Who's a Sound of Music fan? That would be ME!

I am just feeling particularly *confident* today. Maybe it's because I just came from a visit with my sister and brother-in-law over the weekend, and that always lifts my spirits. Canada has been doing a horrendous job with vaccine rollout, and Ontario in particular, but my city also FINALLY lowered the minimum age requirement for the vaccine to cover my age group yesterday. So, I've registered for the shot. This means that when they have a spot available (see? horrible rollout) they will contact me for it. So, I'm at least *confident* that sometime soon I will be on my way to COVID vaccination!

I also picked a writing bingo card today over at 1_million_words, because I am feeling *confident* that I can keep this writing thing going. And it's an AU card, which... what? But hey, why not? I can do it!

( 1 Million Words BingoCollapse )

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!
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Do people even say "peeps" anymore? I don't even know.

So as mentioned last week, I signed up for the QaF Gift Exchange. So I have to write one two fics for that in the next 7 weeks or so. Now, it's been quite a long time since I've watched any QaF, and I clearly don't have time to rewatch the series now. Soooo... can someone out there give me a brief Christmas timeline for the show?? For each season, I just need to know basically where Christmas fell in the timeline. I do remember Deb decorating (though once in the off-season?) so I know they must have mentioned it at some point. If you want to remind me what was happening to the characters at that point each season, that would be a bonus. If not, I can use your general ep info to look it up or rewatch an ep around that time.

Can anybody help me out? HELP ME, QAF FANS. YOU ARE MY ONLY HOPE.
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Is it suddenly 2003? I ask because I JUST SIGNED UP FOR THE QUEER AS FOLK CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE. I am... going to write QaF fic, apparently. WTH? I don't know if I can still find Brian and Justin's voices in my head, but I guess I'll find out.

BUT I got to thinkin'. Wouldn't it be cool if a whole bunch of old school QaF writers signed up? I mean, this probably won't happen because the deadline to sign up is Sunday, but if anybody decides to throw caution to the wind like I did, the qaf_giftxchnge only has a 100 word requirement and you have almost two months to get it done. OR you could do icons, graphics, a fanmix, a video. So, ya know, if anybody wants to get in the time machine with me, there's still some seats available!

And while I was on this strange "I can write again, I really really CAN" kick, I also signed up for Small Fandom Bang. That one is for small fandoms only (duh) with a 10K minimum and it's due March 31st. I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

What I DO know is that I've gotta get even more structure in my life. My time is spent up by just work work work, punctuated by binge-watching old TV shows, and this has GOT to stop. So I'm hopeful that I can get on track to actually having a life outside of those two things.

To that end, I ALSO joined mini_wrimo, where the goal is to write a much smaller number of words than what Nanowrimo requires. I signed up for 250 words a day, and I'll see how that goes. Wish me luck!

IT IS ALL THE WRITING THINGS.
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Day 7's prompt is What was your first fandom?

The first fandoms that I remember sitting down to write for were Robin of Sherwood (BBC series) and Beauty and the Beast (Ron Perlman/Linda Hamilton in the '80s.) Those did not see the light of day. That, of course, doesn't count the Wham! smut that I used to write for laughs in high school, nor the Bobbsey Twins story that I gave up as a little kid because I had set it on a sailboat and knew nothing about boats. Or The Bobbsey Twins, for that matter. I only read one Bobbsey Twins book before I decided they were too babyish for me and moved on to Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew.

Day 8's prompt is Do you prefer real life or animated shows?

I honestly don't think I've ever watched an animated show. I'm assuming the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour doesn't count. :D I used to watch The Tracy Ullman Show back when there were little 5 minute Simpsons shorts on there, but I hated The Simpsons. Have never tried any of the others, at least not that I can remember. Real life it is.
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So we're at the beginning of a new month. I'm pleased to say that working in my new bullet journal was really successful for me last month. I was able to stay on track with almost everything, and was able to easily see where I need to buckle down more. I also just ENJOY being organized and making lists and checking things off when they're completed.

sidleypkhermit posted a really cool Archive of Our Own meme/survey/thingy. I was pretty astounded by some of my stats. I have written almost 1.3 MILLION words, people. That is NUTS.

( Me on AO3Collapse )

Oh, to be writing again.
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Post to LJ twice a week? Fail.
Write a small amount every day? Fail.
Catch up on my reading? Fail.

