Icons & CDJ

Welcome to Tryslora's icons & character development journal. Everything's arranged by tag below or linked above. Make yourself at home, drop a note, say hi.

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Mar. 11th, 2012

[No Subject]

This is a check-in post! I've had new folks friend this journal, which is awesome. I think I'm going to take it friends only (except for icons on IJ - icons will ALWAYS be in open posts), and I'll be setting up the mechanics of that soon, but in the meantime, if you could give me a shout out to let me know if you've friended recently and not been friended back, I will do that. This isn't just a fic journal; I also talk about work and other random things, and I do rant a lot, so be warned. But if you're here for anything other than icons (fic, nattering, whatever), I will be taking those to friends only.

So give me a shout out! Introduce yourself. Say hi. :)


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Mar. 7th, 2012

[No Subject]

A quick question: does anyone draw on their iPad? What program(s) do you use? I have some simple stylus art packages, but what I'm really looking for is something that would allow me to layer digital art right on the iPad, so after I draw it, I can play with it without ruining the original. It doesn't have to be a free app, I'm looking for something that is both recommended and good.

If you don't personally do art on an iPad but know someone who does, could you ask them? I'd really love to find something.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Mar. 5th, 2012

[No Subject]

It's been a while since I have properly talked about torturement class, so I thought I'd do that quickly this morning, since my calves are REMINDING ME constantly.

This week Chick had a basketball game at 9am on Saturday, so Kev had to go coach. So it was just me and Boo at tournament class that morning. We had one new kid show up to class (he's twelve, and one of Boo's friends) which is great because he should totally be on the tournament team.

It was a good class. Yes, I dropped out sometimes as usual. I had a couple of moments where I just needed a break to catch my breath or stretch out. My left hip continues to lock up really badly when I run, which is not helpful, and I'm not sure how to fix it. It's getting to the point where I have enough stamina to run, but my hip starts to lock up and each step is painful (or worse yet, sometimes makes control of my left foot awkward). And at the end, the final endurance drills were exhausting, so I did about half of those.

The big takeaway for me was in the middle. I'm used to being kind of invisible during tournament class, and that's okay. If no one's yelling at me for dragging us down, then I'm happy. I don't expect someone to stop by and work with me on technique; I'm an afterthought there and the class is for the kids. Nor do I expect compliments.

But on Saturday, I got both, and that made me weirdly happy. My spin back was complimented (and I knew it was good at the time... good aim, good speed, good push on my partner's chest to knock her back). And I was having a little trouble with cutting the angle, so I was paused, and slowed down to break it apart until I got the footwork right. Which was just... awesome. It makes me feel like I belong there more and more.

One thing I sort of noticed during class was that I was doing my damnedest to stay on my toes and stay light. Also that for cutting the angle I was doing less of a step/step or slide, and more of a switch-your-feet hop. Which is good and faster. And the next day I had proof that I had definitely spent more time on my toes (good) and bouncing, because OMG MY CALVES HURT. They still hurt. They ache. They burn. HOLY CRAP.

But this is good. This is REALLY good, because it means I was DOING IT RIGHT. So yes, I am gleeful over the pain. Yoga will be fun today, but it's worth it. :)

This week is sparring week, so I'm likely to take it easy. Class tonight, but sparring/tournament class on Friday night (two hours) and then a tournament on Saturday. I'm going to avoid class mostly in between today and Friday, although Kevin MIGHT convince me to go on Wednesday. We'll see.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Mar. 4th, 2012

[No Subject]

Stat time! February stats, a few days late...

Reading: Published Work
9 books (ish, since I only read half of one of those)
2615 pages read
7 YA, 1 Thriller, 1 Fantasy

the titles, for the curious )

All of the Meg Cabot books were her Mediator series, which were just fun. Only six books, and I cranked through all of them, reading them from the online library. The Woodworth came off my massive to-read pile at home. I'm slowly working my way through that, grabbing one book at a time to read in the evenings. Lately I'm reading two or three books at once, which is weird, but electronic and paper are so different.

I received Pazuzu's Girl from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer's books, and I really wanted to like it. I have a review up on LibraryThing, where I had to say I just couldn't finish it. I was reading it for WEEKS and I kept not getting into it. The focus wouldn't stay on the girl I thought was to be the main character. It kept segueing and I kept getting kicked out of the plot. I don't recommend this one at all, despite the high reviews it has on Amazon.

