vintagewitch: (Magnus Archives)
 So ... I signed up for Rusty Quill Big Bang, and have FINALLY been writing Murder Grandma. 

One of the Magnus Archives discord servers I'm in is doing a Spring Cleaning word count challenge which is kind of a nice way to find writing community as well. 

Today I wrote 1243 words and got into a good rhythm. I felt a little guilty about avoiding some actual work I had to do today, but none of my stuff was on an important deadline. I needed to do some podcast editing today, but my GarageBand shit the bed so ... fanfic! Yay

I'm alive!

May. 7th, 2022 07:46 am
vintagewitch: (Magnus Archives)
 hiiiii. I'm alive. 

I keep thinking of things I want to post about, and then not doing it, so this post is going to be a mishmash of all of those things. I've also been terribly behind on my Reading page. I have this ... completionist thing? IDK how to explain it, but I feel bad when I haven't read everything up until the last time I read stuff, and then it gets overwhelming if it's been a while. So today I just let myself read the first page of my reading page and left it at that.

Writing stuff:

I finished the page edits for the book yesterday! It's ... really happening. It's really a book book. They're actually going to publish it. Because that book is so much about creativity, it has also inspired me to get back to work on my novel. I've been doing Rachael Stephen's Story Magic Academy and it is such a lovely and supportive community, and going through her videos is an incredible process for getting really deep into the planning for a fictional work. 

She's actually moved away from writing novels herself, but honestly the Story Magic Academy works for any kind of storytelling in my opinion. Theatre, YouTube videos, tabletop games, etc. can all benefit from Story Magic Academy. It only opens for enrollment twice a year, and they just started a new session, but it will open back up in the fall. 

Fandom: 

Rusty Quill Big Bang is happening again and I am Sorely Tempted. I have this epic idea for a TMA fic set in Somewhere Else that focuses on the potential working relationship between Gertrude and Jon. And of course there will be an exploration of Jon and Martin's relationship, and some Evil Threats to be Slayed. I just don't know if I have the time to commit. My friend moon suggested that I could chop up the epic plot into a series and just do the first of the series for RQ Big Bang so I'm not horrendously overwhelmed, and I might do that. The RQ Big Bang is only 20k words, but I know that this story will be far longer than 20k - but regardless of the length of the story, it needs to be a first draft done by July 9th. Two months gives me some time, but I have Significant Life Stuff that I need to take into consideration. 

I think what I need to do is go through some Story Magic Academy exercises with this particular story, flesh it out, and see if I think it's feasible to finish by July 9th. moon also reminded me that I can back out if I need to. I hate being the person who always backs out of fests, but that's kind of where I'm at. I feel awful for backing out of HP Triad Fest, but I was feeling particularly icky about participating in HP fandom around that time because of ... well ... JKR's toxicity.

Speaking of HP fandom tho ... I am getting more inspiration to work on my HP fics lately too. I think it's honestly reading all of these super epic fics that is getting me in the mood to write. That and going through the SMA. But I need to prioritize my original fiction over my fanfic at this time! I am genuinely really excited about this novel and need to make space for it. It's just so much more work to write original fiction because you have to create everything from scratch. Fanfic is so easy to just ... go go go.

Life Outside of Work:

AE got their wisdom teeth out yesterday, so I've been nursing them. Not much really to say there - AE is a trooper. 

I'm going to get to see a bunch of family from my dad's side in a couple of weeks. My Uncle Dan will be in town. He lives in the Seattle area and so people don't really see him all that often - whenever he comes to town they make a huge party of it. Chuck is flying into town, and apparently a bunch of the cousins are coming over to our side of the state as well. It will be AE's first time meeting any of my extended family. Which is weird to think about! But honestly I don't see my extendeds that much and then right when I was getting to the point of wanting to introduce them, COVID hit and we haven't been doing much. 

I will say, I'm getting really excited to see folks. It's been way too long. It's so easy for me to get into the habit of daily life, and since my dad had such strained relationships with his side of the family (and still does, frankly), we never saw them much when I was a kid. Having extended family that you see often is a pretty foreign concept to me. 

