My muse is in the basement somewhere

Project "Willing and Able"

Yes, like the Noah Kahan song. The entire album, tbh

Adult fantasy

Two estranged sisters, both mages, must work together to stop their evil brother before he can doom the family's position in their magical society.

Status: outlining

The Alchemist

Fantasy short story

Sometimes people fall victim to their own success. Those would be weak people, Varis believed. Some were simply not born for greatness. That, of course, did not apply to him. As an expert alchemist, Varis did not care who he sold his potions to, or to what end. Until one customer shows him how dangerous ignorance can be.

Status: doing another round of edits before querying magazines/publications

On the backburner/future projects:

As if he and Louis have had extensive discussions about the iPad. As if it's important that Louis knows he used the iPad specifically.

Louis: "Why do you need it? Just use a laptop. It has a bigger screen and you can type on a normal keyboard."

Armand: "It's more portable. The flexibility of paper, with the versatility of a smartphone..."

Louis: "Is this, like, your new thing? You found your next thing to obsess over? Trying to fill the void our boy left?"

Armand: *was about to show off 15 different apps and the entire smart home setup he spent a week fixating on* "It is important to keep up with the times."

Louis: "Perhaps our boy is using the very same device right now. A fun little connection between you two."

And then Armand, out of spite, proceeds to use the iPad for everything at all times. Even when a phone or laptop or PC would be better. Even when he's not doing more than refreshing the same apps or playing sorting games.

Is that the IKEA Stockholm 2025 table lamp in white??

My beloved lamp that I do not own, I'd recognize you anywhere!

I need audio and visual background stimulation while writing, but I also need predictable input, which means I play the same pieces of media on repeat while writing. I usually change the media when I enter the next phase in the project, to prevent boredom and have a nice distinction between drafts, editing rounds, etc.

The selected media usually reflect the story I'm working on, whether it's in story or tone. Or maybe it lacks something that my own story does contain. I like to think that the list of media can paint a vague picture of what to expect from the story, or maybe the traces are visible after reading.

Guilty until proven innocent. How would you prove yourself innocent? How can you prove that you didn't use AI? Not the AI-checkers, those don't work.

I write everything by hand. I outline, draft, and edit, all with a fountain pen. I can show you the literal paper trail of my creation. But even if I'd show that, what if someone is determined to discredit me? They could claim that I copied AI results, did it on paper to make it look legitimate. Anyone who doesn't like me, because my autism is off-putting, because I'd be a successful woman, because of jealousy, would love the idea of me being a manipulator and run with it.

And what of the writers who don't write by hand? How will they prove it? Document logs? What if you changed devices, or copied & pasted between programs?

Will we have to film ourselves writing, making time lapses of the process, in case the inquisition comes knocking? If someone is set on hating you, they'll accept absolutely anything as an excuse. And just like shouting "She's a witch!" in the streets, an AI rumor, even when unfounded, can give people the ammunition to tank your writing career.

This is not like bad writing, or plagiarism, or misrepresentation. How do you argue over something that you can neither prove nor disprove? Your verdict will come down to how popular or narratively pleasing the masses deem you. "They're so pretty and sweet, they'd never lie" versus "I knew I couldn't trust that [marginalized or outspoken person]". Or even "I can't sell my book, but this conventionally attractive woman is making 6 figures with her self-published romance novels... Gotta be AI, she could never be a successful entrepreneur!"

Man, I miss the days when my biggest headache was the pressure to have a social media presence as an author. Not whether using an em-dash might give people ammunition to make accusations.

I'm currently outlining a novel, and let me just say...

(If you don't like spirk then this post is NOT for you lol)

We saw Spock's hair stand up, right? Imagine Jim trying to smooth it, but it just springs back up. "Is there something wrong with my hair?" Spock asks. "Has my appearance become improper?" Jim smiles softly. "No, you look just fine."

Jim: "A mind meld on our first date, and board games on our second? You sure keep things exciting, Mister Spock." Spock: "I believe two people sharing an extended stay at a resort is usually associated with the human tradition of a honeymoon, not a date. As my hallucination, you should use correct terminology." Jim: "Of course. How about I order us some refreshments? We can share snacks while I try out a new chess move on you." Spock: *deep breath* "That would be amenable."

