So, it occured to me the other day that my Blogaversary is coming up! (How the time flies...) On April 19th my story site will be a year old, as that is the date my first part of Cat Chronicles went up! I'm planning to do a not-all-too-serious Q&A session for the event, so if you'd like to submit a question, you can feel free to post them here! (Complete and utter silliness in said questions is perfectly acceptable, I'm not a particularly serious person, so don't get too stressed if you do want to participate.) I'd prefer to get responses by anyone actually interested by the end of this weekend. Thanks!
I actually got my Short Story Challenge done early this month! (I'll admit this had a lot to do with the theme this month, which required writing for one of two sets of pre-determined screencaps... not having to get screencaps saved a lot of time!)
LOVED your blogaversary party! (My favorite one so far!) @ra3rei was AMAZING and stole the show, and it was so fun to meet Todd, and I loved everything--especially the intrigue of "mind closet" characters released! OOOH! So fun. Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS!
Thank you so much @CathyTea ! I love my card! (I actually have a subdirectory on my HDD with my Sim screencaps where I collect holiday cards posted on SimLit blogs and any I receive!) Wow, your favorite blogaversary party so far, that is high praise indeed! I actually struggled a lot to come up with an idea -- TS4 players have such an abundance of Simselves they can just download off the gallery when they want to do an event, but TS3 players don't have that luxery -- so with a lack of Sims, I was sort of like, "What can I do with this?" So I decided to run with the Q&A session instead, and once I decided I was going to let the characters take their own stab at me I was like, "Well, with the book character combined with my couple of supportive offline friends and the few SimLit Simselves I do have, I think we have enough folks to stalk around for a party after all!"
The Mind Closet is actually what I've been calling that place where ideas and characters need to stay put since back when I was writing on the Black Jewels forum. If one character was being particularly fussy to let me write his/her post, but it wasn't their turn, I'd be like, "Don't make me lock you back in the Mind Closet!" This was especially bad when new characters would pop their heads out when I didn't need more, hahahaha! Other players got to the point where they would try to bribe characters out of my Mind Closet to get a particular post they wanted faster! So it was kind of fun to get to incorperate it. Since we were so bad in not particularly convincing @ra3rei she didn't need a TS3 story at Sims and Friends not long ago, it only seemed fair she was the one to unleash the mind babies. ^_~ (Though I think that squirrel may fight her over giving up his spot as blogaversary VIP, hahaha!)
Surely she knows how to speak squirrel like Kronk from Emperor's New Groove... maybe she was behind the squirrel all along! (I'm just surprised with two cats with high hunting skill in the house, they decided to spare him, hahahaha!)
The squirrel can be Rae's trusty side-kick! And it's so funny TS3 Rae looks almost identical to TS4 Rae! LOL!
I did my best! It hopes that a red shirt is pretty easily iconic. Some of the other outfits are different since I only tried to match the "everyday" one. (Plus I had practice making TS4-TS3-TS2 sims looks alike in my February story - I found 4 and 2 to be the easiest to match together, if you're curious.
I'm willing to give up my position of most-interesting party-goer to the squirrel. We all know nothing is more interesting than squirrels. As for my someday TS3 story...it's coming. I'm thinking through several ideas now, maybe this summer?
Check out Raerei's Fortress for Builds, Short Stories, and maybe some longer stuff.
Growing Pains - A transgender man reminisces on his struggle through puberty growing up with gender dysphoria. Written for the May 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "Growth."
Hey folks! I am planning to do a Pride homage later this month, and really want to get as much of the community here involved as possible, that would like to participate! (Please note that participation is completely optional, I realize this is the sort of thing many folks would gracefully not wish to take part in and that is perfectly fine).
For those that are interested, what I would like is a single image of either your Simself (if applicable) OR a character or a couple from one of your works that would fall in the LGBTQQIAAP spectrum. These include the following (and forgive me for having to use some asterisks here, but these forums are not very s*xual/gender-diversity friendly without plumming out all the terms): lesb*an, g*y, bisexu*l, transgend*r, que*r, questioning, inters*x, asexu*l, allies (straight folks that support the LGBT(QQIAAP) community), pansexu*l, polyamorous, and by all means, if I'm missing any they may certainly be included as well!
