#wip progress check

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

WiP Wednesday: 20 August 2025

The kids are back in school, which means more work for me, since I'm the teacher/manager, which means my time for writing fic has diminished greatly. On top of that, I have a project I have to finish for actual monies, so my blorbos from my books/shows/imagination are languishing in neglect.

HOWEVER I think I may just have made it through the rough patch that was slowing down the writing of the next chapter of Kairos in Retrograde. And, most exciting, Severus and Miranda are FINALLY going to get some alone time in this chapter. In fact, the whole chapter looks like it's going to be one long scene. Unfortunately, Severus and Miranda are still not great at communicating...

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the draft. Miranda is in the headmaster's office, talking to the portraits, when Severus sneaks up on her:

Miranda had been so distracted by the portraits’ complaints, she’d missed Severus slipping into the room behind her. She actually jumped when she heard his voice, but she didn’t turn around immediately. You’d think she’d be used to the sticky web of conflicting emotions he always seemed to inspire, but they wrapped around her heart, making her far too aware of its racing beat. She planted her feet, and breathed, imagining the magic in the earth far below them, until she felt she could at least act calm when she faced him. He seemed to be having no such trouble. His voice was calm as ever. “I want every portrait in this office empty for the rest of the night.” “Now see here, some of us need our rest,” Phineas sputtered. “It’s not our fault Albus can’t behave.” She could hear the cruel smile in his tone. “All of you. Out. Now.”

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

WiP Wednesday 30 April 2025

It's been hard to get writing in this month. 15 started baseball, which I am very happy we were able to make happen for him, but it is a big time commitment. Last week, I did start a new morning routine, that includes a little time to write. I'm hoping that I will be able to stick to it, but so far it is working out ok. When I can write a little at the beginning of the day, I'm more likely to write later in the day if there is time. And if there isn't time, I still got a few words in at the start of the day, so it's a win/win.

I'm working on a third fic in my Songbird Skald (Loki/Female Reader) series. I'm maybe halfway through the draft, and it's been fun to take a little break from the long HP projects I have going. In today's writing session, I compared Loki to a mother hen:

He tucks you in on your couch, brings you tea and toast, and generally fusses around you like an imperious mother hen, if said hen carried around daggers sharp enough to cut through the space-time continuum, and had the kind of magical powers that would make Gandolf jealous.

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

W.i.P. Wednesday 26 March 2025

Still chipping away at the next chapter of Kairos, and drafting on Breathing. I did an awesome workshop by @lunapwrites and @venom0usbarbie about marketing, and they got me thinking about a Hadestown one shot I started working on last year, and then wandered away from. When I finish the current chapter of Breathing that I'm drafting, I think I'll take a little detour and try to finish the Hadestown fic.

For now, here's a little bit of the rough (very rough!) draft of Breathing Underwater. Severus, Miranda, and Sybill are headed to the Eagle, a gay leather bar that used to be up north on Ashland (at least, I think it was on Ashland. Idk, it's been like 20 years since I was there last and it's kinda gone now)

“Don’t worry about hiding the car. You blow off steam here sometimes I hear,” Rose said, her tone a little too tense to be snarky. “You’re giving me plenty of steam to blow off,” Severus said as he parked near the Eagle. Bangles shifted in the back seat, pressing her nose against the glass. “Eagles are scavengers and fools. Turkeys are better and feathered and free.” “Everybody’s got an opinion,” Severus muttered. Rose turned around, and grabbed Bangles’ hand. “Alright, Sybill. Remember the plan? You’re going to hold my hand. Don’t look at anyone but me until we get to Mr M. He’ll take good care of you.” “Mad-Ears and Mad-Eyes and Mad Mad Souls,” Bangles said. 

