larissa | Recent Entries

I've been here since the beginning, but I've never actually used this as a journal. LET'S CHANGE THAT.

I’m into a lot of different fandoms (check out my profile for a full list) but most often you’ll see a lot of Final Fantasy (all, but primarily Ivalice, VII, and XIV) and other video game talk. Occasionally I’ll go on about my tastes in music, and sometimes I end up watching nothing but a single TV show for a month. There's a lot of variety here. If you want a general idea of what I like in media, take a look at my websites.

You're welcome to subscribe, but I don't usually grant access because I rarely even make access-locked posts in the first place, and I prefer to get to know people first. Nothing personal! I like meeting new people, so feel free to comment - even on old posts. While not required by any means, I'd appreciate if you left a comment here letting me know why you subscribed - it lets me know what people are here for!

Other things!
Writing: larissa / diali
Tumblr: farfromdaylight / larissawrites
Bluesky is now a thing?: larissa.redcrown.net

tbh i don't have a lot of progress to report, but i'm trying to keep myself accountable, so.

websites: i opened my wip treasury layout and immediately closed it. the inspiration is not there, unfortunately. i'd like to take another stab at it this week, but, we'll see...
writing: i... poked at but did not write any endwalker fic. i did manage to do some work on an original project, which was good, but it wasn't very much progress.
video games: i'm nearly done chapter 6 of trails in the sky the 3rd. hoping to make solid progress on that this week.

so what have i been doing? too much ffxiv, per usual... i finished cálei's relic step (though i haven't gotten the relic itself yet due to lack of tomes, oops) and i'm working on reis still... i did bozja through CLL on an alt for glam this weekend, which was very productive. and other than that i've been working on leveling a different alt. in short: too many characters, too little time.

books: currently reading the stars undying, which is a sci fi take on caesar and cleopatra; i'm enjoying it but i haven't been reading it as much as i should. hopefully more of that this week too.

i would really like to finish trails in the sky the 3rd this week, though; i really shouldn't have that much more of it to go. here's hoping.

it's a new month, so let's see how i did on those goals and set some new ones.

websites

i finished my ardbert site! kinda came down to the wire a little bit, but i got there in the end. it's not as done as it could be (i didn't include as many insert images as i wanted to) but it's perfectly readable, so we'll take it.

february goal: i'm a little undecided, but i'd like to get at least one of my pending sites/revamps done. so that means i need to finish one of the layouts i've been struggling to get done. maybe the treasury? we'll see.

writing

i didn't work on endwalker fic at all, lol. i did glance at and reread a few chapters the other day, though, so hopefully i can work on it in the coming weeks. i did write every day, though.

february goal: please at least one chapter of endwalker fic i beg

video games

i finished pokemon scarlet! i really enjoyed it, it was a delightful new take on the tried and true pokemon formula, and the story was really charming. some of my favorite npcs for sure.

i finished that last week, so in the meantime i've been continuing trails in the sky the 3rd, which i think i can handily finish this month, so that's the february goal. after that... maybe trails into zero? i'm really having fun with the trails series right now and i'd love to see what happens next.

other stuff

i read three books last month, two of which were novellas... but hey, at least i read something. i spent a lot of my reading time last month reading my own stuff, so hopefully i can spend more time on published works this coming month.

not much else to talk about at the current moment, i think. on to february!

it's close enough to the middle of january, anyway.

let's have a look at how i'm coming along with those goals i posted about at the start of the year.

websites: i'm down to the last 3 pages i need to write for this site, so we're making solid progress. haven't had time in the last few days to work on it, but i'm hoping to knock out at least 2 of the remaining pages this week.
writing: uh, i haven't even looked at the endwalker fic. tbh i have little motivation for it right now, but maybe that'll turn around...? i have been writing every day though, just not fic.
video games: i'm about 15 hours into pokémon scarlet, give or take; i have 4/8 badges, 3/5 titans, and 3/5 team star bases done. decent progress, in other words. i've been trying to play an hour or two a night; i've missed some nights but i'm making tangible forward motion and that's what matters. trails in the sky the 3rd is looking more like a february game at this rate, though.

