So I didn't open emails over the weekend because of the con. I open it today and in my two online only classes I have 40 students between two classes. Out of those 40 THREE wrote me to say we can't see the notes for the final unit. I turned that on a week ago sunday and the quizzes were due yesterday. The final on this is due friday.

THREE people out of 40. And they're right. The notes are messed up. I fixed it. I extended the quizzes and the final (the class locks off next week because friday is technically the last day of class) so my question is WHY would you not contact the professor if something was wrong.

And the other stuff isn't working either and IT says it's McGraw Hill who says I'm doing it wrong, you know the same thing I've done for 20 damn years. And btw am doing exactly how they're telling me to do it. screams into the void.

But as for yesterday, I came home to go to Bob Fest vs going to the last day of the con. Honestly I can bump this back to every other year too. I know where all the vendors are and how much more could I use from any of them? Sure the coffee/honey/maple vendors I can always use (as if I can't get it from Kroger, literally in the coffee's case, they're local and carried by Kroger) How much more glass can I get from the glass blower (the answer is a blue bird for mom and a purple one for me) I did skip the jerky (getting too expensive) got the cheese from my cheesemonger.

And I was going to get some bougie boozy jam. How much are these? two for 35$. Sure thing. She sees me with jelly jars in hand. I sneak them onto a shelf and scamper off. You can't scamper with a cane. Lordee no.

I pet some long horns (owned by one of my current students) and came home.

( have some con pictures under here )

And it's music monday. Since it's spooky time let's continue with the spooky music

Another full albumn for you. This is my favorite by Midnight Syndicate

Watch on YouTube

I have always loved these house displays (Im not tech savvy enough to do this) here's one that's a tribute to Ozzy (Locally the rock station is calling this Ozztober)

Watch on YouTube

And for the K Pop fans

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Svengoolie

minoanmiss posting in

fancake

Fandom:
Marvel Cinematic UniverseCaptain America (Movies)Marvel (Comics)
Pairings/Characters: Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Rating: Gen
Length: 4,117
Creator Links: HSavinien on AO3
Theme: Medieval Jousting, warrior recognizing warrior

Summary: Sir Samuel meets another knight lately returned from war shortly before the Midsummer tournament.

Reccer's Notes: One of the things I love about historical fiction is getting the voice of the time right. One of the things I love about fanfiction is getting the voices of the characters right. This marvelous story does both and so much more.

Fanwork Links:Le Chevalier au Faucon

Current Mood: hopeful

malinaldarose

I made Halloween Cards this afternoon. I'm rather pleased with them.

scolaro

We returned from San Francisco a few days ago, and I'm still trying to catch up with everything, including journal entries.
For the trip both Mum and I decided to get the latest Pixel phone, mainly for its top notch camera. The second reason is that we both still owned older phones in excellent conditions that we could use as trade-ins, lowering the price for the new phones considerably (otherwise we wouldn't have done it).
The camera is indeed top notch, including the excellent zoom. (Click on the photos to see them in their original size - otherwise you may not even make out the detail from the zoom shot.)

( Examples )

It works with AI, and not all images come out as good, of course. But more often than not it's pretty damn impressive.
I've got one more...

( Golden Gate Bridge )

Current Mood: impressed

cornerofmadness

I'm not sure this is actually from Franklin (though it sounds like something he'd say. I'd like to do both things)

Went from the con to Bob Evans Farm fest but knocked out about 400 words on my second

spook_me story (prompt cannibal)

How is it going for you? Let know and if i forgot you somewhere along the way let me know

Day 12 -

cornerofmadness,

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

sanguinity,

ysilme,

trobadora,

luzula

sylvanwitch,

brithistorian

cmk418,

( other days under here )

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Them!

cornerofmadness

It's late. I'm tired and just got a reject from an anthology (boo) but I have a head full of plot bunnies. Let me ask you guys this. What do you do with your wild plot bunnies. Do you immediately start on them? DO you write a little bit of it to get it out of your head and go back to your regularly scheduled work? DO you write down the idea in a file folder (You'll never remember the name of) or just go I'll remember this (and promptly forget)

Or are you like me and do all of the above?