I loved Gwen's debut novel. I'm biased here, as she's someone I knew before the book existed. And yes, it does have first novel flaws. But it also has characters I loved despite their foibles, and I can't wait to read the next book. Kudos, Gwen. Everyone, go pick this up.

I remember when Rae's book was a first draft, and I loved it then, and it rocks ever so much more now. YA, and wonderful, and I'm so looking forward to the second one. Again, recommended. Go pick it up.

Reading: Fanfic
I read quite a few fics, but I only saved the one link to rec that I already posted earlier this month, so I'm not going to go over that again. I swear I read other things I liked, but for some reason I didn't bookmark them to share. :(

Writing
22,393 words written
64,889 words YTD
1 short story written (but still needs to be edited)
stalled work on Bullies because I don't know where it's going
no fics finished
eliminated from HD LDWS in the 4th round
harry_submits & wizsprogs revealed
made the hot_rec list for the daily_snitch!
2 WiP fics updated


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 29th, 2012

[No Subject]

Reveals have been posted for [livejournal.com profile] harry_submits so I can now link to the three pieces I posted. I'll get around to posting them to comms tomorrow, I think.

For the record, all three have warnings in their tags on AO3, or in the hidden warnings on the LJ comm. Just so you know they are there, and what you are reading!

the links, and explanations about the stories )

And that's it! Next fest to post will be the next gen fest, which I have turned in my story for. I am currently working on stories for rarepairs, hdmpreg, and my bigbangmixup (which is Potterific, of course).


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 27th, 2012

[No Subject]

This is a quick random rec. I was looking through AO3 looks to see if there were any fics for Meg Cabot's The Mediator series, and I bumped into this. You see, someone decided that since Roger Zelazny's heroes were all the same, and Meg Cabot's heroines were all the same... someone ought to write a story with both....

I laughed. So hard.

The Doors of his Hotness, the Lamps of his Cuteness (744 words) by faviconjadelennox
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Meg Cabot, Roger Zelazny
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Generic Hero/Generic Heroine
Summary:

When he stabs the demons who come after us (ALL THE TIME, I might add, and what is hotter than the guy that all the villains in the demon dimensions totally want to KILL?) , he always is afterwards "Did I get any slime on you?" and "I'm sorry that fire-breathing dogthing came after you."




This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.
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Feb. 21st, 2012

[No Subject]

Am now ready for reveals at [livejournal.com profile] harry_submits. I'm very curious about some of the pieces, not to mention excited to share mine (three of them!) here.

Anyone who wants to guess which pieces are mine can PM me or email me. I'd offer a prize but no clue what that would be...


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 16th, 2012

[No Subject]

Some community recs. Both of these are on DW, and I'd love to see more HP stuff (and other stuff in general) posted on both.

[community profile] bestthingever is for that fic that was JUST written and you JUST read, and you can't wait to tell the world about it. It's a multifandom rec community and if I remember correctly, is only for fics written in the last three months. It's a great comm to watch, because if you are always behind in your reading (like me) someone might post something in one of your fandoms. Or someone might post something in a fandom you've been curious about! And it's a great place to rec because it's a totally different audience, and someone might be curious enough to read a fic they wouldn't normally encounter.

Then there is [community profile] fancake which is a thematic rec comm for new or classic fics. There are posting periods with themes (the current one is female characters), and folks post recs according to the theme. Re-reccing is allowed, if a story fits a new theme and was already posted under an old theme. And every few themes there's an amnesty period, where fics can be recced and tagged to any prior theme. Again this is multifandom, and again, I've bumped into lots of stuff I might not have otherwise encountered. I'd also love to see more classic HP recced here, since I'm still relatively new and there are a lot of things I haven't read yet.

But generally, I just love both of these comms, and I highly recommend them, if you have a DW account! And if you don't have a Dreamwidth account, I think they are still allowing open account creation, so making one is now quick and easy. If you do check out the comms, please remember to look at their posting rules/templates because I've probably forgotten to mention something here (like I think [community profile] fancake has a posts per day limit, and I'm pretty sure both of them have a requested subject line to help keep things organized).

Go forth and join and read and rec!


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 14th, 2012

[No Subject]

[livejournal.com profile] wizsprogs has completed posting and has posted reveals! So I can now tell you which four (yes FOUR) pieces I wrote for this fest.

My first claim was picked because I saw the pairing and JUMPED ON IT. It is Marcus/Oliver and yes, it is my Marcus, all the way. How could I resist the chance to write about Marcus being pissed off at being pregnant and not being able to play Quidditch??

