Pretty Cravings

do you dream in color?

2026-04-28T01:33:54Z

Do you remember your dreams?

Has a dream ever led to a story idea?

When I remember my dreams there is usually a splash of color somewhere in it but the entire dream might not be in color.

And yes. I've written more than one story based off a dream.

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APOD again

2026-04-26T16:31:49Z

Mystic Mountain Monster

This one begs to be a prompt for something spooky or otherworldly (no pun intended) at the very least.

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three weeks for dw

2026-04-25T23:47:26Z

How did I get here?

I started out on Livejournal. I stuck with it for ... longer than a lot did, despite its occasional fits.

The requirement to agree to the Russian terms of service was the last straw. Sort of.

I shared mod duties with a couple of communities on both DW and LJ - and I still post over at LJ occasionally.

There are warm fuzzies for what LJ used to be, but boy am I glad I imported it all to Dreamwidth when I had the chance.

Now I'm here. I have been for quite awhile, and growing more comfy with it every day.

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3 weeks for dreamwidth!

2026-04-24T12:55:54Z

3weeks4dreamwidth is celebrating Dreamwidth's anniversary!
Come join in for fun, memes, activities, and more ♥

There's going to be a dent in my planned posting because I'll be visiting family in the middle of this. But I want to cheer everyone on!

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47 million galaxies

2026-04-24T00:47:51Z

a map of the universe

I love APOD.

We are a tiny but unique piece of something grand.

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melagan @ 2026-04-11T17:32:00

2026-04-11T21:34:40Z

Seen at justcreate. I thought these were cool questions so I'm repeating them here.

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count?

(I'm tossing my own answers in a comment to this)

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life

2026-04-10T21:44:48Z

Finally, I'm on the upswing of a wicked head cold. Naps helped. Lots of naps.

I'm digging into my Fandom Trumps Hate fic. I hope my bidder likes it. In any event it's keeping my brain occupied and keeping me out of trouble.

I came across this article 7 tiny hacks that can improve your to do list and it reminded me that years ago I made a to do list every morning.

It's been awhile since I did that. Life's a little simpler now that I'm retired and my kids are grown with families of their own. I gotta say, it did help.

How 'bout you? Are To do lists a part of your day?

I'm going to admit right now, my list were far too ambitious and I did well if I could finish one half of the tasks.

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writing

2026-04-04T18:53:09Z

I'm rereading a bunch of Terry Pratchett particularly the ones with Sam Vimes. I had to take note of this.
When Sam is asked about his views on writing...

Well it can't be a difficult job, given that all the words have probably been invented already, so there's savings in time right there, considering that you simply have to put them together in a different order.

Great advice, Sam, but what freaking order???!!!!

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melagan @ 2026-04-02T18:42:00

2026-04-02T22:48:35Z

It's that time of year again for unconventionalcourtship

This is one of my all time favorite challenges.

sign up info here

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Artemis II launch

2026-04-02T00:18:17Z

To the Moon

I'm old enough to remember the Apollo missions. It makes me happy to see a revival to the moon missions and the excitement it brings to a new generation.

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things that caught my eye.

2026-03-29T17:50:53Z

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Sunshine!

2026-03-25T00:23:34Z

Today we had the most sunshine than we've had in a month, possibly two. *happy dances*

Over the last three weeks, I got a ton of adulting done. And even fit a short trip to Cleveland to visit one of my fandom friends. She helped me come up with an excellent idea for First Touch, one of my soulmate prompts.

Meanwhile, I finished a third story for the 5soulmates challenge. You can find it here:

Printed on Your Skin (4103 words)
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Additional Tags: Soulmates
Summary:

Touching your soulmate leaves fingerprints.

I have a bunch of fanfic to catch up on. This is not a hardship. :)

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Friday Five

2026-03-20T11:15:23Z

1. What was the reason you began a Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account (or both)?

I was reading a lot of fanfic and following the writers on LJ. At one point I decided that if I wanted to leave a Thank You comment, I should join. I did. Eventually, I moved over to DW

2. How many DW or LJ communities do you subscribe to?

78. Most of them are inactive, but I can't quite bring myself to leave.

3. Do you have a favorite community or one you check out often to see what's new?

sga_saturday It's one of the few active communities associated with Stargate Atlantis and has a monthly prompt. I do check in on my reading circle (it will always be my flist to me) on a daily basis so if a community has posted (like thefridayfive) I'll see it.

4. How did you pick your user name?
As I recall, I'd had a long run of the user name you have chosen has already been used. I decided to take my first and last name and scramble the letters. And that is why my user name is what it is.

5. If you could change your user name, would you?

Maybe in the early days, but not now. I'm the same name too many places at this point.

From the community:

The following bonus questions are brought to you by the fact that I (anais_pf) have been unable to access any page of LiveJournal for more than a week (and therefore cannot post to The Friday Five there):

6. If you have a LiveJournal, are you currently able to access it?

Yes. (to my surprise)

7. Do you have any information about why one would be unable to access LiveJournal?

I had heard that they were planning to remove access to members outside of Russia. If that is about to be the case (and they'd probably hit communities first) maybe a vpn would help?

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Happy Pi Day!

2026-03-14T13:08:30Z

I like a good apple pie myself. I'm in favor of a nice chunk of cheddar cheese on the side.

