Watched Episode 5 of Heated Rivalry last night after work, and I think this one might be my favorite episode after Episode 3 (which I know people dislike/hate but I found it charming and heartbreaking).

Also this is the SECOND time I'm trying to type this out since I apparently shut down my computer without making sure post actually posted? Did that make sense? Whatever. I remember clicking Post but it was also like 4am and I was tired AF. I am so angry at myself for fucking that up. I had tons of links to gifs (now you have to go to Tumblr to find them) and fanvids (shockingly very little? at Youtube).... UGH. I suck.

No actual spoilers unless you don't want to know my reactions to certain episodes.

You know how book-to-screen adaptions usually suck? I don't think Heated Rivalry has that problem. If anything, I think the show enhances the books for me. Like you get more in-depth with the characters thoughts in the books obviously since they aren't doing any voice-overs for any of the episodes for the characters which I'm actually kinda happy about? But I don't normally mind that in shows/movies. But I have what happened in the books in the back of my head filling the missing moments/scenes in the show (namely the end of Episode 4). And if you go back and read the books, you can see faces behind the characters. The actors are doing pretty good with acting through the quiet moments, that I almost dismissed them in Episode 1 since I was so awkward with it. Honestly they haven't changed that much from book-to-screen adaptation, only smallish stuff that I probably wouldn't even notice if they aren't brought up. I'm really enjoying the gifs on Tumblr that show snippets of the book.

Anyway, I have since read the audiobooks for all the books (minus Game Changer aka Scott/Kip's story - man that accent is really tripping me, see previous post for more details). And let me just say I WANT ALL THE CHARACTERS STORIES to appear in Season 2 (or beyond if we get more than 2 seasons but if they only mainly focus on Heated Rivalry & The Long Game books, it would probably only be 2 seasons). I know people hated Episode 3 mainly because it switched main characters to Scott & Kip and made Ilya & Shane the background characters, but I don't care or maybe it's because I've read the books that I'm actually want to see Scott/Kip, Eric/Kyle, Ryan/Fabian, and Troy/Harris stories. That or I'm used to a larger "main cast" which would contain multiple couples so adding other couples doesn't scare me? Well that and the other couples stories are also SO connected within the universe and hell Ilya and/or Shane makes an appearance in their stories that I feel like they could tie them in.

Ilya might be my favorite character in the series though, and Season 2 will probably gut me.

Episode 1 was a lot like watching fanfic(I was reading the comments at tv_talk and they described it as such which fair honestly)/smut book (which yeah definitely) & I experienced a lot of second-hand embarrassment throughout it (I would be like Shane, but like worse? I can't flirt for shit and I don't even know how I would handle someone flirting with me - honestly, I'd probably wouldn't notice unless someone like Ilya does what he did & even then I might just laugh it off as a joke). I didn't watch it with anyone but myself & my cats (when they actually cuddled with me) so I shouldn't have felt embarrassed but I felt like this even with other rom-coms & other shows before (even non-sexual moments). I can't quite explain it, like I get embarrassed for the characters?

I don't think it was until Episode 2 & 3 that I actually fell for the show though. And maybe it helps that I was sorta already familiar with the characters (through Role Model aka Troy/Harris's story) and began listening to the books before Episode 4 premiered so I was prepared for what's happened and what's going to happen. Episode 5 made me so happy despite nearly making me cry during certain scenes (oh god THOSE scenes) and had me exploding with fucking happiness by the end of it (I scared the shit out of my cat with how much exited clapping I was doing). The fact that I didn't cry is a shock to me (usually I'm a mess anymore and I cry very easily).

I cannot WAIT for Episode 6.

BUT the worse part of Episode 6 is that it'll be released while I'm at my sister's house, so I have to go find a spot hidden away from her family and my parents and watch it. It's not even the sex scenes that I'm worried about. No it's more like the fact that is a "gay show". My sister knows I'm bi but she's more of a "love the sinner, hate the sin" person (even though I think if it was pre-Grad school & pre-marriage I think she would've been more open, or maybe I just imagined that) which I love her but I find is such a bullshit response and I don't even know what my parents would react like (I would say they would've been supportive a few years ago {again maybe I just imagined that}, but ever since my mom got more religious {she would literally start praying during High Potential show during the gay storylines that appeared in Season 1 and my dad said something along the lines it's against the church/pope/God} within the last few years I don't think they are exactly supportive if you know what I mean. They'd probably still love me {especially since I have no love life to speak of}, but I've been told by my sister and my aunt to not tell them... so yeah.) I don't even know if my brother would think/react (I mean he's from a younger generation; we're thirteen years apart after all, but I don't know - that doesn't always mean anything). It sucks. I can only really be me with a few select people and even than I don't even get to talk about it or hang out with those people much to actually be me.

Sorry, anyway - I haven't read any fics really for the show, so I don't have any recs it yet since I figured I'd wait until after Episode 6 to start reading, although if have any recs, please feel free to direct me to them.

Ok I'm posting this before I lose it again.

Edit: Adding some fanvids recs:

( links to fanvids... )

Joined Comics Fanfiction Authors Archive this past week and got about 38 works posted there already. I think I only have a few more works to really add to it, but that's going to have to wait until next time. They only allow comics and animated universes there - no MCU obviously or X-Men Movies I assume so I have less stuff to add than what I do for AO3. If you're interested in joining the archive, check out the rules & then ask for an invite via their Discord.