For You and Your Denial (9514 words) by favicontryslora
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Mature
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Marcus Flint/Oliver Wood
Characters: Marcus Flint, Oliver Wood
Summary: When Marcus Flint, star Chaser for the Tornadoes, is knocked from his broom during a game against Puddlemere, he is shocked to find out that his balance is shot because he’s pregnant. Sidelined for months, severely closeted Marcus must come to terms with being outed, his relationship going public, and what the bleep is he going to do without Quidditch?

For my second claim, I decided I wanted to do something silly and fun and humorous. I picked up a Harry/Draco prompt that sounded like I could manage something a little lighter with it.

The Blame Game (1961 words) by favicontryslora
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter
Summary: Draco is giving birth and it hurts, and he looks terrible, and this is ALL HARRY’S FAULT and he wants to make absolutely whingingly certain that Harry knows this.

My third prompt is the angsty hard to write omg prompt. It specified Harry and I think this was the one that was any non-Draco pureblood, and I decided to put him with Neville. Which meant that I put Neville through hell. This story may be triggery to some. I tried to treat the subject matter with the respect it deserves, and this was an incredibly hard piece to write.

Hello, Goodbye (3054 words) by favicontryslora
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Mature
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Characters: Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Summary: Harry has always wanted children, but knew they just weren’t possible since he was gay. When Neville tells him that truly pureblooded men can have children, Harry jumps at the chance. But when Neville miscarries, both men are distraught, and must rely on each other to heal.

The last one was because I saw the prompt, saw it was for Kiss, got a little plot bunny going, so I grabbed it. And then it decided it wanted to be a novel. I held it to about 15k words, so I'm happy with that.

An Awful Mess (14626 words) by favicontryslora
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Characters: Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Lily Luna Potter, James Sirius Potter, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley
Summary: Albus didn’t realize it was possible for boys to get pregnant, so when he starts having symptoms, he ignores them at first until the thought starts to occur to him. But acknowledging his situation means all sorts of trouble, like coming out to his friends, family, and the whole school, not to mention dragging his boyfriend out of the closet as well. It means deciding what to do, when he’s only sixteen, and still has the rest of his education to finish out. And it means that both he and Scorpius have to live with the ramifications of every decision that they make from this point forward.

My goal with writing all the pieces was to write four fairly different pieces. Different styles, different topics, different emotions. Some planned pregnancy, some not. Some humor, some angst. Lots of song lyrics/titles for story titles (three of the four). And I just kept having fun with it. I never really got mpreg before last fall, and now I've written a ton of it. Who knew.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 9th, 2012

[No Subject]

We didn't have torturement class last Saturday.

We had a tournament.

Strictly speaking, we had two. The CARMAA team tournament was up in Saratoga for forms only. Boo and I missed that one, but Kevin went and represented for us. I think he took third? I don't remember. He isn't all that interested in forms... Boo and I, on the other hand, attended the Regional AAU championship, which was also the local qualifier for nationals.

all about the long day we had, and our triumphs and failures )


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 8th, 2012

[No Subject]

Voting is up in the H/D LDWS contest. I'm no longer in it, but I still encourage you to please go read this week's selections and vote! There's some lovely work here, and all these folks have worked hard.

Go vote.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 7th, 2012

[No Subject]

I made a promise to myself (resolution?) to try to be more updatey, but I haven't been making good on it lately. Then again, the last ten days or so have been pretty insane on the RL front, so that might explain it. This week is a bit calmer, so I'm going to try to take advantage of that to get back on track.

Writingwise, I wrote 850 words over the course of 10 days. Talk about falling off the wagon! I just couldn't seem to find much time to write, and when I found time, I was so stressed that I couldn't find anything like focus. My brain just kept skittering around. But last night I grabbed the wagon and dragged my ass back onto it, and put in a few hundred words on Bullies (all of which are getting deleted today, yay!) and about a thousand on my hp_harlequin piece.

I woke up this morning with muses buzzing in my head, and scribbled notes down for Bullies (how to fix the reason why I'm stuck) as well as for a potential short story to submit to Circlet. I forgot to write down my Kurtofsky idea, so I'm going to do that shortly now that I'm at the computer again. At lunchtime, I have one errand to run (mail run!) but other than that, I'm hoping to spend a little time writing. Force myself to take a lunch break and DO it. I'm not sure which piece I'll work on, but in thirty minutes I ought to be able to put out a thousand words.

