to unpathed waters, undreamed shores

I still exist! Really. Life has been... hmm. A lot of ups and downs, but I think that's par for the course considering what the past couple of years, world-wide, have been like.

But. On a positive note: It's bonkers what proper medication can do.

So I've recently learned that it's shockingly common for girls and women with inattentive-type ADHD to fly under the radar, so to speak, during childhood and not be diagnosed until their 30s or 40s.

I'm one of those women. Diagnosed six weeks ago. I've been on meds for five of those weeks. They are life-altering, and I say that without hyperbole. I've struggled so hard and for so long to be a human, and all along there was this other thing that I'd never even considered until a medical student did the most thorough health history I've ever had done in my life.

Inattentive-type ADHD explains so much, people. So much. I'm starting to feel less like a failure and more like a person who just needs some help with neurotransmitters to get things working properly. And things are working properly. I don't think I've actually felt this good in years.

Unfortunately things aren't so great on the work front. The hospital decided that since I'm chronically ill, I deserve to have my full-time position cut down to two days per week. Which means I need a second job. Or, preferably, a brand new job in a different city.

I'm also currently extremely pissed at Instagram for taking down my account due to some nebulous terms & conditions violation that has never been specified. I was just starting to really get a foothold in the sewing community, and now I have to start from scratch. If I only had a few followers I'd message them from the new account, but I had about 1k and that's too many to contact.

I'm in the middle of setting up a small Etsy shop, too. I'm selling cotton skirts and scrunchies, with a few dog bandanas in there as well. The skirts are knee-length gathered-front-elastic-back and they have pockets, because of course they do. I'm able to do custom sizing with no upper or lower limit, too, and no extra cost for larger sizes.

... loves his blanket nests.



Both he and his brother Crowley now have adoption applications filed on them; I'm just waiting to hear whether or not the adoptions will go through. The little ones could be leaving for their new homes next week!

Some of these just about write themselves.

Challenge #3 - Promote Your Favourite Communities, Fests, or Challenges

I'm not someone who tends to be part of a million fannish communities, but the ones I do love, I love like burning.

First, there's Still SynS, a flashfic-and-chat based community I started almost three years ago that used to be called Synchronised Screaming. It's less about the flashfic than it used to be, but it's still a wonderful place with wonderful people who enjoy screaming about fic-writing and other assorted things. I heart everyone on its Discord server so much. The best part is that while we do have a scheduled Saturday chat, anyone who's available tends to gather if someone flings up an "I'm around" note on their Tumblr.

Second, there's Ineffable Kink, a Discord server that was made for the Good Omens Kink Meme and has turned into a supportive community of excellent people. It's an easy server to sink into and get comfortable - even to the point of sharing works-in-progress, which is something I've never had the guts to do before save with a couple of very specific people. There's a looot of Good Omens talk, naturally, but also a few channels for other things.

As far as challenges/exchanges, there's always the 'slashy' swaps - My Slashy Valentine, Ardour in August, Sultry in September, etc. MSV was one of the first exchanges I ever did, and almost all of them have been excellent experiences in the end. They're hard exchanges in some ways - you never really know what you'll get assigned and it's hand-matching without people being able to choose what to offer (although you can specify some things you like to write and things you can't write), but I've never gotten an assignment I didn't like.

Hello Chocolatier!

First of all, I promise I'm not difficult to please. I'll be delighted with whatever you write/draw for me, so please don't stress over it. I've listed some things I really love, below, but don't feel like you can't go with your own ideas if you have them. I have no idea how to prompt for art so I've just requested fic, but art treats are absolutely welcome.

