dchan | Reading

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283590.html

My fic site has returned!

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Oh, I don't owe my dentist money! I don't have a balance. Their computer system just sends bills out automatically sometimes and they don't always reflect the correct balance on file!

I'm so glad I tried e-mail first. If I drove all the way to Bayside to talk to them in person about this, since they refuse to discuss billing stuff on the phone, I would've been even more ticked off. Plus, this way I have an e-mail of them saying I don't owe them money.

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So my Gas Guru app is no longer in operation, and I switched to Gas Buddy, which is a massive downgrade. They list so many stations with no pricing. Even if you give me an old price and tell me it's a few days old, like Guru would've, that would be better.

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283590.html

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "No More Nightmares" by Dead When I Found Her

"Because in the age of likes and follows, we have confused the reward of creating with the reward of being praised for creating, and why wouldn’t we? Our culture has never celebrated aspiring. Our culture celebrates markers of success. You meet a writer at a party. Oh, have you ever been published? When we could ask: what are the stories that inspire you? What is the story you most want to tell? We have to rewire the way we talk about art, the way we think about artists. The job of the artist is not to skip to the good part. The job of the artist is to make art when no one gives a damn, when no one likes or follows, when we are not being comforted by compliments and praise."

– Leigh Bardugo, via TedX

My day 17: I added 617 words to my flashfic. The story is supposed to be a little missing scene about time travel. Perhaps inevitably, given one of the characters is a deposed king, politics has reared its head, so it's still going. Oops! Not to worry, I still have plenty of time to finish it.

I also slightly tweaked a gift fic. I was thinking about the question of how to portray emotional beats/responses, showing without telling. In tandem with that, I started wondering if my POV characters have been tending too cerebral lately. Do you prefer characters to think through the implications of things or just to gut-reaction? (Does it depend on the character?) How do you express emotional beats? Are your descriptions primarily physiological (pulse, breath, etc) or something else? Do you have a technique for conveying feelings as they arise, or is this just something you do instinctively?

As well as writing, I went with Andrew (partner) to our favourite outdoor cafe (which is being forced to close down in a few months, oh no!) and sat in the blustery northwesterly, then did grocery shopping. This evening our friend is coming over for the last two episodes of Kdrama Low Life, and I'm making enchiladas.

The tally
Day 16:

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

trobadora,

sylvanwitch

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Howdy! How's writing been going?

Welcome to Write Every Day! I'm

china_shop, and I'll be your host for October Part 2! (Much, much thanks to

cornerofmadness for sharing the month with me. ♥)

For the regulars who have been doing this a while and just want the details: I'm on NZDT (UTC+13), and I plan to post between 4pm and 6pm local time, which should line up pretty well with

cornerofmadness's posts. Please comment on the most recent post, and specify what day(s) you're checking in for.

( For everyone else: what is Write Every Day and how does it work? )

I go to London Writer's Salon Antipodean Writers' Hour on weekdays, and that usually starts off with an encouraging/inspirational quote. Here's one someone shared a while back.

"When you go mountain climbing, the first thing you’re told is not to look at the peak, but to keep your eyes on the ground as you climb. You just keep climbing patiently one step at a time. If you keep looking at the top, you’ll get frustrated.
"I think writing is similar. You need to get used to the task of writing. You must make an effort to learn to regard it not as something painful, but as routine."
–Akira Kurosawa, via The Script Lab

My goals and check-in
This morning I wrote 1,028 words of flashfic for the current "Brilliant" round of

fan_flashworks. I'll finish it tomorrow, and then... has anyone seen Bon Appétit, Your Majesty who'd be willing to beta? :-)

Writing goals for the rest of month include not stuffing up my arms, so this afternoon I walked along a local mountain-bike trail, through the trees, then met up with my partner for hot drinks and chocolate brownie by the sea. The weather has been cold, wet and windy lately, but yesterday and today the sun finally came out. Yay!

Other goals for the next 16 days: finish my flashfic, finish a treat I started for

guardian_wishlist, sign up for Yuletide, and write something for the next (amnesty) round at

fan_flashworks. Other than that, I'll see where the spirit takes me.

How about you? Did you write today?

Hi all! How was writing today?

