les jours tristes

... so I disappeared into a BG3-shaped hole xD I completely failed to be reasonable and keep it for when I had more time, and tbh I regret nothing, I’m having so much fun with it. They somehow managed to translate the concept of tabletop improv into gameplay, and it’s amazing - there’s a lot of things that I’m still getting used to, but the combat feels so dynamic and impredictable with all the jumping and climbing to higher ground and looking for inflammable surfaces I’ve been doing.

I’m not very far in yet, because I ended up trying out a couple of different combinations before settling on a PC:

She’s a Forest Gnome because I really wanted Speak With Animals and a Bard because her starting luth is bigger than she is and I just couldn’t resist. Tbh she’s probably the least bard to ever bard - she keeps failing her knowledge rolls, and I keep forgetting she has bard stuff she can do. I like her that way though; it fits with the vague idea that I had in mind going in, which was ‘busker who picked up some magic and called it a day’, and I love that I’ve been able to play her that way so far without feeling like I’m missing out or playing the game wrong.

Small end-of-year update:

1)Still working on that Yue Qingyuan fic! After much hemming and hawing, I ended up splitting it into three chapters for ease of reading. I’m still nowhere near done with it (a couple scenes need major rewrites to account for a last-minute plot change; a lot more need some serious restructuring; and once that's done I still need to reach out to various people for beta-reading, which will take a while because the fic is long), but I reread chapter 1 yesterday, and you know? It’s really good.

2)Yuletide came and went, and I got a lovely iZombie fic, with just the perfect amount of holiday cheer to lift me up! I haven’t had much time to browse the collection yet, but I marked a ton of fics for later and hopefully I’ll be able to dive in soon-ish.

3)I signed up for Fannish Fifty, in the hopes that it would nudge me towards using DW a little bit more next year! Even if I don’t manage the full fifty, I’d like to finally make a habit of writing out at least one (1) post for each book or video game I enjoy, if only so I can look back on it later. That, or I’ll just write a whole bunch of drabbles. That works too.

I keep thinking I want to use this blog more often and then... not doing that -_- still figuring out what I even want to use it for (I really want a space to talk more in-depth about books, video games, and assorted fandom-adjacent things, but 'whenever the mood strikes me' just means I never get around to it, and trying to stick to even a loose schedule makes it unfun), but since there's no time like the present, have a quick update:

1)Comment Bingo Round 2 has started, so I went and grabbed a card! I probably won't go out of my way to fill it, but as always when I dip out of fandom for a while, I'm having a hard time picking up commenting habits again so hopefully this will give me the nudge I want!

2)seasonsofdrabbles fall round SOON! I'm so excited for this one :D

3)For the past few weeks my brain has been entirely consumed by three different Yue Qingyuan-centric fic projects, and I finally caved in and accepted that this would be my main creative endeavour for the foreseeable future. Currently 3000 words (!?! how) into the first one and vaguely hopeful it might get finished by the end of the year? Maybe? That would be nice? Especially since,

4)I'm still on the fence about signing up for Yuletide. 1000 words is not the daunting task it would have been a few years ago, and 'tis the season for nostalgia fandoms, buuuut I'm enjoying not having a deadline a little too much at the moment xD guess we'll see once sign-ups are actually underway.

What are your fannish end-of-year projects?