The Fang and the Bow

Update and thoughts...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:26:20 GMT

Little Bits has been updated with a brief piece written about Sesshomaru, inspired not just by the prompt at the Inuyasha FanFic Contest community, but with the recent play of the anime coverage of the episode with Sess-Mon and Rin's 2nd death and resurrection.

It's been over two months since I updated here. If anyone were wondering ... I suppose I simply didn't have the emotional energy to keep the journal updated. It's been a rough fall--still unemployed, some health issues, and, most importantly, the death of my mother, which ended a year and a half stay at a nursing home: a stay which was mostly unhappy and frequently confusing for her. The people at the nursing home took good care of her, and mother always knew who I was (at least, when she was aware), but still ... I was able to keep creating new stories, if only as an outlet, even an escape from reality.

At any rate, this year is winding down. Solstice is next week, followed by Christmas. Barely two weeks to a new year ... time to set new goals, and reach for hope for a better time in 2010...

One final note -- a belated thanks to yumi_michiyo and kmoaton for nominating and seconding my serial "Waiting for Kagome" for the third-quarter contest at the Inuyasha FanGuild. I now have more pretty banners in my scrapbook folders ...

New Series - "With One Eye"

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:51:37 GMT

Who was Kaede? What happened to her after Kikyo died? How did she go from the half-blinded, young girl listening to her sister's last words, to the unshakable, old miko who befriended Kagome and collared Inuyasha?

I've always like the character. (It's always nice to have a woman in a story who is not young and pretty.) I didn't write "To Never Know" intending to start a serial, but having now written a second piece (and a third begs to be written, just to answer the question about what happens to Kaede when the "other" miko arives), so, I decided to start a serial. It's both on Fanfiction.net and mediaminer.org. We'll see how people like it... (Some people did like the first story...)

"Little Bits" updated

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:16:55 GMT

Well, the "Little Bits" catchall series has been updated again, with the latest piece written for the Issekiwa community. Last year, in one of the first pieces I wrote for LiveJournal contests, I had young Inuyasha discovering his "Blood Claws" during an encounter with Sesshomaru. Now's he's discovered his other weapon...

Another last-minue contest entry, and "Little Bits" updated

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:17:55 GMT

Whups - did I go almost two weeks without posting any writing? Meant to do better than that! :(

But I did post another almost-at-the-last minute piece to the IY_Themes community. Haven't sputtering my three story serials, so I went this time with a short look at Kaede, several months after her sister died. It had to have been a pretty rough year for her...

And having gotten that one posted, I remembered to get the last entry for that community uploaded to fanfiction.net and mediaminer.org. I admit that I'm tempted to take the three separate pieces (Someday:Tonight, Vigil and Turnabout) and re-write them as a single story. (Might keep that one in reserve for when I need a "block breaker"... :) )

"Little Bits" updated

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:55:40 GMT

Ah, well. After not having won anything in the 2nd quarter voting over at the Inuyasha Fanguild, I can at least take pleasure in winning two in a row from the Issekiwa community, which tends to average close to the highest number of entries per contest among the various Inuyasha challenge communities. (At least, among those I monitor. And, the last contest for Issekiwa actually drew a relatively low number of entries.)

The first of the two winners was "Recompense", which was added to the "Waiting for Kagome" serial several weeks ago. With the holiday weekend, the voting on the #85: Pair contest was extended a day, so I've just uploaded "Partners" to the fanfiction.net and mediaminer.org versions of the serial "Little Bits." I've only written a couple of pieces that include Kirara, but I do like the character (with two kitty-cats of my own, how could I not?), so she'll probably continue to pop up from time to time.

Also, a belated thanks to landofthekwt for nominating "Dance", from the serial "Could Love Have Been Enough.", and to DYquen for the second.

And hopefully, I can get soon past my writers' block on said serial, at least before the next deadline on Wilted Rose!

Waiting For Kagome updated (2x)

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:39:34 GMT

I wrote two connected pieces for "Waiting for Kagome" on the 11th, placing the first one into a contest just starting, while the other one was almost over. As a consequence, "Delay" was voted on before "Recompense." Now that the voting for "Recompense" ended, I've updated both to Fanfiction.net and MediaMiner.org.

Both pieces did pretty well...

Left-out chapter now in serial

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:53:09 GMT

I didn't realize until a few days ago, that a piece I wrote for the "Waiting for Kagome" (Invitation) had not gotten posted to the serial, even though the contest had ended weeks ago. Worse, I had updated the next chapter in the sequence. Whoops!

At least that's one little point where MediaMiner gains over FanFiction.Net - it is fairly easy to insert a chapter left out, whereas in FF, (at least tonight), I didn't observe any way to insert, except to overwrite or delete the last chapter. At any rate, the 8 chapters are now all posted and in order. And once the winners for the current Issekiwa contest (theme 'White') are posted, I'll be able to update the next two chapters in this saga.

"Little Bits" updated again

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:44:34 GMT

Second update to the catch-all collection on fanfiction.net. It's another sequel, this time to "Someday: Tonight". This story, "Vigil", is post-canon, taking place on the first new moon after Kagome returns to Inuyasha (at the end of the manga). Just like the first new moon in the manga, Kagome is once again guarding an injured Inuyasha. She gets a hint or two about his first new moon of the three years that the well was sealed...

"Little Bits" updated

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:16:55 GMT

Doing some catchup here... I'm finally getting around to updating some of my serials, where I've written pieces for LiveJournal contests, but haven't posted them in the fanfiction.net and/or MediaMiner sites.

So here's the first one, "Reminisce", that is a sequel to Little Bits #18--"Monster At the Door", which was written last fall for a Halloween challenge. It's been several weeks since the aged hanyo appeared on the Higurashi doorstep, and it's the day that Kagome would have celebrated her 19th birthday, had she stayed in the present. Souta has a question...

Diving into the well

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:33:25 GMT

One of my former coworkers used the expression of going 'into the well' when he was getting into a tricky piece of coding that required intense concentration. I do not possess his ability to get entirely wrapped up in a project, but for the next two weeks, my concentration is going to be almost entirely focused on an intense training course to increase my programming skills. I'm not even living at home -- the course is taking place in Chicago! (Took the train, as I detest flying.)

So my production of fanfic over the next two weeks is going to be low or non-existent. I do hope to work on the next piece for the Wilted Rose, but will probably be it.

"Waiting for Kagome" updated on Media Miner

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:04:09 GMT

I tend to update Media Miner less often than I do fanfiction.net, in part, at least, because I find it more difficult to get a chapter's html coding to work. (The code that parses the html file upload must be ancient, since it won't even properly parse a "align=center" setting inside of a paragraph tag--which is the code the fanfiction.net inserts into a story being downloaded from the site to a saveable html page.

At any rate, this series is updated on that website. And, following is the latest banner, created by the banner-master Forthrightly, for one of the chapters in this saga:

"Little Bits" updated

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:07:59 GMT

The latest entry to the Little Bits collection is another pre-canon look at Izayoi and the Inu-no-Taisho; this time, at their first meeting. Tai-Youkai's Bane was written for the Issekiwa community for the Snare theme.

Waiting For Kagome updated

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:58:45 GMT

Whew! That was a heat wave. When you go out 7 o'clock in the morning, and it's already warmer than inside and muggy to boot... That was too darn early, especially after a cool spring! It's supposed to get almost unbearable in August, not June!

At least temperatures are back to around normal, which means opening windows at night, and being a bit more willing to work in the garden--or go for long walks while pondering the next bit of fan-fic writing.

The new update to the "Waiting for Kagome" series, wherein Kagome and Inuyasha visit the well in their respective times 3 days after it closed, was intended to be an entry for the FirstTweak community. Oops! I had the date down wrong, and so it didn't run in any contest. It's been edited a bit, so its first official publication date is today--6/29. Enjoy!

And meanwhile, I entered a story for the first time in the Inuyasha Themes. It's a follow-on to the short piece, "The Monster At the Door", which one first place (short-short category) for the 4th Quarter Inuyasha Fanguild. Those two pieces will probably become the start of a new serial, once I get some RL issues out of the way. Click on the participation banner below to go to the link...

Waiting For Kagome updated (2x)

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:49:19 GMT

I've added two chapters to the Waiting for Kagome serial. Both were submitted to the Inuyasha FanFic Contest community, but out of sequence. They're in sequence in the serial, however, being chapters five and six. Chapter five covers mid-morning on the first day after Inuyasha returns, wherein Shippo's rude awakening of Inuyasha in the previous chapter gets a follow up. Chapter six takes place in the late afternoon, and covers Sesshomaru's reaction to learning that Inuyasha is back--alone. Chapter 7 should follow in a few days, once the current contest at the IYFic Contest concludes. And with chapter 7, comes the end to day one of Inuyasha coping without Kagome. (1 day down, 1095 to go?)

"Little Bits" updated

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:53:32 GMT

The 'catch-all' collection, Little Bits, has been updated with a piece I wrote for Issekiwa last week. This one takes the point of view of the warning gong mounted in the watch tower of the village.

Meanwhile, I've also added two entries to LiveJournal contests today. (Okay, I should be working on other stuff...) I actually had the newest entry for the Issekiwa community finished before the contest started. The other entry is a lagger, as I started to write it for a contest some weeks ago; ran into a full-stop and didn't finish it until today, for a different contest.

So, at least most of my writing block (except for Blood Unbound) has disappeared. Now to get the some of the job-hunting blocks dissolved...

Waiting Out of Sequence

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:44:34 GMT

Posted my first entry to the IY Fanfic Contest community in several weeks last night.It's a one-shot that will eventually be added to "Waiting for Kagome", but before I do that, I will have to finish the current one-shot that takes place before it!

Meanwhile, I had taken a quick look at the poll results for the 1st Quarter Inuyasha FanGuild contests, and thought none of my stories had won anything. Then, last night, going through the 'friends' page, saw LandoftheKwt's display of banners and mention of (LJ) friends who had also placed, and there was my user name. Checked the IYFG website, and yup, "Keeping Watch" placed third in the 'Canon' contest. So here's that award banner (mucho admiration of Forthrightly, who does all these dozens of banners every quarter!), along with the latest banner from the Wilted Rose Community...

"Could Love Have Been Enough" Updated

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:31:32 GMT

I've updated the collection on fanfiction.net with the latest entry to the Wilted Rose. I almost wonder if I should skip a contest to let someone else win -- my pieces have won 4 of the last 5 contests. Admittedly, there are fewer folks writing for this community, compared to the more general Inuyasha challenges. Most of my entries are also part of this same story line, which may also have an influence. At any rate, whether my idea for the next contest works out or not, the entry, if submitted, will not be part of this series. Mostly because of the theme, which is 'Kiss'. My storyline is still some distance away from the anime kiss, and I'm more inclined to work on a non-serial drabble for the prompt.

Meanwhile, I've done a bit of photoshopping to create a banner for this series...

"Could Love Have Been Enough" Updated

Sun, 31 May 2009 03:00:33 GMT

The contest (Week 18 on Wilted Rose) ended nearly two weeks ago, but I've just now updated the serial on Fanfiction.net.

Real life has not been kind to story-writing, though I just did manage to finish and post the one-shot for the lastest Wilted Rose challenge. Inuyasha gets a bit more than he expected, when he allows his curiosity to draw him to where Kikyo is working to repair damage from the prior ice-youkai attack...

Meanwhile, more pretty banners...

Updates, Seconds, and UnSeconds

Tue, 12 May 2009 01:42:40 GMT

I've just uploaded my last two LiveJournal pieces over to FanFiction.Net. The first one, The Dawn, has been added to the "Could Love Have Been Enough" serial, while the other, "Then Morning Came," went to the "Waiting For Kagome" set.

Meanwhile, two of the three pieces nominated for the first quarter 2009 by Inuyasha FanGuild members moved to the second stage. "Keeping Watch" (Best Canon), a drabble about Inuyasha's 3-year wait for Kagome, and "Friends Protect Friends" (Best Oneshot), one of the longer pieces in the "Could Love Have Been Enough" serial, received seconds (thanks, madmiko and Tsubaki-Hige). The latter serial itself, while nominated for Best Serial, did not advance. Which gives me the right to display the ~~unofficial~~ unseconded banner ...

"The Fang and the Bow" updated

Fri, 01 May 2009 01:34:35 GMT

I've updated "The Fang and the Bow" collection with the drabble written for Wilted Rose: "Feeling Human." If I'm not mistaken, this is the first piece I've written about Kikyo that takes place after her resurrection. (Everything else has been pre-canon or alternative universe.)

Back to Writing

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:21:16 GMT

Well, that ended exhaustingly.

As I mentioned in my last post, my job was ending on April 20th. In practical terms, it should have ended the Friday previous, since the only thing scheduled on the 20th was to turn in equipment used at home, and sign paperwork. But when the company (probably inadvertently) schedules the official layoffs to coincide with the major trade show for the industry ...

Stuff happens. In this case, a call late Friday afternoon from (retained) employees who were setting up the display booth, indicating that a piece of software I had had to modify just two weeks previous wasn't working. I was only minutes away from leaving the office...

Long story short, I ended up working from home Saturday and Sunday, until I lost my internet connection to my in-office workstation. Add in a series of unsettled nights with poor sleeping patterns, and on Monday I was exhausted. My intent to spend the rest of Monday at the zoo, and taking in a movie vanished, as all I wanted to do was go back home and sleep. (And pick up a new, not too expensive monitor to replace the one I had to turn in.)

