You and me both!!
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Me as well! It's like a recurring nightmare! Steph, if the UK's conservative party is anything like the US's, I'm glad they got defeated. Hopefully your new PM will bring about some positive changes.
Mare, I'm glad your symptoms have been mild so far. I hope they stay that way!
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Ugh! I know this place is just a big shit show at the moment.
Thanks! I'm already feeling a little better so is my sister, so that's a good sign!
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Hope you're both continuing to feel better! How's the writing going this week? I saw that you were able to update today, Mare - yay!
I finally had a good writing day yesterday and wrote almost 2k words. The day before, I only managed to write 99 words after spending hours obsessing over the smallest, stupidest details, like how to describe a door. 🤦♀️ Sometimes I get derailed by the dumbest stuff.
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Yay good for you! How to describe a door? It's funny what we find ourselves obsessing over when writing. For me it's always gestures. How to accurately describe how someone is being held or where someone has their hands. It looks right but when I close my eyes and picture it, sometimes it seems like I have written it so the person has an extra hand or is bending it in an irregular possessed by Satan way. Kind of like Brian and his carrying of random heads in One Phone Call.
I'm at the critical point in my Invisible Child story where there is a lot of action and that's not always the easiest stuff to write. Seeing it all play out in my head is one thing but sometimes it's hard translating that into writing. The writing on that one is going well. Because it's at the critical (at least what I considered critical) part of the story, it's just been flowing. I'm supposed to be jumping back to my Thursday one today but instead, I'm going to keep working on invisible instead. I have no clue where I'm even going with the other one to be honest. It was originally supposed to be a slash which I thought I'd be daring and try, but nope. Quickly I realized that wouldn't work so my characters are in a kind of limbo. I don't feel too bad for ignoring it because it doesn't get any love.
I'm feeling much better, but I am really tired. Which is good because my body never gets enough sleep except when you're schedule oriented like I am, sleeping in isn't easy. You'd think because I don't have to work anymore I would ease up on that, but nope. I still force myself to start my day at 5:30 :shrug:
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Yes, a door! So stupid. I tried to move on from it, but I just kept coming back to that damn description. I think I may have been subconsciously stalling, though, because I'm at one of those places where I know I need to get from Point A to Point B but am not exactly sure how I'm going to get there, which is the hard part of plantsing. At this point, I'm probably just going to write a conversation where the characters talk through the problem and see what solution they come up with because I can't decide LOL.
Brian carrying random heads on his shoulder... 🤣 I still think of that whenever I hear One Phone Call!
I totally get what you mean with the gestures and actions, though. Sometimes I have to act things out myself to figure out what works, then figure out how to describe it.
Action can definitely be challenging to write! You want to describe what's happening in enough detail that readers can picture it, too, but you don't want to slow down the action with too much description. I'm glad it's been going well, though! I love those scenes where the writing just flows, especially when it's an important scene that you've been looking forward to or worrying about. If it's going well, I would stick with it and not worry about your other story for now, especially if no one's begging you for updates.
I'm sorry you're stuck on the other one! Was slash not working for the characters or for you as a writer? I found slash super awkward to write at first. It got easier and more comfortable for me the further I got into the story, but I still giggled whenever I wrote any kind of love scene between Nick and Howie. The research that went into some of the more "graphic" (by my standards, not by AO3's) scenes was even more awkward, but hey, I learned a lot! LOL
I'm glad you're feeling better! That's so crazy that you still get up at 5:30 every morning, especially when I know you wake up in the middle of the night and post a meme every night LOL. Lately, I've still been up when you post them. I was doing pretty well at not staying up ALL night until this week, when I finally had that good writing day. I wrote all night, and now my sleep schedule's all messed up again. It was almost 5 a.m. when I went to bed this morning, which means I didn't fall asleep until almost 6, and then I slept until almost 2. I've missed my late night/early morning writing sessions, though. There's just something so cozy and satisfying about writing when it's dark and quiet, and the rest of the world is asleep. But I leave for Pigeon Forge on Friday, so I need to get back to sleeping at night and waking up in the morning in the next three days LOL.
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Sorry to hear you're both having a few troubles with getting your writing done. I agree you want it to be descriptive enough without holding back on the action.
I struggle to get to 11pm without falling asleep lol, and I'm always up before 7am even on the weekend.
Yes, I hope our new government will do a good job. I hope Biden decides to step down and be replaced by someone younger and more competent for you. I think he's past it and should just enjoy his retirement.
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Writing has gone better for me the past couple of days. The start of a new chapter or scene almost always goes slow for me, but once I get past the set up and into the actual scene, it goes faster. That's where I am now. Trying to finish Chapter 61 before I leave on vacation, and then I'll have three chapters finished that aren't posted yet.
I honestly don't know why anyone would want to continue to work into their 80s if they didn't have to, especially doing one of the most stressful jobs there is. That being said, I don't think Biden is going to step down at this point, and if he did, I worry the change would just cause more chaos. I just hope Democrats and anyone who cares about democracy will unite and vote against Trump in November, regardless of who they're voting for. Biden may be old and not as sharp as he used to be, but I do think he's a decent person who has surrounded himself with decent, intelligent people who will support him through a second term if he's re-elected. The media is causing more panic about it than there needs to be and just making the situation worse.
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Yes, a door! So stupid. I tried to move on from it, but I just kept coming back to that damn description. I think I may have been subconsciously stalling, though, because I'm at one of those places where I know I need to get from Point A to Point B but am not exactly sure how I'm going to get there, which is the hard part of plantsing. At this point, I'm probably just going to write a conversation where the characters talk through the problem and see what solution they come up with because I can't decide LOL.
Brian carrying random heads on his shoulder... 🤣 I still think of that whenever I hear One Phone Call!
I totally get what you mean with the gestures and actions, though. Sometimes I have to act things out myself to figure out what works, then figure out how to describe it.
Action can definitely be challenging to write! You want to describe what's happening in enough detail that readers can picture it, too, but you don't want to slow down the action with too much description. I'm glad it's been going well, though! I love those scenes where the writing just flows, especially when it's an important scene that you've been looking forward to or worrying about. If it's going well, I would stick with it and not worry about your other story for now, especially if no one's begging you for updates.
I'm sorry you're stuck on the other one! Was slash not working for the characters or for you as a writer? I found slash super awkward to write at first. It got easier and more comfortable for me the further I got into the story, but I still giggled whenever I wrote any kind of love scene between Nick and Howie. The research that went into some of the more "graphic" (by my standards, not by AO3's) scenes was even more awkward, but hey, I learned a lot! LOL
I'm glad you're feeling better! That's so crazy that you still get up at 5:30 every morning, especially when I know you wake up in the middle of the night and post a meme every night LOL. Lately, I've still been up when you post them. I was doing pretty well at not staying up ALL night until this week, when I finally had that good writing day. I wrote all night, and now my sleep schedule's all messed up again. It was almost 5 a.m. when I went to bed this morning, which means I didn't fall asleep until almost 6, and then I slept until almost 2. I've missed my late night/early morning writing sessions, though. There's just something so cozy and satisfying about writing when it's dark and quiet, and the rest of the world is asleep. But I leave for Pigeon Forge on Friday, so I need to get back to sleeping at night and waking up in the morning in the next three days LOL.
I get the avoidance thing. It's easy to obsess over something when you're not quite sure how to build the bridge from point A to point B. Transitions are hard, no matter how much planning or outlining you do. I do the same thing with my characters having a conversation, but I don't write it down. It happens in my head which is why I think I end up changing things so much.
The over describing is definitely the hardest thing for me. Do I really need to say he stood up and played with this? Should I just skip it? But if I do then how does he end up by the bookcase? Drives me crazy!
The slash thing didn't quite work for me because as much as I'm not a homophobic person, I just have an incredibly hard time picturing or writing about people who just aren't gay being gay. My brain just can't change that part of the equation for some reason. The boys it was impossible. I didn't think it would be that hard for me to do it in the succession universe, since Roman in particular has so many sex type problems and is probably bi curious. But when I started the story and had the two guys together, Roman just fought me about it so that's what I wrote. He thought he was into it but turns out he wasn't, but the guy didn't except that. The other guy is Mencken, who neither of you probably know yet, but he's a mega villain and besides Roman and Gerri, is the second most popular ship. So now I'm in a situation that this guy is obsessed with Roman who isn't really into him and has regretted the decision he made to meet him in his hotel room, and I have no idea where to go from there. Not to mention in the process of doing that, I'm pretty sure I alienated the whole Romencken crowd. LOL
Good lord my sleep schedule has always been screwy. Even when I was teaching, I was up at 3:30 most days, read, ate breakfast, cleaned and then went back to sleep at 5, woke up at 6:30 got dressed and then left for school. It's kind of the same thing now, minus the school part. I am up at 5 and then find myself going back to what I like to call residual sleep at around 7:30 and then wake up again at 9 and shower etc... But before that I am usually awake starting at midnight on and off until 5:30 hits. I know I probably only get about 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky but then I do have the luxury of taking a nap during the day. Usually by 1 I am exhausted!
I hope you get your sleep schedule sorted out before you leave Friday. There is something nice about writing when it's dark and quiet. I choose reading over writing at that time. I always read first thing in the morning and right before I go to bed.
Have a great time at Pigeon Forge!
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Sorry to hear you're both having a few troubles with getting your writing done. I agree you want it to be descriptive enough without holding back on the action.
I struggle to get to 11pm without falling asleep lol, and I'm always up before 7am even on the weekend.
Yes, I hope our new government will do a good job. I hope Biden decides to step down and be replaced by someone younger and more competent for you. I think he's past it and should just enjoy his retirement.
I seriously doubt Biden's going to back down. This whole thing is reminiscent of kids trying to convince their parents it's time for a nursing home, but mom or dad refuses to go insisting they're okay! I think it's important to note that even though people are having all kinds of issues with him running again, in the end all of those people will still end up voting for him because they all realize the alternative will be so much worse!
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Writing has gone better for me the past couple of days. The start of a new chapter or scene almost always goes slow for me, but once I get past the set up and into the actual scene, it goes faster. That's where I am now. Trying to finish Chapter 61 before I leave on vacation, and then I'll have three chapters finished that aren't posted yet.
I honestly don't know why anyone would want to continue to work into their 80s if they didn't have to, especially doing one of the most stressful jobs there is. That being said, I don't think Biden is going to step down at this point, and if he did, I worry the change would just cause more chaos. I just hope Democrats and anyone who cares about democracy will unite and vote against Trump in November, regardless of who they're voting for. Biden may be old and not as sharp as he used to be, but I do think he's a decent person who has surrounded himself with decent, intelligent people who will support him through a second term if he's re-elected. The media is causing more panic about it than there needs to be and just making the situation worse.
I'm glad you got going on the new chapter. I ended up working on Invisible Child yesterday and will again today. I might just put the other one on hold until I finish up this one. The hardest thing for me in this fandom is figuring out when to end a story. There's so much going on in this one, I can easily keep it going for at least another 10 plus chapters, but one thing I've noticed about stories on AO3 is they really never get too long. I think the longest one I have seen on there, for Succession anyway was 15 chapters. I don't know if it's because they are shipping fics so not that strong of a plot or attention spans! When I started this one I had fully intended to end it by chapter 15, but I'm currently writing chapter 20 and feel like it's nowhere near the end. I might stop it at 22 maybe and then make a sequel. Heading into a realm I have actually never done before which is medical drama! Your specialty. This is a great example of my characters talking to me at night and changing things. I had no intention of having Roman became really ill, but he suffered a head injury while he was a hostage and in reality, it would go unchecked so I've been playing that and then did research about what can happen and now at chapter 20 he's having a craniectomy LOL
And yes! I agree about the press. They are making it so much worse but it's the dems who are going on these programs and making all kinds of excuses that are making it so much worse. We all know he's an old man who is acting like an old man. Stop trying to convince us it's jet lag! And now a lot of people are up in arms because of Jon Stewart's last episode. I'm sorry people, he's just being honest. Ugh what a shit show!
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I totally get what you mean regarding slash. I was the same way - it was the suspension of disbelief that always got in the way of me being able to fully enjoy BSB slash fic. It definitely came across in the way I wrote mine. I could believe Howie as a closeted gay man who, for religious reasons, married a woman and started a family even though he secretly had feelings for men, so writing him falling in love with Nick wasn't that hard. Writing Nick reciprocating those feelings was much harder, which actually ended up adding some nice conflict to the story, because Nick's character had a hard time 1) coming to terms with his own sexuality and then 2) coming out to other people. I liked the dynamic it created, but I think some readers wished I would have shown them having a longer, more public relationship before I ended the story. Anyway, Nick sounds similar to Roman as far as being unsure about it. If the other guy is a villain, you could get into non-consensual sex/rape territory if you wanted to go that route - it may not be what the shippers want to see, but a lot of readers like that stuff, too! That's a hard thing to write, though, so I understand if you don't want to take it in that direction.
Sounds like you are at an exciting part in The Invisible Child! Craniectomy, yay! Is this craniectomy happening in a hospital setting or while he's still hostage? LOL Have fun with the medical drama!
I definitely understand the struggle to end a story in a reasonable number of chapters LOL. I'm currently on Chapter 61 with no end in sight, and I've already changed my outline to save some of the stuff I had planned for this story for a possible sequel/threequel because I realized it was going to be way too long. That being said, don't feel like you have to cut the story short and save the rest for a sequel just because there aren't a lot of long fics in the fandom. If it makes sense to end the story at that point, fine, but otherwise, let it be long! There may be readers who have been craving a big, meaty fic LOL.
Yes, your sleep schedule sounds terrible! I may be a night owl, but once I fall asleep, I can usually stay asleep for a reasonable amount of time. I'll sometimes wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, but I can usually go right back to sleep once I've been asleep. Falling asleep the first time used to be hard for me, but listening to podcasts has helped a lot with that. I take melatonin on school nights or whenever I need to go to bed earlier than my body naturally wants to fall asleep, and that usually works for me. I'm glad you're at least able to go back to bed or take a nap later in the day if you want/need to.
The Biden situation is exactly like trying to convince your elderly parents to stop driving or move into assisted living. I appreciate Jon Stewart so much; watching his live Daily Show special right after the debate was the therapy we all needed LOL. I love that he can tell the truth but still manage to make it funny, even though the situation is not funny at all.
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I think out of the boys, having Howie or AJ as closeted gays would be easier for me to write than the other three, but I see from the premise of yours, having Nick question his sexuality and struggling to come out made perfect sense. I actually did go the sexually assaulted route for mine. At the end of the chapter when he was getting ready to leave, I heavily implied that he was attacked. There's no way I could write a scene like that. I mean for me it's hard enough writing consensual sex, so I just implied it and had him in the shower bruised with bite marks all over his body. That's become the plot now. Him dealing with it and not being able to tell anyone because of the NDA he signed before it happened. For me the struggle has been keeping that plot going. There's really only so much you can write without becoming too repetitive and I don't know how to bring it to a close. I'm all over the place, so hopefully by skipping this update and maybe deciding to push it away until I'm done with this one, I'll figure something out. But I also hate the idea of abandoning a story, so maybe I'll do an every other week thing. No clue!
I resolved the kidnapping part of the story. He's been rescued and now he's in the hospital. That's why I feel like maybe it would make sense to break it up into a new story since the initial plot of a kidnapping has been resolved. What I am writing now is the aftermath of that. Although a craniectomy done MacGyver style would've been interesting. LOL
Yeah, my sleep schedule is ridiculous. I have tried melatonin, but it really doesn't do much for me. I'm glad it works for you. When I take it, I'd have to take it in combination with something else. Sleepy meds just don't work on me for some reason. I'm pretty sure at this point even horse tranquilizers wouldn't work on me.
Jon Stewart is great therapy! I wish he was doing all five nights. Maybe he'll decide to come back after the election is over. I know that's really pushing it, but it would be nice. Hell, maybe HE should take Biden's place! I'd love to see him debate Trump!
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I've said for years that Jon Stewart should run for president with Stephen Colbert as his running mate LOL. I would vote for them. Jordan Klepper would be a great VP/debater as well; I love his interviews with Trumpers.
The sexual assault route makes sense, based on the way you described the situation. I can understand you not wanting to write the actual act in detail, though. It's fine to fade to black and let readers infer what happened. The aftermath is more interesting anyway. Hopefully you can figure out a way to wrap it up.
I was kind of intrigued by the idea of a MacGyver craniectomy LOL, but for Roman's sake, I'm glad he has been rescued and is under the care of medical professionals. That does make sense to wrap it up and save the rest for a sequel if you want to.
I finished my chapter yesterday and am now trying to figure out how to start the next chapter before I leave for vacation tomorrow. I probably won't post another chapter until I get back, which will give me more time to build up my stash of buffer chapters.
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I think Jon Stewart would make an excellent candidate. He's exactly what we need, which is why he'd never run. No matter how nice or down to earth some of the Presidents seemed to be, you have to be an egomaniac of a certain level to run for office. At least that's my thought. In that aspect, I don't think he'd ever do it.
Good job finishing your chapter! Gotta love the buffer chapters! Will you still be writing while on vacation? Have a safe trip. I'm imagining you're driving there. Are you all traveling together or are you just meeting at Pigeon Forge?
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Yeah, I agree - he would never run. It's a nice thought, though!
Thanks! I will write enough to keep my streak alive, probably not much more than that, but we'll see. We're staying in a giant cabin, and I will have my own room, so I may be able to get some late-night writing done if I can focus. My parents and I are riding together, and my sister's family are driving separately. Cincinnati is the halfway point for both of us, so I think we're gonna meet up there and caravan the rest of the way together.
Good luck with your writing this weekend! I hope you get through your craniectomy part on Invisible Child if you haven't already and get some ideas for how to wrap up NDA.
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Hope your drive wasn't that bad.
I got through the explanation and surgery chapter. It was a long one at almost 5,000 words but I think I did a decent job not overexplaining . We shall see. I'm going to open story number two today and see what happens.
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Thanks! It wasn't too bad. We made it! Now if I can just survive the week without wanting to kill my sister... 🙃
I'm glad you got through your chapter! I'm sure you did a great job being detailed enough without overexplaining . Did you have any luck with your other story today?
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I hope having your own room helps with the killing sister urges! LOL
I actually did get about 4 pages written of my other story yesterday. It's most likely going to be a buffer chapter but at least it's something until I can really figure out where the heck I'm going with that one.
So...Trump. LOL
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Having my own room is a godsend! LOL I am not getting much writing or reading done so far, though. Just enough to keep my streak alive. I'm glad you got 4 pages written yesterday! That's a lot!
Trump... sigh. So close!
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Hope you're having a lovely holiday away with your family.
I just saw about Trump's attempted assassination last night as I was away in London on Sunday and Monday and can you believe had no signal on my phone for most of the time. Me and my daughter went to a festival in Hyde Park in London on the weekend, I'd never been to a festival before, so it was fun but a lot of standing around in the sun.
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A music festival, Steph? I've never been to one of those either. I can't see myself going to a concert where multiple people perform. I'm too picky with what I enjoy listening to. It sounds like a nice activity to do with your daughter though.
Hope the vacationing is going well and that the weather has been okay down there in TN. I've now made it to page 8 so hopefully by tomorrow I'll have it finished and ready to post on Thursday.
I hate how everyone keeps saying God saved Trump. As if God wants anything at all to do with that man. More like Satan didn't have his golden covered condo ready.
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I must admit I didn't know who most of the performers were at this festival lol, but it was something fun and different to do with my daughter.
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As long as you had a good time. I was worth it! I don't know who half of these people are anymore. I feel so old! LOL
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As long as you had a good time. I was worth it! I don't know who half of these people are anymore. I feel so old! LOL
I hardly listen to the radio anymore, so have no idea who a lot of these singers are. I feel like an old person saying that lol
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You are not alone! I had music on in the background yesterday and most of the songs sounded like the same person to me. I swear all the female singers sound just like Taylor Swift.
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How was Pigeon Forge, Julie? Or are you still there?"
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I'm back! Sorry I haven't been around much. I got home Saturday afternoon, spent most of Sunday with a couple friends, and have spent the last two days trying to recover from ten straight days around other people LOL. It's been nice to sleep in my own bed and spend some quality time cuddling my cats on the couch in front of the TV.
Pigeon Forge was fun overall. We went to an exotic bird sanctuary called Parrot Mountain, where I got to pet and hold cockatoos and macaws and had a conversation with a cute green parrot that talked! So cool! We also went to the Titanic Museum, which I've been wanting to go to for years, and it was great! It focused mostly on the ship, of course, but there was also a nice little exhibit about the movie, where they had the 11 Oscars on display as well as Rose's sinking dress and lifebelt, autographed by Kate Winslet, and the violin from the movie, autographed by the whole cast. They also had Madeleine Astor's real lifebelt and a deck chair from the ship, which was really cool. It took us two tries, but we also did Dollywood. We first went there on Wednesday, arrived right as it opened, and went on one roller coaster, only to be told there had been a water main break, and they were shutting the park down an hour after it opened. So we had to leave. Luckily, we were able to go back on Friday, our last day, and spent the day there. I rode almost all of the roller coasters and had a really good time. Those were my three favorite things we did. We also had plenty of relaxing downtime drinking moonshine on our back porch overlooking the Smoky Mountains. So pretty!
I survived the week without wanting to kill my sister or any other member of my family, which was good. The only bad part was finding a dead bedbug in my bed on our second morning there. I'm generally not afraid of bugs, but after watching too many episodes of "Infested" on Animal Planet back in the day, a bedbug infestation is one of my biggest fears. So you can imagine my horror at finding this thing and googling a picture of it to confirm my worst fear. My sister, who booked the cabin, called the company, and they sent an exterminator out to basically confirm that, yes, there was evidence of bedbugs, but they couldn't do much about it while we were staying there because they have to heat the house to like 350 degrees to kill them. They didn't have another open cabin that we could move to, so they gave us the option to either leave then and get our money back or stay and get a discount. We didn't have anywhere else to go and weren't going to pack up and drive nine hours home two days into a week-long vacation, so we chose to stay and ended up getting 50% off what we paid for the cabin, which was a lot. I didn't end up finding any more bedbugs, but my nephew found two live ones in his room over the course of the week, and my sister found one in her room on the last night. So gross! We bought a bunch of trash bags and Ziploc bags to bag all our stuff up before we went home - walked out of the grocery store looking like I was preparing to hide a dismembered body LOL. I washed all my clothes and everything that could be washed twice in hot water and dried it on the highest heat settings. My shoes are bagged up in my freezer for the next few days. And everything else that couldn't be washed, heated, or frozen either got pitched or is bagged up in my detached garage for the next ten months, until any bedbugs or eggs should be dead for sure. This includes my suitcase, Chromebook, and tablet, which doubles as my Kindle. My Chromebook is 6 years old and probably on its last legs anyway, so I took advantage of Amazon Prime Days and ordered a new one of those so my writing won't be affected, since I do most of that on a Chromebook these days. But, ugh, so stressful!
And what a chaotic week-and-a-half it's been in American politics! I had mixed feelings over Biden's announcement, but now that it's sunk in, I'm actually really excited that Kamala will likely be the nominee, and it won't just be a repeat of the 2020 election. I hope the Biden voters, black voters, Trump-haters, and WOMEN will unite around her! The next few months are gonna be crazy, but it's exciting to think we'll have another opportunity to vote for the first female president in this country.
I'm glad you had a good time at the music festival, Steph, and glad to see you've been updating, Mare! I had a good writing day today and feel like I'm finally getting back on track after just writing a little bit each day for the last week or so. Will most likely update on Saturday.
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Oh no Julie, that bedbug situation sounds awful! I'd hate that and like you, would want to bin everything or wash it at the highest temperature possible to get rid of them. But glad you had a good time apart from that. And 50% off is great too :)
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I'm back! Sorry I haven't been around much. I got home Saturday afternoon, spent most of Sunday with a couple friends, and have spent the last two days trying to recover from ten straight days around other people LOL. It's been nice to sleep in my own bed and spend some quality time cuddling my cats on the couch in front of the TV.
Pigeon Forge was fun overall. We went to an exotic bird sanctuary called Parrot Mountain, where I got to pet and hold cockatoos and macaws and had a conversation with a cute green parrot that talked! So cool! We also went to the Titanic Museum, which I've been wanting to go to for years, and it was great! It focused mostly on the ship, of course, but there was also a nice little exhibit about the movie, where they had the 11 Oscars on display as well as Rose's sinking dress and lifebelt, autographed by Kate Winslet, and the violin from the movie, autographed by the whole cast. They also had Madeleine Astor's real lifebelt and a deck chair from the ship, which was really cool. It took us two tries, but we also did Dollywood. We first went there on Wednesday, arrived right as it opened, and went on one roller coaster, only to be told there had been a water main break, and they were shutting the park down an hour after it opened. So we had to leave. Luckily, we were able to go back on Friday, our last day, and spent the day there. I rode almost all of the roller coasters and had a really good time. Those were my three favorite things we did. We also had plenty of relaxing downtime drinking moonshine on our back porch overlooking the Smoky Mountains. So pretty!
I survived the week without wanting to kill my sister or any other member of my family, which was good. The only bad part was finding a dead bedbug in my bed on our second morning there. I'm generally not afraid of bugs, but after watching too many episodes of "Infested" on Animal Planet back in the day, a bedbug infestation is one of my biggest fears. So you can imagine my horror at finding this thing and googling a picture of it to confirm my worst fear. My sister, who booked the cabin, called the company, and they sent an exterminator out to basically confirm that, yes, there was evidence of bedbugs, but they couldn't do much about it while we were staying there because they have to heat the house to like 350 degrees to kill them. They didn't have another open cabin that we could move to, so they gave us the option to either leave then and get our money back or stay and get a discount. We didn't have anywhere else to go and weren't going to pack up and drive nine hours home two days into a week-long vacation, so we chose to stay and ended up getting 50% off what we paid for the cabin, which was a lot. I didn't end up finding any more bedbugs, but my nephew found two live ones in his room over the course of the week, and my sister found one in her room on the last night. So gross! We bought a bunch of trash bags and Ziploc bags to bag all our stuff up before we went home - walked out of the grocery store looking like I was preparing to hide a dismembered body LOL. I washed all my clothes and everything that could be washed twice in hot water and dried it on the highest heat settings. My shoes are bagged up in my freezer for the next few days. And everything else that couldn't be washed, heated, or frozen either got pitched or is bagged up in my detached garage for the next ten months, until any bedbugs or eggs should be dead for sure. This includes my suitcase, Chromebook, and tablet, which doubles as my Kindle. My Chromebook is 6 years old and probably on its last legs anyway, so I took advantage of Amazon Prime Days and ordered a new one of those so my writing won't be affected, since I do most of that on a Chromebook these days. But, ugh, so stressful!
And what a chaotic week-and-a-half it's been in American politics! I had mixed feelings over Biden's announcement, but now that it's sunk in, I'm actually really excited that Kamala will likely be the nominee, and it won't just be a repeat of the 2020 election. I hope the Biden voters, black voters, Trump-haters, and WOMEN will unite around her! The next few months are gonna be crazy, but it's exciting to think we'll have another opportunity to vote for the first female president in this country.
I'm glad you had a good time at the music festival, Steph, and glad to see you've been updating, Mare! I had a good writing day today and feel like I'm finally getting back on track after just writing a little bit each day for the last week or so. Will most likely update on Saturday.
Okay weird, trying this again. I had an entire post written and when I went to post it, it was gone! I'm glad you had a great time, minus the whole bedbug situation! Yikes!!! I can only imagine how awful that must've been, but at least it wasn't a total infestation. I'm glad they gave you a 50 percent off discount but honestly, they should've given you a full refund just because bed bugs are probably one of the worst things to happen! Kudos for getting along with the sis and the rest of your family. Ten days is a long time to people! I'm a little afraid of what it's going to be like cruising for ten days with a lot of people when I spend most of my life with one person and two animals. What did you do with your cats while you were away? That's been the hardest thing for us. Trying to find a place for them, but they're both extra and need a lot of attention.
I never wanted Biden to run for a second term since he was elected. I really saw him as a one and done guy, so I was disappointed when he refused to leave. In the end, I'm glad he did what was best for everyone. Even though Kamala has a rough road ahead, it's nice to see the base invigorated again. I think she'll get the votes back from all those people who Biden lost along his run. Especially the young voters, black and women. The only thing I'm scared of are those college kids who refuse to vote for anyone responsible for the Gaza thing. I get they're young, but by refusing to vote, they're just handing the country to Trump who is the furthest champion of their cause. He'd probably try to even get Russia involved in taking Gaza out. I see the kids all over my twitter timeline talking about that stuff and it scares me. Otherwise, I think we have a good chance of winning. Even though it's not going to matter because you know he's going to claim he won, and all hell is going to break loose. ::)
My writing has been going well. Not updating the other story this week and focusing all my attention on the last few chapters of this one. I've been really happy with how well it's been received and the amount of people who have been saying they look forward to Mondays just because that's the day I update. I'll take it. LOL I'm glad you've been writing even while on vacation. It's nice you were able to get a lot done since you've been home.
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I was originally going to have a friend come over to feed and check on my cats, but since they're both afraid of people that aren't me, I ended up getting an automatic feeder with a camera from Amazon and using that. I figured it would be less stressful for them than having a "stranger" come over. It was perfect because it holds more than a week's worth of food for two cats, can be programmed to dispense food at certain times or on demand, and has motion activation and night vision so I could check on both cats and make sure they were alive and eating. They already had a water fountain that holds plenty of water. I hid a key just in case I ended up needing someone to come over, but the feeder and water fountain worked out great. Let me know if you want a link. Have you figured out what to do with your pets yet? Dogs are harder than cats. My sister and parents boarded their dogs.
I hope the young people will vote for Kamala over Trump. I feel like she has a better chance of getting their votes than Biden would have. I agree, not voting at all is not a good solution.
That's awesome that your story has been getting such a good reaction! I hope you finish strong and are happy with the ending!
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That sounds like a great solution. Cats are so much easier because they don't mind being alone. Although we realized that ever since he was born, Pugsley has never spent one single night alone. When my sister used to come and visit me, she would bring him with her and then he'd stay with me until she came back down again. We can't leave him alone because he's a diabetic. He needs insulin twice a day, which made things even more problematic. At first we were going to board him at the vet but for the ten days it was even more than the cost of the cruise! And that didn't even factor in Chloe. We ended up finding someone who boards cats and dogs at their house. She knows how to administer insulin and came highly recommended. She was also a lot less expensive. She's going to be taking them both. We're hoping that they don't freak out too much. I'm afraid Chloe might revert back to how she was when we first got her, but again, I'm an anxious person.
I made the mistake of reading comments under a news article about project 2025 this morning. I'm always amazed at either people's total incompetence when it comes to Trump or their complete loyalty. How this country is filled with so many people so willing to take away the rights of people just because they feel uncomfortable, it's terrifying to me.
I'm thinking that this story will hopefully wrap up by 25 chapters and then I can start the second story. I had thought the same thing with chapter 22 but I'm halfway through and nope, not going to happen. LOL
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Yes, that is one reason I prefer cats. I like dogs, too, but I don't see myself ever getting one, at least not while I'm single and working. They are a lot more work than cats, and I would feel bad leaving a dog home alone all day. I also wouldn't like having to plan my life around the dog and not having the freedom to travel without always having to figure out what to do with the dog. I know my cats will be fine alone for a few days. This is the longest I've ever left them, but they seemed to do fine. I'm sure they missed me, but I never heard them crying for me on the camera or anything. I'm glad I have two of them so they at least have each other. Even though they don't particularly like each other, at least neither of them was alone.
That is crazy that boarding Pugsley at the vet would have cost more than the cruise!! Makes me wonder how much my sister spent on boarding her three dogs - yikes! I'm glad you were able to find someone to board them for a more reasonable price. Being in someone's home sounds better for them than being at the vet anyway. Hopefully Chloe will do fine. It may be hard on her to be in a strange place, but I'm sure she'll come around once she gets back home with you and your sister. It's so hard to leave them, though, knowing they don't understand where you're going or that you'll be back.
It's funny that Vance accuses "childless cat ladies" of not caring about future generations when his party are the ones who don't seem to care about anyone who is different from them. They only care about future generations when they're still in the womb. Typical out-of-touch douche. I hope all the childless cat ladies in the country vote against him and Orange Hitler. There are a lot of us!
LOL I've definitely been there before with not being able to wrap up a story in the number of chapters I want. 25 is a perfect number if you can end on that, but don't rush it or cut it short just to hit that goal. I still have no idea how long my current story is going to be, but I could see it hitting 100 chapters. I'm on Chapter 62 with a lot left in my outline, and I don't even care. I'm enjoying writing it, and there are at least a few people who seem to be enjoying reading it, so I'm not in any big hurry to wrap it up.