I'd like to make today a 5k day, but I don't think that will happen. For one, I want to watch an episode of The OC with Chick (she caught up to me and now we are watching and giggling together). I also want to watch a movie with Kev. I can kind of write fic while watching TV/movies, but it's also a good gaming time. So maybe it'll be a 2k day, if I can get two solid 30 minute writing zones done. I'll take that, honestly.

[livejournal.com profile] hd_writers is hosting a 72 hour word war this weekend (essentially Friday/Saturday/Sunday) in which I intend to take part. I'd like to make 10k in those 72 hours. I also have TKD testing, a class, a basketball game, and knitting... so um, yeah. Maybe I should adjust my goal to 5k. *dubious*

In the fandom world, I'm pleased this week. Honestly, fandom is one of the things that has kept me sane in the insanity and drama, and yes, I know, it's selfish to want my ego petted, but sometimes it's a good and helpful thing, right?

In terms of longer term goals, harlequin and big bang mixup are both due end of March, I think. I also wanted to finish bullies by then, but I don't see that happening. So here are my goals. Finish harlequin (I'm guessing this will be around 20k more than what I have already). Finish BBM (again, guessing around 20-30k more than what I have already). That's 50k of fic in what, 6-7 weeks? I want to put in about 20k more on Bullies in that same time. So we are looking at 70-75k of fic in the next 6-7 weeks, or let's say 10k per week. Er. Okay, that might be insane. I see some extension requests in my future... either way, I'd better get cracking. Or figure out some way to make the fic parts of this shorter!


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Feb. 2nd, 2012

[No Subject]

I took a chance this week and tried to do something different in LDWS, and it didn't work, so I am out. Ah well! Congratulations to all who are continuing, and I will still be posting voting links to try to convince y'all to go vote. Because it's not about me, it's about voting for the lovely authors who are doing wonderful work.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

[No Subject]

Stat time! January stats, since I'm keeping them...

Reading: Published Work
7 books read
at least 2210 pages read (plus one ebook, pages unknown)
5 YA, 2 SF/romance

the titles, for the curious )

Of these, I'd definitely recommend The Vespertine and all these things i've done. My review of the Pati Nagle is on LibraryThing (sorry, no link, I'm working quickly here). And I forgot how much I love Linnea Sinclair. Just wonderful fun space opera and romance.

Reading: Fanfic
6 fics saved to be recced, which I shall do here. Some of them may have been recced to me in the first place, some are from fests. Heed warnings (available on the fics themselves, not in my comments)!

the fics that caught my eye )

Writing
42,496 words written
1 short story edited
revs done on early chapters of Bullies, and ~1800 words added
9 fics started and finished (many of which were drabbles for LDWS)
1 non-fest fist posted
Yuletide, Fandom Stocking, and Daily Deviant revealed
3 rounds of LDWS posted & revealed (4th in progress)
2 fests ongoing and unrevealed
1 more fest submitted to
2 awards won in hp_tarot
4 WiP fics updated


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

[No Subject]

I've started a Tumblr. I'm trying to keep it PG-13 and coherent.

Wish me luck.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.
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Feb. 1st, 2012

[No Subject]

[info]squeaky has a question about ads. If you use IJ in any form, and have an opinion about how ads work on the site, please go and give your honest answer. Try to give helpful answers, including your reasoning, and options if you have any ideas. I understand why this has become a difficulty for him, and am hoping we can all help him find a new way to help finance the upkeep for a site we all love.

Jan. 31st, 2012

[No Subject]

Voting for week 4 of LDWS at slythindor100 has been posted! Please take a moment to read the five wonderful drabbles and vote for both your favorite and your least favorite.

Vote Here


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Jan. 30th, 2012

[No Subject]

It doesn't make me money. It technically isn't what I'm supposed to be doing as a writer. And yet, fic makes me smile anyway because sometimes I get to see that I nailed it.

Not all the time. I'm not that good, not to mention that I still can't quite figure out how to write the perfect drabble. But I'm so happy when I have a fic that seems to go around and people come back to it and are still reading it months later. Or when someone calls out a little detail that I thought I did well with and tells me it's just right.

Feedback is good.

On that note, for the record and to state it bluntly, I like to know what I did wrong, too. If you read a fic and go OMG you FAILED in your head, please feel free to let me know privately. I invite concrit and I am adult enough to handle it (although I'd prefer it to be polite). I can't improve if I don't know what I did wrong. Right now, all I know is some fics are loved, and some are ignored, and I can't tell if it's just the pairing, or if I did something horribly offensive...

