There's a Mirror On the Wall

I haven't been posting here as much lately. Mm. I may try to post more, but I make no promises.

I am beginning to poke at a rewrite of the start of a sequel to Admit Me, Chorus to This History, and I’m glad the first part overlaps, because it lets me flesh out some things that I didn’t in Admit Me. Like the not-actually-throw-away line about Blanche being the regent while Henry is in France, rather than one of his brothers. Bedford is there, and he’s a very good advisor, and he can lend weight to her decisions as needed, but he’s not the actual regent.

I think I will keep the two POV format as I had in Admit Me, though this time it’s not a romance brewing. Margaret as one POV, from daughter of a king to a queen by her own right of arms. Jane Beaufort as the other, who is Margaret’s companion from the time Margaret is 11. With the interstitials being filled with excerpts from letters to and about Margaret, mostly from men in her life.

Still have not remembered to do some editing on short stories that I need to get done. However, have gotten nearly 2k done on Admit Me, Chorus to This History today, and have advanced it most of another year's worth of time. Still have a few more events to cover before it's done, but I don't think that will take too much more. I've still up to 5k to bring it up to a chapter-length, but I'm not likely to take that many words to cover the rest, as it's now to February 1421 (which means just over two years to the end point in time, and only... *counts on her fingers* five deaths and two coronations to go).

I'm going to try to work on it again when I get home, and tomorrow morning. Once I wrap up the current segment, the rest I'll use the Chorus POV to finish up, and wrap up all the deaths and the coronations with that. And then I'll send the last chapter in one file to my beta, and the entire story in its file, and once it's back from her, post the last of it, make all chapters and the chapter index accessible to all, and announce it. And probably post it in whatever coms I can find to do so.

And then I start seeing how fast Love Is a Muse All Compact of Fire (Margaret's story) and No King of England If Not King of France (Robert's story) will write. And prod at the other alternate history, which I need to get more than scraps of story out of muses for. *puts fists on hips, and glares at Henry* At least he won't have this as an excuse not to play nice with the other one.

In a tangent, having acquired Branagh's Henry V on DVD so I might watch it properly filling my screen... I think I can identify all six of the men on one side of the chamber in that first scene with Henry, and four on the other side...

From the throne to furthest away:

Henry's right: Exeter, Westmoreland, Erpingham, York, Cambridge, Gray
Henry's left: Ely, Gloucester, Bedford, Scroop, and two unidentified men*

*one of whom should be Clarence... probably the one on the end, since he's the blond of the two I can't identify, save for the fact he wears no arms to identify him by in the scene with the traitors - though, he's not in the Agincourt scenes, which supports the idea he's possibly Clarence, rather than Talbot, who is the other possibility. The darker-haired of the two I can't be sure of may be Warwick, considering his apparent age, and that I think I spotted him in the Agincourt scenes.

Though, I do wonder why Scroop is dressed in similar fashion to Gloucester and Bedford, and if the blond on the end is Clarence, why he's dressed less well. *sighs, and mutters irritably*

Haven't done one of these in a while.

Admit Me has gotten another 680 words added to it today, and I think I'll have more on it before I go to bed tonight. I have a good idea where things are going, and I have a history book to give me a hand in research - yes, I know, only one source, but I can only afford to buy one book at a time right now. Shall have to see about other sources later, but for now, the one I have is sufficient for this story.

auberus and I have started another story over the weekend, this one involving Montjoy the herald from Shakespeare's Henry V being an Immortal, and a crossover with Burn Notice. It's proving interesting so far, particularly as I know that at some point I'm going to have to prod at the Montjoy/Henry V dynamic, as it's been driving some of his reactions to Michael in the story.

But Montjoy as an Immortal is actually rather nice to play with - he's certainly easier to work with than Henry, for all that he's quieter and not always as willing to talk. Because when he does, he stays on one subject rather than trying to do everything at once.

But Henry's awake again, hence the more on Admit Me, so all's good anyway.

And yes, am babbling.

