The Secretary Will Disavow Any Knowledge

I made pot roast last night. I'm picking at the carcass today. You know you have made some damn fine beef if it tastes just as good COLD the next day. NOM NOM NOM.

Well, I did it. I signed up for yuletide. And though I was tempted to sign up for more fandoms and more characters (and there was some last minute switching around), I stuck to my plan. So that happened.

I had another woeful moment today when I saw an advert for a holiday exchange ficathon for a fandom that I'm tangentially interested in and realized that my pairing of choice is so wacky that it seems unfair to ask anyone to write it and, simultaenously, I have nearly zero interest in writing the preferred pairing(s) in the fandom. This pairing rare-pairs crap is hard, yo! Most of the time I don't care so much because I'm writing whatever makes me happy and so it doesn't matter what anyone else ships, but when I want to be all join-y and stuff, it's vexing. My heyoka nature in a nutshell. But, one less ficathon to tear my hair out about, right?

Tangential to THAT, I feel like there's enough interest that I'm going to go ahead with the JDM ficathon. I don't have any more details than "Yeah, let's do that!" but I figure I have all of December, at least, to figure that out. So...more news when I have it!

As you can see, I finished the AKB chapter. Wrote 1400+ words on that, once I hit my groove, which was kind of awesome. The problem with writing in existing files is that I never have any good grasp of how much I've written until I finish and do the math.

Didn't work on anything else, for obvious reasons. And I have yet to do any writing today, which is making me feel like the biggest slacker in the world. I'll have to rectify that posthaste.

Flipping through the Yuletide fandom nominations and I came across RPF-Curb Your Enthusiasm. Um. Isn't Curb pretty much RPF already??

Also, The Sims? Really? I mean...okay, I LOVE my Sims. I really do. But I'm a little puzzled how that would work as SOMEONE ELSE writing a Sims story for me or what shape that would take. I suppose it's limited to the prefab characters, like the Brokes or the Goths, etc. I don't expect much of anyone would be interested in my story about how Jimmy Phoenix stalked and won the adopted son of Jensen and Jared, though. At least before I change all the names. :)

I'm still on the fence about whether I want to do Yuletide or not, though I think I pinpointed my problem from last year. I think that last year, I volunteered for a lot of fandoms because I'm familiar enough with them that I think I COULD write fic and I don't think I spent nearly enough time considering whether I want to write or receive fic from that fandom. Which is one of those things that seems so simple and obvious in retrospect, but I have a bad habit of wanting to be able to write all things for all people, whether it's something I'll actually enjoy or even want to do, or not.

IF I sign up for Yuletide this year, I'm definitely going to be really, incredibly restrictive about what fandoms I sign up for.

Another thing that I don't think enough about, imo, is what fandoms I really WANT/NEED stories from. There are a lot of media that I'm fannish about in the sense that it excites me and I love it...but that I don't feel any particular need to find or write fanfic about it. The media itself is enough. So I also need to think about that, rather than just, "Ooh! That movie/show/book is SHINY!"

Which is much more difficult than it sounds.

Anyway, I've got it down to a maximum of 12 fandoms and I'll probably cut it even more from there. If I decide to sign up. *headdesks*

AKB 71: 1083 words. So I wrapped up what I wanted to do with the chapter less than a thousand words in. I wanted to stretch it, but they were not cooperative. Quelle surprise Which left me at a bit of an impasse, but I think I can see my way through it. It's actually an opportunity to write something that I've been wanting to include for a while now. So there's that.

I think I've probably only written another sentence on Appetite, which is discouraging but not unexpected. Is it stage fright? They're more than willing to talk to me when I'm nowhere near the computer, but as soon as I open the file, they clam up. So typical. As of November 1, however, I have no more excuses. 500 words a day, hell or high water.

I wrote a few hundred words of incredibly indulgent AKB road trip fic. Friday was aggravating in a number of ways and I needed something that decadently indulgent. Didn't get very far, though, but I'm sure I'll go back to it. It amuses me too much not to and I'm sure nilchance & beanside will enable, as they always do.

So, that happened.

The Winter Holiday exchanges are coming up and I'm torn whether I want to do Yuletide or 3 Ships or (ha ha ha) both or ANY, given my track record with ficathons lately. La Muse has always been fickle and capricious, but I find that to be especially true when it comes to my desire to sign up for and my ability to carry out ficathons.

My primary motivation for doing Yuletide would be to (hopefully) force someone to write the Glee story I DESPERATELY want, where Rachel is sekritly a transwoman, which...I don't know if that's an honestly good enough reason. Especially since I don't know if I could honestly write a Glee story in return. Which is not a prerequisite, but still.

And as for 3 ships, short of my various permutations of RPF fangirlery, I'm drawing a blank on any other threesome I'm particularly into or interested in right now. Which, given that my usual stance is "Poly makes everything better!" is a little distressing.

I dunno. Lately, I've been feeling a twin pull, one stream going back to SPN (which...yay! Except for the fact that I don't really have the TIME to write SPN right now) and the other going to Appetite, which is nice because that's where my focus is actually supposed to BE for the next little while. Yay post-apocalyptic werewolves! And the glee I get from writing 'post-apocalyptic werewolves'!