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The reason it was so expensive at the vet is because they wouldn't allow us to use our own insulin, so they were charging per shot on top of the actual room and board. It was way over $2,000! insane! This person we are supplying her with everything so it's a lot cheaper. I'm hoping Chloe will be okay. I hate the fact they don't understand what's going on but like you said with your cats, maybe as long as she sees Pugsley, she'll know she's okay. Even though they don't really like each other.
I think Vance managed to send a fire through all of us. I see Trump is afraid to debate Kamala. I usually never watch those, but I would if they do end up debating each other. She's going to destroy him!
I'm kind of having a hard time with this current chapter I'm working on. I got halfway through it, but I'm not really pleased with the way it's turning out so I might scrap parts of it and redo. Now that the action element is over, it's hard to get my brain to slow back down to this more dramatic part. Conceivably I might be able to stop it at 24, but not sure.
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Ah, that makes more sense... but also makes no sense that the vet wouldn't use your own insulin, which I assume they prescribed? Sounds like a money grab to me. Definitely insane! Hopefully seeing a familiar face with help Chloe. Maybe she and Pugsley will even bond over this! I was hoping that would happen with my kitties, but I don't think it did. They tolerate each other and can be on different parts of the same bed or couch together, but that's as far as it goes. I wish they would be friends and cuddle together like my previous cats have.
I am here for all the Vance memes! I ordered a childless cat lady shirt off Amazon and can't wait to wear it! https://a.co/d/7ojNSkA I also look forward to seeing Kamala destroy Trump in a debate this fall! One of my like-minded teacher friends and I already agreed we're gonna have to get together, pop some popcorn, and have a few drinks for that one, even if it is on a school night.
Have you had any luck getting further on your chapter? I hate when that happens; scrapping and rewriting is the worst, even if it's for the best. Sometimes wrapping it all up after the action dies down is one of the hardest parts! I've found myself really struggling to find a good place to finish chapters with my current story. I just keep writing and writing, and the scene gets longer and longer, and I know I need to wrap it up somehow so I can move on to the next one, but I don't know how. That's how I keep ending up with chapters that are over 5k words. I guess it helps to make the story look half as long as it actually is, but it makes me feel less productive because it takes me twice as long to finish a chapter. I finally finished the one I've been working on since I left for vacation today, which puts me three ahead of the one I posted tonight. Trying to build my buffer back up before school starts. This summer has gone by way too fast!
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Actually, Pugsley uses my insulin. We use the same one and since my dosage is so low, I can easily share with him. At least this way it's covered through insurance. Who knew right? LOL
I love that shirt! I just put it in my cart. It seems like Trump is trying to get out of debating Kamala. I can understand why. He knows she'll mop the floor with him. I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen in this country after he loses and refuses to accept the results again. He's already firing up his base. And did you see that little bit of one of his speeches where he said once they go out and vote this time, they'll never have to do it again? That's horrifying!
I did end up reworking that chapter but once I was able to do that, I ended finishing it off. I'm most likely starting on the next one today and ignoring the other story again. This version reads much better and is a little bit faster moving. Now that the action is over, it is very much like how you said your story is going. It's hard to figure out when to stop and start a new chapter but I worked through it and ended on a nice cliffhanger. Which my readers are finally getting used to. At first, they were like, "This was a great chapter, but you forgot to tell us what happened next." :D
I can't believe the summer is almost over! It went by entirely too fast. Even though I'm five years removed from teaching, I still get those anxious butterflies this time of year. I don't think that's ever going to go away. When do you start back? And are you still doing fourth grade? I know some of my teacher friends sometimes request a grade change after teaching one grade for a long time.
One month from tomorrow I will be on a boat! YAY!
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Mare, I can't believe it was going to cost $2,000 at the vets for Pugsley! That's more than my cruise cost. Glad you found somewhere they can be together and won't cost you a fortune.
Julie, that cat feeder sounds great and also that you could keep an eye on them too.
It's finally started to feel a bit more summery here, although I'm sure that won't last. We don't seem to get long spells of hot weather here anymore.
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Same here. It's only now starting to feel like summer and it's almost August. Although we have had a fair share of humidity. Gotta love global warming.
I've been waiting to see if The Invisible Child would surpass Tumbledown on AO3 as my most successful fic on there and it has officially bypassed Tumbledown by hits, kudos, and comments before it's completion. Tumbledown was finished at 22 so this one has hit beyond those things by chapter 20. I'll be posting 21 today. It seems stupid to be happy about something as dumb as that but considering when I started completely from scratch with zero readers, the fact that it's done as well as it has feels like a minor accomplishment . LOL
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Oh wow, that's nice that you and Pugsley can share insulin! That definitely helps with the cost, having it covered by your insurance.
I did see that Trump clip where he talked about not having to vote again after this election. Horrifying! I don't understand how his supporters can call themselves "Patriots" while going against the Constitution and everything the founding fathers worked to establish. I just hope we can keep the momentum and excitement on our side.
I'm glad you were able to finish your chapter and that it turned out better the second time around. Cliffhangers are always a fun way to end! My current story is not that kind of story that lends itself to cliffhangers, but I left my last chapter off on an ominous note and got a comment that just said, "Aww." LOL
Also, congrats on The Invisible Child surpassing Tumbledown as your most successful fic on AC! I totally get the sense of accomplishment . I like to watch my stats, too! The World Will Be Waiting has worked its way up to my second-best story on AO3 in terms of stats, second only to its predecessor, My Brother's Keeper, which I'm pretty happy about.
I bet it takes awhile for the back to school nightmares to go away! I had my first one of those back in June but haven't had too many lately. We start back August 19th (for teachers; the kids start the 21st). I'm still teaching 4th grade. I could have switched to 5th or 6th if I wanted to, but I really like my 4th grade team and have no desire to teach older kids, especially not 6th graders. My school is only grades 4-6, so going down a grade would mean changing schools. There may come a time where I'm ready for that kind of change, but right now it feels like way too much effort to move classrooms and adjust to a new school, new staff, new curriculum, etc. I've been able to find a better work-life balance than I used to have because I don't have to reinvent the wheel every year, which is really nice. And I love 4th graders! It really is a good in-between age. Most of them are still sweet and fairly innocent (a lot of still believe in Santa), but they have a good sense of humor and can be taught to work independently.
Whoo-hoo, one month till your cruise! You can think of me whipping my new 4th graders into shape while you're relaxing on the ship LOL.
I'm jealous of you both in terms of weather! It's been hot and humid most of the summer here, and it will probably stay that way when school starts, which makes for an unpleasant teaching experience when the air conditioning never seems to cool down my corner of the school effectively enough.
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I wouldn't be able to handle hot and humid weather for long, I prefer it just warm. We don't have aircon in our houses over here, so as soon as we get hot weather we all start to moan lol
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I bet!! I would not survive the summer without air conditioning!
Funny, I just popped on here because I thought of you, Steph. I was browsing Reddit before bed and saw a post where a guy posted a picture of what appeared to be insect bites on his leg that hadn't healed for two months. He was wondering what they were, and the top suggestion was bot flies. Immediately, my mind went to your story and the bot flies in Jordan Knight's brain and how much fun I had maiming that poor doll LOL. Good times!
Here is the thread if you're interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/1efiqkb/got_bit_by_something_2_months_ago_and_it_hasnt/ The picture he posted isn't gross.
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Oh wow, that's nice that you and Pugsley can share insulin! That definitely helps with the cost, having it covered by your insurance.
I did see that Trump clip where he talked about not having to vote again after this election. Horrifying! I don't understand how his supporters can call themselves "Patriots" while going against the Constitution and everything the founding fathers worked to establish. I just hope we can keep the momentum and excitement on our side.
I'm glad you were able to finish your chapter and that it turned out better the second time around. Cliffhangers are always a fun way to end! My current story is not that kind of story that lends itself to cliffhangers, but I left my last chapter off on an ominous note and got a comment that just said, "Aww." LOL
Also, congrats on The Invisible Child surpassing Tumbledown as your most successful fic on AC! I totally get the sense of accomplishment . I like to watch my stats, too! The World Will Be Waiting has worked its way up to my second-best story on AO3 in terms of stats, second only to its predecessor, My Brother's Keeper, which I'm pretty happy about.
I bet it takes awhile for the back to school nightmares to go away! I had my first one of those back in June but haven't had too many lately. We start back August 19th (for teachers; the kids start the 21st). I'm still teaching 4th grade. I could have switched to 5th or 6th if I wanted to, but I really like my 4th grade team and have no desire to teach older kids, especially not 6th graders. My school is only grades 4-6, so going down a grade would mean changing schools. There may come a time where I'm ready for that kind of change, but right now it feels like way too much effort to move classrooms and adjust to a new school, new staff, new curriculum, etc. I've been able to find a better work-life balance than I used to have because I don't have to reinvent the wheel every year, which is really nice. And I love 4th graders! It really is a good in-between age. Most of them are still sweet and fairly innocent (a lot of still believe in Santa), but they have a good sense of humor and can be taught to work independently.
Whoo-hoo, one month till your cruise! You can think of me whipping my new 4th graders into shape while you're relaxing on the ship LOL.
I'm jealous of you both in terms of weather! It's been hot and humid most of the summer here, and it will probably stay that way when school starts, which makes for an unpleasant teaching experience when the air conditioning never seems to cool down my corner of the school effectively enough.
Vets are a bit like auto mechanics. My sister just took Pugsley to get his rabies shot which he needed for being boarded and she was trying to sell her on so many extra things. It's stressful.
I admit, it'll be nice unplugging from reality for 10 days. I'm tired of getting all worked up over something stupid Trump has said or done every single day. Of course, I'll come back and find out we are in a civil war, but while I'm gone it'll be nice!
I didn't realize you were in a 4-6 school. Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to drop down to a lower grade then. Why go through all that hassle if you enjoy what you're doing. I loved my 4th graders. I think 4 and 6 were my two favorite grades to teach because like you said, they are still very young minded, but at the same time you can have real discussions with them. Same with 6. They aren't quite as obnoxious at 7th and 8th graders. A little kooky but still at the age where they listen and get excited about things. I'm glad you still have at least a couple more weeks to kind of relax. Hopefully the dreams won't come anytime soon!
Awww lol I love that. I ended the next chapter I'm posting on a flatline so I'm sure I'll get a few of those as well. Congrats to you too! Now I'm just wanting to hit the 4,000 hit mark before this story is over. I don't expect any more kudos at this point, but I got 6 more yesterday, which means I think people are just giving me kudos without signing in.
I just got the notification that our cruise documents and luggage tags are ready to print. Yay! Parking is going to cost a small fortune, but still cheaper than having to fly somewhere.
It's humid today and yesterday was blech as well, but for the most part, it's been mid 80's, which isn't too bad.
Steph, I don't know what I'd do without air conditioning either. My music room in one of my schools wasn't air conditioned and it was total hell!
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Oh no! Not the bot flies!! LOL
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I bet!! I would not survive the summer without air conditioning!
Funny, I just popped on here because I thought of you, Steph. I was browsing Reddit before bed and saw a post where a guy posted a picture of what appeared to be insect bites on his leg that hadn't healed for two months. He was wondering what they were, and the top suggestion was bot flies. Immediately, my mind went to your story and the bot flies in Jordan Knight's brain and how much fun I had maiming that poor doll LOL. Good times!
Here is the thread if you're interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/1efiqkb/got_bit_by_something_2_months_ago_and_it_hasnt/ The picture he posted isn't gross.
Oh wow, a real life bot fly Jordan lol. The post has been removed which is a shame.
I did love writing that story lol
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Mare, cruise parking isn't cheap is it, I think it was about £200 for our 2 week cruise. But it meant we could park right outside the ship, unload our stuff and then the cruise parking staff took the car away and parked it. It was so easy.
Had a bit of drama here yesterday, Tim's car caught fire while he was driving. Luckily he got out before the fire really got going, but he said it was terrifying seeing the flames and the loud bang. It didn't explode like in movies or TV though. The fireman came quite quickly but his car is completely ruined. So now we'll have to see how long the insurance takes to sort it out :(
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Oh my Gosh!! Thank goodness Tim is okay! Did you figure out why it caught fire? Hopefully insurance will take care of most of that. Yikes! That is so annoying! So, does that mean you guys have to share a car until things get sorted out? Or will insurance at least let you get a rental until you get a chance to car shop?
For us, it'll be about $30 a day which comes out to $300. It's not valet so my sister will have to drop me and our things off and then go to park. I have port assist which means someone will meet us with a wheelchair and then they'll bring us through the entire process and straight up to my room where hopefully my scooter will be there. We are both confused about the whole not using a cell while on the cruise thing. I know to go on airplane mode but is that only for days when we are at sea. When we are docked at the port can we use our cellphones? Even if we stay on the ship. Do you have any idea how that works? It's going to be so hard to be disconnected for the entire time but if we can get online on port days, it won't be so bad. Mainly to check on the animals and make sure the US is still standing. LOL
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Yes you'll have to put your phone on airplane mode while you're at sea or you'll connect to the maritime satellite service which will be extortionate. You can buy the internet package to use your phone, but we didn't do that, I think you can buy just a day if you needed to. You'll be able to connect when in a port, even if you stay on the ship as your phone will pick up the signal from the port. We did that at every stop and it saved money. Do you have many sea days? We were on a two week cruise so had a few sea days, so it was nice to disconnect from the world but also nice when we arrived in port and could check what was happening back home.
We have no idea why the car caught fire, I'm sure the investigators will find out. He doesn't get a rental car as the car is a total write off so they don't give you one, which I find crazy! Hopefully it won't take too long to pay out, but I know what insurance companies can be like. So we will be sharing the car, but it won't be too bad.
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Thanks for the info! We're going on a 10 day cruise but we'll only be at sea for 2 days. Every other day is a port day. We are actually staying at St. John's for days. So, that's great then. It would seem like a huge waste of time to get the wifi package.
That stinks about the rental car. When my car was a total loss, they let me rent a car for a week before they pulled the plug. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for that check!
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Two sea days isn't bad at all, don't bother with the wifi package then. Not long now until you go :)
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25 days, but who's counting? LOL
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Sorry I've been MIA for the last few days! When the back to school bug finally hits, it hits me hard! I haven't actually made it into my classroom yet (hopefully tomorrow), but I've been busy working on school stuff at home.
My district is doing a redistricting study this year to hopefully even out enrollment across the different schools, and we're hoping they will decide to move 6th grade up to the junior high and move 3rd grade to the intermediate school, where I teach. If that happened, I would be much more willing to change grades at some point in the future. I loved 3rd grade when I student taught! Our 6th graders can be obnoxious, but I think it's because they're the oldest kids in the building, whereas if they were at junior high with 7th and 8th graders, they would seem sweeter by comparison.
How was the reaction to your flatline chapter? I hope you got some good comments on that cliffhanger! How close are you to finishing the story now?
I've been writing just enough to keep my streak alive, but between school stuff and watching gymnastics live in the morning, I've fallen off my morning writing routine. Worse yet, I still haven't finished that damn Frick & Frack story I posted part of for April Fool's Day, and now it looks like I probably won't finish it before school starts. Fail! I need the guys to do something together and give me some inspiration LOL. I've been more focused on Kevin and my OCs in my other story.
Ooh, that's exciting that you were able to print your cruise stuff! Getting closer! When are you leaving again?
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I figured that's what you were doing. I thought it was interesting the way your schools are set up. I've never seen a k-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12 setup before. All the schools where I've taught or went to (NY, NJ, MA) were either k-6, 7-8, 9-12 or k-6, 7-9, 10-12. And of course, standard Catholic schools are k-8, 9-12. You guys having four divisions tells me that you probably have a huge district. My hometown in NJ was pretty small. We only had 6 elementary schools and two middle schools, and we all ended up in one high school. I always thought it was dumb to have 9th grade as part of the middle school because some of us who were in the more AP classes, ended up losing out on going up a grade because of the location and for me, I was still in the Marching Band in 9th grade, so I still had to trek to the HS for afterschool practices and games etc... The year I left, they reconfigured and moved 9 up to the HS. That would be awesome for you, if 3rd did move up. Sometimes a change is refreshing. I can see why the 6th graders were obnoxious. I think the 'oldest' of any school acts like they are the best!
I'm not sure how the flatline chapter went. For some reason, AO3 was being sketchy for me all day yesterday. Probably because we had some really bad storms, and a tornado roll through! I was able to post my chapter but not able to access it at all the rest of the day. I'm not sure if I have any comments or not. They really suck at sending emails. I usually get the email after I've already been to the site and have replied back to my reviews. I'm going to attempt to get in there after I am done here. I have figured out that I'll be done by chapter 25. I think that one is just going to be a short epilogue and then a year time jump with the beginning of the brand new one. That's what I'm currently toying with in my brain. Whether I want to go through the entire healing process or skip ahead a bit to after he gets out of the hospital and already has his skull put back together. LOL poor guy.
Well, at least you kept your writing streak alive and now gymnastics is over so maybe you'll be able to get some writing on the frick and frack story done. If not, I say just wait until next April Fool's and just make that a thing. One new chapter a year. LOL It seems like AJ and Nick are active, but the others are just chilling? I have seen Howie doing cooking things randomly on twitter. Maybe the food network will give him his own show. It seems like their thing.
We leave for NJ on the 28th. We decided to leave a day early and get a hotel since it'll be about a 7-hour drive. Then we get on the boat at noon on the 29th and come back on the 7th. YAY!
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My district has 11 schools, which makes us one of the bigger districts in the mostly suburban/rural area I live in, but not big compared to the urban districts. It is probably just slightly bigger than your hometown, as we also have 6 elementary schools, 2 intermediate schools, and 2 junior highs. Our district does not include the high school; they're actually a separate district because several other K-8 districts feed into them. The high school is huge! It is a weird way to divide the grades, definitely different from the district I grew up in. I went to a K-4 elementary school, followed by a 5-8 middle school. Those two schools have since combined into one K-8 school after one of the schools added on a new wing. My school is the newest building in our district, and we are already busting at the seams, so it'll be interesting to see what changes redistricting brings.
I heard AO3 was having issues yesterday, so I don't think it was just you. I tried going there to reply to a comment, and it wouldn't load. Then I saw they had tweeted about the site being slow and something about emails not working properly. Then my power was randomly out for 3 hours last night, so I never did get back on to see if it was working again. I hope you didn't have any damage from the tornado! And hopefully you do get some good comments on your chapter. I understand the debate over whether to show the entire healing process or skip ahead. Sometimes I like to go into agonizing detail, and sometimes I feel like that just drags it out too far. I guess it depends on how well it fits with the rest of the story and whether it's important to show the healing process or not.
I actually ended up having a decent writing day yesterday because my power went out, and I had nothing else to do except write on my Chromebook. LOL That's a good idea, just update the Frick & Frack story every April Fool's Day. I started it as a one-shot, but it's getting long enough that I will probably end up breaking it up into 3 or 4 chapters by the time it's finished, so that would get me through the next few April Fool's Days LOL. That is always a minor source of stress for me, trying to come up with a good prank. Every year, I'm like, "Maybe this is the year that I let that go," but I've always managed to come through with something, even if it's lame and last-minute. What's really pathetic is that "Frick & Frack's Fuck Fiesta" already has more hits on AO3 than half of my novels. 🤦♀️
I could see Howie with a cooking show on Food Network LOL. That would be awesome! Do they have celebrity cooking competition shows? He would be a great contestant on one of those. Still hoping to see one of the other guys on DWTS or The Masked Singer at some point! I don't watch either of those shows anymore, but I would if they had a BSB on it.
Yay, you're less than a month away! Arriving the night before sounds like a good idea, just in case of traffic or anything else. Have you started making a packing list yet?
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I could see Howie on a cooking show like Great British Bake Off or something like that lol.
Wow you had a tornado there? That must be scary. I hope there's no damage. We don't get anything like that here, just lots of rain.
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I did finally get on to AO3 yesterday and there were two reviews. One of them was really long and detailed. I love those! I think she figured out that I'm not going to kill Roman. The other girl just said the usual I can't wait until Roman and Gerri reunite. LOL I think I'll probably get one or two more comments. I usually have one steady reviewer who usually doesn't read until the end of the week. It's so weird, because some weeks I'll get about 2 or 3 comments. Other weeks like last week, I'll get about 6 or so. I've stopped trying to figure it out. I'm just grateful for people who take the time to review my stuff.
The tornado hit downtown Buffalo, so it was a pretty safe distance away from me. It's rare to get a tornado here. It was an EF1 and mostly just took some roofs off of houses and downed power lines and trees but thankfully no deaths or causalities. Climate change, weather is getting wacky everywhere. I am surprised we didn't lose power.
I'm glad you got writing done because or your power outage. I do think you should go ahead and do that with your one shot. The fact that it's not a one shot alone is a great April Fool's joke. I can't believe you've managed to maintain that gag for as long as you have but, I also can't believe you also have kept your site alive for as long as you have. GOAT!
Howie on the Great British Baking Show. I would love to see that! I stopped watching The Masked Singer a while ago and only watched SYTYCD because of Nick that one season.
I have not done the packing thing yet, but I do think I have bought everything I'm going to need including every possible motion sickness medicine available. Just in case. LOL
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I could see Howie on a cooking show like Great British Bake Off or something like that lol.
Wow you had a tornado there? That must be scary. I hope there's no damage. We don't get anything like that here, just lots of rain.
We aren't supposed to get anything like that here either. We are only known for heavy snow but within the past year we've had an earthquake and now a tornado!
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Yay for reviews, especially the long and detailed kind! You can never predict what readers will choose to comment on. Sometimes things that I expect to get a big reaction don't, yet small things will. But like you said, I'm grateful to get any reviews, so I'll take whatever I can get! Shoutout to Steph for leaving detailed, coherent comments!
LOL Thanks for the GOAT comment! I'm really just unusually loyal. Once I fall in love with something, I tend to love it forever. I do take pride in my site's longevity, so I'll keep it going for as long as I'm still using it.
I'm glad you weren't affected by the tornado! We actually had an EF1 tornado here while I was in Tennessee. I guess there were a lot of tree limbs and power lines down, but thankfully I didn't have any damage at my house, and everything else was mostly cleaned up by the time I got home. Tornadoes aren't that unusual in Illinois, but it's scary to hear about them happening in places that don't usually get them. We've had a couple of dust storms in the past year or so, which is not something I ever remember happening here before. It happened in the spring when we had a long stretch without rain while farmers were planting their crops, so the fields were full of loose dirt that blew up into big dust clouds. It affected visibility so badly that they had to shut down interstates because nobody could see to drive. I would expect that in the desert, but not here. Climate change indeed!
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I miss Steph's reviews. The BSB peeps all gave really great reviews.
It usually takes me awhile before a hyper fixation dims for me, but when it does, it completely goes away at first and then it'll slowly come back but nothing to where it was before. That's where I am with BSB now. I'm clicking on more stuff related to them now, showing more intertest but not anywhere near where I was before. I will always love them though. That's another thing that remains true of everything I've ever obsessed over. They still mean the world to me. I think the only fandom that has never swayed for me is The Mets and it's been my longest one yet. Although I'd probably put that in a different category.
I'm glad we've never had a dust storm here. Those seem awful. So weird how all these weather events are slowly hitting places they never have before. I didn't really want to live through the actual apocalypse, but here we are. :shrug:
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Yes, they did/do! At least they did here on AC. I still get the best AO3 comments from people who used to post on AC. (Mainly Steph.)
I'm glad you're getting some interest in BSB back. It's hard when they're not really doing anything. I hope they start working on a new album soon! I know they technically released an album less than two years ago (the Christmas album), but since the concerts and most of the promotional stuff they had planned for it got canceled, it feels like it's been a lot longer since we got new music. I'm ready for a new BSB era!
I get it, though; there are many things I will always love but am no longer obsessed with. BSB will always be my #1 as far as fandoms go. I wish I could get into writing for another fandom, ideally one that's more active/popular, but loving something and writing fanfic about that something are two different things.
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I noticed it seems so easy for other people to just hop from fandom to fandom writing wise. I feel like I'd really have to know the characters inside and out before I could write them. And even then, unless I felt some kind of connection, I doubt I'd be able to. I wrote one Supernatural fic and it was only a one shot and I found that extremely difficult. I know people who barely started watching a show like Hacks or Interview with a Vampire and then suddenly they are posting their new fics about them.
In other news. I looked up when Keanu was going to be on Broadway in Waiting for Godot, and it won't be until fall of 2025. I was really hoping Kieran and Keanu would be there at the same time. I'll only be able to afford one trip to NYC so, sorry Keanu. :'( Unless Kieran's play is in for the long haul and overlaps, which I highly doubt.
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I'm the same, once I love something then it usually stays with me, like my love for BSB. I can make room for other groups/singers but BSB are my number ones. I usually listen to something of theirs every day :)
Mare, I'll have to watch Succession so that I can read your new stories and understand the characters. I've still only seen a few episodes as Tim lost interest when we were watching, so I'll have to watch on my own at some point. I've only seen up to episode 7 of series one so far, so I'm way behind.
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Ah, the therapy episode. It's sad I've watched it so many times I know the episode just by the number you're on. I was the same with Supernatural, but there were so many seasons of that, that after a while I wasn't able to figure out what was what unless it also had the episode name attached. LOL I hope you continue. I'd love for you to read my stuff again.
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I will get around to reading your stories as always loved your writing :)
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I don't understand how people can write fanfics for stuff they've just discovered either. There are only a handful of fandoms I feel knowledgeable enough to write in, and even then, I would still have to do some research and rewatch/reread for inspiration. But then, not everyone cares about things like realism, accuracy, canon-compliance, backstory, and plot LOL. I guess it's easy enough to write a smutty one-shot about any pair of characters without knowing much about them. (To be fair, I would find this incredibly difficult, but it's probably easier for people who enjoy reading and writing that sort of thing.)
I hope you at least get to go see Kieran on Broadway, Mare!
I'm still in back-to-school mode, just writing enough on my story to keep my streak alive. Today is my update day, and I still have three finished chapters ready to post, but I always hesitate to post them when I'm not feeling productive. The next chapter starts a new story arc that I've been planning for a while, but now that I've actually started writing it, I'm not sure if I like it or not. I feel like I need to get further into it in order to feel more confident about it. School officially starts Wednesday, so hopefully by next weekend, I'll be able to settle back into my regular writing routine.
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This summer flew by! I Can't believe you're starting this week already. It's good you have some chapters ready to go. Hopefully you'll make your decision soon about whether or not your new story arc will work!
I have about one more paragraph to write of my last chapter of Invisible child and then I'm going to try to start on the sequel before my cruise. I think I'll start updating that one in October. Giving myself a nice head start.
I saw people on twitter claiming that there are very few first-person novels that are any good out there and it literally made my brain hurt so last night I made about an 8-minute video of book recs. I know first person isn't for everyone but to say they are all crap is a bit much! To Kill a Mockingbird? The Book Thief? Makes me think they haven't read very much. Not that anyone is going to watch it. I think I have like 5 followers on TikTok, but still, it'll make me feel better! LOL
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It really did fly by! I feel like I got nothing done. I'm hoping to get some writing done today. I got groceries and cleaned my house yesterday so I can hopefully just relax today.
Wow, one more paragraph! Hopefully by the time you see this, you'll have finished The Invisible Child. Congrats! And good luck getting started on the sequel!
I don't understand the backlash against first person. I've seen that on Reddit as well, but I thought it was just for fanfic. Crazy that people are criticizing first person published novels as well. Given that first person has been trendier than third person for the past couple decades, I'm sure there are plenty of examples of bad novels written in that POV (Twilight comes to mind), but, as you pointed out, there are also plenty of great novels, both new and old. What's your TikTok, if you don't mind sharing? I'm not on TikTok much, but I'll give your video a watch!
Does seeing first person get hated on make you more hesitant to write in that POV? I was already well into writing a first person novel when I first realized a lot of people don't like that POV, and now I'm writing its sequel, but when I finish this series, I will probably go back to third person unless I have a good reason to write in first.
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I'm still here. Not quite done. Decided to add more than I thought, so I'll end up finishing it tomorrow since the Mets game is about to start. I'm also in the process of trying to pack and figure out what to carry on and what I won't need right away. We won't have access to our luggage until nighttime so they recommend bringing things you might need throughout the day with you. It's harder than I thought it would be. LOL
my video is uploading now. It's so ghetto because I have no clue how to edit or anything so, it's basically me babbling for 8 minutes. I think I'm @egypt18015 but if that doesn't work then it's @bitybella. I can't check because it's uploading.
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My TikTok is @egypt18015
I also realized I never answered your question about writing in first person. I enjoy writing in first person too much to give it up. I've only written one in this fandom, but when and if I ever do make the sequel to Tumbledown, which is my first person one, I'd do that one in first as well. I don't know why but I find it easier to first in that point of view. Probably because I'm so dialogue driven and not as into descriptions.
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Just wanted to come in and wish you a great first day of school! Hopefully it’ll be a fun year and a good class!
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Hope your first day back in school goes well :) And your writing goes in the direction you want it to go.
Mare, I don't use TikTok but I'll see if I can have a look. In fact I only use Facebook and Instagram as forgot my Twitter details lol, or X as it's called now.
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I refuse to call it X lol I tend to forget all about TikTok until I click on a FB reel from there and go oh yeah, I haven't been there in a while.
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Yes when I sometimes click on a FB thing it takes me there and asks me to create an account, which I've not done yet lol. Maybe I'll have to sign up for it :)
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It stinks you have to sign up for all of these things. I feel like I'm having to sign up for something new every day.
And now that the cruise is 6 days away, they have been posting the activities on the app and there is a theme night each night and one of them is all white attire. That would have been helpful to know a while ago and not less than a week away. I own absolutely zero white things. I don't wear white because I stain things too easily and it's not a very flattering color and I'm not about to go spend money on something white that I'll never wear again, so I hope I'm not publicly shamed because I'm not dressed like everyone else. We all already know how much I hate theme things to begin with. LOL
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You don't have to take part in the theme nights if you don't want to. On our cruise they had black tie night and celebration night where you had to dress up to get in to most restaurants. We dressed up for the celebration night as I already had a nice dress and Tim had a suit. But we weren't dressing up really fancy for the black tie event lol. So on that night we ate at one of the casual places and wore jeans and a t-shirt.
Not everyone wants to take part, so you'll be fine :)
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I joined a FB group specifically made for this cruise. I didn't know they did things like that but virtually there's usually one person who will make a group for your cruise. It's been really helpful to read info. One of the things I had NO clue about until two days ago was how the main dining room worked. When I booked this cruise with a travel agent, which also happened to be an old friend from high school, she never mentioned anything about tables and how the MDR works so I was under the impression this whole time, that each night you could either choose the buffet or the MDR and that if you chose the dining room they would seat you like they would at a restaurant.
Turns out most people were asked if they wanted early or late dinner and if they wanted to sit in a group or just by their own party. I missed out on all of that. There is a dining room called my time dining, but you have to reserve a table each night. Well, by the time I found this out and tried to reserve tables, the earliest available on most nights was after 8! I managed to book about 5 nights out of the 9 but the earliest we were able to get was 6:45. The majority of them are at 7:15. I usually eat dinner at 5. :o
I have been kind of annoyed about this. I mean, the buffet is well and good, but I was really trying to avoid having to go there for every single meal. The other thing that sucks with this plan is because of the lateness, we are pretty much missing out on all the shows because they schedule them at around 8 on this ship and we'll be eating when they are performing.
I guess it's my fault for not asking further questions. She had asked me what do you feel about dining, and I had answered we would want to just sit the two of us and be able to go whenever we want. It would have been helpful if she actually explained the whole reservation thing. Sorry I'm ranting here. She's my FB friend so I don't want to complain on there. LOL
Other than that, I'm pretty excited. I'm almost all packed. Tomorrow morning, we drop of the animals at their little pet hotel and then around noon we're making the 6 hour trek to Newark NJ. It's only about 30 minutes to the port from there and then on noon Thursday, we get on the boat! ;D
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Mare, I'm sure once you're on the ship you'll be able to go to the MDR and ask them to change your meal times. They are very helpful. When I tried to book meals before the cruise I could only pick crappy times like 8pm (I also like to eat earlier). But when we were on the ship we found we could eat whenever we wanted really. On ours you had to join a virtual queue and when your table was ready you get a notification, we never had to wait long. I don't know if yours will be the same, but I'm sure you'll be able to eat early as most people want to eat about 7pm before the shows start at about 8.30.
