How to Write a Tournament Arc
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 08:01![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
mythcreants_blog_rss_feedWhatcha Reading? January 2026, Part One
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 08:00smartbitches_feed
It’s our first Whatcha Reading of the new year. Here’s how we’re kicking off 2026:
Lara: In a move that is surprising to no one in my life, I have just reread Heated Rivalry ( A | BN | K | AB ) and I’m toying with reading The Long Game again next, but I might need to try chill on the Ilya/Shane action because I’ve been plotting ways to make Ilya and Shane merch here in South Africa, so … perhaps time to switch gears and read something different. Anyone else find themselves very into this series?
Sarah: I am reading Trailbreaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare, ( A | BN ) book two in the Prairie Nightingale series – or, I’m about to start it. I had a ball reading the last one, so I’m very excited.
I just DNFd a book that I really wanted to like, and had to tell myself the slog was enough so I’m really excited to start something new
Elyse: I just finished Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s this wonderfully soothing read about how she lived in the country during lockdown and raised a baby hare that was abandoned with the intent of releasing into the wild. In turn the hare helped her realize that the pace of her life was causing her miss out on the present moment and helped her reconnect to nature.
Her writing is so gentle and evocative that it kind of puts you in a little trance.
Whatcha reading? Tell us in the comments!
A Handful of Communities!
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 01:59![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalloway posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
videogamefanworks Community Description:
videogamefanworks is the place to post the following, for any video game or visual novel:Fanfiction, Fanart, Icons, Meta, Recs for Fanworks, Etc.
mobilegames Community Description: A Dreamwidth community for mobile & gacha gaming. Basically, if it's available on Android and/or iOS, it's welcome here. We have a mostly-weekly general post and any news, info, etc. can be posted whenever.
smallweb Community Description: A community for all things smallweb, including personal websites, the fediverse, and more.
octobercest Community Description: A fest for incest in fiction running all year! Normally, posting is open every October but for 2026 we're going all year!
makezines Community Description: We want to make zines, and we want to encourage others to make zines!
(no subject)
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 01:58conuly posting in agonyauntADULT CHILD
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Jupiter with the Great Red Spot
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 06:46apod_feed
Jupiter with the Great Red Spot
Ice Halos by Moonlight and Sunlight
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 06:46apod_feed
Both Moon and Sun create beautiful
(no subject)
2026-Jan-09, Friday 21:34olivermoss
( hockey and some cool pictures )
Video Games
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 00:34settiai
I'm not sure yet which game I'll focus on, but it's definitely going to be Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, or Mass Effect: Andromeda because I have ongoing playthroughs in all of them that have been gathering dust for too long.
collude
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 00:00merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 10, 2026 is:
collude • \kuh-LOOD\ • verb
To collude is to work with others secretly especially in order to do something illegal or dishonest. Collude is used as a synonym of conspire and plot.
// She is accused of colluding with known criminals.
Examples:
"Two lawsuits filed in April accuse hundreds of insurers of colluding to drop policyholders and force them onto the plan, which offers limited policies that typically cost more." — Laurence Darmiento, The Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2025
Did you know?
Colluding—working secretly with others to do something deceitful or illegal—is not a game, but you'd never know it if you took your cues on the meaning of collude solely from its etymology. Collude comes from the Latin verb colludere, which in turn combines the prefix com-, meaning "together," and the verb ludere, "to play." Ludere, in turn, comes from ludus, meaning "game, play, or sport." (Ludus is also the source of the adjective ludicrous and the noun interlude). Collude has a related noun—collusion—which carries the specific meaning "secret agreement or cooperation." Despite their playful history, collude and collusion have always suggested illicit trickery rather than good-natured fun.
US Politics: poetry: the sand in the gears
2026-Jan-09, Friday 21:04teaotter posting in fan_flashworksFandom: US Politics
Challenge: Sand
Note: Haiku; references recent violent events
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Fic: Disciple Daydreams
2026-Jan-09, Friday 22:56soc_puppet
Summary: Post-canon, Shen Qingqiu goes looking for a misplaced fan in the side room where Binghe used to stay; instead, he finds an unfamiliar notebook and decides to look through it...
Mirrors: On AO3
Wordcount: Not quite 2600
Ships: BingQiu
Notes: I originally wrote the middle bit around a year ago, but only managed to finish the frame for it today. I'm posting now before I have more time to second guess myself!
