My 2025 Gaming Year – Blogmas 2025

December 15, 2025December 22, 2025 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Okay, I’m going to start with a confession. This year has been a bad gaming year for me.

That’s not saying 2025 in gaming was bad. Nope, there have been some amazing games released, some of the best I have seen in many many years. I just… never got around to them.

So, ignoring the fact I have played far too many puzzle games this year, here are some of my gaming highlights.

Artifex Mundi Hidden Picture Games

One of my goals this year was actually completed early on. At the end of 2024, I’d discovered that I only needed five more Artifex Mundi games to complete all of the collection, until they release a new one (they haven’t all of 2025). So I made it a mission to tackle the five as fast as I could, knocking out each one between the end of January and the beginning of February.

I will say that I wasn’t as impressed with the final games as I was the originals, but that’s allowed. They were still somewhat fun, even if the writing was somewhat lackluster and the voice acting still left much to be desired.

Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets

You know I had a slow trophy year when this is a highlight.

For a bit of context, I don’t mind playing games based off of kids’ television series or media. Sometimes they are fun! The Monster High game on the PS3 was actually decent, even if the Platinum was a massive grind in the end.

But this one? I’ve never flown through a game so fast while being so utterly bored. I mean, the story was non-existant, the voice lines were tragically bad, even for this franchise, and the game could be completed in like five hours. Without even trying. You barely had to do any of the side quests, because the game led you to where you needed to go.

I much prefer the PS3 game, thanks. (And I played this twice, for trophies. Not a good idea.)

The Cats and Seek Series

I wasn’t going to mention some of the more obvious puzzle games, but I have to give a shout out to this little series.

I really do love games where you have to find a series of hidden objects, and the Cats and Seek series is perfect for this. Hundreds of cats hidden inside spralling pictures, and you have to find them all.

There’s just something calming about it. It is relaxing, soothing even. Hmm, I wonder if a new one is coming out.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

It’s not the DLC that makes DDV a highlight for me.

It’s the fact that in March, I finally got the Platinum trophy. The game is still a great deal of fun, the DLCs are mostly worth it (don’t listen to the complainers online). But finally getting that last trophy after almost TWO YEARS was worth the tears I shed. Especially since I got the previous trophy in June the year prior.

Yeah, I’m not doing the PS4 version. I don’t think I have the patience for it.

LEGO Gaming

So, this year in LEGO Gaming was… slow.

Yes, I completed LEGO Voyagers, which was a heartfelt little tale. Yes, I also started LEGO Horizon Adventures (which I really need to finish, but that game is just… not really great.) And yes, I started tackling two more editions of LEGO Harry Potter, even though I don’t exactly want to talk about that.

I just wanted more.

Oh well, the next LEGO Game from TT Games comes out in May. LEGO Batman, here I come!

Little Kitty, Big City

And finally, there’s what I’m calling my Game of the Year, only because I don’t have Clare Obscur yet.

I was introduced to Little Kitty, Big City by a Twitch streamer I follow. He played it on the Xbox One (I think), back when it was a timed console exclusive. When I saw that it was available on the Playstation Network, I had to have it immediate.

It’s just a cute little tale of a kitty lost in a small neighborhood of a big city, and them trying to find a way back up to their window. Short, sweet, with a multitude of animal characters to meet along the way who all have a place in the kitty’s story.

What’s next?

My goal for next year is to play more games with longer stories, instead of just short simple games. It helps that there are some great games coming out next year that I just can’t wait for (especially one, but that’s a tale for another day).

Until then, I’m going to finish out the year with a pretty successful trophy streak, which is always awesome.

Game on!

[Note: This was actually completed on December 15th, I just completely forgot to click publish. It has been backdated to that date.]

Whumptober 2022 Wrap-Up – Blogmas 2022

December 13, 2022 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

For my final challenge of the year, I decided to do things a little bit differently.