overall, not bad. still some work to do, but it could be a lot worse tbh.

other things:

i'm currently reading slow gods by claire north and while it's quite well written, it's by no means a quick read, so i've been plodding through it. i haven't been sleeping great, but i've been trying to read a little every night... i really could have read more last night considering it took me two hours to fall asleep, but at least i made some progress.
not currently raiding in ffxiv on account of the hand stuff and i'm bummed about it, because the new savage fights look really fun. i've been having good hand days and bad hand days, and the unpredictability of the latter means that raiding is pretty much out right now. still been doing the weekend extreme farm, but that's it. in the meantime i've been powerleveling one of my alts for the sake of glamour, as one does...

that's about it for the moment.

Current Music: To Galaxy — Neil Davidge

it's 7am on the first day of 2026, i have been awake for two hours already, let's make some goals for the month.

i say month rather than year because every time i make long-term goals like that (aside from like, # of books or movies to consume in a year), it goes pretty badly. which makes sense: a year is a lot of time to plan out. let's get a little more granular with it.

anyway, i'll break this down into categories.

websites

i need to finish my ardbert site for the current makeashrine challenge. this has a deadline, which historically has always motivated me, so i'm hoping it works this time around as well...

i have other website stuff i want to get done, but nothing else takes as much priority. perhaps next month i can work on the treasury layout, or revamp my fanlisting collective, or stare at the redcrown revamp that's been stalled for months.

writing

i... should really work on endwalker fic. honestly if i complete the chapter i've been stuck on, i'll call it a win.

more seriously, i signed up to do 300 days of writing this year at getyourwordsout. most of those will probably continue to be my self-indulgent au stuff, but i gotta try to do other things too. most of my talk about this will be over on diali, my writing journal.

video games

i want to complete at least one JRPG per month this year. JRPGs typically being 40-80 hour experiences, this is a tall ask, but i want to do it, because i only finished one game last year that wasn't FFXIV. atrocious! we gotta play more stuff.

currently on the docket for january: pokémon scarlet, with a side of trails in the sky the 3rd. finishing either would make me happy, but i'd really like to try for both.

what else?

NOTHING. THAT'S IT. it's winter, it's the miserable months of the year, i am not over-committing.

Current Music: Heavensward — Masayoshi Soken

this year's reading goal was 40 books! i didn't make it, but i got MUCH closer than i thought i would, and i'm really happy about that. sometimes not reaching a goal is okay if you genuinely try and make it most of the way there in the trying.

anyway, books!

( books of 2025 )

and the did not finish list...

( dnf )

here's the roundup for this year:

best books i read this year: these burning stars, where peace is lost, the incandescent
worst books i read this year: the fractured dark (really killed any interest i had in the series)
longest book i read: the ashes and the star-cursed king (591 pages)
shortest book i read: silver in the wood (105 pages)
longest time it took to read a book: setting aside the fact that i was stuck on city of last chances for months, then the answer is killers of a certain age (23 days)
shortest time it took to read a book: i read crash test in two hours, lol.
authors i read the most of: carissa broadbent (6 books)

here's a graph. that first half of the year really is depressing...

as usual reviews are on storygraph but require a login. a fun fact: since 2021 when i started reading again, i have read 248 books. that's a lot!

the tl;dr for this year is that everyone should read these burning stars, because it's been weeks and it's still living rent-free in my mind. genuinely one of the most phenomenal books i've ever read. i need everyone to meet esek nightfoot immediately.

book goal for 2026 is... 50 books! it's certainly doable, especially considering how the back half of 2025 went, but it's not overwhelming.

Current Music: 覚醒ヒロイズム - THE HERO WITHOUT A "NAME" — Antic Cafe

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Recent Entries

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mid-february update

into february

websites

writing

video games

other stuff

mid-january update

happy new year, here's some goals

websites

writing

video games

what else?

books of 2025

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