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Romantasy as a social phenomenon, academics get me hot, and more

Welcome to another monthly newsletter post, which I’m mirroring here because not everyone is either signed up to my email newsletter list or my Patreon.

Thinky Thoughts: Academics Turn Me On

I’m such a nerd. I just finished taking a 10-week long college class about Romance and it was great.

It all started when I saw my on social media that Dr. Sam Hirst was offering an online class via University of Liverpool: “Falling in Love with Love: A History of Popular Romance.” She had posted that the class needed some more signups to be a go, and I jumped right in without really thinking about whether I truly had the time for it.

In fact, I somehow messed up up the time zone conversion and so I couldn’t even attend the live portion of the class for the first few weeks! But the online lectures, the reading material, and the films kept me quite busy.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from Cecilia Tan.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Bruins at Sabres

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Passion Flower 39

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WIP Wednesday

New words this week : 6,479 words which is pretty much back to my average. Had hoped for a bit more, but all things considered I'm happy with it.

WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)

Things here have continued to be bananas. Zero free time, started off this week with an emergency dental appointment, persistent headache, ugh. I can't remember the last time I had a full night sleep and it's starting to really take its toll.

The Old Guard

☆ food truck au : 6,084 words which brings the total to 112,812 words and I'm hung up on Chapter 11. I've been adding words to later parts so progress is still being made, but I'm struggling a little, and I think it's something I need to just let simmer in the back of my brain for a while. I'm disappointed that I didn't make my goal of starting to post this thing by the end of March, but it is what it is. I have no earthly idea how long it's going to be, judging by how many chapters I have left and how long recent chapters have been running... I still have something like 50k to go?? And I'm looking at that number like, this can't possibly be right. I really hope that's not right. There is no reason this fic should be this long what am I even doing anymore.

☆ early days pwp : 395 words which brings the total to 2,052 words and shifting gears a little bit because it's been like 6 months since I've posted anything so this is one that I KNOW will not run long, because my pwps always stay under 10k. This one in particular should only be around 5-6k, and I just really want to have something finished and posted.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Blackhawks at Islanders

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Mooning Over Malfoy

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Moony's Midlife Crisis Fest 2026: Claiming Open Till June 24

Fest Name: Moony's Midlife Crisis Fest 2026
Links: Tumblr | Instagram | TikTok | AO3 | Announcement | Rules | Claiming
Type of Challenge: Anonymous prompt fest
Description: A fic and art featuring the sadder, older, more pathetic Remus. Remus must be depicted as 30+ in your work. Claiming is open till June 24. This fest will NOT accept submissions created by AI.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1k words; no maximum
Art: May be created in any medium or style except rough sketches
Timeline:
Prompting: March 10 - 20
Claiming: March 24 - June 24
Submissions due: June 25
Posting begins: July 8
Reveals: Depending on the amount of submissions

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Tomegamort Fest '26: Prompting Open Till April 5

Fest Name: Tomegamort Fest '26
Links: Tumblr | AO3 | Rules | Prompting
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A Tomarrymort (Tom|Voldemort / Harry) fic fest featuring Oemga Tom and/or Omega Voldemort. The use of AI is not allowed. Prompting is open till April 5.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions: Minimum 1000 words; no maximum
Timeline:
Prompting: March 23 - April 05
Claiming & Writing: April 06 - May 17
Works due: May 17
Fics Revealed: May 18
Collection Closed: June 18

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: "Wildfire" ~ Rabbitology

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memes: random holiday

Makes me hungry for Mexican food!

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Current Music: Blackhawks vs Predators

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Small Step

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Pansy Fest 2026: Sign-up Open Till April 28

Fest Name: Pansy Fest 2026
Links: Bluesky | AO3 & Rules
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A Pansy-centric fest. No AI writing or AI art allowed. Sign-up is open till April 28.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 300 words; no maximum
Art: None
Timeline:
Sign Up Open: January 31, 2026
Sign Up Closed: April 28, 2026
Works Due: April 30, 2026
Works Revealed: May 1, 2026

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HP Daddy Knows Best 2026: Claiming Open Till May 31

Fest Name: HP Daddy Knows Best 2026
Links: Bluesky | Instagram | AO3 | Rules | Claim a Prompt | Submission Form
Type of Challenge: Anonymous prompt fest
Description: A HP fic and art fest celebrating all things daddy. The use of AI is not allowed. Claiming is open till May 31.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1000 words; no maximum
Art: None
Timeline:
Prompting opens: March 11
Claiming opens: March 14
Claiming closes: May 31
All stories and art due: June 5
Anonymous reveals begin: June 7
Social media features: June 7 - 21
Creators revealed: June 22

