Saturday

[clevermanka]

Fanart: Kisses for Hei Pao Shi. Shared lollipop. I'll give you my heart (blood). Cloak of stars. Poor put-upon Da Qing. Embrace in Old Haixing. Shen Wei hugging kitty!Da Qing. Various lovelies. Underwater. Happy hug! Dip kiss. Shen Wei chained. Secret kiss.

I commissioned a piece of art for A Subtle Reminder!

Zhu Yilong's proportions 😭 After getting their account nixed a while back, Bo has finally re-uploaded their audio edits, including the "Please, please marry me" one. They look so married. The parallel shots in this show istg. This is totally how I look at my co-workers, mmhmm. Then and now. Happy third anniversary to the Harper's Bazaar wedding photo shoot.

Energy levels this week were all over the place. Had one day that I was well enough to have dinner with Coworker A and yesterday I was so tired I left work early because I wouldn't have been safe to drive if I'd waited until 4. Fuck yeah being salaried!

I got a tiny bit of words down this week, but more importantly I figured out the how of Zhao Yunlan's emotional arc. The most difficult part of writing for me is developing plot points that fit between the emotional narrative scenes (if anyone wants to sign up for the job of helping me develop those, hmu seriously). I've been extra struggling with Redemption because ZYL's arc is split between his experiences in Dixing and Haixing, which means I need twice the number of those interstitial scenes. The back-and-forth was causing me problems, but if I can set a solid stage for the direction he's going with the issues in Dixing I can put that on the back burner for a while and have it play out as background noise while he deals with how he feels about being back in Dragon City. Then at the end I can tie both emotional journeys together into one big bow.

I hope this will help with the mental block so physical fatigue will be the only major obstacle to writing. 🤞

I still think it's hilarious that I started writing Deconstruction (a story about illness and isolation) right before COVID went worldwide and Redemption is about finding a new life after trauma and re-integrating into society. 😂 Hello, I am writing the zeitgeist I guess.

This week's dump on cm.net.

Comments

[khellekson]

This is totally how I look at my co-workers, mmhmm

That is... one heck of a look. Love. It.

Also, the wedding photo shoot never gets old. They look so good together.

[clevermanka]

SO good together! I love how they look like they honestly enjoy each other's company. 🧡

[goss]

The parallel shots in this show istg

I love this! *__*

[clevermanka]

The care the showrunners put into it! They made every bit of that tiny budget count.

[naye]

That's a FANTASTIC commission piece, wow!!

[clevermanka]

I'm so! happy! with it! It was a lovely indulgence to splurge on with my first paycheck.

[nnozomi]

I figured out the how of Zhao Yunlan's emotional arc.
Brava--that sounds like it's going to make writing a lot easier to go ahead with. I'm looking forward so much to seeing how this turns out!

[kazoogrrl]

Harper's Bazaar, doing gods work for fans.

Glad to hear about the breakthrough, that sounds like it's should help facilitate writing.

I hope you luck with computers and tech is not also rubbing off on *waves hands around* everything else.

[clevermanka]

Bless Harper's Bazaar photographic editorial staff, for real.

I hope it helps with the writing! I would love to start publishing this fic before the end of the year. 🤞

And yeah, lol I feel like my general luck just rubs off on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g *sigh*

[msmitti]

So glad that you are salaried so you have the ability to come and go as necessary to keep gas in the tank! I was salaried once. A loooong time ago.

[clevermanka]

This is the first salaried job I've ever had and it's amaaaaaaaazing. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.