Since I was going to be working on Whumptober while also trying to fix up some other things, prep for Nanowrimo, and also work my stressful job, I decided to allow myself the ability to do something a bit different. I gave myself permission to write drabbles. If you don’t know what a drabble is, it is a piece of writing that is exactly 100 words. I ended up writing several double and triple drabbles (or 200/300 words) to some of the prompts, which was both a challenge and a test, and I think some of those fics ended up being some of my favorites.

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober 2021 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 October 2nd and December 5th, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 25,163 words, focused on 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, The Old Guard, and The School of Good and Evil, with minor crossovers and mentions of CSI:NY and Criminal Minds.

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

I’m not really sure what inspired “Overlooking the Head,” but I’m glad that I wrote it. In a way, it was a subtle way of telling the people who had been attacking me that I actually did like Chimney Han, I just didn’t like him in one specific storyline (shock of all shocks). This is something I’d been thinking about for a while, so I’m glad I got it down and posted.

“A Different Kind of Heat” is my ode to the differences of climates. I’m someone who really doesn’t do well in humidity, especially in Texas, where I was one of the people who nearly collapsed that year. I just don’t like the heat. Yes, TK would know better, but it worked for the story, so I’m happy about it.

I think I have a thing for dropping Buck down staircases, as seen in “Staircase Tumbling.” Why Buck? Because it’s Buck, and if the writers won’t give us what we want, it’s up to fic writers to do it for them. I really enjoyed coming up with this one, which was written while I was at my writer’s club at my library. I enjoyed it a little too much, haha.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling.”

I was alwasy going to write a sequel to “BuckBookTok” and thus “BuckLifeTok” was born. I very much enjoyed bringing this to life, especially since I got to once again play with the tsunami and what damage it left behind to LA and the 118. I have a final fic in this trilogy in the works, it should be posted soon.

“Family Crashes” was very much inspired by the frankly ridiculous amount of traffic I could see from my office window when I have to go into LA for my in office day. The Buckley parents appearing just kinda forced themselves into the show, even though I didn’t plan on them. It worked in my opinion.

“Avoiding a Family Fight” was written not because I didn’t like the Buckley parents, but instead to get my temper down about being forced to do things because “family”. I very much enjoyed bringing this fic to life, even if certain people didn’t understand or get my full intentions at the time.

Most Popular by Comments

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling,” “Family Crashes,” and “Avoiding a Family Fight”

I decided early on to include Lou Ransone at least twice during this challenge, with “Gun to Temple” being his first appearance during the month. I think I really enjoyed this one, to the point that I would love to keep going with this fic if I so chose. Maybe one day I’ll do something else along these lines. (No, Remy, no getting more ideas, you have too much to work on right now as is!)

“Long Shift Surprises” was born from one of my Buck and Audie fics getting nominated for a fanfiction awards thing, but because I had two fics nominated in the same category, I had to choose one or the other. Since I went with the other, I wrote another Audie fic to balance it out. Sleepy Buck and Audie for the win!

The thing about “Potentially Scarring Questions” is that it was born out of people asking invasive questions about others. That’s it, that’s the inspiration. For men, that’s always bothered me, so this came to be. I enjoyed bringing this one to light and I’m very happy with my results.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling,” “Family Crashes,” “Avoiding a Family Fight,” “Potentially Scarring Questions,” “Overlooking the Head,” “Gun to Temple,” and “BuckLikeTok.”

“Stuck” is another Lou Ransone fic, but it was also brought upon thanks to so many people deciding what was and wasn’t going to be in Seasons five and six (and being so wrong about it). I’m also very happy with how this one came out.

I came up with “An Atypical Effect to a Head Injury” simply because of how many times it seems like Buck has been hit on the head. No, seriously, that’s what did it. This got a lot of love for being so short and I’m happy with that. Plus, injured and surly Buck is always fun.