Spock, after Jim invited him to share his deepest secrets with him: "I thought my human half made it hard for me to be with Vulcan women. However, I am still struggling in similar ways with human women. Therefore, it would be logical that the problem is me." Jim: "If you think of the kind of relationship you'd want, what comes to mind?" Spock: *stares at Jim for a moment too long* "It is unclear to me. I find physical relations underwhelming, yet I do feel a desire for it. And for some reason, I..." *turns green* Jim: "You can tell me. That's what best friends are for. So you don't have to carry things alone." Spock: "I... I wonder sometimes it would be more satisfying to pursue such relations with a man, instead. It is a theory I don't consider worth testing, but I do find myself curious, when I don't have more interesting matters to occupy me." Jim: "Are you afraid of the answer you might find?" Spock: "I merely believe that my mind is better applied in science, rather than romantic hypotheticals." Jim: "And what a mind it is." And in a less queerbait world they'd actually test that theory together and Spock would find his conclusions interesting at minimum Spock, as a lesbian who tried to force things to work out with men, trust me, denial is a beast with a short lifespan Three women and it's the man in front of you who fills your emotional void. The next ten women can't give you what you're looking for either, buddy. Madness is trying the same thing and expecting a different result. Don't go mad, fuck the Iowa man with the sparkling eyes.

Also did the games include rock paper siccors for the purpose of touching hands while disguising it as a strategy game? "Yeah so you have to quickly predict what your opponent will do to determine who will touch who. And also, we need to move closer together for this game. Scoot closer. See, if you have rock, and I have paper, I envelop your hand just like this..."

And Spock keeps insisting that he's not doing good, and he keeps getting told "Just pull yourself together", which isn't expected of anyone else.

It's like when you go to the doctor as someone who isn't very emotionally expressive and you say that you're in a lot of pain, and they're like, "No, if you were, you'd be writhing on the floor. Just do some yoga and don't bother anyone with your complaints."

And I can't shake the image of Kirk saying to Spock: "I believe you. How about you sit down and I get us some board games to pass the time?" Because when Spock says he's not okay, that's all Jim needs to hear. No accusations of overreacting or doubts because it's not how a human would look when drunk. Spock's not okay, period, end of sentence.

Edit: some people have rightfully pointed out how wrong I was about this, will delete soon, RIP my mental montage

I saw a behind the scenes clip where they showed both Louis' and Lestat's head props. It was a fully finished version. And we haven't seen it yet at all.

I don't think it was cut in editing. There was no place in the scene where it could have been. If they'd cut it, Daniel would have used the head, put it back in the bag, cleaned the floor, and it had no effect on Lestat at the table. I don't think it was in the script.

But then why spend the time and money on a fully finished head prop, and then not use it?

I've heard something before about how the iconic argument in San Francisco was Assad Zaman's first scene as Armand. So they filmed a season 2 scene before season 1.

"Star Trek was loved by working women!"

My grandma used to clean for this rich lady who had a color TV, and when Star Trek came on, that lady would make my grandma take a break from cleaning so they could watch the episode together. My grandma can still recall how thrilling (sometimes scary) the episodes were and how hot Captain Kirk was. Tiny coincidence that he shared some physical similarities with my grandpa.

However.

I would like to propose another reason to do this.

You will go insane.

I'm trying to meet a deadline. Plotting, drafting, multiple rounds of edits. Back to back. No breaks. I've been living in this story since January. 7 months of working on the same scenes, the same characters. It's a loop. My brain is melting. I want to puke this story out and never touch it again.

I feel stuck in an isolation cell, except the walls are made of the same words that I keep reading every day. My brain recites paragraphs in my sleep.

My futile, delusional gut reaction was "omg yuri in space!! It's an enemies to lovers!" But with how aggressive they are about making Spock straight, my hope lies with the fanfic writers.

Also, a female Vulcan? This show has tugged on my lesbian heart before, and now they're adding another baddie ready to make the screen sparkle?

I just hope that this female Vulcan isn't going to be a mockery of autism in women, like how they've been giving other Vulcan characters explicitly autistic traits and then portraying it as inherently bad in the previous seasons.