Hello, all! I am opening up beta reading for my novelette Learning to Look Back!
Outside of time observing humanity and protecting the health of the timeline, Ranjana is fascinated with humanity. Despite messing up time in another point of her existence, Ranjana is assigned to enter the timeline to confront Dr. Tiffany Isaac, a scientist attempting to create a time machine, to stop her from inadvertently causing a disease in the time stream. Together, Ranjana and Dr. Isaac must confront each other, and their own pasts.
Apply to be a beta reader by filling out this Form:
Learning to Look Back is a sci-fi/fantasy novelette. It stands at around 14.7k words. I attend to submit it to all applicable contests.
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If you do not want to become a beta reader, please reblog so this can get out there to someone who does!
Thank you!
LTLB intro
LTLB tag list (ask to be +/-) @thepeculiarbird @mrbexwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher
Although I have been inactive for a while, I would like to share some great news with you.
About a month ago, my short story, Learning to Look Back, was given an honorable mention in a writing contest.
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I am beyond thrilled for this. If you don't know, I've submitted to this competition before, and LTLB did not get any honor. I revised, and now I'm featured on the list.
I want to keep submitting LTLB to other contests. No specific plans at the moment, but I will soon be posting calling for beta readers to make this even better. Be on the lookout if you're interested!
LTLB intro
LTLB tag list (ask to be +/-) @thepeculiarbird @mrbexwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher
If you're curious about more specifics about me, my blog, or other projects, feel free to read below:
Feel free to only read the parts that interest you :)
The Blog and Me
I have no plans to become regular on this blog any time soon as I get my life together, but I will come back whenever I have a larger writing update.
That being said, this community has been invaluable for me. The tag games motivated me to deep dive on specifics I never considered. Beta readers have helped me deeply think about my writing craft. I would never trade the time I had here for the world.
The reason I had to step away was for mental health. I'm doing better now, but I'm focused on other things outside of this site. I do believe in stepping away I have helped myself. I was worried about the wrong things, obsessed over notes, and tried very very hard to be a loyal member of the community by responding to every single tag. It eventually started to become an obligation instead of the fun it should have been.
I do want to come back, but it won't be like it used to be. I simply have other priorities, but I hope to get to the point in my life in which I am able to be more active without sacrifice. I miss you guys.
The Secret Portal... Draft Six
I am preparing for a massive overhaul of TSP. Thanks to many people's feedback and a lot of thinking for myself, I am slowly workshopping the following aspects:
Perspective. I have too many heads to hop across. It has become too much. Despite its 13 years as such, TSP will be converted to being in third person. I need to keep the perspective of the characters without confusing my readers on who "I" is pertaining to.
World building. I want Alium to be alive. I need to know every aspect of it. The science of the powers, the religions built around it, the creatures, the customs, the architecture, the holidays, the geography.... I'm not going to Tolkien it, but I will be ensuring that the world feels distinct and alive.
Occam's razor. Kinda with world building, but I have so many things that are way too complicated for no reason. Enough of that! I'm making it simple. Even if I have to abandon ideas. It's ridiculous.
Focus. I need to have my installments have a plot. Not that they don't have a plot, but they don't have ONE plot. I need to interweave the storylines and character arcs to be focused so the individual book feels like it's actually building to something. I feel like too much is going on but nothing is going on. Maybe that's overly critical, but it's how I feel.
Let it be clear: the core of what TSP is will NOT be changing. I love this series more than anyone on this planet does. But I need to let my baby grow without taking it so damn personally. If I am not satisfied with it, then I should change it! It's making me feel better knowing I'm doing it for myself and my audience. TSP has been held back for too long by my own stubbornness against change. It's time to take the training wheels off.
TSP intro
TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites
So I've mentioned my unnamed short story on here before but this has turned into a novelette. It has a title now!
Basics
LTLB is a speculative novelette with elements related to time.
Small cast, focus on two characters
Installment of potential stories of similar length
POC and female representation
Third person, mixed with past and present tense
Themes of learning from experiences and relying on others
About
Ranjana is a chronosian, an inorganic sentient cosmic being who exists in a pocket dimension outside of time. Some members of her people monitor time to ensure the timeline remains healthy and on track.
Tiffany Isaac is a human scientist working on her own time machine that inadvertently begins to poison time, so Ranjana enters the timeline in order to prevent the disaster.
The two must work together in order to stop time from unraveling.
LTLB is primarily a drama.
Where Am I?
I'm almost done with the first draft! I have a better sense of where the story is going and plan to make this draft focus on character work and themes, which I kind of just improvised.
I have an old draft from high school that functions as a prequel. I may adapt it later.
I hope to make installments set in this universe in the future.
Tags
I will be tagging related posts as #learning to look back #ltlb and even for funzies #little b cause that's kinda what the acronym looks like
To monitor updates I will tag related posts as #ltlb update and excerpts will be #ltlb excerpt
All characters have their own tags
Ask to be added to or removed from the tag list! @thepeculiarbird @mrbexwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher
@diabolical-blue and @oh-no-another-idea have all expressed interest (this is not officially adding you to the tag list) so notifying y'all about it!
Hey y'all! I know I've been inactive. It's 100% been for mental health reasons. I'm doing really well. First semester of grad school ended, and I'm loving my tutoring job. Still in the process of getting my life together.
I've still been writing when I can. Let's go into that.
TSP Update
I've been thinking about the next draft for TSP. I have several ideas to make it more cohesive and easier to follow, but I know I have to do a lot of behind the scenes work. I'm working on developing Alium. I've done deep focus periods in the world building before, but most of it is just "make it up as I go" and that's been fine, but now I want to be sure of this world. I want to make it more alive, more concrete.
The first thing I'm focusing on is the Alii Power Database. I'm almost done with the basics of it, which I thought would never happen. I've found more efficient ways to work on it, which has been turning out so well. I've many things to do to make it complete, but I feel like it's feasible now. Once I have the powers down, the main schtick of Alium, I'll be able to do a lot more.
I'm excited for what TSP has in store. I'll keep y'all updated on how the database goes!
TSP intro
TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites
Back in September, I submitted my novelette into a contest, and unfortunately it went nowhere. I got automatic general feedback, and I'm trying this contest one more time. It's due by the end of the month.
If the contest goes nowhere again, I'll go somewhere else. I really want LTLB to at least win one contest.
However, I do want feedback. I have a few people IRL who have promised to read through it and help. I was wondering if any of y'all are interested in a last-minute beta read. If not, I'll get LTLB ready after the New Year if I need to look for another contest (basically, if this one doesn't work again).
Are you interested in reading a 14.5k story by the end of December?
absolutely! send the link!
I would if I had time - maybe next time
no sorry
Voting ended onDec 14, 2025
LTLB intro
LTLB tag list (ask to be +/-) @thepeculiarbird @mrbexwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher
Dow Theory with 2 year data in a line chart helps determining trend. HBHT pattern indicates Bullish Trend. LTLB pattern indicates Bearish Trend. Buy when HBHT breakout with volume is found. Sell when LTLB breakdown with volume is found.
