I was thinking of at least trying to share updates with you all from time to time. These WIP updates will focus on my own writing, naturally, but I’ll also share what I’m currently reading, playing, or watching at the time of writing. That’s what I’m most likely to review in the near future, after all.

There might be other things I share, like behind-the-scenes bits and pieces. Or pictures of Daisy, the cat.

WIPs

I ended 2023 bad and started 2024 worse, so there wasn’t much writing for me for a long time. Because I lost my groove, I also felt like I had no idea what to work on. Sure, I wrote a bit on this thing here and that thing there, but it wasn’t like I truly vibed with anything.

To solve this issue, as it started to frustrate me to no end, I decided to just list all my projects, including fics, and work my way through from A to Z (or Ö, actually, the last letter in the Swedish alphabet) and see what I vibed with. My main issue is never whether I have inspiration, but rather what I’m inspired by, so I just need to find the right project.

The thing is, I ended up listing 72 projects. I determined that a project was something that was relatively stand-alone. For instance, When the World Falls, I’ll be Safe from the Wrath of God, or WWFSFG, comes in 8 arcs, and while they’re not entirely standalone at all, they’re at least separated to some degree. Meanwhile, an arc in Blood of Destinies Rewritten, or BoDR, isn’t standalone in any way. I could maybe argue that Part 2 of BoDR is its own project, but as I’m not writing more than random scenes in that one for now, I just put all of BoDR into one entry. Every year in Beyond the Horizon, or BtH, was also separated from one another because I work with it in years so it’s the most logical solution.

In any case, they ended up on 72 projects, and I was like, “Oh, no wonder I can’t choose. I’m almost literally working on a hundred things.”

So my WIPs this time are at the top of the list.

First, I worked on a fanfic, which I write anonymously, for a few days, testing the waters. I wrote a lot on it last year but lost steam when the summer holidays came around. I didn’t get back to it because, by the time I wanted to, I needed to read through the almost 100k words I’ve posted on that fic. That was an undertaking I wasn’t ready for, while also dealing with Mini’s school and other matters. Then came the cold season, and I was struck by illness.

So I’ve read a bit of it to revisit it, but I didn’t vibe with it. It’s not what I need to work on right now. I’ll get back to it later, though. I really love the fic and the world I’ve built for it. It had a bunch of references to the original work, which the readers of the fic seem to think is as fun as I do.

The next is called Amarasha. It’s a spiritual prequel to BoDR, and we can even consider that very literal. It’s a story about Amarasha, a girl living a nomadic life in the 3rd or 4th century. She ends up having a bit of an adventure, I guess, learns magic, organises a school or magic, and 7 or 8 centuries later, the military in the BoDR setting uses that magic. There’s essentially no other link between them aside from both happening on the Steppe.

This one is in the “draft random scenes that pop into my mind while I research and also worldbuilding so much” stage. That essentially means I’m just drafting it as I go along. I have a general idea of the direction I want to go with it.

Additionally, I had a couple of days when I was just inspired to write an alternative encounter between two characters, so I wrote a 7k-word piece. What brought that random moment of inspiration on, I can’t say, but I can say I don’t feel that interested in working on said project at the time.

WIP Quote

Amarasha herself remained behind on the expanse of grassland, with her back toward the formations of rock that shielded the tents from many of the natural phenomena. Her gaze followed the stripe of blue that reflected the Sky. It divided the earth while moving back and forth, like the tail of a dragon leaving a trail in its pursuits.

The wind cried along the nearby mountains, the gods sending a gust of cold air to play with Amarasha’s braid. The girl closed her eyes, letting the wind encircle her until it died out again to brush along the grass on the steppe. She had sent Shirgal to see the elder of the tribe, a man whose wusdash had been a great shaman whose soul now could only be found among the great celestials.

Most in her tribe followed the great elder, learning his ways of the world. Amarasha had no knack for it.

She watched the dragon trail splitting the ground as it roared. Where that dragon may have gone now, she would never know and she also didn’t wonder. She turned around, leaving the roaring river and the howls of the mountains behind.

The place where Shirgal had meditated wasn’t far from the tents of her tribe. They were moving toward the land of the sunset to reach the sacred mountains of gods and celestials, to pray to the Sky to bless the Earth.

⸺from “Amarasha”

Behind the Scenes

Recently, I’ve mostly been drinking peppermint tea. I usually drink that a lot, only second to ginger tea. But from time to time I’ll end up drinking more peppermint tea. I also ran out of cacao powder, so I had to give up chocolate while writing. which increased my tea intake. Chocolate is definitely my year-round go-to for writing beverages.

It’s also my drink of choice while crocheting. I started on a blanket for my and my husband’s bedroom. Mini wanted me to work on his blanket though, so I had to switch to crocheting green granny squares. The one for me and my husband is about 3 metres wide. It’s just a very simple crochet project going back and forth. I’m not sure how large Mini’s will be, but I need at least 225 granny squares in different colours. I have 11 green ones, 16 navy ones and 13 pink ones, meaning I have a minimum of 185 more granny squares to make.

Speaking of Mini, he’s been playing Kingdom Hearts recently. It’s interesting to see him learn how to play an RPG like that. He can read English really well, but he does get a little frustrated with the video sequences, which I find a little amusing. He learns very quickly and likes exploring Destiny Islands, though, so he does have a lot of fun with it.

I’ve also recently listened to a lot of music from the 2010s, but I just switched to mostly listening to mandopop. I was not prepared when the opening of Heaven Official’s Blessing season 1 started playing. A fact about me is that throughout the first season, I would sob through the opening after holding my breath. So I was watching the first few minutes through my tears, and then I watched the episodes again, sobbing over the opening again, but not as hard. I think I’ve been conditioned to just burst into tears as soon as I hear it because of that.

Currently…

Reading

• Remnants of Filth vol 1
• Case files of Jeweler Richard vol 1
• Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 1 (Re-read)
• Golden Terrace vol 2 (Re-read)
• A lot of fan translations
• A lot of webcomics

Watching

N/A

Playing

• Tales of Zestiria
• Persona 5
• DRAMAtical Murder

Recently dropped

• Film: Marry My Dead Body

Not-so-recently finished

• Guardian vol 1