Network

Entry tags:

meme,
poetry

“the stars are not wanted now: put out every one; / pack up the moon and dismantle the sun”

For Poetry Monday:

The More Loving One, W.H. Auden

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime
Though this might take me a little time.

From his collection Homage to Clio.

---L.

Subject quote from “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,” W.H. Auden.

Entry tags:

mod post,
prompt

Admin Post: Monthly Challenges: December prompt amnesty

Thank you for your engagement with this community during the past month!

December is, as usual, our month for a prompt amnesty (not that an amnesty is strictly needed).

You are invited to complete any challenge you started working on or were tempted by.
You can combine prompts freely or respond to them singly.

There is a brief overview of all the challenges and prompts here:
https://tolkienshortfanworks.dreamwidth.org/9584.html

If you want to look at the challenge entries in more detail, you can scroll through the tag here:

https://tolkienshortfanworks.dreamwidth.org/tag/prompt

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

Current Mood: disappointed

Entry tags:

2025/190: Yvgenie — C J Cherryh

2025/190: Yvgenie — C J Cherryh

... wizards he knew about sold curses and told fortunes. They did not crawl about inside one's heart and talk from other people's mouths and compel them... [loc. 2560]

Reread: I first read this in the 1990s, I think, and recall liking it: this was before I reviewed everything I read, so I don't know what I thought about it then. This time around, without having reread the two preceding novels of the 'Rusalka' trilogy, I was confused and unengaged.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

140 in 1400 List

Checking in on goals

Finished This Month

Cook 12 times 2025

Progress this Month

Exercise every day in 2025
Brush teeth 360 times in 2025
Shower weekly 2025
Art Every Day 2025
Write in Spanish every day of 2025
Finish my memoirs
Write weekly 2025
Read 2 pages of Spanish every day 2025
Clean 2 minutes per weekday 2025
Clean 10 minutes per week 2025

Current Mood: hopeful

Entry tags:

holiday cards

Holiday Cards

Same thing I said last year time slipped away from me. I meant to do this a while back. It's time for the holiday card exchange. I miss the paper mail days and I enjoy sending and receiving cards (if you want a non religious one, let me know. I have plenty of both, mostly because charities keeps sending me tons of religious freebies).

I am willing to send overseas (you'll want to request fast on them given I'm late) If we've exchanged before, don't assume I have any idea where I put your address because my apartment is absolutely chaotic at this point. I'll have these comments screened but you can feel free to DM me too.

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: The Running Man

Entry tags:

Writerly Ways

I have nothing to talk about writing wise today. My brain dribbled out my ears hours ago. I'm also annoyed that CVS is out of my insulin again. Eye rolls

But there are joys, like the acceptance from all of yinz even if I can't keep up on comments right now AND I had a second online concert. This one was for Valentine Wolf's new album. It was good.

Oh I suppose I could put this in for writerly ways based off a rant by Mortius on YT (he rants over the Amazon ads as he's reviewing Hazbin) Remember that if it is a digital copy you DO NOT own it, even if you 'bought it.' So if you have a book you love to reread, let me suggest buying a paper copy. I've already had Amazon gut my TBR pile when they decided to no longer carry those books. I know one of the animation companies have done this and people lost every anime they had bought. This is also why I wish Disney would put The Owl House on dvd (since it's a very queer teen show and I can see them being forced to delete or them just deciding eh it's been X number of years, time to go). I did end up buying the Hazbin DVDs for S1 for just this reason.

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: November 2025.

Fusion Fragment: Now Accepting Submissions

Tales of Sley House December 2025 Window Cozy, folk horror

Your Body Is A Fever Dream Weird Cosmic Body Horror/SFF by Trans, NB, agender, intersex, GNC, and generally any gender identity other than binary cisgender authors

Baffling Magazine December 2025 Window Science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent that deal with “Timefuckery”

A Year of Horse Fantasy Fantasy stories where the horse plays a major role in the story

Otherside January 2026 Window Speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by self-identified members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community

From Around the Web

Promotion Commotion: How to Steer Clear of Scam Artists

Where Do You Put Children in Horror Stories.

Scarlett Press Brings Dark Lords, Fae Courts, and Romantasy Heat to New Adult Readers

Amazon Algorithm Secrets That Separate Bestsellers from the Slush Pile

The Overwritten Novel: How to Identify & Fix Purple Prose in Your Novel.

The Top 45 Publishers for New Authors

From Betty

Tweaking Your World’s Geology

Six Ways to Make Fantasy Travel More Interesting

How Even Feminists Can Build Sexist Worlds

How to Use Perception to Create Subtext in Deep POV

Building a Mystery

The Easiest and Most Powerful Writing Tip

Does Your Novel Sag?

