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I Hate Fireworks and Other Sunday Thoughts
Jul. 4th, 2021 09:21 pmI loathe the Fourth of July (and surrounding days). Aside from the jack-booted nationalism-slash-Red Solo Cup partying, I fucking hate fireworks. It terrifies the wildlife (and my dog Ginger in particular) and humans with PTSD (who are often veterans we’re supposed to be “honoring” while doing nothing practical to help people who were sucked into the military and managed to survive long enough to get out). We live in a freaking desert and it’s hot and fireworks cause so many wildfires. I’ve watched a house burn down. This was not due to fireworks, but the image and sounds will never leave me. I have watched house catch fire due to fireworks, so the memory of the destroyed house plus the explosions going off at all hours, for weeks, makes me extra grumpy and anxious and tired.
So. Grumpiness aside (as I’m safely in an air conditioned Starbucks with room to generally avoid the public while I type and drink my vanilla latte), it is good to be home. It’s hot. Not above normal desert summer temps, but they have definitely arrived earlier than what used to be normal (I’m pretty sure what we have going on now is normal because corporations want to wring every last cent from the world as it burns). Ugh, I’m getting grumpy again, with the danger of slipping into helpless fury, SO! Let’s look at what’s going well! I’ve been reading more than fic. This is very much not knocking fic. I’ve read some incredible fic lately, like this delightful SNL/CQL fic. But original fic shakes up my brain a bit because I tend to read a lot of the same style fic, for comfort. Although technically the book that I’m reading, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, is fic because it’s a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet set in 1920’s Shanghai. But it is awesome! It takes the frame, adds some supernatural (possibly? Maybe sci fi is more accurate, but I haven’t gotten to the Big Reveal yet so it’s hard to say), and lots of historical detail. I imaging Juliette Cai and Qin Xiaoman from Detective L would get along really well.
I’m still writing every day! Cat’s summer writing challenge has been super helpful because I have found I get bored/overwhelmed when I fully try and create a whole story, fic or otherwise, from scratch. Maybe I should just get prompts for original fic, or let people see my WIPs and notes and pick a plot direction from there. Someday.
Anyway, here’s a bit of the fic I’m working on for this week. I posted the fic
(...And Jingyi Makes Three? ) that last week’s snippet came from. This week’s snippet is from an upcoming entry in the summer writing challenge. I hope you like it, and I hope you have a good week!
“You’ve gotta be still, A-Sang,” Jiang Cheng says. He swallows hard, desperate to keep his voice calm. He wants to shake Huaisang, and yell at him for being a complete idiot, jumping between him and the fierce corpse they were tracking in an old warehouse south of town. He had Zidian out and ready to take the thing down, and Huaisang, noble, stupid Huaisang just … he just got in there! And got himself slashed across the chest! In an abandoned warehouse! In the middle of a blackout!
So. Grumpiness aside (as I’m safely in an air conditioned Starbucks with room to generally avoid the public while I type and drink my vanilla latte), it is good to be home. It’s hot. Not above normal desert summer temps, but they have definitely arrived earlier than what used to be normal (I’m pretty sure what we have going on now is normal because corporations want to wring every last cent from the world as it burns). Ugh, I’m getting grumpy again, with the danger of slipping into helpless fury, SO! Let’s look at what’s going well! I’ve been reading more than fic. This is very much not knocking fic. I’ve read some incredible fic lately, like this delightful SNL/CQL fic. But original fic shakes up my brain a bit because I tend to read a lot of the same style fic, for comfort. Although technically the book that I’m reading, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, is fic because it’s a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet set in 1920’s Shanghai. But it is awesome! It takes the frame, adds some supernatural (possibly? Maybe sci fi is more accurate, but I haven’t gotten to the Big Reveal yet so it’s hard to say), and lots of historical detail. I imaging Juliette Cai and Qin Xiaoman from Detective L would get along really well.
I’m still writing every day! Cat’s summer writing challenge has been super helpful because I have found I get bored/overwhelmed when I fully try and create a whole story, fic or otherwise, from scratch. Maybe I should just get prompts for original fic, or let people see my WIPs and notes and pick a plot direction from there. Someday.
Anyway, here’s a bit of the fic I’m working on for this week. I posted the fic
(...And Jingyi Makes Three? ) that last week’s snippet came from. This week’s snippet is from an upcoming entry in the summer writing challenge. I hope you like it, and I hope you have a good week!
“You’ve gotta be still, A-Sang,” Jiang Cheng says. He swallows hard, desperate to keep his voice calm. He wants to shake Huaisang, and yell at him for being a complete idiot, jumping between him and the fierce corpse they were tracking in an old warehouse south of town. He had Zidian out and ready to take the thing down, and Huaisang, noble, stupid Huaisang just … he just got in there! And got himself slashed across the chest! In an abandoned warehouse! In the middle of a blackout!