Have an amazing time :)
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Sorry I haven't been around here since school started! The first two weeks are so exhausting. I just come home and mindlessly watch TV until I fall asleep LOL. Last night (Friday night), I lay down to take a "nap" at 7 p.m. and ended up sleeping the whole night. I woke up a couple of times but didn't actually get up until about 9:30 the next morning. I figure I got around twelve hours of actual sleep, which was lovely. Thank god we have a 3-day weekend!
Mare, I did watch your TikTok video, and you did a great job talking about books! It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I often think about how cringey most of those TikTok dance videos are going to seem ten years from now. A lot of them give me secondhand embarrassment now - usually the ones with teachers doing random dance moves in the middle of their empty classroom with captions that are totally unrelated to their weird dance moves. I don't get it. LOL
I hope you're having an amazing time on your cruise! I saw that your travels got off to a rough start, but I hope things got better once you boarded the ship. I didn't realize it was so complicated as far as reserving tables for dinner and all that. We didn't have to do that on the BSB cruises, but I've never been on a regular cruise, so I would have had no idea. I'm with you on the white night thing too. They had a white party in Cancun, and I did buy a beachy white dress to wear off Amazon, but I will probably never wear it again outside of another white themed event. I am super pale, so I don't look good in white. It was hard to find a white dress that wouldn't make me look like a bride, a ghost, or a marshmallow. Steph, I'm with you on not wanting to dress up fancy for black tie night either. I like casual dresses, but I hate having to buy something really fancy that I'm only going to wear once.
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I hope your school year is off to a great start and the beginning year exhaustion has gotten better!
Overall, I had a great time. I highly recommend getting a balcony room. That was the highlight for me, sitting out on the balcony and reading and just watching the sunrise and sunsets. The first day was rough. Right before we got on the boat, my sister decided to check in on the pets to see how they were doing and to see how Pugsley did with getting his shots from a stranger. He gets insulin twice a day. Well, this lady didn't bother reading directions and was giving Chloe the insulin! Which means Chloe got three doses of insulin and Pugsley didn't get any! Needless to say, we found this out literally an hour before we were to get on the boat. My sister almost didn't get on, but thankfully she did. We managed to find someone to take Pugsley to the Emergency Vet and they kept him for the entirety of the trip. So yeah, what we didn't want to do because it was hella expensive, we ended up doing anyway. We had no choice but to leave Chloe with her. Thankfully she came home in one piece although she was missing her favorite calming stuffie, some of her tee shirts and water bowls.
Then, after being on the boat for an hour, I'm on the balcony and decide to leave to go to the sail away party. There was a ramp that comes down when the door opens, for some reason the ramp didn't come down and I tripped and fell. So instead of going to the sail away party, I was on the floor and had to wait for Security to come and help me up. My left foot and leg were completely bruised!
Thankfully things got better after that, although my sister's mood never recovered from the whole Insulin thing.
I'm probably going to make a video about my cruise experience as a handicap person because as I've said before, I wish I had someone talk about this stuff when I was doing research. Sadly, it wasn't all that accessible. There were scooters everywhere, but we were all complaining about the same thing which is lack of help. For instance, at the buffet, there were designated handicap tables, but no one ever came over to help or anything. I did the main dining room once, but it was so crowded in there, I couldn't maneuver the scooter, and they asked me if I could walk to the table. Lots of stress like that. The doors to our staterooms were so heavy that I couldn't open it. etc...
It wasn't all bad though. The staff overall was incredible! And I met a lot of great people, and not once did anyone make me feel guilty about being on a scooter when it came to the elevators. We had spectacular weather every day. It didn't rain until we were disembarking on the final day. I enjoyed the ports of call although the gangways were friggin terrifying. I'd cruise again, but not on this particular ship and only if they were really completely handicap accessible. It's definitely something I can't do alone, and it made me realize that I absolutely can't do NY alone to see Kieran. I'm just not able bodied enough. The hotel room the night before the cruise, I couldn't get on the bed because it was too high up, so I ended up sleeping on the chair with my head on the dresser. :-[
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I'm glad you had a great time, despite a few hiccups! I've been looking forward to hearing about it.
Shame on your petsitter! I get that mistakes happen, but when it comes to medication, getting the dog and cat mixed up is a pretty big mess-up! I'm so glad you guys figured it out at the beginning of the trip. That could have been bad for both Pugsley and Chloe! And what happened to Chloe's stuff?? I would not be trusting this woman with my pets again! I'm sorry that happened and that you ended up having to pay for Pugsley to stay at the vet anyway.
Also sorry to hear about your fall on the first day! Not a great start. I'm glad you weren't hurt other than the bruises and that it got better from there. The photos you posted were beautiful! Looks like you got to go to a lot of cool places.
It's too bad that the ship wasn't more accessible or the staff more helpful. I guess they assume that most people would have someone with them to help, but the goal should be to make it so that most disabled people could navigate the ship independently if needed. I saw your post about not being able to get onto the bed at the hotel. That's terrible! Did you book an accessible room, or was it just a regular room? Either way, there's no reason they need to make the beds so high. Is your sister willing to go to NY with you to see Kieran?
While some places are better than others, the world definitely has a ways to go when it comes to accessibility. I won't pretend to know firsthand the struggles of being disabled, but between planning field trips in years when I've had students who used wheelchairs or walkers and researching for the story I'm writing, where my MC is a quadriplegic, I get the frustration on some level. Just this week, I was looking for wheelchair-accessible places to stay in Aspen, CO for the chapter I'm writing. I like to look up real locations to use as inspiration when describing the setting, especially when it's somewhere I've never been. I chose Aspen because they have an adaptive skiing program, so you'd think they would also have plenty of accessible lodging available too, right? Wrong. It was hard to even find suitable hotel rooms, let alone something bigger and nicer like a cabin that was fully accessible for someone with limited mobility. And that's in 2024. My story takes place over ten years ago, when the options were probably even more limited than they are now. I was frustrated just trying to plan a fictional trip, so I can only imagine how difficult and frustrating it must be to do it for real. Hopefully it gets easier the more you travel, as you learn what to look for and ask about that you may not have thought of the first time.
I hope you're able to rest, relax, and unwind this week! Enjoy sleeping in your own bed!
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We heard back from Amy (pet sitter from hell) she said she found a bag that had most of Chloe's things in it and she totally forgot to put it aside. Her teddy bear wasn't there though. She said I never even saw her playing with it followed by a laughing emoji! It's like the girl has no clue how horrible she is. Meanwhile we told the vet about her so this way she knows never to recommend this lady to anyone. When we asked her to drop the stuff off to us, she had the nerve to say we lived too far away (literally 20 minutes!) so could we come and get it. Needless to say, after our reply back she'll be coming here to drop her stuff off! :crazy:
This ship was one of the oldest ones in their fleet and will be refurbished in 2026. According to a lot of people in our trip's FB group, the other ships are a lot more handicapped friendly. This one is behind the times. They shouldn't just assume people had help. If my sister did end up getting off the boat, I'm convinced I would've ended up spending the remainder of my trip just stuck in the stateroom. I couldn't even open the balcony door without help.
It is sad how inaccessible things still are this day and age. That room we booked was a handicap accessible room. I even bring a small step stool with me wherever I go since my left leg is basically dead and even that didn't help. The bed was that high up! The only reason the bathroom was 'accessible' was because they had bars in the shower but there was nothing at all by the toilet to grab onto to stand or sit which was another nightmare for me. Even my totally handicap accessible stateroom's bed was too high. If I didn't have my step with me, I wouldn't have been able to get on the bed. The bathroom in my stateroom was awesome though.
Like you found just doing research on this stuff, it's absolutely exhausting trying to find places that are accessible. Even something as small as getting your hair done. I never talked about this story but a few months ago, I booked an appointment to get my hair cut because it was getting really long and when I got there, I had to leave because there were stairs leading up to both of the entrances. It's not always on my mind to find out if places are handicap accessible. I don't always mentally see myself as handicap and it was a complete bummer when that happened, to know that something as trivial as going to get a haircut or going out to eat, now involves research or even worse, a phone call. So many restaurants aren't handicapped accessible either. I even have to ask people who invite me to their houses if they have stairs. There have been so many BBQ's and parties I haven't been able to go to here because of stairs and if I hadn't asked, the embarrassment it would've caused everyone because I would have to leave.
I am heartbroken about NYC. My sister might be willing to go, but even if she did, there are so many obstacles standing in the way. This trip reminded me I can't do long distance drives anymore. My legs begin to cramp after about two hours so we'd have to stop so I can get out of the car, but then my legs also give out if I get in and out of the car too much. It's like a no-win situation in the car department. She's really anti flying and honestly to ask her to spend all that money on a plane ticket to see a play she has no desire to see wouldn't feel right. my first thought, before I really thought it through and the reality of my situation hit, was that I could fly into NYC and stay right in the heart of the Broadway district. I'd have to finds a hotel that had a shuttle directly from the airport and it would have to be within a very short walking distance to the theater. I wouldn't be able to do a wheelchair solo, so I'd have to use the walker. For this to be successful, I'd need to find a hotel within a block of the theater that used a handicap accessible van and then also have a handicap accessible room with a bed not the size of the Empire State Building. I can hardly walk using my walker anymore. Maybe I can take about 20 steps before I need to sit down. But even if we ignore that fact, just the price of the hotel alone would kill me. Looking them up right in the heart of Manhattan, the cheapest was about $200 night and that's probably really nowhere near where I'd actually have to be and most likely no shuttle service. The ones I had to really think about staying at range from $400 and up a night. It's just not feasible and I cry whenever I think about it. It is what it is. Maybe he'll change his mind and they'll move it up to Buffalo? lol
Okay enough poor me-ing. I need to get myself back into writing mode. I haven't even thought about writing in almost two weeks. And every time I do try, I think about me missing out on Kieran and Bob Odenkirk together. :'( I'm fine...it's fine.
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I had to come back and add this on. After saying this morning that I wished he would come up to Buffalo, this afternoon I see Macauley make that post about his little Home Alone talk and where is the first stop? Buffalo! I am taking that as a huge sign. It’s the wrong Culkin, but close enough. Just pray for me that I’m able to get tickets. There is a presale going on but whenever I tried to get handicap accessible it says the tix are already taken. When I called the box office to make sure it was wheelchair accessible the lady said to call back for tickets Wednesday. Yes, I did make a phone call. The things I will do for a Culkin lol
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I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise Mare, apart from the negatives. From your photos it looked lovely. It is a shame the ship wasn't more accessible, but maybe next time try one of the bigger newer ships. I'm pretty sure you would find the newer ships to be more accessible, I know ours was.
It's also a pain that you have to call to make sure places don't have steps. Over here, all houses built from 2000 onwards had to be wheelchair accessible and have a downstairs toilet too. But there are plenty of older houses and shops that would probably be a complete nightmare :(
I hope you get to see a Culkin :)
I'm quite disappointed today. I was supposed to be going to London with my daughter to see a k-pop singer but his whole European tour got cancelled last week (6 days before the show). We had paid not only for concert tickets, but train fare and a hotel which are non-refundable. We will get the concert tickets refunded though. I decided to cancel my time off work and save it for another time rather than have 2 wasted days off work as I've already been to London a couple of times recently. So instead my daughter and her friend are going rather than waste the train and hotel. That's a lesson to me for next time though. Don't book a hotel and train unless I can cancel last minute.
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Ugh, that sucks! Sorry Steph! Everything should always be refundable. Things happen. This seems to be happening more and more lately. People cancelling shows and tours at the last minute. I have seen this happen time and time again when it comes to BSB doing all these cons. They always seem to cancel at the last minute. Unless it's some kind of medical emergency or death or something, these artists when they cancel at the last minute, should have some kind of consequence. Not like oh sorry, I decided there was something else more important or fun I'd rather do, sorry about that. They all must realize all the planning and money people pay to get to these things. It's so rude!
I'm not sure if I'll ever really get to cruise again, but if I do, I definitely want to do a bigger ship.
I'm hoping I get to see this Home Alone thing. I'm not even a huge fan of the movie to be honest. I maybe have watched it three or four times tops in my life. It just seems like something that I shouldn't pass up. I think Macauley is a lovely person and he and his brother have similar personalities and mannerisms and maybe he'll talk about Kieran. Who knows, maybe he'll make a guest appearance, he is in the movie! lol wishful thinking. I'm still totally heartbroken about Broadway, but at least this would help a little.
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That's really sad you can't go to Broadway and see Kieran, fingers crossed he does make a guest appearance with his brother though. It's so annoying when you can't do the things you want to do for whatever reason, like health, money, distance etc. It's a real shame :(
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Thanks, Steph! good news. I did get tickets for Macauley's show on November 30th. I'm in terrible seats. It's a small win, but I'll take it.
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I'm glad you got most of Chloe's things back, but wow, Amy sounds terrible!
That makes more sense why the ship wasn't as accessible as it should be. I get that it takes time and money to bring older facilities up to code when it comes to current ADA guidelines. I'm sure the newer ships are much better in that respect. Not sure how old the hotel was, but that's pathetic that they can just put bars in the shower and call it "accessible." I've come across the same kind of issues in my research, too - showers that are supposedly roll-in still have a lip/step, beds are too high or too low, toilets don't have enough space to allow a transfer from a wheelchair... but, hey, as long as there are bars on the wall! 🙄 And there usually aren't as many photos as you'd want to see when trying to assess whether or not a place would be accessible, or the photos they include are not representative of the actual room you're reserving. It has to be so defeating to only discover places are inaccessible when you get there. That seems like an ADA violation to only have stairs and no ramp or elevator, but I know older buildings that haven't been renovated since ADA was passed can get away with more. And it's even harder to find private homes that don't have any steps to get inside.
I'm sorry about NYC! Planning a trip can be stressful enough without having to figure out all those logistics you listed. I would be overwhelmed by it all too. I'm glad you at least got tickets for the Macauley thing in Buffalo! That sounds fun!
I hope you can churn up some inspiration for writing! It's always hard for me to get back into my writing groove after a vacation. Speaking of fanfic, I don't know if Tracy DMed you too, but Whatever the Night May Bring was mentioned in a BSB fanfic thread on Reddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/BackstreetBoys/comments/1fdms7b/lost_fanfiction_from_early_2000s/
Steph, I'm so sorry your concert got cancelled! Did the artist give a reason? That is so strange to cancel it six days before the show! Very frustrating that everything else you booked was nonrefundable too. I'm glad your daughter will still be able to use the train and hotel, but that's still very disappointing.
Like Mare said, it does seem like this happens more often lately. I could understand it when live events started happening right after Covid, but that wouldn't explain canceling a whole tour. Between BSB canceling their Vegas Christmas shows and all Nick's canceled shows and convention appearances in the past few years, they've gotten kind of flakey lately. It makes me more reluctant to travel long distances to see them.
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We still haven't gotten Chloe's things back. She hasn't dropped anything off yet. This woman!
Thanks for letting me know about the reddit post. At first, I was just going to give her a like until I saw her asking if I was a Trump fan! Yikes!!! Now I'm thinking maybe I need to put an Author's Note at the top of that story to explain the reason I picked him was because I was confident the man would cause an apocalypse!
My house isn't accessible either. There's no way to get into or out of this place without having to climb at least 5 steps. I can't even use my wheelchair in the house easily because the hallway is too narrow. I can't access the basement or the upstairs bedroom so I can only really hang on the first floor. I have to depend on my sister to do my laundry since the washer and dryer are in the basement, but that's fine because I'm the only one whoever washes the dishes in this place. Eventually we're going to have to decide to either invest in a ramp or move.
How has your first few weeks of school gone? Do you have an easy class this year?
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Mare I can't believe that pet sitter still hasn't brought the things back to you. I hope you left her a bad review! And I hope you manage to sort out your house too or move somewhere more accessible. I can't imagine what in inconvenience that must be.
Julie, no the singer didn't give a reason for the tour cancellation, he just said he only found out it was cancelled when we did. His management said something about the local promoter, but to cancel the whole European and Dubai tour seems a bit harsh.
It seems a lot of singers/groups cancel these days. I was supposed to see Shawn Mendes last year with my daughter but he cancelled too.
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Artists should really be held accountable for cancelling shows. There seems to be no accountability for anything at all these days.
She STILL hasn't returned our things. She did text and say she's been busy, and she'll bring them by next week but if I was a betting woman, I'd bet it's because she can't locate some of the missing items. My sister refuses to leave her a bad review because this lady is a friend of a friend. Ugh!
I go back and forth between wanting to move to another place or just staying and dealing and adding on things. Pros and cons of both.
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Since it's been a week... have you gotten Chloe's things back yet, Mare? I hope so!!
LOL I knew you would hate someone thinking you were a Trump fan! I set her straight too, but an author's note wouldn't be a bad idea, in case anyone else makes that assumption!
That's unfortunate that your house has an upstairs and laundry in the basement. I'm glad you have your sister to help, but that has to be frustrating for you to only be able to access about a third of the house. But renovations are expensive, and moving is such a hassle, especially when it requires selling and buying a home. I don't know what the housing market is like where you live, but most houses have been selling quickly here... but then it's hard to find a house to buy because anything decent at a decent price gets snatched up as soon as it goes on the market - or sometimes even before it goes on the market.
Steph, that is so weird about the whole tour being cancelled, especially if the artist really had no idea until the last minute. Very sketchy... That sucks about Shawn Mendes, too!
My school year has been okay so far. My class of 26 is exhausting... two oppositional-defiant students that suck up a ton of time and energy, on top of the typical array of ADHD, learning disabilities, etc. It's gotten better as we've established expectations and procedures and settled into a routine, but I can tell it's going to be a long year.
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Nope, still don't have Chloe's stuff back. Like I told Steph, I have a feeling that she can't find a lot of it and is panicking.
Ugh! That does sound draining. Hopefully their behavior will get better as the year goes on. Just one discipline problem in a class can so change the whole atmosphere. Like when that kid is absent, it's SO noticeable.
I think I will be adding on an AN to that one. I might hope over and do that right now, someone has been going through all my old stuff this week. I've been getting random kudos on stories. Not that one though. lol
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Ugh... like Steph said, I hope you'll leave her a negative review if you haven't already!
Yes, that's exactly how these two are. The atmosphere is totally different when they're absent, out of the room, or actually following directions without disruption... but when it's the latter, there's still the tension of not knowing what could trigger them to start spiraling again.
Ooh, random kudos are always fun! I got a guest kudo on three different fics in one day recently, which is rare, so I assume it was all the same person.
How's your writing been going since finishing your fic and getting back from your cruise? Are you starting to get your inspiration back for your other story? Mine has been slow lately. I had plans the past two weekends, so I didn't have as much time to write as I wanted to, and I'm trying to get stuff done around the house this weekend because I'm going to see Nick next weekend. No complaints there, though!
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Like I told Steph, my sister won't let me leave a bad review because this girl is a friend of a friend and came highly recommended from that friend. It's annoying.
Classroom discipline was always my least favorite thing. I hated it! I would always dread seeing those classes that had a few really hard kids in it and would just be elated if one of them were absent. Regretfully, those were also the kids that never missed school. Their parents would send them even when they were sick, which was probably part of the problem. I felt bad for the regular classroom teachers who had to deal with some of them all day long, but then again, the plus to that would also be a constant when it came to discipline. When those kids come to the specials, a lot of them feel like it's a break from behaving. When they go to a special, unless they're in their own classrooms for it, they get to sit somewhere different and usually are engaging in a fun activity which also sets them off. I always did fine with the younger ones but when it came to 7th and 8th, they are like an entirely different ballgame. I don't miss that part of it, that's for sure!
I've actually been doing a good amount of writing. I was able to update my other story this week and I think I'll have another chapter done in time to update again next week. I'm two chapters into my new story and will probably start on chapter 3 right after I click off here. With that one, it helps knowing people are actually looking forward to reading it. I still have no clue what I'm going to name it though. That is seriously always the hardest thing for me. Either I get the name even before I start writing, or it takes me forever to come up with one. Speaking of sequels, do you know how to link the two stories together as a series? I know it can be done but I can't figure out how. I tried to do that with my short stories but had no luck.
Have fun seeing Nick. I think he was just up here in Niagara Falls, but the Canadian side.
Random, but I had really wanted to get to 5,000 on the Invisible Child and was bummed It had stopped at around 4,780. But I've noticed it's been steadily going up. Maybe people are reading to get ready for the sequel? Not sure but it's up to 4,981. I'm hoping it'll hit 5,000 before I start posting the new one. I'm a dork! LOL
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I just realized I missed your whole post at the top of this page LOL. Sorry for asking questions you already answered! I was still catching up on the posts on the previous page of this thread when posted Friday night.
That is so true about the difficult kids rarely/never missing school. Their parents don't want to deal with them at home either! As a specials teacher, I'm sure it was difficult to have to deal with all the kids in the school year after year. I may be stuck with them most of the day, every day for a year, but at least I can send them on to 5th grade when the year's over LOL. Pros and cons of different teaching positions.
I'm glad you've been getting a lot of writing done! Congrats on starting a new story! I usually struggle to come up with titles, too. Like you, I either come up with it really quickly or agonize over it forever. Unlike you, I can't make much progress on the story without having a title I feel good about.
When you go to post the sequel, there's an option to check "This work is part of a series." Then it gives you the option to create and use a new series. You type a name for the series in the box. Then, once you post the sequel, the series will appear in the Series section on your dashboard. You'll also need to edit the first story to check this same option and add it to the series. Then you can go to the Series section to edit and reorder the series so the stories show up in the right order. I hope that makes sense. Let me know if it doesn't!
LOL I keep an eye on my stats the same way. If Invisible Child is already at 4,981, you should hit 5,000 soon. My hits are still going up on My Brother's Keeper, which is the predecessor to the story I'm writing now, just not as quickly as they did when I was actually updating it. I was thrilled just to get to 3,000 hits with those two, so you're doing great to be at almost 5,000! I know the stats are all relative based on fandom, though.
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Well done on starting a new story Mare.
Those school kids who disrupt the rest of the class must be hard work. My daughter is a teaching assistant and often comes home with stories of some of the awful kids.
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Oh, no worries. I figured you just missed it. lol
Your directions made sense, I'll let you know if it works when I try it. I'm not going to start posting until October. I want to really give myself a good head start, and I need a title. Succession hits vary on the kind of story it is. Most of them tend to be in the 2 - 3,000 range but some Roman and Gerri's are all the way up past 8,000. Number of chapters have to do with it as well. My story was 22 chapters so 5,000 would be pretty good. However, the sex filled RomGerri fics would hit 5,000 in 5 chapters. People are horndogs!
Thanks, Steph! I can't believe I've already written three novel size Succession fics and about to post number four. I really only saw myself writing maybe two tops.
It really does suck having those kids every single year. Sometimes they start out little sweethearts and then something clicks in them once puberty hits and they become terrors. That happened to one of my little boys. He was a doll until 7th grade and then I don't know what happened to him, but he became intolerable. The best is when it happens the other direction. When they are awful in K-3 and then suddenly you start to see them mature and calm down. Unfortunately, it tends to happen the other way more often. Ironically, it's the behavior problems that always seek me out on FB. It's weird having a good number of former students as my FB friends and seeing them getting married and having babies. It's nice to see so many thriving. A handful going on into music ed or other artistic fields. One of them is running for town council.
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Yes it must be good to see the problem kids change and become better behaved, even seeing them grow up and settle down etc. My son was a bit of a handful in school when he was really young, but once he got to year 6 (age 10/11) he finally had a teacher who understood how to treat kids with aspergers/autism and he became a different child in school.
I know that not all kids have that as an excuse and are just generally awful. I think a lot of the time these days is because parents are lazy and can't be bothered. They just sit them in front of the TV or ipad while they themselves are on their phones. My daughter has kids in her class who don't even know basic stuff, and all they want to do is play on ipads!
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I agree with what you said, Steph. A few nights ago, I was scrolling through FB reels, and I came across a bunch of teachers who left their jobs in the middle of the year and most of them sited it was because parents just don't parent their kids anymore, so they spent a really large portion of their day babysitting them and taking care of emotional needs and the teaching became background. Texas seems to be one of the worst places to teach ever! Big surprise! Seems like they don't really do much in the way of training and in-services and instead expect the teachers to train themselves by watching hours of videos on their own time. I didn't know your daughter was a teacher, that's awesome!
The special needs kids I taught, especially the ones on the spectrum were some of my most well-behaved kids. It's those others that are just spoiled brats and feel entitled that are really the worst. Maybe it has to do with patience level. I had more patience for kids with special needs or kids I knew were going through something bad at home than I did for the kids who were just spoiled and not used to hearing the word no.
Speaking of annoying!
That lady finally brought back Chloe's stuff yesterday and she was kind of huffy. The first thing she said to me was "Well I thought it was really nice of me to give you guys a total refund for Puglsey even though I had him for two days and even helped get him to the vet." As if she was expecting applause or something. I countered and said, "Well it's a good thing we got it all worked out otherwise we would have come home to two dead animals, so yeah, thanks." Seriously lady? As it is, the vet actually took down this lady's name and made a mental note of it so if anyone came in and mentioned her as someone they were letting their pet go to, they would make sure they knew what she did. They were more annoyed about it then we were.
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Wow, I can't believe she said that, what a cheeky cow! She shouldn't be a pet sitter if she doesn't know how to look after pets. I'm glad the vet took her details too. And I'm glad you finally got all the things back.
My daughter is a teaching assistant, she was going to do the extra year in university to become a fully qualified teacher but has changed her mind at the moment because there just aren't any jobs for teachers here. But the class she's in she does the majority of the teaching and trying to discipline the kids as they just don't get it at home. All the teachers there tell her that teaching is not what it used to be.
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Teaching is a funny field, either there are too many of them or a complete shortage. Here there seems to be a shortage in most places. It's tough. I can't even imagine training and being a first or second year teacher now.
Yeah, that lady is something else! Glad we're done having to deal with her.
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There are a shortage of teachers here, but the budget has been cut for them so schools are really struggling and qualified teachers can't get work. This country is spending money on the wrong things :(
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This one too!
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I'm sure your daughter does have stories, Steph! I will say, things have gotten better the past couple of weeks. Most of the kids have settled into a routine and gotten used to my expectations. One of my two heavy-hitters seems to be done testing me and is much less argumentative than he was the first month. The other one is still obnoxious, but he missed 3 out of 5 days this week due to a doctor's appointment and illness, so I had a relatively easy week. It's amazing what a difference one child can make. I hate to admit it, but my class and days are much more pleasant without this kid in it. 😬 At least his parents are supportive and don't make excuses for him or deny that there's a problem, which certainly helps. It would be a thousand times worse if his parents were obnoxious, too!
Parents who don't want to parent are definitely a growing problem. We see the effects of kids who have grown up with far too much screen time. They have no attention span and can't handle being "bored" or not being overstimulated all the time. And some of them are definitely lacking in basic skills. I have 4th graders (9 and 10-year-olds) who can't tie their shoes or tell left from right. And we've seen an increase in kids that age who frequently have bathroom accidents (both kinds) at school without any medical diagnosis that would explain it. It's like some of them are not even being properly potty trained. I never thought I would have to deal with that kind of stuff as a 4th grade teacher! I understand why there is a teacher shortage. I'm grateful to have good administrators and a good union in my district that try to make the workload more manageable, but even with decent working conditions, it's a difficult, demanding job. And I've certainly heard horror stories and seen those videos from teachers in other districts who have it much worse. I would never want to teach in Texas or Florida, for example!
I've taught many kids on the autism spectrum, and while some of them were a handful, most of them have been very likeable and often among my brightest students! Sometimes I hear horror stories about students from their previous teachers, and then they turn out to be fine in a different setting with a different group of kids and teacher. I had one last year that one of my former principals, who's now in charge of a different school, told me was the most challenging student he'd ever had in his 25+ year career. After having this kid in my class all year, I wouldn't even put him in my top 5 most challenging students! He had his moments, but most of the time he was fine for me. He was a quirky old soul who knew a lot about pop culture from even before he was born, and he had a great sense of humor, so it was easy for me to find commonalities and bond with him. Sometimes it just comes down to personalities meshing, even between adults and kids.
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I'm glad the parents are easy to work with and understanding. Whenever the flu or the chicken pox would go around, I used to secretly pray that the bad kids had it, but it never happened! It's like those kids were immune. Of course, they were also the kids who were never involved in any of the extracurricula r activities which sometimes took them out of my class. With the exception of band, which was MY activity. LOL
I always tended to get along best with the class that all the other teachers deemed impossible. I felt bad for them. They knew it, they always said it. "All our teachers hate us!" Because of a handful of obnoxious kids, they all managed to get that reputation. I don't know if this was the case with you, but when I would say those particular kids didn't give me a problem their teachers assumed it was because I let them do whatever they want. It was one of those things they liked to always say about the specials. "Well of course they're good for you! All you do is have fun!" I don't miss that attitude at all!
How was your Nick concert? Did you go to just one? You might have posted about it somewhere else. I haven't visited the other dots yet.
Steph have fun on your vacation. Are you going anywhere?
I finally managed to hit the 5,000 mark. It's the small things! And my Mets are actually in the playoffs. Which is unreal considering how badly they started off the season. Watch then accidentally win the world series! LOL I don't think we'll beat Philly, but I really hope we do! I hate them and most of their fans!
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Yeah, I do think some teachers assume that those kids just get away with doing whatever they want, when really it's that I try to pick my battles and let them have time to calm down when they need it instead of getting in their face and nagging/criticizing every little thing they do wrong. That's how I've had the most success with difficult students, although they definitely still test my patience LOL.
The Nick concert was good! I absolutely love the type of venues he's performing in, theaters with great lighting and acoustics and seats that are super close to the stage. We were Row D, which I assumed was fourth row, but it was actually the second row of seats behind a very small pit section, so we had a fantastic view! My pictures turned out so good. He cut out a bunch of songs from the set he performed last year without adding anything new, though, which was kind of annoying. I wouldn't have minded him changing up the set list if he was going to sing different stuff, but it was just a shorter version of the same show I saw last year in Nashville. That was only the second show of the tour last year, so maybe he realized it was too much and cut back. I'm sure it's an adjustment singing a whole concert solo when you're used to having four other singers on stage with you. I was worried "You Shook Me All Night Long" was going to wreck his voice last year, so I'm not surprised that one got cut. But it was disappointing that he cut out some of the other covers and solo songs and kept all the BSB songs he's been doing. I really don't need to hear him sing Everybody, I Want It That Way, QPG, etc. by himself. But it was still a really fun show, and he was amazing as always! And in my post-concert depression, I bought tickets to see him again in Vegas in November, so I can't complain!
Congrats to your Mets! I haven't been following the postseason all that closely since my Cubbies aren't in it, but I did catch their big win the other night and was glad to see them take out the Brewers. It's always fun to see an underdog wild card team make it far into the playoffs. I hope they go all the way!
Congrats on hitting 5000 too! And posting your new story! I'm enjoying a relaxing weekend at home and trying to get some writing done after half-assing it to keep the streak alive for the past couple weeks. I'm writing about a ski trip when I've never been skiing before, so it's a hard thing to half-ass. And now I keep getting Facebook ads for Aspen ski resorts from all the research I've been doing LOL.
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I love those smaller venues too. Like the ones they used when they did their little club tour. I don't remember which album that was for. But everything was so close. The only bad thing about it was no seating. It's nice you had seats. It is a bummer he cut so many songs and left the BSB stuff. I wonder if he thought people would rather hear that stuff then his own? Weird. You'd think he'd be trying to sell himself as a solo artist by just sticking to his own things. At least he's touring. No matter what, it seems like the fandom can always count on Nick to completely avoid a BSB drought between breaks.
I never understood teachers who yell and scream. It doesn't ever help. It doesn't have any effect on the kids who are misbehaving. They even laugh and look at it as a badge of honor. Meanwhile, it greatly dysregulates the quiet kids who do nothing wrong. I remember in second grade; my teacher used to yell and scream and even throw chairs and I spent most of that year with huge knots in my stomach and dreading school which was strange for me who looked forward to it all the time.
Hope you had a nice relaxing weekend. I am looking forward to posting my first chapter tomorrow. I hope that it is well received. Good luck with the skiing chapter. That's how I felt when I wrote about fly fishing. LOL Although that was long before FB and algorithms. Maybe you should go spend a weekend at a villa. :D
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Ugh, I had a reply to your last post all typed out and then accidentally closed the tab and lost it all!
Shorter version: That was the Up Close and Personal tour the boys did in 2005 before Never Gone came out. I loved how small and intimate it was, but I hated that it was GA. The show I went to in Chicago was at the House of Blues, which is too small for a BSB show. It was so packed! I found a good spot at the top of a step, next to a pole, and I stood in that place, pinned to that pole, for 2+ hours. By the end of the show, I was so stiff I could barely walk. But it was worth it to actually be able to see their faces while they performed. I'd never been that close to them before! But I still prefer seats to GA. Both Nick shows I've been to have been at performing arts centers with nice, theater seating, which is the best!