Open Calls

Negative Space 3: The End of All Sanctuary Survival horror stories with a siege, home invasion, or isolation sub-theme

NonBinary Review #43 Carnival theme

38 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for October 2025

From Around the Web

What Was NaNoWriMo? 7 Reasons to Still Do It (+ Alternatives) I'm not sure I agree with everything but it does have alternatives which some of us m ight like

10 Proven Strategies to Own the Amazon Algorithm

The Recipe for Writing a Great Scene

11 Killer Horror Writing Tips from Stephen King

From Betty

Five Ways to Get Carbon-Based Life Outside the Goldilocks Zone

Five Stories With Strong Ensemble Casts

Five Common Mistakes That Put Your Heroes in the Wrong

How to Use the Five Senses in Your Description

Try a Little Kindness

When Your Imaginary World Becomes Real

Creating Buzz

First Draft Words of Wisdom

I still think the “nuts and bolts” belong after the plot description in a query letter

How to Write with Confidence: 3 Ways to Overcome Fear and Rekindle Purpose

Best Synonym Tools for Writers: How to Find the Perfect Word for Any Project

Why Every Writer Needs an Email Signature Line for Book Marketing

Why Every Writer Needs an Email Signature Line for Book Marketing

Mastering Point of View: How to Fix Common POV Mistakes and Write More Compelling Stories

Line Edits vs. Copy Edits: What’s the Difference and Which Do You Need?

When Good Guys are Bad Guys and Vice Versa: Contradictions

Current Mood: busy

yhlee

Cotton handspun single from combed top, a "completed" bobbin. I'm spinning threadweight so I don't...feel the need to "fill" the bobbin even halfway (for a planned 2-ply).

I do think I'd probably have a more pleasant time spinning cotton and silk if I had a dedicated treadle wheel for them, someday; but the wheel I own works. :3

(The background art on the wall is a poster of Wonder Woman artwork by Nen Chang.)

shadaras

The first time my sensei taught a choke-hold, I think back in like 2013?, I left the mat after the demonstration because I was too panicked to even consider trying it.

It took like... a year of occasionally practicing them with the like one person I trusted enough to try them at all before I could do them with other people knowing that they were coming and only be filled with anxiety instead of putting a lot of my attention on Not Panicking.

Like four years ago, I realised that my sensei would occasionally do a choke on me without warning and I was just like "ugh, okay, thanks sensei".

By now it's just... "these aren't my favorite but they're fine? not something I'd like to teach/do with someone new to them, but not bad?"

This is on my mind because my friend L took me down to CT today for a ninjutsu seminar (they got into this a couple months ago and haven't gotten to do it much, and I hadn't done it at all before) and at least half of that was just choke-holds and how to get out of them.

And all of that was just me thinking about how this practice works and the different mentality, with no worries about the holds etc at all.

so, y'know

nice to periodically think about how it's possible to retrain one's brain and nervous system in positive ways

delphi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

morbane posting in

yuletide

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, you can comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2025 tagset app. For browsing convenience, the app also generates a google spreadsheet you can access directly. (Bookmarking will be available in the app once tag set corrections are complete.)

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, public document, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection - open Oct 14-24. If you're using this post before sign-ups are open, please check back on AO3 to sign up there!

What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, your Do-Not-Wants (DNWs), and whether or not you can receive treats. [This is a feature you can set in your AO3 preference settings. New accounts have permission to receive treats turned off by default, but participants with older accounts should check if they have not checked this in a while]. There are additional posts here and here discussing how to use DNWs.

How to post your letter

Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible. Here's the tagset to check what you can request

Enter it in the app*! You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it

Comment below! Include:
- Your AO3 name
- A link to your letter
- The fandoms you are requesting (3-8)
- The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)
If you post to the app first, it will spit out a handy chunk of text with all these details for you to use when commenting.

*Please reach out here if you're having trouble with the app! Characters can be selected by clicking on them.

!!! We ask you to add your letter both places to make sure it gets to people who are excited to read it. If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.