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Wolf & Prince Fest 2026: Prompting Open Till April 3

Fest Name: Wolf & Prince Fest 2026
Links: Tumblr | The Snupin Server (Discord) | Prompting Post
Type of Challenge:
Description: A Remus/Severus fest. Almost any medium is welcome, including fic, art, podfic, moodboards, translations, physical crafts, etc. Fanworks based on fanworks (aka remixes) are welcome. No AI-generated works allowed. Prompting is open till April 3.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 100 words
Other medium: To be announced
Timeline:
Prompting begins: 21 March 2026
Prompting closes: 3 April 8:00 PM EDT
Claiming begins: 4 April 8:00 PM EDT
Claiming closes: 27 June 11:59 PM EDT
Submissions due by: 30 June 11:59 PM EDT
Work reveals first day: 3 July
Work reveals last day: 24 or 31 July (depending on amount of enteries)
Creator reveals: 7 August

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HP Hedonism Fest 2026: Prompting Open Till April 4

Fest Name: HP Hedonism Fest 2026
Links: Tumblr | AO3 | Rules | Prompting
Type of Challenge: Anonymous prompt fest
Description: A HP fic and art fest dedicated to the theme of hedonism. AI-generated content is not allowed, in part or whole. Prompting is open till April 4.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 500 words; no maximum
Art: None?
Timeline:
Prompting: March 21 - April 4
Sign-up: April 6 - August 8
Submission: August 9
Posting: August 17
Reveals: To be announced

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Blackhawks vs Avalanche

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subject: celebrity rip

RIP

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Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Blackhawks vs Avalanche

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Gains 664

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Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Blackhawks vs Avalanche

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memes: random holiday

Happy Spring and Ostara!

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Wolfstar Big Bang 2026: Sign-up for Authors, Artists & Beta Open

Fest Name: Wolfstar Big Bang 2026
Links: Tumblr | Rules | FAQ | Sign-up
Type of Challenge: Anonymous big bang
Description: A Remus/Sirius big bang. Authors will create a Remus/Sirius fic, and artists will create art based on the fics they are assigned. Sign-up for authors and betas is open till March 29. Sign-up for artists is open till August 7.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Between 20k to 100k words
Art: Minimum one piece of original art and one banner per fic
Timeline:
Sign-up open: March 15
Author/Beta sign-up soft close: March 29
Author/Beta sign-up hard close: May 1
Author 50% check point: June 1
Author 70% check point: June 30
Artist sign-up close: August 7
Fic concepts available to artists: August 9
Artist rankings due: August 16
Full draft due to artist: August 30
Artist check point 1: September 20
Artist check point 2: October 4
Artwork due: October 18
Final fic due: October 25
Posting begins: November 1

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Moony's Midlife Crisis Fest 2026: Prompting Open Till March 20

Fest Name: Moony's Midlife Crisis Fest 2026
Links: Tumblr | Instagram | TikTok | AO3 | Announcement | Rules | Prompting
Type of Challenge: Anonymous prompt fest
Description: A fic and art featuring the sadder, older, more pathetic Remus. Remus must be depicted as 30+ in your work. Prompting is open till March 20. This fest will NOT accept submissions created by AI.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1k words; no maximum
Art: May be created in any medium or style except rough sketches
Timeline:
Prompting: March 10 - 20
Claiming: March 24 - June 24
Submissions due: June 25
Posting begins: July 8
Reveals: Depending on the amount of submissions

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WIP Wednesday

New words this week : 6,705 words which is a little bit less, but pretty good considering this week has been bananas so far. Much less writing time + some of my writing time went to beta-reading a thing + some of my writing time went to editing/outlining.

WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)

Thank goodness we've all been healthy, could this horrible cold and flu season finally be coming to a close??

The Old Guard

☆ food truck au : 6,553 words which brings the total to 106,712 words and another chapter down! We have more Confessions of Feels, more kissing, and next chapter is finally (finally!!) the smut! So as I've been writing, I've been pulling out bits that don't quite fit in the chapter I'm writing and copy/pasting them into later chapters, figuring I'd sort it out later. Well, later has arrived and all my copy/pasted chickens have come home to roost. I've had to stop to throw together a rough outline, and I... am not sure that I can finish this in five chapters ugggghhhh I am going to be writing this fucking thing forever.

☆ werewolf au : 153 words which brings the total to 14,073 words and this was just jotting down a quick little snippet before I forgot it (and I'm glad that I did because I honestly can't remember what it was).

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Devils at Rangers