Thank god for Nick and AJ giving us something to get us through the BSB droughts! They've both teased something big coming for BSB in 2025, but it still hasn't been announced. We'll see.
I had the same experience with my third grade teacher. I was one of the few students she actually seemed to like because I was a rule-follower, but she terrified me with the way she treated other kids. I regularly cried and complained that I didn't feel well to try to get out of going to school. That was the only year I didn't like school. When I have to lecture a class, I always make a point to say, "I know it's not all of you. If you're someone who's been following the rules, you can tune me out right now because I'm not talking to you" and make eye contact with my good kids so they know it's not directed at them.
How's it going with your new story? I hope the first chapter was well-received!
I'm excited because I got a new comment on my current WIP that wasn't from one of my three regulars, and it made it the most commented-on story in the BSB fandom! I'm still writing the damn skiing chapter. It's going okay so far; I'm just slow and haven't had a lot of time or energy to write. But I'm on track to hit Day 1000 of my writing streak on the 17th, so I keep plugging away at it.
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I hate when that happens! For me it isn't accidentally closing a tab but for whatever reason, I'll accidentally hit something with my sausage fingers and delete entire paragraphs. Sometimes if I click undo it'll come back but most of the time it doesn't.
Right! The Up Close and Personal tour. I'm glad he's doing small venues with seating. Maybe as they're all getting older, they can appreciate it's not always the easiest thing to stand the entire time. LOL I wonder what the big thing is. Hopefully it's a real big thing and doesn't end being just a remixed version of Everybody or something. Might be a cruise or a residency.
My new story is going well writing wise. I will be starting on chapter five of it tomorrow. It hasn't gotten many hits just yet which is a little disappointing. I'm at 162 hits which is kind of low. My one shots usually hit about 400. I'm just chalking it up to maybe no one realizing that I'm actually posting the new one yet. I did say I'd start in October but not exactly when. I don't think this fandom has come to know how OCD I actually am about schedules. I was able to link the two together as a series. Thanks for the tutorial! So maybe now that they're connected people will start reading it. :shrug:
That's awesome you got a brand new reader! And congrats about being the most commented on story on AO3! Hopefully that'll help you with your skiing chapter! Knowing you have a new fan! Wow 1,000 is awesome! Good for you!! We are both so funny when it comes to stats and numbers etc... :D
There is an uber creepy person who has been posting on twitter. He or she is a Kieran stalker. And it's like reading a fanfic! Kieran is a really private person. He doesn't have social media and when Jazz his wife posts pictures of their kids she always covers their faces or takes it from the back. Well, this person has been posting pictures of Kieran with his kids from a very scarily close proximity. Talking about how he's following them everywhere and he knows where they live. And then he has posted info on where the kids go to pre school and he can't wait to get Keiran out of the way so he can have Jazz and the kids all to himself. Totally scary and creepy. We all keep reporting the account but then he just resurfaces with another username. Then we wonder why celebrities never want to be out in public. As it is, he rarely likes to leave his house. The really terrifying part of this is, he and Jazz are in London for the BFI for A Real Pain and he posted pics of them there. Saying he followed them and was on the same flight. Who knows if it's all just fake and he's getting a hold of these pictures somewhere else but either way. Creepy!
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I'm sure your daughter does have stories, Steph! I will say, things have gotten better the past couple of weeks. Most of the kids have settled into a routine and gotten used to my expectations. One of my two heavy-hitters seems to be done testing me and is much less argumentative than he was the first month. The other one is still obnoxious, but he missed 3 out of 5 days this week due to a doctor's appointment and illness, so I had a relatively easy week. It's amazing what a difference one child can make. I hate to admit it, but my class and days are much more pleasant without this kid in it. 😬 At least his parents are supportive and don't make excuses for him or deny that there's a problem, which certainly helps. It would be a thousand times worse if his parents were obnoxious, too!
Parents who don't want to parent are definitely a growing problem. We see the effects of kids who have grown up with far too much screen time. They have no attention span and can't handle being "bored" or not being overstimulated all the time. And some of them are definitely lacking in basic skills. I have 4th graders (9 and 10-year-olds) who can't tie their shoes or tell left from right. And we've seen an increase in kids that age who frequently have bathroom accidents (both kinds) at school without any medical diagnosis that would explain it. It's like some of them are not even being properly potty trained. I never thought I would have to deal with that kind of stuff as a 4th grade teacher! I understand why there is a teacher shortage. I'm grateful to have good administrators and a good union in my district that try to make the workload more manageable, but even with decent working conditions, it's a difficult, demanding job. And I've certainly heard horror stories and seen those videos from teachers in other districts who have it much worse. I would never want to teach in Texas or Florida, for example!
I've taught many kids on the autism spectrum, and while some of them were a handful, most of them have been very likeable and often among my brightest students! Sometimes I hear horror stories about students from their previous teachers, and then they turn out to be fine in a different setting with a different group of kids and teacher. I had one last year that one of my former principals, who's now in charge of a different school, told me was the most challenging student he'd ever had in his 25+ year career. After having this kid in my class all year, I wouldn't even put him in my top 5 most challenging students! He had his moments, but most of the time he was fine for me. He was a quirky old soul who knew a lot about pop culture from even before he was born, and he had a great sense of humor, so it was easy for me to find commonalities and bond with him. Sometimes it just comes down to personalities meshing, even between adults and kids.
My daughter says about the kids who aren't even toilet trained. What are the parents doing? They aren't parenting their kids at all and seem to think it's down to the school to do everything for them. She says a lot of them have no interest in books or stories and just want to play on ipads. It's sad really.
Yes my son is on the autism spectrum and so when he first started school he was a bit of a handful for people who didn't understand him and some of his ways. But once they understood him, he was fine. I think there's more awareness for autism/aspergers these days.
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Steph have fun on your vacation. Are you going anywhere?
We went to Tenerife for a week. It was good, although much hotter than I thought it would be! Tim was happy with the heat, but I was trying to stay in the shade as much as I could with my factor 50 sunscreen on lol.
We saw whales and dolphins up close on a boat trip and went to a big water park, which was good.
Back to reality now though. I think next year I want to do colder places like the Scottish Highlands
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Yeah, I do think some teachers assume that those kids just get away with doing whatever they want, when really it's that I try to pick my battles and let them have time to calm down when they need it instead of getting in their face and nagging/criticizing every little thing they do wrong. That's how I've had the most success with difficult students, although they definitely still test my patience LOL.
The Nick concert was good! I absolutely love the type of venues he's performing in, theaters with great lighting and acoustics and seats that are super close to the stage. We were Row D, which I assumed was fourth row, but it was actually the second row of seats behind a very small pit section, so we had a fantastic view! My pictures turned out so good. He cut out a bunch of songs from the set he performed last year without adding anything new, though, which was kind of annoying. I wouldn't have minded him changing up the set list if he was going to sing different stuff, but it was just a shorter version of the same show I saw last year in Nashville. That was only the second show of the tour last year, so maybe he realized it was too much and cut back. I'm sure it's an adjustment singing a whole concert solo when you're used to having four other singers on stage with you. I was worried "You Shook Me All Night Long" was going to wreck his voice last year, so I'm not surprised that one got cut. But it was disappointing that he cut out some of the other covers and solo songs and kept all the BSB songs he's been doing. I really don't need to hear him sing Everybody, I Want It That Way, QPG, etc. by himself. But it was still a really fun show, and he was amazing as always! And in my post-concert depression, I bought tickets to see him again in Vegas in November, so I can't complain!
Congrats to your Mets! I haven't been following the postseason all that closely since my Cubbies aren't in it, but I did catch their big win the other night and was glad to see them take out the Brewers. It's always fun to see an underdog wild card team make it far into the playoffs. I hope they go all the way!
Congrats on hitting 5000 too! And posting your new story! I'm enjoying a relaxing weekend at home and trying to get some writing done after half-assing it to keep the streak alive for the past couple weeks. I'm writing about a ski trip when I've never been skiing before, so it's a hard thing to half-ass. And now I keep getting Facebook ads for Aspen ski resorts from all the research I've been doing LOL.
Wow, glad you got to see him that close and in a small venue too, must've been amazing. Post concert depression is awful but good to hear you're seeing him again next month.
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Mare, that's creepy about Kieran's stalker. There are some real weirdos out there.
Good to hear you're both getting on well with writing though.
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I'm unfamiliar with Tenerife. I've never heard of it before. Judging from your posts, was it in Spain? I'm so glad you had the opportunity to go whale watching. To date, that is still the single best thing I've ever done on any vacation I've ever had, even though technically it wasn't a vacation because it was out of Boston while I was there in college. We took a day trip to Cape Cod.
I would love to go to the Highlands of Scotland one day. I loved England but I'd love to see Scotland, Ireland and Wales as well. They all look beautiful!
What about that Liam news? That's so tragic! I feel for their fans. I can't even imagine.
That guy's twitter account finally got removed! I don't think there's been another one so hopefully they blocked the IP this time.
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Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands which are part of Spain but they are just off the coast of northern Africa. So the weather is hot all year and they are popular destinations because of that. There are a few islands, I've been to Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, but there are a couple more. And what's even better is that you can get there from our local airport which is about a half hour drive from my house rather than having to drive a couple of hours to one in England.
There are so many lovely places in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. I really want to see more of them. Where did you go in England?
Yes, shocking and tragic news about Liam Payne. My daughter was a massive fan of them when she was a kid (she still loves them now), so of course that means I became a bit of a fan too and took her to the concerts, bought all the merch and things like that. She still can't believe it, she's really shocked. It makes me think how lucky we are that we still have Nick and AJ after all the troubles they've had with drink, drugs ad mental health issues.
I'm glad to hear that weird guy had his account removed, people like that are dangerous.
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Wow, Northern Africa seems so far away and so exotic! And now I get why it's so hot! Glad you didn't have to travel very far to get to the airport.
When I was a sophomore (year 10) in High School, I went with my AP English class to London. We stayed primarily in London and went to a bunch of shows there. But we also traveled to Stonehenge, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Dover. Because I was the youngest by two years, I really didn't have any friends that came along with me, but because I also loved Duran Duran at the time, I didn't even care. I spent that whole trip thinking I'd run into them. The first night we were there, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe where we proceeded to order a pitcher of Long Island Iced Teas for our table since the legal drinking age was 16. Our teachers had no clue! LOL
I can't even imagine what it would be like if that had happened to us in our fandom. We are lucky that the boys always had each other to count on. It's sad that the big One Direction reunion all their fans have been craving is going to take place at one of their funerals. It really puts things in perspective.
Yes, he was removed, but I'm still worried. Even though he's off social media for now, he still might be stalking Kieran and his family. I'm just hoping someone has warned them about this lunatic. He's not on social media at all and his wife only posts on Instagram so they wouldn't be aware of it unless someone told them. We live in a very scary world these days!
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I was also massively into Duran Duran when I was young, never got to meet them, but saw them in concert once.
I bet going to England on a school trip was exciting, such a long way to go from there. Our school trips were usually a day trip somewhere local lol, although we did have a day trip to France when I was 12.
I didn't know you could drink at 16 here! I just googled it and says if you're with an adult you can. I always thought it was 18, but maybe that's to buy it yourself. You learn something new every day I suppose lol.
Yes, my daughter has been waiting years for news of a 1D reunion, looks like it won't be the reunion anyone expected :(
We do live in a scary world with all these weirdos
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I was a massively huge fan of Duran Duran. I have seen them a lot. Probably more than BSB. I have never met them. Came close once. I'm sure you've seen the story I post on FB every year on Nov 2nd. If not, look for it in a few weeks! lol
Ironically enough, THREE of my friends from college have actually played with them. When John Taylor left for a little bit, my friend Bryan Bellar played bass briefly for them. Wes Wehmiller also a friend of mine. He roomed with my really good friend Steve (on FB.) Played lead guitar with them after Andy left the group. Unfortunately, he died of cancer in 2005. :O( And finally another friend, Joe Travers, who made fun of me for the November 2nd incident, played drums for them for a little bit after Roger left for a hot minute. Despite all that, never got to meet them. Crazy!
Going to London isn't the normal field trip. Normally for us, field trips are day trips as well. This happened over a spring break greatly discounted because of fruit, candy and all kinds of other fundraising sales to get us there. I don't remember them checking with anyone about how old we were. Our teachers were sitting at a table right next to us. They didn't realize we ordered Long Island iced tea. They thought we just got a pitcher of Coke. Needless to say, when they figured it out, they were not pleased! That was the last time we got to sit by ourselves. lol
I'm sorry for your daughter. I am seeing a lot of people struggling with it on Twitter.
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Your vacation sounds lovely, Steph! I would have loved seeing whales and dolphins in the wild. I'm with you on preferring someplace less hot, though. We finally got some cooler autumn weather this week, and I couldn't have been happier to be able to wear long sleeves and pants without roasting.
The Scottish Highlands and Ireland are so beautiful! I went to both when I studied abroad in Stirling, Scotland in college, and I would love to go back. Mare, that's so cool that you got to go to England in high school! I love your Long Island iced tea story LOL. I had my first legal drink in the UK as well. I was 20 when I went there, so still a year shy of being able to buy alcohol in the States. It was fun to be able to drink in pubs!
The Liam Payne news is so shocking and sad. I feel for his family and friends and all the fans who are grieving right now. It definitely makes me grateful that Nick and AJ have both gotten help and seem to be in better places in their lives now.
That is scary about that guy stalking Kieran and his family! No wonder he is super private. There are a lot of weird people out there.
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Can I just say, I don't know if I'm going to last through the end of this election cycle! I need Zanax! I don't know about you, but I wake up angry and stay angry all day long. I don't know if that's what it's like for you in Wales, Steph. Hopefully you don't have a megalomaniac trying to take over your country. LOL Thank GOD for the Mets. They've been a great distraction, but I'm afraid their run will be ending today and then all I'll have to look forward to is some press tour stuff from Kieran before he disappears again. I need him to host SNL is what I need! Help me manifest this into existence! And his movie is coming out November 1st so there's that. He's been a private person ever since he was a kid. He said seeing what his big brother went through and how it destroyed him was enough for him to stay the hell away from being out in public.
Also, Congrats on hitting your 1,000 day hitting streak mark! Maybe you'll make it to 2,000!
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I hear you. I can't wait for the election to be over... and hopefully go the way we want it to! Two more weeks...
I forgot to say it in my last post, but I've actually been following postseason baseball for the past week or so. I'm rooting for your Mets to hang in there! I hate the Dodgers. I was also rooting for poor Cleveland, but the damn Yankees got the best of them last night. A subway World Series would be fun for New York!
I would love to see Kieran host SNL! They've had some good hosts and musical guests so far this season.
Thanks! At the rate I'm going with this story, I may well make it to 2,000 and still be writing this series LOL.
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It makes me happy when people root for the Mets. Thanks! They had a great season. I belong to a few Mets FB pages, and it amazed me the amount of people who came on to say what a great job the Mets did this year and that after their teams were out of it they were all in on the Mets. Even Dodgers fans came in to say how great they were. The only people who didn't were Phillies fans, because they are the worst! ::)
Now I have to rely on my emotional support Kieran to stay out in public and give me a few late night interviews and of course SNL. It wouldn't hurt if he was on another awards circuit run. He's getting rave reviews for A Real Pain so you never know! ;)
It might very well be the same series. Who knows? It might even be the same story! LOL
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Here in Wales we are governed by the same as the rest of the UK, and he's not doing a very good job of it so far! I don't think our prime minister will last the full four years.
I hope you don't end up with Orange Hitler again :(
Mare, I do remember your Duran Duran story, you got trampled while waiting for hours to meet them and then didn't get to see them. How awful that must've been. I would've cried I think, especially after all that :(
Julie, the whales and dolphins were amazing. It was worth putting up with the roasting hot weather for them lol. And how lucky you got to spend time in Scotland and Ireland, such lovely places. I've only been to Edinburgh, so looking forward to exploring further. I've been to Belfast and parts of southern Ireland and they were lovely places too.
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I did cry at the time, but now it's just a funny story that I do plan on sharing with Duran Duran if I ever get to meet them. (which I won't) *sigh*
I truly hope we don't get orange Hitler again, but next week is the last peaceful week this country is going to have in a long time. After election day, nothing is going to be the same. He's going to insist he won, and his followers are going to riot. I'm kind of scared about what might actually happen. One of his unhinged followers commented on a FB post I made a few days ago about Trump mocking a handicapped person and he went off on this long incoherent rant and ended by claiming I lost my intelligence and shouldn't be teaching children lol This is a guy who was smart and now he sounds like a lunatic. It's so odd. Still not sure if I'm going to respond. I hate giving jerks the last word but sometimes no response is maddening to people like him. :crazy: :shrug: We shall see.
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I agree that sometimes ignoring people like that is better than responding. They like to think they've got to you if you're interacting. He sounds like a brainwashed idiot anyway. Better off just blocking people like that.
I hope you don't end up with riots after the election. If Trump loses he should just accept it like any normal person would (although he's not just a normal person is he).
You never know about Duran Duran, you may meet them one day, or one of them in some random place.
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He's definitely not going to accept. He's already said as much since the start of his campaign. If he doesn't win, it's obviously rigged. He's had his followers ready for it too. Shit show!
I think it will be funny if I randomly run into them at the grocery store or something lol
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I'm bummed that the Mets didn't make it into the World Series! They had a great run. I almost always root for the underdogs, and I can see why they had so many people jumping on the bandwagon to root for them. Dodgers vs. Yankees is the most boring, cliched World Series ever. Yawn. I'm no longer watching baseball, but at this point, I guess I want the Yankees to win because they have Anthony Rizzo, former Cubs first baseman, who is an amazing human being. I would love to see him win another ring. That is the only reason I would ever root for the Yankees.
I hope Kieran gets nominated for some awards and/or continues to make appearances. As a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, I can commiserate. He is very private, too, and typically only uses social media as a platform for his environmental work. He actually posted a video endorsing Kamala Harris yesterday. I had no doubt that he would vote for Kamala as I know he's super liberal, but it was nice to actually see his face on his Instagram LOL. He usually only makes appearances when he's promoting a movie, which happens once every few years. I still haven't seen his most recent movie because it's only streaming on Apple TV, which I don't have. I think you can buy it on Amazon, but it's expensive because Apple has the rights to it. Add that to the list of reasons why I hate Apple.
I'm ready for the election to be over. I know Trump won't concede or back down without a fight if/when he loses, but at least he's not currently in the White House. That gives him much less power than he had last time. I could see him and his crazy cult still trying something violent, but this time the Dems will be ready for it and will hopefully shut that shit down. I just pray he goes to prison when this is all said and done!
I know we've talked about it before, but political posts on social media have really harmed my opinion of so many people I used to respect or consider friends. I've unfollowed or muted so many people in the last 8 years so that I can scroll through Facebook or Twitter without feeling angry. I know that puts me in an echo chamber, and I don't care. There is nothing that people on the right could say that would change my mind about Trump or make me understand why any decent person would continue to support him, and at this point, I don't believe anything I say will change their minds either, so I'm done discussing it. It is just really sad how many people are going to be on the wrong side of history and don't even realize it. The last decade has definitely helped me understand how Hitler and the Nazis were able to rise to power in Germany. It's terrifying to see history repeating itself.
Steph, Belfast is on my list of places I'd love to visit someday! Ireland was absolutely beautiful, but we never made it up to Northern Ireland. I would love to go back to the UK and see more of England and Wales, too.
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Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about that too. I really do believe that if we had gotten there, we would've easily taken the whole thing this year. I like Anthony Rizzo as well. He's my favorite Yankee by far. But I adore Freddie Freeman. Neither have been Mets and both are Met killers in general (especially Freddie), but they are both the sweetest people. I am so happy for Freddie to have that kind of moment in the WS. I don't dislike any of the teams, but Yankee fans are overly obnoxious and always think they're better than the Mets. Even the former Yankees. Derek Jeter and A Rod who do the pre-game are the worst. I'm sure Jeter predicted the yanks would take the whole series in one game or something. They are so biased it's disgusting. They live in a world of delusion where they think they are the best baseball team in the universe even when they aren't doing well. They have been so super cocky insisting they are better than the dodgers or any other team so for that reason, I really want the Dodgers to win the whole thing! In 4 games just so we can say we at least won 2 versus them. lol
Aww yes, I just saw Leo endorsing Kamala and talking about climate change. I've been spoiled with Kieran. I've been so used to seeing him every week on Succession and since it's been so popular he was also a regular on talk shows etc...so now what he's just gone back to movies I'm going through major withdrawals. I really do think he'll be nominated for the movie. He's getting a lot or praise and Oscar buzz from everyone. These next two weeks, he should be pretty active promoting the movie since it's out in theaters on Friday. I'm hoping for a Colbert or at least one of the nighttime talk shows. He and Jesse (Eisenberg) have done a lot of Q and A's after the screenings, but I haven't seen much more than that. We need our men to be a little more extroverted. He's such a homebody, he only decided to do Broadway so he could still bring his kids to school every morning. They also reworked the schedule so he would have Sundays off and work Monday instead because he cooks Sunday dinner every night for his family and didn't want to stop that. They are freaking changing the schedule just for him. All shows are blacked out every Monday as a general rule, except for his now. That's pretty amazing! He's like my warm hug. I have needed him really badly these last few months and especially this month leading up to the election.
I know I should block all these people. It would probably make my life easier, but I just won't do it. For whatever reason, it just makes me feel better or proactive in some kind of way. Posting that stuff. Even though minds might not be changed, at least I know they are seeing and reading it, especially when they are angered enough to reply. That means I have triggered them in some way. My conscience is clear. I know we're on the right side of history on this. It has been hard and disappointing to see all the people I do know, who are going to vote for him for mainly selfish reasons. It's all about money. I'm not sure why they think things were so much better 4 years ago. 4 years ago, we were in the middle of a deadly pandemic and quarantining.
I have been doing double doses of writing this week because I decided to post a Halloween scary short this Thursday. It was originally going to be a one shot, but shocker, it's longer than I thought. Now it's going to be maybe two or three parts.
Going back to Leo for a second. I do have Apple TV. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but if you want, I'd be more than happy to give you my info. Because it's apple it might not be the same as regular streaming but let me know and I'd be happy to share. I wasn't even aware he had a new movie. I never did watch the other one he was in that was four hours long. The Flower Moon one.
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Yes, I agree about the Yankees and their fans. I'm sure they seem even more obnoxious when you're a fan of the other New York team. To me, the Yankees are the equivalent of the New England Patriots in football. I tend not to root for any team that wins too much (unless it's a Chicago team LOL, which is usually not a problem). It looks like you might get your wish with a Dodgers win!
That's so cute about Kieran's Sunday dinners and that his show changed the whole schedule to accommodate his! That would be fun to see him and Jesse Eisenberg do the late night talk show circuit together. I'm sure the two of them doing interviews together is all kinds of cute quirkiness.
I love when you post political stuff and trigger the MAGA crowd! The main reason I no longer post political stuff on FB is that I don't want to get in arguments with coworkers, who I then have to collaborate with at work. It makes things awkward when it gets tense online. In a normal election cycle with normal candidates, it wouldn't be a big deal, but ever since Trump came around, I feel like it's not just a difference in political opinions but a difference in morals. I struggle to understand how fellow educators, who belong to a union and teach children of color, children of immigrants, and children of families who have more kids than they can afford, can hold some of the beliefs these people do. It's beyond disappointing. It's disgusting and frightening. It just makes me angry, so I've built myself a bubble to avoid it in certain spaces. But you're right - I think it does come down to selfishness and caring more about your own personal well-being, financial or otherwise, than anyone else's. I don't understand how anyone could think we were better off four years ago either. Before the pandemic, maybe, but of course it's going to take the economy and country as a whole a few years to recover from that. Biden was handed a hot mess and has done his best to fix it in one term. Not sure why these people seem to think that the president is single-handedly in charge of setting price... or that the vice president has any actual power to change policies. Some of them need to go back to elementary school social studies and learn about the branches of government and our system of checks and balances.
Ooh, a Halloween story sounds fun! Is that a Succession story too? I had a decent writing day yesterday. I'm still working on the damn ski trip chapter, but I made some good progress on it. It's probably gonna be a long one by the time it's done. I may have to break it into two chapters, but I'm hoping to keep it as one. This story is long enough as it is with no end in sight yet.
I would take you up on your Apple TV offer. Thanks! Killers of the Flower Moon is the one I'm talking about. Last I checked, the only other place it was available was Amazon, but only if you pay for it. I've been on a horror movie kick, so I'm in no hurry to watch it now but would love to see it at some point.
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I know, Kieran is the cutest when it comes to his family. All he wants to be is a stay at home dad, which is what I don't want him to be lol Jesse and Kieran are the best little duo. It's fun watching their interactions because they are so polar opposite. I have loved their chemistry. it plays extremely well on screen. They were meant to make a buddy movie. I've always liked Jesse, so I was excited to see that it was his movies Kieran was in. I am hopeful it'll move to streaming shortly after release.
Speaking of streaming, I'll DM you the info over on twitter as soon as I'm done posting here. There isn't a username and password like other streaming stuff, but I'll give you my apple ID info. I think that's probably what they use. It might not work, but it's worth a try. Aww you've really been waiting awhile then. I thought maybe he had released another movie since then.
It makes sense when it comes to your co-workers. I don't have that problem anymore. It's still weird to see people of color or anyone in the LGBTQ community that want to vote for Trump. It boggles my mind. That guy I was arguing with has a gay daughter. It's like he doesn't realize he is voting to take away her rights. Crazy! Same with women. Stupid!
Yes, this story is Succession. And it's clearly going to be a three parter. I'm almost done with the second part now. My plan is to post part one on Wednesday, part two on Halloween and then part three on Friday. I've also been reading a ton of suspense novels this month. I'm about to start my 8th book of this month. That's a lot even for me. They are just such fast paced reads. The last one I read, "We Used to Live Here." Took me a day and a half to finish. All of them have been really good. Incidents Around the House was legitimately scary. September House was funny and also jump scare scary. Those are the three new ones that everyone was talking about.
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I can understand you not wanting to get into political arguments online when you have to work with these people. But I don't understand why anyone would even vote for him, it's quite scary really that he seems to have this cult following. I'd probably just ignore their posts, or can you mute them?
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I do ignore their posts. I scroll right passed them. Every so often when I make a political post, they come on and comment. What's funny is this guy never posts political stuff on his own page. You'd never know he was a MAGA. He even has a gay daughter. Why are you voting to take away your daughter's rights? it makes no sense! One more week!
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Not long to go, hopefully the vote goes the right way
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We actually had loads of trick or treaters last night, the last couple of years we've had none. Good job I'd bought a load of sweets and chocolates for them, but shame we didn't get to eat it all like usual lol
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That's a bummer! You never know from one year to the next what's going to happen. two years ago we had a ton of kids come by and not enough candy so we had to shut our door and turn off the porch light so no one else would show and last year we loaded up on candy, but it rained so we barely had anyone. This year we bought a ton of candy, but because of the issue my sister has been dealing with all week, she didn't feel like dealing with trick or treaters, so we kept all our lights off and now we have way too much candy in the house.
I posted about this on twitter but not on FB, but my sister is head of a trauma response team for Niagara county which means when something really big or horrible happens concerning children like a death or suicide at a school or school shooting etc... Her and her team will go out and help the school community deal with the tragedy. This week a women brought her 4th grade boy and her five month old baby girl to Niagara Falls and first she pushed him in and then she jumped in there with the baby. Terrible! I mean you want to kill yourself, fine go ahead but to murder your own children is disgusting. I guess the father was in court trying to get full custody of both the kids. Everyone is still trying to figure out what the hell happened.
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Oh my god Mare, that is so awful. Who would do such a thing to their own kids. If she wanted to kill herself then just leave the kids out of it. That must be so awful to deal with.
Another awful thing...I woke up this morning to see that Trump seems to have won! I feel bad for you all
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Thanks, Steph! I'm totally numb right now. I'm sure I'll get mad later but right now I'm just really disappointed in this country. We just elected a dictator. Totally unacceptable. I'm staying off all news stations and most social media today. This is insane! I'm just happy I don't have to go to school anymore. I don't think I would be able to mask my anger. I'm sorry you have to deal with it, Meg. Hopefully your kids won't be all cocky about it. That's what happened in my schools after Hillary lost. Their parents were all over the moon happy and as a result, they were too.
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It's all over the news here about Trump, the whole of morning TV has been dedicated to it yesterday and today (I watch Good Morning Britain while getting ready for work and had to switch off). It must be awful to see it all over your social media as well as TV :(
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I haven't watched any real TV since election night. I have refused. Just seeing anything about him right now makes me physically sick. I have automatically snoozed everyone who was celebrating him winning on FB and none of the people I follow on Twitter was happy about him winning. I can deal with the bitching, not the celebrating. I have had to change my entire morning routine because I would watch the local news from 6:30 to 7 and then at 7 the Today Show but I just can't do it. I literally had Bluey on for about 30 minutes this morning. Those dogs are weirdos. Not as bad as the Charmin bears but I did find myself googling whether Bluey was a boy or a girl because I thought it was a boy and its sister was a girl, and they kept taking baths together which I found oddly disturbing at 6:30 in the morning. LOL
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Can't say I've ever watched Bluey lol, but whatever takes your mind off real life.
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This has been such a long, hard week. I don't even have the words to express how disappointed I am in the results of this election and in my country. The fact that over half of the people who voted apparently care more about the price of gas and groceries than the rights of women and marginalized groups is disheartening and disgusting. The fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon who already tried to stage a coup once and wants to be a dictator - and that none of that was a dealbreaker for the people who voted for him anyway - is downright disturbing. While I don't want the next four years to be worse than 2016-2020, I can't wait for these ignorant morons to discover that their savior did nothing but lie about all the things he said he was going to do to fix the economy and make their lives better.
We thankfully did not talk much about it at school. My class held a mock election on Monday, which Trump won, and I did not even bring up the results of the actual election on Wednesday. It was hard enough to stay neutral in the weeks leading up to the election and even harder to put on a happy face for my students the rest of the week. Work was a good distraction though. Thankfully, I have a few like-minded friends there that I could vent freely with away from students, and I got together with a couple of them to decompress and eat and drink our sorrows after school yesterday. I have been avoiding most news and real TV since Tuesday night, too. I also used to listen to the news while getting ready for work in the morning, but the last few days, I've listened to ER reruns on the Pop channel instead. I've never seen Bluey, but it sounds like a better option than reality right now.
That is truly awful about that woman who killed herself and her kids. What a horrible, selfish thing to do. I'm sorry it happened and sorry your sister had to deal with the aftermath of it. I wouldn't feel like handing out candy or dealing with people at all after that either.
Now I'm just trying to distract myself by disconnecting from the world and escaping into my story. That's the one thing that has been going well this week. I hope you've been able to distract yourself with writing and books, too!
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You're right, this week has been rough! And he isn't in office yet. I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it this time around. The last time was hard but at least we had control of one of the branches of government so there was at least some push back. Now, there's nothing anyone can do to keep him in check. I have been doing a pretty great job at not watching the news. What we ended up doing in the mornings now is watching the previous night's Stephen Colbert show. For my own sanity I've snoozed anyone I saw celebrating his win, which surprisingly wasn't all that many people. I've also just been trying to do things that make me happy.
I've been really ramping up on reading. Ironically, I was reading a book called "This Book Won't Burn." About a Muslin, Indian high school senior that moves from Chicago to a suburb far away. I could have very well been very close to where you are. I'm not sure if the town was made up or exists. I think it was called Baybridge. Anyway, she quickly finds out that it's total MAGA country and the school board bans any books at the schools that they find the least bit suggestive. Without even reading them of course. Mostly by BIPOC authors. She decides to do something about it so she takes the banned book list and picks one of the books and goes across the street to the park during her lunchbreaks. Seniors and juniors get to leave. She starts reading the book out loud and every day more and more kids come and listen until they have a full-on huge group of kids. It quickly becomes a students Versus the school board situation. It was inspirational to read.
My writing has been going well too. That hasn't slowed down. I'm also working on an Op-ed. I doubt I'll do anything with it, but it's helping me cope and when it comes to my feelings, I am a much better writer than speaker.
I truly do believe something nefarious was behind these results. He was talking about having the votes long before the election and I just flat out refuse to believe that a race that was supposedly tied went so far right. I need to feel that way because the alternative is living in a country that runs on hate first and foremost.
Blech! I have started wrapping Christmas presents already. LOL I mean who the hell cares, right?
I'm glad you're writing is going well. It is a good escape! And that you have likeminded people you can vent to. That's really important. Today someone left me a random kudo on A Million Little Things.