Going away to my sister's house next week for the holidays, so I'm both looking forward to that and not looking forward to it. I hate the drive (8+ hours) and I'll miss sleeping in my own bed with my cats. But I am looking forward to seeing my sister, her kids, and all the cooking/food we'll have. *fingerscrossed* Everything goes well.

I'll probably be busy doing my icon challenges this week before I leave when I'm not packing or cleaning, or at least that's my plan. Maybe I'll do some writing for challenges while I'm there. 

Anyway some new shows/fandoms I checked out:

Heated Rivalry - saw the recommendation by impala_chick and I noticed it trending on Tumblr so I figured I'd look it up and guess what? I actually read one of the books that the TV series is based on but a later one (Role Model - book 5, and Time to Shine - which might not be set in the same universe but whatever), so of course I had to check it out immediately and got lucky with three episodes to binge. It was very good, but also weird? I had such secondhand embarrassment happening in that first episode (but that's probably just me). I love all the characters - Shane, Illya, Scott, Kip - and fell immediately for Shane/Illya & Scott/Kip. Watched episode 4 Friday after work, and ugh it's heartbreaking just like the book. Two more episodes (and ANOTHER SEASON?!?!? YES!!!)

So after watching the first three episodes I quickly bought/downloaded the audiobooks for Game Changer (book 1), Heated Rivalry (book 2 - already bought actually), Tough Guy (book 3), Common Goal (book 4), and The Long Game (book 6) and just because The Shots You Take (another M/M hockey romance). Managed to listen & finish Heated Rivalry and The Long Game - so I KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT, lol. I did start Game Changer, but the guy that did the audiobook decided to do a [bad??? or is just bad to me???] New York accent for Kip which immediately takes me out and has me cringing through most of it, so I'm like 31% through that which sucks because I LOVED their episode SO FREAKING MUCH. Also the actor that plays Scott reminds me so much of Ioan Gruffudd (like certain scenes especially). But anyway, Role Model (book 5) focuses on Troy/Harris and I remember loving that book (gave it 5 stars on goodreads), I'm going to have to re-read that book and I just read Time to Shine (gave it 4 stars) with Landon/Casey this September. Anyway, to kinda get me through Friday, I decided to start Common Goal (book 4) with Eric/Kyle and so far - 38% through it - I'm loving it. Probably going to finish that one and then start Tough Guy (book 3) with Ryan/Fabian and hell probably even The Shots You Take before finishing the Scott/Kip book (again only because that accent, 'cause otherwise I think I would love the book). Usually I like to read books in order, but like I apparently did not care this time - lol. Actually I think those two books were on sale at Libro.fm.

I like the book series, but hell I love basically all the Hockey Romance books I've read so far anyway... even though I know NOTHING about the sport except for the fact that there are two teams I know of the Flyers and the Mighty Ducks. I loved Mighty Ducks movies & animated series and I remember enjoying the movie Goon, but I think that's about it for knowledge. I feel like I could probably get into it more compared to the other sports? But probably won't. I should really do a list here of exactly how many books I've read that are Hockey Romance, lmao. Feel free to suggest any if you liked any.


Maxton Hall - The World Between Us  - Season 2 was released last month, finally got around to watching it last night. I think I'm halfway through it? It's oddly addictive, I almost pushed through to finish it last night but I was ready to fall asleep on the couch so I figured that would be bad. Now I do love James/Ruby (even though James is a fuck up) but I also love the idea of Ruby/Lydia this season, which I know isn't going to happen but still. Lydia's actress kinda reminds me a bit of Holland Roden (weirdly enough Lydia of Teen Wolf).

New community! comicsfanfiction (all comics - including webcomics or graphic novels) - I haven't started adding my works to it yet, but I figured I'd post about it here first. I felt bad that all the other genres have a community now but yet not comics.

Over at the new community I posted a list of Other {Comics Fandom-Specific} Communities to Post to - an {incomplete?} list of both active and non-active communities to try to inspire some crossposting/activity in those communities. I'm sure I'm missing some communities/fandoms, because I mainly focused on DC & Marvel 'cause I'm more familiar with those fandoms, so if anyone happens to be a part of or know of others, let me know either here or there.

Also because of stumbling upon nevanna's journal I realized I missed the 25th Anniversary of X-Men: Evolution (November 4, 2000) - although did I? 'Cause in a way I sort of honored it by writing several drabbles for it this year for the first time in years, and made banners with screenshots at xmen100, made tables with Episode Titles from XME at xmen15 and even made several icons this year for it (although technically haven't released them at harpieicons yet & they're only currently located at Muse-Insanity.com/Icons). But Yeah I love that series so much - and I think it'll continue to hold a special place in my heart forever.

Also realized that Supergirl (TV series) has an anniversary this year - 10 years (October 16, 2015). I did make a few icons for that series this year (again mostly released at Muse-Insanity.com/Icons right now), but I haven't written anything new for the series (or the overall Arrowverse or DC Universe) lately although it has been tempting me a bit. Next year Legends of Tomorrow would be 10 years as well, and Superman & Lois would be 5 years.

