Reading

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Prompt: Lan Wangji (and Three Sentence Ficathon)

Though extra-canonical, MXTX has stated that January 23rd is Lan Wangji's birthday. Hence, this week's prompt is: Lan Wangji.

Also, for those interested,

threesentenceficathon is now up and running again for this year. If you write a fill over there that fits the definition of a drabble format as linked below, please do post or link it here in the community. I have created a tag for use on such posts.

This week's prompt is one of our recurring annual prompts, which means that drabble sequences and drabble series are allowed, since these prompts have multiple or more complex concepts associated with them that warrant exploration in these longer formats. These formats are explained in this post, while the standard drabble formats are explained in the community rules.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, January 30, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

Current Music: "When You and I Were Young (live)," Missy Gossip and the Secret Keepers

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A four-day weekend is so nice.

I am sitting in Gingko's favorite chair, which is an immensely comfortable yellow wingback that perfectly takes advantage of the sunny south-facing windows, which are extra sunny today because it is hideously cold and will continue to be so and worse for a week at least. Gingko is also sitting in this chair, which is not large enough for both of us, but my smart girl is making it work. This is a day where I am finally, after three days of ~decompressing, interested in things other than screens. Maybe it was taking that Adderall this morning? But I've been cleaning the leather accessories I've been collecting, plus polishing up some wood that's desperately thirsty (including a nice little cigar box from the thrift store!).

I'm spending so much time trying to find the next living spare where I'll land that I haven't made much effort to make the most of this one. ( Spaces, pruning, money... many thoughts )

But, okay, activities I prioritize and treasure and would like spaces for:

Crafting — printmaking, paper-mache, watercolor, comics, collage, tunnel books, dioramas, so much!

Tea and tea display, not just this big glorious shelf but an actual tea ceremony kind of spot (not low enough to the ground that Gingko could destroy it, though; sorry to any coffee tables, I don't think you're really in my foreseeable future)

Altar and tarot table + display — the presence of household altars was something I learned from shadesofbrixton and visiting Santa Fe, which I absolutely loved, alongside this phenomenal altered wall cabinet at chicagoprintmakers that I can't find a photo of but trust me, I really want to replicate it

Music — I need to mount my banjo, ukuleles, accordion and other assorted instruments where I will see and want to play them!

Yes, I have a rowing machine which I love and which is collecting so much dust, but once my arm is better, I want to get it down again, I freaking love using it and I want a regular space for it in the next place

Reading nook!!!! With lots of plants!! What if!!!!

This is what I want to build!!! Not to mention space for hosting parties, including dinner parties, which my table deserves to see again!! It's really not true that everything will fall into place once I get this one thing (permanent living space) done, but it really feels like maybe it kind of will!!

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Prompt: "the body is a blade that sharpens/by cutting"

This week's prompt is a line from "Headfirst" by Ocean Vuong: "the body is a blade that sharpens/by cutting."

You have until midnight your time on Friday, January 23, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

Entry tags:

prompt: winter

Winter: 冬天的湖泊｜Winter Lakes (Lan Zhan, Wen Qing)

Title: 冬天的湖泊｜Winter Lakes
Author:

xinger
Word Count/Drabble Type: 200
Character(s)/Ship(s): Wen Qing, Lan Zhan
Rating/Warnings: G
Summary: 蓝湛以前不知道魏婴会滑冰。（现代AU）｜Lan Zhan didn't know Wei Ying could ice skate. (Modern AU)

~~~~

( double drabble )

Books in 2025

I didn't keep good track of what I read in 2025, so I might be missing some things here.

23 books, about a 50/50 split between cnovels and non-cnovels
Enjoyed most of them! Looking over my list, there were two that I finished but should have dropped: Evil Weapon's Self-Cultivation (Cyan Wings' so-far only miss for me, it was way too much 'watch this guy be awesome at the expense of everyone else') and Daughter of the Moon Goddess (I think I was not the right audience for this book).
The winners of the cnovel bracket: Guardian and How Dare You, they're completely different but both of them grabbed me and didn't want to let me go.
Winners of the non-cnovels: Spiderlight (Adrian Tchaikovsky) and HMS Surprise (Patrick O'Brian) series. I did not start the Aubrey/Maturin series this year and still don't intend to read them all at once but I'm definitely going to continue, and I'm going to read more by Adrian Tchaikovsky as well.

I don't really feel a need to read any more than I've been reading, but looking ahead to 2026, I do want to keep better track of my reading. I picked out a notebook for this purpose and have jotted down a few reactions to what I'm reading now (Record of the Missing Sect Master).

As for books I bound in 2025, my favorites are the couple of bamboo-strip-spine sets I made: The Imperial Uncle and Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know. The first was done as an experiment and I liked the result enough to do it again!