So I'm (kinda) into sewing – wearables so far include one lined sleeveless A-line dress (made of velvet, because no-one told me velvet was a tough fabric lol) and one pair of pleated pants. I decided to make my own body blocks so I can draft my own things/alter crotch curves etc of other patterns to fit me. Today I decided to test out the bodice block.
expectation: I will have to do at least 1 round of alterations to get my bodice block to fit properly reality: perfect block with optimal wearing ease on the first try????
So I now have a woven tank top made of a nice sky blue clearance bedsheet. I think I'll bind the armscyes, neckline, and bottom in bias binding and then have a wearable for next summer! I just need to buy a bunch of buttons for the closure (I'll put it in a side seam) and figure out a neckline. Currently, as befits a block, it's jewel, but I need to get it over my head so I'll need at least a keyhole and small button at the back...
I got up far too early to talk about far too much of my health, but I have been shot in the shoulder and eaten a bagel with chopped liver, which is at least two things the current administration would not care for. I am cleared to travel at the end of the month.
Now that it's been dislodged into the forefront of my consciousness, the phenomenon of Pirates of the Caribbean feels like the one real time in my life I was part of a megafandom and mostly what happened was the rest of the planet suddenly concurred that tall ships and chanteys and sea-change were cool. I saw Dead Man's Chest (2006) with my family because Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) had been such an unexpected swashbuckling delight, but I saw At World's End (2007) at a packed multiplex with friends who had agreed in common with much of the audience to arrive wearing as much pirate regalia as we could muster from our wardrobes, which at that time in my life meant the one rust-colored eighteenth-century shirt and my hair tied back with a black ribbon, the gold rings in my ears being a fortuitously preexisting condition. Especially since I continued not to interact with the supermassive explosion of fic unless it originated with my friendlist, it may be the most clinically fannish thing I have done in my life. I have never looked forward to a sequel in theaters before or since. I got the salt-green seventeenth-century glass onion bottle out of that first summer, as if it had been conjured off the screen into the traditional antique shop window for me to fall in love with its crusted tide. In the dog days of the second, I finished the novella its sand-swirled, barnacle-silted draught was part of the pearl-grit for. In the span of that year, my graduate career had foundered conclusively and left me washing around in the wreckage. It had not occurred to me previously, but in their own flawed and splashier, blockbuster fashion, those two films may have been as much of a lifeline as the sea they evoked. I didn't expect to share it with an entire internet, but I am not sure the experience hurt me any, even if it has never repeated since.
From reading about this message in a bottle, I learned not only about John Craighead George whose mother's books I grew up on, but his twin conservationists of uncles whom I had known nothing about, so all things considered it carried a great deal of information in its transit from Point Barrow to Shapinsay.
"Writing involves both the expression of an idea and the exploration of an idea — that is, when writing, you set out with an intention to say something, but as part of the attempt to capture an idea, the idea itself is altered through the thinking that happens as you consider your subject. Anyone who has written has experienced one of these mini-ephiphanies that is unique to the way humans write."
— John Warner, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI (2025)
(He's talking about nonfiction, but this happens to me while writing fiction allll the time.)
Title: absent of cause or excuse (8789 words) by Lirazel Chapters: 1/1 Fandom:陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Jiang Yanli & Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian Characters: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Marriage of Convenience - Marriage For Protection, solving plot problems with marriage Summary:
“I’ve got an idea,” A-Cheng says finally. Then, with effort: “About A-Xian.”
“Tell me,” Jiang Yanli says.
“It’s crazy.” He hasn’t looked at her since he sat down, but now he glances at her out of the corner of his eyes, like he’s gauging her reaction.
She laughs, a little laugh. “It’s A-Xian,” she says, spreading her hands as though that explains everything. (It does. Nothing has ever been orthodox, not with A-Xian.)
The corner of A-Cheng’s mouth jerks up, but the smile doesn’t quite bloom. He shakes his head, the lock of hair falling back down to brush against his cheekbone. “What if I—” Shakes his head again, pulls his shoulders back like he’s pulling on his Zongzhu robes. “I’m going to marry him.”
-or-
Let's fix everyone's problems through marriage. Chengxian-style!
Fic: detect my sudden existence on your sonar (25840 words) by Lirazel Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Pitt (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Melissa "Mel" King/Frank Langdon Characters: Melissa "Mel" King, Frank Langdon, Samira Mohan Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Divorced Frank Langdon, Pining, Mutual Pining, (though mel doesn't know that), no seriously this is just mel pining and lusting for 20k+ words and thinking it's unrequited, Until suddenly it isn't, You Have Been Warned, this ship was made for pining, "never look away" by vienna teng, my mel&samira bffs agenda, santos is ready to kill a man, and we can have a little, mel and langdon are drift compatible, as a treat, god this got long, but there's just a lot going on in mel's head okay? Summary:
She couldn’t say, I’m trying to figure out a way to live with all this longing, and in the meantime, I’m embarrassed and a little bit resentful. Not out loud.