I’m not surprised that “Taken Away” has been bookmarked a good amount of times. It’s one of my incomplete fics that I really need to get back to by the end of the year (see yesterday’s post). I just have to find my notes first and I’ll be able to really knock it out…

Length

I already have talked about “BuckLikeTok,” “Family Crashes,” “Staircase Tumbling,” “Avoiding a Family Fight,” “Potentially Scarring Questions,” “Overlooking the Head,” “Gun to Temple,” and

Considering they are best paired together, I’ll be talking about them together. “Firestarter” and “Only Embers Left Behind” are both part of my “Immortal Genius” series, with Buck taking the forefront for five total fics. Here, Buck is dealing with an arsonist and ends up being in the wrong place at the wrong time… but his immortality keeps him alive. For me, I wrote it to show that Buck was finally starting to accept his lot in life, leading into the finale of his arc. They aren’t the most popular, but I’m okay with that. I write what I love, damn it.

“Crutch Time” was just good clean fun. I hated being on crutches when I sprained my foot and I’m still salty about it, and that was in like 2008 (I can hold a grudge). It’s another Audie fic, one that I absolutely had a great time writing since it practically wrote itself.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

I had a great deal of fun with working on “Almost Dead on My Feet,” only because it presented me with the challenge of remembering how to timeline. Something that I’ve struggled with this year. I enjoyed it a lot and I’m glad that it came out alright, even if it didn’t get a majorly great reception (my 9-1-1 Lone Star fics rarely do).

“An Unlikely Friendship” was the final Ransone fic of Whumptober, this time dealing with the aftermath of his attack in 5×02. I tried to make it clear that he and Buck were friends that might become more, though I’m not sure how much of that came through. I did like it, and I enjoyed the challenge I gave myself with it.

Wrap Up

While I wasn’t successful in completing Whumptober in October, I do think I am hapy with the quality of many of the fics that I posted. Several of them are fics that I very much enjoy and I’m happy to see that they have gotten love over the past few months.

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 Whumptober 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

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

December 9, 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!

Whumptober Wrap Up – Blogmas 2021

December 5, 2021September 19, 2022 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

September 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.

This has taken me an extra five weeks to do… because HOLY SHIT.

When I decided to do Whumptober back in September, I figured it would go the way of Febuwhump. I would be good for about half the month, then taper off and be behind until early December, if I was lucky. But the 118 Discord was absolutely amazing and inspiring, and wow, did I get shit done. In fact, I finished writing everything several days early!

So, my plan is to break this down in a few different ways. I’m not going to talk about every fic that I ended up writing for the challenge, but I will hit on a few that became my favorites. Trust me, there’s a bit to get through.

Challenge Comparison

Before we get into the Whumptober data, I wanted to actually compare it to Febuwhump. Both were month long challenges, but wow did things go differently.

During Febuwhump, I wrote 28 fics between February 1st and May 9th. During Whumptober, I posted 31 fics between October 1st to the 31st. (Technically, I started writing in early September, but the posting dates are what counted.)

My total word count for Febuwhump was 30,373 words, focused primarily around The Old Guard, with several crossovers with Criminal Minds.

My total word count for Whumptober was 41,922 words, primarily focused in the 9-1-1 fandom, though I did cross over with 9-1-1: Lone Star, Digimon, Sword Art Online, The Old Guard, and Criminal Minds.

Now, I will point out that the 9-1-1 fandom is much larger than The Old Guard fandom, which explains why my total hits and kudos are so skewed towards the former. But it is interesting to see that I wrote over 11000 words more, with only three extra days to show for it. But I’m not too surprised.

Most Popular by Hits

The most popular fic I wrote during the month by far is actually one that I’m not happy about. I wrote a fic for day five called “Two Directions,” which is an Anti-Ana fic. Now, I wrote it prior to the premier of the latest season of the show, when the character Ana Flores was nothing more than a cardboard cutout of a character. By the time the day came around to post it, it was the day after the third episode, where Eddie breaks up with her. Now, the fic itself doesn’t exactly paint her in the best light (though it’s nowhere near as mean as several that I’ve read in the fandom). But I’m not exactly proud that I wrote it the way I did. I ended up putting a pretty detailed note at the beginning explaining my intentions with the fic, and how it was written early. I’m glad it was popular, but it’s not one of my favorites.

