To be fair, J is actually rehearsing a presentation for a job interview tomorrow, but it doesn't change the fact that the screen's the one getting talked to, not me.

Flushed with soup-making success this evening (easiest thing I've made in WEEKS and utterly nom-worthy), I decided to flick through the flist before washing up, and was reminded of reel_torchwood. I totally, totally, honest to goodness don't have time to write a Torchwood version of a film. But. One of the things I have sometimes felt Torchwood is lacking is 'whole world' AUs. There are lots of fix-it/fork in the road stories, but not so many putting them in totally different situations. Admittedly I went straight from Torchwood to SGA, which breeds AUs like horny bunnies, but still. I decided I would be looking forward to the fics from here, and that I would have a look at the list of prompts, just to see who was writing what (yes, Chrys, I know about yours ;)).

It was all going so well.

Seriously, I am NOT going to write a Cabaret, with Jack as Sally and Gwen as Brian. Ianto is not the MC, definitely not, Owen is not Max and Tosh is not Natalia.

I'm not writing this *whimpers*

VAGUE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS TOO! enter with care.

( Spoilers for Children of Earth: Day Four (and there's a spoiler space between that and the point outside the cut, just in case) )

In other news, the name "jadesfire" is now up for grabs since the journal has been deleted and purged. That's the name I wanted 3 years ago when I turned up on LJ, and I only added the numbers because I had to. I'm considering buying this journal a birthday present in the form of a name-change token, but it looks a little...sparse...without the numbers. Definitely one to ponder.

My head is still a mess at the moment, so I have vague hopes of actual content somewhere in the not too distant future. In the meantime, I've been doing a little housekeeping.

I was going to say I wrote nothing in June, then I opened a whole bunch of tabs, so apparently I write even when I don't think I'm writing.

( The List )

That's 6 ficlets, just under 2,500 words in total. Not too shabby.

Then, of course, there's my tardis_bigbang entry, which was written over a few months so I'm not sure it counts towards my June total.

Nothing Else But Change
27,000 words, Jack, Gen.

( Thinky thoughts and why I love this story and wish I'd written it differently. Including thoughts about Jack, philosophy, getting back to basics and the lasting influence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

Wow, that went on longer than I meant it to! Thoughts, feedback and concrit is welcomed and encouraged for 'Nothing Else But Change'. I knew what I was going for, but was aware I didn't quite hit it. Anything that will help me get there next time would be much appreciated.

This...isn't really the Housekeeping post I meant it to be, but I got a bit carried away and it's now time for coffee. Maybe now I've got it out of my system I'll be able to post about what I *really* wanted to post about later on.

Hope everyone's having a good day *waves*

We have lift off! The front page is here, from where you can link to everything else. We also have 45 stories and gajillions of pieces of art (which may contain spoilers, just so you know), which is all kinds of awesome.

My work? Well, just a brief link for now and more details and squee tomorrow. But I've now been at work for nearly 12 hours and am kind of ready to go home. Admiration for artists will also be expressed tomorrow because DAMN these guys are good.

---

Nothing Else But Change
Torchwood (pre-series) | PG | gen | 27,000 words

Everything changed, everything moved on. Everything except Jack.

Betas: rustydog and donutsweeper
Notes: My gratitude to my betas cannot be textually rendered. They have held my hand, passed the tissues, corrected grammar and typos, forced me to write better and made sure that I had everything I needed to write this. It's not possible to thank them too much, for services above and beyond the call of duty or friendship. Remaining deficiencies are all my own work.

Art is by in_the_bottle and jhava and is just...well. Click through to the story and you'll see why it's so awesome.

Right. Home now. Catch y'all tomorrow.

Under the cut is my cliche_bingo card. Yes, I signed up. What? Below it is my current writing schedule.

Seriously. Eye-rolling only, please. No yelling...

( This way to the cliches! )

Does anyone know if/how it's possible to turn my Bingo card into something with clickable links? I can obviously write an html table for it, but if someone has a quicker way, that'd be awesome *bats eyelashes* I'd offer to write you something in return, but my schedule's kind of full...