Happy Thanksgiving! – December “first page” Office Hours – Information vs. storytelling

The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Writers Part 1: How to Strengthen Your Manuscript One Step at a Time

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

d&d: titansfall

Titansfall D&D: Summary for 11/30 Game

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Entry tags:

crafts: weaving

emotional support fiber

Continuing from the earlier experiment, emotional support weaving with handspun weft:

weaving WIP

Tension management is a mess with this (experimental, non-destructive) setup but I figured I'd at least weave this warp, write this off as a learning experience (I did learn a lot) + disaster-mode "weaving" art therapy, and move on. :)

I also learned that I strongly dislike making very "loose," airy weaves structurally, so that's good to know about myself. I sometimes like them in fabrics made by machines/other people but I don't enjoy weaving them, so I'll avoid in the future!

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

signed up for a 2026 Medicare plan

I signed up for a 2026 Medicare Advantage (part C) plan today. I had it narrowed it down to two plans, and decided yesterday which one I like better. There are minor differences--in particular, the one I chose has a lower copay for physical therapy--but there don't seem to be significant differences. It also has a slightly better rating, according to the Medicare.gov site, by half a star, but that might not be significant (an average 3.7 rounds to 3.5, and 3.8 rounds to 4).

Now, it should just be a matter of telling various doctors and pharmacies that my insurance has changed as of Jan. 1st, and maybe dealing with a new mail-order pharmacy for the Kesimpta.

They gave me a confirmation number, and if I don't hear from the company in the next few days I will call. (Normal open enrollment ends Dec. 7, but I have a "special election period" that runs through February.)

(no subject)

Today I played more Inevitable Excess because I didnt think of a better idea.
I did get the paradox I was aiming for, and I beat Inevitable Darkness on Hard difficulty, so there will be more shiny things in the main campaign if I finish this to winning.
I also got the remaining achievement, Silver Tongue. I have done it before but it didn't go ping then. This time it did, then I reloaded and did the Angel thing instead to see what would happen. (Very bright light and only one enemy left is what happen.)

Playing with the witch hex that turns things into your animal friends may still be turning up weird interactions. I couldn't get out of the ziggurat, it looked open but it wasn't, and then when I went back the long way the former friends were back to being enemies and I had to kill them over again. I think that was because it thinks the fight is ended and then it unenda and confuses it. Or it might have just decided to be weird today.

Arue's weird and epic buffs from the Arena turn out to only last until she dies a bit. Inevitable Darkness makes many beings die a bit but Angel spells fix it real fast. So Arue is back to her old self, which is a bit of a relief honestly, winning because a glitch made her into artillery isn't quite the idea.

I am feeling very end of the year and mostly want cake and blankets, so I shall have to schedule other ideas for the next few weeks.

But today worked okays.

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

fanfiction: dragon age

Fic: Not Quite Birds of a Feather (Dragon Age)

Not Quite Birds of a Feather (1418 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Female Aeducan/Leliana/Morrigan (Dragon Age), Female Aeducan/Leliana (Dragon Age), Female Aeducan/Morrigan (Dragon Age), Leliana/Morrigan (Dragon Age)
Characters: Female Aeducan (Dragon Age), Leliana (Dragon Age), Morrigan (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Casual Sex, Complicated Relationships, Dragon Age Poly Exchange, One Shot, Polyamory
Summary: The three of them had almost nothing in common. It shouldn't have worked. Yet somehow it did.

Current Mood: creative

Entry tags:

fanfiction: dragon age

Fic: No Strings (Dragon Age)

No Strings (1466 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jowan/Cullen Rutherford/Male Surana
Characters: Cullen Rutherford, Jowan (Dragon Age), Male Surana (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Casual Sex, Denial of Feelings, Dragon Age Poly Exchange, Kinloch Hold (Dragon Age), One Shot, Secret Relationship, Teenagers, Trans Male Character
Summary: It didn't mean anything. If they kept telling themselves that much, then maybe it would be true.

Entry tags:

update

I don't like to go longer than a week without posting, but I just did! So this is me waving hello. The reason for the absence is family stuff: my dad is finally moving somewhat closer to me (and very close to my younger brother), plus the Tall One has also been moving. Stressful and time consuming.

Thanksgiving included a clogged main pipe out of my dad's (soon to be former) house, where we'd gathered for the day. This necessitated an emergency plumber! Plus there were some shenanigans with the turkey roaster that delayed the turkey. "It's our toilet-less, turkey-less Thanksgiving," joked Little Springtime. But in the end the emergency plumber fixed the clog and the turkey finished cooking, and people's spirits remained relatively high, so it can be categorized as a Fun Tale of Obstacles Overcome rather than A Horrible Time. (It became that once we knew a plumber was coming. Hero of the story: the plumber.)