Incase anyone wants to get free points/paid time, moodthemeinayear is offering if you participate/make a moodtheme (even just partially!), for full details check it out here. I've been wanting a moodtheme, but I can't seem to decide what to do. I'm probably going to do either a Marvel one? Or maybe just MCU or X-Men. Someone had made a Hawkeye comics moodtheme but the download button is gone/locked? now so I can't use that one sadly. Honestly I don't use the mood theme that munch, partially because I don't have one that I like. I don't know if I'll make one, but maybe? If I do, I'll definitely share it.

sapphic stocking stuffers is happening and I've made a few people some icons {so far!}, namely for the Sailor Moon, DC Comics, Once Upon A Time, and MCU fandoms. So Mars/Venus, Mars/Moon, Moon/Venus, Cassie/Rose, Rose/Raven, Elsa/Emma, Maria/Natasha, and Natasha/Pepper. There's a lot of people with fandoms I don't know and I feel weird touching those. I also received BEAUTIFUL CHEETAH/WONDER WOMAN & HARLEY/IVY ICONS by the lovely likealighthouse - yay!!!

Still haven't gone through the list of fandomtrees yet, so I have to do that this week sometime. Also finished the rewatch of Moonlight - it did get better and Josef had a lot more screentime in the back half of the show thankfully. I don't think I ship Mick/Beth anymore though? Not really anyway... I think I'm more intrigued by Josef/Beth - the way he basically brightens as soon as he sees her is just perfect. I wish we could have had more scenes and another season, but I do kinda understand why it didn't get another season compared to other Vampire shows did before or since. It also may have done better after the Twilight film was released but it happened before during the 2007-2008 TV schedule. But I think I'm ready/motivated to write for the smallfandomfest for the ship/fandom.

In other news, I completed Dispatch for the first time last night (at like 2AM lmao) - and I loved it. I definitely want to play the game again because of my bad "hacking" skills (and maybe a few other selections? IDK) Spoilers: Invisgal went bad by the end! I want her and Robert to kiss in the end! I couldn't pass basically any of the hacking parts once the anti-virus things started appearing Ugh, I'm gonna try again. Basically I ship everyone with everybody? Mainly OTP-ing hard on Invisgal/Robert though right now even though I started shipping Blonde Blazer/Robert first. I also like Robert/Blonde Blazer/Invisgal, Robert/Malevola, Robert/Prism, Robert/Coupé, Blonde Blazer/Invisgal, Blonde Blazer/Malevola, Invisgal/Malevola, Invisgal/Prism, Golem/Malevola, Prism/Coupé, Coupé/Malevola and Flambae/Waterboy. Oh I'm definitely going to check out fics soon, so if anyone has any favorites, please let me know!

Flambae sings Meredith Brooks "B***h" | DISPATCH Episode 5 RULES!!! ♥

 Voting is up at lgbtrainbow - managed to make 6 SkyMed icons for it for "Round 16" and so far I like the community - it's kinda low pressure even though the rounds can be quick. I like it 'cause you participate when you can. I am looking forward to new rounds of characters20in20 and ships20in20, and trying tvmovie20in20 and disney20in20 if they come back. 

heartsfate has a new prompt community 10trueloves - pick a character, prompt table and create 10 fics of 10 different pairings for that character. Already joined - picked Wanda Maximoff because why not - kinda obsessed right now... especially right now with Bucky/Wanda. Which was my first entry for my prompt table. And why I have a new icon for them alone.

Also participated three times so far for adventdrabbles - two for Charmed (reboot)'s Abigael/Mel (day 2) and one MCU's Bucky/Wanda (day 3). They even used my prompt for day 3 - cat in a Christmas tree.

The only reason I suggested that one, was because my first cat (RIP Cally) crawled all the way up in it ages ago (maybe the first year we had her I'm guessing, I don't remember anymore) and my family used that as a Christmas image/card for years - it's adorable but not great for ornaments plus they can hurt themselves potentially. But yeah, I've found that if you slowly introduce your cats to the tree before adding your ornaments - they get bored with it and don't bother it as much... well - mostly, just the bottom tree branches at least. At least that's how it's gone the last several years with my cats. I haven't even put my tree up yet (which is severely late for me), but I'm probably going to do that tomorrow or Friday.

Anyway I'm not sure if I'll participate with all the Days of the adventdrabbles - guess it depends on the prompt. Day 2 & 3 prompts definitely sparked something.

At mcu100 the new bi-weekly prompt is Lights, with Jessica/Matt and Betty Ross as the monthly challenges "pairing"/character.

  

At xmen100 the new bi-weekly prompt is Decorating, with Kitty/Wanda and Blink as the monthly challenges "pairing"/character.

  

I need to get to bed, otherwise I would probably write more, lol.

Signed up for smallfandomfest for two fandoms so far, namely Moonlight (Beth/Josef) and Bastard Son & Devil Himself (Annalise/Nathan/Gabriel). Now out of the two fandoms, I've most recently rewatched BS&DH like this summer (thus it's a little fresher in my head although I'm a little nervous writing for the fandom) and Moonlight I don't remember rewatching anytime recently but I knew I loved the pairing so I figured I'd try that. I was also interested in a few Alcatraz, Birds of Prey, Being Human (US), Charmed (2018), Ghost Whisperer, Nancy Drew (TV 2019), The Gates, Nine Lives of Chloe King, and Sense8 of course so if I finish up the two claims I might go into those if they are still available. I didn't think to post prompts for fest, so a few of those fandoms have less choices for me to pick from but at least a few have "writer's choice" for characters/pairings.