With thanks to zippitgood, these instructions here work like a charm. I did replace "kinkmap" with "clichemap", but otherwise, do exactly as they say!

Added to that, I've put the coding you'd need for an html table here in my journal. Your choice!

Since she said it was okay to post this to comms, I'm assuming my journal is also okay. [let me know if it's not, hon, and I'll take it down]

If you're having a quiet Sunday and fancy some sweet little ficlets, head over to miss_zedem's, where you'll find a multi-fandom kissing fest in progress. My own comment-fic is here, and is just a tame little NCIS thing (Abby/McGee), but the fest open for more kissing throughout the day (and beyond, I assume)

Click here for the main post and some major kissage :)

It's my turn to post links to writers_lair this week. With great difficulty, I managed to post a fairly short (for me) list, which can be found here.

There are more lurking in my Delicious account, but they'll have to wait until I have a smaller pile of papers on my desk...

I'm having a listy kind of day:

#1. I have now spent 2 days ordering books in languages I don't speak and some I don't even understand. Serbian is the hardest to spell, Romanian resembles Italian more than I had realised and a surprising number overall are in English. We've now ordered from 46 countries. Just over 60 to go...

#2. Because it's Friday and I abandoned common sense some time around Wednesday lunchtime, I've signed up for spn_summergen. Sign ups close tomorrow!

#3. You lot are no help at all when it comes to deciding what to write. Apparently I should start the NCIS one first, but only just. You're wonderfully enthusiastic, thanks, folks. It actually helps an embarrassing amount. This is a terribly against-the-grain thing to say in fic-writing circles (they're probably going to take away my pencil sharpener), but I do actually write for other people. Not for the comments (although I won't deny my utter delight in them), but because I hope the words I put down will entertain someone else as much as they did me. I don't write to order, but I do write to give pleasure to others as well as myself. The stuff I write just for myself? That stays under private lock. Anything public was written because I love to entertain, I love reading and I love the thought that what I wrote might just be the right story at the right time for somebody else. For me, it's like sending a postcard or letter or email to someone, except it's to a wider audience. This no doubt makes me an unbearable egotist, but that's just how I feel.

Anyway, my current deadlines are lining up nicely. Far enough apart that I'm not under too much pressure, close enough that I've got the drive to get them done:

22nd May - team_sga (yes, this is the pirate fic)
14th June - tardis_bigbang final draft
19th July - bau_bigbang first draft
1st August - spn_summergen (from a prompt that I'll get on 1st June)
16th August - bau_bigbang final draft

Looking at that, I won't be doing the SGA Big Bang this year unless there's a prompt that compells me to write. Given my current ambivalence to SGA, that's highly unlikely, plus I want to write my Bibula Harena sequel at last.

#4. We now have a confirmed artist for every story at tardis_bigbang. This makes me happier than I can say. *twirls*

#5. It's nearly the weekend! We have almost no plans, although I do hope to get most of the housework done tonight so that I can write most of tomorrow. This sounds like a good plan :D

How's everyone doing? Plans for the weekend? Something that I must/read see following the SPN and Criminal Minds episodes this week? Anyone for tea? *swirls pot*

[I'm still cross-posting to dreamwidth and have 4 invite codes if anyone wants/knows anyone who wants one. Friends of friends welcome :)]

My brain is kind of full right now, so hopefully this will empty it a little:

#1. I have a Dreamwidth account under the name of jadesfire although I have no intention of moving there full-time just yet. ( Read more... )

#2. bau_bigbang Author sign-ups close tomorrow, although artist ones will be open for some time yet. Do drop in and see what other people are up to and decide if you want to take part. There looks to be a good range of fic, from femslash to gen, and probably lots of casefic if that's your thing.



Come join us!

#3. tardis_bigbang is still (yes still) recruiting artists. Take a look at last year's contributions here - all kinds of art are encouraged, from the most basic line-drawings to full-on vids, so if you're looking to get into a fest for the first time, this could be your chance!