Or:
Mel thought everything would get easier when he came back. Instead, it's a new kind of torture.
Title:Do You Remember on AO3 Artist:mific Rating: Gen Fandom: Musicians Characters/Pairings: Members of Earth Wind and Fire Summary: The 21st night of September. Content Notes: Created in Procreate. It's a bit after the 21st now, but I started it then. Some of Earth Wind and Fire, singing "September".
In the last year, AO3 has seen a rise in "art commission" spambot comments. The bots leaving these comments pretend to be artists who want to make comics or illustrations for a fan's fic. After convincing their targets to contact them off AO3, they scam their targets into paying for that art. Fans have reported that after sending payment, they either received AI-generated art or nothing at all.
AO3 has been working on various methods that we hope will reduce the spam. However, these scammers are persistent and creative about circumventing our protections.
To avoid falling victim to one of these scams, the Policy & Abuse committee recommends:
Do not commission art from someone who solicits you by commenting on your work on AO3.Commercial activity is prohibited on AO3. If someone is encouraging behavior that violates our Terms of Service, it’s a good idea to be cautious. They likely do not have your best interests in mind.
Do not provide your email or social media contact information to a commenter who asks for it, even if they say they'd just like to discuss your work further. Scammers try to get you to talk to them privately, because it is often easier to deceive or manipulate people in a one-on-one conversation.
Example of this type of scam
Elizabethbrown123: Wow, this fic was amazing! The way you describe things is so vivid and really brought the characters to life. Your work moved me to tears. cool_username_42069: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. <3 Elizabethbrown123: You're welcome! I'm so glad you responded. Do you use Discord or Twitter, or could you tell me your email so we can chat more? I've got some ideas I'd love to share with you, but I don't want to spoil anything.
This is just one example of how a scammer tries to lure the work creator onto a different platform where they can pressure the creator into commissioning art. These scammers use AI to generate realistic-sounding comments. The comments often contain generic praise or statements that could apply to any work, but sometimes they are extremely lengthy and/or specific. If the creator is suspicious and asks why the scammer wants to move the conversation off-site, they will typically claim that they aren't a scammer and/or that they can explain things better in private.
However, unlike a regular user, a scammer will always do at least one of two things:
They will ask you to commission art from them, or
They will share their contact information and/or ask for your information (such as an email address or username on a site that supports private messaging, like Instagram or Discord)
If you suspect that you've received a spam comment on your work, don't reply and especially do not provide them with your contact information. Just report the comment to Policy & Abuse so that we can take care of it.
What to do if you encounter this scam
If you receive a scam comment from a guest, you can press the "Spam" button on the comment. This helps train our automated spam-checker to better detect this type of behavior.
If you encounter a scammer that has a registered account, or if you encounter a guest posting scam comments on someone else's work, please report them to the Policy & Abuse committee. To do so:
Select the "Thread" button on the scammer's comment. This will take you to the specific comment page.
In the "Brief summary of Terms of Service violation" field, enter "Spambot".
In the "Description of the content you are reporting" field, enter "This is a spambot, their username is USERNAME."
Reporting in this fashion helps us auto-sort your report so that it can be handled as soon as a Policy & Abuse volunteer is available. To help us address reports about these types of bots as fast as possible, please only submit one report per account, and don't include multiple accounts in the same report.
If you encounter a scam commenter on someone else's work, you can let the work creator know the commenter is likely a bot and link them to this news post.
We also encourage you to share this post on social media and help spread the word about how to protect yourself from scammers and reduce spam on AO3.
Title: Not the Doctor Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Co-Vidder: periru3 Music: "Not the Doctor" by Alanis Morissette Length: 3:45 Summary: I don't want to be the glue that holds your pieces together Notes: Part 9 of Jagged Little Slayer
I've noted before that my most common type of dream is mishaps while traveling: I can't get to the platform for the train I need because the station has turned into an Escher drawing, or the car is hovering just a bit off the road so the wheels don't have any purchase and I can't go anywhere, or the bus changes its destination after everyone except me decides they like the other route better, or whatever.
This morning I had the strangest feeling that I couldn't remember how I'd got to work. Did Himself drive me to the metro? He used to do that sometimes if the timing was going to be weird or the weather was bad or I had something inconvenient to carry or I'd turned my ankle or something like that - but none of those things were the case today. Still, I didn't have any memory of taking the electric scooter up to the metro station or of locking it up . . .
