A weekly dose of fandom + life: books I’m devouring, fics I’m flinging into the void, tournaments I’m staying up too late for, and whatever else my brain is hyperfixating on.

I finally finished False Value this weekend (!!) and immediately buried myself under another stack of books, because apparently my brain only wants cosy-but-magic right now. Currently juggling Ministry of Time, What Abigail Did That Summer, Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and The Lamplighter’s Bookshop. Secret societies and spellwork everywhere, and honestly? Not mad about it.

My soundtrack has been equally dramatic. Top track of the week? John Williams’ Theme from Superman. Peak soaring instrumental, familiar enough to wrap around you but never demanding too much attention - perfect when I’m restless but trying to focus.

(Also: NEW TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM SOON. Brain not ready, heart even less ready.)

Meanwhile in tennis land… Cincinnati was ridiculous in the best way. Players have been dying from the heat (like 90 degrees and 60% humidity). We've had a power outage because a generator blew up from the heat. We've had matches with an almost 3-hour rain delay. We've had malfunctioning LED boards and fire alarms going off in the middle of matches.

AND WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER SINCARAZ FINAL TONIGHT

Add in the Sumter (Mattia Bellucci won! His first title in over a year!), Cancun and Todi Challengers running across wild time zones, plus Winston-Salem and Cleveland, and USO qualies kicking off this week... I've been putting my insomnia to good use - if I can't sleep, I might as well enjoy the bopbopsqueak

Oh, and we've added a new player to the harem. His name's Terence Atmane, he's French, but we won't hold it against him. He's a lefty, he's a huge server, and he's a complete fucking nerd who has an IQ of 158 and one of the largest Pokemon card collections in France. He also gave Jannik a Pikachu card for his birthday

Writing-wise, I don’t know what got into me - except maybe I do. Fic's been my safe place while my brain’s been doing the insomnia/anxiety/ADHD/depression shuffle, and suddenly three stories fell out in one week. moments we stole on begged and borrowed time (Darren loans Jannik to Juan Carlos for the night with the immortal condition “fucked out but soft”), They strike to kill and you know I will (so maybe “Killer” wasn’t just a funny nickname after all), and part 4 of the dark magic Darren AU Surface Tension, Ashes & Dust (Roland-Garros never forgets what you feed it, and Darren Cahill knows that a little too well). Honestly? Three completely different vibes, but they’ve all been keeping me tethered.

Outside of fic and tennis brain, I’ve been oscillating wildly between ( Darren with a puppy )

(good, adorable, serotonin)” and “the endless insomnia/anxiety/ADHD/depression cycle (bad, no serotonin).” This week’s plans include calling the doctor, fixing my clothing storage situation, and hopefully working up to actually leaving the house. Agoraphobia continues to be the worst doubles partner.

Feeling-wise, it’s a mix of chaos and glee and exhaustion. Sometimes everything feels like Too Much, and then fic or tennis or a kind comment reminds me there are still bright little things to hold onto.

That’s it for this week’s chaos - tune in next Monday for more books, fic, tennis, and brain gremlins.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - but I hope I never get tired of the way my brain comes up with stories.

I've started documenting the process on Tumblr - because there's been some controversy in the fandom with one of the popular/prolific writers found to be using AI - and I'd already shared my planning process and my editing process, so now I'm also sharing how the bunny forms from the random place it's spawned from.

So a few weeks ago, when I was doing one of my Tennis Dads History posts - and it was a week where Simone had won the tournament he was in but I couldn't find pictures anywhere online because it was 'only' a Challenger. And I ended up lamenting to Li - at length - about the serious lack of pictures available online from Simone's SIXTEEN YEAR pro-playing career.
Right?

And Li - who is vehemently not an RPF person - turns around and says 'oh, he's an immortal and he's changed identities since then' and then apparently I have a Highlander AU. Which is fucking hilarious because I've never seen the movies, or the show, or been in the fandom. Of course, I'm aware of the fandom and I was chronically online in the mid-late 90s/early 00s so it's definitely part of my fandom cultural history/knowledge. Cue me jumping into wiki and fandom.com and rounding out the knowledge.

Then the next thing I know, I'm posting

... *sigh*

Another immortal resurfaces - one Simone thought was dead. Maybe they were once rivals, or lovers, or both.

This immortal is not as discreet. And their presence risks blowing Simone’s cover - unless he does something to stop them.

Cue: Simone beheading someone with a tennis racket behind Centre Court at 3 a.m.

( and the rest is going behind a cut because this got long ) so yeah... welcome to my brain?