Tryslora in the Hall of Mirrors

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.

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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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Random sidenote! harry_submits begins posting today. I'm betting most of those fics will be NC-17 and have many warnings, so heed if you read. I have three fics that will be appearing throughout the posting period. So go read and enjoy!

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Whether you write fanfic or otherwise, if you write fiction of an NC-17 manner, these may be of interest to you. Periodically Circlet Press puts out calls for submissions for short stories for ebook anthologies. The stories must be original work in your own original universe (not fic). This is a paid anthology.

I remember when Circlet was a wee new press, and I have published with them before, so yes, I'm biased. :) But I wanted to pass these along in case any folks were interested! I'm tempted by both and kind of trying to poke my brain into coughing up plot bunnies for me... the problem with one is I just wrote my story based on Shakespeare and it was so NOT Circlet material! Although I can hear an idea hiccuping, trying to brew in the back of my mind.

Anyway. Check these out.

Call for submissions: Erotic Ghost Stories

Call for submissions: Erotica Shakespeare

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I will post this to comms later, but for now, here's the first not-for-a-fest fic I've written in a while. I blame Yellowcard entirely for this one.

Hang You Up (we are older now) (3238 words) by tryslora
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Explicit
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Lily Luna Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Astoria Greengrass
Summary:

Draco has always loved Harry. Albus has always loved Scorpius. When the families are united on the day Scorpius Malfoy marries Lily Luna Potter, Draco is the only one who understands how this is tearing Albus apart.

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Voting has been posted for the latest round of LDWS on slythindor100. The theme this week was 12 Grimmauld Place, and there are some great drabbles there to read. If you have a moment, please stop over and read the drabbles and cast your votes for most favorite and least favorite.

Read and vote here!

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This morning I heard the song "Hang You Up" by Yellowcard on my way into work, and I suddenly had this fic in my head. So today I wrote it, spewing out about 3400 words of fic and descriptive stuffs around it. It wasn't what I was supposed to be writing, but it's done now except for editing, and hey, I felt incredibly productive, so that's good, right?

My total stands at 37,719 for the year. I have fallen off the NaNo pace I started the year at, but that's okay, since honestly, I don't need to write 50k in the first month! Or rather, yes, I have 50k worth of stuff I should've completed, and sadly, I've been writing all the other stuff instead. Oops. I'll get there, though.

So graphically:

37719 / 200000 words. 19% done!

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Just another bit of accountability. I had a tough week for writing, and bailed on it several days this week. Still, I did continue to forge ahead and passed 30k for the year so far. I turned in some fics that were due, and one of the fests is posting (wizsprogs) so go read that if you enjoy HP mpreg stories. :)

If anyone guesses which stories in sprogs are mine, you can ask me privately (PM) and I might confirm. Please don't guess publicly, though, as this is supposed to be anon!

This is where I am in graphical format:

32933 / 200000 words. 16% done!

This is where I should be to be on time:

11506 / 200000 words. 6% done!

I like that cushion. A lot.

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I have to admit, I have a minimal understanding of law and process. So I may be getting this all wrong. Read up on SOPA/PIPA yourself and become informed. Don't rely on what I'm saying, but hopefully just let me inspire you to learn.

What I've read about SOPA and PIPA terrifies me, because it's swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. Or possibly a nuke.

( in which I'm hopefully coherent and saying the right things )

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Card suit layouts (with bonus Pattern included!) over at Dreamwidth, for all those Amberite journal layout needs... why yes, this amused me this morning.

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Voting for week 2 of LDWS is up! There are nine drabbles to read this week, and there will be one winner of the week and two eliminations. If you have a chance, stop on by, read the drabbles, and vote!

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In the wake of the weekend to-do list, I'm now creating a new to-do list for the week. Of course, many of these items may seem familiar... just pass on by, this is the boring part of my life...

( to-do, the week of January 16th )

Of course, this will be updated as the week goes on, and doesn't include things like attending classes, work items, etc. etc.

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I said I would blog about TKD regularly, for my small advances and setbacks, so here we go again!

Tournament class has been nicknamed "torturement class" and today lived up to that name. It was a brutal session, not even two hours and we were all drenched at the end. We started out running before class actually started, and I had to beg out a few times because my left calf kept cramping.

( the good, the bad, and the parts where my body said NO )

So that's it. I had my rough spots, and my back hurts and my lungs still hurt (I think I have a cold, or allergies, and I need to rehydrate properly). But I made it through again.

The next couple of tournament classes should be on Fridays, one because we're going to match up with another team, and the other because we're hosting a tournament on Saturday so we can't have class then.

And yes, two tournaments are coming up soon! On the 28th, it is the first round of the CAARMA team circuit tournament, hosted at our dojang. The first round is breaking, and I'm really looking forward to it. Breaking is my favorite event.

And on February 4th is the AAU tournament at Hudson Valley. Boo and I will be doing that one, both Olympic sparring and forms. I need to practice my form a lot, and work all the little details to make it solid. I'm in the ultra age class (43+) but I've elected to compete an age class down as executive (33-42). My reasoning is that there aren't a lot of women who start TKD later in life, so most colored belts, and intermediate belts, are likely to be younger than me. I doubt most start in their early 40s. So, in the interest of ensuring I have women to compete with, I elected to go with the younger women. Hopefully this doesn't make me completely miserable!!

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Here we go, this is the monster task list for Deb's Do All The Things Weekend:

( four days, many many tasks )

I suspect I'm forgetting things, so I will add them as I remember them. My starting word count before the weekend on all open projects is 31,903. I want to be up to, at the very least, 45,000 by the end of the weekend. So yeah, that's 13k minimum in four days of writing time.