Gotta ask for the giggles: besides fanfiction, what is your favorite type of fan media?

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283436.html

I have supposedly successfully signed up for Extended Security Updates for Windows 10. Wish me luck.

A confirmation e-mail would be nice, but apparently this is Microsoft so no. Damn, I should've done a screen cap of the window saying I did it.

eta: If you go to Settings, then Update & Security, on that screen it should say you're enrolled in Extended Security Updates in the upper right-hand corner.

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Today I got a surprise in the mail. I'm on Medicaid, which should pay for everything on my routine dental work. Every time I've done something with my dentist, I've been assured by them it was covered. If it isn't, I don't do it.

Today I received a dental bill for a total of $324. It looks like it includes routine checkups and x-rays from 2024, which should've been and I was told was covered by Medicaid, and something from 2021(!) that I don't understand at all. Why am I suddenly getting hit with something from 2021? Especially since everything should be covered. What is happening? This isn't right.

Hilariously, when I called them today, I was told this can't be discussed or disputed by phone, only by e-mail or an in-person visit, and since the dentist is a fair distance away in Bayside, I'm trying e-mail first.

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283436.html

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: "The Plumbing Song" by "Weird Al" Yankovic

Hello!! How is writing today?

Today's discussion question is heavily based after what has been going on in my life: what is the shiny thing keeping you from writing?

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283048.html

Majoring in spooky/haunted sounding music from the 1980s.

"Long Long Way to Go" by Phil Collins, on his No Jacket Required album. I've loved this song since I was a kid, though its... politics? can seem kind of simplistic and naive to older me, common to Collins and the version of Genesis he fronted. This song provided the title for my current Encanto WIP, not as a descriptor of plot but mood. It could work for Bruno, trying to live his life with people even as he's aware of background horrors. (And the chorus has a surprise co-vocalist!)
Speaking of No Jacket Required, sometimes I belt along to "Sussudio" in the car.

"The Chauffeur" by Duran Duran, from the end of their Rio album. I tend to be bothered by high tones, so this songs grates at me a bit for that reason, but it stuck in my mind, mostly for Simon Le Bon's voice and the recorder. There's also a music video for it, which some commenters described as "artsy" but my feeling was "Oh, so it's black and white and occasionally features some bare-breasted women in vaguely festishy lingerie so it's 'artsy.' Got it."

Todd in the Shadows fired some shots at Don Henley's "Building the Perfect Beast" while eviscerating John Fogerty's Eye of the Zombie in Trainwreckords. I never realized "Building the Perfect Beast" was supposed to be a message song as a kid and just enjoyed it as big, dumb fun. Building the Perfect Beast, the album, had two spooky, haunted '80s songs I love that I wanted to include here.

"Sunset Grill" is pure mood. Lassitude, being stuck, taking in the squalor and the company.

"Boys of Summer" actually was a hit, and I've always loved it. Here's the hazy, beachy, poisonous nostalgia as you realize the summer, your youth, and the love of your life are gone and never coming back. When this music video received an award, Henley sounded amused during acceptance, saying all he did was get put on the back of a truck, but that's not all there is to it.

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2283048.html

Majoring in spooky/haunted sounding music from the 1980s. ( music/videos beneath the cut )

Current Mood: tired

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Hello all! Happy Monday!

How did writing go today? Was it easy? Was it messy? Was it like pulling teeth?

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Hello and Happy Sunday!!

How is fic writing going so far? Are you focusing more on the ideas/planning phase? Drafting? Editing?

Discussion question: Show off a bit of your WIP! Be it a snippet or a summary! Advertise it! If it's an on-going one, feel free to drop a link!

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2282941.html

Shrift got right back to me already. Hey, thanks for letting me know! I submitted a ticket and found that my hosting company is experiencing an outage. (It turns out that all of shriftweb.org is down.) No ETA on when things will be back up, but I'll let you know when I find out.

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GoodReads sent me an e-mail to tell me that R.A. Salvatore just published another Drizzt book. How many are there? According to the Bing search engine, there are 40. He wrote his first one in 1988....

https://viridian5.livejournal.com/2282941.html

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Come, someone make my heavy heart light

It all starts with a lullaby

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