Not all those who wander are lost

It seems fitting that this first actual post is happening on the first day of a new year. My journal is literally a blank slate, ready and waiting to be filled with words, in one form or another. I'm going to be really honest and say that I don't really know how to use LiveJournal correctly, but I'm excited to learn. So please bear with me as I learn, and I promise it'll get better (albeit slowly... I'm the turtle in this scenario... slow and steady and all that).

I've made quite a list of resolutions for this year, but I think that they're all mostly attainable. I don't do well with resolutions that have a specified goal, with specific numbers, as I often miss a day and then don't feel the motivation to keep going. So this year, most of them revolve around efforts that I can make on a more regular basis, like taking care of myself better or being kinder―to myself and to others.

I'm excited to see what this year has in store―finishing a thesis, graduating from university, hopefully travelling, and much more―and excited to make new friends on LiveJournal! Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to introduce yourself! I love meeting new people :)

Hi! I'm back (sort of). I was recently talking to malenkayacherepakha about fandom and fandom spaces. We were discussing the ways in which various platforms support different kinds of fandom interactions, and it made me want to come back to Dreamwidth. So, here I am! I’m excited to see a few more of you around :)

Also, if you’d like to share, I’d love to hear how you feel about different fandom platforms. I’m fairly new in fandom, so I didn’t experience it in its LJ days, or even before, but I am so interested in learning about what it was like then! Nowadays, my fandom experience consists mainly of Tumblr and Discord. I enjoy the organization of the Discord server (I’m a bit of a nerd), and all of the lovely people I’ve met there, but it can often feel like everything moves quite quickly. If you miss even a day, then it feels like the conversations speed on without you. I love the visual aspects of Tumblr, but in much the same way as Discord, it can often feel like things move fast.

Hope everyone is safe and well <3

We seem to find ourselves here once again, at another turn around the sun. I guess that’s what they mean when they say time is linear, right? I remember someone once told me that time speeds up as we grow older. I’m scared because time already feels as if it’s moving so fast that I can’t keep up.

2019 was definitely a year. When I was asked to describe the year in three words, I said “challenging, growth, and home.” The first half of the year was definitely the most challenging part, as I struggled to find work that did not exhaust my body and mind. The second half of the year was challenging in different ways. I had found what I thought would be a perfect job on paper, but actually turned out to be mind-numbing admin work that bored me to tears. But, I learned how to exist in a new city where I knew very few people and was not fulfilled by my job. I started to figure out how to create a fulfilling life—the ingredients that when combined, would bring me the life that I would be most satisfied with. I know that this will be a lifelong process, but currently, my ideal life has a certain balance of work, travel, friends, food, books, learning, and adventure. I know that while my life needs to have some semblance of routine, I don’t want it to become boring or staid. I know that living in New York makes me the happiest that I could be right now. All the parts of the city that I hate, the crowds, the subway rats, the heat in the summer, I can bear because of all the parts of the city that I love—the view of Manhattan in the morning from the M train crossing the Williamsburg bridge, the museums filled to the brim with history and art and beauty, the endless amounts of new food that I can try, the way that there’s always something new to be experienced, both in New York, or very close by, to name just a few.

Although I still don’t have my life all figured out, in terms of the day-to-day that will bring me the most satisfaction and joy, I do know that it’s okay to be where I am. I am learning to not only embrace this liminal space, but to truly revel in it—to love the weird, scary, terrifying place where anything is possible. I know that I want to write. I want to write stories; I want to write about my life; I want to write about others’ lives. I want to share my words and my sentences. I’ve always been scared to say that so definitively, as if doing so will scare away the ghost of my success. As if admitting that I want to write is as good as admitting that I want to fail, since who makes it as a writer? I’ve realized that being a writer looks different for everyone. I’ve considered an MFA in creative writing, and know that I will be pondering this for a while. I am a creative soul and I want to do creative things.

• ( 2020 here we comeCollapse )

I’m excited to be participating in The Snowflake Challenge for the first time!



In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

There are many things that bring me joy and keep me sane, from conversing with a really really good friend to reading a really really good fic to the smell of the grass just after it rains or the feel of the salt spray at the beach. I love the calm of late night or early morning, when it feels like no else is truly alive but you. I find peace when I’m alone in crowded spaces, like traveling on the metro or going to a busy plaza.

One of the things that brings me the most happiness is eating really good food with really good company. I think that eating delicious food is one of my favorite things in the world, and that combined with the love and support of truly wonderful company makes it all the better. I think sharing a meal together can facilitate a truly warm and comfortable environment where it’s easier to connect with others.

When I’m alone, I seek my Happy Place in reading, both books and fic. I find comfort in curling up in bed with a good book or fic, a hot cup of tea or coffee, and just losing myself in the words on the page.

I also find peace and calm doing yoga and exercising. It helps me to forget about all my worries, and just focus on moving my body (and sometimes the pain that goes along with not regularly exercising haha).

As 2018 comes to a close, it seems that the thing to do is write some sort of wrap-up/New Year’s Resolutions post. Sometimes I still feel like we’re closer to 2010 instead of 2020, which I know emphatically is not true, but it still feels true to me. I can’t believe both how fast and slow this past year has gone—I can honestly say that it was simultaneously the most challenging and most rewarding year of my life. I traveled more than I ever have with a group of friends who are like family, and I worked at one the hardest jobs of my life where I would spend 30 minutes lying in bed each morning convincing myself that I had to go to work. Against the beautiful backdrop of some of Eastern Europe’s most stunning cities, from Krakow to Budapest to Prague, I struggled with isolation, and sadness. I know that I grew so much as a person, became more comfortable being me, but it came on the heels of an intensely challenging experience.