We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters to the app.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters will be removed. You can add your letter when it's done.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here

Mini-challenges
As mini-challenges are posted, they will be added below.
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )

The opening (and closing) of sign-ups will be announced at the admin comm.

Enjoy! And thank you to karanguni for the app!

shadowhive

So it feels that this week has been curse. Between student finance acting up (it’s still not up), one bag being forgotten, the other breaking and the sd card being completely useless last night a new issue occurred.

I was seated, ready to watch through the Wildhood special features as planned. I reached up to lift my glasses to scratch my nose and this happened.

Yep they broke in half. I dunno why, cause I wasn’t rough or anything but… ugh.

Obviously I couldn’t do anything with them last night. I tried to find the superglue but had no luck so all my plans were screwed. I listened to an audio and then went to bed.

In the morning I asked mum if she knew where superglue was to fix them and, after looking at the glasses declared instead I should ‘take them to the opticians in the morning’ to see if they could fix or put the lenses in something else. So instead of them being fixed I was given an old pair which aren’t great for my eyes which is far from ideal. I feel that I might be due a test (cause of how my eyes have been achy and bad at reading text on the tv) so feel they might just say to be booked in for that instead. Which… that isn’t ideal when I handed my glasses both for cinema trips and to see Coheed and waiting on that would likely take a week or longer even if I got in tomorrow.

Then tonight, when I said I’d just have to superglue them if they said I’d need testing, mum magicked up the superglue and I’m so annoyed by that cause I could have had them sorted earlier. Now I’m holding off till I go but ughh. (It hasn’t helped my already tiredness)

Ugh.

And I’m gonna add it here so I’m not adding it to another post. (Next one will be back to spooky season stuff.) but I found out yesterday that Ian Watkins is dead. Sounds like someone stabbed him and it killed him. Honestly I’m more surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. I haven’t appreciated his face splashed everywhere (everytime I open my email it goes to the news section with his mugshot which I don’t wanna see)

Also don’t appreciate that yesterday some dick decided to gloat to people. He went to one of Ian’s old tweets from 13 years ago (before anyone had any idea he was the monster he is) and replied to people generally being a prick about it. I bit back to the asshole then blocked him (apparently he’s some perfect Angel that has never interacted with someone that turned out to be horrible). Ugh.

But yeah tomorrow is, instead of whatever else I had planned, is gonna be a trip to the opticians after seeing if mail comes. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of the day doing other stuff I meant to (like comic reading or getting back to Hades II).

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Foolish stream

tinny

The current round at

retro_icontest was a seasonal challenge and focused on autumn. I made ten icons for it.

Enjoy!

( 10+1 icons from Amidst a Snowstorm of Love and HPI )

Concrit and comments very welcome! Take and use as many icons as you like, credit is appreciated. If you want to know whose textures and brushes I use, take a look at my resource post.

Previous icon posts:

dolorosa_12

I'm about midway through the stretch of the year which is busiest and most exhausting for me at work, and I am feeling extremely drained already. This does not bode well for the remainder of October, but at least I've been doing this job long enough that I know there is a clear end in sight, and exactly when it's going to fall.

This weekend has been lovely, even if it hasn't exactly contributed to my ability to rest and store up energy for work.

Yesterday, after charging speedily around the market to get next week's groceries, Mattthias and I caught the train into Bury St Edmunds, feeling very smug that ours appeared to be the only route not being substituted for a rail replacement bus service. We zipped through fields lined with hedgerows lit with flashes of red berries, listening to the group of middle-aged men next to us talk about their stacks of coins gathered up for some kind of excursion involving gambling, in Essex, for the half-hour duration of the journey, before wandering along leafy streets with cute little houses and cuter little shops, and marvelling at Bury's admittedly much better Saturday market.

