Yup, still alive and writing! Sorry I went the whole month of May without updating. I did write every day in May; I just didn’t write much. I’m way behind on the word count goal I set for myself this year, but that’s okay because 1) my daily writing streak is still going strong, and 2) I have all summer to catch up! Just don’t let me download any more Sims expansion packs this year – that’s what killed my productivity over winter break and got me off to such a slow start! 🤦♀️
Speaking of The Sims, I know you’re probably sick of seeing me talk about my Sims world, but I have a funny story to share that is fanfic-related.
But, first, some back story: In my early days as a fanfic writer, I started making banners for my stories. It was the trendy thing to do at the time. (And, no, it’s not trendy anymore, but I still enjoy making them anyway!) One of the fun and challenging parts of making banners was finding pictures of people to represent the original characters who were important enough to be on the banner. When I first started doing this, I didn’t like using famous people because I didn’t want my readers to think of those celebrities when they read the story. So I would scour other sources, such as modeling sites, for photos of people who fit the look I was going for. In the days of dial-up internet, my favorite place to find pictures was the pile of teen magazines I had in my bedroom. I would flip through them and look at the models in the ads for inspiration. When I found a good one, I would literally take a picture of it with a digital camera and crop that person out to put in my banner. Here are a few examples of this technique being employed in my early 2000s banners. 🤣
Yes, that is my original Broken banner with some girl from a Skechers ad as Claire. I later replaced her with Bryce Dallas Howard because it was easier to find pictures of her to put in the banners I made for the sequel, By My Side.
I don’t actively cast people to portray my original characters anymore, but I do have an idea of what they look like in my head, and sometimes that idea is based on a real person or combination of people. When I started playing The Sims again a couple years ago, I had fun creating my fanfic characters and seeing them come to life in the game.
Sim Natalie, I should mention, loves working out so much that she got disgustingly ripped in a matter of days. Look at this bitch!
You go, girl, I guess, but also… gross! I’ve been keeping her away from all exercise equipment, trying to get her to go back to the body I gave her, and it hasn’t helped. Meanwhile, my other Sims start getting fat if they go a few days without working out – except for Brian, who lost his baby weight immediately after giving birth to his alien spawn, became a professional athlete, and got super buff!
Yeah, turns out m-preg is a thing in The Sims, too.
But enough of my rambling back story… Time for the actual story! So, a few weeks ago, I was watching TV and saw the new Jardiance commercial – same damn song, different actress.
(Those of you who live outside the U.S. or don’t watch TV may not be familiar, but the original version of this commercial was on constantly last year!) Anyway, I was watching this curly-haired woman with Type II diabetes sing and dance around her office when I suddenly realized… that is Dawn! Seriously, the Sim Dawn I made last year looks just like the actress from the commercial! 🤣
Maybe I’ll give Dawn Type II diabetes so she can take Jardiance and sing and dance, too! (Just kidding… mostly. Dawn would absolutely hate this commercial and being compared to this woman. 💀)
Out of curiosity, do my Sim creations look anything like the characters you’ve pictured when reading my stories? Leave a comment and let me know!
And now for today’s update! (Yes, after all that rambling about my stupid Sims, I really do have a story update!) Chapter 57 of The World Will Be Waiting has been posted! I thought I finished this chapter two weeks ago, but it’s been through several significant edits since then, most recently yesterday as I was trying to get this update ready. I’m not sure it’s worth the wait, but it’s up anyway! I’m almost 4,000 words into Chapter 58, so it shouldn’t be another month before my next update. My summer break starts this week, so I will have more time to write as long as I don’t start another Sims building project. And I haven’t forgotten about the Frick & Frack one-shot I promised you on April Fool’s Day! It’s still in progress, and I fully plan on finishing it at some point soon; I just didn’t want it to derail my progress on TWWBW. Thanks for your patience!