Black, White and Gray is almost to the point where I can say I've reached the halfway mark in editing it. Then four more chapters to edit, and hopefully enough more to (1) meet the big bang requirements, and (2) find a point which might be called a stopping point for more than just a chapter, even if it doesn't yet meet back up with the beginning of the story.

Before the end of June. While still working on Admit Me, and the King With Two Crowns alternate history. And whatever project I'm working on with auberus.

I think I can manage it, but it will be entertaining, either way.

As for projects with auberus, there's the one mentioned above, there's a couple that are OCs FTW, and a Caspian-and-Silas post-apocalyptic AU. And several others that I'm still weeding through and figuring out what I think I can finish before sending the list to auberus for her to weed down further. Maybe, just maybe, we'll figure out what'll eventually be finished, what's to be abandoned, and what's ready for beta and what's ready for posting. I hope.

Mm.

And I have one other writing project I do need to eventually finish up, but won't quite yet. And that would be the One Night In Moscow AU, particularly the story that would be regarding the reason I use that name for the AU, and at least one more after Koshka that involves Pepper and Ivan and Tony. And making life very entertaining for them. In ways both good and bad.

Well, ok, really I have a boatload of other projects to work on, but right now I'm attempting to keep myself to three active projects at a time. Even if I'm not certain I'll manage it. *shrugs* I might, at some point, do a list of all the writing projects I have in progress, and then figure out from there what's really abandoned, and what I might poke at again, and what's in desperate need of a blow-torch and heavy editing.

A few things.

- Been a while since I had any real inspiration for an actual proper round of rounds_of_kink. For this round? I have one finished, and another started. Granted, both are the same pairing, and the second follows the morning after the first, but still. Two. And eight prompts listed to possibly make into a linked series. Depending on how generous the muses are.

- Admit Me, Chorus to This History is being a little difficult again, but I know where it's going. And I think I might have an idea on how to get it past the current difficulty (other than simply skipping about a year's worth of time). We'll see how it works, and if it doesn't, then I'll go to plan B. Which would be that skipping of a year.

- I think I need to find a beta for my rounds_of_kink stories. Anyone on my flist willing to beta-read some kinky (but not always smutty) Iron Man movie-verse fic that's Pepper Potts/Ivan Vanko? Or at least, currently Pepper/Ivan, because there's a distinct chance I'll end up with Tony in there as well at some point.

- This weekend I need to do some cleaning of the apartment. And clean my silverware. And probably run a load through the dishwasher. And definitely do some laundry. And cook the apple crisp and the pear crisp that I've been planning. And the duck. And some sausage gravy and some biscuits before either the sausage or the buttermilk have a chance to go south, as they're both open. And do something with the eggs.

Um, yeah. Lots of stuff with the apartment.

- Need to go through story files and figure out what in there is ready to be posted and I'm willing to post. And then email auberus with thoughts on ones we've worked on together and I think are ready to post (or be sent to a beta-reader, possibly, though there's a wide range of fandoms, themes, and ratings on those).

- Should work on the story listings. And the website. May or may not get to that.

- Need to poke at Romana and tag on the sandbox thread. And probably the same with Margaret.

Word Count: 9013
Chapter Warnings: Non-explicit sex, mentioned deaths
Characters Present:
The Chorus, James Stretton, Knight of Warwick
Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales
Blanche Stretton, mistress of Henry of Monmouth, later Princess of Wales
Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester
Robert of Stretton, a child
Thomas Beaufort, Captain of Calais, later Lord Chancellor, Earl of Dorset
Margaret of Lancaster, a child
Henry of Bolingbroke, King of England
Edward of Lancaster, a child
Maude, a servant of Blanche's
Henry Chichele, Bishop of St. David's
Thomas FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel
Henry Scroop, Baron of Masham
Thomas of Lancaster, an infant

Chapter Index ~ Previous Chapter ~ Next Chapter

( Admit Me, Chorus to This History, Chapter 2 )

So, this month. Wrote 50k on various stories and in story discussion. And then some. Granted, not all alone, but it's still there.