So I'm currently doing a rewatch of Moonlight in preparation of writing for the prompt which was "What if Beth never met Mick and asked for Josef to provide her protection?" Which if you're rewatching the series for the first time like since that premiered or bought the DVD (which I did), the series is not very helpful in that regard because I think Josef is in some sort of financial business stuff, not quite bodyguard/protection type stuff. And there's a lot less Josef than I remember. But maybe I'll get more inspired as the series goes on or I'm just gonna ignore canon all over the place. Also I really hate the slow motion scenes... And there is a lot of those. Not great. Honestly the rewatch is harder to like? Like the series is rooting for Mick/Beth I know, and I know I liked that pairing the first time around although I always loved Beth/Josef too (made a LJ community about them after all) but this rewatch? Meh. Although I do see moments I would love to icon, lol. I just finished episode 8 of 16 so we shall see. Also another reason why I picked Moonlight, mostly to get back into the fandom so I could finish my table for Beth/Josef (only 3 prompts left!) and I wanted to see it again so I could fandom pimp it on vampiremedia. I did end up uploading my Moonlight fics (along with a few other fandoms) to AO3 since last post (13 fandoms to go). 

I just finished a rewatch of The Gates as well, because I was in the mood for vampires & werewolves and I remembered loving the series so I figured I'd try it again, mostly so I could fandom pimp it on vampiremedia & werewolvesden which I will definitely do soon. I ended up shipping mostly the same things I did the first time around, but this time, I see all the queer-ness of the series. Granted, not canon gay but still holy shit I was oblivious to it the first time around. Now I know most people shipped Nick/Dylan and Brett/Lukas mainly 'cause the little fandom there is, it was filled with those pairings but yeah now I see them & ship them along with Nick/Dylan/Claire, Nick/Dylan/Claire/Sarah, Claire/Karen, Brett/Lexie/Lukas, Charlie/Brett, Brett/Charlie/Lexie (pairings I also like & originally liked was Dylan/Claire, Nick/Claire, Nick/Leigh, Brett/Lexie, Lukas/Lexie, Charlie/Lexie). If only we got another season, I'd love to have seen more scenes between everyone. I found only a few things dragged for me, and I wish we got less of certain characters & more of others but that's basically the same of any show or film I watch. Anyway I don't have a lot icons for this show so I just reuploaded the Claire icon I saved (see post's icon). 

Also SUPER funny to realize that Frank Grillo (actor behind Nick) eventually ended up portraying a werewolf in Werewolves (2024), although granted that was not a great movie to watch. I was oddly bored through most of it (the movie that is, not The Gates). Anyway also fun fact that he appeared both in the MCU and DCEU. Also Colton Haynes (actor behind Brett) would become a werewolf again on Teen Wolf and joined Arrow as Roy Harper. Janina Gavankar (actress behind Leigh) would go on to portray a shapeshifter on True Blood and a witch on TVD and also appeared in Arrow.  Paul Blackthorne (actor behind Christian) went on to join Colton & Janina in the Arrowverse, but so far I don't think any other type of supernatural creature. Funny enough Rhona Mitra (actress behind Claire) portrayed a vampire in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (I really need to watch that again) and also appeared in Supergirl. Skylar Samuels (actress behind Andie) portrays a cat type-shifter in Nine Lives of Chloe King and she went on to portray the Stepford Cuckoos in The Gifted and the most entertaining news I've learned going on wikipedia to check out the cast, was finding out that Skylar ended up marrying Lucas Till (aka Havok in the X-Men films). So now all I want is Havok/Esme or Sophie or Phoebe. I was going to go through the rest of the cast to check if they ended up portraying another supernatural creature or ended up in the Marvel or DC worlds, but meh, I think I got lucky with that last bit of information and I think I'm good.

Anyway my other fandom/prompt is for The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself (Annalise/Nathan/Gabriel, Hold Each Other by A Great Big World).... I love the characters and ship so much, and I've literally lost count how many times I've rewatched the series so I know I can write them but I can't help feel kinda intimated? There is just a lot of good fanfiction for them, plus I just wish we got just a little bit more canon for the show, I need more. I'm going to try and work on that this week and hope for the best. Plus I need to listen to the song a bit more.

In other news, I did two icon colors (so far) for lgbtrainbow both of SkyMed characters. If I get any more done for the challenge, I'm going to probably use SkyMed as the fandom because I need more of it out there. The fandom is tiny, but I did find out that there will be a Season 4 which I'm completely happy to find out! Season 3's finale was kinda a great ending to the series, so I was afraid there wasn't going to be more. And wickedgame got me Episode 1 screenshots so that's excellent news for iconing and I managed to save a bunch of caps from Paramount+ website. Seriously I love this show, I've rewatched it at least once every few months since I stumbled upon it last year (? Season 1 and Season 2 was definitely out by the time I saw it but I don't remember the exact time I found it, maybe sometime after Season 2 was released?). Hayley/Wheezer is my OTP but so is Lexi/Stef and Milosz/Tristan. 

