What I did today

Today contained two main accomplishments: I finished a complete draft of my Adventure Zone fic (about 15k words, the longest I've written in quite awhile), and I played a good chuck of Dragon Age 2.

I don't think I've said much or maybe even anything about my current DA activity. This is the long-delayed continuation of my Mahariel's universe -- delayed mostly by Inquisition, which I played three times, beginning to end, between its release and July 2017. I actually took a break from my Qunari mage, Nazlin Adaar, to finish Loral Maharial's canon, and then a little while later spent a little while starting up the DA2 run that follows. A few weeks ago, I picked the game back up again, and today I got to the point of triggering the final battle of Act 2.

In this universe, Hawke is named Sylvie, and she's a snarky mage with a side of aggression. About the only person she's consistently nice to is Merrill, who she sees as the little sister she didn't adequately protect and support the first time. More often, she's a gleeful anarchist, out for her own profit and freedom and power -- and, okay, she also helps people sometimes. My main goals for this playthrough were to romance Isabela for the first time (so far, so good), and to get two of the companion paths I'd never seen before: friend Merrill, rival Aveline. Getting Aveline into rival territory was surprisingly easy; befriending Merrill took a little more work, but it seems to have succeeded -- to the point that, without my having ever taken a single flirt option, I got the scene where Merrill shows up at Hawke's mansion. (Sylvie let Merrill down gently -- or at least, gently for Sylvie.)

If the pattern holds, by the end of the game I will have successfully friended every DA companion, and rivaled everyone except Varric and Isabela. My Garrett Hawke should probably have rivaled Isabela, but it never quite gelled that way, and if even HE couldn't be too much of a stick-in-the-mud for her, I'm not sure I can ever make it work. Marissa, my best beloved red mage, started out down the rivalry path with Varric, but it was so disturbing to me that I walked it back, and they wound up as BFF. A Hawke who would rival either of those folks is probably not a Hawke I would want to play, and that's all right with me.

Such a wonderful series of games. I don't know that I'll ever truly be done with them. Next up after this would be my Dalish Inquisitor; I'll probably pull the same trick I did with DA:O and play a male, so I can hit one of the gender gated romances (I'll let him decide whether he wants Dorian or Cassandra). I look forward to seeing what happens.

November update; December goals

Days written: 29/30
Days written, YTD: 259 (so past the GYWO target!)
Words written: 15,502
Words of fic written: 9,507
Stories worked on: Two
Stories posted: None

( Charts are pretty pleased with this month, for what it was. )

Specific goals:

1. Post something publicly to my journal every day. Success, if this post counts.

2. Write every day. A DW post only counts if it meets the definition of a writing day as laid out in my writing goals for 2018. Writing for LB group posts does not count for these purposes. I don't know why I thought that not counting LB group posts toward this goal was a good idea. There were two, maybe three days, where LB and a short DW post were all I wrote, and I'm okay with that. I still missed one day entirely; it was a concert week and during the height of the smoky air, so I suppose I can forgive myself.

3. Make substantial progress on the plot bunny story (as it happens, it's a TAZ: Balance fic). I plan to make this story my primary project for the month. It would be great to finish, but it's already grown in the telling, so I don't want to over-promise. I completed the first draft yesterday and got about halfway through a thorough edit today. I'd love to post it this weekend, if I can.

4. Pick another Ladies Bingo prompt and work on it. Unfortunately, none of the other prompts are speaking to me. However, I did sign up for a Critical Role fic exchange, and I put in a little work on that story instead. But mostly I focused on the TAZ story.

Goals for December:

1. Work toward my GYWO stretch goal. To hit 288 days, I'd have to write 29 out of 31 days this month, which I don't think is super realistic. But heck, I'm not going anywhere for the holiday. No reason not to try and at least get close.

2. Finish and post the TAZ fic.

3. Finish and post the Critmas fic (due 12/27), and find another Ladies Bingo prompt to write.

4. Write at least two media reviews, either in my journal or on LB.