I have failed so much that I even procrastinated making this post for at least a week. So.Much.Fail.
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Hello, all. It's been forever since I've even looked at LJ -- just too overwhelmed with the world at large -- and I've been doing a lot of planning and thinking and trying to figure out how to get control of everything: not letting real-world things get overwhelming, to do enough work (I am doing freelance transcription) to pay the bills without having to work all.the.time, how to fit in free time and writing and reading, how to stay on track with just everything. I've managed to structure my days (ie. get up at a reasonable hour) since I set that original goal, and goal-setting usually works for me.

So. I have started a 600 word a day writing goal. That's about a page without dialogue. It certainly sounds doable. Today was day 1 and I wrote 609 words.

I have a Post To LJ twice a week goal. Because I tend to start to feel isolated and alone, especially since I live alone and haven't seen any family since March. (Yes, my friend lives downstairs but she has her husband and a life so we really don't interact more than a couple of times a week, and then just briefly.)

Anyway. Hopefully I'll be 'seeing' you guys more often. Hope everyone is weathering the storms.

I haven't done much reading, I am so far behind on all my goals, but I buckled down in the last little while and got three books read.

( BooksCollapse )

Books Read: 23/85
Goodreads Challenge: 23/52
Popsugar Challenge: 18/40
Total Pages Read: 7542 pages
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It's currently 12:26am here. I was just out on my deck, and I saw a shooting star! I'd say that is a great omen for the coming year. :)

I have named this The Year of All The Things. Only positivity, good vibes, making progress and taking initiative. *nods so much*

I'm going to keep up with the same general things:

Money Jar -- all coin in my purse on Saturday night gets put into a jar. There won't be as much this year because I won't be out and about every day -- at least until I find another job -- but it's still gonna happen. Any savings is good savings.

Book Challenges -- my goal for this year is to read 85 books. I'm also doing the Goodreads Reading Challenge and the Popsugar Reading Challenge again this year. If you want to challenge yourself as well, here are the lists of prompts:

( Goodreads Reading ChallengeCollapse )

( Popsugar Reading ChallengeCollapse )

On the writing front, I am bound and determined that this is the year that I finish an original novel. I have word count goals set. I have the first 3 or so chapters plotted out. I am a pantster and I'm gonna do this thing. I also would like to attempt 2 short fanfic a month, but honestly that will depend on how this whole original novel thing pans out.

I AM SO READY. Hope you all are set for a fabulous 2020!!
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Our weather has finally turned winter-ish and I couldn't be happier. No more flies, wasps, bees, hornets, and all other creepy flying creatures that drive me mental. Woot Woot!

And it's the start of Nanowrimo for many of you. I did not sign up this year because my writing output is still at the almost-nil stage, but I love seeing people get totally hyped over their word count as it grows and also sometimes mildly astounded at the twists and turns their stories take when writing at such a breakneck speed. Good luck to everyone doing Nano or miniNano!
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Man, it's been a while since I've posted. Vacation was great, and being back to work hasn't even been that bad. As of tonight it's going to get even better because I'll be doing data entry for practically my whole shift for the next little while. Big Woooooot for getting away from customer service for 80% of my shift!

In health news, I bought a vape! Yes, it is not as good as quitting smoking entirely but I've tried that and failed miserably so I'm gonna give this a go. The cartridge I bought only has 3% nicotine so I'm hopeful that I can switch to 0 nicotine sometime soon-ish. I still can't vape inside my house and tonight I discovered that there's a black wasp living behind the siding on my balcony so THIS IS AN ISSUE. Not the least because I run screaming and possibly crying from most bugs, so. I've let my bestie and her hubby know, but Amy is away for the week and her husband works literally 16 hour days in the summer. I hope that he understands the severity of my fear/need to get this sorted but... not gonna hold my breath.

After a good start at writing I struggled in June so for July I switched to a time goal instead of a word count goal. So far that's working a lot better. There are significantly less *words* so that's hard to reconcile when I am sooooo used to aiming for a high count, but I'm writing 5 or 6 days a week for short chunks and I'd rather that than never write at all.

And books! Of course there have been many many many books. (And it makes me sad that there won't be many many more books for a while, what with the whole having-to-do-actual-work-at-work thing. Getting off the phones, good. Not being able to read at work, so bad.)

( Books 35 to 43Collapse )

Books Read 43/80
Goodreads Book Challenge: 36/52
Popsugar Book Challenge 27/40
Total Pages Read: 15602
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