What are your favorite pies? (plural because no one should have to pick just one)

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Book rec

2026-03-10T17:47:07Z

I've recced this series before, but I think it's appropriate to rec it again for International Women's Day.

Hell's Library Trilogy

I borrowed this series from my local library and liked it so much that I bought the series. I think it's time for a reread. :)

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Daylight Saving Time

2026-03-08T16:56:39Z

I can usually shake off the Spring time change without any trouble, but today all I want to do is nappppp.

My second option is drinking a LOT of coffee. Thank god, I'm an expert at it.

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Busy days

2026-03-07T16:52:58Z

I've been busy over at romancingmcshep and getting a last-minute story finished and posted for it.

You can check out this year's entries Here

I've also been working on my 5soulmate prompts. I finished the ones for touching your soulmate feels good and touching your soulmate lets them feel what you're feeling.

In both cases, I thought I was working on you can only touch your soulmate and by the time I was finished, realized they fit the other prompts better. Oh well. Progress at least.

The fandomtrumpshate auction caught my attention this year, too.

And just a few minutes ago, sga_saturday posted the prompts for this month. History and/or Reading.

I'm waiting to see the story where Rodney is reading Atlantis slash fanfic aloud to John. Oh, I know there are stories out there like that, but whose to say we can't have more?

(and if anyone has the links to those stories, please share.)

I almost forgot to add Shore Leave! A big thanks to sgatazmy for posting about it on her journal. I've made plans to go with goddess47 as my partner in crime. I am so EXCITED!

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FTH

2026-02-28T16:07:29Z

FTH

Tuesday, March 3rd, 8am ET: auction bidding opens

Saturday, March 7th, 8pm ET: auction bidding closes

More info can be found at fandomtrumpshate

Because this is the first time I've signed up for the FTH auction, I've kept it in my wheelhouse.

SGA John/Rodney (try not to be shocked)

And now I can post my auction link

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melagan @ 2026-02-25T13:48:00

2026-02-25T18:57:00Z

This was Adulting day. I feel both accomplished and slightly annoyed.

I used to eat adulting with a spoon, but since I've retired I try to keep it away with a big stick.

On a completely different topic, I am looking forward to seeing the movie Project Hail Mary. I must have read the book three times since it came out, and the trailers look awesome.

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FTH

2026-02-24T14:56:57Z

This is my first year putting up an offering at Fandom Trumps Hate. Guess we'll see how it goes.

Whoops, put the link up too soon. Will post that later.

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Daily life

2026-02-23T15:57:08Z

I just spent 10 minutes looking for a screw.

It was a tiny thing and the only one I had that fit an electric outlet plate. Yes. That kind of screw.

I had it taped to the plastic outlet plate. Taped to it so I wouldn't lose it.

While rummaging in my toolbox for pliers for...(that's another story), I came across the bare, naked, screwless plate. I did eventually find the screw, and this time plate and screw are in a ziplock bag.

Huh. I wonder if that has anything to do with the explicit- definitely got screwed - fic I just posted? Balance in the universe and all that.

As long as no minor is reading over your shoulder, you can read it here.

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melagan @ 2026-02-21T08:36:00

2026-02-21T13:54:51Z

Over the last few days, I had fangirls come to visit! wyndwalker stayed with me, and goddess47 popped over every day to encourage us to stay out of trouble or possibly to create trouble. I get those two confused.

Much popcorn was eaten and much figure skating was watched (along with other Olympic sports. Double Luge anyone?

We had some great fandom conversations over cake and coffee. These are the kind of conversations my family members couldn't care less about, but are bread and butter to me.

We held each other up over the shock of spikedluv's passing, along with other fandom peeps lost through the years.

We wrote, read fanfic, ate a lot and when asked what quirky thing I'd watched lately...(I'm always watching stuff off the beaten path) I could recommend Jules.

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Romancing McShep Happy-ending Fest 2026

2026-02-20T18:25:13Z

The fest is open until the end of the month. If McShep is your jam be sure to check out the

Romancing McShep 2026 collection

I'm still working on my story. Yes, I thought I'd be done and have it posted by now. The story thought differently *shrug*

I'll just be making another cup of coffee and staring at the bloody thing until the words form into something comprehensible.

Or type something. That's probably a better plan. :)

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Canon vs Fanon

2026-02-19T15:28:00Z

From Fanlore:

Fanon is any element that is widely accepted among fans, but has little or no basis in canon.

Sometimes it's a small event in canon that gets exaggerated; sometimes it's something in a fanfic story that gets picked up on and repeated by other writers until it's so common that newbies might think it's a canonical fact.

A variation of fanon is "personal canon" or "headcanon," which is a set of "fanon"-like facts that are accepted as canon by an individual fan or a smaller group of fans, sometimes in the making of a shared universe.

I would love to know your favorite piece of Fanon. Or many pieces of Fanon. There's no need to pick just one!

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Fire Horse

2026-02-17T21:20:16Z

I received a lovely ecard from smallhobbit today. A happy reminder of the start of The Year of The Fire Horse.

I had no idea it only happened once every 60 years

According to Chinese spiritual author Helen Ye Plehn, the horse is "known for freedom, enthusiasm, intelligence, and a strong drive for movement and progress."

Heaven knows we could use some of that. Thank you smallhobbit!

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