#4. I've now gone into serious research-mode for my Big Bang, and will be posting to my writing journal about it soon. The usual suspects, who've already had email from me, will end up on that filter, but if anyone else wants to watch me flail, just drop me a comment. Tentatively, I'm writing a Nine, Jack and Rose adventure, involving dragons, battles and magic. Hopefully it'll be fun…

#5. I promised more about the weekend, although to be honest there's not a whole lot to tell ( Such as it is… )

#6. Writing Supernatural is fun. I'm not sure I want to do that much of it, and the fandom makes me nervous, but there's lots and lots of gen out there for me to plough through, so I'm very happy.

#7. Pretty soon, I need to write SGA again, for the team_sga fest. I've said I'll write PIRATES! again (yes, I have to format it like that) so I just have to hope my brain is a bit more lively by that point, because right now, I think Port Call stands fairly well on its own. Hummmmm…

#8. I love that there is now a Twitter tag for when Neil Gaiman links to something and therefore crashes the site as over 200,000 people click through: #neilwebfail. This amuses me WAY more than it should :D

#9. I honestly could not love my doctor more. After ten flaily minutes with him, I have a referral, a blood test appointment and good advice on what to do next. Of course, I also still have the tiredness and the twitchy face (getting seriously annoying now…) but at least I also have a rough plan of attack.

Since it's now been over a fortnight since I really sat down and wrote something, I'm thinking that I need to kickstart my brain a little. The lack of writing is probably precipitated by taking on new material, but I also feel the need to get some words in some kind of pleasing order, so. A meme picked up from seperis's journal (adapted to suit my flist):

You post a topic, list, category, whatever, in my comments section. (examples: "Five Things James Wilson Remembers About His Childhood", or "Five colours the Torchwood Hub was painted" or "Five Things Teyla Will Never, Ever Tell Kanaan"). Then, in a separate post, I'll post the answers to your Top 5 ideas, according to me. Serious or fun!

I'll tackle this for: SGA, New Who, Torchwood, Criminal Minds, Discworld, Sapphire and Steel, Numb3rs and (oh, go on then) Supernatural. Please bear in mind that for the last one, I'm only 15 episodes in and keep it nice and general. Ta muchly

ETA: Er...guys...I know you love me and all, but 1 or 2 requests each, kaithanx? My brain can only take so much :D

Today, not only am I awesome for trying to get my writing brain going again *points upwards* but...er...

...

D'you know, for the first time, I can't think of anything. Um. Well, this is awkward. Seriously, I got nothing here.

*whistles*

Come on then, folks. Give me prompts so I can demonstrate my awesome writing-fu and tell me why you're awesome, so I can bask in vicarious awesomosity (yes, it's a word, I just made it up :P)

Since I didn't get around to a fic-round up in January, this list covers both months. Not that there's much here. 6 stories, c.5,400 words

( But the stories do cover 4 fandoms )

Also, since I'm trying to get back into a writing frame of mind, a meme seen all over, but nicked specifically from szm

Post a single sentence from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations. No more than one sentence.

Despite always saying that I don't do WsIP, I did find lots of notes lying around, so some quotes are from them (including a co-written one - hope you don't mind, perspi!). The rest are from stories I plan to write, so are what a sentence from them would look like if I'd written them already.

( Everyone suitably confused? Excellent )

Working late is always a mixed blessing. It's quiet so I can get things done, but when it's quiet, I tend to get easily distracted by other things. Y'all are welcome to be that distraction, by the way - I'm here for the next couple of hours if anyone wants to drop in and say hi.

I've been hopeless about replying to comments properly lately, so I'm going to try to catch up with that, as well as doing some posting to comms and emailing that's hanging over me, and trying to get into an SGA frame of mind so I can write my two fics. Anyone got any spare SGA plot bunnies? Or is there something I've mentioned in passing or that you've always wanted to see written but never had the courage to ask? Well, ask away, because I'm all out of ideas here...