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A mock election and even the kids voted Trump? That must've been hard to deal with but I'm glad you have friends you can get away from it all with.
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Yeah, it was awful listening to them cheer for every Trump vote. I know they're just parroting their parents because they're too young and naive to know any better, but it was very hard to be neutral. I teach in a low-income area, and a lot of people around here voted for him because they blame Biden for the inflation that followed Covid and believe Trump will magically lower the price of gas and groceries and improve their lives. Can't wait to see what they say to defend him when that doesn't happen.
Mare, that book sounds good, and so does the one you just posted about today, "All the Colors of the Dark." I need to get back into actual reading instead of just watching TV while doom-scrolling on my phone. A teacher friend lent me a copy of another Freida McFadden book (The Teacher), so I should probably read that one first so I can return it to her.
My writing has been going well this month. I stayed up until 3 a.m. last night writing, which is rare for me to do during the school year. I love this time of year when it's dark and cold outside because it gives me a good excuse to just stay cozy at home and write. I get more done when I'm not feeling guilty about how I should be outside working in the yard or enjoying the nice weather. I finally finished that damn skiing chapter a few weeks ago and posted it tonight. It ended up being over 9,000 words - no wonder it took me so long to write! The next time I update, this story will officially be longer than Song for the Undead, which is my second-longest story after BMS. I never thought I would write another one that would rival the length of either of those, but here we are. Never say never, I guess.
I hope your writing is still going well, too, Mare! I saw that you just finished another story? Congrats! I love that you're still getting random kudos on your BSB fics. Those emails make my day!
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When I taught at the Catholic schools, the kids did the same thing when he won the first time, and it made me sick especially when they asked who I voted for. Of course, you're not supposed to say but I wanted too SO badly! Those parents! Ugh! I do not miss teaching in Catholic schools. Just the sheer number of times I had to keep my mouth shut as we got notices that teachers should encourage their kids to go to the pro-life rallies in Washington and every year, we used to send a bus packed with kids and parents down there. Then there were the parents who refused to let their kids read and hear anything about the Harry Potter books when they came out. They'd probably be so happy to know what a horrible person JK turned out to be.
Both of those books were great. I've read a lot of great books this year. I've heard a lot of people say that the Teacher was disturbing and one of their least favorite of hers, so I'll be curious to know what you thought of it.
Congrats on finally posting that skiing chapter! lol When I got the notification, I think I yayed for you. I did finish one of my stories this past week. It was the one I had intended to be a slash but didn't end up being one. I can't believe I've already completed 4 novels in the Succession fandom. 9,000 words is a lot! Wow! how many pages did that come out to? Gotta be near 30!
I love getting random kudos for the BSB stuff.
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Yikes... I'm sure that was hard to be encouraged to promote something that went against your beliefs. Makes me appreciate public school. Between the civics unit we did leading up to election day and now learning about the Pilgrims before Thanksgiving, we've been talking a lot about the importance of freedom of religion in my class lately LOL. I teach in a very Christian area, but I want my students to understand that not everyone is Christian and that it's okay to have different beliefs or no religious beliefs at all.
I can't remember if I told this story here last year or not, but because I do teach in a more conservative area, I used to be wary about promoting Harry Potter in school. When I started teaching, I wanted to decorate my classroom with a Harry Potter theme because I already had a giant cardboard cutout of Hagrid that I won from a display at K-Mart, but I didn't do it because I was worried about getting complaints. But then, a few years in, I started using the first HP book as one of my read alouds, and no one ever complained. So about eight years ago, I decided to completely redecorate my classroom and went with a Harry Potter theme. And for seven years, I got a ton of compliments on it and not a single complaint. Then, last year at Meet the Teacher night, it finally happened: this mom showed up with her kid, took one look inside my classroom, and loudly proclaimed, "Oh. So this is a witchcraft classroom!" I barely had time to respond before she grabbed her child and husband and said, "We're NOT doing this," and they marched out. He never came back, and I never heard anything more from any of them, but apparently they unenrolled him to homeschool. I've never driven a family to homeschooling within five seconds before - that's a new record for me! LOL Anyway, I dodged a bullet because, from the information I had on the boy, he was going to be one of my most challenging students, and I ended up having one of the best classes and school years I've ever had! All this to say I have also experienced that type of parent.
Thanks! That chapter ended up being about 20 pages long (single spaced, Georgia size 12 font). Length-wise, I could have broken it up into two or even three normal-sized chapters, but it all took place over the course of 24 hours, so it worked to keep it all together as one. I'm conscious of the fact that I'm already approaching 70 chapters and still have a lot left to write in this story, and I'm trying to avoid another 150+ chapter epic, even though it's already got Broken beat in terms of word count.
4 novels, wow! That's a lot in a short amount of time! Congrats! Were your readers disappointed that it didn't end up being a slash? While it would have been interesting to see you write a slash for real, I respect the decision to not go that route. Not everything has to be romantic; I love platonic relationships. I have nothing against slash or romance, but I hate how obsessed the larger fanfic community is with shipping.
I got two more kudos today, one for TWWBW and one for one of my random old 1000 Ways to Kill Nick Carter deaths. I'm still annoyed by the kudos bot the screwed up my stats by dumping a bunch of fake kudos on 00Carter, so it's always nice to get real ones!
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A witchcraft classroom? LMAO Ugh that's annoying! I'm glad you never heard from them again and it wasn't one of those things that involved someone telling you to change your set up. At my school that would've completely happened. That person would have then complained to anyone who would listen and next thing you know, it would've come down. One year, for my Christmas show, we did an all-school musical very similar to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego but with a Jesus, Christmas theme. We bought it from a Christian store for a lot of money! Because it wasn't meant for the entire school, I spent hours working on it and making it something the whole school could be a part of. I worked my ass off on that thing and everyone loved it. We got a standing ovation for both performances. The very next day, I'm called into the principal's office. A parent complained that they thought it wasn't religious enough. There were too many 'jokes' and too much laughter. LOL Luckily the principal was rolling her eyes as well, but she still had to let me know officially. ::)
Yay to random kudos! Maybe you can go all wicked and split your story up into parts one and two.
I have no idea if they cared or not that I changed the direction of the story because no one commented. There was one person who loyally commented the whole way through, and she didn't mind, so I'll just assume no one else did as well. It is almost at 3000 hits, so people read it and it did get a fair amount of kudos. :shrug: Yeah, I just can't do slash. Maybe it would be different if the person or character was without a doubt gay, but otherwise I can't do it. It feels too awkward. So, instead I turned him into a psycho obsessed with Roman. lol
Keep your fingers crossed for me because they are predicting a pretty big snowstorm for us this weekend and Saturday is my Q and A with Macauley and the Home Alone watch. Because it's a seasonal thing, I can't see him rescheduling if he has to cancel for the weather.
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Here's the funniest part of that story, which I forgot to include: I also had my principal's daughter in my class last year! So at the end of Meet the Teacher night, I went down to the office to tell him what happened and find out if the mom had complained (she had not), and he just shrugged and basically said, "I'm not worried about it, and you shouldn't be either. If she calls, I'm going to tell her that I trust you as a teacher enough to put my child in your class, which happens to have a theme based around a well-respected piece of children's literature. If she has a problem with that, that's her problem." Thank goodness for supportive administrators! My principal is pretty laidback about stuff like that and usually has our backs when it comes to crazy parents.
I'm glad your principal had your back with the musical, too. It sounds like a really fun musical! Why does religion have to be humorless and boring? I never enjoyed going to Sunday school or confirmation class for that very reason. But one summer I went to vacation Bible school with my best friend and his church, and it was way more fun than anything I'd ever done at my church. I can't help but wonder if I would have grown up more religious if I'd gone to a fun church and had a more positive experience with it. My Methodist church wasn't "bad," just boring. I went because I was forced to but never really bought into it. My brother-in-law says he became an atheist because of Catholic school LOL.
LOL at "going all Wicked." That's basically what I've already decided to do! The story's already a sequel, but my original plan for it included even more than what I'm planning now. If I'm still into it when I finish this one, I'll write a third story. I have plenty of material for it! Never thought I'd attempt another series of longfics, but here we are.
That's so frustrating that no one commented! I guess that means they didn't mind, but it would have been nice to know what they thought one way or the other. I totally understand your resistance to writing slash about characters who aren't obviously gay in canon. It gets easier the more you write it, but I still find all sex scenes fairly awkward to write, whether they're gay or straight. Most of my het sex scenes are just as cringey as the slash ones I've written, if not more so. LOL You're wise to stay in your lane and write what you do best - obsessive psychos are much more your forte!
I hope you can make it to the Home Alone event! Fingers crossed!
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That is so great that you have a principal who is willing to be on your side at all times. It makes a difference. How was it having his kid in your class? Did you feel like you were being observed 24/7? I have had quite a few students of the faculty as well as the principal's kids and all but one of them were discipline problems. Luckily my last principal was very aware of her son's behavior and was constantly working with him. He was a compulsive liar amongst other things. But I had two terrible kids whose mom was one of the 7th grade teachers (who wasn't that great with disciplining her own classes) who refused to believe her boys did anything wrong. She also let them call her mom during the school day and when one of them just wouldn't show up for my class and I called up to see where he was, he almost always had just stopped by his mom's classroom because he needed something. When he was in middle school and actually had her as his teacher, he was horrendous during her classes to the point that she'd cry. But she still didn't think he did anything wrong in our classes lol
I am just like your friend! I grew up in a very catholic family, but an unhealthy catholic family where they spoke tongues and all that other looney stuff. And I HATED CCD and decided to leave the religion before I was confirmed. I'm not an atheist but I am not a fan of organized religion at all. I believe there is something out there somewhere, but I don't think Jesus was anything more than a really great guy. Hard to teach in a catholic school when you think like that.
Sometimes your characters let you know they want a series, and you have very little say in the matter. As far as commenting. It's funny because from the very beginning there was barely any interaction except for that one person I was telling you about. Occasionally I got someone else that said something here or there, but as long as I heard from at least that one person I wasn't that upset with the lack of feedback. I wasn't ever really that proud of this story either, so I wasn't as annoyed as I usually I am. I felt like for that whole thing I was flying by the seat of my pants. This fandom is very different from my experience in the BSB one where I had faithful readers who read pretty much everything I wrote. This one, it's not quite like that so I found that the people reading one of my stories wasn't interested in reading any of the others. I'm still trying to figure this fandom out. It is waning. I guess that's another difference between real people and characters. When the show is over a lot of people move on. But then again, a lot of my readers of my most popular story and now this sequel weren't really in the fandom to begin with so again I'm just confused and trying to figure things out. :shrug:
We are expecting over a foot of snow this weekend but mainly to the south of us, but with lake effect, you never know so I'm just going to hope that it misses us, and he doesn't freak out when he hears about it and decides to cancel. I mean, if that happens, I won't be devastated, it's not the entirely correct Culkin anyway, but still.
Have a great Thanksgiving. I had covid last year, so I didn't cook anything. This year, I'm back to making it all, even though it'll just be the two of us. I was hoping to get my sister to go see A Real Pain in theaters this Friday but now with the snow I doubt that'll happen. I kind of want to see Wicked too, but I feel like I'll be cheating if I don't see A Real Pain first. Even though I've already seen it three times in January.
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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and your sister had a good one. Mine was good. My sister and her family drove down from Michigan; I haven't seen them since August, so it's been nice having them here.
I hope the snow stays south of you, so you can go see A Real Pain and the Home Alone event with Macaulay. It has gotten cold here but no real snow yet. I don't mind it around Christmas, but I'm not quite ready for the winter weather yet.
I was nervous about having my principal's kid, but it wasn't bad at all! First of all, his daughter is a model student - smart, inquisitive, hard-working, well-behaved, and kind. I never had to reach out to him or his wife about any issues with her, which helped. But he was a lot more "hands off" than I expected him to be and didn't hover around my classroom or ask me challenging questions at parent-teacher conferences or anything like that. I've had worse experiences having other teachers' kids, so that was a relief! It's hard having colleagues' kids, especially when they have behavior problems.
My worst experience was having the kid of a teacher in the same hall as me whom I considered a friend. He had ADHD, which is fine, but his impulsivity led to him making a lot of poor choices that he never seemed to learn from. He was allowed to use a fidget in class, but he was constantly bringing in little toys (Lego minifigures, action figures, and that sort of thing) and playing with them during lessons. After he'd been warned several times, I started confiscating them and keeping them in a Ziploc bag to give back to his mom. Well, one day, he decided to sneak into my desk during inside recess when I wasn't in the room and take his bag of toys back. I found out and went down to his mom's room at the end of the day to talk to both him and her about it together. She initially seemed supportive of me and agreed that it was inappropriate for him to get into my desk, etc., but the very next day, her son was caught shoplifting from our book fair. We had another conversation, and he missed out on the school-wide monthly reward we had to celebrate all the students who made good behavior choices during the month. I'm sure she was embarrassed that her kid didn't get to participate, but our relationship was never quite the same after that. She started making excuses for him anytime he got in trouble, blaming it on his ADHD and acting like I was expecting too much out of him or not being understanding enough of his disability by holding him accountable for following the same rules as everyone else. Ever since then, I've been wary of having friends' kids because it made things super awkward between us. As teachers, we've all dealt with those parents who believe their child can do no wrong, so it's crazy when teachers are those kind of parents themselves. I'm sure that was frustrating for you, dealing with that 7th grade teacher's kids.
That is exactly how I feel about religion. I'm not an atheist either; I would describe myself as more agnostic or spiritual. I believe in something, but I don't take the Bible literally and or think any religion got everything "right." I'm sure that did make it difficult to teach in a Catholic school. I could never do it. I wish people would focus more on the commonalities between most of the major religions instead of the differences. Organized religion has been the root of so many problems between groups of people throughout history. Why can't we just let people believe what they want to believe and leave each other alone?
I'm fine with writing another sequel if that's what my characters want. I always worry I'm going to start one and then run out of steam because that's what used to happen to me with most sequels in my early days of writing. But after over a thousand days of writing about these characters, I feel like I could continue indefinitely as long as I have ideas, which I have plenty of. My only other concern is that I'm completely alienating the readers who know me for my Nick stories and don't want to read longfics about Kevin. But what I want to write isn't always what's popular, and I have to be okay with that.
I'm not sure if the differences you're describing with readers have to do with the fandom or the platform (AO3). I think with AO3 being so much bigger than AC and not having a community feature like this forum, people are a lot less likely to form relationships with each other. Instead of loyally following authors whose writing they like, they use the tags to filter the kind of stories they want to read, regardless of who wrote them. And that's fine, but it's definitely a different vibe than we had here, where the regulars got to know each other and often read and interacted with each other's work. I miss that. I have like three regular readers for my current story, and two of the three came from here. The other one interacts with me on Twitter as well as AO3, so I'm not sure where she first started following me. Sometimes I'll get kudos on several stories from the same user, but I don't feel like I really have faithful readers that found me through AO3 first.
That definitely seems like one downside of writing for a fictional fandom instead of about real people, that the fandom dies down once the media is no longer being made and loses popularity. But there will always be those people who are loyal to it, like you, and if you keep writing for that fandom while others move on, it will make your work even more valuable to people who want to read Succession fics. The fanfic corner of the BSB fandom has shrunk significantly over the last ten years or so, but I figure as long as there's still someone who wants to read what I write, it's worth posting.
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Happy Thanksgiving to you all, hope you had a good day :)
I can't believe parents called a Harry Potter themed classroom as a school of witchcraft and took them out of school. That's just crazy behaviour lol. Sounds like you were well rid of that kid too.
I'm not religious at all. I don't believe in it and in my opinion the world would be a better place without it. I know that may be an unpopular opinion. I know I celebrate Christmas, but I'm not celebrating the religious part, just the getting together with family and friends and giving/receiving gifts part, and the time off work :)
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Hi guys! Well Thanksgiving morning at 5:15 my mom passed away. So that's how I spent my holiday. She has been sick for a while and started hospice care a few weeks ago, so it wasn't that big of a surprise. We had a very complex relationship, so the emotions have been all over the place. We decided not to tell anyone until today. The two of us just took the day to process and we had to do all that fun stuff, funeral home etc... I'm probably going to post about it on FB after I finish up here.
That's the stressful part. Letting everyone know. Speaking of religion, mom didn't want a church service or anything like that. No big burial, which honestly is good because this was very expensive. We're not even sure how we're going to pay for this. Mom had no assets. I was paying her bills to begin with. We might do a go fund me although I can't see myself doing that. Anyway, we just are having her cremated and then maybe have a small celebration of life for her in the spring once the weather is a little more manageable. I know some of my relatives and her best friend are going to have a problem with that. They are going to want the whole shabang because they are all still devout Catholics.
So yeah...sorry to put a huge damper on things. I don't know if you knew this, but my father died on the 4th of July. My family tends to die on Holidays. :shrug: Very on brand. lol
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Mare, I saw your FB post before I came here. I'm so sorry for your loss - both losses, actually. I know you had a complicated relationship with your parents and can understand why your emotions would be all over the place, but regardless, I'm sure it's still a very tough time for you and your sister. Don't be afraid to ask for help, financially or otherwise. The cost of a traditional funeral and burial is crazy! Cremation and a celebration of life in the spring sounds like a much better idea. I'm sure you know your mom's wishes and what you and your sister can afford better than your other relatives, so try not to worry about what they think.
I know you have a lot going on right now, but I hope you can still take some time to yourself and do the things you were looking forward to doing this weekend to help take your mind off everything else.
Steph, I've become the same way with holidays - I celebrate the secular, gift-giving, family-centered aspects of them rather than the religious parts.
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Thanks! I know I was vague with my dad. I didn't want you to think he just died this past July Fourth. He actually died way back in 1994. Just happened to be on a holiday. My grandfather died on my birthday. It's a whole thing. lol
We do plan on still going to see Macauley tonight as long as the weather agrees with us. Buffalo is so weird. Right now, it's doing nothing here, but I had to get bloodwork done this morning and just the next town over it's snowing pretty heavily and two towns over they have over three feet of snow at the moment! We're just going to play it by ear because I am using my wheelchair and there's no way I will be able to maneuver in the snow. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it won't do much here or downtown. I need to see my stand in emotional support Culkin.
The cost for just a simple cremation package is close to 4,000. Luckily, I have a pretty big credit limit on my card which I rarely if ever use, so we're just going to do that and deal with the payments later. I'm hoping some relatives might be willing to offer first. So far no one has mentioned anything about a church service or proper burial so that's been a good thing. Although as we speak, my sister is on the phone with my mother's best friend. We'll see what happens with that.
I'm the same way with Christmas as the both of you. We don't do the whole church deal, just presents and food. Celebrating each other more so than someone's birth. I never say my thoughts and prayers are with you either. I always opt of the sending you big hugs. Religion is such a weird thing.
My writing has gone completely out the window these last few days. I thought maybe I'd write a bit now, but I am not feeling it. Hopefully that'll come back soon. Maybe after a bit of this stressful stuff wears off. I'm also having my car inspected this morning. My doctor made me go get additional bloodwork today because my results from last week 'alarmed' her, so there's that too. I'm a mess!
I think I'm going to go read for a little bit!
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That's a lot to deal with in one week! I'm so sorry. 😢 I wouldn't be able to focus on writing either, but you'll get back to it when life calms down. I hope the universe will send some good things your way soon!
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I just wanted to come in and thank the both of you for making a donation. It means a lot to me! :bighug:
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So sorry for your loss Mare, even if you had a complicated relationship with your mum, and you were kind of expecting this to happen as she was in a hospice, I think it would still come as a shock to you both. I hope your family doesn't give you a hard time over your plans for her funeral. It's a lot to pay out for so don't feel bad if they don't agree with the cremation and spring celebration of her life.
I also hope your blood tests don't show anything serious. You have enough going on without adding more.
Sending you hugs :)
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You're welcome! It was the least we could do. It looked like you got a lot of donations last time I checked, so hopefully that will at least help to relieve some anxiety about how you're going to pay for everything. I hope you're doing okay under the circumstances. I'm glad there was some good Kieran and BSB content this week to cheer you up.
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Thank you both! Yes, people really came through for us. We are only shy $370 of our goal. We didn't even ask for the entire amount. Just what was going to put us over the edge, so it's been a relief to see people respond. To be honest, we both weren't expecting very much. We're used to giving not receiving. it's been a nice kind of shock. Boy those morticians really make a ton of money by getting people at their most vulnerable. I can't even imagine how much it costs to have the full-on funeral with viewing etc... I mean we just did the bare minimum, and it nearly broke us and that doesn't even include the cost of mailing her up here or an urn. She'll be staying in her box for a while.
This past week has been so weird. You are right, it's been nice having Keiran content to make me happy. And the boys performance was nice too. Hopefully Keiran will continue to perform his emotional support duties this week. There's an actors on actors to look forward to on the 18th.
I saw you update again! Yay for you! I am actually going to update tomorrow. I managed to write a little bit each day enough to finish off the chapter. Honestly, I'm posting more for selfish reasons. This story usually gets some feedback and it'll be nice to read comments.
As far as the test results, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow night, so we'll see what she says.
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I'm glad you've had plenty of distractions to take your mind off it all a bit. Funerals sound expensive, I'm glad you almost reached your target.
We had a storm here over the weekend. The whole country had alerts on our phones and at first wondered what the hell was going on as it was like a loud siren all going off all at he same time (I was thinking zombie apocalypse type thing lol). So we were without power for 30 hours in my area, which has never ever happened before where I live, even the shops were closed due to no power. There were loads of trees down, traffic lights out and things blown around but can't see any other damage. I know in some US states you get some really awful storms and ours probably seems like nothing compared to that, but we don't usually get really extreme stuff here.
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Wow! That sounds rough! Losing power for that long is not fun. I hope you didn't lose too many groceries because of that! It seems like weather is getting more severe everywhere. Climate change and possibly end of the world stuff happening! I hate when the power goes out! I find it really unsettling. I've only had the power go out for that long once a little while back when we had a hurricane. I remember stressing because at that time I didn't have a cell phone and without power my landline was useless, and I didn't know if we were going to have school or not, so I had to drive out to the nearest laundromat which was opened 24/7 and had power and a TV. That's the only way I was able to tell if we were closed. Which we were. For two days!
Tickets for Kieran's play went up on pre-sale yesterday. It's a 12-week engagement starting March 10th and running til the end of May. They range from $500 to $150. I wonder if the price will go up if he wins an Oscar. I love that he's the headliner with Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr and Micheal McKean. There seems to be only 4 wheelchair accessible seats but not totally sure about that. We'll see what happens. My sister doesn't seem thrilled with the idea. When I told her she said "I was hoping he'd pull out of it." Which doesn't bode well for me. :plugears:
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Oh no, I hope your sister changes her mind and you do get to go. You need something to look forward to. Tickets sound expensive but I guess that's what they sell for these days for shows. Better to buy sooner rather than later in case they sell out or the price goes up if he wins an Oscar.
That must've been scary having no power or phone for all that time. Driving out in it must've been quite an experience too! At least we had our phones so we could see what was going on in the world (until they ran out of battery lol)
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Yes, keep your fingers crossed for me. It was scary since I hate to drive already. Driving in bad weather is not ideal. If it happened now that I'm part of this century, it probably wouldn't be as bad. lol
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Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you'll have a lovely time spent with the people you love.
I've just got today and tomorrow in work and then off for a week, so I'm looking forward to that. We had the annual get together at my dad and stepmum's on the weekend and will see my mum and stepdad on Christmas day.
Getting a little worried about my mum's memory and think she probably has the beginning of dementia. She's failed a memory test and had a CT scan last week, so waiting for the results of that (which take ages here as the health system is shockingly slow these days). So that won't be good as her mum had that too at around the same age. I didn't even think it was hereditary?
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I'm sorry to hear that about your mom, Steph. Sadly, I do think it's hereditary. Hopefully the CT scan will come up negative. I'm sending positive vibes your way. Enjoy your well-deserved break! I hope the week goes really slowly for you! I'm glad you're getting to spend time with your loved ones.
Christmas is going to be weird here this year. I was done shopping pretty early which means my mom's presents are all under the tree already. Something I had bought her arrived a few days ago so that was weird too, but the weirdest thing was when she arrived in the mail. She wasn't coming up here for Christmas, but I guess she is now. We haven't opened the box containing her remains because it just feels too odd. We don't have anything to put her in, but because of all the lovely donations people sent we might be able to afford an urn now.
Have a Merry Christmas everyone! And a very healthy and happy new year! I'm dreading 2025 and the next four years. How bad can it be? :'(
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Merry Christmas to both of you and anyone else(?) who may pop in and see this! Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Between the usual holiday busy-ness and trying to reach my word count goal for this year, I've popped in a few times to check on the board but haven't taken the time to post.
Steph, I'm sorry to hear that your mom is showing signs of dementia. Like Mare said, I do think it can be hereditary, but that doesn't mean it's a given. My great-grandmother died of Alzheimer's, but none of her three children developed it. I hope you get some answers soon. Enjoy your time off work!
Mare, I hope you're doing okay under the circumstances. The first holidays after losing a loved one are so strange and so hard. I'm sure that was weird to receive her remains in the mail like just another package. Hopefully you will be able to afford a nice urn to put her in at some point. When each of my maternal grandparents passed, my mom sent in some of their ashes to be put into glass for each of their children and grandchildren. I have a beautiful, blue glass orb/ornament for my grandpa and a pretty purple bud vase for my grandma. It's a nice memento of each of them.
It looks like you've had a lot more Kieran content lately with all of his award nominations and wins, so hopefully that will give you some joy heading into the new year. I am also dreading the next four years. I'm currently still avoiding the news for the most part, other than that I see on social media, and that may be how I get through it - by comfort-watching shows, writing, reading, and staying in my little bubble as much as I can. Probably not the healthiest coping strategy, but it sounds better than the alternative right now.
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Mare that must've been weird to receive her ashes in the mail like that. And I hope you are doing OK. When Tim's mum died her ashes were scattered in a rose bush garden and Tim's dad was scattered on he beach and in the sea as they were the places they loved. I hope you get a nice urn for her.
I also feel bad that you both have Orange Hitler to look forward to very soon :( I hope he isn't too unbearable for the next 4 years. I think escaping the real world as much as possible is a good idea. I try as much as possible to avoid the news as it's never anything but doom and gloom here too.
I'm hoping for positive news regarding my mum, but preparing myself for the worst. She's not really bad, but she does repeat herself a bit and sometimes forgets what she's just been told, so that's not normal.
Anyway, have a very Merry Christmas doing whatever you love with the people you love :)
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I'm not sure if anyone else comes in and lurks but doesn't post. That's why I said everyone lol
That sounds like a lovely keepsake you have of your grandparents, Julie. We were thinking of making necklaces with a little bit of mom's ashes for some of the people she was close to. I think I'd prefer some of those other alternatives to an urn. We had also thought of scattering her ashes like Tim did, Steph but mom wasn't particularly fond of any one place. I told my sister what we should do is turn her into a pack of cigarettes since she was a chain smoker.
I have been trying to stay away from the news for the most part as well. It is hard though. I usually put on world news tonight with Lester, just to see what's been going on in the world but the second they start talking about Trump I turn it off. I'm still hoping for some kind of Hail Mary before inauguration. Bad eating habits catching up to him. A bear accidentally roams into Mar a Lago. Anything.
I'm glad you're keeping up with your writing. I haven't really been great with it. I'm writing about a paragraph a day and then stop. It's a combo of things, but I know you guys can relate that it's really hard to write your character all emo when there's so many good things happening in their real lives. Even though Roman is fictional, Kieran isn't so it's been harder than usually for me to separate them. He's really been the only thing keeping me sane. I don't know what I'm going to do after awards season and his Broadway run is over. He's going to disappear into his hidey hole and lord knows when he'll come back out. The last time it took him about 10 years between Scott Pilgrim and Succession. For now, I'm just going to bask in the fact that he's been everywhere and hopefully he'll get an Oscar nom which will mean he'll be out even more. I've never followed a movie awards run before. I had NO idea there were so many steps leading up to the Oscars. I mean I knew about the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice awards but there are SO many others and supposedly that's how you get yourself nominated for the Oscars. I've been trying to watch some of the most talked about movies, but not being a movie person, it's been hard. A Real Pain will be streaming starting on New Years Eve so yay to that! I never did get to see it in the theater, but at least I'll get to watch it over and over again at home. You guys should check it out. It's really quite good.
Have a Merry Christmas. My sister and I are being more low key than usual. We're going to order from an Italian place tonight and then i'm making some appetizer type things for tomorrow.
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I hope you both had a nice Christmas! Mine was good. My family keeps it pretty low-key these days, too - casual dinner on Christmas Eve, breakfast and appetizers on Christmas Day.
I'm now in hibernation mode, which has been lovely. I've done a few productive things, like getting my car's oil changed and organizing my linen closet, but for the most part, I've just been watching TV and writing. I finished Squid Game 2 and a chapter of my story. I'm about 7,000 words shy of my word count goal for this year, which is annoyingly close but just far enough that I'm probably not going to make it unless I really get on a roll with the next chapter. I used to be able to knock out 2,000+ words in a day with no problem, but I write a lot slower these days. I could spend all day in front of my computer and still not hit 2,000 words unless I'm laser-focused and the words are flowing.
I'm sorry your writing has slowed down, Mare. Hopefully it will pick back up after awards season ends. I totally get the difficulty of writing emo characters when things are going so well with their real-life counterparts, especially when they're appearing all over the place. It's a good problem to have because, of course, we want the real people to be happy, even while torturing the fictional versions of them. I've dealt with this a lot less since I (temporarily) stopped writing so much about Nick, though LOL. Kevin is easier because he rarely posts on social media, let alone makes public appearances outside of BSB stuff. Plus, my current story is actually pretty light-hearted and fluffy by my usual standards, so I don't get that writer's guilt as much as I used to.
I hope Kieran gets his Oscar nomination! What platform will A Real Pain be streaming on? I usually haven't seen many, if any, of the nominated films either. I did finally see Wicked last weekend - so good!
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Random writing question because we haven't done one of those in a long time and I just thought of one: How often do you put pets/animals in your stories?
I ask because, although I'm an animal lover myself and can't imagine life without a pet, I rarely give my characters pets because I have a hard time remembering to include them in scenes. One of my current OCs, Natalie, has an orange cat named Colby Jack because I thought the name was cute, but I keep having to go back and add mentions of him into my scenes because I forgot he existed when I first wrote them. I would love to give Kevin a service dog because he has two dogs in real life, but that would just be one more animal to keep track of and accidentally overlook. I've never really written much about Nick's ever-changing zoo for the same reason (and also because it's hard to keep track of his pets - they seem to come and go.)
Are there any other things you often find yourself forgetting to include in your writing?
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Sounds like a nice, peaceful Christmas. We did pretty much the same thing. We had planned to order out for Christmas Eve via door dash and then do breakfast and appetizers on Christmas Day, but when I went to check on my order that I placed in the morning of the 24th, the restaurant said it was closed. Would've been nice to get that info before they accepted the order and took it out of my bank account. So, we ended up stretching our appetizer eating for two days. Other than that little hiccup, everything else was fine.
Do you have this entire week off as well, Julie? I know in PA because New Year's Day falls on Wednesday they'll still make the kids come in for Thursday and Friday. I used to hate that! I'm glad you're getting some down time. Both of you! Steph, I'm sure you needed it as well. I can't believe it's New Year's Eve. I have the worst sense of dread. I wish I didn't. Just ick!
How was Squid Games? Better than the first season? I thought it was so weird that it was nominated for a Golden Globe for best drama without even airing! How can you vote for something you haven't even seen? lol make it make sense!
I hope you make your goal, even though it sounds like you probably won't. That's okay too! I think it's amazing you've kept your writing streak going. Even if it's a few words or a paragraph a day. I have been trying to write every day but nothing like I normally do. I could easy push out an entire chapter in two or three days. I've been working on this chapter for going on two weeks now. We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll just get writer's adrenaline and start flowing again. Stupid happy Kieran and impending new year doom!
The Golden Globes are this Sunday, so we'll see how he does. Last year, I was pretty confident he was going to win all those awards, but this year as a movie guy, I'm not as confident. He's up against Denzel Washington for one, but also Edward Norton and Guy Pierce as well as Jeremy Strong. How awesome the Roy boys are still up for awards a year later. On the slim chance he wins, that should secure him getting an Oscar nomination. If not, then not as certain. A Real Pain is streaming on Apple and Amazon as a VOD so you'd have to pay for it. I'm not sure when it's going to be available for free. My guess is, when it does stream, it'll end up on Hulu or Disney+ because that seems to be where most Searchlight pictures end up. Who knows? I bought it at midnight and as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to go watch it. Wicked is also available to stream today so we'll probably rent that for tonight. I'm pretty sure my sister will not want to sit through A Real Pain again. lol
Keep your fingers crossed for Kieran! Nothing will make me happier than hearing him make another ridiculous acceptance speech on Sunday
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Random writing question because we haven't done one of those in a long time and I just thought of one: How often do you put pets/animals in your stories?
