Ok, Shen Wei! Ready to learn how to email?

[clevermanka]

Guardian/adjacent:
Fanart: A comic based on frith_in_thorns  fic! Iconic show moments, illustrated. The lines and coloring in this are so soft. Tiny Weilan with big ears is giving me life. Chibi snuggles.
Mmm, yes, badass Shen Wei.
Bai Yu Lip Alert.
Singer-songwriter!Zhu Yilong pic spam thread.

Untamed/adjacent:
d-y-i-n-g
A thread about Fatal Journey which I haven't seen yet--any tips on where I can watch it w/o a subscription service? 

Guess it was just a dry spell on Twitter bc my timeline yesterday and this morning were packed, as you can see. 

I went outside yesterday, not far, just to the sidewalk in front of the house, and it felt wrong. Not illegal wrong, but unsettling in a very personal and internal way. I didn't care for it at all. Which means I need to go on a walk today. I've stayed nearly 100% indoors since the 15th and while I don't consciously mind it at all, my psyche is obviously building some things in there that I don't care for. So I guess I gotta venture outdoors. If it wasn't raining, I'd go right now since it's unlikely that many others will be out for their constitutionals at 7:30am.

Did I mention my county is under Stay At Home orders until April 23? Did I mention that apparently the cops can stop you if they think you're not running an essential errand? The fact that they can't demand ID/papers (yet) is hardly comforting. I get the idea, okay, Americans Humans American Humans are fucking idiots, but fuck the police, y'all. I don't trust slippery slopes at all. ETA: I'm extra thrilled to be able to tell SOMEONE that he had bad information on this. \o/

Posted the second to last chapter of Ghost Story this morning. Ahhhhhh! I'm behind in writing the DVD commentary, which I'd like to post sometime the week after the final chapter. So many things to write! Today I might finish the car wash outfit porn. Which has a title lurking in my brain somewhere--hope it pops up sooner rather than later. And I finally figured out the logistics of how I want to write the rest of Deconstruction, which is a great relief. I hadn't touched it since the 22nd and that was making me sad.

I'm having a difficult time finding escape in reading right now. I just can't immerse myself in a fic, especially short ones. Very frustrating. I worry that my brain is becoming too overwhelmed by The State of the World and Current Circumstances. I was able to do it with All-Consuming, so I hope it's just I need something long to really sink into. Very much looking forward to binging Carte Blanche.

Okay, well, I have hot tea and a cat next to me on the couch so I guess it's time to start writing something.

Comments

[danig]

I'm not commenting much but I do follow along on your posts. I'm glad you're active here.

One quick thing, though, LEOs are not stopping people without cause (at this time).
https://ldchealth.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=248
https://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/town_talk/2020/mar/23/a-look-at-whats-allowed-and-whats-not-under-the-pending-stay-at-home-order/

If people will just do what they're supposed to do it would sure make everyone's life easier.

[clevermanka]

Oh, thank you! I'm so excited to tell McKitterick he was wrong about that XD

[rheasilvia]

I went outside yesterday, not far, just to the sidewalk in front of the house, and it felt wrong. Not illegal wrong, but unsettling in a very personal and internal way.

This is so familiar to me. I had a thoroughly unsettling experience shopping a few days ago, because everything was both so familiar and so different at the same time; an odd kind of cognitive dissonance. And of course there is the constant danger of other people appearing, and that in itself is such a bizarre thing - that every single person you see is now something to be wary of, and keep carefully away from.

I've really been wondering what will happen when this is all over, and everyone has months of this kind of avoidance of other human beings (unsafe!!) etched into their brains. It will be so, so strange.

[clevermanka]

SO strange. I can say with confidence that I have no idea what it's going to be like. The only human being I've interacted with while I can see their person is McKitterick. Oh, no, wait...I yelled at my friend from across the street when she came by to pick something up from me on Sunday. That's it. Two. Two people.

I'm a misanthropic hermit and things are getting to me. I don't know how the rest of y'all are surviving.

[naye]

I can't believe I've got two whole chapters of Ghost Story to look forward to! I just need to get my attention span to extend longer than 20 seconds at a time and I'm THERE. \o/

Also there for History3 porn. Currently all my word intake is in audio format only...

[clevermanka]

If I could read Ghost Story aloud to you I totally would. <3

I've actually considered recording Ghost Story... tbh it's more the learning (and buying) new tech that's the deterrent than the time/sanity commitment to recording a long fic. Also I'd need to do some sort of ~effect~ for Shen Wei's dialogue since I don't feel like inserting "he typed" or whatever.

[naye]

I've actually considered recording Ghost Story...
There are so many talented podficcers in our community that if you do feel like making this a project and want help with ideas for effects and things they could totally help! I know there's a podficcing Discord, plus comms here on Dreamwidth and people on Twitter. (I am no help because I am still a total newbie and have never added effects to anything. I am also not on Discord.)