At the moment, 2019 still holds all the hope of a fresh year—a place where the possibilities feel endless. I just moved to a new city, which I am ecstatic to be in. Unfortunately, I don’t have a job yet. I have a group of truly wonderful roommates, and am hopeful to make more friends. Despite all the uncertainty of the moment, I feel that this is the right place for me to be. I feel comfortable in a way that I haven’t felt before, even in the town I grew up in. I feel like there is a place for me here, and I know that things will work out.

So, to start out this new year, I’m going to think about the various aspects of my life that I truly want to focus on. Since it’s 2019, I’m going to try to list 19 of them (but that’s a lot so idk if I’ll get there). They may feel like resolutions, and I guess that’s more or less what they are, but I am going to give myself the space and grace to fuck up. They’re not going to be goals with numbers attached, but rather more general efforts that I want to make. I can get very obsessed with number-oriented goals, so usually find more success with a different kind of focus. Without further ado, here they are! (Also, these are in no particular order.)

( 2019 New Year's ResolutionsCollapse )

So there it is, my 2019 list of resolutions! I can’t believe I thought of 19, but these feel right. I’m excited to see what this new year brings. Happy New Year to y’all <3 May your year be filled with happiness and creative inspiration :)

On a whim, I decided to participate in slythindor100's 25 Days of Draco and Harry. I had never participated in a daily prompt challenge, nor posted a fic over a series of days, and wanted to try something new. I thought it'd be good for me to have to write and post something every single day, as I'm someone who is a bit of a perfectionist and so tinkers with fics until they're just so. This usually means that it takes me a while to write, edit, and post a fic, (or I never post...), mainly because I'm so worried that no one will like it. So to force myself to just write, I did 25 Days, and I think that it was incredibly good for me! I wrote most days, and completed a fic that was 25 chapters. I've linked the fic below. I hope that you enjoy it!

Title: That's Not a Secret I'll Never Tell
Author: glittering_git
Summary: Harry and Draco have been secretly dating for a while and have finally decided to tell their friends. They’ve chosen the perfect setting: their ten-year Hogwarts reunion. It turns out that it’s not such a surprise after all.
Word Count: ~15,000
Rating: E
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Thank you so so so so much to yaoidiscussions and lets-g0-0n-an-adventure for the beta. You were both extremely helpful and supportive in this endeavor! A huge thank you to the lovely slashfoxes, for being there day-in and day-out, for offering many words of encouragement, and generally squeeing over this fic with me! This was my first time taking on a project like this, and it would not have been possible without all the support of my betas! Thank you for coming along with me on this journey—I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed working with you ♥

Thanks to all of the mods for making this fest possible!

Thank you to you, the reader, for being there throughout this journey! I loved each and every one of your comments, kudos, and support ♥ I hope that you liked this story as much as I liked writing it!

Happy holidays :)

Title from the Gossip Girl intro

Come find me on tumblr!

Hi! My name is Sara and I'm relatively new here :) I've been a lurker in the Harry Potter fandom for a few years, but recently decided I wanted to become more involved. Fandom has given me so much, from countless of hours of entertainment to a chance to really explore different aspects of my own personal identity. Storytelling and writing have always been important in my life, but I've never felt confident enough to put anything out there. I feel like fandom is a space where I can start to share my work, a space that is welcoming, friendly and supportive! So I'm excited to be here and to meet new people :)

If I've added you, hello! I am currently on AO3 as glittering_git and on Discord under the same name! I also have a tumblr, but who knows how long that will last...

In order to make writing more of a habit, I recently pledged to do Get Your Words Out in 2019! My primary goal for the year is the 240 day Habit Pledge! This is my first time ever doing something like this, so we shall see how it goes. My secondary goal is to write 75K. I plan to work on a variety of projects, both fanfic and original fiction. I have a couple of ideas floating around for various short stories, novels, and of course, fic!

So thanks for stopping by! Please feel free to friend me or whatever it is we do here! I’m excited to see what the next year brings ♥

In what would probably be the theme song of my life, if I was cool enough to have a theme song, I’m writing when I should be doing real life work. Sighs. But alas, real life is no fun, and so I find myself once again writing, or at least attempting to write.

I apologize for taking so long to post anything new — I was sort of waiting for hd_owlpost to post reveals so I could do a big claim for fics, but was actually just using that as an excuse, and then RL sort of got away from me and I didn’t end up doing any of that.

But, now I’m here, and I’m attempting to do a fic claiming post!

First, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in hd_erised and write for ravenclawsquill. Since this was only my second fest, I was — and still am — learning the ropes. But I’m excited to continue learning and improving as a writer :)

( Wait for Me to Come HomeCollapse )



Then, I got to write three fluffy pieces for hd_owlpost. It was really fun to participate in this fest because it felt relatively low stress, and it produces such a high volume of amazing works.

( H/D Owlpost fics :)Collapse )

Also, I received many lovely gifts for this holiday season, that I’ve linked below.

( gifts for me?!Collapse )

Currently, I’m working on a fic for hp_kinkfest as well as for Fandom Trumps Hate.

I’m also hoping to slowly become more active on here :)

I hope that everyone else is having a good February ♥