A quick status for where I am...

Working on Bullies (the novel). Considering writing short stories for Circlet if I can get any of them to gel properly in my head. I claimed a prompt for hp_harlequin and am working on that, as well as on my piece for big bang mixup. Tons to do, yes.

I'm watching both [livejournal.com profile] harry_submits and [livejournal.com profile] wizsprogs post and enjoying them immensely. I will have fics posting in both of those (3 for submits, 4 for sprogs, yes I was kind of scarily inspired and obsessed). I've turned in my one piece for [livejournal.com profile] hp_nextgen_fest early and that won't post for a while (the fest starts posting March 5th). I turned in my piece for round 4 of LDWS, so that voting will go up later this week. When LDWS is completely over, I'll post a roundup of the drabbles I submitted to it, plus the extra ones I wrote and didn't submit.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

Jan. 28th, 2012

[No Subject]

So, the boards mostly won today. Boo took fifth in his division out of seven. He hesitated on the downward palm and didn't get through all his boards. Kev took fourth out of... I'm not sure how many (up to seven, which was the max in any division). The boards definitely fought back with Kev. His first trio was amazing, with two inverse ridge hands and a spin back that were all clean. But his backfist hit wrong, and we think he broke a blood vessel because POOF his hand swelled up but he can move it so it's not broken. Then he did his spin jump axe and was off on aim so the boards scattered instead of breaking. They went back on solid instead of spaced and he did a very impressive standing axe through four inches of board. Very whoa on that.

For myself, my first set was roundhouse, spin jump roundhouse, and axe (the last being through two boards). I failed the first round, but nailed the next two no problems. I retried the first round and I just had trouble getting through it, and my toe hurt like hell because my aim was off. My second set was a knife hand through one, then two downward hammer through five boards spaced. The knife and SECOND set of five went fine. The first set of five I held back or something because I only killed three. ARGH. So I basically messed up and took last. *sighs* I will fix my sequences for next time, because honestly, I should've nailed it all.

Kev's icing his hand, I'm icing my foot, and in a little while we will go collect the elder kidlet and go out to eat and stop at the mall to get Sera an iPhone case. Because otherwise I will mess Sera up when I've barely had her for long!

Yes, there are videos, but I need to edit them and upload them. I shall get there, but not right now.


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. You can either comment there or here.

[No Subject]

I never did write about torturement class last week. In short: one person broke her hand, my husband broke his toe. It's like the level and speed has been ramped up, and while I'm getting better at surviving class (still can't run, it hurts my left hip really badly), the risks are getting higher. This is probably because the AAU National Qualifiers are next weekend and everyone wants to get used to going all out (and having an opponent that doesn't hold back).

It's also what shut us down early last night. It was like... people had no control. Boo fell on his knee and came up crying, but we assured him nothing was broken and he's fine today. Last night was mostly drills, and a couple of matches. At the end, I couldn't get my kicks high enough to spar Kev -- over the belt for him is kind of almost head height for me, I swear.

Today we have the first round of our team circuit tournament, which is breaking. Breaking happens to be my favorite event, and I'm crushed that I have the lingering effects of this week's migraine today. I can type, which is a good sign -- I haven't tried to substitute letters or words once this post! That means it's going away. Hopefully by tonight it will be gone, if I stay properly hydrated.

During breaking, we get to have two sets of breaks, three stations each. So that's six breaks. I'm intended to break 15 boards between all those stations. I've asked Boo to take video of it on my iPhone (everyone say hello to Sera, my new companion) so with any luck I'll be able to upload that today and share. *fingers crossed*

Now, though, I've had breakfast and it's time to go make myself human for the day and hunt some tylenol.

Oh, and randomly... making my own ringtones is kind of addictive. I shall have to remember that the point of the phone ringing is to ANSWER it, not listen to my favorite songs... current default is "Born This Way". I expect that to change, often. Chick is still "Miss Independent" and I have given Kev All Time Low's "Weightless" and Boo has "Sing" by MCR. My boss is the violin opening to "For You And Your Denial" and I've also made two other Yellowcard ringtones (the addiction continues). There are a ton more songs I want to turn into ringtones too... I've only made ten so far! Handy that they are small and don't take up much space, huh?

Oh right, I also need to make lunches today... I'd better get moving. More later when I have news to report about the tournament!


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