We were in town to attend an event at the Bury literary festival: a joint discussion with Olia Hercules and Felicity Spector about their most recent books. I talked about Spector's book in this post, and Hercules's book in this post, but in essence they can be described by three words: Ukraine, survival, and food. (A fourth word would probably be ingenuity.) It was great to hear them speak — they're both excellent public speakers, and work even better together — and just in general to be somewhere where everyone else cared as much about Ukraine as I do, as I find it quite isolating for the most part. (Sample audience member: young woman from the Ukrainian diaspora, with two vyshyvanka-clad small children in tow, remarking that they had travelled for three hours just to be there, and would be travelling back for another three hours on the return journey home.) Both authors signed my copies of their books, and I inevitably also acquired a new cookbook to add to the collection.

Today was the second day of Ely's weekend-long apple fair, which, like most events of this nature, involves stalls around the cathedral grounds, with a heavily apple-related theme in evidence. (Even local shops get in on the action — the amazing bakery was selling apple pies and Danish pastries with caramelised apple, the guy who makes sourdough bread in his kitchen was selling apple and cinnamon loaves at the market on Saturday, etc.) So in the late morning, Matthias and I set out, beginning with a walk along the river and hot drinks from the coffee rig in the market square, and arrived at the fair just before midday to browse the stalls. These were the usual suspects — we go to all these types of events, and it's the same mixture of craft stalls, food trucks, breweries and distillaries, and so on — but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The weather is properly autumnal now, and today the town has been blanketed in fog all day, which felt an appropriate atmosphere for a harvest festival. We ate lunch from one of the food trucks, drank hot spiced apple juice with whiskey, and returned home with Turkish delight, baklava, various ciders for Matthias, and bagful of apples of all sorts of unusual varieties: a successful haul indeed.

I'm now looking forward to an afternoon and evening doing nothing more strenuous than cooking dinner (an Olia Hercules recipe, but not from the new cookbook), and reading under a blanket. Even reading has been nothing remarkable this week — I've only had the mental energy for rereads of old childhood favourites, which thankfully has been fairly easy to arrange.

Everything feels very sleepy and slow right now — me included.

delphi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

cornerofmadness

another writing prompt

Con all day concert all night, too tired to update. I'll get it fixed up tomorrow. as for me 464 words tonight

How is it going for you? Let know and if i forgot you somewhere along the way let me know

Day 11 -

cornerofmadness,

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

sanguinity,

ysilme,

trobadora,

luzula

sylvanwitch,

brithistorian

cmk418,

( other days under here )

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Halloween baking championship

cornerofmadness

My knee is in business for itself and the rest of me is thinking WTF are you DOING? I was over at the con by 10 AM to hear the first of my planned panels. (Here's the funny thing THREE of the four panels I picked out today were all Vitamin H panels) This one was not. It was run by a cute nerdy kid who was SO thrilled to see me as I was only the 4th person through the door and the other three were his friends. (more people did come but the con didn't open until 10 so it's like maybe schedule the panels on the half hour?)

It was about all the literature in Bungo Stray Dogs. If you don't know this anime/manga all its characters are named for literary figures and/or references. He had slides for all the references and did a kahoots quiz at the end. It was a lot of fun but damn I need to reread this (and you know finish it. I trailed off midway)

From there I went to a slasher movie panel (all the remaining ones are by Vitamin H) which was just a blast. Hey they put in Suspiria, Italian horror from 77 (I just learned the other day it had been remade about 8 years ago) After that I had a BIG break with nothing much I wanted to see until 3 pm.

Here I go into the vendor's room unsupervised. I'm thirsty and this asshole convention center has NO water fountains so you have to buy from their concessions (this is not Tsu's fault) which is like 8$ a damn glass so I get in line for Wild Bill's boutique pop brewery because he FINALLY has a zero sugar option. I get up there and the cheapest you can do it for (because you HAVE to buy the 'collector's stainless steel mug') was THIRTY-FIVE fucking dollars. FOR POP! He wanted another 15$ for the lid/straw. Thanks. I'll take my fucking chances and the cooler mugs were north of 50 bucks. And the zero sugar blueberry pop SUCKED. It was SO bad. So I said fuck it, this is like Dana at a buffet. I'm consuming 35$ worth of stuff to offset the rip off pricing. I made a choice 'just be gross about it. Consume all you can. You have insulin. Get the full sugar birch or root beer which are the only 2 pops you like outside of gingerale (i don't like pop. I don't like carbonation) I have a full mug in my fridge right now. It was COMING WITH ME. I drank so damn much pop.