I ask because, although I'm an animal lover myself and can't imagine life without a pet, I rarely give my characters pets because I have a hard time remembering to include them in scenes. One of my current OCs, Natalie, has an orange cat named Colby Jack because I thought the name was cute, but I keep having to go back and add mentions of him into my scenes because I forgot he existed when I first wrote them. I would love to give Kevin a service dog because he has two dogs in real life, but that would just be one more animal to keep track of and accidentally overlook. I've never really written much about Nick's ever-changing zoo for the same reason (and also because it's hard to keep track of his pets - they seem to come and go.)
Are there any other things you often find yourself forgetting to include in your writing?
That's a good question! I don't think I've ever written a pet in any of my stories. Not that I can remember at least. I know whenever I read about a dog or a cat, I feel this unease and usually it's merited. I have rarely read a story where the animal makes it through to the end. It would be cute to include Colby Jack in there. It is an adorable name. Not a fan of the cheese though. lol
The one thing I ALWAYS forget to do, without fail, is describe what my characters look like. I take for granted that the people reading know what BSB or the Succession people look like, but when I write an original character, even though I picture them clearly in my head, I don't think about describing them to the reader. I end up having to go back and write in those details. Thankfully, I always realize it before I post the chapter. Because I know for me, if there isn't a description until later, I've already pictured the character to look a certain way and once I see them that way, I can't unsee it.
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Happy New Year! I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve anyway, but I had that same sense of dread heading into this year. I hate to wish my life away, but I hope the next four years to go fast.
That is annoying that there's not something to prevent DoorDash orders from going through if the restaurant is closed. I hope you at least got a refund!
I do have this whole week off, which has been wonderful. We always get two weeks off, but it works out better when New Year's Day is in the middle of the week like this because then we don't have to go back until later. There have been years when we were back on like January 3, but this year it's the 6th. And the kids don't come back until the 7th, which is even better. The teachers have professional development in the morning and then work time in our classrooms in the afternoon to get things ready.
I loved Squid Game! From what I've read online, there have been mixed reviews about Season 2, but it was better than I expected it to be. I wasn't sure it would even come close to topping the first season, but I thought the writers did a good job continuing the story of the characters who survived the first season, while introducing new characters that I liked even more than the characters from Season 1. The only bad thing is that it ended abruptly on a cliffhanger. But apparently the next season is coming out later this year, so hopefully we won't have long to wait. Have you watched the first season? I really enjoyed it the first time I watched it, and I re-watched it a few weeks ago in preparation for the second season and loved it the second time around, too. It's one of those shows where you pick up on things you didn't notice the first time around when you go back and re-watch, knowing how it ends. Highly recommend!
It is weird that it got nominated for a Golden Globe before the season was officially released, but I'm assuming the people who vote on these things had early access to watch it. At least now more of the general public will have seen it. I'm looking forward to watching the Globes on Sunday. Nice way to end my break. Good luck to Kieran! I don't even know who or what else is nominated, but I'll root for him!
I did not make my word count goal, but I actually came a lot closer than I thought I would. My final count before midnight was only about 2000 words away. My other goal was to finish the chapter I was writing so I would be able to start this year with a brand new one. I didn't manage to do that before midnight either, but I did finish it today. The most important thing for me was keeping my resolution to write every day and making progress on my story, which is the same goal I'm setting again this year. On January 22, I will have written every day for 3 years straight! It's actually been a lot easier to keep the streak going than I thought it would. After a certain point, it just becomes a routine part of my day. Even on the bad, busy, uninspired days, I can still force myself to add a word or two. I figure that's better than neglecting it for weeks at a time because I don't feel like writing, but I've definitely been there before. It's okay to slow down. Some chapters just take longer than others. Quality over quantity! I hope you get your mojo back and finish the chapter you're on soon!
As for the pet question, you were more into writing groundhogs than traditional pets LOL. I'm not sure I could kill an animal in one of my stories. People, no problem. Animals, no. I always get way more upset over animal deaths in books and movies than human deaths. Nothing bad will happen to Colby Jack! I'm not a big fan of the cheese either; I'm more of a sharp cheddar girl.
I bet a lot of fanfic writers have that problem of forgetting to describe the characters in their stories. Like you said, it's not really important to describe the canon characters, but it's nice to have some idea of what original characters look like. It can be jarring when the description is completely different from the mental image you've already formed as a reader.
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Happy New Year everyone :)
I didn't even stay up until midnight as I was too tired (we'd been to the neighbours house for drinks the night before and it caught up with me lol).
Christmas was pretty quiet here too. I cooked for just the three of us and then we went to visit my mum and stepdad and my son came over to visit. My week off work went too quickly though, as always.
I loved Squid Game 2, I binge watched it the day it came out. I didn't know what to expect after series 1, but I loved it just as much and loved the characters more I think. Just wish they hadn't left it on a cliffhanger. But at least it'll be out later this year.
As for the pet question. I don't think I ever wrote one in, probably because I didn't have pets myself. Now I'd be tempted to give the character an orange cat like the one who has adopted us lol
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Happy New year to you both! I can't even recall the last time I actually stayed awake for the new year. Probably that one time I went to see BSB when they did their New Year's Eve show in Bethlehem. Aj's oldest daughter was just born so it's been a long time! This year we watched about 90 minutes of Wicked and then I went to bed around 10:30.
I haven't watched Squid Game at all. It just seemed ultra-violent and gory which turns me off shows but then on top of that it's also using subtitles, those two things combined made me stay away. But maybe I will try it out. Is it super gory? That's why I stayed away from The Walking Dead as well.
Good job getting as close to your goal as you did! And I know you'll manage to make your next milestone in January. I did finally finish my chapter yesterday. For some reason I get stuck in my head when it comes to wordcounts and this entire story most of my chapters have been 4,000 words or more. For most stories it's 3,500 or so. This last chapter is about 3,800 so I felt compelled to keep going until I read it and realized there was no real reason to. I'm starting my next chapter today but only writing a little bit. At least I'll be ahead of myself again. I post on Mondays so by then I will hopefully be at least a half chapter ahead of myself.
I definitely had a thing with groundhogs. lol I feel like in novels, whenever they introduce a pet, especially in suspense or horror, it seems the sole purpose is to kill it at a later date!
Steph, I LOVE that cat who has just kind of adopted you guys and made himself at home. That's how I got Bella. One day she literally knocked on my back door and when I opened it she came in, went under the kitchen cabinets and found a toy mouse. lol That's when I figured maybe the people that lived in the apartment before me abandoned her there.
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LOL I think I stayed up till 5 a.m. on New Year's Eve/Day. I was trying to finish my chapter before I went to bed, which still did not happen. The only time it's hard for me to make it to midnight is on a Friday after a full week of work. I usually go to bed earlier on Fridays than any other day because, by then, I'm exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in the next morning.
You should give Squid Game a try and see what you think. The first episode will give you an idea of what to expect, but I think it takes three episodes to really get into the story. It is pretty brutal in terms of blood and violence, but it's not as gory as The Walking Dead. Since you know that going in, you'll at least be somewhat prepared for that aspect of it. If you can get past that, there are some interesting characters and a good story. You will probably dislike the main character, Gi-Hun, at first, but give him time. He grows on you! You can watch it dubbed in English or in the original Korean with subtitles. I watched it in English the first time around, and I found the dubbing cheesy and distracting for the first episode or two... but after that, I got used to it, and it didn't bother me anymore. The second time around, I actually watched a lot of it in Korean with subtitles because I wanted to hear what the actors' real voices sounded like. Again, after a while, I got used to it and didn't even realize I was just reading subtitles and listening to a different language. Even if you watch it in English, I found that the subtitles helped me keep track of characters' names better, since they're mostly all Korean.
I just finished another great Netflix show last night, A Good Deed. It was similar to Dead to Me if either of you watched that show a few years ago. (Same writer, I think!) It has Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano in dramatic roles, which was interesting. They both did a great job. It's more of a dramedy/mystery than a straightforwar d drama, but it did make me tear up a couple of times.
Congrats on finishing your chapter! I totally get the thing with word counts and trying to stay consistent. 3,800 is close enough to 4,000 though! I've been able to let some of that go and just let chapters be as long or short as they need to be. I usually have the opposite problem, where they go on too long without a natural stopping point, but since there are already so many of them, I've resisted the urge to split the really long ones up into multiple chapters. I hope your next chapter is easier to write!
That's the cat distribution system at work! I got my late cat Luci the same way. When I was still living with my parents the year I student taught, she just showed up in their backyard as a stray kitten and never left. I purposely adopted my current two, but sometimes the cats adopt you LOL.
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Well done to both of you for managing all that writing.
Yes, I agree about the Squid Game main character. At first you really don't like Gi-Hun, there's just nothing to like about him until the games get going and then he really does grow on you with the way he is towards others. I watched it in Korean with subtitles as I also like the hear the actors actual voices, although I also watched the first one dubbed too. The subtitles really don't bother me anymore and I've watched quite a few foreign language TV shows now. Mare, it is violent but it's nothing compared to The Walking Dead, which I'd say is pretty gory at times.
It seems cats pick who they want to be with lol. Chase has made himself right at home here :)
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Okay, I'll give it a try. Maybe I'll watch the first episode today. I managed to watch Shogun with all the subtitles. It didn't bother me too much. The only bad thing about it, is it just takes 100 percent of your attention. I don't know about you guys, but I am terrible when I watch something. I also spend most of the time scrolling on my phone. I tried watching that show Dark dubbed, but it bothered me too much and I never went back to it.
A Real Pain is going to start streaming for free on Hulu on January 16th. If you don't have Hulu you're more than welcome to use my info. That pretty much goes for all streaming things for both of you.
I started watching Fly Me to the Moon last night. It's a movie on Apple with Scarlett Johanson and Channing Tatum. It's good so far but just like all movies, I got about halfway and had to stop. LOL
i did get some more writing done today. Yay!
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That is true about foreign shows with subtitles taking 100 percent of your attention. I'm pretty good at not scrolling on my phone when I'm watching something I've never seen before, so that's not a problem, but I could not watch the subtitled version of Squid Game while I was eating because I looked away from the screen too much. So I did a lot of switching back and forth between Korean and English, depending on whether or not I had snacks LOL.
I do have Hulu, so I can watch A Real Pain when it comes out!
Congrats on getting more writing done! I haven't written much yet in the new year. Since I spent the last few days of 2024 trying to write as much as I could, I've taken it easy the last few days. This is my last weekend before I go back to work, though, so I'm gonna try to get further into the chapter I'm writing. I did get some outlining done the other day, so I have a better idea of what will happen in the next few chapters.
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I watched the first episode of Squid Games yesterday. I decided to do it with the dubbing. The main character was actually in the Disney show The Acolyte and he speaks English. I don't know why they don't just get him to dub his own lines. There's another guy who was in Shogun. It was good. The first episode wasn't that bad gore wise. If that's all there is, I should be able to deal with it. I'm going to try another episode today. I never watched The Saw movies, but it seems saw coded.
I'm completely off my schedule today. I was so sick yesterday. Stomach wise. I haven't puked in more than twenty years and suddenly last night I felt awful. I've slept most of the day away so now I'm finally here on the computer for a little bit.
Enjoy your last two days of break. I hope you get your writing done.
Yay! I'm glad you'll get to see A Real Pain! I think it's opening in the UK this week. My friend Remy does press for The Hook, which is a show there, I think? And she got a chance to interview Kieran and Jesse. I met her through Twitter and my fics. She was the very first person I started talking to. She wore a Roman Roy shirt, and he made fun of her. LOL
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He Won! YAY!!!! Now he most likely will get an Oscar nomination. :O) My little chaos gremlin. lol
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That's good news for Kieran winning. I hope you're feeling better now after your upset stomach.
I'm also glad you gave Squid Game a chance and hope you continue to enjoy it.
When I'm watching something I enjoy I give it my 100% attention and can sit there and binge watch about 4 episodes without wanting to even pick my phone up lol.
I saw that film Fly Me to The Moon and enjoyed it, think it was out in the summer when we saw it here.
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I recently watched Fly Me to the Moon as well. It was good. I watched Juror number 2 and Civil War recently too. I've been trying to watch more movies. I still have yet to get through any of them in one sitting. With the exception of A Real Pain. lol
I am going on episode 6 of Squid Games. Once I figured out it was mostly gun violence, I was fine. It's good, but to be honest, it doesn't hold my attention the way shows I really love do. Like you Steph, I can binge hours of a TV show without even looking down at my phone. Even ones I've watched multiple times, this one I start to grab for my phone after about fifteen minutes. I'm definitely going to finish it, but it's weird to me there's a second season with the same lead character. Where I am now, it seems like it should've been a one and done. But I'm only just at episode 6. I don't know if you watched the Globes Steph, but all the Shogun people won, including the guy who was beheaded in the last episode. The same one that's also in Squid Games (If it is the same guy. The more I look at him the more I find myself second guessing about that.) Anyway, he mentioned that they were filming season two now, so he'd be back on a plane after the awards. Which is weird because he was most certainly dead by the end of the series. The female lead said the same thing, also dead. So now I'm wondering if the second season is going backwards instead of forwards. :shrug:
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The way the first series of Squid Game ended, you would not see the need for another series. But series two is so good, I'm glad they did make it. You always wonder if a second series can be as good as the first, especially for something like that.
I really don't know how the Shogun characters can make a comeback after being killed off LOL. They will have to go back in time I guess.
I've not seen any awards shows so have no idea who won what. I'll have to google it and see :)
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I watched episode 6 yesterday and boy that was a really good one. The one where they are playing marbles, and the loser dies. That was the first one that almost held my attention for its entirety.
You should google some of the speeches Kieran made so far this year. They have been next level. lol My favorite so far is for the National board of reviews. You need to watch that one. There's also the Golden Globes.
Kieran's the only thing keeping me sane with Trump getting ready to invade the whole planet, I guess. I hate him!
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Oh yes I saw that Trump wants Canada and Greenland. Next he'll be wanting to Make the UK Great Again lol
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I'm sure he has that one down as well. lol
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I hope you're feeling better by now, Mare! Congrats to Kieran on all his wins! I watched the Golden Globes, and he was cute with his bracelets and tattoos from his kids.
I'm glad you stuck with Squid Game! The marbles episode was definitely one of the best of Season 1! That's when you really start to care about the characters, and each death hurts. From what I've read, the show was intended to be a limited series, one and done, but because it was so popular, they talked the creator into doing a second season. I wasn't sure how it would work, but I thought they did a good job with it. They work the surviving characters into it in a way that makes sense while also introducing some really great new characters.
I started watching Yellowjackets this week, and I love it! The first season is on Netflix. I finished that in a few days and then found out that can watch the second season on Paramount+ or Amazon, but only if you have the Showtime plan. So I did a free trial of Showtime on Amazon so I could binge Season 2. I only have a few episodes left to go, and then I'll have to decide whether I can wait for Season 3 or if I need to start paying for Showtime so I can watch it when it airs in February.
I also watched the first two episodes of The Pitt when it premiered on Max on Thursday, and I'm so, so happy that it not only met but exceeded my already high expectations! I've watched at least one episode (sometimes even one or two seasons) of pretty much every medical drama made since ER went off the air, and I don't stick with most of them because they're too melodramatic, cheesy, unrealistic, poorly-written, or poorly-acted, but so far, this one has checked all of my boxes. From the perspective of someone who isn't a medical professional but has done a lot of medical research, the medical stuff was believable. Like ER, there was plenty of medical jargon, and they didn't dumb it down by over-explaining everything. The characters were interesting. It had the perfect balance between their professional and personal lives - most of the focus was on the hospital/medical stuff, but there were just enough hints about their backgrounds to humanize the characters and make me want to know more about them. No one had sex in the on-call room. It had plenty of drama, but none of it was over the top - no helicopter crashes, tanks, or anything too crazy. I laughed, I cried, and I even cringed a couple of times - the degloving injury in the first episode, ouch! It takes a lot to make me squeamish, so kudos to them! Perks of being on Max - they have a big budget and can say and show whatever they want, which makes it more realistic. I can't wait for Thursday night to watch the next episode! I love that they are debuting on Thursday because that was always ER night! It doesn't have the same feel as ER, but that actually makes it better. I don't need or want an ER reboot. All I've ever wanted was another medical drama that I enjoyed as much as ER, and based on the first two episodes, this show has come the closest.
On the writing front, it's been a slow week. I'm having a hard time getting into the new chapter I started because I'm struggling to figure out the logistics of it. It's time for the Boys' photo shoot for the IAWLT album, which is well-documented and looks like it was a really cool shoot in real life:
https://youtu.be/Ty6PXVqbgW0?si=NQwKfCVKdY_BJGoF The problem with it in my story is that Kevin is a wheelchair-user, and nothing about this location is wheelchair-friendly. So I have to decide whether to stick with it and make that a source of conflict in this chapter or completely change the album cover in this alternate version of events. The part of me that likes to stick as closely to canon as possible wants to find a way to make the location work so they end up with a similar-looking cover, but it doesn't seem very realistic. I've been stalling on making a decision about it, but I really need to figure it out this weekend so I can make more progress on this chapter.
Have you had any luck with writing this week, Mare?
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Yeah, he's adorable with his kids. All he wants to really do is be a stay at home dad. There was supposed to be the Critic's Choice Awards tonight, but because of the fires it was postponed until the end of January. What I didn't know was all these other awards he's been getting have had their own little ceremonies. Probably not all, but some and because they aren't televised no one plays them off so he's been especially rambly and funny and I love it!
I watched the first episode of Squid Games season 2 yesterday. I've been doing an episode a day. There's nothing else I watch on at the moment besides The Pitt and Severance starting This week! So, it'll be a good time to try to finish it up before all the shows come back full steam. Overall, I enjoyed the first season, but I'll be honest, I didn't like the ending. I did however really enjoy the first episode of the second season.
I'm glad you found another show to binge. Yellowjackets never sounded like something I'd enjoy. I didn't realize there were 3 seasons of it. I think the general consensus was the first season was amazing then the 2nd was disappointing. It sucks that before you can get into a show, you might have to pay for yet another streaming service to watch it! I paid for paramount plus forever just so I could watch Evil and the Good Fight because CBS moved them both there instead of keeping them on the network. I finally drew the line at AMC+ I love Interview with a Vampire and the Mayfair Witches but if for some reason, either of them leaves and just go to streaming, I'll just stop watching.
I watched the second episode of The Pitt last night. I do think this one is going to be great. I liked The Resident, and this one kind of reminds me of that. What I do love is because it takes place in one day's time, there won't be any over dramatic storylines although we know at one point that kid who wants to kill people is going to pop back up in an exciting way. I like all the characters so far. I also like the fact that besides Noah, no one is terribly famous. Some of them look familiar to me, like I think that one nurse is the girl who was on the Chucky series, the daughter of the guy who places Chucky. I could be wrong. I am excited for the next episode. It's nice to be excited about a show again. I am also excited for Severance to start up again, finally!
I sympathize with your location dilemma. Maybe you can keep it at the real place but add in that in order to shoot there they had to make some adjustments? Maybe have Kevin film some of his parts using a green screen in a studio. Just going back to the point that so many things are non handicapped assessable! Good luck with your decision!
My writing is still going very slow. I've had two weeks to work on this chapter and it's still not done. I'm really struggling. I thought I was going to be able to update tomorrow, but now I doubt it. I'm almost done, but I just don't have the motivation to finish it. Who knows? Maybe later on. We shall see.
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That's too bad the Critics Choice Awards got postponed, but understandable, given everything that's been going on in L.A. So horrific!
I'm glad you made it through Season 1 of Squid Game and enjoyed the first episode of Season 2. I think Season 2 is almost as good as Season 1, and some of the new characters I like even better than the ones I liked in the first season. I agree about the ending of Season 1; the last episode was my probably my least favorite one. Season 2 will leave you hanging on a major cliffhanger, but Season 3 is supposed to come out this year. It really feels more like a two-part season than two separate seasons.
Yes, if that's the general consensus about Yellowjackets, I agree. The first season was better than the second. It gets a lot weirder in the second season. There's a supernatural element that I could do without. The survival stuff is dark and dramatic enough for me. It's still good, though. I have one more episode to go in the second season, and then I'll cancel my Showtime trial before it charges me. Then I'll have to decide what to do about the third season. I'll probably wait until the whole season is available to binge watch and then do another Showtime trial so I don't have to pay for it. I hate that too! I also refuse to pay for AMC+, but all of the Walking Dead spinoffs eventually make their way to Netflix, so hopefully the other AMC shows will too. I never got into Interview With a Vampire and haven't tried The Mayflower Witches, so I'm not watching any other AMC shows at the moment.
I'm glad you liked The Pitt so far! I really enjoyed the first season of The Resident too, although that one got more and more ridiculous as it went on. The Pitt seems more realistic. I agree; the characters are likeable and seem like real people, not all beautiful famous people. You're right; the nurse with the ankle bracelet is Fiona Dourif, of Chucky fame. She's one of my favorites so far! I also recognized the cute male nurse, Matteo, from the movie Thanksgiving. Other than those two and Noah, I don't think I know any of the other actors, which is nice. I also think the kid is going to come back as a school shooter or something, causing a mass-casualty situation later in the season.
Thanks! I ended up having a decent writing session late last night and decided that I am going to stick with the real location and use that to add some conflict to the chapter. It's more interesting that way, and then I don't have to come up with something totally different to describe.
I hope you get inspired soon! We all have those slumps, and it's so frustrating! Do you think it's the story itself that you're stuck on, or is just all the other things going on in your life that's distracting you from being able to focus on it?
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I know those fires are no joke!
I was surprised to see that Squid Games 2 only had 7 episodes so it makes sense that the third one will be coming out soon. It probably was more like a part 1 and 2. I love that we're seeing into some of the pink people's eyes this time around.
Interview with a Vampire is really surprisingly good. It's incredibly well written and even though it veers off a bit from the actual books, it stays true enough to the main characters. I never really considered myself a big vampire fan, but I guess I actually am since I loved The Vampire Diaries and all its little spin offs as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and What We Do in the Shadows. I wasn't as impressed with the Mayfair Witches series, but I'm still watching. If you have HBO/MAX as a cable channel, you get Showtime for free, but I don't even know if that applies to the new merge they just did. It's so crazy, all of it! Apparently, A Real Pain will also be streaming on Disney+ as well as Hulu because I guess they also merged, but I'm paying for both of those separately because I have no interest in ESPN.
Fiona, that was her name. Yes, I really like her too. As of right now, she's one of my favorites. I also love the little mousey blonde med student and the guy with the lovely loose curly hair. I think that's Matteo. I have never seen Thanksgiving, but he also looked pretty familiar. I haven't entered the 'it's time to google everyone on this show' stage of watching yet, but I bet he's been on some of the stuff I have watched before.
Glad you found a resolution to your chapter. Conflict is always a good thing and when it comes to stuff like that, there is always room for drama.
I did end up finishing my chapter. All I have to do is reread it one last time and edit, then I'll most likely post it today. I think my slump is a factor of a little bit of everything. I think I'm on a little decline health wise. I'm really bad at picking up on the signs until it's been happening for a while but yesterday, I think I realized it's because I just haven't been feeling well. I'm having a harder time sitting up and holding things and have had a horrible headache that won't go away. My attention span is worse when that happens, so I tend to tap out of things faster and get more irritable. For instance, I have been sitting here just on the forum for about 20 minutes which would normally be fine but now I feel like I need to get off of here instead of update. :shrug:
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Yes, it definitely feels more like a Part 1 and Part 2 than two separate seasons. I'm not sure why they didn't just call it all Season 2 and release it in two parts.
I don't have HBO as a channel, so I won't have access to Showtime. I only have access to the Max app because a friend of mine shared her account info with me, but I think she just has Max too, not regular HBO. I finished Yellowjackets Season 2 last night and cancelled my free trial. I will probably wait to do another one until I know all of Season 3 is available to watch so I can just binge it. I do have Hulu and access to Disney+, so I'll be able to watch A Real Pain.
Yes, I like the blonde intern too. Matteo is the one with dark, curly hair. He's cute! I looked him up when I re-watched Thanksgiving this year because he looks familiar, and he hasn't been in anything else I've seen (prior to that movie and The Pitt). He must be a newer actor because he didn't have a lot of credits from what I remember. He must just look like someone else. But maybe you have seen him in something else.
Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better about this chapter. I can see Kevin being a martyr, like, "Don't sacrifice your vision for what could be a really cool shoot just because of me. We'll find a way to make it work" - and then struggling to find a way to make it work. But hopefully I'll have fun writing that aspect of it once I get further into the scene.
Congrats on finishing your chapter! And sorry you haven't been feeling well. That definitely makes it harder to write. Who wants to stare at a screen when they have a headache? I have a hard time focusing when I'm uncomfortable, too. I hope it gets better!
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Maybe Matteo just has one of those recognizable faces or he might have been in a commercial. Sometimes that's where I find faces familiar.
The Kevin martyr angle would work really well for Kevin. I can also see him being passively aggressive mad about it too. lol
I did actually get my chapter posted yesterday. I decided to come back on in the afternoon and post it. I'm glad I did. I know me and it would've bothered me all week that I had a chapter done but didn't post it and I am too OCD to do it on just any random day during the week.
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Yes, it's definitely not just you - he must have been in something else or look like someone else, but I can't place him. Here's his IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9780469/?ref_=tt_cst_t_11
What do you mean by passively aggressive mad? I know what passive aggressive means, obviously, but do you mean mad at the photographer or the guys for doing a photo shoot in an inaccessible place, or just mad at the world/frustrated by the situation? What might that look like? I'm just picking your brain for ideas here! 😊 I haven't written the actual shoot yet, but I'm in the middle of a conversation about it, so I'm wide open to input!
Yay for posting your chapter! I've been hoarding mine, trying to build up more of a buffer again. I have 3 finished chapters that I haven't posted. I'll probably post one this weekend, then the next one in two weeks. The every-other-week updating schedule seems to work better with my slothlike writing pace and keeps me from running out of chapters to post so quickly. Plus, my next two chapters take place on Valentine's Day, so closer to February is better. What's really pathetic is that last Valentine's Day, I posted a Christmas chapter, which means I've only covered about two months of time in my story in the past year, in which I wrote every day and finished 18 chapters that added up to almost 100k words. This is why my story is so long. 🤦♀️
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Hello everyone :) I went to the cinema with my daughter last night to see a charity showing of One Direction's old film This Is Us (which I saw when it originally came out too). It was so good to be in a packed cinema with other mums and daughters and groups of girls who were into them all those years ago. Reminded me of how big they actually were at the time, and how big BSB were back in the 90s/00s too.
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aww nostalgia is always a nice thing! :)
Have you gone to see A Better Man yet?
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Yes, it's definitely not just you - he must have been in something else or look like someone else, but I can't place him. Here's his IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9780469/?ref_=tt_cst_t_11
What do you mean by passively aggressive mad? I know what passive aggressive means, obviously, but do you mean mad at the photographer or the guys for doing a photo shoot in an inaccessible place, or just mad at the world/frustrated by the situation? What might that look like? I'm just picking your brain for ideas here! 😊 I haven't written the actual shoot yet, but I'm in the middle of a conversation about it, so I'm wide open to input!
Yay for posting your chapter! I've been hoarding mine, trying to build up more of a buffer again. I have 3 finished chapters that I haven't posted. I'll probably post one this weekend, then the next one in two weeks. The every-other-week updating schedule seems to work better with my slothlike writing pace and keeps me from running out of chapters to post so quickly. Plus, my next two chapters take place on Valentine's Day, so closer to February is better. What's really pathetic is that last Valentine's Day, I posted a Christmas chapter, which means I've only covered about two months of time in my story in the past year, in which I wrote every day and finished 18 chapters that added up to almost 100k words. This is why my story is so long. 🤦♀️
Walker Texas Ranger is where I know him. I watched that show because of Jared and he played the love interest of Jared's daughter on there. I knew he looked familiar!
As far as Kevin, I can picture him being passive aggressive towards the boys. Maybe deep down inside even though he said he didn't mind, maybe he was hoping they'd insist on doing things differently and by agreeing so fast to go ahead with it anyway, it maybe would make him upset. Especially once he got there and really sees how hard it's going to be. Maybe by then the guys will have all fallen in love with the location and aren't really willing to change it. I don't know, he seems to me like the passive aggressive type. lol
Every other week seems like a great plan. That's really what I should do too. It would take the pressure off of me. Not that I'm being pressured. I'm purely just pressuring myself! I did get the nicest feedback yesterday from a new person. That always helps with motivation and what I've decided to do is veer away from Roman for a minute and do a little backstory chapter about how Gerri and Logan met. That seemed to help me get moving yesterday.
Kieran was nominated for a Bafta this morning (the UK equivalent to the Oscars) So was his Succession brother for the same category just like the Globes. They're just always meant to compete against each other I guess.
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aww nostalgia is always a nice thing! :)
Have you gone to see A Better Man yet?
I've not seen that yet, but I should considering I'm a fan of Take That. I think the fact that Robbie is a monkey in the film has put me off lol. I've just looked at reviews though and they all seem mostly positive, so I'll have to give it a go.
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Hi Steph! I saw your FB post about seeing the One Direction movie the other day and was like, "I didn't know there was a new One Direction movie." That makes more sense that it was a charity screening of their old one. I bet that was fun! I love seeing old movies in the theater. I bet it was poignant, given the loss of Liam. Glad all the 1D fans had a reason to get together and enjoy the nostalgia. I can't say I'm a huge fan, but I do enjoy some of their songs!
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Walker Texas Ranger is where I know him. I watched that show because of Jared and he played the love interest of Jared's daughter on there. I knew he looked familiar!
As far as Kevin, I can picture him being passive aggressive towards the boys. Maybe deep down inside even though he said he didn't mind, maybe he was hoping they'd insist on doing things differently and by agreeing so fast to go ahead with it anyway, it maybe would make him upset. Especially once he got there and really sees how hard it's going to be. Maybe by then the guys will have all fallen in love with the location and aren't really willing to change it. I don't know, he seems to me like the passive aggressive type. lol
Every other week seems like a great plan. That's really what I should do too. It would take the pressure off of me. Not that I'm being pressured. I'm purely just pressuring myself! I did get the nicest feedback yesterday from a new person. That always helps with motivation and what I've decided to do is veer away from Roman for a minute and do a little backstory chapter about how Gerri and Logan met. That seemed to help me get moving yesterday.
Kieran was nominated for a Bafta this morning (the UK equivalent to the Oscars) So was his Succession brother for the same category just like the Globes. They're just always meant to compete against each other I guess.
So you actually have seen him in something! I haven't, but he looked so familiar to me in Thanksgiving too; I remember looking him up then too.
I could see the passive aggressive thing! It's one thing to agree without fully knowing what he's getting himself into; it's another thing to actually get there and realize how hard it's going to be and then feel like it's too late to back out. The location they filmed in is 2.5 hours away from L.A. and basically a ghost town in the middle of a desert, so there's no backing out once you drive that far. And the amount of picking him up and dragging him and his chair around that would be required to get anything resembling some of the real shots they did would probably be humiliating at best and dangerous at worst. The process isn't going to be pretty, even if the result is. Thanks for explaining what you were thinking!
I totally get the pressure thing. I like updating on a weekly schedule too, but I can only do it for so long before I run out of chapters, and then it might be several weeks before I have another one ready to post. So when I'm only a few chapters ahead of myself, I go to the every-other-week plan so give myself more time. Maybe someday I'll be the kind of writer who doesn't post anything until they finish the story. The main problem I would have with that is that most of my stories take a year or more to write, and I don't want to disappear for that long LOL. That's nice to get good feedback from someone new! Definitely motivating. Sometimes it helps to write something different. I'm glad that seemed to get you back on track!
Congrats to Kieran on his BAFTA! I wonder if that's fun or annoying for them to constantly be up for the same awards.
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Hi Steph! I saw your FB post about seeing the One Direction movie the other day and was like, "I didn't know there was a new One Direction movie." That makes more sense that it was a charity screening of their old one. I bet that was fun! I love seeing old movies in the theater. I bet it was poignant, given the loss of Liam. Glad all the 1D fans had a reason to get together and enjoy the nostalgia. I can't say I'm a huge fan, but I do enjoy some of their songs!
I wouldn't say I was a huge fan of 1D, but I did like them a lot. I had no choice lol, my daughter was a huge fan and was always playing their music in the house and my car and talking non-stop about them so I got to like them that way. I even took her to concerts and was impressed with how good they actually were. So it was a great trip down memory lane even though it's still sad about Liam.