Fic: ( Disciple Daydreams )
SW:TCW Abandoned Work
2026-Jan-09, Friday 22:56senmutChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars [2008] - All Media Types
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: CT-7567 | Rex, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo
Additional Tags: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued
Summary:
I had intended to write something for Rex/Fives/Echo. I got sideswiped by a set-up beginning at the Citadel. There is a character death mentioned, though it was going to prove not to have been one. However, the muses turned virulently against the entire concept. As always, feel free to run with it if you want.
Unfinished Citadel AU
"Promise me to get them out," she had said. "Something smells like a three day old rancor corpse."
What had his Commander seen? Rex nor his men had been able to recall anything that tripped their training, but General Kenobi had been caught unaware too.
Would he have pushed them to keep moving if General Skywalker hadn't been injured and unconscious from trying to save Ahsoka? It still felt wrong, no matter what the mission had been to not confirm the death. Echo still refused to talk about it, given he had nearly fallen with her.
"Should have been me, not the Jedi," Echo had said, once, on retrieval.
They all felt it. They were one of millions of clones and she had been who they were meant to protect.
Skywalker still wasn't talking to Kenobi. Rex didn't know how the Naboo Senator had headed off an outright mutiny. Fives thought she had promised to use her resources.
Rex still saw the flickers of destruction in his general's eyes, after, when he'd told the man.
"She commanded me to get you, all of us, out, minutes before we lost her and Tarkin."
If there was one fact of Rex's new life he hated, it was knowing that his general was barely holding onto sanity.
"What difference did the mission make? Dead brothers, both objectives dead, our Commander dead," Fives asked or maybe just rattled off to get it out of his head.
"Seppies didn't get the intel from either objective," Echo answered, weakly and by rote, as he'd been telling himself since they were retrieved.
Fives scowled. "Wish I knew what made her fall back."
Echo did too -- when he wasn't wondering why it had been her, not him, that fell.
"You need to worry about the General. Captain can't do it all, and he seems to like you."
Fives didn't answer that, because he was watching for Anakin Skywalker to lose his control, and hoping he was wrong.
Rex looked at Fives, then to Echo. "You both see it."
"Yes, we do," Echo answered for them.
"What do we do about it?" Fives asked.
"You stick to his six. He's taken to you well. Echo, I want you training with the slicers, give your brain a chance to do real intel."
"Seems odd, Captain, when we're talking about our General, sir," Echo told him.
Rex met his eyes. "Our unit keeps winding up in the deepest messes. That's half of why he's so volatile. You need to figure out the pattern, if there is one, so maybe we jump ahead of it."
"What's the other half?" Fives asked.
"If I knew, I might be the one who could actually head off the explosion," Rex admitted. "He came to us like that."
"Then maybe that's what I need to learn," Fives said softly.
"I think… I'm going to try and find what the Commander saw, that made her take Tarkin over the edge when she killed the Warden," Echo told them, and Rex nodded, thinking that was a good start.
Snowflake Challenge Day #5: Wishlist
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 12:36snowynightMy wish list:
1. Recs for music with female vocallist, or music by female composers. I like a variety of music: metal, rock, Celtic, pop, bardcore, country, etc. Music in non-English languages are welcomed! A sampling of my favourite singers/bands: Loreena Mckennit, Dar Williams, Vienna Teng, Within Temptation, XG, etc.
2. Recs for interesting blogs to follow. Books, nature, history, cute animals, trivia, tabletop RPG, world building, art and craft, or anything you find interesting
3. Stolen from
kingstoken : Go to arab.org and "click to help", it's free. All raised money goes to UN agencies. 
Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson
2026-Jan-09, Friday 22:55hudebnikhttps://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/mode/2up
It's self-congratulatory wartime propaganda, of course, but it makes very clear that we can't assume fascism will never come to our shores, and must learn how to recognize it when we see it, even if it's wrapped in an American rather than a German, Italian, or Japanese flag.
is it still second wind if it's been ten years since the first one
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 04:45bombdemon posting in dear_playerWell. To whomever it may concern: it appears that I am alive.
[ Again. It's a little annoying considering how convincing said death scene was the last time and how much effort they put into it, because now it's all moot and void. Apparently it only takes a rewatch for the player to get sucked back into
[ Sighs all-sufferingly. ]
But at what cost...
[ The cost is him having the time of his life so far, honestly, but he can't just not complain in a place like this! ]
Collection Opening January 18, 11:59 PM UTC!
2026-Jan-09, Friday 22:04amperslashexchangeImage claiming to show Renee Nicole Good's car aimed at ICE officer isn't what it seems
2026-Jan-10, Saturday 01:11snopes_feed2025 Year in Review
2026-Jan-09, Friday 21:05reeby10( Read more... )