Lunch was a shitty pepperoni roll and pop.

I got a few more gifts for friends. Keep me away from dice. I was really annoyed that I wanted to get Loona (helluva boss) for a friend's daughter and every Helluva boss woman I found from bigger vendors were grossly sexualized. You know the type, gravity defying boobs of doom and barely clothed with tongue lolling out just for youuuuuu. Ugh. I did find her a little keychain. I got dice with little purple owls in them for reasons. But my favorite purchase of the whole con was from
Pink Pig studios who had sweet shippy stuff for Cherri/Pen (the one I mentioned last night) Huskerdust (guilty I bought it) and Vaggie/Charlie but also she was a huge Keith David fan and she did one of Husk in Keith's role in John Carpenter's The Thing!!! Yes it's mine. And I'm obsessed. I told her I am absolutely writing fanfic to this. Husk can't wait for me to find time. Too bad none of my

spook_me prompts fit it.

I wander to the hotel to rest up for a bit since I'm done shopping and no panels I want. Open my social media to ALL the Hazbin and Glitch news from NY comic con (will share on tuesday's post) and people have been clipping Valentino's beautiful art of Vox he drew in the meeting and now I can't get it out of my head, he drew Angel too back in the love bombing days. Plot bunnies all over the damn place. Found calls from my brother and Mom (I had the phone silenced). Thought maybe someone died. No. My brother go another kitten. Cute bugger too.

I go to my last panels (grabbing pop before, between and after because dammit 35$) one on Studio Ghibli behind the scenes and one on Youkai (the theme this year) both excellent. I had never heard that Kappa will reach up your ass to grab out your soul. Well then. Or that tanuki have balls that can be stretched out for yards to form tents, blankets, whatever it needs. side eyes Japan hard.

Runs for more pop. Attends the great manga swap and fail at it miserably. HAHA. Honestly I didn't want to swap. I had a bunch of manga. Sorted it last night, left about 6 here because I realize I only had half a set for a few so back home they go. Before it started I asked the traveling manga library librarian, if no one wants this ancient manga (all of it was from 2000-2015) can I donate it to you? YES. Great.

I didn't even have it all laid out before someone swooped up 'you have tactics!!' what do you want for them? I look at her offerings. Nothing, they're yours. She danced off. A young girl sweeps up from nowhere, 'Vampire Knight?!?' I want nothing from that disappointment of a series. Take it from my sight (I said it nicer naturally)

I give my single volume one offs to the library for two volumes of Interlocken and now I'm left with 5 volumes of Venus vs Virus and the only thing I really want is the drifting classroom omnibus but the guy is like no, I have that (meanwhile it was HIS girlfriend who scooped up tactics but whatever dude) I find one guy with some BL stuff and I know who he is, a vendor who is trying to get stuff to take to his stand. Give me these Stars of Chaos light novels for this 5 volumes? no? 2? yes.

I'm now done. I get more pop. Leave and look to go to Fazio's. rated best Italian restaurant in WV. I find it. No one is on the street, park out front. Go in and it was as I feared. I was WOEFULLY underdressed. See, my dress shirt? It got trashed by blue crab/goat cheese cream sauce yesterday. And why I didn't think of putting on my Edalyn shirt/skirt until just now...I'm tired yinz. I'm the only one in a t-shirt (thank god it was the dark blue one you can barely make out). I'm shocked I wasn't turned away. There were kids in black tie (Prom? Nah that's spring. Wedding? Probably)

They had both Negronis and Aperol Spritzs on the menu so I am content they at least know Italian cocktails and the place has no windows (comforting, for reasons) and a diverse menu. They bring a salad (body is going what is this, no it has vitamin K but OMG Italian dressing. Face down yummy) and then give me three pieces of garlic bread sopping in garlic butter/cheese yay for scarpettas! (Wait, bread? AGAIN! You had four slices last night. Your diabetes....shut up and eat the bread). I got the baked manicotti. Oooo good. I got the aperol spritz too (see, T-Shirt girl can afford your cocktails). By the time I leave (I got there at like 630) the line was out the door to get in. At least this waitress wasn't a snot like last time.