What I need:
-A single picture of a Sim or Sim couple that falls under the LGBT(QQIAAP) spectrum. Please limit it to only one submission (I know, this can be very hard for some!) If you submit a picture, you must be okay with that image being possibly resized or used in photo montages as needed, and self-hosted. You do not have to create an original image! Just picking out a favorite picture from one of your stories is fine! You can send me a PM with the link to the image. If you really want, you can even e-mail me the image if you don't already have it hosted online somewhere (you can find my e-mail address on my About Me page at my site in my contact information section. Why not just post the images publicly? Because I want to keep what images/characters/etc. a surprise for the release! I feel it will have more impact that way.
-Please include the following information: Your username, your story name and URL, the name(s) of the Sim(s) in the image, and their orientation. I want to make sure all contributers are credited and linked on the post for submitting!
Submissions must be in by June 19th. I will not take any past that date!
Thanks to anyone that decides they want to take part in this! Feel free to also share the official announcement from my Wordpress, and if you have a Wordpress account, you are more than welcome to reblog if you feel your readers would be interested in participating. Let's create an awesome Sims Pride together!
I have my June Short Story Challenge submission finished! I had a lot of fun with this one and fear these characters may show up again... ^_~
Bibliotaph - A traveling bard stumbles upon a secluded library, and meets its most peculiar inhabitant. Written for the June 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "Balderdash."
It's time for Sims Pride! Please join us for a lovely parade of photos submitted from Simmers in the community that highlight all the beautiful diversity amongst Simmers and Sim creations! There are plenty of delicious rainbow cupcakes to go around!
@Spottydog714 : Cat Chronicles just received a new short story on July 24 *points to post right up above on this thread*
There are more parts in production. The next part I decided to do something I normally don't do much in that particular series, which was create an event which required heavy posing, which took a lot of time. I finally got that set of screencaps out of the way (and I have to say, dealing with creating that scene was -- quite literally -- like herding cats!) There is at least one more day after that I still need to get caps for that takes place after that, and then I already have the next two days that take place following that already screencapped. I'm also working with the wonderful @sweetnightingale in a collaborative cross-story kitten adoption! Which will require a bit of swapping of Sim files but should be quite fun!
For any readers that may not know this, I have a health condition, Daily Chronic Migraine, which puts a real strain on my productivity. It's really embarrassing and disheartening I can't keep a proper schedule because of this, and I hate to have to use it as an excuse, but the truth of the matter is, most days I'm just in too much pain to feel up to playing Sims or working on my site, especially after I've trudged through my eight hour work day at the library feeling like my brains are trying to escape through my skull. This is what my last month looked like:
The orange bars on my migraine diary are days I had a migraine; the blue bars are days I either had a regular headache, or were pain-free. I had 7 regular headaches during July. Only 7 days last month did I have no pain at all. This is why my updates have been pretty much once-a-month for some time now. At the moment, it's the best I can manage. I really do apologize and am so grateful to those of you that enjoy my work and are willing to stick it out despite my slow update schedule.
I will always continue forward, even if it is at a snail's pace, because I get great enjoyment from writing! I really wanted to write for Cat Chronicles again without having to sacrifice the Short Story Challenges that I participate in monthly, so that's why I chose to make my Short Story Challenge entry for July set in Cat Chronicles and entered it "for fun" at the SSC thread (it is exempted from voting this month). ^_^ It's unique in that it is from Shadow's two-legger's perspective! There is also one other story set from Rose's perspective, Remembering Earl. These may help bring a little more insight into the Hatcher family's world.
Here is a little something which may help (?) lessen the wait for more Cat Chronicles:
Last week Cat Chronicles was discussed in the weekly story discussion for Random Reading Roundabout, one of the reading circles I take part in. I received some very nice questions from the other reading circle members, so if you are interested in a little "behind the scenes" information, then check out:
Awwwww, you mentioned me. yes, this will be fun and I so look forward to our collaboration. It's so awesome the way it's all working out. We'll get there with a bit of effort, and I'm sure the end product will be great.
@mastressalita That's completely fine, I can understand how frustrating that must be. And I'm sorry to hear that you have Daily Chronic Migraines... I have a friend who has something similar and it often stops her doing normal stuff. And yes, I have read your short story, I really enjoyed it, I was just missing Shadow! But since you are determined to keep going, I will happily await monthly updates. And thank you so much for the detailed reply.
