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nym_wibblyI've done a fair bit of charity sewing while I've been switched off from fandom and internet things. I've been fortunate enough to be able to live quite comfortably this past year, allowing me to buy fabric and trimmings and even a new sewing machine. Unlike the last one - which I wound up giving away - I love my new sewing machine. And it doesn't seem to mind me, or eat thread and spit oil like the last one. What a relief! I've learned so much in a few months and gone from nervously sewing simple, flat things to quite ambitious therapy-doll-making.
I prefer to huddle over the computer in the darker months, though. After a few months focused on family history, with my fan-brain freewheeling, I feel refreshed and ready to tackle word-making again. I'm still struggling horribly with reading prose - including my own. It's been a slow grind to adapt my already adapted working methods around the problem, but I am getting there.
Using Grammarly allows me to edit where I'd otherwise have to retype every amended draft from scratch to cope with making fairly basic changes. It's pretty good at spotting when I edit in an error and I'm learning to trust it enough to save me some of the repetitive effort that's slowed me down for years. I've currently got it chewing over my Doctor Who story, Antithesis, which I keep thinking of as my "new little piece". In fact, I began it in 2017 and it's already 20 chapters long. It's good to have something to keep the words flowing when I've written myself into a corner with A Bed of Thorns, which I do all too often. Antithesis isn't quite guilty-pleasure fic - I have no ficcy shame, and all my stories give me great pleasure or I'd get too bored to write 'em - but it does pile on my favourite tropes. Angst, hurt/comfort, screwed-up but intense relationships, and brilliant characters torn from their comfort zone(s) into an emotional hothouse situation.Yeah, there's a reason beyond Robert Carlyle's beard why I was smitten with Stargate Universe.
I really hope the technology to let me think fanfic directly onto the computer comes along soon. Meanwhile, I'm cranking up the creaky writing machine that I call Nym, making the most of the Windows assistive techology toolkit, and getting back into making words as best I can.
I prefer to huddle over the computer in the darker months, though. After a few months focused on family history, with my fan-brain freewheeling, I feel refreshed and ready to tackle word-making again. I'm still struggling horribly with reading prose - including my own. It's been a slow grind to adapt my already adapted working methods around the problem, but I am getting there.
Using Grammarly allows me to edit where I'd otherwise have to retype every amended draft from scratch to cope with making fairly basic changes. It's pretty good at spotting when I edit in an error and I'm learning to trust it enough to save me some of the repetitive effort that's slowed me down for years. I've currently got it chewing over my Doctor Who story, Antithesis, which I keep thinking of as my "new little piece". In fact, I began it in 2017 and it's already 20 chapters long. It's good to have something to keep the words flowing when I've written myself into a corner with A Bed of Thorns, which I do all too often. Antithesis isn't quite guilty-pleasure fic - I have no ficcy shame, and all my stories give me great pleasure or I'd get too bored to write 'em - but it does pile on my favourite tropes. Angst, hurt/comfort, screwed-up but intense relationships, and brilliant characters torn from their comfort zone(s) into an emotional hothouse situation.
I really hope the technology to let me think fanfic directly onto the computer comes along soon. Meanwhile, I'm cranking up the creaky writing machine that I call Nym, making the most of the Windows assistive techology toolkit, and getting back into making words as best I can.