Roll on home to have like an hour before the online Abney Park Halloween concert I had bought before realizing I'd be sitting in a hotel room listening.

And guess what I'm drinking. That's right POP (and my blood sugar is 130...go figure)

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Ghostbusters

malinaldarose

Placeholder for HLH_Shortcuts Dear Author letter, which may or may not happen, and definitely won't happen before sign-ups close, and I apologize in advance for the number of crossovers I suggested....

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Tag set housekeeping

We've removed Mouthwashing (Video Game) as that was approved in error. Sorry for getting your hopes up, nominator!

烏は主を選ばない | Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai | Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master (Anime): It’s come to our attention that Nazukihiko and Wakamiya are the same person, so we’re merging those characters.

Nominator of Luca (The History of Sound) - it looks like the Wikipedia page for this movie incorrectly listed Luca as the name of Lionel's lover in Rome; according to IMDB and the original stories this movie is based on, it's Vincent (who was also nominated), so we're deleting Luca.

Thank you for all the tag set issues you’ve let us know about so far! Please continue to check the tag set and let us know of further corrections we should make. Please tell us about these corrections before 9am UTC, Monday 13 October, so we can fix them before sign-ups.

Limited Do-Not-Match option

Most of the time, the person assigned to create for you in an AO3-based gift exchange, and the person assigned to receive a gift from you, are determined by the tags you select in the sign-up form.

Some exchange moderators also offer participants the option to say "Please do not match me up with [ExampleUserName] or [ExampleUserName2]. I don't want to receive a gift from them or create for them." This feature makes it easier, for example, to offer a fandom requested by six different people including someone you'd prefer to avoid, and have peace of mind that you can still avoid that person.

A Do-Not-Match option is difficult to offer flexibly in Yuletide because of the large number of participants and the large number of people who have only one possible creator or recipient. However, we see a Do-Not-Match option as a valuable tool to reduce friction and make everyone happier, so we intend to offer a limited version of this feature in Yuletide, on a trial basis. Please note that this is not an absolute guarantee you won’t receive a story from one of the people you list.

How it will work

When you sign up on AO3, the sign-up form will also link out to a Google form where you can list the AO3 names of up to 3 people you do not want to match to and can tell us if you want to avoid writing for a person, receiving an assigned gift from a person, or both. We will also ask for those people's AO3 ID numbers, which you can find on their AO3 profiles, and for the email associated with your AO3 name. We will not ask for the reason you wish to avoid a person.

After we run the matching process, we will check all matches against our master Do-Not-Match list. We will take the following actions:

If your assigned recipient or creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will attempt to match you to someone else.

If your only possible recipient is someone you asked to avoid, we will email you to recommend you expand your offers. However, we will leave the match in place if you do not respond in the first 24 hours following the close of sign-ups.

If your only possible creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will send out your requests with initial pinch hits.

If you are the only possible recipient for a creator you asked to avoid, we will leave the match in place, but will prioritize your requests for double-assignment to two creators. [Because of how matching works, there will always be Yuletide participants who start out with two assigned creators; generally we try to choose them at random.]

We will not take the following actions:

We will not ask a creator to drop out or expand their offers if their only possible recipient is someone who would prefer to avoid them.

We will not inform a participant that someone else has asked not to match to them. [This information will be restricted only to the core Yuletide mods, Isis, Morbane, and pendrecarc, and will not be shared with the larger pool of Yuletide assistants.]

We will not review treats for unwanted matches. Putting someone on your Do-Not-Match list will not prevent them from creating a treat for you (but please see FAQs below for other tools to achieve this).

We will not prevent someone on your Do-Not-Match list from claiming you as a pinch hit. We will check our master Do-Not-Match list when assigning pinch hits, so if the first person to claim you is a person you prefer to avoid, we will leave a short amount of time to see if another claim comes in. But we will not hold your pinch hit indefinitely or tell the first creator they aren't allowed to claim you.