Finally started on my HLH story. Twice, in fact. Neither was the original plot bunny that popped into my head when I saw the assignment. And the one is turning into a bloody novel, so it's getting put on the back burner to sort itself out while I write something shorter, and possibly less what my recipient is looking for. Hopefully it'll work, though. *crosses fingers*

Still am not sure of the end of the second chapter of Admit Me, Chorus to This History. I know what I'm having trouble with, and why I'm having trouble with it, and eventually I will get past the issue with writing the death of a five-month-old infant in the early 15th century. The other death is going to be much easier by comparison. *sighs, and promises herself she'll go back to it after the HLH story is done*

Have done some work on the Great Crossposting and Fic Listing Project, though not as much as I'd like. Probably because I've been a little busy on the getting writing done. Will worry more about it later.

Must remember to get internet for the new apartment ASAP. While the community room has free wi-fi, it closes before I get home at night, so while I'll be able to do things like check my email and stuff, I won't be able to do so late at night when I prefer to. On the other hand, I'll have writing time uninterrupted by distractions on the internet at night until I get it installed.

Which might allow me to map out the rest of Admit Me, Chorus to This History, and perhaps some sketching out of some other things. Fic-of-fic, the plot bunny that ate Humphrey-muse's boots.

Also, will give me some time to unpack stuff mom's bringing up. And get my bed set up. And settle into the apartment. *takes a deep breath* Yeah.

Anyway. I'll end this with the usual note for the sort of Tuesday I've had. Tuesdays suck.

2400+ words today so far. Expanded one scene, did a short Chorus scene that got a paragraph shorter when I decided to expand the last bit into proper scenes instead of a quick summary. Plus a scene that will get added back in after I finish the next bit of expanded scene. I'm pretty proud of that, though I'd like to have gotten more written today (and might still, it's only 7pm). And once I get that all done, all I've got left in this chapter is two deaths. One an infant, one a king.

Then I've only got... nine more years worth of events to cover for this story. After which it's going to be plotting out the first story for the other alternate history concept, and probably plotting out further history of this one. And adding a new plot bunny to the queue, once Humphrey rescues his boots from it. If I figure out what to do with it, anyway.

Edit: ... and I should know better than to go poking about too much in the middle of writing a scene. *facepalm* On the other hand, it does give me more fodder for the latter chapters of the story. And particularly more for the other alternate history. Still not likely to change much of my particular blend of characterization of him in the long run.

Edit 2: 3k and change. New scene finished, I think, and the other scene returned to its place. Now to cover December 1412, and February & March 1413. *rubs hands together* And the chapter itself stands at just over 8k.

Word Count: 9851
Chapter Warnings: Sex
Characters Present:
The Chorus, James Stretton, son of Robert Stretton and later Knight of Warwick
Robert Stretton, Knight of Shropshire
Blanche Stretton, daughter of Sir Robert, later mistress of Henry of Monmouth
Maude, a servant of the Strettons
Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales
Henry Scroop, Lord, later Baron of Masham
Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester
Robert of Stretton, a child

Chapter Index ~ Next Chapter

( Admit Me, Chorus to This History, Chapter 1 )

These updates tend to get written when I've hit a snag or a slow spot in the writing. This one, for instance, comes to you courtesy of a scene that's been restarted a half-dozen times and is still not working out to my liking. So I've been researching instead, on a variety of things that will feed details for the story.

And now, as I'm trying to keep from researching far from the topics I need to (when I start clicking on links that take me more than a couple centuries out from the time period I'm focusing on, it's time to stop before I get too distracted). I want to put in another 5-6K before I hit the plot point that is the death of Henry IV and the coronation of Henry V. I'm pretty sure I can manage it, but at the moment, the words aren't flowing as much as I'd like.

It's only an hour before I leave for work, though, so perhaps it's not such a bad idea to leave the scene alone and worry about it later, like after I get home, or even tomorrow morning.