This is also today's Awesomeness post. Today I have been awesome because I cycled to work again. It was seriously hard work - much harder than yesterday - but I'm going to cycle home again tonight; otherwise, I'm never going to get fitter and it's always going to be hard work!

I've also been awesome because I've worked hard again and stayed positive about work, even through the boring stuff. My tendency to focus on the interesting means that the dull stuff builds up - this is a habit I'm trying to break myself of, one day at time. Lists using coloured pens definitely help.

Did you realise we hit double figures of awesome yesterday? Lookit! Go us!

You know, when I read fanficrants, I usually assume that they're picking out the worst of the badfic, and that it's not representative of the whole. In the Criminal Minds section, I think they're hard-pressed to choose. Seriously, who warns for "OOCness"? Not that I don't appreciate it, but...

*runs back to LJ*

I'm still completely knackered and have had enough of this now, thank you so much. But I have still been awesome today. The sign on our entrance gate broke, so I made a new one with pictures on, on the basis that our readers have constant difficulty with the swipe system and weren't reading the words, so maybe a picture will be more successful. Oh, and I helped miss_zedem to get her journal looking something like she wanted and I have a small pink pig sitting on my desk. The last doesn't make me awesome, but it does make me happy.

In sadder news, my MP3 player is really starting to struggle. The battery has been floundering for a while but that's replaceable. What's more worrying is that when I was listening to it earlier on, it kept cutting out, then gave me the message 'playback error' and died. I love my MP3 player! *clings* Because as much as I would love something new, shiny and funky, this one has served me well AND has a radio on it. Expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth when it finally conks out.

Speaking of which: CAR DRIVERS! Always check your side mirror when opening your car door. There could be a cyclist coming past and he could be my husband! He's fine, but his jacket and bike and elbow (how do you get a huge scrape THROUGH a leather jacket and a jumper?) are in bad shape :( We're definitely going to have to replace his cycle helmet, since it's now taken one too many knocks. And he wonders why I don't want to cycle in Oxford. If the buses don't get you, the cars do. And if they don't, a pedestrian will!

I've not managed to contribute much to the Gen battle, but am still disappointed that it's only up to 3 pages. I also think I'm coming down with a cold, so maybe I'll get something written while curled up under a blanket tonight.

All in all, while I still claim the right to be awesome, I'm also pretty grumpy right now. But do you know what's been cheering me up? Opening my inbox to a whole load of comments that begin "I am awesome because..." It's the best kind of high, so come on, people, cheer me up!

How are you awesome today?

It appears I'm writing a Criminal Minds/Numb3rs EPIC crossover. What is it with crossovers that makes them be so long, anyway? I've got some vague ideas bumping around in my head, but the story keeps trying to be in Charlie's POV, which would be fine if I actually knew the character. I'm not really more than a casual viewer of Numb3rs, and I've watched episodes from random seasons in a random order. Added to the fact that Five are always reapeating the same episode when I tune in (how do they know?), this could prove tricky.

So can anyone recommend "must see this" episodes for Charlie characterisation? I can hear his voice, I just don't know what to have him say, if that makes any kind of sense.

Anyway, enough of my blithering.

*glares* Why haven't more of you been over to the gen battle and written comment-fic? Or the fluff battle? Come on, folks. 4300 characters really isn't that many!

Today, I am awesome because I stayed awake through a whole course about serials AND I finally got a battery fitted to my watch, which has been dead for about 2 years. I've also managed to cross off a heathy chunk of stuff from my list, although I'm procrastinating terribly about the rest.

There's always tomorrow - I don't want to use up all my awesome all at once ;)

What about you guys? I've been very low-key-awesome today. Anyone done anything more exciting?

I think I slid to work rather than walking this morning. Although it rained overnight, it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the ice or snow levels. On the plus side, this means that our snow duck is still standing. On the downside, I looked like I was entering an ice-dancing competition. It wasn't gold medal winning standard, but at least I didn't fall over.

Just adding to my sense of morning bafflement (how can we have rain AND ice?) was the following review [the punctuation is the reviewer's, not me leaving things out, BTW]:

That was pretty good. Not to be rude or anything, but the whole thing was kinda random...I guess I kinda liked it though...

