#wool gathering

[asfaltics]

putterings, 211-210

                                                        Quite a big boat, for such a relatively small pond.                                       wool-gathering                   or rather, a divided mind baffling plot

—

puutterings     |     their index     |     these derivations     |     20221122  

[emphasis-all-mine]

Paper Skin: One Year Ago...

Hey, I know I’ve been spamming this tumblr with Paper Skin stuff a lot lately. But I’m feeling reflective. One year ago today, I posted the first two chapters of a story called Paper Skin on AO3. It was a modern-day Klance AU with vampire!Keith and werewolf!Lance with some mystery in the background. I won’t bore you with reiterating the details of how it came to be (I have a post about that here if you’re curious).

I didn’t think it would become what it did. And I am so very happy.

I struggled for more than 10 years with writer’s block, and Voltron broke me out. Paper Skin wasn’t the first story I’d posted in this fandom, but it was a turning point for me and my writing. I had this idea of the story, and when went to map it out–I realized it was un-mappable. I just wanted to write it without a true outline, just have the backstory set, and let the characters slowly reveal it to the reader.

It was new to me to write without a very detailed outline ahead of time, but I decided to just try it out, see what happens? Paper Skin was just a side-project so I could work on other things in the meantime. Whenever I got stuck with a fic? I’d write the next chapter of PS.

It was the first time I wrote a serialized, episodic story. And it has taught me so much about who I am as a writer, and what I want to write.

It is also hands down, the most self-indulgent thing I have EVER written. Everything that has gone into Paper Skin is a piece of myself, where I have lived, what I love about my hometown, mythologies I have studied, down to the foods I love to eat. And yet? It didn’t alienate the readers. It taught me that if you write something you are passionate about, the love will shine though. Don’t be afraid about what would appeal to the masses, live in your niche, and invite people to join you there.

It’s also introduced me to some of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting or collaborating with. I cannot thank you all enough for all the support and cheerleading and honest feedback you’ve given me. It’s such a gift.

I feel so happy, and in a way, bittersweet as I write this out. I have three more chapters (well, two and an epilogue) before it’s all finished. I mean, before this main arc is finished (I am leaving open the possibility of a sequel, because I can’t help myself).

Thank you for indulging me. Thank you for your kind words, your feedback to help me grow better, and your honesty and your excitement. I can’t wait to show you what happens.

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(link to screenshot)

[little-lion-rampant-blog]

When I came into this fandom around five months ago, I plunged myself headlong right away into our fandom’s study of Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens’ relationship.

Maybe I haven’t been here long enough but everything I’ve seen here in our community confines the discussion of their romantic relationship within the bounds of the American Revolutionary War.

I would say that it’s quite reasonable that we would limit our scope because towards the end we see clues of the inevitable conclusion of the romantic aspect in their relationship as Hamilton moves away from the war that kindled their relationship (the same war Laurens still felt invested in) to further his careers in law and politics (after his marriage to Eliza Schuyler). And there’s also that grim fact that Laurens himself does not outlive the war. We truly had no more material to draw on after the war.

But I am a shameless romantic who likes to think that after two people’s lives have touched, they change each other forever. So to the Hamilton historians and scholars, I would like to pose these questions:

1. Who was Hamilton pre and post-Laurens? 2. How did Laurens change Hamilton (for better or worse) by coming into Hamilton’s life? 3. How does Hamilton immortalize Laurens in the way he lived his life after meeting Laurens?

Got any thoughts about this? I would like to hear them!

[emphasis-all-mine]

Things

I just realized I reblogged that Mulan Klance art twice and I don't. Even. Care.

It's been 1 week since season 8 dropped but I'll still keep spoiler tagging until next week don't worry

I'm working on a post season 8 fix-it that is already at 10k and making me cry but it's also turning out to be smuttier than I thought it would be originally so... you're welcome? 😏

Paper Skin is on pause until I get this out of my system but it will be back as soon as I get the bandwidth, trust.

I hope you are well during this time of year. If you are celebrating a holiday, enjoy! If you're not, then I still hope you're thriving.

(If you're like me working a retail gig, we got this. We will pull through. 💪💪💪)

Just in case I forget, thank you for a wonderful year. It was fucking insane but it was a fun ride and y'all helped me pull through it. Love you all. 💜💜💜

[emphasis-all-mine]

Update...

So the more I watch and reflect on season 7, the more I like about it. I think I got used to the 6-7 eps at a time format though so when s8 drops I'm gonna divide my watching in half over 2 days and not look at tumblr until I'm done. I just kind of went through an emotional wringer digesting SO MUCH at once.

I think the stuff with Kolivan is what really broke me because I have become very attached to him in my writing. Everything after that just felt like more salt on top so I got a bit upset about things and while I don't like how certain things went down (I wanted waaaay more Adam gdi also does Shiro not have living blood or adopted family?? Are they in Japan? Explain plz!!) overall I'm good with season 7 and you cannot ever stop me from loving and shipping Klance as I have done so since "I'll stick YOU in a wormhole!" :3

(What also didn't help my mood and reaction was I was having some bad meds days and my period just showed up a bit early so my headspace was manic to say the least).

I'm still kind of physically fucked right now (back spasm + period cramps = I KNOW ONLY PAIN RIGHT NOW) so I'm taking it easy and trying to pain manage the best I can. :(

I have ideas of things to write. And I know I kind of want to incorporate some things from s7 into Blue Pencils when I get there.

I'm still thinking of legit writing the James is a Klance lovechild from the future AU...

Thoughts?

[corsairofthewood]

Fish fly. Where blue spiderwort blooms at the foot of the garden slope, I come, this morning, upon a curious, cinnamon-brown insect, lacy-winged and about as long as my forefinger. It clings motionless to the bud cluster of a spiderwort. It is the fish fly, Chauliodes pectinicornis. Its twin, out thrust antennae are feathered on only one side like combs. This peculiar feature gives the insect a colloquial name of "The Comb-Horned Fish Fly."

It is, I suspect, a product of the sluggish stream that flows among the cattails of the swamp. Only at night do the adult fish flies take wing. Fluttering through the darkness, the female alights on some branch or leaf or stone that overhangs the water. There she lays as many as 2,000 masses, reddish brown oval eggs. The larvae that hatch from them and drop into the stream are closely related to that favorite food of the bass, the larvae of the Dobson fly, variously known as the hellgrammite, the flip-flap, the alligator, the water grampus and the conniption bug. But unlike the hellgrammite, which lives under stones only in rapids and riffles and swift running streams, the immature fish fly is often found in sluggish water. Breathing through gills, lurking under submerged logs and debris, preying on smaller creatures, it grows until it reaches a length of an inch and a half. Then it creeps up the stream bank and hides under a stone, a log, or in the earth to pupate. Late in spring, the adult appears. The one I see clinging to the spiderwort is probably nearing the end of its days. For like the mayfly and the great silk moths—the Luna, the Cecropia and the Polyphemus—the adult Chauliodes live a short while and never eats.

[drmonkeysetroscans]

Away with the fairies.

[cinnamonsparkbooks]

Instagram: thehalcyondaysofsummer