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Steph, it seems like that monkey movie is the main talk on twitter. You have all the brits saying how genius it is, and everyone should go see it and the Americans are like Robbie who? And why is he a monkey? And then that starts a whole US versus UK thing. lol
I don't get the monkey thing, and I really think that is the crux of the issue with the movie. It is something I might check out when and if it ever streams for free.
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So you actually have seen him in something! I haven't, but he looked so familiar to me in Thanksgiving too; I remember looking him up then too.
I could see the passive aggressive thing! It's one thing to agree without fully knowing what he's getting himself into; it's another thing to actually get there and realize how hard it's going to be and then feel like it's too late to back out. The location they filmed in is 2.5 hours away from L.A. and basically a ghost town in the middle of a desert, so there's no backing out once you drive that far. And the amount of picking him up and dragging him and his chair around that would be required to get anything resembling some of the real shots they did would probably be humiliating at best and dangerous at worst. The process isn't going to be pretty, even if the result is. Thanks for explaining what you were thinking!
I totally get the pressure thing. I like updating on a weekly schedule too, but I can only do it for so long before I run out of chapters, and then it might be several weeks before I have another one ready to post. So when I'm only a few chapters ahead of myself, I go to the every-other-week plan so give myself more time. Maybe someday I'll be the kind of writer who doesn't post anything until they finish the story. The main problem I would have with that is that most of my stories take a year or more to write, and I don't want to disappear for that long LOL. That's nice to get good feedback from someone new! Definitely motivating. Sometimes it helps to write something different. I'm glad that seemed to get you back on track!
Congrats to Kieran on his BAFTA! I wonder if that's fun or annoying for them to constantly be up for the same awards.
The location seems even more problematic then. It would be very typical Kevin to get there, have regret, be angry at himself and then take it out on the guys passive aggressively. Looking forward to hearing what you did when you complete your chapter.
I don't think I would ever be able to wait until a fic is complete before I posted it. I'd be too eager to get feedback on it. Kudos to the people that do manage to do that.
Kieran and Jeremy never really had to compete against each other because up until last year, Kieran was always in the supporting actor category and Jeremy was a lead. After Logan's death, both he and Sarah moved up to lead. So far, he's beaten Jeremy every time they've squared off, but we'll see what happens with these bigger awards. It's actually been very Nick versus Brian coded within the fandom. It's funny how those dynamics always seem to show up no matter what fandom there is. Here, the Kieran fans in general are very happy for Jeremy and hope he does well but the Jeremy fans are all hating on Kieran because of all the success he's been having. I'm sure neither of them cares, really. They are both the underdogs now heading into the bigger awards like SAG, BAFTA and the Oscars if they get nominaed for that.
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Steph, it seems like that monkey movie is the main talk on twitter. You have all the brits saying how genius it is, and everyone should go see it and the Americans are like Robbie who? And why is he a monkey? And then that starts a whole US versus UK thing. lol
I don't get the monkey thing, and I really think that is the crux of the issue with the movie. It is something I might check out when and if it ever streams for free.
Oh right, I don't use Twitter as forgot my username and password lol. I didn't realise Robbie Williams or Take That weren't well known over there. Robbie used to be part of Take That who were massive, but left in the 90s to go solo as he had a big falling out with the rest of the group and his ego was too big really to be part of a group. Anyway, they have since made up even though he's not part of the group anymore. I think the film probably talks about his time in Take That, so I'd be interested to see that, but not keen on the whole monkey thing lol. I'll wait to see it for free as it's no longer on in my local cinema apart from a showing in the day when I'm in work.
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I actually knew who he was. He had a really big hit in the US. I think it was called Angel or Angels? I loved it so much I think I actually bought his CD at the time. I didn't know his history or that he was in a boyband or anything like that. I guess the movie flopped big time here in the US and the Brits were appalled by that. lol I'm sure it's been doing much better across the pond though. I'm sure it'll have a wider release by you soon.
A Real Pain is now officially streaming on Hulu. I'm also excited about Severance, and I'll be watching the last episode of Squid Games today. Oh, there will also be a new The Pitt as well. Good stuff leading into the weekend!
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Just popping in to say that I ended up really liking season 2 of Squid Games so much more than season 1. I didn't really understand the purpose of the game master or whatever he's called, coming in and playing the game, but I did like his addition as well as seeing things from one of the shooters perspectives and how about having a trans gender person. Way to go South Korea! I hope they don't make us wait too long for the final season.
I haven't had a chance to watch The Pitt yet. My sister wants to try it out so I'm waiting for her to catch up on the first two episodes because I enjoy watching a show with someone instead of solo, but we'll see how long it takes her to actually watch. I might not have enough patience lol
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I haven't heard about whatever's going on with Robbie Williams' movie, but I do know who he is. Take That was never big in the US, but Robbie had at least a couple of hits that I can remember. I thought his video for Rock DJ was really cool when it came out!
I will try to watch A Real Pain at some point this weekend. I'm glad you liked Season 2 of Squid Game, Mare! I'm not sure if I liked the whole season better than 1 (maybe because it felt so unresolved), but I definitely liked the supporting characters they brought in to play the games better. I'm terrible at remembering their names or numbers, especially now that it's been a few weeks since I watched it, but I like the mom with the son, the trans woman, and the pregnant woman. Thanos was also a really fun antagonist! I'm curious to see what happens with the woman who is one of the soldiers for the games. I'm not sure why the game master played the games again but figured he was probably bored and was inspired by 001 in the first season. I was surprised Gi-Hun never seemed to suspect him, given who 001 turned out to be the last time.
Episode 3 of The Pitt was less dramatic than the first two. It felt like more of a filler episode where not as much happened, but I still loved it! As hard as it is to wait a week for episodes, I love that Max is doing it that way instead of releasing them all at once. Now I get to look forward to Thursday nights again, like I did for 15 years with ER. If they had released the whole season at once, I would have watched it all last weekend and had nothing to look forward to.
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Is Squid Game good? I'm looking for new (or "new") shows to binge watch this summer with my newfound free time. We started watching Resident Alien a couple of months ago, but nothing else new.
I lurk on your Kieran tweets when they pop up in my notifications, so you're my running award season commentary. Thanks for keeping me informed! :D I think I caught one where you were saying we needed to rank celebrity death matches based on Hot Ones and you're absolutely right. I'm probably misremembering and exaggerating your calling it a death match, but I wholeheartedly support that interpretation .
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I haven't heard about whatever's going on with Robbie Williams' movie, but I do know who he is. Take That was never big in the US, but Robbie had at least a couple of hits that I can remember. I thought his video for Rock DJ was really cool when it came out!
I will try to watch A Real Pain at some point this weekend. I'm glad you liked Season 2 of Squid Game, Mare! I'm not sure if I liked the whole season better than 1 (maybe because it felt so unresolved), but I definitely liked the supporting characters they brought in to play the games better. I'm terrible at remembering their names or numbers, especially now that it's been a few weeks since I watched it, but I like the mom with the son, the trans woman, and the pregnant woman. Thanos was also a really fun antagonist! I'm curious to see what happens with the woman who is one of the soldiers for the games. I'm not sure why the game master played the games again but figured he was probably bored and was inspired by 001 in the first season. I was surprised Gi-Hun never seemed to suspect him, given who 001 turned out to be the last time.
Episode 3 of The Pitt was less dramatic than the first two. It felt like more of a filler episode where not as much happened, but I still loved it! As hard as it is to wait a week for episodes, I love that Max is doing it that way instead of releasing them all at once. Now I get to look forward to Thursday nights again, like I did for 15 years with ER. If they had released the whole season at once, I would have watched it all last weekend and had nothing to look forward to.
I think it's because I am so all in on the movie side of twitter now that I'm seeing all the drama surrounding this Robbie Williams movie. The consensus seems to be it's a great film but no one in the US is willing to give it a chance because they never heard of Robbie Williams and the whole monkey issue and that's angering the UK because they feel like that's the reason it hasn't been acknowledged for awards. I don't remember that DJ song. The only one I remember is Angel.
I hope you enjoy A Real Pain when you finally get to see it. It's only 88 minutes and isn't like an edge of your seat movie or anything. You just really feel like you're on this tour of Poland with these people. One of which is clearly mentally ill. I kept thinking, if I was ever on a tour, I'd totally be stuck with Benji in my group. lol This is the very first film that was given permission to film in a real concentration camp and they treat that scene SO incredibly. Anyway you]re either going to find it enjoyable or boring. Either way Kieran and Jesse are both incredible in it. I'm sad Jesse isn't getting any love for his acting performance. As for Squid Games, good for you for remembering the names you did. I have enough trouble remembering names like Steve or Rick, I couldn't even tell you the main character's name. I don't really recall who Thanos is. Was he the purple haired guy? I enjoyed the mom and son as well. I hope they make it to the end. I have a feeling the game is not going to be completed so maybe there''ll be a chance that more of them will live at the end.
i still haven't watched the third episode of The Pitt yet, but I figured there would be some filler episodes in there, maybe for more character development. I love the weekly release as opposed to all at once method like Netflix has, even though when they do that, I still tend to only watch one episode at as time, but I usually do one a day instead of once a week.
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Is Squid Game good? I'm looking for new (or "new") shows to binge watch this summer with my newfound free time. We started watching Resident Alien a couple of months ago, but nothing else new.
I lurk on your Kieran tweets when they pop up in my notifications, so you're my running award season commentary. Thanks for keeping me informed! :D I think I caught one where you were saying we needed to rank celebrity death matches based on Hot Ones and you're absolutely right. I'm probably misremembering and exaggerating your calling it a death match, but I wholeheartedly support that interpretation .
I avoided Squid Games for years because in my head, I pictured it as gory as Saw and the whole non-English thing made me avoid it but I'm glad I decided to watch it. Like Steph and Julie have been saying, once you get past the dubbing, it's not so bad. They do a decent job with the dubbing actually. I am watching Resident Alien too! I LOVED the first season. Alan Tyduk is hilarious. I'm not that far into season 2, but so far it hasn't been as great as season one. As far as other recommendation s, not sure what streamers you have, but I enjoyed Only Murders in the Building on Hulu and Shrinking on AppleTV. Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't recommend Succession lol Evil on paramount + is excellent as is What We Do in the Shadows on Hulu. Interview with a Vampire is on Netflix and it's really great as well.
I'm glad I can be of service in your awards updates. Even though I am very much a one trick pony. The big news rolling around is that two of the big awards contenders, The Brutalist and Emilia Perez were just outed as using AI to help enhance the actor's accents. Which people like me are delighted about because the Brutalist fans are the ones making the most noise about Kieran and category fraud.
A little lesson:
Technically his performance in A Real Pain by definition does fall into the Supporting category as he isn't the storyteller, and we never get to see through his eyes ever. But he also is in enough of the movie and has a big enough part where he could have also run in lead. The problem with that is in Oscar rules, you can't have two lead performances competing in the same category from one movie, so it made sense for them to run Kieran in supporting and Jesse in lead because at the time they were hopeful Jesse would get some awards love. So Kieran is running away with all these accolades and it's pissing all these other people off. Meanwhile Adrien Brody has gotten award winning praise for his Hungarian accent in The Brutalist. 😉
I'm not sure where the Celebrity Death Match came from? I mentioned Best of the Worst. There was someone who tweeted how it's funny how Kieran is the more famous Culkin and all the Home Alone fans basically went beserk and one of the things they kept saying is Macauley is so famous he regularly appears on Best of the Worst. That's when I mentioned Hot Ones, because Kieran has been on that and I think out of those two shows, that's the one that's a tad bit more popular. Maybe someone else in that thread went on to mention celebrity death match? lol
I'll be glad when awards season is over because these movie people are intense! I thought some of the BSB fans were bad. Yikes!
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I highly recommend Squid Game, Dee! I started watching it when it came out to see what the hype was about (and find out why people were concerned about our students playing Red Light Green Light at recess), and I absolutely loved it! I re-watched the first season a couple months ago in preparation for the second season, and it was just as good the second time around. It is pretty brutal in parts, but you'll get a feel for that in the first episode. It does have a plot and character development and isn't just torture porn. And you get used to the dubbing or subtitles, depending on which way you choose to watch it. Just don't watch with your son in the room. 😄
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And another I'll recommend if you like Squid Game is Alice In Borderland (Julie, you'll love it I'm sure). It's a Japanese drama about a group of friends who suddenly find themselves in a strange version of Tokyo in which they must compete in dangerous games in order to survive. It reminds me a little of The Hunger Games/Squid Game and it is violent, but so so good. There's a series 3 coming soon which I can't wait for. I think it's on Netflix. It's probably dubbed into English but I watch in Japanese with subtitles as I like to hear the actors real voices.
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I'll have to give Alice in Borderland a try! I've seen it pop up on Netflix but have never clicked on it.
I watched A Real Pain last night. It was good! It gave me all the feels - I laughed out loud in parts and cried in others (mostly the concentration camp stuff). Kieran was fantastic! He nailed the whole charismatic, manic-depressive vibe Benji had going on. Jesse Eisenberg was also great and so relatable to me, as I'm used to being the quiet, introverted, anxious one with more extroverted friends and a sister with mental illness. The pace was perfect, too - it was over before I started wondering, "How much longer is this movie?" Kudos to your boy!
I didn't watch much TV this weekend. I started the SNL documentary on Peacock, but that's about it. I've been writing and trying to avoid social media. I had to remove Facebook from my home screen so I wouldn't keep clicking on it and seeing people I know in real life posting pictures of their inauguration watch parties. 🤦♀️🤢🤮 Secretly voting for the Antichrist is bad enough, but proudly declaring their support for him and celebrating his victory is downright disgusting and has made me lose any last shred of respect I had for these people. I decided that was enough social media for me today.
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I'm glad I can be of service in your awards updates. Even though I am very much a one trick pony. The big news rolling around is that two of the big awards contenders, The Brutalist and Emilia Perez were just outed as using AI to help enhance the actor's accents. Which people like me are delighted about because the Brutalist fans are the ones making the most noise about Kieran and category fraud.
A little lesson:
Technically his performance in A Real Pain by definition does fall into the Supporting category as he isn't the storyteller, and we never get to see through his eyes ever. But he also is in enough of the movie and has a big enough part where he could have also run in lead. The problem with that is in Oscar rules, you can't have two lead performances competing in the same category from one movie, so it made sense for them to run Kieran in supporting and Jesse in lead because at the time they were hopeful Jesse would get some awards love. So Kieran is running away with all these accolades and it's pissing all these other people off. Meanwhile Adrien Brody has gotten award winning praise for his Hungarian accent in The Brutalist. 😉
I'm not sure where the Celebrity Death Match came from? I mentioned Best of the Worst. There was someone who tweeted how it's funny how Kieran is the more famous Culkin and all the Home Alone fans basically went beserk and one of the things they kept saying is Macauley is so famous he regularly appears on Best of the Worst. That's when I mentioned Hot Ones, because Kieran has been on that and I think out of those two shows, that's the one that's a tad bit more popular. Maybe someone else in that thread went on to mention celebrity death match? lol
I'll be glad when awards season is over because these movie people are intense! I thought some of the BSB fans were bad. Yikes!
The last movie I saw in theaters was Barbie, so I am woefully behind on everything! :D I almost watched the Golden Globes because Nikki Glaser was hosting, but ultimately decided a couple of her jokes and a bunch of things I didn't see wasn't worth watching in whole.
Until reading this, I hadn't heard of Best of the Worst, so I figured it was some sort of celebrity competition because that sounded more fun, instead of just a run of the mill interview show, like it clearly actually is. I'm the one who wanted celebrity death matches!
I highly recommend Squid Game, Dee! I started watching it when it came out to see what the hype was about (and find out why people were concerned about our students playing Red Light Green Light at recess), and I absolutely loved it! I re-watched the first season a couple months ago in preparation for the second season, and it was just as good the second time around. It is pretty brutal in parts, but you'll get a feel for that in the first episode. It does have a plot and character development and isn't just torture porn. And you get used to the dubbing or subtitles, depending on which way you choose to watch it. Just don't watch with your son in the room. 😄
I avoided Squid Games for years because in my head, I pictured it as gory as Saw and the whole non-English thing made me avoid it but I'm glad I decided to watch it. Like Steph and Julie have been saying, once you get past the dubbing, it's not so bad. They do a decent job with the dubbing actually. I am watching Resident Alien too! I LOVED the first season. Alan Tyduk is hilarious. I'm not that far into season 2, but so far it hasn't been as great as season one. As far as other recommendation s, not sure what streamers you have, but I enjoyed Only Murders in the Building on Hulu and Shrinking on AppleTV. Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't recommend Succession lol Evil on paramount + is excellent as is What We Do in the Shadows on Hulu. Interview with a Vampire is on Netflix and it's really great as well.
Having watched plenty of anime in my day, subtitles don't bother me nearly as much as bad dubbing. I'd rather do some reading to avoid watching bad lip flaps. Is it super gory? That's a lot of why I've avoided it until now. And no, no, these are shows for mom to watch while he's at school this Summer. ;D
Alan Tudyk is hilarious! That's what really sold me after it was recommended to us. I've heard good things about both What We Do In The Shadows and Interview With a Vampire.
Today we've had a lot of Bluey on and now catching up on DVR After Midnight during naptime. We have fun here. lol
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It's bloody but not super gory beyond that. There is shooting and stabbing but nothing like the Saw movies, which was Mare's concern. The first episode will give you a good idea of what to expect, although I think it takes three episodes to really get into it.
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I'll have to give Alice in Borderland a try! I've seen it pop up on Netflix but have never clicked on it.
I watched A Real Pain last night. It was good! It gave me all the feels - I laughed out loud in parts and cried in others (mostly the concentration camp stuff). Kieran was fantastic! He nailed the whole charismatic, manic-depressive vibe Benji had going on. Jesse Eisenberg was also great and so relatable to me, as I'm used to being the quiet, introverted, anxious one with more extroverted friends and a sister with mental illness. The pace was perfect, too - it was over before I started wondering, "How much longer is this movie?" Kudos to your boy!
I didn't watch much TV this weekend. I started the SNL documentary on Peacock, but that's about it. I've been writing and trying to avoid social media. I had to remove Facebook from my home screen so I wouldn't keep clicking on it and seeing people I know in real life posting pictures of their inauguration watch parties. 🤦♀️🤢🤮 Secretly voting for the Antichrist is bad enough, but proudly declaring their support for him and celebrating his victory is downright disgusting and has made me lose any last shred of respect I had for these people. I decided that was enough social media for me today.
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed A Real Pain. I cried at the Holocaust tour part too. Because it was filmed in the real location and as a result only allowed the commentary as if it were a real tour, everything James says is what you would actually hear touring Majdanek. I'm sure it feels different in person, but that's the closest I'll probably ever get to touring a real concentration camp. Really powerful. That Gasp Kieran does after Jesse put's his hand on his shoulder at the very end before they leave was Kieran's honest reaction and not scripted. Jesse decided to keep it in there. I definitely related to David as well. All the anxiety and everything. I'm definitely the quietest at any kind of social gathering. I had a teacher friend very similar to Benji and it was a nightmare going out to eat with her because she overshared with everyone including the waitresses, the next table, everyone. Both my mentally ill parents used to do the same thing.
I agree it was the perfect length. I feel like any longer, it would have been overkill.
It's funny because I happen to be reading a book now "We Were the Lucky Ones." That takes place during the invasion of Poland by the Russians and Germans, so it's been interesting reading a story about a lot of the things that we learn about in that movie. It's a fantastic book that was turned into a series on Hulu. I'm going to start it as soon as I'm done with the book, which will probably be today.
I was thinking of watching that SNL documentary. Is it any good? Now that I'm staying away from the news as much as possible, I am watching more movies and documentaries. I watched a stand-up special last night on Netflix. Michael McIntyre. He's British and he's hilarious. I really am trying to avoid FB as much as possible. I've already snoozed some people and stopped following any kind of news. I'm going with the whole ignorance is bliss approach to things. I'm really bad at that. We'll see how it goes. I've already posted about Trump and all the actions he took on day one. It's going to be a very long four years my friends. :'( :crazy:
The writer in me keeps imagining a world where Trump was President during the late thirties as WW2 was happening. How different America would look because he would have allied with Hitler right away. Because of that, Pearl Harbor probably wouldn't have happened, but just like Hitler teamed up with Russia only to betray them and invade himself, he would've done the same to the USA. Which would have made us occupied by the Germans. How different would that look? There might be a novel in there somewhere. We might be living it right now!
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Dee, like Julie said it's very bloody. If that makes you squeamish, you might have a hard time with it. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that about 80 percent of the violence is gun related. People tend to be stabby too. I have a very low tolerance for gore, and it didn't bother me much. I did tend to look down at my phone when all the gunfire happened though. lol
Interview with a Vampire also bloody. Obviously. And What We Do in the Shadows can get gross sometimes. But in a hilarious way!
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I thought the concentration camp scenes were very well done. The total silence aside from James's commentary as they walked to each part of the camp and the actors' reactions made it emotional. I doubt they had to act very much. I can only imagine what it's like to set foot there yourself. I've never been to one either, and I'm not sure I would want to go, although I probably still would if I ever found myself in Poland or Germany because I do appreciate history. I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, which was good but so incredibly sad. Just like in the camp they showed in the movie, that museum had a room you walk through that is just full of shoes. That is the part I remember most; it made me cry then, and it made me cry watching the movie the other night, and I'm crying just thinking about it as I type this now. Absolutely devastating to think that each pair of shoes belonged to a person who was murdered in one of these places. I will never understand how anyone could hate a group of fellow human beings so much as to do something so unspeakably evil. And the parallels between that period in history and our current one makes it all the more real and frightening.
I remember seeing the previews for We Were the Lucky Ones, but I never watched it. You'll have to let me know if it's good. I have to be in the right mood for anything Holocaust-related because it's so heavy.
The SNL documentary is good! I think there are four episodes, and I've watched the first two. The first one is about the audition process, and the second one is about the writing staff and what they do in a week. They were both pretty interesting.
That is a scary thought but an interesting premise for a story. Things would have turned out much differently if Trump were our president then. If the US had sided with Germany during WWII, the Axis powers probably would have won, and our world might look a lot different nowadays. I just pray our current administration is only a temporary evil and that we can take back control of this country in the next 2-4 years.
On a less depressing note, I got an extra day off work today because of the extreme cold (-23 wind chill when I checked this morning) and spent most of it writing. My chapter is going well, and now I only have to work three days this week. Win win!
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Ugh, I know. All those shoes and the people most of the time not realizing that as they handed their belongings to the nazis that was the last time they were ever going to see them again. The whole thing seems so surreal, that people allowed that to happen. All the bad stuff including the Rowanden genocide and what's going on in Gaza and lord only knows what's going to happen with Trump. Him suddenly putting a stop to DEI hires and sending them all home gave me chills because that's exactly how it started with the Jews. They were told they had to leave their jobs.
So far We Were the Lucky Ones is pretty good. The book was incredible. I finished it yesterday and was amazed when I read the author's note to see it was a true story based on the author's grandfather. It's hard in general to read or watch things about that time period because you know the result and it's never great, but in this case, an entire family. Including an old mother, father plus five siblings and all their children and spouses all managed to survive the holocaust. It's quite the story. The author didn't even know her grandfather was from Poland because he spoke English without an accent. It was only after he died that one of her cousins told her the entire story. Can you imagine not knowing your family's legacy because they decided they would rather forget and move on. I honestly probably wouldn't have even thought about watching the show if I didn't already know there was a happy ending. I know I'm spoiling it for you, but I think we all need a tragic story with a happy ending every now and then. If you do watch, her grandfather was Addy and the cousin who told the author everything was Felicia.
I'll have to check out the SNL documentary. I know from Kieran talking about his experience hosting how fast paced and super stressful it is for the guest hosts.
Yay for bonus days off work! It is really freaking cold, isn't it? We usually don't get hit with minus temperatures like you guys do. We just get bombarded with snow, but this week it's been brutal. The coldest in Buffalo's history. It's only 0 here today not including the windchill. Between the cold and the snow, the kids haven't had school yet this week.
Not to go back to Trump, but my sister works for Niagara County, and they just had a really grim meeting about Trumps policies and how they will affect her field which is mental health. If all goes as planned, by April they intend to stop giving checks to all able-bodied disabled people. I'm safe for now, but that includes anyone on disability for mental health issues of any kind and also things like autism and down's syndrome. So, they will stop getting any kind of benefits. He already reversed the cap on insulin and all drugs which is problematic. So, this is going to be a ruling which I'm sure will affect many of the people that actually voted for him. What a hellscape we are living in.
Yay to you getting a significant amount of writing done! Did you get another day off today? I didn't write even one word yesterday. I am going to try to get some writing done now. We'll see how it goes. I am easily distracted. Wonder why?
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An extra day off for the weather sounds good. We never get it as bad as you do over there. We rarely get snow, so when it does snow the whole country goes into a panic and can't handle it.
I'm going to have to watch some of these things you're recommending. Although I know they are tragic stories and what happened was terrible, I think it's important to remember so that things like that never happen again. When I went to Amsterdam I went to Anne Frank's house and the museum and it was just so sad to think they had to live like that and ended up losing their lives because of some evil dictator and his idiot beliefs. If I ever went to Poland or Germany I'd try to visit places just because we should never forget what happened. My kids went to Auschwitz-Birkenau when they went to Krakow a few years ago, as they are both into history. They said it's the kind of place you have to visit but it was incredibly sad.
And Trump stopping benefits for autistic and disabled people is wrong. I know a lot of disabled people do work, but doesn't mean everyone can and should.
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The US is currently a hellscape where everyday something terrible happens, but that's okay because today Kieran Culkin became an Oscar nominee! A Real Pain missed for best picture which bums me out, but Jesse is up for best original screenplay. Jeremy, Kieran's Succession big brother is also nominated in the same category. I wonder of that is a first time in history thing that a year after a show ends two costars get nominated for the same category at the same time?
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Just from what I've seen online while trying my best to avoid the actual news, it seems like Trump is getting right to work implementing Project 2025, which he claimed to know nothing about. I wonder what it will take to get his supporters to turn on him. Just how bad does it have to get? I know most of them don't care about immigrants, people who aren't white, people who aren't straight and cisgender, people who aren't Christian, and people with disabilities, but they do care about the cost of stuff, like groceries, gas, and medications. I pray that the political pendulum will swing the other way in a couple years when they realize that he hasn't magically improved their lives the way he promised.
That's good to know that We Were the Lucky Ones has a happy ending! That makes me more likely to watch it.
Steph, that's so cool that you got to visit the Anne Frank house. I don't know if I'll ever make it to Amsterdam, but that would definitely be on my list of places to visit if I did.
I did have work today and yesterday, but I could get used to the three-day work week! LOL The temperature warmed up to the 20s, which actually felt pretty good compared to the negative 20 windchills. But now we're back to snow. We haven't gotten a lot, thankfully, just enough to cover the ground.
Congrats on Kieran's Oscar nomination! That is cool that he and Jeremy are both nominated in the same category. Sibling rivalry!
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Trump has wasted no time in taking away as many rights as he can. He's reversed pretty much every civil rights law he could. Taking away equal rights in the workplace etc. One of my friends, a professor at Berklee, just lost his position in the coast guard because he was in charge of diversity and inclusion. He was relieved of his duties effective immediately. He has been a member for over 25 years. You know how people make reaction videos for everything from getting into college to seeing award nominations? I wish there were some for the people who voted for this guy and are now seeing that his policies are actually affecting them. Like taking away the cap on insulin and drugs in general. Seeing the price of fuel rise because of the tariffs. Seeing them lose the people they pay to clean their houses and mow their lawn disappear because they're being deported. It's a real shit show and every day I wake up angry. If it weren't for Kieran to distract me, I'd lose my mind. This is when it really pays to be hyper fixated on something. Baseball will be coming around soon too.
This weather is all over the place! The kids actually had school for two days in a row. Even though we got about 8 inches last night into today. In Allentown they would get 2 days off for that much probably. Or at least one day off and a two hour delay.
Steph, I hope you don't get hit with unexpected weather. Florida got 8 inches of snow as did New Orleans. These places are always warm. The world is ending.
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I hope you had a nice birthday yesterday, Mare!
How has it only been twelve days since he took office? 😫 So much damage done in such a short time! I've started watching the news again in small doses, but it's so depressing and scary.
My distraction this week was binge-watching a whole season of Survivor. It was the Second Chance season, which I hadn't rewatched since it aired, and I really enjoyed watching it again! I couldn't even remember for sure who won until I got to the final episode, and I resisted the urge to look it up, so it was almost like watching it for the first time LOL. I finished it earlier today, and now I want to watch another one while I wait for the new season. Apparently reality TV is the kind of mindless entertainment I need right now.
It actually felt like spring here this week! It was in the 40s and rainy most of the week, so the snow that's been on the ground since the second week of January finally had a chance to melt. Now it's all brown and gross-looking, but at least it's not so cold. 40 feels warm compared to 0!
I had ordered some earrings from an Etsy seller in Louisiana, and they were super delayed by the crazy weather they got down there! They finally arrived today after being stuck in Louisiana for almost two weeks.
On another positive note, I'm excited that the Boys are performing for the SNL 50th anniversary concert! Now I have plans for Valentine's Day evening LOL. Like you with Kieran, I'll take whatever glimmer of happiness I can get right now.
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Thanks! It was a pretty low-key birthday this year. Read some, watched A Real Pain and caught up on Severance and The Pitt and then had Chinese food. It was nice.
I am slowly allowing myself to watch the news again, like you. Things have been so terrible that even without watching the news, I was hearing about it all anyway but then there was the added question of whether or not what I was hearing was real, so I found myself looking it up to check for accuracy. Kind of counterproduct ive. So, now I'm going to allow myself to watch our local news first thing in the morning because even if there was a zombie apocalypse happening the only thing they'd report is how it might affect the Bills season! I am dreading the voting on these cabinet picks. Especially RFK. If he gets in there, people are literally going to die. I'm pretty sure I'll be one of them. I saw an article where he said he didn't believe that diabetics really needed insulin. That all it would take is a change of eating habits and diet. He'd like to do away with it all and it would save Americans billions of dollars. Sure dude.... except that's false! Sure, some diabetics can get themselves off insulin with just eating healthy and exercise but some of us, that's not the case. I know this because despite eating healthy and exercising and losing weight etc...and always being controlled meaning my A1C is 5.98, when they tried to take me off insulin, even with the addition of Monjauro, it didn't work. He doesn't think it ever will. Let alone type 1 people. So yeah, I'm kind of worried about this guy and that these idiots will vote him through because they are scared of retaliation from Trump.
I have tried to rewatch old seasons of Survivor but for some reason, I can't really get into them. I don't know if it's because I've seen it already or what, but it doesn't work. I'm glad it is fun for you though. I'm telling you, you should check out The Traitors on Peacock. It's a stupid mindless reality show and it uses people from all those shows. This season, Boston Rob, Danielle, Crazy Carolyn and Jeremy are on it. The first season Ciri was on it. Most of the other contestants I don't know because they are from the E! shows like the Housewives or Shahs of Sunset, there's a bachelorette on this year as well as Bob from The Big Loser and random Zak Efron's brother lol Alan Cummings is the host and he's awesome! There's a UK version of the show that takes place in the same castle they use for the USA version but the thing I like about the UK one, is they aren't celebrities. I think I would like that better.
It's still snowy here. But it hasn't been bitter cold, thankfully. I'm glad it's gotten better for you!
I'm happy for the boys for getting to perform for the SNL concert. I don't think I'll watch it because it's going to be really long, but I'm sure someone will post their performance. It's always nice to have something to look forward to. For me it's Critics Choice Awards on Friday although, now Kieran's most likely in rehearsals for his play. I'm really hoping he'll still show up for these awards shows. I didn't really think about that until recently. ???
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Still no snow here, just the usual rain lol.
Sorry to hear that Trump is taking away people's medication and rights. Is he actually doing anything good or is it all negative stuff?
I went to Manchester last week with my husband and daughter to see a k-pop group called Ateez. They were amazing and put on such a good show, it was my first k-pop concert (apart from a day festival in Hyde Park last summer which had a k-pop group called Stray Kids in the line-up). The last time I was at that venue was to see BSB over two years ago, who were even more amazing lol. Makes me want the boys to release new music and go on tour again, even though I know the DNA tour lasted years. I do love a good concert.
