Ha.

best cupcake ever

Squishies!

Was wishing there was a positivity post for original fiction writers since I see so many about how fanfic writers are doing so much for their communities even when they're not actively writing, and then I thought:

Be the change you want to see in the world.

So this is a positivity post for the writers out here who are working very hard on stories with no established community. Who can't talk about their blorbos and plot lines and brainstorming to anyone and expect them to know what any of it means. Who don't have much to share publicly, but are hoping they will one day.

You're doing a lot of hard work, and I recognize and appreciate what you're putting into the world, even when you're resting.

WIP novel progress

(see @bennuma-crossing for most recent and all previous sections of the story, skip pinned intro post if desired)

Starting chapter 3 of my WIP-titled story "The Crossing" ...about a camp of people who fled a bronze-age equivalent war zone in a magic-deprived portion of a fantasy world, who come across a traveler from a different (magic-rich) part of the world, who shows up and helps the people from the camp when they need it most, only asking to travel with them in return.

Who is this stranger, where did she come from, and what is her real objective? How will they find a new home where they can live in peace and safety, and what part will be played by the (arguably) most broken man in the camp?

(note: though originally intended to be an adventure story, future chapters may contain a love story, but rest assured I will be keeping it SFW)

also, if anyone happens to prefer blogspot format for reading long posts, you can find the same story on my blog here:

The Crossing WIP novel

...got the last section of what I currently consider as chapter 1 of The Crossing WIP fantasy novel up now, over in my @bennuma-crossing blog... if you haven't seen it yet, there's sort of an info thing pinned at the top, and then 7 sections (not whole chapters, more like scenes or parts of scenes, depending on how you see it) 1.1 - 1.7 which I am calling "chapter 1"

It's taking place in a fantasy world of my own creation, though currently set in a part of the world where there's almost no magic. (Also, btw, it's relatively early in the history of that world, though there would have been a lot of important historical events that happened previously... think of how on Earth there was such a thing as relatively early in "recorded history" but which was a time period after there had already been a looooooong stretch of time before recorded history in which really quite a lot had happened all over the world... including some of which might have been recorded but subsequently lost)

Reminder: I also have a blog that has more info about the world of Bennuma and history of it and such, @legends-of-bennuma ...I do plan to add more to that at some point of both shorts and general information, but for now plan to put more time into writing chapter 2 of the Crossing, so... no promises about when there will be more of the legends stuff.

This is how I always want to be.

(oops, so... I accidentally re-blogged this to my other blog, when I meant to send it here... so apologies for me being clumsy but I will try to delete it from the other one so I can keep my wip book blog uncluttered)

Warm torso, cold head.

wip novel part 3.2 !

Got the next part of my wip novel up in @bennuma-crossing !

I gotta say here, I really really really enjoy switching pov characters from time to time because I absolutely love exploring the ways that different characters will look at things differently from each other, see others in varying ways, and spend their time thinking about different things. If you like that sort of thing, too, please check out my story. :)

Also, as always, if anyone prefers blogspot format for reading long posts, it's also here:

(someday I might make my own website or put my writing in other places to make it more widely accessible, but for now it's just in those two places)

Totally where I have been for a while.

Because @haleywhaley2797 's response was amusing, and so are cosmic rainbow cats. :D

In response to @haleywhaley2797 's comment on the "Read the Fine Print (if you can) writing prompt posted in @voice-of-bennuma wherein it was suggested that when an artist drank an unknown potion and was about to be possessed.... it was a cat that was summoned who desired tuna, tuna art.

"The looming cosmic psychedelic hyperdimensional galactic space kitty has caught you spying. What will you do?"

...maybe someday I might draw a better looming space kitty... this quick doodle doesn't do justice to how it looks in my head, ha.

(mixed media; was pencil sketched and then drawn over with size S pitt artist pen and colored with metallic color permanent marker pens, colored sharpies, and colored pencils (crayola). Slight digital adjustments in color and contrast and cropped photo)

Read the Fine Print (if you can)

An obscure artist of some sort gains sudden attention and fame from creating a series of new art pieces entirely different from before, with each piece including cryptic markings or symbols of a sort that nobody can decipher and the artist mysteriously declines to comment on.

An old school friend of the artist visits, and the artist tells this friend something that no one else has been told: the artist does not know what the symbols are, because all of the new art pieces were made while under the influence of something the artist says is "like absinthe, but not" ...and the artist afterwards can never remember anything that happened for the entire night after drinking it.

The artist agrees to let the old friend stay over and do an experiment, wherein the idea is that the friend would keep out of the way until the artist got to the point of putting the cryptic symbols on a new art piece, and then come out and ask the artist what they mean. They are hoping that the artist will be able to give an answer at that time, and then the next day, the friend can tell back to the artist what the answer was.

So they go to a very strange shop in a remote area and buy a bottle of the drink that has no name and where the shopkeeper always acts like it's the first time the artist has been there, in spite of being a very regular customer by now. That night, the friend sits someplace hidden but with a view of the entire room, and prepares to watch and wait while the artist plans to drink the drink and spend the night making art...

...and is surprised to find that when the artist takes the first drink, it's actually a potion that summons someone or something, that plans to possess the artist. However, becoming aware that there's someone else hiding in a corner of the room, things take a different turn.

(post a reply if you have any fun ideas about what might happen... or if you play with making a short story of this, please do make a mention of it so I can read it)

Had this keychain for years, I forget where I got it. Anyway, it sums a lot up in a far more concise way than I ever managed to on my own.