The next three on the list for top hits are all within about a hundred hits of each other. “Rude Wake Up Call” was written for day two, and it’s the shortest fics I ended up writing, as I was still getting back into really writing. This one is one that I actually enjoyed writing, and it’s one that will soon (hopefully) get a second chapter.

“Maybe He Should Skip Leg Day” was a fun one from day ten, that I really enjoyed figuring out how to make work. I really enjoyed the narrative behind this one, without even trying. I think I wrote this in about two hours? And it worked, without too much trouble. I also did a good deal of research with this one to make it at least semi accurate. Did I succeed? I think so.

And of course, let’s not forget about “The Most Valuable Collectable” from day twenty eight. But I’m going to wait to really talk about that one.

The fifth fic on this list was one that I never expected to get so damn long, but it did. When I started day twenty three’s “Taking Something Precious,” I figured it would be maybe just over a thousand words. I didn’t think I would nearly hit three thousand, with plans for another chapter. I also wasn’t planning on writing SEAL!Buck, but that’s what happened. It was absolutely crazy, and I have to thank the Discord for encouraging me to finish it once I realized where it was going. This one is a ride, and I really want to hop back on.

Most Popular by Kudos

The top two fics for this category were “Maybe He Should Skip Leg Day” and “Taking Something Precious.” Since I already mentioned them, I’m going to move past them.

When I was writing “The Most Valuable Collectable,” I’ll be totally honest, I ended up scrapping it and restarting. I realized the way I wrote the villain was wrong, and would present a commentary that I wasn’t comfortable with. I ended up changing it, and it mostly worked, though I think if I had some more time, I would have done things a little (okay, a lot) differently.

The night before I posted day twenty nine’s “Seventy Hours, and A Moment More,” I felt like something was missing from it. So I jumped into a couple sprints on the discord… and added nearly 1500 words and an entire subplot. What had been this simple little fic expanded into something else, and I’m really happy about it. It was worth all the extra trouble I ended up going through in editing.

“‘No’ is a Complete Sentence” from day seventeen ended up being one of the most talked about fics, both on AO3 and on Discord. Apparently me leaving it where I did was a problem? I have the second chapter mostly written, I just need to sit down and finish the thing. I want May to be strong, instead of some weak character that many of the people in the comments kept portraying her as. This one is one of my favorites, BTW.

Most Popular by Comments

The top fic for this category was “‘No’ Is a Complete Sentence.”

I wasn’t exactly happy with day four’s “Do You See Me?” So much so that I’m considering adding a second part. It deals with a scene from one of the second season episodes, and it’s something that I really thought was going to happen (congrats writers, you got me). But I’ve read someone else’s take on the scene, and it was far better then my own. This is life.

“Left Behind” from day six was… personal. Something that wasn’t addressed in the show was exactly what happened between the end of season two, and the beginning of season three, primarily focused on Buck. When I first saw the show, I assumed that the 118 had his back the entire time that Buck was on medical leave, but I’m not entirely sure that was the case. When I wrote this one, I was pretty stubborn. (My thoughts on this have changed a bit more since writing this fic, and it’s something I want to talk about in a full post one of these days.)

Two fics ended up tied for the fourth position on the list. One I’ve already talked about (“Taking Something Precious”). The other…

When I started brainstorming the prompts for Whumptober, day twenty two was one of the first I came up with. “Hiding Behind a Screen” was inspired by another fic, but I took it in a different direction. I was never a fan of Abby in the show, especially of how her relationship with Buck was shown. When it came to this fic, I thought about it, and her reaction during the final episode of season one. It’s, not very nice to her, but I really did enjoy writing it.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I’ve already discussed every fic on this top five! They are: “Seventy Hours, and A Moment More,” “Taking Something Precious,” “Maybe He Should Skip Leg Day,” “‘No’ is a Complete Sentence,” and “Left Behind.”

