It’s November 1st! NaNoWriMo Month! Time To Write! We Are Off!

The Timeless story The Assassin's Holiday by @secretnerdprincess had me giggling from the moment I first read its premise:

Garcia Flynn and Jiya Mara are highly trained assassins who own the elite MurderVision Inc.. With the help of Rufus Carlin, they take care of messy problems for those with the money to afford their solutions. They've just got one last job to finish up before Christmas. When they accepted the contract for Dr. Lucy Preston, they never expected one simple historian could cause so much trouble. In the end, this Christmas holiday might change all their lives.

There's highly entertaining banter between Garcia Flynn & Jiya. A very capable Dr Lucy Preston who cleverly improvises her way to thwarting Flynn's attempts to murder her and yet is still her usual clumsy self. There's theatre, a multi-day cross country trainride, a movie-esc escape & helicopter rescue. There's a fascinating little twist on the journal & how Lucy's life changed.

Overall, this is a story to read when you're in the mood for some hilarious adventure & laughter.

This story is part of the @garcysecretsanta exchange that has been spoiling me with a whole bunch of new Timeless stories to read. The collection can be found here on AO3. Thanks to all the writers & contributors! It is simply marvelous.

This year, I rediscovered the absolute joys of reading fanfiction. Exploring characters I love in so many different stories and combinations and settings. It is helping me process this year and rediscover things I find important. Fiction has always meant a lot to me, and I'm feeling the urge to be creative again myself.

So, I decided to start engaging in fandom again by sketchnoting my reactions to some of my favourite stories. (At least for as long as it is fun).

My first sketchnote is in honour of the marvelous @sallyexactly whose Timeless stories I've fallen in love with. The Only Way Out - which I first read over Easter and I now lost count on the rereads - is my favourite headcanon for how the series ended.

But the very first story I read by Sally was The Road Ode. It even inspired me to take a mini roadtrip myself this year (in Europe with very few coronacases & lots of measures).

So, without further ado:

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 27: Make a Nice Meal

Eating is an activity we do multiple times a day (I hope!). It's part of our everyday lives. When is the last time you carefully crafted a meal, sat down with friends and focused on what you were eating? Feel the crunch of fresh vegetables in your mouth, be comforted by the warmth of a cup of tea and smelled freshly baked bread? Creativity thrives on careful attention and nourishment: a focused attention of the mundane & finding the extraordinary within it.

Day 27: Make a Nice Meal

Have your characters made marshmallows on a fire? Sat down together and actually fed themselves? Enjoyed meal in a fancy restaurant or made a home-made meal for loved ones? Eating is part of our every day lives - how much is it part of theirs in your story? Enjoy! Let's keep writing and find the joy in the moment.

Continuing with the dragon experiments. She's growing up a bit 🤓 and sprouted wings! (Well, or she's like a sibling or something since the two dragons have a different colouration). I think the wings in particular look pretty cool.

It was this amazing story about a farmer who finds one of her chicks hatched a dragon egg by @dycefic that inspired me to try and draw a tiny dragon. I think she's very cute indeed even if she doesn't quite match the dragon description from the tale. @dycefic's stories are wonderous to read and I highly recommend exploring their blog!

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 30: Crossing the Finish Line

Today is the final day! The last day to write your words and still have them count for your NaNo 2022 project. I have seen many of us come up from behind the last few days, get that final wind and get within a hair of the finish line now. There is still time to get that purple winner's bar and reach your 50000 words. When you are struggling, know we are here to cheer you on! You can do it!

Day 30: Crossing the Finish Line

Tonight: take a moment and feel it down to your bones. You set yourself this task and you faced it down. You are still here at the end of the month. NaNoWriMo is about setting yourself a challenge. It is about succeeding in the extraordinary by attempting something as foolhardy as writing a novel, and something as mundane as creating a daily habit of writing. It requires bravery, persistence, determination and grit. And by still being here, by still writing away till the clock runs out - you are a winner (regardless of purple bar status).

Let's celebrate together tomorrow! For now: let's cheer on anyone who is still writing, who is still pushing on & help eachother through this final glorious day! We can do it!

The Timeless story Two Roads by @oldshrewsburyian is filled with a kind of burgeoning hope. How do you live your life while waiting for a future you once so tantalisingly glimpsed but barely dared hope for? It's the story of Denise, who has seen her future, but hasn't arrived at it yet. Denise is such a strong and hopeful character. She's fiercely loyal and faithful and the glimpses we see on the show of her and her family are always so filled with warmth.

This short ficlet honors her character and that last line harkens back her comment after the time travel team returned: "it gave me hope".

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 10 - Just Keep Writing

Word by word & day by day: let's keep writing away. Whether you are struggling or blazing ahead: channel your inner-Dory and remember the song. 🎵 Just Keep Writing Just Keep Writing 🎵

Day 10: Just Keep Writing

All the small words add up and progress is progress. The words don't need to be pretty or polished or particularly well written: for NaNo the challenge is getting the words, any words, to tell your story. Let's get them written!

The Timeless story Nisam sam by @thealocksly has a kind of visceral sadness to it. (link to her Tumblr post).

It offers glimpses and mentions as to what Lucy went through during her captivity by Rittenhouse. It has a realness to it - a matching of Lucy's stillness & silence on it all on the show. (Even if I think she's a bit more broken in this story than on the show itself).

The way Lucy shrinks in on herself versus the way Flynn respects and cares for her by the act of holding space is wonderful. Flynn's realization that he needs to look at the woman in front of him, rather than the woman he knows from the journal is wonderfully done.

There's a softness to this story. A quiet respect & caring & prelude to healing on her own terms.

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 18: Dressing Up All Fancy: Organize a Ball!

Your characters get a fancy engraved invitation to attend a glorious ball! A chance to dress up prettily and party the night away. A romantic subplot is lurking around the corner as they ask if there's still space on the dance card? Or perhaps it's a time of intrigue and mystery as all the major players are in attendance and secret identities come crashing down?

Day 18: Dressing Up All Fancy: Organize a Ball!

Whether it be a night of magical bliss or horrifying dread - a fancy ball is a chance both for bringing story lines together as characters meet and for branching out as there's so much more happening beneath the surface! Watch out for story ninjas, get your fanciest jewelry ready and have a blast!

The stories by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels have entertained me, amused me and kept me up late. Mads is a prolific writer and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading her work on Timeless and then continued with her work in other fandoms that I haven't actually seen. She's well-known for her explicit smut, garcyatt and such, but she's also exquisite in writing alternate universe stories. Taking characters we well know & love and placing them in different timeperiods & settings in intriguing ways.

The short story The Gutter and The Stars by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (story also available on Tumblr) features Oscar Wilde, 19th century language and intriguing imagery. It's short, and humorous: Flynn as the inspiration for Dorian Gray.