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I was just going to come on here and rant about Trump lol So your answer is No, Steph. He hasn't done one single good thing and I don't plan on that ever happening. So far, he's taken away all rights to trans people. They basically no longer exist within the United States. He's taking it so far that he's going to have prisoners relocated to prisons by the sex they were assigned at birth. He's fired everyone that had him persecuted. He's pulled us out of WHO and the Paris Peace accord. He's gutted USAID (these are the people in charge of humanitarian aid) and now he's dismantling the department of Education. He's basically signed into law that there are no more equal rights. Gotten rid of DEI hirings. They just voted RFK junior through to be in charge of health. He wants to relocate everyone from Gaza so the US can take over and build hotels or something. He gave Elon Musk pretty much permission to come in and look at everyone's private information. It's all very very bad. Oh yeah, and the whole Tariff thing with China, Canada and Mexico. I know I'm missing a ton of things, and he has only been in office for two weeks. Shit show. Phew! I needed to get that off my chest. ???
Sounds like you had fun in Manchester. I bet those K pop kids put on a good show. I'm sure BSB will be popping up soon. I would imagine they'll be working on a new album soon enough followed by another marathon long tour. Did you watch the Grammy's? Seems like everyone was pleased with the outcome and the performances. As they were going through the list of performers and winners, I officially felt very old since I only knew maybe a handful of them. LOL My friends Dave and Gil did win one for Best Folk Album so yay for them. They are touring in Australia so weren't there. They are the ones that played at the Oscars a few years back.
I'm going to go attempt to write now, even though I am so angry about everything I want to just scream. I need to reply to some comments first. I have a person who comments after ever chapter I write, and I love that, but I feel like she never seems to quite grasp what's going on in the story. Have either of you ever encountered that? She's the sweetest person in the universe but then always based on what she says, which is usually her idea of solutions to the situations occurring in the story, it's clear that she didn't really follow what happened. I always end up trying to nudge her in the right direction, which is what I have to go do now.
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Sounds like Trump is making big changes then. I wonder what his voters are thinking right now and if they are regretting it. I bet a lot of them are.
Yeah, the k-pop group did put on a good show. Just the feel good kind of concert I needed where everyone of all ages, colours, genders etc are all happily singing and dancing. I love concerts.
I didn't watch the Grammys, but I happened to see just a bit of the news showing some woman with Kanye West who appeared naked. Why on earth would she do that lol. Publicity I suppose. I have no idea who most of these singers are these days as I'm stuck in my 90s boyband bubble with a bit of k-pop thrown in and I'm happy enough with that lol
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I'm glad you had a nice, low-key birthday, Mare! And glad you enjoyed your concert, Steph! It's funny your mentioned K-pop and the Stray Kids because some of the girls in my class are obsessed with them! I'd never heard of them until last week when they were telling me about them, so you just reminded me to look up some of their songs. I get the appeal; they've got some fun, catchy stuff. I was asking my girls about them and said, "Back in my day, most boybands had 5 members." These Korean boybands are so big!
It was nice to see 4 out of 5 members of BSB together for their show in Saudi Arabia! Kinda weird that Kevin is not with them again... I'm hoping it's just because his team is in the Superbowl again, although I think that's a crappy excuse to back out of a gig, considering his team won the Superbowl the last two years. But hopefully that's the reason and not something else. It does seem like the group is working on something, so that's good. I'm ready for new music and more concerts!
I also did not watch the Grammy's. I am also stuck in my 90s boyband bubble and haven't cared about most modern music for years. Every once in awhile, I'll fall in love with a new song or buy a new album (most recently Linkin Park), but mostly I just listen to the same old stuff over and over again LOL.
Currently still comfort-watching old seasons of Survivor. I'm watching the Millennials vs. Gen X season this week. It's not as good as Second Chance but still entertaining enough. I wasn't sure if I would be able to rewatch Survivor, but I've actually rewatched quite a few of the old seasons over the years and enjoyed most of them. I can't rewatch the super recent ones yet, but it's fun watching the older seasons where I don't remember some of the players and events. I'll have to give The Traitors a try!
It's also The Pitt night! I love this show so much and am glad it's getting good reviews and lots of views! Hopefully it will win some awards and get picked up for another season.
Have you had any luck writing, Mare? It's a good distraction but hard to do when you're upset. I'm still writing this damn photo shoot chapter I've literally been working on all year (2025). It's over 6000 words now, but I'm so slow. Last weekend was not a very good writing weekend, and I haven't even attempted to write on weeknights, so I've only been writing for 15-20 minutes each morning.
I can relate to the commenter issue. I very much appreciate Steph and her coherent comments on the events of each chapter because not everyone leaves comments like that LOL. I'm not sure if there's a language barrier with my other regular commentor or if it's something else, but some of her comments leave me scratching my head. She likes one of my original characters better than I do, though, so at least there's that. I'm glad to get any comments at all, but I do miss the kind of feedback people gave here. Thanks again, Steph, for keeping a piece of that alive for me!
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Some of the k-pop groups do have loads of members, I wonder how they all get a chance to sing!
I've also seen posts with just four members of BSB and wondered where Kevin had got to. I hope he's not planning on leaving again, or maybe he was just busy with something else. I'm ready for new music too, it seems so long ago since we last got anything.
I've seen some of your reviews and she doesn't seem to say a lot, maybe it is a language thing. Where I'm at in the story is reminding me of when Tim was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, and how I didn't know a thing about the illness at the time. The site seems to be down at the moment, which is a shame as I'm quiet in work and was going to read some more.
I've started watching Grey's Anatomy (I know I'm about 20 years late lol) and really enjoying it so far. It'll take forever to watch though as I'm watching with Tim and he doesn't like to binge watch stuff like I do.
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I had no idea that BSB were playing a random gig in Saudi Arabia but I'm sure Kevin wouldn't miss the Super Bowl for that. I'm pretty certain that football is to Kevin what BSB is to their fans. lol Speaking of which, it makes me a little sad that I didn't know about any of this until I saw Rose say something about them being active for two days on a twitter post, which means that BSB is no longer factored into my algorithm on Twitter anymore. Unless nobody is talking about them on there. Regardless, I doubt Kevin is thinking of calling it quits. Especially if this is the only time he's done that. If it becomes a habit, then I'd worry.
A language barrier might make sense for your comment. I give credit to anyone who reads these things not in their native language. It always baffles my mind how great everyone is at that except for Americans. My person is from the US, and I don't get a sense that it's a language barrier. I just think she tends to misinterpret things. A review is a review though. It's nice that I know I can always count on hearing from her one way or the other and I do have a few people who leave nice, detailed reviews. This story has less random people just popping in for one chapter and then I never hear from them again like the other ones did. I tend to have more regulars now, with only an occasional pop in. So maybe that means I'm finally getting a following. Just in time for the fandom to die. I do miss your reviews. Both of you. BSB people in general. I wish the fandom wasn't so all or nothing. I know my BSB friends that are twitter (with the exception of you and Tracy. I know you're not on there anymore Steph) Only ever interact with me if I mention BSB. It's a bummer.
I have noticed how huge those K pop groups are. I wonder why? Maybe it's because of the dancing. I wish I could get into any kind of music again. It just doesn't interest me. Not great when that used to be your life.
My writing is going okay. I feel like I'm finally at the part of the story that I find interesting. Less the gushy stuff and more the action, so I've been managing to get a chapter a week out. I still haven't gotten ahead of myself though. I'm not sure if that's going to happen.
I started watching Gray's Anatomy late too, Steph. I stuck with it for a while but then when they literally ran over George with a bus I stopped watching. lol I am loving The Pitt though. I am also really happy it's getting such great reviews, and I'd love for it to be in the conversation come next awards season. Everything I watch now updates on Thursdays. The Pitt, Severance, Elsbeth, Ghosts and The Traitors. Why always Thursday? The rest of the week...nothing . lol
Okay time to cross your fingers and send positive vibes to Kieran tonight. It's the Critics' Choice awards. The second of the big precursors leading up to the Oscars. Since he won the Golden Globe, more critics are pivoting and making him the favorite to win the Oscar. The more of these things he wins the better! I don't think he'll be at the ceremony though because of his Glengarry rehearsals. Which is a bummer and something I didn't think about for the rest of these things. But he's also in a Super Bowl ad. As a beluga whale for nerd wallet. He's living his best life. lol
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Mare, that's sad that BSB posts aren't showing up on your Twitter anymore. Do you use the For You feed or Following? They should still show up on Following if you're still following them, but if you follow a lot of accounts, they may get lost in all the tweets. Nick is the only one who really tweets individually anymore; the other guys use Instagram more. But the group account's posts hint at something being in the works.
As for Kevin, he skipped out on another appearance last fall and never said why. I can't remember what country it was in now, but it was a similar situation - a random, one-night show on the other side of the world in the middle of their break. I figured it was because it was during high school football season, and he didn't want to miss Mason's Senior Night or something, but who knows. Rose made a good point on Twitter last night, which was basically that it's better for Kevin to bow out of these random gigs on the other side of the world if he doesn't want to do them for whatever reason than be forced to do them and get burned out. It sucks for the fans in those parts of the world to not get to see all five of them, but it would suck more for all of us if he left the group again.
I heard AO3 was down for maintenance earlier. It's back up now, but it's been having a lot of issues lately. Hopefully they resolved that during whatever they did to the site today.
My other regular also lives in the US, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean English is her first language. Sometimes people do just interpret things differently from how the writer intends, which can be both frustrating and enlightening. But, regardless, it's nice to know there are a few people who are reading and looking forward to my updates. Mare, I'm glad you're developing a following; that is awesome! I wish I could get into fanfic for other fandoms, but I'm not even interested in reading fanfic for fandoms I love, let alone ones I don't. I don't know what it is about BSB, but they're the only ones I've ever read and written about consistently. I don't even read much BSB fic anymore either, though.
That sucks that most of the old BSB crowd doesn't interact with you much anymore. That's the hard part of online friendships that are based on one specific interest. When you lose that common interest, it's easy to lose touch and run out of things to talk about. I'm glad we have other common interests and things to talk about. I'm still Facebook friends with a couple of my oldest online friends, both of whom moved on from the fandom like two decades ago. At least one of them is a Trumper now, and a lot of the stuff she posts makes me cringe, but I can't quite bring myself to unfollow her because social media is literally the only connection I still have to her and that period of my life.
I gave Grey's Anatomy a try a few years ago and got through the first two seasons, mostly because I wanted to watch Jeffrey Dean Morgan's arc after seeing him play Negan on TWD. I did like his arc, as ridiculous as it was, but I didn't feel compelled to keep watching after that. Compared to ER, it was just too soapy and unrealistic to me, and I know it only got worse the longer it went on. I love that The Pitt is on Thursdays because that was always ER night! It makes my heart happy to have a Thursday night show to look forward to again. Most of my weekly shows are on Sundays and Wednesdays.
I didn't watch the Critics Choice Awards tonight, but I saw your tweet that Kieran won. Congrats to him again! I also saw the video you shared of his beluga Super Bowl ad. So cute and random!
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I mostly use the following side of Twitter but occasionally I do the for you. I don't even see tweets by Nick, and I do follow him. I still follow them all, I think. The only one I had stopped following was Brian way back when I found out he was full on MAGA. I just think ever since Musk took over my feed has been weird. I usually have to go seek out tweets of people I know I follow.
Maybe they are working on a new album or planning another fan event like the one they did in the Bahamas. Kevin might feel like they're selling out by playing those private parties. I can see him being morally opposed to that. But like you said, it's good he knows to bow out instead of getting burned out. Who knows he might be the band member who is in and then out then in then out. Duran Duran was like that for a bit, but no matter what, the core 4 always came back together.
I've noticed that about AO3 too. I wonder if they have too many stories going on and are overloading easier. If that's even a thing.
I could never write in another fandom either. I'd really have to be completely all in and hyper focused on it first. It amazes me how easily some of the Succession writers can just hop over to another fandom like that. One of my friends can just jump in and write a Bridgerton fic when that came back and now, they're all jumping to Severance. I would never be able to do that and would not be the slightest bit interested in reading those either. Even though I like Severance, the show is confusing enough to begin with. lol
Friendships in general are so hard, especially when you get older. Finding new friends or keeping old ones as interests wain or you move or quit your job is tough. I've been living here for going on 5 years now and I haven't made one single friend. I rely solely on my long distance and online friends which sometimes is great and sometimes not so much. It would be nice to be able to invite someone over to watch a movie or go out to dinner etc... Not that I can even go anywhere but still. Oh, and speaking of which. My sister took my car to work yesterday because it drives better in the snow and got into an accident. She's okay and so are the people in the other car, but my car was totaled! It could have been a lot worse. I don't drive anymore, and she has her own so there's not that kind of stress, but still. I was going to sell it this year. Now we'll see what happens.
They have to do something about the formatting of the Critics' Choice Awards. They actually not only announced both male and female supporting TV categories at the same time but then had them come up at the same time. It's like they weren't even allowed to have their own moment. They didn't do that for the movie side which seemed really rude, and you could tell how confused the actors were when they went up and got their awards. They had no idea who would speak first or how long they'd have. The speeches were SO boring. They desperately needed Kieran's chaotic energy.
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I have definitely noticed more right-wing posts by accounts I don't follow popping up on both Twitter and Facebook, which is super annoying. I've been tempted to stop using those platforms, but Twitter is still where most of my online/BSB friends are, and FB is where most of my "real life" friends are, and I don't want to feel completely out of the loop.
Brian seems to have learned his lesson from 2020 and hasn't posted anything remotely political in a long time. I know he probably did vote for Trump again, but as long as he's not posting MAGA crap like his wife used to, I can keep clinging to my belief that he's just conservative and not a full-on, card-carrying cult member. I just keep wondering where the seemingly sane, decent Republicans are going to draw the line and turn against their fascist leader. When is enough going to be enough? If even just a few of them in Congress swallowed their pride or fear or whatever's holding them back and sided with Democrats, so much more could be done. But I guess they're too afraid of ruining their political careers like the Liz Cheneys and Adam Kinzingers of the party who tried last time around.
There's been a rumor going around for over a year now that BSB's going to do a Millennium 2.0 tour, and now the rumor is that they're doing another Vegas residency at the new Sphere. The Sphere thing sounds more likely than the Millennium part, but it would be cool if it was both. Def Leppard did a residency in 2013 where they basically played two concerts in one: the first setlist was a bunch of deep cuts, followed by an intermission, and then they played their whole Hysteria album in order for the second set. I would LOVE to see BSB do something like that! The deep cut thing is what we were all hoping their 30 for 30 concert in Cancun would be. I hope the announcement is not another fan event like Cancun. Whatever they're doing, it should be something the whole fandom can enjoy. I know not everyone can make it to concerts, especially when they're in a different country, but at least a tour or residency offers multiple dates to accommodate more people than one big, expensive event.
I heard AO3 membership has been going up exponentially because fanfic.net is getting old and having a lot of issues too, so it definitely could be that the site is getting overloaded. If that's the case, I'm concerned about what importing all these other dying archives is going to do to it. Hopefully they have a plan in place to increase their servers or bandwidth or whatever they need to accommodate more users and data.
Yeah, I wish I was able to jump from fandom to fandom like that, too. The only way I've been able to write for other fandoms are if I'm doing a crossover with BSB. Apparently, I still need those boys in the story to be fully invested in it LOL. Out of curiosity, I looked to see if there were any fanfics for The Pitt yet on AO3. There are 15 so far! LOL If I hadn't already done an ER crossover, I could see myself doing one with The Pitt. But since it's only been 5 years since I finished the ER story, I'm not really itching to write another story like that yet.
You're so right about adult friendships. It's much harder to make new friends as an adult, especially when you're not working or part of a club or church or something. Pretty much all of the friends I actually hang out with in real life, aside from BSB trips, are people I work with. I barely keep in touch with friends from high school and college anymore outside of Facebook. Everyone just gets busy with their own lives, and it takes effort on both sides to stay in touch. Being introverted makes it even harder. I always wish I lived closer to people I know online. But then, I have a few friends who started out as online friends who only live 2-3 hours away from me, and we still usually only see each other for BSB-related events LOL.
Oh no! I'm so sorry about your sister's accident and your car. I'm glad she wasn't hurt! And that's good that she has her own car, but it sucks that yours was totaled. I hope you get a nice insurance check. When my car was totaled a couple years ago, I actually got way more than I was expecting from my insurance company, about 9 grand for a ten-year-old car that, according to Kelly Blue Book, was only worth $3-4k in trade-in value. Apparently, it was worth more for its scrap metal and parts than it was as a fully functional car LOL. So, in that respect, I guess it worked out all right for me in the long run, but I still wish it hadn't happened. It's so stressful dealing with all that. I was planning to keep driving my car for a few more years without a car payment and then give it to my nephew when he starts driving, but he's out of luck now.
That's really weird how the Critics Choice Awards were given out. So, were the supporting actors not able to give a speech, or did they just take turns? Hopefully they do it differently next year.
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I feel the same way about Twitter and FB and I use them the same way you do. I can talk incessantly about my fandoms on Twitter, but I use FB as a way to keep in touch with everyone else. only a few of you have made the move up to my FB friend's level. lol I haven't seen the political posts on FB as much as I have on Twitter including people I don't follow suddenly popping up for me. I went on my follower's page and noticed Elon and some of those people are following my account. I wonder if it's the same way it was on Myspace where the guy who invented it just friended everyone. I don't see myself leaving either platform and get almost a little anxious when people say they are. I've tried Threads and Bluesky, but I don't understand them.
Glad to hear Brian stopped with the MAGA posts. Did his wife as well? Is Baylee going on American Idol? I think that's something else I saw Rose mention. Can he even do that? Wasn't he signed with a record deal and has already toured the country etc... how is that going to be fair?
Oh, it would be nice if BSB decided on another residency. Sad it always has to be Vegas though. Some venues in NYC also do residencies. They should look into that as well. I agree with you about the whole destination thing. Cruises and vacations are extreme and do exclude a lot of people. It's usually the same people who are always excluded as well. That would be interesting if they did the entire Milennium album from start to finish. If they toured here, I'd pay to go see that.
AO3 was down last night and earlier this morning. Both times I went to answer reviews. I do hope they aren't taking on more than they should be. It would suck for me when I go to update after getting all the stupid HTML codes in there, once I click post it didn't work.
I get jealous that people can seem to jump from fandom to fandom so easily. Like my entire Succession twitter timeline is talking about nothing but Severance and while I do like the show, to me it's just alright, but nothing to get obsessed over. So, while they are all Severance this and Severance that, I'm still over there gushing about Kieran. I mean they will come back probably by Monday but since the last episode aired it's all about that. I'm impressed there's The Pitt fanfic. Did they manage to just focus on ships? Like how on earth? lol
Not working is what really slowed my friendship making down. My entire social life in PA depended on my teacher and music teacher friends.
We'll see what happens with my car. It's a 2016 Verano which isn't a popular car, so that might help me out and it didn't even have 50,000 miles on it because I hated to drive so it was only to and from work. It's been paid up for a while now. My sister takes it out and drives it to work for about a month before switching back to her car just so it doesn't die. It's not in bad condition and has a brand-new battery and a new tire. According to the blue book, it's worth about $5,000 so in my mind I was expecting to get that much or a little more. The good thing for me is I am not dealing with all the insurance crap because I wasn't the one in the accident so it's my sister who has to do the back and forth because I wasn't there. Still annoying.
The Supporting actors were able to give a speech but the first two had no idea what on earth to do. It was one of the guys from Shrinking and the girl was from Hacks and they literally just looked at each other for a second and started talking at the same exact time, which was hilarious, but then she stopped and let him go first and then she went but since all that confusion happened, she like said two words and the music started playing. Then they did the same thing for the supporting roles for drama as well. Since they saw what the two before them did, they were quicker to take turns but still, no other acting category did that. No one at all did. I mean I know they were probably wanting to save time, but it was classless. Do it for the limited series people if you want to do it to anyone. Hopefully they'll work that out. Last year I remembered them announcing them all in one bunch like that, but I think they at least got up one at a time and had their own moment. Awards season is winding down now. Just a few more to go. SAG will be next.
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Sorry to hear about your car Mare, I hope the insurance claim isn't too much of a hassle for you and your sister.
I also know what you mean about making new friends when you get older and you're an introvert. I've got the same few friends I've had for many years and I don't even get to see them that much these days even though we don't live far from each other. I talk to people in work but I wouldn't call them friends lol, plus we're only in the office a couple of days a week and work from home the rest of the time.
I also don't really have an interest in reading other fandoms, it's just BSB for me and even then I don't read anywhere near as much as I used to. I think I used to read a lot during work but these days work is busier so I don't have the chance so much.
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Still haven't heard about the car. It was towed to a new place since my insurance company doesn't work with the place it ended up initially. I should hear today if they think it's a complete loss or not.
It took a long time to feel like some of my coworkers were friends. I feel like that happens when you can actually go out to dinner with them and talk about other things with only work coming up occasionally. That was my gauge anyway. lol I've been hearing from a lot of my teacher friends lately with all the Trump crap happening. Many of them are very proactive and have been actually taking that step and calling their representative s but since PA is now mostly red, their calls are being ignored. Another one of my teacher friends who has since moved to Savannah Georgia is having the same problem. It sucks to live in the South right now. I don't know if I could've handled living in Nashville if Trump was in office.
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Ew, I didn't realize Elon was following everyone on Twitter now. Creepy. It does sound like MySpace Tom, but more sinister. BlueSky is similar enough to Twitter that I don't mind it, but I only have a few friends there, and none of the Boys have moved there yet, so it's not a replacement for Twitter yet. Maybe someday. Threads finally has a Following option to filter your feed so it doesn't just show you random content from users you don't follow, so maybe I'll start using it more.
To be fair, Brian never really posted anything full-on MAGA. His wife did, but she deleted most of her social media accounts or made them private after the backlash in 2020. I still follow her on Instagram for the occasional Brian photo she posts, but she's never posted much political stuff there. The worst of it was on FB. I'm sure she's still as MAGA as ever, but she's learned to keep her ignorant thoughts to herself. And apparently Baylee deleted his political posts after auditioning for American Idol. I thought American Idol used to not allow professional recording artists to audition, but they must have changed the rules. I haven't watched it in years, but apparently, a lot of the people who audition now have released music before; they're just not well-known or successful. I liked it better when it was all amateurs. I'll be curious to see how Baylee does. I have mixed feelings on him auditioning, but at least he'll be able to get some real, hopefully unbiased feedback that will help him grow as an artist. I think he needed to do something to step out of Brian's shadow and cut the cord from his Mom-ager if he's going to have a real career in music that doesn't just depend on BSB fans. As much as I love Brian, I haven't bought any of Baylee's music because I'm not into country. He doesn't have a bad voice, but he's nothing like Brian in his prime.
An NYC residency would be cool! They probably stick with Vegas because it's convenient for at least 3/5 of them, especially Nick since he lives there. But it's a short flight from LA for AJ and Kevin, too. I saw some speculation that, with Nick's ongoing legal drama, a Vegas residency is a better choice than a new album and tour right now. It keeps him close to home, and there's less risk of cancellations. As much as I'm ready for new music, I'm still salty about so much of their Christmas album promo getting canceled. They're probably better off waiting for the next album cycle until the cases are resolved. I can't wait for that to be over and for Nick to be able to talk openly about what he's been through. But, anyway, based on the clues they've been posting, it looks very likely that some kind of Millennium 2.0 thing is happening. Someone posted a leaked link to a Millennium 2.0 double vinyl album that was supposedly listed on Amazon. The speculation is that one of the discs will be the original album, possibly remastered, and the other will include some new remixes or recordings and unreleased tracks. If that's true, at least that is something the whole fandom can enjoy, even if they can't make it to Vegas for a show. And this is all still just rumor at this point. They're apparently announcing or releasing something tomorrow morning at 8 EST, according to the little teaser video they posted tonight, so we should know more then!
I haven't watched Severance. Is it related to Succession somehow? From what I saw of The Pitt fics, the biggest ship so far is Dr. Robby and Dr. Collins, the pregnant doctor. And there are already a few ER crossovers, of course. I like the characters but not enough to want to write fanfic about them, unless it was in the context of a BSB crossover. But some people can write fanfic about literally anything!
I hope you get more than $5000 back for your car! Sounds like it was in good condition and will hopefully be worth a lot in parts.
I agree with everything you both said about friends and coworkers. I'm sure working from home makes it even harder to make and stay friends with coworkers, Steph. I'm lucky in that respect because working in a school feels a lot like going to school. I eat lunch with the same group of people in the teacher's lounge every day, and I consider them all friends to some extent. But even within that group, there are smaller groups of us that actually get together outside of school and in the summer to hang out. Those are my true friends, not just my work friends. It definitely helps to go out to dinner and have drinks and get to know people outside of work.
I'm glad you have a lot of teacher friends who are anti-Trump, Mare! We are in the minority in my school because I live in a pretty red part of a blue state. (Illinois is a blue island in a sea of red because of Chicago.) I know who I can share my opinions openly with at work and who I should avoid political discussions with. Thankfully, my two best friends from work are liberal - which is definitely part of the reason we've become good friends. I'm sure it would suck to be a liberal living in the south. I hate living among the ignorance that surrounds me, but at least I'm in a blue state that finally (FINALLY!) has a great governor. Illinois has a bad track record with past governors being corrupt or completely incompetent. I saw that Trump just pardoned our former governor, Blagojevich, which is interesting because he's a Democrat... but he was also on Celebrity Apprentice, so I guess they're buddies now. Birds of a feather flock together!
In a bit of good news, I have a snow day tomorrow! It's supposed to snow all day tomorrow and accumulate up to 7 inches, so they went ahead and called off school tonight, which I so appreciate. I know 7 inches is nothing by Buffalo standards, but it's more than we've had all winter.
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Yay for a snow day for you! We don't even get 7mm of snow, never mind 7 inches lol
I'm excited to hear what this BSB thing is going to be. I'd love to hear unreleased songs even though I do have a lot of old unreleased songs already. If it's a Las Vegas residency then hope everyone able to go has a great time. I don't know if I'd ever to be able to go, but I can dream lol
Yes, it can be a bit lonely working from home part of the week, but I'm used to it now as done it since Covid times. At least I can have my music playing while I work. I do have Teams so can chat to people in work from home.
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I don't see myself leaving Twitter anytime soon. Until everyone else does, then I'll just follow wherever you all go. I go on Bluesky every once in a while, and same with Threads. Neither of them are great because like you said, there's really no one on there.
I'm glad his wife has learned to keep her opinions to herself. I mean she does have every right to say whatever she wants, but I'm glad she realized that by doing that, people started to get angry at her husband just because, since basically all her followers were only following her because of him. Speaking of which!
I'm glad Baylee is trying to find his own identity but maybe going on a national reality show where people get to vote for the winner isn't the way to go. Seriously, how unfair is it that if he actually makes it in and all the way to the voting stage, that he will have an automatic fan base voting for him. As much as we know it shouldn't happen like that, it will. All Brian will have to do is post about it. Which he will, and everyone on God's green earth will vote for the boy even if they have never watched the show a day in their life. If he really wants to break free from under daddy's name, he should do it anonymously like Garth Brook's daughter did. It wasn't until she got a record deal before she told people who her father was.
I saw the BSB news announcement. I posted about them yesterday to see if it would bring them back to my timeline and it worked. I really was hoping it would be a Muppet movie, but glad for all of the people who will get to go see them for this Milennium reboot.
Severance is totally unrelated to Succession, but it seems to be the show everyone has migrated too, because like Succession it's incredibly well written and acted, although the plot is beyond complex and sometimes falls into the LOST range for me. The basic premise is really original. It's about a huge cooperation like FB or Google, that starts a trial procedure for its employees where they can sever their brains. So they make an experimental severed floor. So, if you get this surgery done, when you go into work, once you enter the elevator you no longer have any recollection of your real life and only your work persona exists. Which means those people have no concept of what outside is or anything. Just like children. For them, they only know their work mates and the small office they work in. So, to reward them for their work, the company will throw them a pineapple party and give them things like finger traps and toys because they don't know any better. When they leave, they have absolutely no recollection of even going to work. They don't know what they do for a living or who their co-workers are or anything.
Obviously, it's nice for the real-life person because work for them is entering an elevator and then the next thing you know when the elevator door opens again, they are heading home. Absolutely no stress. However, the work persona is constantly working. When they enter the elevator to leave, they are right back on their floor ready to start another workday when it opens again.
It is worth a watch if you have Apple TV. There was almost a 3 year break between seasons! For a show this layered, that wasn't a good thing, but it is perfect for people who have just started it. Because the first season ended with a huge reveal.
I haven't watched last week's episode of The Pitt yet. I had no idea that the kid who plays the very Carter like intern is Australian. I saw him on an interview, and it surprised me. I love when I find that stuff out.
They actually decided to fix my car, which is insane because it cost almost $10,000! I'm not sure what the rationale behind that was because my car is worth way less than that unless they assessed it at a higher value than what it's actually worth. I really was hoping they'd just declare it a loss so I wouldn't have to worry about the selling part, but at least I know to ask for a higher amount although now it's been in an accident, so I have no clue!
Happy snow day! Those are the best. When they panic and call off the night before. Even better if then nothing ends up happening. 7 inches wouldn't even get a two-hour delay here which is crazy! However, we have had a fair share of snow days already because of ice, which they do tend to panic about. We're expecting another snow to freezing rainstorm tonight into tomorrow morning.
I didn't know you didn't get much snow there, Steph. I don't know why I thought you did.
Thank God for my anti Trump friends. One of my friends who I went to high school with but is a few years older than me, ended up teaching at Berklee. He posted about the Kennedy Centers thing and the valedictorian from my graduating class who is as Trumpy as Trumpy can be, went on his post and said he thought it was a great idea. You don't want to go onto a music professors post and say something that stupid. All of us pounced on him. So, I went to bed all worked up. Which means it will be a no news day for me.
There is a random clip on the Masked Singer of Ken predicting that one of the singers might be Kieran and it felt like the whole Nick thing all over again. But there's no way he would've had the time to do that. If it didn't film in LA, maybe but no way. Maybe it's his brother. Anyway, if for some reason you watch that show, please let me know if he it might really seem like it's him. I'm pretty sure singing isn't his thing lol but what do I know? I wasn't aware he could play the piano either. :shrug:
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I'm excited for the Millennium residency, but I hope the rumored remastered Millennium album release is also happening so that the whole fanbase will have something to enjoy. I've seen a lot of fans from other countries saying they don't want to travel to the US right now, even if they could afford it, which is completely understandable . I wish our country wasn't such an embarrassing trainwreck right now.
Yes, Leighanne is absolutely entitled to share her opinions, but I'm glad she backed off from doing so, whether by choice or because Brian and/or BSB's publicity team told her to knock it off. Either way, she showed her true colors, and I will never see her the same way again.
I agree with you about American Idol. I'm sure Brian will promote it, as any parent would, and fans will vote for Baylee because of that. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to watch it or not. I used to be really into American Idol but haven't followed it in years. I might tune in to the audition episodes out of curiosity, but I'm not sure if it will suck me back in or not. And I have mixed feelings about Baylee, so I wouldn't necessarily vote for him just because of Brian. It'll be interesting to see how far he gets.
Oh, I remember hearing about Severance now. One of my coworkers was talking about it. Sounds like an interesting premise.
I did not know the actor who plays Whitaker on The Pitt (assuming that's who you're talking about) was Australian either. He does a good American accent!
Wow, I'm surprised they decided to fix your car for that much! In your situation, I would have been hoping for them to total it, too.
I enjoyed my snow day, but I bet most districts are regretting calling it so early because we didn't even get half of what was forecasted LOL. We got maybe 2 inches, just enough to cover the ground. I went out and shoveled my driveway because I was home, but I didn't really need to. We're supposed to get more snow over the weekend, though, so I knew it would just get deeper and freeze over if I didn't clear this round first. I'm glad it wasn't more because I hate shoveling LOL. I have a fairly long driveway that is part gravel, so it's a pain in the ass.
I don't know about you, but I've seen fewer MAGA comments on posts lately. Prior to the inauguration, any post by our local news was full of ignorant comments by the MAGAt idiots of central Illinois. Nowadays, the majority of comments are anti-Trump. It could be that the liberals have just gotten more vocal, but it also seems like a lot of the people who were pro-Trump have gotten quiet... as if they might actually be embarrassed or starting to regret their vote. I hope that's the case.
I haven't watched The Masked Singer since the season after Nick was on, but that would be cool if Kieran or one of the other Culkin brothers was on it! I wish we'd get another BSB on there. AJ's voice may be too recognizable, and Brian would never do it for various reasons, but it would be a great opportunity for Howie or Kevin to shine!
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Severance sounds interesting and like the type of thing I'd enjoy. I'll have to give it a go as I've got Apple TV free for another month.
I'm also surprised they decided to fix your car Mare, especially as you were hoping to just get the insurance money.
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Hey guys, I'm going to go make another thread since this one has gotten so long.