Length

Two fics in this category were already mentioned: “Taking Something Precious” and “Seventy Hours, and a Moment More.”

Alright, the first one is kinda cheating, because I did just write the second chapter. But I’m counting it, because I posted it on my birthday. Day twelve’s “I’m Begging You (to Come Back to Us)” is a crossover fic, one of like six I wrote for this challenge. I had a random thought one night on the Discord, and this idea popped in my head and wouldn’t leave. What if Buck decided to play a video game from Japan, and ended up trapped in it. Thanks, Sword Art Online, for not getting out of my head. While it didn’t end up popular, it was actually kinda fun to write a character that had interactions with the main characters of SAO, without actually talking to them. Outsider POV was fun to do in those scenes!

“Just Keep Swimming (Until the End of Time)” from day eleven was a labor of love, because I had to publish a fic before this, which I barely managed to do before Whumptober started. This was the biggest crossover I did, as I tied 9-1-1 into my Immortal Genius series. Having to writing about drowning was… terrifying. I had a plan originally, but someone ended up writing something to that effect, so I had to move it. It’s a whole thing. But I loved this one, and I really want to jump back into this world.

Prior to Whumptober, Sadie from the Discord and I both wrote 9-1-1/Digimon fics in celebration of Odaiba Day. I ended up using day three as the sequel to that fic, and I loved it. “Unwelcome Guests” features more Digimon as well as problematic parents. I had way too much fun thinking about how the different characters would react to Digimon, and it was worth it. This had actually been requested, and there will be a third fic to go with this… someday. That will hopefully feature more of the 118.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

These last five are the ones that I really think deserved some more love, because I’m proud of them.

“Gettin’ Taken For a Ride” was a funny but serious take on kidnapping. I trapped Buck inside a trunk and sent him over a cliff. No, that’s not a joke. It ended up being one of my favorites, because I added in the surprise villain in the last paragraphs. This one will be betting a follow up for sure.

Okay, “Revenge, Just Add a Cactus” is seriously just a fic I wrote to tease the hell out of SadieYuki. She has had a tag on AO3 that is “Chase Mackey can Suck a Cactus”, and I just couldn’t help it. The damn thing wrote itself. I wrote most of it in like an hour, and laughed my way through every moment.

“Just a Little Nick” was my required response to Buck getting cut while on blood thinners. This one… I just kinda ran with it. I’m not too happy with it, because it’s been done before, but I got to throw in a joke to Eddie’s cooking. Or lack there of. Speaking of which…

“Cooking is a Public Health Hazard” was my ‘kitchen scene’. Basically, in 5×03, Ana leaves Eddie’s kitchen looking like a bomb went off. It’s insanity to see, if you haven’t. Most of the fandom wrote scenes that made fun of it. I… had a lot of fun writing this one, mostly because the excuses some of the fandom gave pissed me the hell off.

And finally, “Here’s to California Beaches” is my first attempt at writing what the 118 Discord called the pairing “Four Alarm Fire”. Basically, it’s the pairing of Buck/Eddie/TK/Carlos. Together in a poly relationship. I wrote it as pre-4AF, and I had fun with it. Plus I threw in a joke from when I was growing up…

Wrap Up

It’s hard to wrap up 31 fics, especially ones that I really loved working on. This is just a decent sampling of what I wrote, but there are others that are also available on my AO3 page. I’m really happy with how this all came out. In a way, it proved that I can write, and I can write a lot. I felt so good by the end, and I can’t wait to work on more. (Which I’m doing this month).

I hope you enjoyed this wrap up! ~~I’ll absolutely be doing another one at the end of the 118 Advent.~~ (September 2022 edit: Per note above, I will not be participating in any sort of fandom event set up by the 118 Discord. This statement had been stricken through to reflect this.)

Until next time!

Happy Halloween! What Comes Next? – Blogtober 2021

October 31, 2021 ~ Liz Harrison ~ 1 Comment

What a Halloween… of doing basically nothing.