. . . and that's when my brain said no, of course you don't have any memory of locking up the scooter, because you're still asleep in bed, ya goofball.
In the last year, AO3 has seen a rise in “art commission” spambot comments. The bots leaving these comments pretend to be artists who want to make comics or illustrations for a fan’s fic. After convincing their targets to contact them off AO3, they scam their targets into paying for that art. Fans have reported that after sending payment, they either received AI-generated art or nothing at all.
AO3 has been working on various methods that we hope will reduce the spam. However, these scammers are persistent and creative about circumventing our protections.
To avoid falling victim to one of these scams, the Policy & Abuse committee recommends:
Do not commission art from someone who solicits you by commenting on your work on AO3.Commercial activity is prohibited on AO3. If someone is encouraging behavior that violates our Terms of Service, it’s a good idea to be cautious. They likely do not have your best interests in mind.
Do not provide your email or social media contact information to a commenter who asks for it, even if they say they’d just like to discuss your work further. Scammers try to get you to talk to them privately, because it is often easier to deceive or manipulate people in a one-on-one conversation.
Example of this type of scam
Elizabethbrown123: Wow, this fic was amazing! The way you describe things is so vivid and really brought the characters to life. Your work moved me to tears. cool_username_42069: Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. <3 Elizabethbrown123: You’re welcome! I’m so glad you responded. Do you use Discord or Twitter, or could you tell me your email so we can chat more? I’ve got some ideas I’d love to share with you, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
This is just one example of how a scammer tries to lure the work creator onto a different platform where they can pressure the creator into commissioning art. These scammers use AI to generate realistic-sounding comments. The comments often contain generic praise or statements that could apply to any work, but sometimes they are extremely lengthy and/or specific. If the creator is suspicious and asks why the scammer wants to move the conversation off-site, they will typically claim that they aren’t a scammer and/or that they can explain things better in private.
However, unlike a regular user, a scammer will always do at least one of two things:
They will ask you to commission art from them, or
They will share their contact information and/or ask for your information (such as an email address or username on a site that supports private messaging, like Instagram or Discord)
If you suspect that you’ve received a spam comment on your work, don’t reply and especially do not provide them with your contact information. Just report the comment to Policy & Abuse so that we can take care of it.
What to do if you encounter this scam
If you receive a scam comment from a guest, you can press the “Spam” button on the comment. This helps train our automated spam-checker to better detect this type of behavior.
If you encounter a scammer that has a registered account, or if you encounter a guest posting scam comments on someone else’s work, please report them to the Policy & Abuse committee. To do so:
Select the “Thread” button on the scammer’s comment. This will take you to the specific comment page.
In the “Brief summary of Terms of Service violation” field, enter “Spambot”.
In the “Description of the content you are reporting” field, enter “This is a spambot, their username is USERNAME.”
Reporting in this fashion helps us auto-sort your report so that it can be handled as soon as a Policy & Abuse volunteer is available. To help us address reports about these types of bots as fast as possible, please only submit one report per account, and don’t include multiple accounts in the same report.
If you encounter a scam commenter on someone else’s work, you can let the work creator know the commenter is likely a bot and link them to this news post.
We also encourage you to share this post on social media and help spread the word about how to protect yourself from scammers and reduce spam on AO3.
Title: 299 Fandom: Doctor Who Characters/Pairing(s): Donna Noble Rating: All ages Word count: 1,408 Spoilers: None Summary: The intersection of coding and design satisfied Donna's restless brain in ways it hadn’t been satisfied since before ... well, before whatever she’d lost had left her adrift again and her mother and Gramps tight-lipped but supportive.
I've aspired to be a tag wrangler at AO3 for a while, but each time they opened up applications, I haven't been able to find fandoms I wanted to apply for. They recently opened up applications again, and the fandoms they were looking for wranglers for included a lot of K-pop girl groups, including several that I have written about at length. So I put my application on the 19th and now I'm waiting anxiously to hear back (they said it could be 4 weeks, I put my application in 4 days ago, so I've go plenty of waiting to do). Fingers crossed!
The opening scene with Neal was not filmed during the original filming schedule of this episode, which occurred in November 2015. Instead, Michael Raymond-James filmed his scene indoors on a soundstage three months later in January 2016. The actor went through great lengths to keep his return a secret.
In response to my recent "high-velocity fandoms" post, kj-yikes noticed that Supergirl wasn't on the list of fandoms losing the most ground. It is still losing ground, but more slowly: average rank fell by 1.1 over the past quarter (from 11.5 to 12.6), and I only listed fandoms that have lost at least 2 places.
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extrapenguin
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