Folk Magic Stuff: 

My friend is teaching a yearlong class on Glamour Magic and invited me to audit it. While I'm definitely not new to magic, I am very new to glamour magic! I'm honestly honored they invited me to audit it - they said that since they're pairing people up, they needed another person. I'm a bit behind, but am hoping to catch up today in time for tomorrow's live class. 

Not much else to report. I've been feeling so burned out that I've decided to take a bit of a break from doing a bunch of magic. I know - I just talked about being in a new magic class - but I'm giving myself full permission to just ... not do much outside of it. I also decided to go on a Patreon sabbatical, which is honestly fantastic. I feel so free - which is probably a sign that I need to change things dramatically.

vintagewitch: (Reading and Coffee)
 I realize that I never updated y'all about how my Father-in-Law is doing.

He's home from the hospital. CW: medical diagnosis )

We also decided against trying to move out there sooner than 2023. It would be too much financially, and I don't think we're actually ready to go quite yet. 

I think we're both pretty emotionally burned out at the moment, and it seems like our wires keep getting crossed. I'm trying not to stress out about it too badly. 

As is my usual with stressful times, I'm retreating into fanfic and books. So why not post an update on my reading progress here?

Fiction: 

Anatomy: A love story by Dana Schwartz

So far I'm enjoying this one! I love the Noble Blood podcast, but the writing of this novel is a little too YA for my tastes. Not that there's anything with YA! I just tend to avoid it.

Non-fiction: 


All About Love b bell hooks

I've been reading this one for forever. I don't know why it's taking me so long to finish. Might sit down and sit with this one tonight. bell hooks usually isn't a struggle for me to get through - she's not purposefully obscure like other theorists. 

The Way of the Rose b Clark Strand and Perdita Finn

This one is a bit unusual - it's a discussion of how to use the rosary as a way of connecting with the goddess (any goddess, not just Mary). I'm enjoying this one, but it's taking me a while to get through. I think I struggle with focus for this one.

Non-fiction: Witchy and pagan

Under the Witching Tree by Corinne Boyer

I actually have an excuse for how long this is taking me! I'm reading it by "season." It starts in the fall, then goes to winter, and now we're in spring. Though I might just read through summer. This is a really delightful look at the folklore and healing properties of trees - and not just in a Celtic way, as most tree magic books I've found have been.

New World Witchery by Corey Thomas Hutcheson

This one is great! It's a fast read once I pick it up. Unfortunately, because I'm experiencing quite a bit of burn-out, I haven't been wanting to read much occult stuff. It's a whole thing - basically because witchcraft is my job, I've been reaching for these titles less. 

Loki and Sigyn: Lessons on Chaos, Laughter, and Loyalty from the Norse Gods

This one is a suuuuper fast read! I read half of it in one sitting on Saturday. The author has a very playful, snarky voice, which makes sense as this is about Loki. He's one of those gods in the Norse pantheon that I'm like "weeeeell ... I probably should be working with him" but haven't been. So we'll see what practical things I walk away with.

Fanfic:

Now, of course, when I'm SUPER burned out I tend to lose myself a bit in fandom. And if I'm being perfectly honest, this is where most of my reading has been lately. Here's what I finished that I loved: 

Title: and springþ þe wde nu
Author: escherzo
Fandom:
 the Magnus Archives
Rating: Explicit
Wordcount: 76,414
Summary: Martin helps him tip his head back, his back to Martin's front. The two of them look up to the sky in frozen silence, not even breathing, the sound of the wind whistling through the trees the only sound in the clearing. The stars are wrong. Jon knows the stars, Knows the shape and age of each one, and there is not a single constellation above him that he recognizes.

“Oh, god,” Jon says, his eyes gone wide. The weight of everything crushing down upon him at once. They are in another universe, and they have brought hell with them. Jonah Magnus is dead, and will never find them again. Everyone they have ever known is gone, and will never find them again.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30334737/chapters/74776185

**

That'll have to be it for now; gotta get back to work.

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