No, seriously, I took most of the day to relax and catch up on some of the fanfic I missed this month. No strain, no stress. It was worth the relaxation.

But that leads us into November. And the month is already shaping up to be just busy.

For one thing, I’m going to be attempting Nanowrimo again this year, but I’m not going to be stressing about it. My goal is to use the month to finish the planned sequels/second chapters for some of my Whumptober stories, as well as the holiday gift fic for the exchange I’m doing through my discord (which I really need to plot out). And hopefully I can knock out a few of my bingo squares as well. I do plan on working on an rewrite of an old fanfic as more original fiction, for the writing group that I’m now apart of.

Will I hit 50k? Probably not. And I’m okay with that. I’m not stressing.

Another goal for November is to finally finish a few of the shows that I’ve been putting off. Not really naming them, simply because I know if I do, I’ll watch anything but. I’m trying to take the month to completely destress.

Now, onto what November will entail for this blog. I’m going down to posting twice a week, simply because I’m almost burned out. I’ll be posting my traditional review of each 9-1-1 episode on Tuesdays, and something else on Thursdays. There may be bonus posts (probably around my birthday), but I’m not pushing it. I’ll be back doing daily posting in December, when Blogmas rolls around. And boy, do I have plans for that.

I guess I should make it clear that if certain things I’m hoping for actually happen, most of these plans will change. I don’t want to go into specifics just yet (don’t want to jinx anything), but… there may be some good hope coming down a pipeline.

Alright, thanks for joining me on this crazy Blogtober journey! I’m gonna go sleep for a we- shit, the hostage episode is tomorrow. Okay, ten hours it is.

Until next time!

January Wrap Up

February 1, 2021January 31, 2021 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Something that I want to make a staple this year is to wrap up every month. This could end up being a one time thing, but I think it’s worth it, at least a bit. The point is to give me a place to look back every month at my content, both on WordPress and elsewhere. I’ll mostly be summarizing, but it will be an asset to myself, or at least I hope. (Especially since I have finally given up on using a planner/journal. They’re fun to set up, but I just don’t have it in me to keep up with it for more than a month. I’ll show off my current way of keeping track of things later on in February.)

Blog Posts

This month, I focused on three things: Books, streaming, and The Old Guard. I have posted twelve times (not including this post). I’ve had 86 views from 23 unique visitors, with the average views per visitor being 3.74. This is down from December, which makes sense considering that December was focused on Blogmas, and posted 25 times. I’ve also had my posts liked 21 times. Book posts seem to be more popular.

Streaming

For my first month of streaming, I managed to stream eleven times. In total I streamed for just under 21 hours, with 17 unique viewers, and one new follower! I am halfway to affiliate, at least in requirements. I need to get 40 more followers (I streamed a bit in 2020 and somehow got to 9 followers), and I need to have an average of 3 viewers per stream. I streamed three games and one book stream, and I’ve changed my schedule twice, with the current schedule being the one I think I’m going to stick with for awhile. The games I streamed were Lili: Child of Geos (twice), Disneyland Adventures (7 times), and Lego Batman: The Video Game (once).

Instagram/Twitter Content

I’ve tried to make it a point to use my social median more productive ways. I can’t see my stats on Instagram, but I have noticed that my engagement goes up in the days following a mention of The Old Guard. On Twitter, I went down on my amount of tweets and impressions, but that’s honestly because I have slowed posting, as in December I tweeted at least one a day (for my TOG Cast movie month). Though, the last week it has gone up, mostly because of the news (and our reactions) about the TOG sequel!

Off Camera Gaming

Damn you Xbox, you’ve made me play you more than Playstation. I feel as though I have betrayed my true love. Ok, dramatics over. I played one game on PS4, Persian Nights 2: Moonlight Veil, which is a point and click type game from Artifex Mundi. On Xbox, I played four Artifex Mundi games (Noir Chronicles: City of Crime, Queen’s Quest 2: Stories of Forgotten Past, Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink, and Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan). I also played Adam’s Venture: Origins (TRASH), The Little Acre, Donut Country, Day of the Tentacle Remaster, The Gardens Between, and What Remains of Edith Finch (game of the month). I also played but did not complete Lego Batman.