Stories: Looking For Mum's Murderer | The Bachelorette | Fifteen
@mastressalita, I am so sorry to hear about your headache syndrome.. for a while, years ago, I had daily migraines as well. I'm not sure why they finally went away, but my migraines now, even at once or twice a month, are horrible... I can only imagine having them all the time like you do. I love your kitty story, but am quite content waiting for installments.. take your time!
@IllusoryThrall : Congrats on going from chronic to episodic on your migraines, that is fantastic! I used to be that way back in highschool/early 20s and it steadily grew worse over the years. Sadly no one knows what really makes headache conditions "tick" and there is no decent treatments for them (especially preventative), but I don't need to tell another migraineur that!
I'm glad that you've enjoyed Shadow kitty and his not-particularly-exciting adventures into the life of an average spoiled housecat!
Comments
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Shadow and Cayln enjoy some unseasonably nice weather.
The Cat Chronicles Day 35: A Fine Day for a Date
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Seven Seconds 'Til the Rise - A man has mere seconds to reflect on the events that led to the end of his life. Written for the April 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "Choose Your Screencaps."
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Blogaversary: Year One – Join me and my friends for a Q&A session and celebration for my one year anniversary of Sim Stories!
I would like to thank each and every one of you that visits my blog, has checked out any of my work, uses my forum threads The Stories and Legacies Index and Weekly Reading Roundup, or simply is friendly, welcoming, and kind to me on these forums in any of the threads I haunt in the Stories and Legacies and Sims 4 Stories and Legacies sections. I would like to give an extra thanks to @SilverDaybreak , @RebornMonster , @SilentWolf101 , and @ra3rei for the use of their Sims for this event! Thanks so much for all your support, keep on reading, keep on writing, and keep on Simming!
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
LOVED your blogaversary party! (My favorite one so far!) @ra3rei was AMAZING and stole the show, and it was so fun to meet Todd, and I loved everything--especially the intrigue of "mind closet" characters released! OOOH! So fun. Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS!
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
The Mind Closet is actually what I've been calling that place where ideas and characters need to stay put since back when I was writing on the Black Jewels forum. If one character was being particularly fussy to let me write his/her post, but it wasn't their turn, I'd be like, "Don't make me lock you back in the Mind Closet!" This was especially bad when new characters would pop their heads out when I didn't need more, hahahaha! Other players got to the point where they would try to bribe characters out of my Mind Closet to get a particular post they wanted faster! So it was kind of fun to get to incorperate it. Since we were so bad in not particularly convincing @ra3rei she didn't need a TS3 story at Sims and Friends not long ago, it only seemed fair she was the one to unleash the mind babies. ^_~ (Though I think that squirrel may fight her over giving up his spot as blogaversary VIP, hahaha!)
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
I did my best! It hopes that a red shirt is pretty easily iconic. Some of the other outfits are different since I only tried to match the "everyday" one. (Plus I had practice making TS4-TS3-TS2 sims looks alike in my February story - I found 4 and 2 to be the easiest to match together, if you're curious.
I'm willing to give up my position of most-interesting party-goer to the squirrel. We all know nothing is more interesting than squirrels. As for my someday TS3 story...it's coming. I'm thinking through several ideas now, maybe this summer?
The Cat Chronicles Day 36: Persistence
Shadow express his litterbox woes.
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Growing Pains - A transgender man reminisces on his struggle through puberty growing up with gender dysphoria. Written for the May 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "Growth."
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
For those that are interested, what I would like is a single image of either your Simself (if applicable) OR a character or a couple from one of your works that would fall in the LGBTQQIAAP spectrum. These include the following (and forgive me for having to use some asterisks here, but these forums are not very s*xual/gender-diversity friendly without plumming out all the terms): lesb*an, g*y, bisexu*l, transgend*r, que*r, questioning, inters*x, asexu*l, allies (straight folks that support the LGBT(QQIAAP) community), pansexu*l, polyamorous, and by all means, if I'm missing any they may certainly be included as well!
