who's your best friend on the team?

writing update yay

Write Every Day June was a smashing success. Even on days I really wasn't feeling it due to being tired or having a crappy day (which definitely happened more than once), just rereading the part before the section I was about to write helped get me in the mood to go.

On the first and possibly the second day I wrote for a one-shot that likely won't see the light of day for ages, but the rest of the month was dedicated to Fic 5 in my series which I'm pretty sure I'm calling Above the Shadows. The fic doc was at 57k when I started this month, and in the wee hours of July 1st it's at 96k, so 39k new words (probably more as I deleted a lot of notes too, but many of those words are more notes so it evens out).

This is by far the most success I've had in writing for one piece of fiction in a month. I completed NaNo once by accident writing for Whumptober 2019, but that was across 31 fics. The other times I was recording how much I was writing in the past was 29k for a July NaNo back in like, 2010, and then last August for this same fic where I wrote a bit every day and got about 20ish-k done then.

As for actual fic progress, well, this month had me finishing the mostly-complete 6 and 7, fully writing out chapters 8-11, writing an interlude, mostly-completing 12 and 13, and writing a handful of pages for 14. Though throughout this whole process items kept being put in and events kept on being shifted to a newly labeled chapter, leaving the chapter count to grow ever larger.

If I had to guess (and again, it's definitely a bit hard to guess), I think the final chapter count is going to be 18-19 full chapters (which are like 5k-8k a pop) and 2 shorter interlude chapters. And I think at 96k, about 7k of that is just notes and A/Ns, so I really have 89k of fic. Looking at what scenes I have past the current chapter 13, and if I keep it to 19 chapters at 6.5k average I'm maybe... 2/3rds done with the fic.

I'll have a better idea once I have 14 and 15 solidified, I think.

Unfortunately I can't continue Write Every Day trends with July as most weekends I'm going out of town this month, including a whole jaunt to Comic Con. But I'll do my best to write each day on the weekdays I'm in town.

As for publishing, I am seriously considering a slow rollout to start with publishing a chapter like every 3 weeks at around the 80% mark which honestly, I'd really hope would be in August if July's as successful as last August. It'd give my beta plenty of time to work too on the last chapters, and by then I shouldn't suddenly stumble into a plothole that needs to be fixed 10 chapters previous. Then once everything's done it'd change probably to once a week.

So yeah! We'll see what life brings. But I'm crossing fingers to have something public by the end of the summer if I go the slow rollout route.

Watch Blue Origin launch its fifth passenger flight to the edge of space

Watch Blue Origin launch its fifth passenger flight to the edge of space

Saturday morning, aerospace company Blue Origin is slated to conduct its fifth tourist flight, sending a crew of six to the edge of space and back out of West Texas. Once again, it’s a flight without any major celebrities on board, as the company transitions into making these quick jaunts to space relatively routine. The flight, called NS-21, comes just two months after Blue Origin’s last tourist…

View On WordPress

Watch Blue Origin launch its fifth passenger flight to the edge of space

Watch Blue Origin launch its fifth passenger flight to the edge of space

Saturday morning, aerospace company Blue Origin is slated to conduct its fifth tourist flight, sending a crew of six to the edge of space and back out of West Texas. Once again, it’s a flight without any major celebrities on board, as the company transitions into making these quick jaunts to space relatively routine. The flight, called NS-21, comes just two months after Blue Origin’s last tourist…

View On WordPress

(A/N: Getting into the habit of writing more is pretty rough so far, I have a fair few lil WIPs for Yuri so far in my gdrive. Trying to keep them short as well just to make them snapshot sized and give myself practise reining in my pieces is difficult too, but I kept this one brief and sweet hopefully ^^ It meant forgoing an extra scene at the end that would’ve been a different setting, but I decided to keep this one self contained for now. Maybe I’ll write that extra scene another day...

Set during early 2.4 during the return to Coerthas, although for this set up to work I kinda ignored the final few quests of 2.3 where you visited Haurchefant to discuss heretic attacks on the caravans to the Toll. ^^;;

See my tags for more comments cos i didn’t want these a/ns to take up most of the post...

@ffxiv-writers​)

This was not the welcome Yuri was quite expecting when she entered Camp Dragonhead. Sure, she wasn’t expecting to be assaulted -- as much as she disliked the reverence the rest of Eorzea seemed to have for her as their era’s new Warrior of Light, it had afforded her some recognisability now that she no longer walked around masked and covered. This she hoped would prove to her advantage in Coerthas when working with the Ishgardians, given a deep seated fear of the nation after hearing many a rumour during her working days in Kugane of Au Ra refugees killed at the gates. No, she wasn’t expecting any kind of attack, but she was expecting some hostility or even a cold reception.

To come across Haurchefant with a warm smile and arms open in welcome was surprising, even knowing the man was more on the friendly side toward outsiders compared to his compatriots.

“Ah, Yuri, ‘tis good to see you again after so long! Simply following your many exploits was scarce enough to keep myself or my men here motivated in your absence, so to have you visit is a great relief, especially to see you safe after hearing of some of your more dangerous jaunts.”

Yuri blinked, taken aback. “It is?”

“But of course! Not that I doubt your prowess, not at all. But you’re not here to catch up, are you old friend. No no, you are here on duty, and with the esteemed Lord Commander no less.” 

The Auri woman stiffened, yet nodded anyway. “He sent word that he wished to join discussions with the Scions. He wished that I were present also.”