I also participated in challenge 30 of screen_icons - which were all fairly simple, but I love them. I was going to do all different fandoms but I just loved those two Ghosts (US) pictures. Participated in Round 61 of fandom10in30 along with the vampiremedia's 20in20 challenge (combined old fandom loves and new ones).

Muse-Insanity.org/Icons has been updated a bit more. I finished renaming all my old icons (minus the crossover ones) so I'm currently working on making the fandom pages for each, I think I have most if not all the icons already uploaded to the site so I just need to write up the individual fandom pages really. My problem is I keep making more (or I also get distracted by something else), so it slows me down, lol. 

I also need to make a list on what to tackle on the fandomtrees this weekend, or at least by next weekend. Also signed up for the Sapphic Stocking Stuffers, my thread is HERE.

Added "Writing Prompts" posts to basically all my communities:
angelrogue, bethjosef, brucebarbara, brucekara, gargoyles_fic, karaflash, karaoliver, legion_fic, scottandemma, scottandkitty, scottandrogue, superville, nciscrossovers, xmen_heroes, zatanna_dc 

New header here at my journal (featuring Madelyne Pryor) and over at svpromptstables.

 (second time trying to post this, so it's not as organized and well thought out like the first time - stupid internet crashing)

Anyway first things first, new header over at harpiewriting - Originally made for a challenge for seasons_of_fandom but I ended up missing the deadline because I was puttering around trying to write something for it instead of graphics... Yeah should've just stuck with the graphics so yes, new header featuring the Scarlet Witch (I'm kinda obsessed with her right now if you can't tell...) 

So over the weekend, which also distracted me a bit (okay more than a bit) from probably important things I should be doing (definitely) I added at least 75 older works to AO3. I did backdate those to the correct dates/years, with usually only a minor edit here and there plus adding tags/collections when possible and only editing the other works already there for the collections/tag corrections. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel weird using tags there for my older works even though I know they are very helpful and I use them all the time to find stuff I want right now. Now the current total of works at AO3 is 237, and the total I get on my fic journal is 657. Now some of the really old works (pre-2004 & other unfinished works) are probably not going to be added unless heavy editing is done, and some drabbles got combined under a single header/fic/series title thing so I think that just means I might only have like 400-ish left to go? 

Now so far the fandoms I have left to really add are the following (plus the # tags at my fic journal): BTVS/ATS (31 tags), DC Comics (45 tags), Drake & Josh (2 tags), Glee (16 tags), H2O Just Add Water (13 tags), Harry Potter (67 tags), Heroes (53 tags), High School Musical (15 tags), House MD (10 tags), HIMYM (2 tags), JONAS (1 tag), Life With Derek (9 tags), Medium (5 tags), Mythology (4 tags), Past Life (1 tag), Smallville (167 tags), Supernatural (54 tags), Twilight (61 tags), WOWP (35 tags), and X-Men (92 tags).

Now I got basically all the smaller tagged fandoms added to AO3 already (minus a few of them above that apparently I missed plus several of those tags should technically be knocked down because I do have a bunch at AO3) so I think I will keep doing whatever has less tags and go up from there simply because I know I have a lot of crossovers that reach into those fandoms and thus kick numbers down faster (I'm looking at you Smallville!).

So while adding the works to AO3, and honestly even before that I had noticed several LiveJournal communities have been deleted, namely batfic100 (which between that and twilight100 probably spawned my love for these types of communities) and dyno_drabbles (I want to say this was a Harry/Pansy fic challenge community but might have been a HP rarepair one? IDK and Fanlore gives me nothing and I just have the participation banner from that & my Harry/Pansy works which I completely forgot I wrote). Now these two are only examples and I've noticed even several prompt table type communities got deleted as well, which makes me sad and probably over precaution since I just added THIS list of previous prompts from comicdrabbles and THIS list of previous prompts from tv_100/tv_100 and they are probably not going to be the only ones. Definitely going to do one done one [located HERE] for avengers100 (although that has less prompts & so not as overwhelming, plus I know I already participated in some) I want to add URLs to works I did for all the challenges. I don't know if I'm going to work on that anytime soon but that's on the pile of "I want to Complete".

Nostalgia is so real right now guys...

Now while also making banners/prompts this weekend for xmen100 & mcu100 (which brand new prompt up as of yesterday!), I was thinking of maybe doing Character and/or Pairing bonus Monthly Challenge to try to encourage more activity? I don't know if that'll add to or hinder the comms, but I'm hoping for more activity. But I also figured that might be better than being stuck with a character/pairing/prompt that apparently no one wants to write for or lack of ideas.