Wakanomori brought an Edo-period board game that he'd put together from images available online, and we played it. It's Genji Monogatari-themed: you march around the board and land on different chapters from the Tale of Genji, and each square comes with a poem--not from the Tale of Genji but from the makers of the game. Plus gorgeous ink paintings. Very aesthetic and allowed for a good review of the happenings of the story--or introduction to them, for several people present. (Not sure if anyone's read it from beginning to end. Maybe Wakanomori has.)

Entry tags:

dreamwidth

It's been a hard year

✨ holiday love meme 2025 ✨
my thread here

Current Mood: blank

Entry tags:

filker: death

Leslie Fish

It looks like Leslie Fish has passed away.

I've gotta admit, I'm very torn on this one. In recent years, she's made it clear that she's transphobic, bigoted, and a generally horrible person all around. A fair bit of her music has meant a lot to me over the years, though, before it became widely known just what she's like.

So... yeah. I'm mourning for just how important she used to be to both me and fandom at large, but at the same time it's hard to be all that sad about the death of someone who's made it clear that she didn't consider me to be a person.

Entry tags:

much emotional support fiber

Saori WX60 + Clover Sakiori 60cm "feather" (reed/heddle thingy???) Frankenloom warping. This does work. It doesn't work all that well, but it works. Fortunately, the weaving is the fast part and this is a shorter warp, so I'll just finish this for exploration's sake and then return to "normal" warping. :)

Finished the 2-ply merino yarn!

Current Mood: apathetic
Current Music: Devil Doll

Entry tags:

depressed,
science

It's Me not You

I haven't been a great friend this month. I've not responded to about 80% of the comments I've gotten since Nov 7th. I've commented on a few posts and that's it. I've read no fanfic and barely any books. I've cleaned nothing. I didn't even realize I was out of insulin until today when I realized after I got back from Jackson. I thought one bag was my short acting humalog but nope it's all long acting toujeo. Now I have to spend time I don't have going back to Jackson tomorrow.

So yeah that's how out of things I am. The only constructive things I did was go to the coffee shop to write (finished another chapter in an upcoming Hazbin wip), hit kroger and cvs for some clove oil (as it occurs to me it can numb my gum and it's antimicrobial). And I managed to change my summer clothes for the winter. I need to ditch about 20 of these old t-shirts.

But there was some joy. Abney Park did something weird and fun a 'choose your own adventure' concert. The fans in the chat told them what game board square to go to as we thread a maze to the space ship and then they'd green screen a background and we had to guess what the song was and then they'd play it. Some of us fans were so damn fast we had the songs before they even gave a clue. It was different and fun.

And it is Science Saturday

Did a NASA telescope really 'see' dark matter? Strange gamma-rays spark bold claims, but scientists urge caution

We May Now Know Why Alzheimer's Erases Memories of Our Loved Ones

Neanderthals cannibalized 'outsider' women and children 45,000 years ago at cave in Belgium

New Diabetes Pill Works as Well as Ozempic For Weight Loss, Trial Finds Probably works similar to Rybelsus which made me so ill

A fossilized foot found 15 years ago belonged to enigmatic human relative that lived alongside Lucy, scientists say

Study Reveals The Anal Sex Techniques Women Love (And You've Never Even Heard Of) No, really and it was a study of thousands

Today was bright and cold

I guess winter's finally here.

**************************

( Read more... )

Current Music: English Teacher, "Good Grief"

And me? Well, I'm just the narrator

If you knew the algorithm and fed it back say ten thousand times, each time there'd be a dot somewhere on the screen. You'd never know where to expect the next dot. But gradually you'd start to see this shape, because every dot will be inside the shape of this leaf. It wouldn't be a leaf, it would be a mathematical object. But yes. The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is. It's how nature creates itself, on every scale, the snowflake and the snowstorm. It makes me so happy. To be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing. People were talking about the end of physics. Relativity and quantum looked as if they were going to clean out the whole problem between them. A theory of everything. But they only explained the very big and the very small. The universe, the elementary particles. The ordinary-sized stuff which is our lives, the things people write poetry about – clouds – daffodils – waterfalls – and what happens in a cup of coffee when the cream goes in – these things are full of mystery, as mysterious to us as the heavens were to the Greeks. We're better at predicting events at the edge of the galaxy or inside the nucleus of an atom than whether it'll rain on auntie's garden party three Sundays from now. Because the problem turns out to be different. We can't even predict the next drip from a dripping tap when it gets irregular. Each drip sets up the conditions for the next, the smallest variation blows prediction apart, and the weather is unpredictable the same way, will always be unpredictable. When you push the numbers through the computer you can see it on the screen. The future is disorder. A door like this has cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. It's the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.

—Tom Stoppard, Arcadia (1993)