Think of a desert. What's the first desert that comes to mind?
Arctic or Antarctic Desert
Sahara Desert
Arabian Desert
Great Australian Desert
Gobi Desert
Kalahari Desert
Patagonian Desert
Syrian Desert
Great Basin Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
A fictional desert
Any other desert / see results
Voting ended onJan 22
The list is just Wikipedia's List of Deserts by Area. Hopefully that covers the most likely candidates.
This was prompted by a book I'm reading about the Sahara, which suggested it's what Europeans think of if they think of a desert. Do tag where you're from and which desert you thought of.
Tagged by always wonderful @serenpedac and I feel a little silly doing this as I don't think I wrote... anything?? fandom related (aside from picking at a few Nate and Kat things, which makes me a bit sad!) but I did do a bunch of original writing and I like numbers, and this is making me actually calculate those stats.
Total words written: 176,000
First draft: 88,000 words
Additional outlining, worldbuilding, warm ups, deleted scenes, ect: 50,000 words
Developmental re-outline and expanded scene development list: 24,000 words
*Realized that this draft is not working, and won't work without significant changes to either the beginning or the end, and is actually two stories competing with each other.*
**Wallowed in the pits of writerly despair**
***Accepted that I am starting over from page one***
New outline: 14,000 words (Already this feels more coherent and stronger and structurally sound - I'm excited to get to actually writing it. )
new things I tried: book
favourite thing(s) i read: I read 25 books this year, which is so many more than I've managed in the past. One trilogy was also like 1,900 pages long which felt like reading 7 books and not three. A lot were big romantasy titles to get a better sense of the genre. But my favorites were weird sci-fi / speculative fiction haha
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski and
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
writing goals for 2026: book
More specifically - first draft of this book that has risen from the bones of the old work. Aiming to finish by March and have something ready to submit to agents by May.
Thank you to the wonderful @carriehobbs for the tag <3
Taggin forward anyone reading this who wants to do this! Also tagging: @lykegenia, @lalizah, @sewellsheart, @serial-chillr, @hanna-writess
words posted: ~28 000 (if I didn’t miscount)
additional words written: no idea, my documents are a bit of a mess with bits of writing everywhere
grand total of words: unknown, but I'm happy with how much writing I did the past year
fandoms: The Wayhaven Chronicles
highest kudos: Not sure if this is fair, as it’s a longfic that was posted over the course of almost 5 years, but when words fall silent has the most kudos (as of yesterday, it’s also finally finished!)
highest hit oneshot: On Letting Go
new things I tried: This year I mostly continued with things from last year: writing a polymance, writing more explicit smut. Okay, maybe there is one truly new thing and that was writing Lesedi as a LI. It’s a little scary to write a character that doesn’t have a lot of content, but it’s also been fun to have so much freedom
fic i spent the most time on: touching, tangling, intertwined
fic i spent the least time on: A Gift, a brief oneshot for Summer in Wayhaven
favourite thing i wrote: On Letting Go. It was an interesting exercise to get into the mind of an ex-partner of N and see what their relationship might have been like
favourite thing(s) i read (not a ranked list): So many fics!! Listing just a few:
we didn’t get it right, but love we did our best by @thecryptidenthusiast The way the break up between Abby and Nate is written is masterful. The dialogue, the feelings, everything!
save a horse, ride a cowboy by @carriehobbs I just really, really love the whole dynamic between Nat, Andy and Farah (plus, it’s a very sexy fic)
The Lingering of Ghosts by @lykegenia
The mystery, together with little snippets from Nate's past and the developing relationship between him and Leah are just so good!
As for books, I’ve been really enjoying several of Sally Rooney’s books this year! Another book I loved was The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
writing goals for 2026:
Finishing touching, tangling, intertwined (that would be the ideal, let's see if this happens haha!)
Writing some Morgan/Yael/Nate snippets (I have ideas)
Do more prompt fills, because they often challenge me to write things I wouldn't normally write
Keep having fun! This past year I made some big steps towards not being as anxious about my writing anymore and just writing things for fun, without putting very high expectations on myself. I would like to continue this next year ^^
new works:
On Letting Go (Risa/Nate, break up)
Mirror (Yael/Nate, explicit)
Mix ‘n Match (various pairings that aren’t my canon pairings. These snippets have such a soft spot in my heart, especially the Yael/Felix one)
A Gift (Yael/Nate, fluff)
Turtledove Grey (a gift for beloved @lalizah, featuring her Liz and Mason)
Ocean Waves (Risa/Lesedi, the start of their relationship)
fleeting moments (Adam/Nate, before meeting Yael)
touching, tangling, intertwined (Yael/Nate/Adam, polymance. The first chapter was posted in 2024, but the rest is from 2025, so including it here)
Mistletoe Kisses (Gabi/Farah oneshot, fluffy and Christmassy)
I was tagged last week by @thee-morrigan, thank you, Katie <33 (and tagging you back!). This past week, I've made some good progress on TTI, so here's a snippet from it:
“This is why I don’t do feelings,” Morgan grumbles.
“It wasn’t exactly a voluntary decision.” Yael's arms slide away from her face, so that she's now watching Morgan. “Any advice about how to get rid of them, perhaps?”
“A rebound. Go out, have some fun. Repeat as needed.”
Yael raises a dark eyebrow. “Are you volunteering?”
“You wish.”
Also tagging: @wayhavenots, @asukatoshipiled, @agentnatesewell, @butchdumortain, @mornynge, @toads-treasures, @serially-wayhaven, @vryptidart
Big fan of when a character is referred to as someone else's. Not in like a possession type of way but just as in oh yes they belong to each other. With each other. Package deal.
No, Nate is fully aware why it's constricting. Fully aware that she never looks at him like that, painfully aware that this drives his senses inane. He holds his breath, the act not so painful as it is suffocating. He doesn't need to breath, he will live just fine without it, but the action so unfamiliar, it starts suffocating him nonetheless.
"So?" It’s a single syllable, that's all she asks, and it has Nate gripping the handles of his seat. He tries. Tries to clear the fog from his mind, but it only gets thicker as she refuses to break away the gaze. He grunts, finally managing, "So?"
somehow all these good vibes have washed back on me and it's great. y'all are manifesting writing mojo for each other and me and I love it. keep going. don't stop.
hi everybody please reblog this and tell me your go-to coffee order right now and if you don't like coffee feel free to include your go-to tea order instead
theartofmadeline
stormborns
dededos
kianamaiart
prguitarman