I suspect I could either do the writing things, or the shopping things, but both isn't going to work out well. But hey, I have to try!

If anyone else would like to join me in this challenge weekend, check in below with your plans and check back periodically to update with what you've accomplished? Time frame is sunup on Friday to sleep time on Monday!

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Did I mention this last week? I don't remember!

fire_juggler is encouraging people to comment more in fandom. How often do you read a story/see a vid/enjoy an essay and you just don't feel like you have time to comment? Well, Friday is about taking the time to make comments on those pieces you enjoy!

Take a look at feedback_friday (the explanation/signup post is here) and join up. It's a low-key challenge. You'll see the banner on Friday reminding you, and it's up to you to check yourself off if you do it or not. And you don't have to do the recommended five; you can do three a week, or two off your bookmarked to read later, or however suits your schedule!

Now, as an aside to this, let me say, I love honesty. If I've written a fic and you love it, that's cool. But if I've written a fic and something about it doesn't work for you, I'd love to know why. Because that's how I, as a writer, will improve. I need to know what works for readers, and what doesn't work. So constructive criticism of all kinds ("great characters" OR "omg you have so many plot holes!") is good for me. Please feel free to say what's on your mind.

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Okay, so I don't know what to do for day 12 of the snowflake challenge.

The challenge today is to provide recs to lure new folks into a fandom. Things that are exciting for that fandom, or perhaps defined and shaped the fandom. And the idea, of course, is to use a smaller fandom.

The problem is, as a fandom, I'm involved with HP, and I still have trouble doing recs there. My other teeny fandoms are either fandoms of 1 or 2 people, or I haven't done a lot of extensive reading in those fandoms. So I'm sitting here trying to decide on a fandom, and then figure out if I have things to rec in it. I considered going all the way back to Amber, but I'm not sure if the fanworks I have bookmarked are really indicative of the books so much as they show what I loved about them and the places I wanted to take the world afterwards. Plus, it's not so much an active fandom that I can get folks excited about, y'know?

Any ideas here? Suggestions? Ways for me to stay awake today?

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I have to make this really quick, so I shall come back and edit this with banners later after I get a chance to download them properly!!

The awards for hp_tarot posted, and I kind of might have maybe choked on my cereal a little.

"No Matter Where You Go (There You Are)..." won two awards. One for Best Redeemed Draco and the favorite fic award: Best In Show, Fest Favorite.

( the pretty banners! )

Um. Wow. I did not expect that and am blushing and so pleased this morning!!

I should write more about this, and I will do a better post later, or edit this one more likely. But in snapshot, my card was one of a journey of a fair-haired man, and I chose to give Draco both a physical and emotional journey in the years after the war, which ends with this story of him and Neville and a hospital in NYC. If you'd like, you can read it on LJ, on IJ, on DW, or on AO3.

And now I'd best go get lunch made and things packed so I can get me and mine through the rain (not snow, so no school delay!) and going for the day.

Edited at 9:36am to add in the pretty banners!

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Once again, just a progress meter to catch up on some accountability. I've been working like mad on wizsprogs and harry_submits, as well as looking over critique points for Bullies. I'm way ahead of the curve, but I've got so many things due ASAP that I need to be.

20608 / 200000 words. 10% done!

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Day 10

In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This one is kind of hard.

For one, I hate singling out people I like. If I talk about one writer friend, I offend another. I feel like I'm causing conflict, even if I'm not. Also... um... this is embarrassing but I don't always equate the fanworks with the fan. I could tell you which writers I'm talking to in the chat room, but I can't remember what pieces they specifically wrote! And I should be able to do that, but I just read for the pieces; I don't read because something's a favorite person. I guess my brain anonymizes for me?

Then I started trying to remember a few things, and realized... everything I'm remembering is smut, and while I love some of these creators, I don't want to link someone that doesn't have some worksafe stuff up that I can link to as examples because not everyone loves NSFW art/fic.

So here I am, staring at the screen, utterly failing to talk about someone.

I think I'm going to have to take a pass on this one...

Day 11

In your own space, ask for recs. Something as simple as "I like XYZ (where XYZ is a kink, a pairing, a trope, etc) - please rec me some." Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I suspect I kind of did this on the day where we listed our wants for fanworks. I'm only going to list two, because I'm keeping it simple. Harry/Neville or Harry/Neville/Luna... I want both Harry and Neville to be strong, and neither of them feminized. I want them to feel canon, although they can have changed since Hogwarts and the war, of course. If you have any recs, please throw them at me!

BTW, while we're talking about recs, there is a community on DW called kink_finders, and while it says "kink", it means anything, really, not just in the kinky sort of sense. So people have asked for case fics. Right now, there's a post up looking for recs for mpreg stories in any fandoms, so if you have favorites, pop on over and give the requester a rec or three!

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Task War...

Okay, so I was thinking of Word Warring with myself. Then I said, I should mention this! Maybe someone else will want to compete against me this weekend. Then I remembered I do have other things to do this weekend besides write (unfortunately true).

So. I'm holding a task war with myself, which will begin when I wake up Friday morning, and will end when I go to bed Monday night.

Things I hope to accomplish:
1 - writing about 15k at least, which should finish out a few fest prompts
2 - edits for the first four chapters of Bullies, and two new ones added on
3 - clipping/sorting all current coupons
4 - multiple food shopping trips
5 - two sparring classes (eek)
6 - all laundry (of course)
7 - cleaning out the upstairs closet to turn it into half shelves, half coat closet

And that's it. I know there is no way I'm getting ALL of that done, and some of it will be attacked sooner. But it gives me a goal for the weekend!

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