I thought for today, I'd mention artists and albums I've had on loop for the last few weeks:

The Last Dinner Party: An alternative band from England. Itunes says their influences includes Kate Bush, and it really does fit. The first song I heard from them was "Sinner." The local station played a censored version of it, and I've kind of been obsessed since.

Marianas Trench: I joking call them a Canadian theater kids/boy band, but I've been deeply in love with their stuff since the early 2010s. Their albums are constructed like a good musical and are masters of referencing their old material in new ways that still is enjoyable for new listeners. Every album experiments a bit with genre and sound, but there's still a few consistent things they do which is always so much fun. Favorite albums are Masterpiece Theatre and Phantoms. My favorite song from them is "The Killing Kind," the bombastic closing song from their Phantoms album.

Autoheart: Another British band that's grabbed me by the throat. I don't remember the exact first song I heard from them, but some of my favorites are "Joseph," "Factories," and "Oxford Blood."

Baldur's Gate 3 Soundtrack as orchestrated by Borislav Slavov. This entire fucking soundtrack has me hooked, though special shoutouts go to the best boss music in the game: Raphael's Final Act.

I missed day 5 because of prior commitments and a nap, but that's fine.

Today's topic is about in-person/local writing clubs since I had that yesterday. This may also be useful for others who are discouraged after the closure of NaNoWriMo as we edge nearer to what would have usually been months of Camp NaNo. A writing club can be as large as a overlowing discord server or as small as you and a friend.

When looking or starting a writing club, you have to keep in mind a couple of things, the most important being:

• What are your time commitments?
• What resources do you have to hold or participate in meetings?
• What are your needs when it comes to writing?
• What are your writing goals?

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I decided to showcase some of the webcomics I'm currently reading.

Space Boy: It recently returned from hiatus in time for the comic's 10th anniversary! I've been in love with this comic since 2020 when I first binged it. I deeply appreciate how McCranie writes his characters with so much nuance and tackles hard feelings in ways that really breaks it down for readers, both young and old. Amy and Oliver's relationship is the center of the story, but McCranie does wonders giving weight to each of their relationships for others.

New Magical Me: A slowburn magical girl story centered on a team who won against their enemy, but lost their leader. Years go by and they're now adults when a new threat is coming back and their leader is actually alive and has now come out as a trans man. The two main characters, Rikki (former leader) and Winnie (dependable blue magical girl) have a really sweet dynamic as they have to relearn how to be friends after Rikki's apparent death and re-emergence.

The Eccentric Duchess: A not-so run-of-the-mill transmigration story. The MC transmigrates into a BL-bootleg of a game she was playing where she is the twin to the bootleg's protagonist. Rhian is a rather prickly protagonist, but she does have her sweet moments as she deals with the consequences of her actions. Her relationship with her siblings and other leads are incredibly well-done and is less focused on a harem "will-they-won't-they" like some others of this type of story are.

Suitor Armor: A medieval fantasy romance with heavy political intrigue elements. It's really hard to really give a good, succinct summary without diving into spoiler territory, but it tackles such hard topics like genocide and being a survivor with some semblance of power in ways that feel incredibly nuanced. The main relationships are Lucia and the suit of armor Modeus. It's incredibly slowburn, really sweet, and incredibly healthy, which sits as a much needed foil to the straining friendships she has as she comes into her own. I haven't read much of season 2, but my god is it tense.

The Blind Prince: A fantasy adventure story about a cursed young woman gets chased into the realm of the ravens, where she must team up with a captured prince in hopes of getting home. ELAINE MY BABY GIRL. She's my favorite type of "weak" female characters: knowing their abilities, but still figuring out to claim agency in their lives. She's resourceful and just trying her best. Her strict mother is also given such incredibly important nuance as she learns what happened to Elaine is determined to save her daughter. Sebatian, the titular blind prince, is also just such a fun character as a nice foil to Elaine. I really can't wait for season three to come out or this series to get a physical release.

For day two of 3weeks4dreamwidth, I'm just going to ramble about about my goals for this year!

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To make things more concrete, I think my initial shallow goals will be:

1. Aim to write 2k words a week on any one project. 500 words for four days is an easy thing to work into my schedule. This post is already eeking to 500 words and I've only been working on it for roughly twenty minutes.
2. Journaling: Aim to journal for a couple of pages at least 4 times a week. The words won't ultimately count to goal 1, but may help brainstorm for the goal 1. It's pretty easy to find prompts online, so maybe keeping a on-going and random list to pull from will help when the brain gets slow.
3. Work on mending one item a week. Once I get going, it's easy to keep going. I just need to be sure to set a day where I accomplish this goal.
4. Staring one of those "what I'm x" posts every week. Maybe setting it for Tuesday.

Other Bigger goals:

1. Yamask Cosplay (due by next February) - All I have to do for this, though is some mending of items I already own. I just want to figure out how I want to do the funeral mask.
2. Finish deconstructing my old Sucrose cosplay (due by August)
3. Do a mockup of a dress for my friend (due by June)
4. Catalogue all of my music on VGMD (due by May)
5. Do that Celebi blouse (due by end of July)
6. Read at least another 5 to 7 books this year. Audio books are just a fun bonus