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+ Stumbled across newyearcntdown, which is a prompt fest for December. It sounds fun! I haven't decided whether to sign up, though - I've been feeling very creatively quiet lately, probably because I have so much going on. But maybe I'll give it a go anyway. :V (Who knows.)

+ Counted the bottles of wine in my pantry. Guys, I have 14 bottles. That's way more than one person needs. Anybody want to come over and help me drink all this? ;V Most of it wasn't even purchased; my mom makes wine as a hobby, and gives me a bottle every time she finishes a batch. It's pretty good stuff, too! But I don't drink often. Maybe I should look up some recipes that use it? orz

+ Discovered a huge amount of bluish-grey yarn in my stash. I must have had a plan for this stuff, because I wouldn't order something in this quantity without intending to do something specific with it, but for the life of me I can't remember what. It's 10 balls of River City Epic, a tough wool yarn in worsted weight that I've used before and really like. That's enough to make a blanket, so... that's probably what I'll do with it! (After I finish my current project.) Maybe something by Fifty Four Ten; I really like their patterns. Anyway, this has convinced me that I really need to get into the habit of writing down what I intend to do with my yarn; put a sticky note on the label or something. 'Cause, geeze.

Candy Hearts Exchange is complete. Creators revealed today!

I'm still going through the collection; there are a whole lot of works that look interesting to me (with over 900 written for this, I would hope so!). So far I did take a look at some of the art, and a lot of it is great!

Anyway, I received:

Sunset to Dusk by Beleghir. Promare, Lio/Gueira/Meis, 18+, 2.1k.
Author's summary: Lio, Meis and Gueira no longer have the Promare holding them together, but they're building new ways of staying close.

This was some lovely postcanon domestic coziness, and exactly the kind of thing I love for these guys. <3 Worth a read if you like this ot3.

As for me, I wrote:

Turning inward, no last thoughts for Razzaroo. Hetalia, Denmark/Netherlands, 18+, ~850 words. Established relationship, set some time during the 1600s.
No plot here; just a night together.

It's been a while since I wrote some DK/NL, so I'm really glad there was a request for it. <3

+ Whew, finished a draft for Candy Hearts Exchange! What I ended up with isn't as elaborate or cool as my original idea, but the upside is that my recipient can't see inside my head, so they won't know what they're missing. ;V

(If I end up with extra time, I'm going to try to write the more complicated idea too - maybe they'll get a nice extra.)

+ goreswap is in its final day of the noms period; signups start Jan 24. Not participating, but will keep my eye on this in hopes that something Super Cool will get written.

As an aside, it's too bad this exchange didn't exist at the height of SSSS fandom. I bet we would've had a blast.

+ seasonsofdrabbles is in the nom stage for this year's winter round. Hooray! Nice to have a fresh clean tagset. I wonder what people are planning to request for this one.

+ I wonder if crackthewip is running again this year. No mention of a schedule for 2023, but who knows. I always did like "finish your stuff" kind of events - exchanges are fun, but I have so many half-finished things that aren't for an exchange, and an external deadline is nice. ;V

+ It's the kind of day where I managed to get up early and accomplish six different tasks before lunch time. I'm pretty pleased with myself!

+ Finished signing up for Candy Hearts. And somehow managed to rope Tik into it, too. That's a first.

+ Received a nice package from Lumiere yesterday. <3 Prints and pins and other trinkets. And a pin with the logo for her fanbook group, haaa. I guess I'm ~officially~ a (small) part of it, now. (Kidding, kidding, but it does feel nice). Really, the whole package was so nice and unexpected - I knew she was sending something, but I thought it would just be a postcard!

+ Discovered that there is a place in the city that sells lokum; it's just allllll the way downtown. Regardless, I now have a box of rose-flavoured goodness, mmm. <3

+ Wrote a few pages today. This fic is almost done, aughhh! (...And then it's all over but the editing. Ew.)

Happy Sunday!

+ Yuletide Exchange's fics have been revealed. 1027 fandoms, whoo! Holy shit, this thing has been going on for 20 years, what?!!

There's 17 works for Nirvana in Fire, and I'm really looking forward to those. It's probably going to be over the rarity limit next year.

+ Multifandom Doodle has revealed artworks for this round. This exchange is great, lots of fun and creative stuff typically - I find I love looking through all of it, even when I don't know the fandoms.

+ Candy Hearts Exchange* is in the nomination stage* until the end of the 27th. This is a one-off stand in for Chocolate Box Exchange, which won't be running for 2023. Looks like I'll have to figure out my requests! (Maybe I'll have a fanart-only slate this year? I dunno.)

Works for multifandomdoodle revealed today. This is an art exchange that welcomes all skill levels.

I was reaaally hoping to participate in this round, but the scheduling just didn't work out. Maybe next time.

There's a lot of awesome stuff in the collection, though! Fandoms list is here. I've mostly been looking through the original works so far, since I don't know most of the fandoms this round; I'll get to the fandom works later. (I don't read fic outside of my fandoms, but I can always enjoy good art, even without context. :V )

Of the original works, my favourites so far are:

+ Fancifowl (Song sparrow in a fancy hat)
+ Chickvalry (Knight on a chicken steed)
+ Church of St. Ivan Rilski (There are several 'sunken churches' paintings in the collection, I'm guessing the same artist, all of them great. This one is my favourite)
+ Ghosts in the plumbing (Whimsical haunted bathroom)

Thinking about participating in rarestofpairs! It's a rarepair fest with a long-term due date of Dec 31st.

It runs a little differently from the fests on DW that I've participated in. They're using the Ao3 prompt meme function, and they're building a tag set for it. Then prompts are posted on Ao3, and you can self-fulfill by claiming your own, or claim someone else's. So, nominations for the tag set are open until July 14th, and then prompting/claiming will be July 15-Dec 31.

Threw in some noms, might try to think of a few prompts... I have vague ideas floating around for some RO/BG, so I might try writing that. (Due to attempting to find something to read and not coming across anything to my taste - goddamnit Hetalia fandom, looks like I gotta' cook my own food again.) I have no idea what to do with Bulgaria's characterization, but a low-pressure event like this sounds like a good way to figure it out.

The good thing about having such a far-off due date: Lots of time to work on it! Might even be able to write multiple fics!

The downside: ...I might forget about it altogether, whoops. Hopefully not. Mind like a sieve, I have it. Claiming prompts adds them to your Claimed Prompts list on Ao3, so that will probably help.

Got my prompt card for comment_bingo. Some of them might be a bit challenging, but I think I can work with this.

Now, can I find time to read fic? That sure is the question. xD

( Prompt table for comment-bingo under the cut )

+ sunflower_auction: Fandom auction to help Ukraine. Signup for offers ongoing. Closing date is May 10 at 23:59 UTC.

+ Merry Month of Drabbles: 100 Words (Exactly) - Drabble commentfest for May. Sounds like fun!

+ Be The First: Fics now revealed for this "write the first fic in a fandom that doesn't have any" fest. I don't recognize anything I'm familiar with, but I really appreciate the existence of this fest.
I'd hoped to write something for the Captain Kit Brightling series, but couldn't come up with any ideas. Hopefully next year it'll be ineligible due to either me or someone else writing something for it. ;)

kinkluckydip doesn't do exchange letters, but I've copied my signup over here for my own reference. Due to the nature of KLD, in which the writer is free to write whichever kink they desire, prompts are to be taken as suggestions.

( Hetalia - Denmark/Norway )
( Hetalia - Norway/Creator's Choice of Character )
( Promare - Lio/Galo )
( The Magnus Archives - Sasha James/Michael Distortion )