Also haven't officially posted this anywhere yet beside the sidebar of harpieicons but I've made an icon website, mostly because I originally just needed somewhere to host my new icons since photobucket went paid and the other photo storage options were meh? So it's a little old-fashioned in this day an age but I present to you Muse-Insanity.org/Icons and yeah I didn't think of a name for it but meh I don't think it needs one (I've only stumbled upon like 2 other people with icon websites, but both seem static and not active, one actually had some sort of sorting program? system? but that just leads to a dead download URL sadly). Should've probably used the original domain as it, but maybe I'll eventually add my fics to that instead? Idk, probably not. Not all the pages work so if you happen to visit and stumble upon a deadlink I apologize. Most of the newer icons for the various challenges I've done are there and only a handful old ones have been added. I did manage to resave all my old ones when I did the import from LJ to dreamwidth since photobucket let me see them at dreamwidth (but yet not all LiveJournal? That still doesn't make sense unless it has something to do with LJ/Russia.), but I apparently had NO structure on how to name the icons so they are all over the place so that's when I'm more focused & motivated aka that's another thing on the pile of "I want to Complete".

Moving all the old galorechallenge prompts from its yolasite to it's new home galore.muse-insanity.org (DON'T MIND THE OLD GRAPHIC AS THE HEADER) mostly slow-going (and thus another thing on the pile of "I want to Complete")... mainly because I get easily distracted by everything else, but it is coming back.

I do need to update Capes & Crusaders, but I've been kinda focused on everything else, it's kinda on my back burner even though I'm still randomly saving pictures for it.

I nearly started every paragraph with "Anyway" and "Now" and "So" and "Also".

Also (lmao) my icon right now is from Harley Quinn the Animated series and the latest season (& that particular episode[s]? in particular) made me ship Bruce/Lois/Joker for the first time ever and I never freaking expected that to show up. I mean yes, Bruce/Lois I've shipped, but Joker isn't really a character I ship anyone with normally? But I think that character kinda went though a character growth that I liked? I don't know it's been X amount of months since I watched it and I'm still shocked. I also looked for anything on AO3 for the pairing and found nothing. Bruce/Lois works yes, Bruce/Joker yes, Bruce/Lois/Joker no. I did discover I really like Bruce/Clark/Lois though so there's that?

Oh and I signed up for fandomtrees this year... I completely spaced on the fandomgiftbasket. I always seem to forget to hit the Track button on the comms but I'm doing better on that.

 Not sure how many people actually read my journal, but I did realize that I'm kinda short on the Fannish 50 challenge (only 22 things so far posted to my TAG), and I found myself doing something that I've done countless times before, but I figured I'd open up to discussion to see if anyone else does this or am I just crazy? Or anal. Lol, probably the latter.


Anyway, so needless to say after I went on to moviefanfiction and somehow ended up in the batfic community. As I was glancing at them, I noticed several entries (or a hell of a lot) do not have any tags (which I will admit is a pet peeve of mine), so I was OK, I need to fix that - so I tried adding tags... And I could add tags that were only already there, which fine OK.... Am I alone in doing? Going to random communities and adding tags? I know I tend to look at tags first in communities, most of the time to look up either fandoms I'm craving or character/pairings I like, so I kinda hate when no tags are available or I notice no one using them.

Also, am I alone in creating like a lot of tags for each of my communities? Like I would think you pre-create the tags, especially if you want them by alphabetical like moviefanfiction, or by character such as batfic? I mean I know these particular communities isn't active much but still. 

I mean I get missing certain characters (especially newer or less written about characters) but I would assume at least the most popular/common villains or characters would at least have their tags (Edit: Actually they ended up having nearly all the characters I needed to tag {except for Damian apparently? or I just couldn't find the correct tag format}, but anyway I've seen the same thing happen in other communities before). I know not all places like to add pairing tags which is fine. Like for mcu100 and xmen100 I have over 400/500 tags between any potential characters/pairings/universes used. Same goes with tvfanfiction which has 400 tags and uc_xmen has over 300. Not sure exactly how many are used at them, but at least the options are available.

I'm pretty sure LJ had it where if you were only a member and not an admin, you'd only see what's been used before and I think that makes people think the tags aren't there or exist thus no one even tries to tag them. I wish there was a way so you could see everything that is available. I thought if you hit the "Tag Entry" option after you post (even if just a member and not an admin) you could see them anyway but that didn't end up being the case with batfic - I had to do trial and error on getting the correct tags to show up. Granted it's been a long time since I posted works to communities at livejournal so maybe I'm remembering wrong.

I know some communities like to leave their communities open to people adding tags on their own such as marvelrarepairs or marvel_fanworks to name two that I know of which is kinda great - at least people tend to tag their stuff... but it also kinda causes choas? Because someone forgets how the format goes or doesn't pay attention and then suddenly you have multiple tags of the same character or fandom or whatever.


What do you prefer?

** I am in no way trying to insult the communities (or their respected owners) spoken about here, they are simply used as actual examples of things I've seen countless times in the past. Honestly it's also a bit to promote them a bit as well so more people can post to them.

 Hey guys! So I had gotten a question on tvfanfiction community and if it accepted cartoon fanfiction, which it didn't so since there is already a moviefanfiction & bookfanfiction communities, I figured I'll create an animation fanfiction only community. Thus I give you


animatedfanfiction
So feel free to post links to your new & old fics!!

I know I have a whole bunch to add to it.

werewolvesden is a dreamwidth community dedicated to any fandom or media that related to werewolves or other wereanimals or shapeshifters (from folklores to latest show or film). Feel free to post your fanworks, recs, start discussions or feel free to pimp your fandom if you feel like you need to make more people aware of it.