What I need:
-A single picture of a Sim or Sim couple that falls under the LGBT(QQIAAP) spectrum. Please limit it to only one submission (I know, this can be very hard for some!) If you submit a picture, you must be okay with that image being possibly resized or used in photo montages as needed, and self-hosted. You do not have to create an original image! Just picking out a favorite picture from one of your stories is fine! You can send me a PM with the link to the image. If you really want, you can even e-mail me the image if you don't already have it hosted online somewhere (you can find my e-mail address on my About Me page at my site in my contact information section. Why not just post the images publicly? Because I want to keep what images/characters/etc. a surprise for the release! I feel it will have more impact that way.
-Please include the following information: Your username, your story name and URL, the name(s) of the Sim(s) in the image, and their orientation. I want to make sure all contributers are credited and linked on the post for submitting!
Submissions must be in by June 19th. I will not take any past that date!
Thanks to anyone that decides they want to take part in this! Feel free to also share the official announcement from my Wordpress, and if you have a Wordpress account, you are more than welcome to reblog if you feel your readers would be interested in participating. Let's create an awesome Sims Pride together!
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Yes, I'm still working on my stories. But I am restarting them (again). Links will come when they're up.
Come Join The Mafia! | Monthly Simlit Story Challenges
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Bibliotaph - A traveling bard stumbles upon a secluded library, and meets its most peculiar inhabitant. Written for the June 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "Balderdash."
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
It's time for Sims Pride! Please join us for a lovely parade of photos submitted from Simmers in the community that highlight all the beautiful diversity amongst Simmers and Sim creations! There are plenty of delicious rainbow cupcakes to go around!
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Edgar Evans Award - Rose Hatcher from The Cat Chronicles receives the Edgar Evans Award. Written for the July 2016 Short Story Challenges theme "I Open with the Close."
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
There are more parts in production. The next part I decided to do something I normally don't do much in that particular series, which was create an event which required heavy posing, which took a lot of time. I finally got that set of screencaps out of the way (and I have to say, dealing with creating that scene was -- quite literally -- like herding cats!) There is at least one more day after that I still need to get caps for that takes place after that, and then I already have the next two days that take place following that already screencapped. I'm also working with the wonderful @sweetnightingale in a collaborative cross-story kitten adoption! Which will require a bit of swapping of Sim files but should be quite fun!
For any readers that may not know this, I have a health condition, Daily Chronic Migraine, which puts a real strain on my productivity. It's really embarrassing and disheartening I can't keep a proper schedule because of this, and I hate to have to use it as an excuse, but the truth of the matter is, most days I'm just in too much pain to feel up to playing Sims or working on my site, especially after I've trudged through my eight hour work day at the library feeling like my brains are trying to escape through my skull. This is what my last month looked like:
The orange bars on my migraine diary are days I had a migraine; the blue bars are days I either had a regular headache, or were pain-free. I had 7 regular headaches during July. Only 7 days last month did I have no pain at all. This is why my updates have been pretty much once-a-month for some time now. At the moment, it's the best I can manage. I really do apologize and am so grateful to those of you that enjoy my work and are willing to stick it out despite my slow update schedule.
I will always continue forward, even if it is at a snail's pace, because I get great enjoyment from writing! I really wanted to write for Cat Chronicles again without having to sacrifice the Short Story Challenges that I participate in monthly, so that's why I chose to make my Short Story Challenge entry for July set in Cat Chronicles and entered it "for fun" at the SSC thread (it is exempted from voting this month). ^_^ It's unique in that it is from Shadow's two-legger's perspective! There is also one other story set from Rose's perspective, Remembering Earl. These may help bring a little more insight into the Hatcher family's world.
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Last week Cat Chronicles was discussed in the weekly story discussion for Random Reading Roundabout, one of the reading circles I take part in. I received some very nice questions from the other reading circle members, so if you are interested in a little "behind the scenes" information, then check out:
Cat Chronicles Q&A #1
Cat Chronicles Q&A #2
Cat Chronicles Q&A #3
Cat Chronicles Q&A #4
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
Shadow is entered in a Best in Show competition. He takes it about as well as one would expect.
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
I'm glad that you've enjoyed Shadow kitty and his not-particularly-exciting adventures into the life of an average spoiled housecat!
Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges