Tag: challenge

Reading Goals for 2023 – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’ll be the first to admit that my reading goal for 2022 was a little… unobtainable, especially once my luck with the job market happened.

It wasn’t the total amount of books that was the problem. No, I’ve done that before and more. It was the fact that I was reading the same type of book over and over again. It just got… tiresome? I guess? You could also say exhausting. Or just… very one note. Basically, reading only one type of book made me not want to read, because if I wasn’t reading a book from my challenge, then I felt like I wasn’t reading the right thing.

For 2023, I’m going to try to broaden my palette, as it were. I still have my “reading challenge,” but I have a few others that will let me read basically anything I want. Let me explain.

Owlcrate’s 2023 Reading Planner Goals

Every year, my favorite book box Owlcrate sends out a reading planner with their November box. This year, the planner included a small list of 14 prompts as a way to encourage people to read something they wouldn’t normally.

For example, one of the prompts is to “read a collection of poetry or short stories.” Another is “an epistolary novel.” There’s also a prompt for “a book set in a library or a bookstore.” Two personal favorites of mine are “a book from a country that you’d love to visit this year” and “a recommendation from a friend with reading tastes different to yours.”

I’ve already come up with a few books that might fit some of these prompts, though I won’t start actually reading until January 1st. But I’m okay with that. Mentally planning is important.

The Nest’s 3 Degrees of Difficulty Annual Reading Challenge

Hilariously, this is also Owlcrate. They just launched The Nest, which is an app to connect with other booklovers in a safe and welcoming space (#notasponser). One of the things I like is that they are hosting their own reading challenge, with three levels. To make it slightly more challenging, each level features 25 prompts.

Level one is pretty simple. It has the normal prompts, such as “YA Historical Fiction,” “A Library Book,” or “A Classic High Fantasy.” Pretty much every prompt is one that can be found on another list someone else. It’s meant to be an easy list to fill.

Level two gets a bit more difficult. There are some more specific prompts, such as “set in the 1920s.” “More than 500 pages” sticks out because most prompt lists don’t have a prompt like that. “Portal Fantasy” is something I’ve never heard of as of writing this post. There’s also a “contemporary duology” and a “super serious sci-fi,” which means I’ll be scouring the internet for those and others.

I’ll admit, Level three is the one I’m not sure I’ll finish. Most of the prompts are ones that I wouldn’t normally pick up, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t enjoy it. “African Magical Realism” is something I’ve never even thought of (though I am intrigued). “Healthcare Worker POV?” No offense, but I avoided that line of work for a reason, I’m not looking forward to that one. And I’ll be honest, unless I get lucky, I’m probably to have trouble with the “2022 Hugo Nominee” as I’m usually not a fan of their choices… Oh wait, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir? Okay, that one might be okay.

But Wait! What About Your Reading Challenge?

I’m still going to do it! I’m midway through the Trials of Apollo, which is the last major pentalogy in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. I still have the two spinoff trilogies (The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) as well as the companion books.

I also would love to work my way through The Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, which was already in the challenge. Considering the size difference between KotLC and the other complete series in the challenge (The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare), the former is at least obtainable.

One important things is that this challenge won’t be my main goal. I’d love to complete more than just the CHBC portion (which will get done next year if I have anything to say about it). I’m just going to prioritize reading for the other challenges more than just this. It will probably help with my anxiety as well.

Wrap Up

I’m hoping that having what amounts to nearly 100 prompts, I’ll get a lot of reading done on my offtimes. I do have some grand plans for reading, some ideas I’ve already jotted down, though of course nothing is set in stone just yet. We shall see what 2023 shall bring in the form of reading!

Until next time!

My 2022 Reading Challenge – Update – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Back in March of 2022, I made a series of bad “bets” on a few different TV shows, basically on what was going to be shown on screen or during the marketing of different episodes. And when I say I made some “bad bets,” I mean I kept on getting it blatantly wrong. Since a few of my (former) friends and I were pseudo-gambling on it, I had to set my own, for the lack of a better term, punishment for getting things wrong.

So I set out to do what I named “Remy’s Reading Challenge.”

The challenge was deceptively simple. I was to read every book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, every book in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles series by Rick Riordan, and every book in the Shadowhunter Chronicles series by Cassandra Clare. To save you the math, the grand total is 46 novels, 60 short stories, 1 novella, and 1 online novel.

I set out to do this challenge with a bit of a gusto, as I really did want to read all of these books. It was something that, in February and March, was completely obtainable. And then it wasn’t.

April 1st, I got hired with my job, and cut off from the majority of my family. May 4th, I left the friend group that had been my support for over a year at that point, and in the process lost the “friends” that had helped set these challenges. End of June? I was knee deep in training and had my entire fandom life implode around me, which also almost resulted in the loss of my job. July through Septempber was simply trying to build myself back up, October was a low point, November was a disaster, and December? Well, at least 2023 is right around a corner. And on top of this, medical issues. Just… medical issues.

That’s a very long-winded way of saying that I am nowhere near completing the challenge in any way.

As of today, December 11th, I have read the first ten Camp Half-Blood Chronicles novels and one companion novel (which held two of the short stories, if I remember correctly, have to check that). No, you’re not reading that wrong, that’s it. That’s all. I never touched The Shadowhunter Chronicles or The Keeper of the Lost Cities, even though I did get Book 9, Stellarlune, for my birthday.

With everything going on, I’m honestly surprised I got this far. I really did want to read more of them, but I never was either in the mood or I didn’t have the time when I did want to read. It’s been a challenge all the way. It’s the same reason I don’t really think I’m going to do a reading wrap up this year, because I really haven’t read all that much.

Depression sucks, y’all.

While I’ll be doing a few reading challenges in the new year (hilariously all hosted by Owlcrate in various forms, I’ll talk about those later this month), I also am hoping to get through with at least part of this challenge by the end of 2023. I’m not making any promises.

But for now, I’m going back to The Hidden Oracle, since that’s where I left off and I’m just over halfway through… I will get done with Apollo’s books. One day, anyway.

Until next time.

Writer’s Month 2022 (Delayed) Wrap-up! – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Well, my first attempt at Writer’s Month went… well… I at least completed the challenge. Two months late. It’s a whole thing. But I really did enjoy the different prompts, so I will probably give this one another try next year, when I can dedicate more time to it while not stressing myself out.

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the challenge, I wrote 31 fics between August 2nd and November 14th, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 29,703 words, focused on 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, The Old Guard, and Fusionfall with brief mentions or crossovers with Hawaii Five-O, SWAT, and Teen Wolf.

As it’s been over a month since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are some that are more popular than others, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

By far one of my most popular fics this year thus far, Far Reaching Friends was born out of wanting to have some sort of crossover between 9-1-1 Season 5 and 9-1-1 Lone Star Season 3. I remember knocking this one out in no time at all and really loving bringing this to life. I actually wrote a sequel to during Whumptober 2022 and I think I want to play in this world one more time.

I ended up coming up with Late Night Knocks on a whim, but it also became a tribute to one of my favorite One Chicago characters, Jay Halstead, who was (horribly) written out this season. This is another idea that came up out of the blue that I enjoy and I’m happy to see that others have enjoyed it as well. I have one more planned for this mini series.

So, confession. I have an irrational fear of earthquakes. Home Shakes popped into my head while I was pacing my room trying to come up with something. I joking said that this fic’s secondary theme was “writer’s block due to annoyance.” This one ended up being a good quick little writing exercise that I enjoyed knocking out.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Far Reaching Friends” and “Late Night Knocks.”

The amount of times I rewrote Cards from the Heart is frankly embarrassing. I could not decide what to do, then I had an idea and backtracked, and finally I just ran with what I posted. It’s probably one of my favorites just because it’s cute, and that’s what matters.

And Now, To Tomorrow is the sequel to one of my favorite fics I’ve written this year, mostly because it’s the crossover I was never supposed to write, and yet I did. This sequel was difficult to write only because I knew what I wanted to say, but I wasn’t sure how to say it. But I’m happy with how it came out, and the third fic should be completed before the end of the year if all goes well.

Fat Lip came out of wanting to write about the catfish incident but in the current day, and give Hen a voice to the situation since she didn’t really get one during Season 1. I really enjoyed working on this one, especially sarcastic Buck coming out. Surprisingly I wasn’t in the best of places mentally when writing this, as well as suffering from food poisoning during the majority of that week.

Most Popular by Comments

I already have talked about “And Now, To Tomorrow.”

I got “in trouble” because of the joke behind Teaching Knots. Yes, it’s a BDSM joke, no, it’s completely clean, and yes, I had way too much fun with setting that bullshit up. I’m happy with it, even if I got some funny pseudo-pissed off messages.

Pain Day was born out of the thought that Buck’s injury might not have healed as perfectly as the show implied. So I decided to explore that. I’ll be totally honest, I was looking for a prompt that would fit this plot, instead of the other way around. This one worked well, and I love it.

Held Back (What a Detriment) holds the distinction of being the first fic I’ve ever posted with the wrong title (I misspelled detriment). I also marked this fic as incomplete, as I’m still not sure if I’m going to come back to it or not. I’m just not into writing about shifters, but I way decide to do so in the future. Only time will tell.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Pain Day,” “Far Reaching Friends,” “Home Shakes,” “Fat Lip,” “Cards from the Heart,” “And Now, To Tomorrow,” “Teaching Knots,” and “Held Back (What a Detriment).”

I unintentionally sat on Rainbow of Thanks for awhile. This was a fic that I had a barebones idea for, but I ended up enjoying what I ended up writing for it. Hell, I love any fic that makes Christopher special, because I love that kid.

I also got in trouble for Next in Line. ANd by “in trouble,” I mean I pissed off a lot of people because Buck didn’t get to go to Chicago. I had everything planned out, but no one believed me. (Late Night Knocks” is the sequel to this fic, and there is a third tentatively planned.)

My literal only speculation for Season 6. Worrying Away from Home was born simply to prove that I could write a speculation fic, even though I don’t like speculation fics. Also, it totally turned into an anti-Buckley parent’s fic because why the heck not. Worth it.

Length

I already have talked about “And Now, To Tomorrow,” “Late Night Knocks,” and “Far Reaching Friends.”

I spontaneously decided to write a Fusionfall fic, and Three Days On Fire is the result. I pulled it out of nowhere just because I could. I really enjoyed playing around in that world again, so much so that I want to do it again just because.

What is Silk Nights? I still don’t know. I just pulled it out of nowhere. I can’t explain it, nor will I. It’s… a thing. Just go with it.

King of the Lego Castle was written as a tribute to Lego’s 90th birthday. No, seriously, that’s the whole inspiration. But it was fun and I’m happy about it. That’s about all I have to say on the subject.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention (aka All the 9-1-1 Lone Star fics)

I came up with Music From a Former Life thanks to listening to Ronen Rubinstein’s music. It was a fun little fic that I really feel like deserved more love.

I still have a love for my Buck and Audie fics, and I wrote one from Audie’s POV. It’s Hard Being Popular ended up not being popular, but it was a fun little experiment. Can I help it? Audie is a sassy pup.

I don’t normally write future fics, but there was something about writing a fic from an adult Christopher Diaz’s point of view. The Story of Our Lives is a fun little fic that almost made the cut on several categories for this wrap up, missing by only one point here or there.

Did I really write a fic about TK and Paul going to where TK almsot froze to death? Yes, yes I did. And no, I don’t have a problem with that. It’s therapy. It’s called This is Where I (Nearly) Died and it didn’t get nearly enough love, damn it.

And finally, something that I’m mildly hoping for 9-1-1 Lone Star for Season Four is some Carlos!Whump, so I wrote some myself. Role reversals are fun sometimes. I called this pain Waiting for the Wake Up, and no, I have no regrets.

Wrap Up

I really enjoyed this challenge, only because the prompts are different’ then ones I’m used to. I’m happy that I have it a shot even if I didn’t get to complete it in August. It was worth the attempt. I may or may not take part in it next year, depending on life circumstances, but I have no real complaints. Heck, one of my favorite things is that they give a seven day grace period on posting! No one else does!

All in all, it was a good challenge and I’m happy to move onto other things.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Writer’s Month 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

The 118 Discord Bingo Wrap Up

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

August 2022 Edit:

Hey everyone, before you read this post, I just want to give a quick disclaimer. I was a member of the 118 Discord up until May 2022, when I left due to a… difference of opinion on something that happened in the 9-1-1 fandom and how people might handle it, as well as seeing that the mods had become people I was no longer comfortable with supporting in any way. It’s my personal belief that the 118 Discord is have become a dangerous place and probably will never be a safe place in fandom again, unless you cast aside your ability to have an opinion and only follow their personal opinions and beliefs about this fandom. You can make your own opinions. I won’t be removing the references to that discord from this post, as that would be disingenuous (unlike their handling of many things in fandom), but I want it clear that I do not represent or support them in any way. These fics mentioned here were written before this all came to light. All reference to the discord have been removed from the fics, both tags and author notes. As a added point of clarity, this post has remain unedited beyond this note, a brief note at the end of the post, and the links to the stories. My comments written here do not reflect how I currently feel about the discord or any named members.

Thanks so much for your understanding.

My first attempt at doing a writing bingo, and it went… pretty well, actually.

Last year, when I got into the 9-1-1 fandom, and onto the 118 Discord, I signed up for the bingo they were hosting on a whim. I picked a 5×5 card, which included 25 prompts (including the free space) and figured that I’d have no trouble finishing it.

Yeah, I’ll never make that mistake again.

I ended up finishing 21 out of 25 fics, which I’m really proud of. Some were short, some were long, some I thought of while half asleep, while others took weeks for me to make work. It was a challenge in every sense of the word. But let’s dive into it.

For context, the Bingo started in April 2021 (I think). I got my card in June or July, and it officially finished January 31, 2022.

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the bingo, I wrote 21 fics between September 4th (when I remembered I’d signed up for this challenge) and January 31st.

My total word count for the event was 27,239 words, focused on 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, with no crossovers with other fandoms.

As it’s been a few months since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are five that are very popular, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

By far my most popular Bingo fic, “Back in Class (to Protect Those I Love)” was something that I had been quietly working on for a while. I wanted to do a “5+1” style fic, and this was something I thought was plausible. This is also one of my favorite fics I wrote last year, hands down. There’s just something about it that makes me smile when I read through it. If there is just one bingo fic you want to flip through, make it this one. (I could gush about this fic for days if I wanted to, but I’m trying to keep this relatively short. You’re welcome! :P)

“Doze the Afternoon Away” was the first bingo square I filled. It’s also probably one of the softest and fluffiest. It’s just calm and quiet and I even wrote it from Hen’s point of view. I don’t have too much to say about it, except that it’s just a quick blink and you miss it type of fic. I like it.

“Trauma Takes Many Forms” was a look at post traumatic stress disorder and triggers, all in under a thousand words. Writing from Eddie’s point of view is always hard, but this… this ended up being one of the fastest prompt fills I did, if I remember right. It’s one I wrote to show that trauma can be remembered in a myriad of ways, and can affect someone’s normal life without even realizing it.

Most Popular by Kudos

I’ve already talked about ““Back in Class (to Protect Those I Love),” “Doze the Afternoon Away,” and “Trauma Takes Many Forms.”

“Paint Fight” was just pure fun. I love fics that are moments in time, where there isn’t any trauma or drama, just good happy fun. And this one… it’s just one of those that I reread when I need a pick me up.

Okay, there’s a story behind “Dancing Past and Future.” It all came about because the Discord watched MindGamers and Step Up: Revolution back to back. Suddenly I had a terrible idea, but it actually worked and I was so glad that the person I gifted it to enjoyed it. It’s a fun little play on the actors’ careers prior to 9-1-1. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but it came out alright in the end.

“Firefighting… Gamers?” was a total joke. I wrote it after getting prompted, and it’s based on the game Animal Crossing New Horizons (which… well, I’ll have a post about that one of these days). Anyway, I just wanted to do something humorous, and this worked well in my opinion.

Most Popular by Comments

I’ve already talked about ““Back in Class (to Protect Those I Love)”,” “Firefighting… Gamers?,” “Doze the Afternoon Away,” “Dancing Past and Future,” “Trauma Takes Many Forms,” and “Paint Fight.”

“Returning the Favor” is another Audie the dog fic. I wanted to have Dad!Bobby, and I randomly decided that having Buck be minorly hurt worked well for the story. Audie is a very sassy sarcastic dog, and I actually wrote one of my favorite lines for this fic, I swear. It was well worth it to me.

So, I wrote “Frozen Hearts Still Beat” with the thought that the “Gwyn is dead/going to die theory” was a possibility after 3×03. Of course, I ended up right four episodes later. This one is one I’m pretty proud of, though it didn’t get the love I wanted it to get. But I really think I captured Carlos’ broken emotions of seeing the man he loves unconscious in the hospital.

“The Beautiful Aurora” is one of those fics that I just decided to do. I wanted to expand on the final scene of Tarlos in 1×10. It’s pretty short and there’s really not a lot for me to say about it, honestly. It just happened to work for what I needed.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I’ve already talked about “Back in Class (to Protect Those I Love)”,” “Doze the Afternoon Away,” “Dancing Past and Future,” “Returning the Favor,” “Paint Fight,” and “Firefighting… Gamers?”

“Wedding Bells (Visit Hell)” was a fic that I came up with on a whim, and it happened to fit with one of the bingo prompts. I decided to jump on the “Diaz parents suck” trend with this, but I did have a little bit of fun with it. It kinda ran away from me, but I did enjoy it.

“Christmas Postcards” was something that I’d been thinking about a lot. Buck sent a postcard to Maddie during his probie year, before she escaped Doug and joined him in LA. But who took the photo? That’s what I wanted to explore, and I think it came out pretty well in the end.

“Rainy Day Shopping” is just a quick little weird fic that I didn’t particularly like writing. I tied it into Advent, but I just wasn’t particularly happy with it. It happens.

Most Popular by Length

I’ve already talked about “Back in Class (to Protect Those I Love),” “Returning the Favor,” “Wedding Bells (Visit Hell),” “Dancing Past and Future,” and “Christmas Postcards.” Seeing a pattern yet?

“The 118 Wordle Competition” was a funny little fic that I wrote because of the Wordle craze. It blossomed into a post-5×10 fic. I had a bit of fun with this. It didn’t get much of a glance from people, but I don’t mind. It was the final Bingo fic I wrote.

“Summerville Tales” was an attempt to write an Alternate Universe fic, featuring both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star in a small town setting. It was a fun little experiment that I may or may not return to. The drive isn’t there (and the person who initially sparked it isn’t someone I want to speak to right now…). But I may jump back into it at some point.

I blasted out “A Veteran Talk” in about two hours, wanting to get the plot that popped into my head down on paper. I wanted to do a fic that touched on Eddie’s status as a veteran, which isn’t something that often gets touched up in this fandom. It unfortunately was posted late on Veterans Day and was pretty much ignored. I’m not bitter about it, just disappointed.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

I had a good deal of fun writing “Quite the Bell Ringer,” as it was just a “firefam” meetup fic. It wasn’t anything special, but I enjoyed it. I’m not surprised it didn’t really hit anyone’s radar, honestly. I just thought it was fun to write, and it was a cute way to write this prompt.

Wrap Up

For my first actual Bingo, I think I was pretty successful. I finished 21 out of 25 prompts, which was honestly more than what most people wrote, as most people chose a 3×3 card, something I didn’t take into consideration when I picked up this challenge. In the future, when the 118 Discord hosts this again (because apparently they will be?), I’ll be sure to only pick a 3×3 card, if only for my sanity. (August 2022 Edit: This will not be happening, see the note above.)

I managed to get seven bingos, two horizontal, two vertical, both diagonals, and the four corners. The four prompts I didn’t get to do were Detective AU, Lifeguard AU, Soulmate AU, and Meet Ugly.

I’m glad that I took part in this challenge, but I’m also glad that it’s done. Mostly because I got hit by burnout after doing this, Whumptober, Advent, and Febuwhump back to back.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Remy’s 9-1-1 Bingo 2021” series. They are all in prompt order. (August 2022 edit: The collection has been deleted. If you would like to know which fics are bingo fics, please look at the first comment below. I’ve listed them out in order. Thank you!)

Until next time!

Febuwhump 2022 Wrap Up

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

February has come and gone, and with it was Febuwhump! This was my second time participating in Febuwhump, and I had a blast with it (even if I lost steam for a bit due to job search related shenanigans). I’m really happy with how everything came out. Please enjoy this quick little write up about the entire event!

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the challenge, I wrote 29 fics between February 1st and March 1st, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 35,376 words, focused on 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, with brief crossovers with The Old Guard, Criminal Minds and CSI:NY.

As it’s been a bit over a month since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are some that are more popular than others, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

To my upmost surprise, “Hidden Bruises” has been a fic that consistently gets hits and kudos every day. I was having a very hard time with the prompt for this one, if I remember right. I’m glad that people enjoy it, as it’s my requisite “Buck pushed himself too much #2” fic. 

Though the theme of the entire challenge is “whump”, I really wanted to do some lighthearted fics as well. “Accident Prone” is one of them, taking place in a nebulous time after Lone Star 3×04. Just having Carlos both worry over and tease TK was a balm my heart needed.

“Stumbling Out” was a little fic that I came up with at the last moment, as I had just had some bad work-related news. I don’t really remember what was my inspiration behind this, but it worked. I think it got popular simply because it was pretty current to the season.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Hidden Bruises” and “Accident Prone.”

I personally love “His (Head’s) Own Worst Enemy.” It’s probably one of my favorite fics I wrote during February, and I got to make a crack at the lack of care Buck let’s himself get during 5×06. Writing characters that can’t outright describe where they are due to injury is something I love doing, and writing Buck with a head wound is always fun.

All I can really say about “Please Don’t Go” is this. It’s very personal to me, because it’s some of the same thoughts I had when my father died. It was a dark time for me, and wow did it come out on paper for this.

Something I planned early on for Febuwhump was to have a fic with a character in a fever. I decided to place “Fever Guardians” early in Season One, simply because I was doing my rewatch at the time, and wow Buck has had some character growth.

Most Popular by Comments

“How Long? (Check the Clock)” was an absolute blast to write. I’d wanted to do a 5+1 for a while, and this just made it possible. It also helped with me getting over my issues with Chimney this season, and wow am I happy with how this came out. This is one of the best fics I wrote in 2022.

“Kidnapped Away” was an indulgence fic. I’d been quietly planning to write a 9-1-1 Lone Star / CSINY fic for a while now. This is the the beginning to a much larger fic that I really want to work on this year, once I get out of my writing funk. It got a good reception.

“Separated at Birth” is based on a fan theory that popped up right after the character Lucy Donato was announced, and I absolutely ran with it. I’m still happy with it, though the second chapter isn’t as good as I wanted it to be, due to the fact that I ended up rushing it. But it’s a fun non-canon fic.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Hidden Bruises,” “His (Head’s) Worst Enemy,” “Accident Prone,” “How Long? (Check the Clock),” “Kidnapped Away” and “Fever Guardians.”

Something I’d already planned on doing during the first part of 2022 was write the second chapter to “Rude Wake Up Call”. Chapter 2, called “After” was one that slowly came into being and just happened to work for this challenge. I’m happy with how it came out, and that it has hopefully set up a satisfying conclusion. At some point, anyway.

There’s a lot about Buck’s past that we have only touched upon, and “Cold Shoulder to Thanks” was a story that just poked at one of those times. (Seriously, it’s one of my only peeves with Buck Begins, as it’s more of a Maddie origin story compared to a Buck origin story…). I always figured there were reasons that Buck never stayed anywhere long until joining the LAFD. Here’s a fun answer as to why.

I have no real idea why I made “Misunderstanding on an Epic Scale” as crazy as it ended up being. I did go to Target that day, and I did have an argument with someone in the book section (but it was about me still wearing my mask, which apparently was infringing on this guy’s rights or some other nonsense…). But my brain got weird and this popped out. Go brain?

Length

I already have talked about “How Long? (Check the Clock).”

“Gettin’ Taken for a Hike” is the sequel to one of my favorite fics from Whumptober. I had a lot of fun with this, mostly because I really really wanted to do a sequel to the first fic. It’s somewhat annoying that it didn’t get as much love as I feel like it deserves, but fine, people are lame.

“Learning Boundaries” ended up being the latest in my Criminal Minds/Old Guard/9-1-1 series. I always gave fun adding new stories to it. This one was actually attempt number two, as I ended up having to set aside my first attempt because I completely messed up the timeline. I really enjoyed touching on some of the highlights of Season 3, but adding an immortal twist.

I absolutely wanted to do at least one Bob Evans fic, and “Falling on the Highway” was one of them. I was in a pretty angsty mood when I wrote this, but it’s one of my favorites. I really took the time with every part (and made a fun reference to my county while I did it!). I also put a lot of love in it, and I’m glad that people have read it.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

Though I flat out will say that this fic is a bit of a mess, I still loved working on “All the Scars We Cannot See.” And dammit, I’m in love with the title, and I will fight people because of it. It’s a good fic about the consequences of words. (And, fun fact, it was always the fourth fic on each of the categories for above, once the already mentioned fics were removed per category.)

I absolutely had to write a crack fic, and “It’s a Pasta Hostage Situation” is absolutely that. It’s just fun, and I had a good time working on it. Oh, and I got Thin Mints for writing this, so it was absolutely worth it.

One of my other favorite pairings is 4 Alarm Fire, and thus “Burning Hot and Cold” was born. The title is a pun, but wow did I like writing this one. It was supposed to be a text fic that I quickly lost interest in formatting as such, so instead it because a full fic and I think it worked out better like that.

My other Bob Evans fic was “Untriggered Breakdown.” There was a joke running around the Discord was on that everyone was writing breakdowns for Buck and Eddie. So, this was my contribution. I also didn’t plan to write Bob Evans, but I’m glad it kinda happened all on its own.

And finally? “Clowns in School” was the additional prompt, affectionately titled FebuClown. I absolutely had fun writing this, because I got to bitch about Pennywise the Clown. I don’t like clowns, I actively avoid them, and wow was this fic therapeutic. 

Wrap Up

Febuwhump was a good show of my writing skills, working with prompts that I normally wouldn’t touch, pairings that aren’t well known or well liked in the fandom. For the most part, everything was very well received and it was a real confidence boost when I needed it. I’m taking a bit of a break from writing right now, for a few reasons. If things work well in April, I’ll probably get back to writing in a few days. (Provided that Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga stops sucking my soul in.)

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Remy’s Febuwhump 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

Advent Wrap Up

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

August 2022 Edit

Hey everyone, before you read this post, I just want to give a quick disclaimer. I was a member of the 118 Discord up until May 2022, when I left due to a… difference of opinion on something that happened in the 9-1-1 fandom and how people might handle it, as well as seeing that the mods had become people I was no longer comfortable with supporting in any way. It’s my personal belief that the 118 Discord is have become a dangerous place and probably will never be a safe place in fandom again, unless you cast aside your ability to have an opinion and only follow their personal opinions and beliefs about this fandom. You can make your own opinions. I won’t be removing the references to that discord from this post, as that would be disingenuous (unlike their handling of many things in fandom), but I want it clear that I do not represent or support them in any way. These fics mentioned here were written before this all came to light. All reference to the discord have been removed from the fics, both tags and author notes. As a added point of clarity, this post has remain unedited beyond this note, a brief note at the end of the post, and the links to the stories. My comments written here do not reflect how I currently feel about the discord or any named members.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am beyond behind getting these challenge wrap ups done (I have three total, this is the first). But there is a reason for that.

For context, “Advent” was a holiday-themed challenge hosted by the 118 Discord. I had a blast doing the entire event – to the point that I think I was one of only two people to finish it. I technically was a few days late, but it’s totally cool.

I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of Advent, I wrote 25 fics between December 1st and December 31st.

My total word count for the event was 32,684 words, focused primarily on 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, with one crossover with Digimon.

As it’s been three months since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are five that are very popular, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

“A Time to Celebrate” has consistently remained one of the most popular fics I’ve written. It’s a sequel to a fic I wrote for the 9-1-1 Bingo, so I won’t go into too much detail. What I will say is that I wrote this after the 5A finale, though I didn’t mention a few details that came up during that episode. I remember having a time with this fic, as I knew what I wanted to write, but I got lost in my plans and didn’t get to the expected end point. It’s on my list to continue one of these days.

“Buck the Dad Dog” was something I was working on before the Advent challenge, and it just happened to fit the prompt perfectly. I love the idea of Buck having a therapy dog, and Audie wrote herself. This one didn’t give me too much trouble… considering it wouldn’t end. But that’s okay, because it inspired me to write more in this ‘verse.

I can’t explain “The Mistletoe Incident”. I just can’t. It’s one of those fics I think I wrote quickly with no idea what my plan was when I got started. However, I did get a kick out of rereading it so that I could write up this little blurb. I know why it got a lot of views, anyway. Most Buddie fics do.

Most Popular by Kudos

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” and “The Mistletoe Incident.”

“Surprise Santa Meetings” was one of my first “Chim screwed up and is still blaming Buck” fics. I actually forgot about it, which is hilarious, considering I’m constantly getting kudos for it. I also included my own personal headcanon for where Maddie is, though 5×12 is going to completely destroy it. Whoops. But it’s a good fic in my opinion.

When I started “A Letter to St. Nick.”, I never expected to be writing a fic touching on Buck’s life with his parents, comparing it to how he was helping raise Christopher with Eddie. It ended up being angsty, but I really liked it (and rereading it for the first time in over four months).

“The Results of Snap Decisions” was my attempt to feel better after the downer that was 5×10. (Wow, did I not know what the future held for us.) It’s a good little fic that I really wish the showrunners would have looked at, as it deals with what happens when you make a quick decision without taking into account all the factors. It’s one of the better fics I wrote during December.

Most Popular by Comments

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” and “Surprise Santa Meetings.”

One of my goals during Advent was to write fics with pairings I normally wouldn’t. “Ornamental Traditions” was one of my first, featuring the pairing of May Grant and Ravi Panikkar, two characters that I think would have some great chemistry. I had a lot of fun with this one actually, which is always good, and the whole point of Advent.

“Audie’s First Christmas” was a continuation of “Buck the Dad Dog”, because I fell in love with having a dog character that was adorable and somewhat sassy. I also wanted to write an actual Christmas dinner with the rest of the characters, similar to 3×10. It’s just a fun, feel good piece, with a dog.

“Cookie Based Distractions” was my first attempt at writing one of the other rare pairs that I fell in love with in this fandom. Bob Evans is the pairing of Buck and Bobby, and it was a blast to give it a go, even if I did have to deal with an idiot trying to “mansplain” why it was wrong. I’ve done a couple more with this pairing (most notably during Febuwhump, post coming soon). And cookies! Cookies are a major feature.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” “The Mistletoe Incident,” “The Results of Snap Decisions,” “Surprise Santa Meetings,” “A Letter to St. Nick,” and “Audie’s First Christmas.”

“Return to Big Bear” was one that I’d had in the back of my head long before Advent. I wanted to see how Buck would react if he had to go back to Big Bear, as the last time he was there was when he was saving Maddie (or, rather, just bringing Maddie home, since she saved herself). This was self-indulgence, but it worked, and I got to write a panic attack and everything.

So… “Stargazing for Christmas Dinner” was one where I saw the prompt and promptly swore. The prompt was “Christmas Dinner”, but I’d written three Christmas dinners by this point (and was well on my way to burnout). I wanted no part in doing another, so I decided to have a bit more fun with it, by featuring something that I really miss doing – stargazing. The problem with living in a highly populated area is that you don’t really get to see the stars…

“Christmas Eve Floods” was a little fic where I was totally burned out, but I really wanted to write sad!Buck. And thus, I flooded his apartment and didn’t edit the fic. It was a good little fic, but it never really got looked at surprisingly.

Length

I’ve already talked about “A Time to Celebrate,” “Buck the Dad Dog,” and “A Letter to St. Nick.” Seeing a pattern yet?

I really wanted to do a 4Alarm fic, so “Announced via Ugly Sweater” was born. I also have never understood why ugly sweaters are a thing, so that absolutely came through in the prose. But it was fun to write, since trying to really get four characters at the same time is somewhat difficult. But I really enjoyed it (and I wish others had as well).

“A History Defined by Christmas Crackers” was a fun one, since I actually managed to throw in a bit of the cooking lessons I was being taught. I’ve never really been able to get my hands onto real Christmas crackers, so most everything I used was from Google or Harry Potter fanfiction. But it was still a lot of fun.

With “Yule Log Apology Cakes,” I wanted to write a possible reason for Chimney to have been suck a dick to Buck, both in canon and in the previous fic to this one. I really liked how this one came out, and in a way helped me get over my issues with Chimney (or at least, began to).

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

I’m still kinda mad that this one has been mostly overlooked. “The Well Worn Path to Together” is a Tuck fic, that being the pairing of TK and Buck. It’s all soft and wonderful and I spent a good deal of time learning about Hanukkah for this one. I really enjoyed how well this came out, even if it is still the only (or maybe one of the few) fics that didn’t even get a single comment.

“Digi Christmas Morning” is the third of my 9-1-1/Digimon series that I’ve been doing. It’s the required Christmas fic, along with the required engagement fic. I liked this one because it was a great way to end Advent without being too heavy. And it’s Digimon, so nothing can go wrong there.

Wrap Up

Advent was a process. Like I said at the top, I was only one of two people to finish the full thing, which was fine because the point was to at least do one prompt. I took a few extra days to complete everything. But I will say this: while I’m happy with what I came up with, I was honestly really glad when it was over. I felt so drained by the end.

It also didn’t help that I went directly from that into finishing the bingo and then into Febuwhump… but those are posts for the next few days.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that were posted in December 2021. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

My 2022 Reading Challenge

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

So, I don’t always make the best guesses at stuff. I’ll be the first to admit that. And honestly, I really should stop making statements that start with “I bet…”

Anyway, for the past several weeks, some online friends and I have been making joking gambles on different things regarding 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star. Mostly they were regarding different things we would see in episodes, or marketing decisions. And I… I kept getting them wrong.

I won’t say what I did get wrong, but it happened three times in quick succession. And since I was so positive and sure about what I was betting on, the consequences would be large. And since we set our own “punishments”, it was something that I knew I could do, but wow was I embarrassed to admit it.

My challenge is to read every book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, every book in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles series by Rick Riorden, and every book in the Shadowhunter Chronicles series by Cassandra Clare.

At this point, just saying that makes me wince, because I know what’s coming. That’s a lot of books. And that’s not everything. Because I was a glutton of punishment, and I got called out on it, I basically have to read everything. Novels and short stories. So, more than I thought originally.

The Challenge:

The Camp Half Blood Chronicles series is comprised of fifteen main novels, five in each of the following series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Trials of Apollo. There are also a series of short stories released in a few different books or collections (for a total of 17, if I did my math correctly). And because my friends are pretty evil, I also have to include the Kane Chronicles trilogy (as well as the three crossover short stories, already counted) and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy and short stories (9 total short stories).

If you’re keeping track, that’s 21 novels and 26 short stories. The only really good thing is that this series is already complete, so this number isn’t subject to change. I hope.

Then there’s the easiest series to count. The Keeper of the Lost Cities series currently has nine novels with one on the way and four short stories. The only trouble is that three of the four short stories are a part of exclusive releases of her books, so I may have to do a search over at Barnes and Noble when I get to it.

Count check: 30 novels, 30 short stories. What a nice, even number.

And finally, we have the Shadowhunter Chronicles. This is a lot. There are sixteen novels with another on the way, 30 short stories, a serialized novel (available online) and a novella. It’s technically longer than anything else I have to read, due to the fact that the books are all at least 450 pages long, with a few coming in at about 600. It’s a lot. Also, the online novel is still updating through August.

Total count: 46 novels, 60 short stories, 1 novella, and 1 online novel.

The Timeline:

Technically, all three have their own rend requirements. For the Camp Half Blood Chronicles, I have until the end of 2022. For the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, the next book, Stellarlune, is due to release on November 8, 2022, which means I must be done with the series by then. For the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the final book of “The Last Hours” trilogy, Chain of Thorns, is scheduled to be released on November 1, 2022. I must be caught up by this point.

The Plan:

I’m doing this in stages. So I’m a bit of a mood reader, at least that’s how I’ve grown to be in the last several years. It’s hard to get myself to read something that I’m just not in the mood for. So my plan is actually to see where my mood takes me. Right now, I’m knee deep into the Percy Jackson series, with the goal to be done with the first five books by the end of March (because I have a few other things going on). From there, I really want to get started with the first “Mortal Instruments” trilogy.

Is this sustainable? Jury’s out. I’m not going to push myself to read something that I’m just not into right now. The thing is, all of the books are fantasy. There are times that I will want to read something that is more contemporary. I’m totally willing to take a few days to read something else, like American Royalty  by Katherine McGee or Your Life Has Been Delayed by Michelle I. Mason, two books firmly on my to-read list.

Also, I know for a fact that my time will be cut short as soon as my job search comes to an end (I have like 50 applications out right now, and no that’s not a joke). 

How I Am Reading Everything:

I actually own a vast majority of the books I need to read, barring some of the short stories. I have all but one of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, most of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, and about half of the Camp Half Blood Chronicles. Most of the books are available at my local library, or I can access them through the library’s ebook catalogs (cloudLibrary and Hoopla).

I don’t have a firm preference on how I will read everything, as I’m fine with both physical and ebook media.

How Far Am I Already?

Well… Behind. So, I got nailed with this around February 21st, after my last guess was proven wrong. And I even announced it on Tiktok around the same time. And as of the writing of this post, I’ve read one and a half books. To be fair, I did start to read City of Bones, but my old copy literally tried to fall apart in my hand, and my library no longer has the ebook, so…

I will be reviewing each book as I go (though the review for the first book won’t go up until Thursday or Saturday, since I’m still playing catchup with everything I was behind posting). Once I am caught up, unless there is something else pressing to be posted, I will have the review up by the next day at noon.

I am also planning on keeping track by making a shelf on GoodReads, though that will be after I’ve read a good amount of books. I’m also tempted to keep a running list of what I have read and what’s coming on this blog as a separate page, but that isn’t set in stone yet. So, no promises on that.

So, that’s my reading life for 2022. And you know the hilarious thing? If I read everything? I should just make my 2022 reading goal of 52 books. I think that’s kinda funny.

Until next time!

Whumptober is Coming!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Remember back in February when I took part in Febuwhump, and I didn’t finish until May? It was 28 fics, and I think I completely about 23 before the end of February, and the got some burned out I dragged myself to finish three months later. All were focused around The Old Guard, and I’m still proud of how much I wrote.

Well, I was thinking back to that time not too long ago, and I figured out why I burned out so much, and so quickly. It’s very simple, actually. I was trying to write every prompt on the day it needed to be posted.

By that, I mean that every morning, I’d get up, so my morning routine, and plant myself in front of the computer to write a fic. There was no real planning ahead, no writing ahead, just daily writing.

And I remember how burned out I got. I just didn’t want to do it anymore, but people in the TOG community were cheering us on, and I wanted to complete it for them.

Well.

After that, and all the stress I put myself under, I told myself never again. No big challenges, no bingos, no big bangs. Just writing when I felt like it. And for the rest of spring and all of summer, I stuck to that.

Until.

I was over on the 118 Discord (the 9-1-1 Discord I’m on) when one of the more prolific and well known writers in the community started talking her plans for October. She mentioned that she was debating between Flufftoper, Whumptober, and Kinktober, and she was jumping between the three. This started a major conversation, that started with an explanation of what each event was.

Flufftoper is basically 31 “fluffy” fics in October. By fluff, it means light and soft, no pain or injury or main character death. Just… happy thoughts.

Whumptober is somewhat obvious, I’d you were around my blog in February when I announced I was doing Febuwhump. Basically, it’s the bad stuff. Nothing’s really off limits. The prompts can be taken in lots of directions.

Speaking of taken, Kinktober is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a month of writing NSFW fics. Yeah. That’s it.

Anyway, we all really got talking, and I ended up getting convinced to take part in one of the two options I’d actually entertain (the third was Kinktober. I’m just no good writing NSFW stuff.

So, I did. I committed. I kept checking Tumblr and Discord to see if the prompts, mostly because I wanted to write them down and make everything pretty. It’s not like I could pre-write or anything. No, not at all.

As of today, it’s September 15th. I’ve already have seven of the prompts completed, with one mostly done and one in bullet point form (which is how I plan stories out). My goal is to be at least halfway done by the time October begins, which is a definite possibility. I also challenged myself (again) to try and do one fandom the entire way through. Thus far, it’s worked!

I came up with a fun way to pick my prompts, by the way. I wrote the numbers 1-31 on tiny squares of paper, folded them up, and stuck them in a jar. Every time I finish a fic, I pull a new one. If I don’t have a plot already planned for that number (of which there are a few that I haven’t come up with yet), I put it to the side and pick again until I find one that I can do. Then any “duds” go back in. I know which ones I’m still coming up with prompts for, and I’m actively thinking about them, even when I’m working on a prompt.

So, yeah. In addition to Blogtober, which is when I write a post every day, I’m also going to be doing Whumptober. The stress is real.

Until next time! (Wish me luck!)

So, What is a Writing Bingo?

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

[Edit note: Some how this post was published on the 5th, complete, then “unpublished” right afterwards, and then was kinda stuck in limbo, without the last few paragraphs. Sorry about that. This should have gone live on Monday.]

I mentioned in my September Challenge post that I was taking part in the 9-1-1 Bingo. But I honestly just realized that I should explain what that means.

A Bingo is a writing challenge. You’re given a classic bingo-style card with prompts on the various boxes. Some challenges require you to black out the card, while others just want you to get a bingo. Depending on the bingo, you’re able to write a story, create and art piece, make a playlist, or something else. You’re also given a time limit, which is usually several months long.

In the case of the 9-1-1 Bingo, it’s a blackout bingo hosted by the 118 discord. We had the option between a 3×3 or 5×5 sized card, filled with random prompts.

Of course, I ended up choosing the 5×5, because I was feeling overly ambitious that day. That means 24 prompts (and a free space). Luckily the time limit is very generous, running from last April until the end of January 2022.

Here is my bingo board:

As you can see, it’s a variety of different prompts. Some are AU’s, which mean Alternative Universe. Those are either marked with AU, or are alluded to with “Paramedic Buck” (who is a Firefigher with EMT Level 1), “Doctor Chimney” (Firefighter/Paramedic in canon), and “Officer May” (currently a 911 Dispatcher/soon-to-be college freshman). Others are quote prompts, which means that you’re supposed to either use or heavily incorporate the line into your chosen medium. Finally, there are more classic prompts and tropes, such as “Forbidden Love,” “Earthquake”, and “Meet Ugly”.

For me, I’m focusing on writing. The word count has to be above 500 words, and I’ve been hitting that consistently with what I’ve already written. It’s actually been a lot of fun, as the 118 Discord frequently has writing sprints and a good amount of us use those to write.

As of the writing of this post, I’ve posted two stories (for the prompts “playing with their hair while their head’s in your lap” and “Earth to dumbass”), one is completed and I’ll be posting soon (the “painting the house that ends in a paint fight” prompt) and I have ideas for at least three others.

The ones I’m going to probably struggle with are the AU prompts, as I’m not much of a fan of them in the first place. Writing them is going to probably be a test of my patience. The thing about AU’s is I much prefer to stick within the canon of the universe, within reason. Writing full AU’s isn’t exactly fun to me, it’s a test in patience.

Since I don’t have to be done until January, I’m mostly taking my time and working on prompts in between Whumptober prompts (as well as a 9-1-1 Halloween fic that I just remembered I signed up for). It’ll be a while until I’m done, but I’m already happy with what I’ve got.

In short, bingos are fun, and if you have the time, give them a whirl!

Until next time!

One A Day In May – Update

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

At the beginning of May, I came up with the idiotic idea to get a platinum trophy every day.

And I succeeded!

And it sucked.

So. Thirty one days of a new game a day. It sounded crazy. But I had a bunch of UK PSN codes burning a hole in my pocket, so I made heavy use of that account.

Due to the fact that I mostly played vaperware, I’m not gonna go through every game. Just some of the highlights. And yes, there were very few highlights. I really didn’t think this idea through very well.

There were three standout games over the course of the month. Yes, you read that right. Three. There were two others that weren’t total trash, but that’s about it. (And by trash, I don’t mean the games were completely awful. They just had easy or exploitable platinums.)

The two games that I would say were at least decent were Heal and Mahjong Adventure. Heal is a puzzle game with an intriguing story, through it was very finicky. I thought it was pretty good, though without a guide, you could get lost in sections, as there were no direction as to what to do. Mahjong Adventure is just your standard Mahjong tile-matching game. I enjoyed playing this one, mostly because I love playing Mahjong on my phone, though there were several times I had to use an in-game powerup, because the puzzle would be unsolvable otherwise.

As for games that I actually think were worth playing…

From studio Artifex Mundi, I played two games. The first was Demon Hunter: Revelation, which is actually the third game, but the first two didn’t make the jump to PS4. I wasn’t impressed with the story in this one, but some of the puzzles were fun. If you play through this one, I really recommend just skipping the cutscenes and using a guide. You’re not missing much.

Also from Artifex Mundi was Skyland: Heart of the Mountain. This one was slightly better, though I still have to suggest skipping cutscenes. There’s a lot of different, AM-stereotypical puzzles, but for the most part they worked well. The collectables were annoying, mostly because once you complete a chapter, you can’t go back if you missed something. Just a heads up, the voice acting is horrible. But then again, it always is horrible.

And then there was one. The only game this month that I can highly recommend (though, I also suggest using a guide for the collectables, because there are a lot). That is Concrete Genie. This is a tale about a young teenager named Ash in a small seaside town, who is heavily bullied by several local teens. Through art, he is able to express his feelings and keep his head up. When the town is overcome with darkness, his art and his courage are what helps drive it back.

This game was actually surprising. I picked it up on launch day in October 2019, but didn’t start playing it until September 2020, where I got through the first part of the game… then stopped. I picked it up again for this challenge, and I am glad I did. It’s a wonderful story wrapped in a tight game that just works. The collectables are plentiful, but they also aren’t a total pain to get. You just have to use the world around you. The only issue I had with the game was that they added a combat element for the back third act, and it just didn’t really fit, in my opinion. But if that’s my only complaint, I really can’t complain.

There are also VR trophies, and the game is entirely playable in PSVR, though it is not a requirement. Which is good, because I can’t play in VR without getting horribly sick.

The rest of the month was spent playing quick puzzle games and platinum bait, as well as a trilogy of games that can only be called horrible, mostly for their writing. There were some walking simulators that were somewhat fun, and a couple of dating sims that I blasted through (thank you, speed exploits), but on the whole, it was a waste.

And really, I didn’t try to do what I had initually set out to do.

One of my goals for May was to try to clear up some of my backlog of games. Instead of doing that, I ended up playing a bunch of horrible games that I’m never going to look at again. And that’s a shame. I have a couple games I’ve been sitting on for such an occasion. I was hoping May would inspire me to take the leap. Instead, they sat on my account unplayed, or still in their boxes on my shelf.

I’ve kinda taken a bit of a break from playing much of anything since May 31st, since I got so burned out. Now that I’m mostly back to normal, I’m probably going to jump into some of the games I didn’t get to over the course of the month. I want to finally finish Erica (so I can finally delete the app from my phone, and yes there is an app to play this game) and blast through Life is Strange 2 (since I accidently loaded it, so it’s on my trophy list). Actually, looking through my downloaded games, there are a lot that I haven’t finished yet. Maybe that should be my goal for the back half of the year.

Regardless, I’m never doing a gaming challenge like this again. Give me Febuwhump forever.

Until next time!