We will not ask you why you wish to avoid a particular match.

FAQs (foreseeable/anticipated questions)

Who am I allowed to put on my Do-Not-Match list?
Any three AO3 accounts you would prefer to avoid matching to. This can be for any reason, serious or unserious. Do not tell us the reason, please. If the reason is harassment or similar, we recommend reaching out to the Policy & Abuse team separately. You may only give specific names, rather than a description like "anyone who mostly wants porn".

Can't I just block people I don't want to match to?
No. Adding other users to your block list stops them from giving you a treat (see item AO3-6502 on this news post). It also stops them from being able to comment on your work. However, it does not affect challenge matching. A person you have blocked can be assigned to create for you, and you can be assigned to create for them.

Wait, am I allowed to block people in Yuletide?
Yes. Feel free to use the blocking feature to improve your AO3 experience. However, blocking someone and also matching to them could lead to unhappiness for both of you - so please consider using all the tools at your disposal to avoid matching to people you have blocked. This could mean choosing not to offer a fandom if you suspect it has been requested by a person you wish to avoid, or it could mean using the Do-Not-Match option for people you have blocked.

What other AO3 tools exist to manage my gift experience?
If you wish, you can choose to receive gifts only from assigned writers in a gift exchange or people who have claimed your prompts in a prompt meme. This is sometimes described as turning treats on and off. If you created your account after February 2022, please review this setting in your AO3 account preferences. If you select the setting "Allow anyone to gift me works", you can receive treats. If you do not select this setting, only an assigned author can give you a gift in Yuletide.

Will this be a feature of Yuletide going forward?
Maybe, maybe not. It will depend on how well it works out this year!

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Tag Set App | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

shadowhive

Spooky season

Day 8: The Long Walk, Embrace The Darkness part 1

Wednesday was mostly The Long Walk, but then in the night my eyes went achy. I put on one of the spooky Doctor Who audios I have, Embrace The Darkness, but only managed the first part before getting too tired (and, alas I’ve not listened to the other 3 parts). It is good so far though.

Day 9: Fortnitemares update, pokemon thrills and chills stream

Fortnite’s Halloween update went live Thursday and the map looks so cool and spooky. There’s also a demon rush mode (with K-pop Demon Hunters theming, though I dunno how themed it actually is). There’s a lot of new skins added for things this time too with Scream’s Ghostface, Wednesday, Art The Clown from Terrifier and The Grabber from Black Phone among others. Plus there’s also a new mothman npc and he’s so cute I love him.

There was also another Pokémon spooky themed stream. Again it was had some eps with ghost Pokémon more so than being spooky themed though it did have some good spooky ones too. Including a spooky forest, an Pokémon creativity illusions and a haunted house. There was also the odd choice of putting two Alolan eps that were the climax of an arc but without the buildup were just confusing.

Day 10: Fortnitemares, fantastic four 4, eso

Friday was more Fortnitemares, plus I finally read the Fantastic Four comic I got the other week which was pretty good (and definitely spooky!) I loved that Allie got a chance to really shiny this time, plus the unexpected spaceship story was so unnerving.

And then there was another ESO quest which, again, was definitely spooky vibes.

***

Non spooky vibes now but uh the last days have ended up being so tiring.

On Thursday we went down to B and Q to get a new lightbulb for the extractor fan thing above the stove. We’d tried online but had no luck finding the right thing. Even here wasn’t an exact match so we had to try our luck (thankfully it was) then I popped in game to pick up detective pikachu (it was still on offer) then we went in b and m. And mum decided we had to get pet food from there (instead of the co-op from just up the road) so we had to lug it back which was tiring).

Thankfully we didn’t miss the stuff we ordered though that was annoyance. The micro sd card I ordered from prime day? Not the right one for the switch 2 which is annoying. I looked it up and the right sort of sd card is three times the full price for the same size which is so irritating. Also the bag replacement came and the only downside to that is no zip compartment inside and the strap is so much shorter than the old one.