There was more to the review, asking if I'd seen the Torchwood trailer and why everyone calls the Pterodactyl Myfanwy, but the above was the bit that got me. The story in question was Master of His Fate, my Cyberwoman tag. Not my best story, I'll admit, but that review is way more random than usual. Since there wasn't much else I could say, I explained that the name came from the BBC website and thanked the reviewer for reading. Ah, the Pit of Voles. It's nice to know some things don't change.

In other news, I went to my Slimming World group last night after a few weeks off and had a great time. I always forget how much I enjoy it, plus I love helping out and meeting everyone. Our group has a shiny new computer system for signing everyone in, and I got to press buttons and do complicated computer-y things which was great. I've set myself some goals for where I want to be by Easter (back in control of what I eat would be nice) and am going to try to remember to sign into Facebook to keep track of everyone. I'm also putting this here so that when it's raining and cold and dark next Monday and I don't want to go, I can come back here and remind myself why I do want to really!

How's everyone else this morning? I have a terrible case of writer's block (or writer's rubbish in my case - I can write, but it's all drivel) and am in need of more coffee, but am otherwise pretty good. The sun has come out and the field outside my window is practically glowing in the light, which is definitely uplifting for the spirit. Oh, and I'm going to find myself a fandom-neutral mood-theme, since I'm definitely in the grip of fannish drift and want something I can use for everything. Anyone got any suggestions?

Whether it's too hot or too slippery, be careful out there, okay?

I'm thinking a lot about writing at the moment, and am trying to organise those thoughts into something resembling coherency (no sniggering at the back; I can hear you!). Rather than create a separate filter – I met many of you through writing, after all – I'm going to be very strict about cutting the thoughts, in order to save the scroll fingers of those who'd rather pass on by.

( It's weird, the things a meme can make you realise )

What about people who take a saner approach to the art of story structure? Do you find that you have missing scenes, the fic equivalent of DVD extras? Or does everything that you write end up in the story?

[apologies for spamtasticness today, folks. Cross-posted link to heretoutopia]

I'm still umming over making any actual nominations for this (how do I choose between you!?!) but it made me smile and figured it might do the same for you:




The idea is to nominate people rather than their works, and is a lovely idea. I hope to have time for it soon!

On to the ficly stuff!

#1. I've had the grand total of two recs to take with me to Morocco. Now, I know you folks read more than that, so if you've seen anything at tardis_bigbang, sgabigbang or sga_santa that you loved, I'd appreciate the pointer! Audiofic recs would also be appreciated.

#2. My 2008 fic list is here. It's backdated* because it turned into a ridiculously long trundle through the year, with snippets and thoughts that I couldn't resist putting in there. So just a few stats for you instead:

*ETA: And updated, since I discovered that I'd missed 2 SGA fics!

Total number of stories: 48
Longest story: Resonance (45,916; SGA)
Shortest story: Research (100; SGA)
Total number of words: ~207,730
Average (mean) story length: 4348 words (the median is somewhere around 1700)
Numbers by Fandom: 21 Stargate: Atlantis, 12 Torchwood, 8 Jack Harkness, 4 Doctor Who, 3 others and a partidge in a pear tree

#3. The New Year Fic Meme ( okay, so I'm running a little late... )

#4. My WiP/fic agenda for 2009: ( Ambitious but achievable, I hope )
Anything else that I've talked about? I occasionally post mad-cap ideas or mention things in passing. If anyone actually remembers any of them, please let me know. Do I owe anyone anything? I'm sure I've forgotten something...

One of my resolutions for 2009 is to participate in fewer challenges. I've just got so much of my own that keeps getting pushed onto the back-burner by things I sign up for. If 2008 was about discovering my own voice, 2009 is about exploring it. I want to write more drabbles, take more flist prompts and generally dig a little deeper. My first LJ fic was posted 18th July 2006, and I feel like I spent the first year learning the mechanics of writing, the second year learning how to write like me, and I'm spending the third settling into it and just writing. It's a good feeling.