Fortunately, I had planned for over a month to take last week off, but any attempt to work on my fanfiction -- alas, I was simply too tired. Fortunately, that exhaustion has mostly worn off, so today, instead of concentrating on preparing for a Java certification exam, I worked on an entry for one of the LiveJournal contests. In this case, it will become (after voting ends) the next chapter in "Waiting for Kagome." It looks at Inuyasha's reactions the morning after he returns from the final confrontation with the Shikon no Tama.

Next up, a one-shot for Wilted Rose, to keep up my perfect record (of entries)...

Three, Two, One ... And Thanks for 3

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:22:50 GMT

Monday, April 20th. That's the day I turn in my work laptop, sign the papers, and find myself with no paid employment. I can't complain, really -- the company gave 60 days notice, and I could have tried to find another job within the company -- but they were also closing down my (small) office, and it would have almost certainly meant moving, probably to the west coast. Which I don't really want to do, as I'm a homeowner in a small cohousing community in the Midwest, and I am my 88-year-old mother's only daughter--I don't want to move away from her. (Not that the nursing home, and my brother, aren't taking good care of her.) I'm getting a good severance package; the feds will subsidize 63% of the COBRA health insurance cost for nine months (they say 65%, but the company handling the insurance is tacking on a 2% administrative fee); and I will have access to professionals in the job-hunt business (they teach you how to job-hunt and giving you access to commercial -- and normally expensive -- databases).

The stress (alas, I am rarely able to take adversity calmly) has had impact on my writing, as a quick comparison of the amount of 4th quarter 2008 stories to 1st quarter 2009 can atest. (I keep a spreadsheet of upcoming Inuyasha contests, my entries, and the results.) Nevertheless, in the opinion of others, it appears that my lower quantity has not affected the quality, as three pieces, have been nominated for the Inuyasha Fanguild 1st quarter contest. I thank RosieB and landofthekwt, for entries in Best Canon, Best OneShot, and Best Serial.

The good news is that I'm going to take a week off next week, which I hope to spend mostly on a) gardening, b) visiting family, and c) ... guess. :) Hopefully the first item will get written this weekend -- the next chapter in the "Waiting for Kagome" serial, which I plan to initially post to the next First Tweak contest. After that, I will hopefully be able to sit down with my paper notes, and get the next couple of chapters of "Blood Unbound" plotted. I know where I'm going with it, but I'm stuck on getting Kikyo's side of the story back on track.... (sigh ... I really do seem to be better at short stuff than long stuff -- which applies to my programming as well. Short, one-off utility apps? Find the source of a problem for the field support guys, and then figuring out the fix or workaround and explaining it? No problem! Get told to develop a new 'plugin' for a hardware device, with somewhat cryptic documentation ... uh ... oh boy, this way, or that way, or no, that didn't work, try again this way! ... )

Whups. Time to get to bed. I don't function well when I don't get to sleep before 3 a.m., so I'd better get to bed pronto and the brain is willing to shut down. Still have one piece of coding to finish, and just really the one day...

Whups. No contest entry, just an Update

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:57:38 GMT

Well, I was going to post my latest chapter in "Waiting for Kagome" tonight, on the Inuyasha Fanfic contest community, until I realized I'd written a drabble when I was supposed to write a one-shot! Well, since I 1) didn't have time to write a longer piece, 2) the theme is 'Joke', and I am a) not that good at writing humor (which is how most people are interpreting the theme), and b) I'm really not in the mood to write humor, ok ... I'll just post the chapter without entering it somewhere. So, the third installment is basically a short piece that shows Kaede's reaction to the siutation Inuyasha seems to be in, with no apparent future with Kagome (the morning after he returns and the well aparently closes.) The series is now on Media Miner as well as FanFiction.net (and boy, is MM a pain in the neck to try and get the formatting right!) I've also created a little decorative pic for updates to "Waiting for Kagome," (Started with a image capture from Episode #38, "Two Hearts, One Mind".)

"Waiting for Kagome"

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:37:21 GMT

I've just started a new series on FanFiction.net, called "Waiting for Kagome." As people who have read the entire manga can guess, this series takes place in the three-year interval during the final chapter, as Inuyasha and Kagome are separated. I've started this series with two pieces I wrote for various contests here on LiveJournal: "Return", for Issekiwa #56, and "When Morning Comes", for At First Tweak. The next chapter is waiting for a final edit (after it simmers overnight), and will be posted to the Inuyasha FanFic Contest (iyfic_contest) community. The fourth chapter may end up be written for itself, rather than waiting for an applicable theme.

At any rate, enjoy!

"Could Love Have Been Enough" Updated

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:17:37 GMT

I've added my latest Wilted Rose entry to the serial "Could Love Have Been Enough.", after making some corrections for grammar. Thanks to everyone who voted for it! Hopefully, I'll have the next entrant posted in a few days.