Reading

I read five things this month. Three novels, a novella and a short story. I have DNF’ed one novel, Rebel Rose, because it just didn’t click with me. The other novels I read were City of Villains (review coming on Wednesday), and Lore (review forthcoming, and amazing). The novella was Across the Green Grass Fields, which I enjoyed. The short story was Juice Like Wounds, which was an absolute surprise.

Wrap Up and Goals for February

Well, doing this made me think, and also look at stats, which is something I need to get into the habit of doing. My goals for February are to increase the amount of times I post on Twitter and Instagram, and also increase the quality. I also want to keep a better schedule of posting and streaming, and trying to be consistent at that. I’m planning on taking part in Febuwhump, which is a fanfiction writing prompt “challenge”. I’m not making it a massive priority, but it’s something I want to do. Goals.

I’m curious to see what ends up coming in February! (I may or may not do this again, BTW.)

Until next time!

July Media Wrap Up

August 3, 2020August 2, 2020 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Hello all! I planned for this to go up on Friday, but unfortunately I just wasn’t happy with the quality of this post until now. Hence, the delay. Hopefully in the coming months this will not become a common occurrence.

July was a weird month for me. I ended up watching a decent amount of shows and movies (ok, like two movies), and my reading was dominated by graphic novels. As for gaming, that was all over the place. Let’s get to the wrap up.

What I Watched

July brought back the amazement that is Sword Art Online Alicization: War of Underworld, the final cour (season) of the third SAO series. It has been a long time coming, as it was delayed from April, with episode 36 airing right before New Years, and episode 37 premiering July 11th. It was well worth the wait. Now we just need vegetable-Kirito to wake up and wreck havoc.

We also were graced with the return of Digimon Adventure:, the reboot to the long running Digimon franchise. I’m a bit behind still, but I’m loving how old characters are being reintroduced, and oh the development. It looks amazing, and I can’t wait to see it stick around for a while longer.

For all my nostalgia feels, one of my favorite series from my childhood (and the first one that I fought with a large company to keep on air for a little while longer). Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! returned to the universe on July 17th on Disney Plus. I may have cried. I watched it to completion in like a weekend. I have no issues with this.

On the movie front, this month started with Hamilton. I don’t think I need to articulate just how much I enjoyed this musical. I’m still singing along to several of the songs. I just cannot help it.

The other film I saw is one that I think I’ve watched about five times since last weekend. I finally watched The Old Guard, and I absolutely loved it. It’s an amazing adaptation, though I didn’t know it until I read the comics as well.

What I Read

I’ll keep a lot of this brief, for a couple reasons. There’s a lot, and I can group a bunch of it together.

On the manga front, I was the most successful. I managed to get through volumes 2-4 of Bloom into You by Nio Nakatani, which I’ve talked about in some of my Reading Rush wrap ups. I also read Sword Art Online Progressive volumes 1-2 by Reki Kawahara (the manga version). This was also good, and also from Reading Rush. Finally, there was Our Wonderful Days volume 1 by Kei Hamuro, which is kinda like Bloom into You, which makes it amazing.

For novels, the best one I read all month was This Coven Won’t Break by Isabel Sterling, which is lesbian witches in modern Salem. Yay! The other novels I read were right before or during the Reading Rush, and all were disappointing in their own right. Those were Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons, Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller, and Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes

The final thing I read this month was in response to finally watching The Old Guard on Netflix. I read all the graphic novels for the series, The Old Guard #1-5 and The Old Guard: Force Multiplied by Greg Rucka. While I enjoyed them, and enjoyed the film, I think this is another case of me liking the film more. I did enjoy the graphic novels, no joke. I just liked the film a tad bit more.