#5. bironic!!! I owe you a fic! Leave me a prompt (or, you know, request a WiP ;)) and I'll get right on it.

#6. I just had a dig through very, very old posts and stumbled across 2 original fics that I remember liking at the time. Both are what I think of as 'life sideways' stories, in that they're not quite fantasy, but there's no way they're the real world either. They're definitely candidates for polishing and doing something with - I'm so very much better at editing than the putting words on a blank page part of writing, that this is an easy way in.

*looks round* I think that's everything.

*pause*

I'd better get writing then, hadn't I?

---

ETA: Unrelated to fic in any way, I have my first Slimming World group of the new year tonight. Before Christmas, there were rumours of a new eating plan, and I've just looked it up on the website. It's called "Extra Easy" and...well. It does look it. Potentially much less confusing than the whole Original/Green split that experienced members do on instinct and utterly baffles newcomers, and much more of a plain and simple "these foods are healthy" eating plan. Should be interesting to see what happens later...

I just sent my Yuletide fic for beta.

Wow. Didn't see that one coming. *looks at counter* And it's a whole 1 day and 9 hours before the deadline as well. Shocking.

Now all I have to do is polish up the sga_santa one so I can start on the next...
(ETA: 2 betas down, 2 to go. I'm flying here ;))

It's all go here, I tell you. Oh, and speaking of going, we're in Sheffield this weekend, so will have to catch up with everyone on Sunday night. Please leave the internet in the condition you would wish to find it.

Play nice and don't break anything. Or burn anything down. Or scratch anything. Or tear anything. Or...

EDITED AGAIN: NOW WITH ADDED MEME (gacked from apiphile

COMMENT AND SAY ONE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT ME,
TWO THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF,
AND IF YOU SEE ANYONE YOU KNOW IN THE COMMENTS (I SUGGEST RETURNING REGULARLY) COMMENT AND TELL THEM THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT THEM.

Because I haven't done a meme here in a while, and am of the firm opinion that there can never be enough love-memes out there. I am convinced of this.

*looks shifty*

I'm not here, I swear. I'm writing my sga_santa. I'm not reading "Please Understand Me II" by David Keirsey, and I'm not watching Poirot, and I'm not dipping into Z's dsss fic or chatting to her on Yahoo Messenger.

I'm especially not looking at the pictures at artword here and thinking "hmmmm." But, you know. If any of you artistically talented people out there look at them and go "hmmmm" as well...

...I'm here all afternoon. Just in case anyone feels inspired ;)

It's going to be a funny old day. I have lots of stuff to get done, both fannish and work-related, and I also got this email in my inbox:

( Cut for length )

Also, have I mentioned recently how awesome my work are? No? Well, since I'm sitting here basking in the glow of my lightbox, I really should have! It's tiny but very bright and I'm just trying to work out how to position it so that I feel the benefit without blinding myself. Something tells me that's important. ETA: Okay, I've only had it 45 minutes, and I'm already in love with it. Completely. It's tiny but oh, so bright. *basks*

In other news, greyias and are having too much fun. Seriously, you let two crack-inclined writers write together and anything could happen. I hope to get a big chunk of that fic done to today so that Grey's Photoshop efforts aren't wasted. *rubs hands together* This should be fun.

In between that, I'm working on the Wizard of Oz fusion, because it amuses me, and my sga_santa fic. Yuletide is lurking at the back of my brain but I'm going to need help for that one, I think, once I work out who to email for it!

And finally:



Voting on Round 3 of LFWS! I ended up being reasonably pleased with my entry this time, despite all the restrictions. See if you can spot me, and do leave some votes. Comments are now optional, so you don't need to give long justifications if you don't want to. Having said that, writers love feedback, and some useful stuff has come out of it, so do think about saying why you voted as you did, even if you don't comment on every story.

How's everyone else? And where are the the links to your wishlists, hmmm? I swear, I love giving presents even more than I love getting them :)

Have a good day, folks.