• letzan talks about f/f fandoms currently in flux (growing rapidly or post-peak) and asks for f/f recs for them. Have a look at the post to see what they are and if you might have recs to share! Some of the fandoms include The Pitt, Stranger Things, and others.

• There was a hiccup around posting/commenting via email on Dreamwidth for about a day at the end of May, see this post on dw_maintenance. If you used email to post around May 31st/June 1st, double-check it went through!

• Via charliejane_feed, I enjoyed this rant about escapism. Don't let only the haters write and enjoy the wish fulfilment stories!

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

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Over the last week...

Commented on booknook (reading!)

Commented on common_nature (trees!)

Commented on everykindofcraft (journals!)

Commented on smallweb (guestbooks!)

Volume 6 is coming out next week with a character profile I'm excited to read, so finally getting back on track for the volume 5 extras :D Not that I wasn't excited about RIRIKA AND HIDAKA'S PROFILES!!!! either but it's been strange times, fandom-wise. This was done a bit more hastily than the previous ones, if you spot any extra weirdness lemme know.

( K-9: NEW ITEM!! )

( Ririka's profile )

( Hidaka's profile )

( 4-koma: Wanted list )

( 4-koma: Pickiness…? )

( 4-koma: Proof )

( 4-koma: Produce! )

( Bonus illustration: New teacher Ren Hizuki's supplementary classes )

General status:

I'm not reaching my GYWO monthly goal this month either after all, but I'm close! I ended up re-writing a difficult scene several times. The first version was from the perspective of the victim. The second from the perspective of the perpetrator, who likely has the more interesting PoV after all the plotting we've seen. But that attempt didn't work out well... I would really like to keep the crime committer sympathetic at least somewhat, but it felt kind of horrific and clinical while drenched in guilt and a bit off in tone with the rest. I ended up blocked on the next scene, but with a kind of feeling that felt more like a "going down the wrong path" warning rather than a problem with the new scene I was supposed to edit. So I went back. Focused a bit less on the logistics. Lot less guilt, too, she's got nothing personal against the guy. And then, I guess, a confident, gentle -- nearly tender -- non-lethal stabbing lol. I'll have to see if it works on reread later, but I think tomorrow I'll be able to move forward. I hope.

I want to improve the ergonomics for my desk. Once I figured out the angle for the scene, I wrote most of it quite feverishly this morning but in addition to the headache after focusing for that long, my forearm and elbow hurt and tingled for nearly one hour after. I don't really know where to start though... Like I know the whole 90 degrees whatever thing but I guess I ended up slouching anyway... Maybe I should velcro my back and wrists into Appropriate Position... Pointers to beginner, non-overwhelming tips very welcome.

If I counted the deleted version, I'd reach my word count but I guess I'm back to not counting deleted words... I guess the scene didn't feel usable or salvageable overall, even as a future reference? I took a Scrivener snapshot before rewriting it, but I didn't save it in the Scenes Graveyard for reference. I might have counted it if I'd done that? Obviously, I still learnt from it, but, I don't know. There's something that doesn't click well with my brain when it comes to deleted words. I need to think about it more.

Next week:

• More ST editing
• Poking the CW beta-readers I haven't heard from and hoping they're still interested!

There was a little artist market set up on the street right outside of my apparment today. Got to meet a cool artist, and get some gifts for my friends! (And myself, hehe)

Very excited for when my roomate returns from his trip AND our guest arrives, both happening today. This will be a fun couple of weeks!

A couple of links of interest spotted around Dreamwidth this week:

• Via yourlibrarian, worrisome news about Wikipedia: Big Tech’s Anti-Labor Playbook Has Come for Wikipedia: "TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike in solidarity. The Foundation is sitting on $296 million in reserves and a freshly profitable AI revenue stream. This is a confrontation with global implications."

If anyone else has more information or links they trust about this, I would like to read and understand more. This makes me very sad.

• Via dw_maintenance, a big bunch of updates is coming to Dreamwidth soon! A bit of help testing it would be welcome. This seems to mean basically using the site as you usually do, but using the "canary" website, see how to do that + a couple of caveat in the related post: Testing needed in advance of code push!

I've never used the canary website before, but since I have time to figure it out today, this works as a reminder to me, too! It actually looks like a simple thing to do, I just want to pay attention while I do.

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Since 3 links feel more balanced than one, taking one off the too long list!

• Via prettyarbitrary, Rewilding the Internet and the original link, We need to rewild the Internet: "The internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using lessons learned by ecologists." This is very long! But it promotes an approach that's not just nostalgia-based, but good strategies for a resilient and fun Internet that's actually a resilient web at all layers. If nothing else, it provides good insights into the various bottlenecks that make the Internet now, beyond the "just 5 websites" folks often mention.

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

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Over the last week...

Commented on getyourwordsout.

Commented on common_nature.

Promoted meta_warehouse.

Signal boost-ish:

• Was also chatting about betaplease and how it'd be nice if it had more critical mass. A little bit of a signal boost, I guess, for your fandom beta needs and/or if you're willing to beta yourself!

Recent picture of another place I'd like to revisit soon. Dreaming of the cool shadowed spot under the trees!

There's an interesting conversation going on at meta_warehouse, mainly on fandom as consumerism with the discussion happening both as reactions in journal entries and in the comments on the comm. I wasn't too sure about the original article myself (a lot of "you are not enjoying things the right way" moments) so I didn't have any comment about it, but the conversation seems to have quickly moved on to what wasn't addressed in the article, and how terms like "fanon" have changed in recent years (like, basically there is less of a concept of fanon because of the way readers/watchers treat the original material and fan theories nowadays). I dunno, the thought got my brain juices engaged and that's always something I enjoy.

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Coming across a link I wanted to share reminded me that I still have that not insignificant list of links from a while back that I now need to reread before I share... Gah!! Well. Let's get started with one!

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Via otw_news_feed, OTW Guest Post: Camilo Díaz Pino. Okay, that was an absolute delight to reread, totally recommended especially if you're into Japanese media fandoms. From my not-useless-for-once notes: "I particularly enjoyed this 5 questions OTW guest post about 'fans' who don't necessarily consider themselves fans in the context of Asian media culture becoming a normal part of the culture in Latin America for decades, for example with the president of Chile having a favourite pokemon, or the story about leftist activist organisations recreating scene from Dragon Ball Z to encourage everyone to get together to recreate a 'spirit bomb' like Goku asked the people of earth to do (I actually don't remember/know that scene, but I find how the speaker described it in the post incredibly moving)." I agree with you, past self!