Today was an exercise in frustrations, from bullshit at work (OMG, I hate HVAC with a fiery and burning passion and I don't have much better feelings for the guys working on it) to losing my way in the current scene of AKB (I later found it), to the flailing despair of realizing that my everyday email cabal is a little cocky-screw ATM, and isn't really THERE to get me through my long, frustrating days at work the way it has been to finding out my mom's sicker than she's been telling anyone (it's not life or death...or, at least no more so than usual). *sighs* Such a Monday, yo. Such a very, very Monday Monday.

But! On the bright side, I have tomorrow off to do whatever I like. Except sleep in, because the cleaning people are coming at Obscene O'Clock. But I will perservere! And probably play The Sims! And maybe do some writing.

Fandom: In Treatment
Pairing: Amy/Jake, sorta kinda Jake/Paul
Rating: Adult
Warnings: Abuse of the dream state. Language.
Spoilers: For the whole Jake/Amy storyline.
Word Count: 3,382
AN: Written for phoebesmum for yuletide 2008. Many thanks to shotofjack and inlovewithnight for their advice and wisdom.

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( I had the dream again. )

Sometimes I wonder about a life where my idea of decadence equals "a day I didn't write anything". *laughs* But I did do a lot of reading for a change. I think I've read more fanfic in the past day than in the past six months. Decadence, indeed.

Whatever you celebrate, I hope you've had wonderful days...however you define your terms. Now let me share with you some things Wot I Have Read and Loved.

Non-Yuletide Recs:

Naughts and Crosses by girlguidejones
SPN. Sam/Dean. Heartverse.
I love when other people write in Heartverse. Especially when they do so for me. GGj asked me what I wanted and I asked for schmoopy futurefic. She gave me a piece of my favoritest schmoopy futurefic in the whole world. *g* And did so damn well. I read this whole thing with a grin on my face.

Pathoheterodoxy Syndrome by devilc (and it's follow up/companion stories) (IJ link)
RPF. AKB 'verse. Damien Lewis and Josh Homme.
My favorite AKB stories are when people pick up new perspectives, new points of view in the universe. Here, devilc has taken a interesting look into Commerce and its agents (something I've been HOPING someone would do) and ties it back to the events from kellifer_fic's And Paid For in ways I find both sensible and intriguing. I also really liked getting an outsider POV on Jeff, Jensen, Kane, etc.

Burn Up Hard and Bright by inlovewithnight
Friday Night Lights. Brian (Smash)/Matt.
This one was written for me for the Catchallthon. I asked for Matt in college and his 'gay renaissance'. She gave me back something that is much better than the sum of those parts. I love the way she writes Matt. Well, I love the way she writes, period. But I think that she has a really excellent FEEL for Matt and it's expressed perfectly here.

Yuletide Recs (authors as yet unknown):

Carpe Diem
Gosford Park. Mary Maceachran/Robert Parks. Okay. So here's my thing about Yuletide. I'm very polyfannish but I'm also very picky. And so I'm always looking for the story I always wanted but didn't KNOW that I wanted until I read it. The one that soothes all those places that send you looking for fanfic in the first place. This is one of those stories. The fact that it was written for me doesn't hurt either. *g*

Ten Steps Ahead as Always
Gosford Park. Mary Maceachran/Robert Parks. I really lucked out with three stories. This one was closer to the letter of my request and captures the same sweetness but also the near-invisibility of the servants and their lives, taken up in the between moments of tending their masters.

Control
Dante's Cove. Ambrosius. Ambrosius/Kevin.
Man, I thought I was going to have to kill somebody (or just use Tresum) to get some Ambrosius fic. This soothes the ache nicely and I love how...relentless the prose is. It's perfectly suited to Ambrosius's personality and really does a great job of capturing how Ambrosius sees Kevin, his unwilling knight in shining armor.

The Tender Things That We Were Working On
Breakfast Club. Brian/John. Futurefic. OMG, I just want MORE of this. I really like how it picks up; a life in medias res.

The Door in the Mountain-side Shut Fast
Footloose. Vague Ren/Willard UST.
Voice is very important to me. This captured the movie's voice, if that makes sense. Less Ren's city boy splashing into small town life than the life of the town and the people it's shaped.

Hereditas Damnosa
Rome. Octavian/Maecenas. Octavian/Anthony.
Short, sharp and brutal piece about Octavian and how he becomes who he is.

In Which Worlds Collide and Eeyore Investigates a Terrible Crime
Winnie the Pooh/Discworld. Gen.
Excellent voices for both worlds, seamless crossover. And an awesome illustration! Who could ask for anything more?

In It Wait
A Companion to Wolves. Gen(ish).
How Vethulf and Skjaldwulf work things out while Isolfr's gone.

I Could Never Be Your Woman
Ugly Betty. Christina/Daniel. Cross-dressing.
I love the absolute hot, dirtybadwrong of this. And the Christina voice is excellent. I'd love to see a whole universe of this.

One Minute, Counting
Pushing Daisies. Gen. Emerson.
Note perfect.

Harold to the Infinite Power
Stranger Than Fiction. Harold Crick gen.
Harold Crick is introduced to the world of fanfic. In general, I'm not crazy about the "so and so finds fanfic" trope, but for this fandom and with this writer it rises above the level of "trope" and is just a really good story.

The absolute absurdity of end-series items
Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves. Gen.
Great voice. Tackles the female perspective (or lack thereof) in the original.