Haurchefant nodded along as he listened, replying, “Yes, I should think that he’d want to meet you. Even if he has a request for the Scions that would have need of your strength, I’m sure your grand reputation has his curiosity piqued as well. ‘Tis a great honour either way!”

“And one we are happy to partake in,” said a new voice, as Alphinaud entered the hall and joined them. Giving the older man a polite bow in greeting, he then added, “I should hope that this meeting with the Lord Commander will work to foster further relations with Ishgard and her neighbours. To add her strength to Eorzea would be a boon to all.”

“‘Twould be a wondrous thing indeed! And I have all the faith that it could happen with yourself doing the talking, Master Alphinaud. And the Lord Commander is ever a reasonable man as well.” The knight gave them both a nod of his head as he then said with a new crease in his brow, “But I shan’t keep you any longer now. As much as I would love nothing more than a proper catch up by the fire…”

Then with a sparkle in his eye, “Though perhaps after your meeting, provided you don’t have anything else you have to hurry off to?”

Alphinaud declined, citing work with the Crystal Braves, and left them to attend the meeting. Yuri however, before departing herself, finally gave Haurchefant a friendly smile in return. “I would very much appreciate that.”

Blue Origin's New Shepard Launches NASA Experiments, Aces Rocket Landing⠀ ⠀ Blue Origin's privately build New Shepard spacecraft has aced its biggest mission yet, and this time the spacecraft flew for NASA.⠀ ⠀ The reusable New Shepard launched into space on Jan. 23 on its 10th-ever test flight, a brief uncrewed jaunt that carried at least eight NASA-sponsored research and technology payloads to suborbital space and back. The mission, which lasted 10 minutes and 15 seconds, reached an altitude of 66 miles (107 kilometers), Blue Origin officials said.⠀ ⠀ The mission began at 10:05 a.m. EST (1505 GMT), when the New Shepard rocket-capsule duo lifted off from Blue Origin's West Texas test site. The rocket soon came back down to Earth for a vertical touchdown, and the capsule followed suit with a parachute-aided landing on the dusty Texas plains. ⠀ ⠀ Blue Origin launched the NS-10 mission amidst a partial government shutdown, and while NASA did simulcast the launch via NASA TV, the agency is shuttered for the most part. NASA chief Jim Bridenstine provided recorded comments for the flight. ⠀ ⠀ This was the fourth spaceflight for this particular New Shepard vehicle, which itself is the third such vehicle that Blue Origin has developed and flown over the years. The vehicle also performed suborbital test flights in December 2017, and in April and July of last year.⠀ ⠀ Read more at: https://www.space.com/43088-blue-origin-new-shepard-ns10-launch-success.html⠀ ⠀ Image Credit: Blue Origin⠀ Text Credit: Mike Wall for Space.com via Instagram http://bit.ly/2U9Nr5E

8/8/15

Cranberry campground to North Sydney, NS

Stormy morning, it looked miserable, and I was sick of packing day in and day out so the morning dragged a little. We got all our things in order but didn't have breakfast, just got on the road to make some miles and find a cafe. We got to a little town and found one, inside a hotel, but good food and coffee. Breakfast special and an egg sandwich to split! 

On the road, the sun teasing us, we crossed into Cape Breton Island on a rock  jetty roadway, and the land changed. It had been so flat and rolling, farmland and wild lupin and tall grass bending in the cold wind. Now, abruptly, mountains. Steep cliffs on the coastline, hills to climb in low gear. 

We'd gotten snacks to push on all day around the Cabot Trail, so we didn't have lunch. We found a visitor center for the national park and picked up stickers and post cards, took pictures in face cutout characters, got a map and read about this wild land that reminds me of Scotland. The craggy hills, the moody weather and thick green, even the names of towns, Inverness and New Glasgow, I'm not the first to draw these lines. 

The ride around the first half was glorious sun, all steep and curves, deep vistas and leaning into the wind. We reached the top of a plateau and got chills in the altitude. Hundred and fifty year old trees shorter than me, barren lands, and clouds so close you can feel them. Then around a bend and a drop, and leafy tall forest again so suddenly. The clouds came soon enough and we stopped to bag our things. It teased rain all day. 

We explored a beach with pink rocks and driftwood, and fast little waves. We sped southwest, beyond the rocky Atlantic coast and stopped for dinner and navigating. We caught a tiny ferry for a half hour saving jaunt across a narrow river outlet. 

I had a lot of time to think today, since we made it almost 500km. Reveling in our dual solitude. I know this trip is different for us. He's about the miles, the route, he can see where we're going. I have the maps, a book, a camera, the peripheral view and my thoughts. Sometimes I sink deeply into my head and the road melts away into a hum of background noise and lulling vibration. My body goes with his and the bike, even on steep curves when we lean near 45 degrees it just happens and the momentum and thoughtless instincts of shifting my weight keep me on. Watching the layers of clouds shift. Reading Jupiters Travels and feeling thousands of miles sway in Africa on the borderline of Tunisia and Egypt. Then snapping back to rain and the smell of wet pavement and rocks as we rush through the forest of Nova Scotia on the trans Canada highway.

We arrive late at a motel that is old and plain and sparsely furnished, but clean. We unpack as little as possible, Jesse unfurls the wet tent, I draw in bed, edit my work, and we sleep. 

geno throwing gloves at small children, yelling at small children and making them fall over... you know, generally being a delightful menace as usual <3 [x]