What I Played

This month was a very Lego heavy month. I beat Lego Batman 3 (thankfully), started and 100%-ed Lego The Hobbit (UUUUGH), and started Lego Dimensions. Batman just took too long, and the Lantern Planets give me a headache. Hobbit is annoying for it’s nightmare of a red brick system, which makes me scream and cry when things drive me bonkers.

As for Dimensions… it just a humongous game. I have already beat the main 14 levels (Gary Oldman plays the villain, and he’s amazing!). I have 1 of the 28 “extra” levels taken care of, and four out of thirty Adventure Worlds completed. So… that’s about 20% of the game. No seriously, I have 200 gold bricks exactly… out of 1016. This will take me all of August to finish.

Besides Lego, I also played a couple of random, terrible vaporware PSN games that I don’t want to even give a name, except for The Unicorn Princess, because that belongs in the fiery pits of Hell. I swear. Kill this game with acid baths.

Summary

Basically, July was a month that is now over. I read a lot, watched something amazing, and played enough Lego. I’m actively trying to do more with August, which hopefully will be seen more soon. I’ll have more content going up on my Instagram soon, as well as here. Oh, and perhaps Twitch, if my computer decides to stop being annoying with streaming…

Until next time!

Reading Rush Wrap Up Finale

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 ~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Total Books Read: Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller, Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes, Bloom into You Vol 3-4, Sword Art Online Progressive (manga) Vol 1-2

Pages Read: 1499

Challenges Completed: Read a book with a cover that matches the color of your birth stone, read a book that inspired a movie you’ve already seen, read a book completely outside of your house, read a book that takes place on a different continent than where you live, read the first book you touch, read a book in a genre that you’ve always wanted to read more of.

Well. Reading Rush is over.

As many people are experiencing, I got burned out by the end of day three. I discovered that I just couldn’t sit and read, no matter how much I wanted to. I switched over to the manga because I wanted to add to by book count, but even then my intrest and focus waned a bit.

While I enjoyed taking part in this challenge, I don’t think I’m going to take part again. This decision was not based on the bit of controversy from yesterday (which I’m not going into and have no real right to have an opinion on). I’ve been discovering that putting a time limit on something just makes me too stressed out to finish the challenge. It’s like my brain sees “must do” and shuts down.

For what it’s worth, I had fun attempting to do the reading challenges. I actually had to think about which books would fit which prompt. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do pretty much any of the Instagram challenges, but I did get one done! But there were a lot of problems as well. First and foremost, the website crashed my internet every time I tried to load it (unless I just went straight to the forum). The decision to include a prompt for outside, in this current pandemic, was problematic to say the least. As for the apology and suggestion post that went with it, I felt that it was too little too late. These creators did a smaller readathon in April that was all about staying home, so it’s not as though they didn’t think about it.

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A post shared by Elizabeth Harrison (@remembermenever)

If anyone is curious, the brown bear is one of my father’s that he gave to my mom before I was born, and was required to be in the pic by the photographer, aka my mom. Also appearing are Rocket Raccoon, 2019 Mickey (WDW Park edition, Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Charlie the Shiba (plushie from FrameRateMerch, no longer available), Miney the Seagull (Finding Nemo), The Killer Rabbit puppet (Spamalot), Arctic the Ikea Husky, Doug the Dog (Up), Sune the fox (gift from my ex-best friend that I treasure), and an Ian Malcolm Funko that fell over right as we took the pic, and we didn’t notice.

For now, there’s only a few challenges that I’m currently doing, including looking for a work from home jobs (any takers? Word deadlines don’t bother me, it’s just personal deadlines that destroy my life…). I still am doing the 2020 Goodreads Challenge, with my original goal of 100 books. I’ll go into more detail in another post this week with my Mid Year Freak Out Tag post. The other challenge is my Lego Challenge. I only have two games left, and I think I planned it out so that I can finish the current one in the next three weeks or so (with breaks if needed).

I’m going to get back to getting my head on straight. I’ll see you all later!