General things I love:

★ relationships built on strong/intense friendship
★ strong/intense friendship in general
★ missing scenes from canon and/or reactions to canon scenes
★ all kinds of moods, from quiet to bittersweet to angsty to funny to intense to fluffy
★ hurt/comfort of any kind
★ slice-of-life and/or character studies
★ simple everyday non-schmoop romance
★ stoic characters cracking around the edges
★ casual touching and physical affection (between friends and/or romantic partners)
★ non-penetrative sex (don't feel like you have to include smut, though)
★ banter and/or banter during sex
★ storms
★ canon compliance is fabulous, but I also like canon-divergence AUs
★ relationships of all kinds - friendship, romantic, sexual, romantic yet non-sexual, walking the line between friendship and more, established relationships, first kisses/dates/sex/etc., and the list goes on

★ for Good Omens I also like literally any place in history you want to put them and/or them drinking together
★ for Stand Still Stay Silent I also like mage shenanigans and/or the aftermath of combat
★ for Silmarillion & Lord of the Rings I also like fourth-age settings and/or reunions
★ for Marvel I also like between- or after-mission quiet times
★ for A Redtail's Dream I also like snarking and more snarking

DNWs:

★ character bashing (breaking up a canon couple for a different ship is fine, but please don't bash and/or vilify the leftover character in the process)
★ homophobia
★ non-con, dub-con, infidelity (open relationships are fine), D/s, BDSM, kinks involving bodily fluids, humiliation, A/B/O, mpreg
★ non-canon character death (canon or OCs is fine), animal harm
★ marriage proposals and/or ceremonies
★ unrequested AUs, non-canon genders or pronouns

Didn't write yesterday because KITTENS. I'm fostering a pair of 9-week-old babies for a local cat rescue - two boys, one ginger and one black. They are absolute little mischief demons so I called them Crowley and Loki.

I've missed fostering so much. These little ones are very well socialised so it won't be long before I can let them out of their little room and let them roam the rest of the house and interact with my cats. Liam is waiting outside the door of their room because he loves kittens and is thoroughly put out that I won't let him in to snuggle them already.

Oops, my fingers slipped and I signed up for MSV 2020. It's been more than three years (... wow) since I've done a Tolkien exchange, but I've been on such a writing roll lately that I'm feeling pretty good about it. MSV and AinA and such are more of a risk for me because of the way sign-ups work, but I've had (mostly, all save one) good experiences in the past.

I'm not sure how this happened, but I wrote an entire 1020 word ficlet in about four hours today. I don't even know who I am anymore. Anyhow! Collide, GOmens, A/C, that missing night at Crowley's that everyone writes.

Comments so far have been really positive, so I'm delighted.

Well. I’m on a medical accommodation at work for the foreseeable future ( ramble ramble... )

In nicer news, though, I'm super-excited because I'm going to be able to meet a very close online friend (something that happens so rarely) in March. We met in fandom in 2001 - almost 20 years ago! - so this is ridiculously awesome.

And on a writing note, I finished a thing! It's just a little thing, but still - Your Heart, Still Beating, Sigrun/Tuuri, an addition to my One For the Books SSSS ficlet collection. I don't hate it, which is probably remarkable.

... a reorganisation/excavation of my studio (i.e. my writing/photography/sewing/etc. room, i.e. the spare bedroom). In the beginning it was sort of procrastination from writing (which I am finding insanely difficult at the moment) but now it's turned into a project I really want to see through to the end.

The big surprise is that I've actually added a fair amount of art/craft supplies to the donation pile. I've never been good at letting those go, but I'm trying to be realistic about what I'm likely to use and what's likely to sit around forever waiting for a maybe. Like the ceramic coasters I used to make. Making them was calming and satisfying, but I no longer have a properly-ventilated space to use the spray sealants and such that I need to finish them. So... it doesn't really make sense for me to keep all the supplies. I'm saving the materials I used to make the decorated tops, but I'm going to give the ceramic tiles to someone who can use them and pass on the sealants and paints, too.

I'm also trying to go through my notebook collection - I've become very picky about notebooks as of late, because I've noticed there are certain traits that make me more or less likely to write in them (... about as much as I ever write in any of them, anyway, and don't try to tell me I'm the only one with a slew of blank notebooks). It's difficult, because notebooks, but if I have too many of them they just end up being one more collection that attracts dust and cat fur.

I'm not thinning out my fabric or yarn stashes. I'm fine with my yarn stash being large (it's significantly smaller now than it used to be, but still) and my fabric stash, as far as I'm concerned, isn't big enough. I have enough wovens, I suppose, but not nearly enough knits.

Ramble ramble ramble.