Then mum wanted to take Naryu to the vet for her jabs which meant I couldn’t go out Friday. I was debating whether to go or not anyway but to have the choice removed was… annoying. Even more annoying? She changed her mind yesterday morning about going. (We couldn’t book an appointment cause the phone was dead). Thankfully the store opening didn’t look as good as I expected but still.

Then today we did end up going and they managed to squeeze us in, but of course they found issues with Naryu’s ear so no jabs anyway and instead she has meds. Sigh.

It’s all meant I’ve been so tired and even more low energy which is such an annoyance. (Not helped that I’ve been out 5 of the 6 days this week😭)

In other news Black Phone 2 has listings but alas they mean I can’t see it opening day if I go to see Coheed and Cambria as planned (I’ve not got my ticket but will when money goes in) so it’ll mean watching sometime the following week most likely. (And cause of not going yesterday sometime this week I’ll be seeing Tron Ares/Zoopocalypse)

But ugh that means that a week on Monday is my birthday which, bleh birthday. At least I’ll have Pokémon and the new Doctor Who boxset to start (if it arrives). There’s also a horror market thing the day before so we’ll see if I feel up to going.

However there was also a second delivery yesterday and it was this.

Thoughts ahoy!

( Read more... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Strictly

umadoshi

scruloose and I have our covid/flu shots booked for next weekend! There were earlier slots available, but not in walking distance. It'll take us right to the little corner market, and next weekend is its final day for the season. Convenient!

We finished season 1 of Silo a couple nights ago. (I've been intermittently earwormed with its OP theme music, which is fortunately a good piece, but I still would rather not have it [or anything else] stuck in my head.) That was a very solid season finale. Now to decide if we want to immediately go to season 2 or watch something else first/alongside. (Can anyone tell me, without spoilers, a] how much of the book[s] season 1 covers, and/or b] if the show is finished or if a third season is expected/hoped for?)

I went along for the drive when

scruloose ran a few errands this morning: a purchase return, two stops for local produce (blueberries, cranberries, broccoli, and a giant sweet potato; no luck getting baking apples), and picking up an order of Thanksgiving baked goods from Sully & Porter (née the Old Apothecary). We are now in possession of six adorably tiny tarts (half pumpkin, half lemon meringue) and six hefty cookies that I hope will freeze reasonably well so that they can be eked out.

Tomorrow evening will probably be when we throw together a Thanksgiving dinner of ham*, cranberry sauce, and some mix of roasted veggies. I consulted How to Cook Everything on the matter of the ham, and it gives an oven temperature and an estimated cook time and basically says "heat until hot, then eat", and it doesn't get much simpler than that.

*The most token little ham! I'm not actually sure how much I'll like it, as ham was never my thing growing up, so we didn't want a huge one to swamp us with leftovers. We'll see! I know it's possible for me to enjoy ham, as we've been to a couple of group meals where I did. (I can think of one here and one in Toronto, so the hams in question were cooked by two very different friends.)

Current Mood: okay

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cornerofmadness - Lemme ask you a question
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cornerofmadness - Write Every Day Day 13
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Page generated Oct. 14th, 2025 04:53 am

Friends and Such

Reading

Lemme ask you a question

MCU: Le Chevalier Au Faucon by HSavinien

I Made Cards!

Pixel 10 Pro - Camera Zoom

Write Every Day Day 13

Writerly Ways

emotional support spinning: cotton

(no subject)

Six Sentence Sunday

Dear Yuletide Writer Letters 2025

The curse continues

10 + 1 icons for retro_icontest

We could dream this night away

REC: Strawberries and Cigarettes by queerbluefae (Let's Go Karaoke!, Narita Kyouji/Oka Satomi)

Write Every Day Day 12

My Body doesn't know what's happening to it

Dear Author

Do-Not-Match Option - LIMITED Yuletide edition

Limited Do-Not-Match option

How it will work

FAQs (foreseeable/anticipated questions)

(no subject)

Saturday mishmash, with the second half largely food-related

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December 2020

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