► As I mentioned, I did Rough Draft Month this month, a small, cosy NaNo replacement. It was supposed to pick me up a bit, and it did. But of course it was also stressful. Still, managed to hit my word count, all on one story. It’s a shitty story, but since my goal wasn’t to write a good one, that’s okay. I find that I am far more experimental and free with my English when just writing for the sake of it, rather than to produce something good, and that’s something I can then use in other stories. It also helped me figure out some general things about the story, should I ever rewrite it, from the natural stopping point (which I actually hit at 50k, by some miracle), and the arc of one of the main characters that I’d been struggling with. One of these days, I need to try this kind of challenge with a pre-planned story, though, rather than winging it all the time.

► I somehow managed to write my fandom5k story in addition to that. Which was A Lot. Fandom 5K is the one exchange where I really wish the writing period was longer, since I tend to do intensive canon review with a lot of notes, and since coming up with a story idea sometimes takes me some time as well. I still need to do some editing, which is rare for me. I’m usually done at least a week early.

► My cat: it is summer, woe is me, I am a sad puddle on the floor, please make it stop. Also my cat: it is now the middle of the night and we need to cuddle. I don’t care if it’s still hot, need cuddles. (She’s elderly now, and she lost a lot of weight – down to a healthier 4.5 kg – which was hopefully just due to a change in diet when she started taking her heart meds, but whatever the case, she gets to get away with everything and I suffer through sleepless nights with a furry furnace clinging to me.)

( obligatory picture of the puddle in her favourite melting place )