[clevermanka]

My big reason for not pursuing the idea is I'm not comfortable producing things I haven't consumed and I actively dislike being read to...so I've never listened to more than, like, two minutes of an audiobook or podfic 😞

[naye]

Just between us, I had listened to a total of maybe 15 minutes of podfic before I started recording it myself.

I mean, I love audio books & podcasts, so I was coming at it from that angle, but I still prefer to read my fic (because I want to write feedback as I go along!). But! Imagine if everyone just recorded fic and posted it in audio format! Then some people transcribed a tiny bit of it - you'd be so happy those transcriptions existed so you could enjoy stories the way you're most comfortable with, even if those doing the transcription weren't into reading textfic themselves.

So I basically record it not because it's what I want the most, but because I know there are people who either prefer to listen to podfic, or who like being able to choose which version of a fic to read/listen to depending on what they've got going on, and I want them to have more fic available. ♥ (Full credit to yue_ix for encouraging me to start doing it even though I didn't have any experience with podfic myself.)

That said, I think it helps to read up on tips and listening to your own recordings so you know what can be improved as you're starting out. (If you're not comfortable listening back to your recordings I know you can find people to beta for you - like, "there's a repeated line at 5:21" or "there's static at the beginning".) (I don't always listen back to what I've recorded because that's time I can't spend recording more fic. Obviously if it's someone else's story I want to make sure I've got it right, but for my own stuff I'm relying on people to tell me if there's anything they want fixed.)

[clevermanka]

Oh, wow, this is really good and helpful, thank you! Definitely things to ponder...

[glymr]

Walking outside feels so strange, now! We're used to going for walks almost every day, it's just part of our lives. But now we're constantly worried about seeing other people. We choose places where we know we have space to separate ourselves if necessary: a street we can cross to the other side, or a park with wide fields where we can see people at a distance instead of a narrow sidewalk or trail. I get tense when I see anyone, will they approach? Where's my exit if they do?

I HATE it.

I read the first chapter of Ghost Story, then decided to wait until it's finished to read it all at once. I'm really looking forward to it! I agree about not it being hard to immerse myself in fic right now, though. I keep getting distracted and checking Twitter. Maybe I should just put the fics on my kindle...

*hugs* I can't wait for your carwash porn. That's about the level my brain can handle right now, I think! XD;

[clevermanka]

I get tense when I see anyone, will they approach? Where's my exit if they do?
This is not a normal or healthy state for humans and I hope there will be adequate and appropriate resources available for people to recover when we get through this. Who am I kidding, though...

[glymr]

This is not a normal or healthy state for humans

It's really, really not. And the longer it goes on, the more deeply it's going to affect us. And right now it looks like it's going to go on for a really long time. ;_;

*sighs* Wouldn't that be nice? I'm not holding my breath, though.

[goss]

Tiny Weilan with big ears

EEE! HOW SO CUTE?? *___*

[clevermanka]

Seeing how engaging and brilliant art like this is (the highly-stylized, less realistic stuff) makes me consider learning to draw again. I kinda wonder if that might be a good thing to try when I don't have the brain for writing or the stamina to do collage (which requires a lot of standing and moving around).

[goss]

Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Highly stylized artwork is always fun to make (and view), because it's so expressive and totally subjective. :) :)

[clevermanka]

If you've got advice, or suggestions for books/websites geared toward former fine arts majors who want to get back into drawing, let me know? It's a pretty niche market, but maybe there's something?

[goss]

Huh. Maybe I could throw it out to the drawesome community and see if I get any helpful suggestions.

[clevermanka]

Thank you! I don't expect there to be anything but it'd be neat if there were!

[trobadora]

Mmm, yes, badass Shen Wei.

YES. Always here for that.

Singer-songwriter!Zhu Yilong pic spam thread.

Oooh, what a great AU idea. WANT. And so many appearances of the ponytail! :D

I've been going for a walk every day. The weather's been so nice, and it's easy to avoid people. I need to get some exercise, or I won't feel well just from that. Definitely in favour of venturing outdoors!

[clevermanka]

LOVE THAT PONYTAIL

Gonna take my walk as soon as McKitterick is done with his video meeting and I can safely go downstairs!

[libitina]

I've also been having difficulty settling into fic reading. I keep flipping away to other tabs

[clevermanka]

It's so frustrating! I'm gonna try reading on my computer instead of my phone to see if that helps. I notice I have a tendency to flip back and forth between tabs on my phone a lot more than I do on my computer.

[umadoshi]

*tired hugs in lieu of actual comment*

[clevermanka]

[tinny]

I feel like ZYL actually *is* a singer-songwriter. Sometimes. I'm snagging a lot of those. The comics are really sweet, too!

Sounds like writing is still happening! Yay!

[clevermanka]

Slowly! Things are kind of halting since I fucked up my wrist earlier this week but I've got a setup right now that allows me to type for a while before getting too sore.

[tinny]

Oh noes! I stumbled today because my foot was asleep when I got up, and now I'm limping everywhere. /o\ (But I don't need my feet to work or to write, so yay!)

I hope it'll get better again soon. <3

[clevermanka]

Thanks!