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

W.I.P. Wednesday 3/19/25

Things are going okay this week on the fanfic front. I'm working on the next chapter of Kairos in Retrograde, and working on the rough draft of Breathing Underwater. I have 2ish chapters left before I run out of Kairos rough draft and have to figure out what the heck happens next in the story. I mean, I have the whole thing outlined from the birds-eye view, but I will be figure out the chapter-to-chapter level details as I go. Just trying not to get discouraged by how long the thing is going to wind up being

Here's an excerpt from today's Kairos writing session. We'll see how much of this winds up in the final draft:

No matter how much time she spent in them, Miranda never got used to hospitals, magical or otherwise. Though her profession ensured she saw the inside of a hospital with unfortunate regularity, every time she walked into one, her hands went cold, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and everything smelled like antiseptic wipes, even though St Mungo’s never used them. After their escape from the Ministry, Aaron had hustled Miranda over to St Mungo’s, and into Finn’s private room in two bats of a Mooncalf’s eyes. Which was for the best, because every second they spent getting to Finn’s room was another second for Miranda to panic about what she was going to find when she got there. By the time they were walking through the door, Miranda’s throat had tied itself in a knot, and her body felt raw in a way that had nothing to do with the Ministry-issued robes she wore. Finn lay on a bed in the middle of the small room. The mirror that tracked his vitals was dark, which must mean that he was stable enough not to need constant monitoring. His face, neck, and arms were covered in black stitches, holding the dull red wounds together. He had a blanket pulled up over his chest, which kept Miranda from seeing the extent on his injuries. But it was clear from what she could see that the werewolves had fucked him up good. Miranda stopped halfway into the room, staring at Finn with stinging eyes. Aaron hung back near the door to give them room to breathe. She was working on choking down the knot in her throat when Finn opened his eyes, and his lips twisted into an ironic smile. “Thought you’d kicked it,” Finn said.

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

It's WiP Wednesday again--tell me about your projects!

I'm on the last scene of chapter 9 of Kairos in Retrograde and things are starting to cook. I'm super excited because I think I've found a place for Severus's Brummie accent to come out. I think that Severus grew up in the Midlands speaking in a Brummie accent. He immediately worked to get rid of said accent as soon as he got to Hogwarts, where he learned to speak all posh like Lucius Malfoy and co. But about a year or so ago I thought it would be awesome to have Sev get so rattled that he accidentally starts speaking in his Brummie accent again and HERE WE ARE!

My goal going forward is to write 500 words a day on Kairos. If I can keep that pace, I think I will be able to start posting chapters again in September.

Happy writing!

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

WiP Wednesday

Happy WiP Wednesday! Tell me about your projects--or your distractions

I've gotten more writing time this week than last week, so I am up to 5758/20K words for this month. I've also gotten distracted doing a Bridgerton rewatch before part 1 of season 3 drops tonight.

I'm focusing on Kairos again this week. Sanguini is having a moment in the scene I'm working on now:

Sig. Sanguini gave her a pitying smile. “You will.”

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

WiP Vibe Check

It's wipwednesday and I would love to hear about your wip!

I've clocked less than 250 words so far this week, and today's not looking good for writing either. Hoping that I will have more writing time starting tomorrow.

Here is the last line I wrote on Kairos in Retrograde, which I am (trying) to focus on this month:

“It must be difficult for you, being so far from home,” Yaxley said, his tone mild, but his eyes sharp as a Stinging Hex.

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

WiP Updates: December 2023

I had a successful, low-key NaNo in November. I set my word count goal at 30K instead of the traditional 50K, and I'm happy to say that I achieved it. I got most of chapter 8 of Kairos in Retrograde drafted, as well as 2.5 chapters of Breathing Underwater.

My current plan for December is to keep on plugging away with drafting on both those stories. I have Breathing outlined all the way through the end, and Kairos is outlined through chapter 15. I may try to just draft to the end of the outlines on both stories before I come back around and do the rewrite/edit/post part. My hope is that maybe this will help me get some momentum back on the stories, since I feel like I've been dragging writing all year.

Of course, I might just throw that all out the window and do something totally different, who knows? But I'd like to try getting a bit ahead on the drafting for now.

Here's a pretty graphic I made with my December goals to help stay motivated