![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Editing jumble of thoughts
Jul. 12th, 2026 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vriddyHad a splendid editing session this morning and having some thoughts I want to jot down somewhere...
...starting with how it feels like cheating to say "a good editing session" because I'm smack-bang in the middle of writing entirely new scenes that were missing from the first draft, haha, so it feels like drafting which comes so much easier for me. Aaaah. I feel... not guilty exactly... but like I'm the person who's only ever happy when eating dessert. "I get to write new words, you say? 👀👀👀" I find that a bit sad!! Wrangling a novel is a full meal!!!!
I think maybe one of the problems I have with editing is that it doesn't matter how hard I work, even if the end result is better, there's still major problems left every time. So there isn't the same payoff than starting from nothing and then having a new world and new characters wandering on adventures, as janky as a first draft may be in places. But I might just be bummed out because even with the couple of stragglers, the beta-reader feedback for the witch is shaping to involve a fair bit of rework if I want to do the story justice. Even if I use the new editing tools I learnt for this current project. Especially if I do, actually. But I think this is just the usual "feeling bummed out because there'll be more than typos to fix" XD And maybe one of the remaining beta-readers will offer me an easy solution on a silver platter with their comments -- it was actually pretty cool to see how everyone's feedback built on each other during the first round of beta-ing, with one person often offering a concrete solution to another one's "this doesn't work for me here, not sure why" even though everyone worked on separate docs!
But that is later. About the current round of ST structural editing, another thing that's working decently for me, at least this week, is to look up the updated outline and notes before starting and thinking, "okay, how far do I want to go today? What are the obvious breaking points?", things like that. It means I can adapt to my energy levels of the day, and I think it helps me to last a bit longer for the satisfaction of reaching the nice breaking point. May my current energy levels last, because it's been really, really cool for the last three days!
Actually this morning was just particularly fun because I wrote a graveyard heist (*) while slowly helping two characters grow closer. This particular cluster of new scenes is all about that: making the three MCs grow closer while shenaniganing, which was happening way too fast in the first draft (a single scene! Speed-friendship). This morning felt like hitting the right notes for the two characters who start the furthest from each other and I am HAPPY.
Now to catch up on all the other things...
(*) No real body was harmed or defiled in the making of this novel... er. Well. In the making of THIS scene, at least.
...starting with how it feels like cheating to say "a good editing session" because I'm smack-bang in the middle of writing entirely new scenes that were missing from the first draft, haha, so it feels like drafting which comes so much easier for me. Aaaah. I feel... not guilty exactly... but like I'm the person who's only ever happy when eating dessert. "I get to write new words, you say? 👀👀👀" I find that a bit sad!! Wrangling a novel is a full meal!!!!
I think maybe one of the problems I have with editing is that it doesn't matter how hard I work, even if the end result is better, there's still major problems left every time. So there isn't the same payoff than starting from nothing and then having a new world and new characters wandering on adventures, as janky as a first draft may be in places. But I might just be bummed out because even with the couple of stragglers, the beta-reader feedback for the witch is shaping to involve a fair bit of rework if I want to do the story justice. Even if I use the new editing tools I learnt for this current project. Especially if I do, actually. But I think this is just the usual "feeling bummed out because there'll be more than typos to fix" XD And maybe one of the remaining beta-readers will offer me an easy solution on a silver platter with their comments -- it was actually pretty cool to see how everyone's feedback built on each other during the first round of beta-ing, with one person often offering a concrete solution to another one's "this doesn't work for me here, not sure why" even though everyone worked on separate docs!
But that is later. About the current round of ST structural editing, another thing that's working decently for me, at least this week, is to look up the updated outline and notes before starting and thinking, "okay, how far do I want to go today? What are the obvious breaking points?", things like that. It means I can adapt to my energy levels of the day, and I think it helps me to last a bit longer for the satisfaction of reaching the nice breaking point. May my current energy levels last, because it's been really, really cool for the last three days!
Actually this morning was just particularly fun because I wrote a graveyard heist (*) while slowly helping two characters grow closer. This particular cluster of new scenes is all about that: making the three MCs grow closer while shenaniganing, which was happening way too fast in the first draft (a single scene! Speed-friendship). This morning felt like hitting the right notes for the two characters who start the furthest from each other and I am HAPPY.
Now to catch up on all the other things...
(*) No real body was harmed or defiled in the making of this novel... er. Well. In the making of THIS scene, at least.
Some links (Dreamwidth, Pillowfort) some news (wooooords)
Jul. 11th, 2026 10:48 amvriddyI have pieces and snippets of posts in random files and places, but all my word-related efforts are going into the ST revisions right now, leaving me with little steam for other kinds of words even though I'd really like to chat about... stuff :D with folks here. Blargh. My inbox needs a gentle massage too. I actually wouldn't mind one myself either! I'm still fighting to bring the total days estimate for this round of edits under 180 days (still hovering around 188 now *sad little sigh*). Wish me luck!!
Anyway, a couple of things from Dreamwidth recently enough...!
This recent post on![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_maintenance explains the reason for the site slowness I've seen folks mention occasionally: the flood of garbage traffic (from bots, scrapers, chatbots lookups, etc) is utterly overwhelming. One of the ways Dreamwidth manages it is by assigning fewer bandwidth to non-logged in users, although that's unfortunately also reaching its limits and causing time-outs. Anyway, this sucks, but it's nice to understand the background. Someone in the comments mentioned how all of that malicious traffic is basically forcing sites into functioning like de facto walled gardens, as the non-logged in experience becomes more and more abysmal.
In other small and user-centred social platforms news, via![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pillowfolks: "Help Pillowfort become a non-profit!" It seems like there's a big transition ahead as Pillowfort aims to turn into a volunteer-run nonprofit for sustainability and other reasons. They're currently looking for help in various roles, as well as people willing to go on the Board of Directors, and/or folks who have related experience and are willing to provide advice/guidance.
Anyway, a couple of things from Dreamwidth recently enough...!
This recent post on
dw_maintenance explains the reason for the site slowness I've seen folks mention occasionally: the flood of garbage traffic (from bots, scrapers, chatbots lookups, etc) is utterly overwhelming. One of the ways Dreamwidth manages it is by assigning fewer bandwidth to non-logged in users, although that's unfortunately also reaching its limits and causing time-outs. Anyway, this sucks, but it's nice to understand the background. Someone in the comments mentioned how all of that malicious traffic is basically forcing sites into functioning like de facto walled gardens, as the non-logged in experience becomes more and more abysmal.In other small and user-centred social platforms news, via
pillowfolks: "Help Pillowfort become a non-profit!" It seems like there's a big transition ahead as Pillowfort aims to turn into a volunteer-run nonprofit for sustainability and other reasons. They're currently looking for help in various roles, as well as people willing to go on the Board of Directors, and/or folks who have related experience and are willing to provide advice/guidance.Community Thursday
Jul. 9th, 2026 06:07 amvriddyCommunity Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.
Commented onbooknook.
Promotedvocab_drabbles.
Commented on
booknook.Promoted
vocab_drabbles.Post and Jam: Crossing a Canyon by 54-40 [1996]
Jul. 8th, 2026 05:04 pmdelphiFandom 50 #20
For 1996, a little roots rock from a band named for some 19th century colonial sloganeering.
Crossing a Canyon by 54-40
For 1996, a little roots rock from a band named for some 19th century colonial sloganeering.
Crossing a Canyon by 54-40
Creating a GIF or a collage
Jul. 9th, 2026 05:36 amg_uava posting in fictional_fansI wrote about the different effects of creating a GIF (moving image) or a collage (compilation of multiple images into one static image out of frames from the same scene, which I thought might interest other photo editors. While writing it, I came across the Fanlore entry on the picspam that likens picspams to fanart. It's a first for me to see picspams described that way!
S&A cast reunion at Stratford 2026/7/26
Jul. 8th, 2026 10:40 amverushka70 posting in ds_noticeboardThe Stratford Festival posted on their Facebook that the S&A cast will reunite for one night only - July 26 - for a reading of the comedy The Amateurs.
Paul Gross and Don McKellar are included in the reuniting cast.
Follow the link above for more details!
ETA: You can buy tickets here.
Paul Gross and Don McKellar are included in the reuniting cast.
Follow the link above for more details!
ETA: You can buy tickets here.
S&A cast reunion at Stratford 2026/7/26 (Fannish Fifty #30)
Jul. 8th, 2026 10:38 amverushka70The Stratford Festival posted on their Facebook that the S&A cast will reunite for one night only - July 26 - for a reading of the comedy The Amateurs.
Paul Gross and Don McKellar are included in the reuniting cast.
Follow the link for more details!
ETA: You can buy tickets here.
SquidgeWorld Discussion And Fundraising Update
Jul. 7th, 2026 07:43 pmsquidgestatusLet's get the fun stuff out of the way first. With thanks to the 53 distinct donors so far, Squidge's Hot Fic Summer Fundraiser is nearly there! So far we have raised $2,269.82 out of our goal of $2,500. Hitting our goal means keeping the lights on for another year. So if you've been sitting on the fence about donating and can spare a few dollars, it would be awesome if you could donate. But remember - if you're struggling, take care of yourself first. There's a reason flight attendants always say, "Put your own mask on first before helping others." While we'd welcome all of you as donors, we're glad to have you as Squidge users and visitors.
Second is discussion over on SquidgeWorld about possibly disabling guest comments from here on out. This is due to a commission spammer feeding fics into ChatGPT and then having ChatGPT spit out questions that might engage the creator(s). While we can try and prevent AI from scraping our works, we can't prevent someone copy & pasting said works into an AI engine for their own use.
But disabling guest comments is a big step toward that.
There's a whole discussion on SquidgeWorld if you'd like to read there. If you have an account, you can comment there, or you may comment here as you like. I'd like people to be a part of this conversation as opposed to telling people what can and can't be done as part of their access to the open Internet.
Second is discussion over on SquidgeWorld about possibly disabling guest comments from here on out. This is due to a commission spammer feeding fics into ChatGPT and then having ChatGPT spit out questions that might engage the creator(s). While we can try and prevent AI from scraping our works, we can't prevent someone copy & pasting said works into an AI engine for their own use.
But disabling guest comments is a big step toward that.
There's a whole discussion on SquidgeWorld if you'd like to read there. If you have an account, you can comment there, or you may comment here as you like. I'd like people to be a part of this conversation as opposed to telling people what can and can't be done as part of their access to the open Internet.
New due South Convivial Pursuit quiz
Jul. 3rd, 2026 05:09 pmverushka70 posting in ds_noticeboardThere is a new due South Convivial Pursuit quiz for July - enjoy!
Overnight Outage
Jul. 3rd, 2026 12:38 pmsquidgestatusSometime during the middle of the night, there was a power blurp here in the Pacific Northwest that took out our little datacenter. Things started coming back up around 5am Pacific Time (12:00 UTC) and all services but SquidgeWorld are now up. SquidgeWorld takes about 2 hours to process everything and finish coming up, so we anticipate everything to be operational around 7:30am (14:30 UTC).
If you have questions, please let us know. And if you see any service that's down, also let us know. Thanks!
If you have questions, please let us know. And if you see any service that's down, also let us know. Thanks!
Monthly dS Art Digest (June 2026)
Jul. 2nd, 2026 09:57 pmmortmere posting in ds_noticeboardLet’s start with one post from May that I missed:
ARTIST: lonval24
Fraser in Mountie on the Bounty
And here's new art from June:
ARTIST: look_turtles
Smiling Dief (Fanart)
Ray In Gray (fanart) (RayK)
ARTIST: gjdraws
Paul Gross in various roles, including Fraser
C6D bonus:
Several new Paul Gross portraits by lonval24 - check their “drawing” tag on Tumblr, or their Instagram:
Community Thursday
Jul. 2nd, 2026 06:35 amvriddyCommunity Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.
Commented oncommon_nature.
Commented onbooknook.
Commented on
common_nature.Commented on
booknook.
Post and Jam: Sleepy Maggie by Ashley MacIsaac ft. Mary Jane Lamond [1995]
Jun. 30th, 2026 12:05 pmdelphiFandom 50 #19
The mid-'90s Celtic music craze is more of a temporal quirk than a geographic one. I know the US had its own moment, with this also only being one part of a larger "world music" trend that I'm assuming had a lot to do with how CDs were changing the game, and I have younger Canadian friends who don't even remember that this was ever a thing. But the fact that a large area of Canada has heavily Scottish- and Irish-influenced regional identities where Celtic music already dominated meant that a substantial portion of mainstream Canadian hits and the general CBC soundtrack ended up falling into this category in the '90s, making household names of artists like Great Big Sea, The Rankin Family, Loreena McKennitt, Spirit of the West, Natalie MacMaster, Leahy, The Barra MacNeils, Lennie Gallant, Bruce Guthro, The Irish Descendants, and whoever else was going to be on Rita and Friends that week.
And of course there was Ashley MacIsaac, whose rendition of "Sleepy Maggie" with Mary Jane Lamond on vocals lurked just shy of the top 100 south of the border but was a top 20 hit for the better part of a year at home, resulting in a lot of decidedly non-Gaelic-speaking Canadian schoolchildren memorizing the lyrics phonetically and swapping urban legends about what secret and scandalous things they might mean.
Sleepy Maggie by Ashley MacIsaac
The mid-'90s Celtic music craze is more of a temporal quirk than a geographic one. I know the US had its own moment, with this also only being one part of a larger "world music" trend that I'm assuming had a lot to do with how CDs were changing the game, and I have younger Canadian friends who don't even remember that this was ever a thing. But the fact that a large area of Canada has heavily Scottish- and Irish-influenced regional identities where Celtic music already dominated meant that a substantial portion of mainstream Canadian hits and the general CBC soundtrack ended up falling into this category in the '90s, making household names of artists like Great Big Sea, The Rankin Family, Loreena McKennitt, Spirit of the West, Natalie MacMaster, Leahy, The Barra MacNeils, Lennie Gallant, Bruce Guthro, The Irish Descendants, and whoever else was going to be on Rita and Friends that week.
And of course there was Ashley MacIsaac, whose rendition of "Sleepy Maggie" with Mary Jane Lamond on vocals lurked just shy of the top 100 south of the border but was a top 20 hit for the better part of a year at home, resulting in a lot of decidedly non-Gaelic-speaking Canadian schoolchildren memorizing the lyrics phonetically and swapping urban legends about what secret and scandalous things they might mean.
Sleepy Maggie by Ashley MacIsaac