This community was inspired by the lovely vampiremedia ♥ I love vampires but I also love werewolves just as much and there's sooo many fandoms out there that just doesn't get the justice they deserve so I figured why not!

I will probably do this again, but with my dreamwidth fic community harpiewriting which I feel like would have a better fandom/character/pairing representation. Since I only use fandom/character/pairings tags there, I can't say for sure the "additional tags" situation would be different, especially since we (or I at least) definitely didn't start using tags the AO3 way until sometime after joining AO3. Numbers would be skewed higher for ratings, but General Audiences would still be the top rating at least. And now I'm limited to 1000 tags so we'll see (I'm at 932!). 



Edit 11/3/2025: The below stats are using my fic communityharpiewriting - [TAGS page]



Honestly I think the Twilight and Heroes fandoms being so close surprised me. It's been ages since I looked at those works or hell even watched the fandoms (or read in the case of Twilight).  The Top 3 Pairings option also surprised me. This is mainly due to the Chloe/AC (Smallville) ship.

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.
Looks like that is only 3 missing out of 160 works listed at AO3... but according to my fic community harpiewriting I really have 654 (sometimes I group my drabbles together at AO3 plus I think of a lot of the older stuff isn't there). Still not shabby at all I think. Can't believe I don't have E or X (I apparently never made the X- pun/titles like The Gifted did their episodes and various comics have done). Q is a little more easier to understand for why I'm missing it not a lot of words are coming to my head with that letter, other than maybe question - LOL.

I also feel like I should get more creative with my titles I think... 

EDIT 11/15/25: Added Q! and E!

Discovered a ficathon over at toothpastejuice which is currently hosting Rarest of Rarepairs Ficathon and looking for prompts for rarepairs with "50 works or under on AO3".

Prompting and Fills open: October 13, 2025
Prompting Closes: January 25, 2026
Fills will remain open after prompting closes.


While there is a wide arrange already, I figured I'd add to the prompts since I have quite a few rarepairs - so I added {so far} some prompts for Doc (Amy/Jake), Supergirl (Kara/Maxwell), Stargirl (Henry Jr/Courtney, Courtney/Cindy, Cindy/Courtney/Henry Jr., Rick/Courtney, Rick/Coutney/Henry Jr.), SkyMed (Hayley/Wheezer), X-Men (Jean/Pyro, Jean/Magma, Rogue/Lance, Rogue/Colossus, Rogue/Wanda, Scott/Wanda), Saved by the Bell (Zack/Jessie), Boy Meets World (Shawn/Topanga/Cory, Shawn/Topanga), Sleepy Hollow TV series (Katrina/Abraham, Katrina/Abraham/Ichabod, Katrina/Abraham/Ichabod/Abbie, Katrina/Abbie/Ichabod), MCU (Ezekiel/Riri), Ghost Whisperer (Melinda/Rick).

Will probably add more if I can think of any others.

If you followed me from livejournal, you may have remembered I used to do a 40 Days of Drabbles (or at least a few times), instead of just keeping it to myself in this upcoming year, I figured I'd make a community dedicated to it because why not and change it from just being during lent and starting it whenever you want.

So check out 40daysofdrabbles!!

Check out the profile page for more information!

Realized I haven't really done a personal or semi-personal post in a while, since I've mostly been posting to tv_talk for any show discussions and mainly just posting fics for xmen100  and mcu100, I'll start posting here with my TV comments again, just so I have them in one place again.

Well I officially got the diagnosis of carpal tunnel of my wrists & elbows (didn't even know it could go up to the elbow) so yay? At least I got the official diagnosis and not just wondering if I'm just making up in my head. The doctor said I should be okay without surgery for now unless I want it to happen, otherwise my next check up with him is in six months. (Or sooner if it gets worse) I guess between working my full time job (plus part-time job) and spending time at home on the computer within the last few months made my symptoms flare up again - since I feel like it's been ages since it was this bad. Which might be one of the reasons I stopped going on the computer? I can't remember. I think it was just working too much and being too exhausted to go to the basement (where the computer was). However while I was at the appointments I didn't feel any pain or achiness/stiffness/numbness but literally a day later and here's the pain back. FML. That always happens to me.

Also got my first tooth removed since my wisdom teeth like 10+ years ago so dealing with that sucked. Honestly just the anxiety before hand was worse (and the bill). Besides that the taste of blood that for two days and then the bone marrow/blood clot disgusting taste was horrible (I thought I was infected it was so gross). Otherwise I didn't have a lot of pain so that was good. A lot of mashed potatoes and egg sandwiches for the last week.

In other news I joined thestoryinside for their October books/buddy exchange - my buddy monkiainen picked The Meg by Steve Alten (horror), Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (LGBT, contemporary, female author), and The Alienist - Caleb Carr (historical fiction) for me. In return I picked out Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (LGBTQ, contemporary, female author), Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (LGBTQ, contemporary) and Alien: Echo by Mira Grant (Horror, LGBTQ, female author). I picked out the first two books for them since I really enjoyed them (I have Boyfriend Material in audio & book forms heh^^ & I can't wait for the 3rd book in the series/trilogy? - But I also recommend anything Alexis Hall BTW, I've read/listened to most of them). I'm pretty sure I know where the books I need to grab are (luckily they're from the front of the alphabet so I'm pretty sure they are actually where they are supposed to be). I might actually do the Meg first - I was thinking of maybe doing Leah on the Offbeat first since I technically had it on my TBR pile for ages compared to the other two, but I think Meg is shorter so it might be easier to read? We'll see, I'll try to find them tomorrow so I can start on them.

