fic talk: numbers, and pulling teeth

[sword_logic]

oof, writing has been hard this week. i've been writing, though! it feels good to know i'm writing even when it feels bad to write. i've been doing 15-minute sprints with a friend pretty regularly and it is so #validating to see my word count tick up and to know i'm making progress. even when it feels like shit.

i don't know how to quantify just what flavor of Shit it feels like, because it really doesn't feel like the Bad Writing feel or anything. it just feels like i'm swimming upstream instead of letting it rush out. it be, as the poets say, like that. my last few WPMs for sprints have been around 16ish when i'm usually around 25. :|

part iii of S11 au is split up into 3 main sections; let's call it the cornering, the endgame, and the resolution. i'm about halfway there on the cornering, and the last few plot variables are slotting into place to line up the path to the endgame. (side note: god, when i see it written out like that... wow. i'm really nearly done, huh.) yet again i find myself discarding more and more of what i've already got written because so much of what i want out of this has changed. but that's good! i'm excited to get to the juicy stuff, but wow, the road has been fucking rough lately.

anyways, to bring it back around to positive, here's a fragment i liked:

Maine gently raps his knuckles against the swell of muscle over Wash's heart. A soft, bold corner of Wash's brain wonders whether Maine can feel the heartbeat echoing in Wash's ears, hollow thudding amplified by blood loss. Like this, with Maine still bent down, knuckles still resting against his chest, Wash can pick out flecks of complementary color in Maine's eyes in spite of the sallow light flattening everything into drabness.

lmao, every time i think "okay they're going to do more than just stare at each other this time," they end up staring at each other. (i've got plans. it's up to my traitor hands to follow them instead of doing this all the time.)

unrelated end note: i saw a skyline in the parking lot today when i was shopping, which was unbelievably cool. steering wheel on the right and everything. also probably super illegal.