In other book news, I started to listening to audiobooks again at work since most of my current podcasts don't have enough for me to binge without touching my phone a lot (and since that's a big no-no at work, audiobooks are the way to go since they are USUALLY at least 6+hrs). So far I listened to:

• The Singles Dads Club (books: The Dare, The Soul Mate, Penthouse Prince, & Only for Tonight) by Kendall Ryan - which were just okay.... I can't really recommend them unless you just want to listen to that type of romance books but if they are super cheap, sure why not. I think they were on sale at libro.fm when I bought them.
• Zomromcom by Olivia Dade - I really definitely recommend this one! Zombies, Vampires, trolls, fae, and witches included! I really hope this won't be the last supernatural/fantasy novel by Olivia. I think there at least has to be a sequel. I also have the paperbook copy... 'cause just in case.
• Time to Shine by Rachel Reid - I recommend this if you like MM hockey romance. It's pretty good, longer than you expect so a bit of a slow burn. I identify very heavily with the Landon character which probably makes me like it more than anyone. If only I could find my own Casey. 
• Heartless by Gena Showalter - Very dark fae romance like super dark, where even I almost stopped a few times from listening/finishing. It has mixed reviews on Goodreads due to that so just beware if you start it. While it was like instant attraction, it was actually a bit of a slow burn for the major of it. I'm still not sure if I want to read the second book... maybe if it goes on sale. 
• In Charm's Way by Lana Harper - Part of the Thistle Grove book series that I started either last year or this year in paperback but never finished. It's a witch/half-fae romance. It's so weird that this is the third book that dealt with the fae - I feel like I never read those books. Anyway, still haven't finished it yet but probably on Monday since I only five hours left. I definitely recommend the series BTW especially if you like queer romance & supernatural type stuff.

I'm also reading Voidwalker by S. A. MacLean, I'm on chapter 15, it's oddly addictive and unlike trying to read the Orange Priory of last year, the world-building of this book is sooo much better. It helps it's only one POV and not like twenty, but yeah. And yay a monster romance for October. Reading it alongside villagewitch so it's kinda like a mini-bookclub. :) 

Worked on galorechallenge prompt website this week. Still not complete, but I'm trying. Merging all the Marvel stuff together as well as all the DC stuff together minus the Smallville one, so those pages are going to probably be the last ones worked on. I merged them just because it all the characters are basically set in the same universe anyway and having the MCU/DCEU separate was annoying me. Anyway NEW PROMPTS WILL BE NEEDED so feel free to suggest new ones (even if you don't plan to join in - maybe someone will write them).

Made some icons for seasons_of_fandom... I'll have to add those to harpieicons eventually. Also participated in a couple challenges (see the Book Title Poetry - previous entry).

Anyway that's it for now, since I have to get to some sleep.

The below is for seasons_of_fandom bonus challenge "Book Title Poetry"

Specifics:
» For this challenge we are arranging book titles into poems. You can use any kinds of books (fiction, non-fiction) as long as what you create resembles poetry and becomes a story.
» A poem must have at least five lines!
» To get full points, you can make six 5-line poems, one 30-line poem or anything in between.
» The shortest poem with only five lines can’t have more than two one-word book titles.


My "Poems":

One
Would you rather,
a dish best served hot,
a game of hearts and heists,
love, hate & clickbait,
the hating game

Two
Love & other disasters,
bull moon rising,
a discovery of witches,
such sharp teeth,
a touch of ruin

Three
Best laid plans,
the hat trick,
faking with benefits,
the fiancée farce,
So That Happened

Four
When You Least Expect It
Said No One Ever
Plot Twist,
For Butter or worse,
Sit, Stay, Love

Five
Royal Valentine,
fortune favors the duke,
while the duke was sleeping,
her royal highness,
the heart principle

Six
A Thousand Heartbeats,
no one is alone,
sink or swim,
practice makes perfect,
Two Rogues Make a Right

So discovered that there is All Ships Week (October 20-26), and I'm not sure if I'm going to participate in it or not yet because who knows what my work schedule will be but I'm very tempted to do so. If I do participate, I think I'm going to use some small fandom pairings since I'm tempted to try the smallfandombang, but I don't think I have it in me to write an actual 10k+ word fic.


Pairings I've been thinking of doing is Sabrina/Harvey (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Tyler/Wednesday (Wednesday), Nick/Adalind (Grimm), Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel (TBSTDH), Michael/Liz (Roswell), Hayley/Wheezer (SkyMed), Larson/Heller (Doc -new ship/show alert!-), and Dani/Lito/Hernando (Sense8). Probably a few others I can't think of right now...



This year's prompts are:

Monday - October 20

( the prompts... )

Tuesday - October 21

( the prompts... )

Wednesday - October 22

( the prompts... )

Thursday - October 23

( the prompts... )

Friday - October 24

( the prompts... )

Saturday - October 25

( the prompts... )

Sunday - October 26

( the prompts... )

Activity Bingo (do these any day)

( the prompts... )