lokifan

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Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/255808.html

The Review Meme is very late - but I thought since it was already really damn late, I’d leave posting this until after the fest reveals. This bit of navel-gazing tends to be more useful to the writer than readers, I think; but I do find it very useful.

2011’s wordcount was 104 600. Not bad: still down from 2009’s ~131 000, but in the same area as 2010’s ~107 000, and 2010 didn’t involve a dissertation. FYI, the wordcount includes ‘real’ posts to LJ and original work as well as fanfic.

Hopefully I’ll do better in 2012. Either way, as I said last year: keeping track of this stuff, and giving myself a target, it reminds me that writing being really fun doesn’t make it a bad indulgence you should ignore in favour of your friends, and that writing being really hard doesn’t make it a chore you should ignore in favour of your friends.

( Year In Review Fic Meme, 2011 )

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://lokifan.livejournal.com/215724.html

So, I’m finally doing this meme! Self-indulgent, but valuable – and I’m enjoying catching up on everybody else’s review memes.

First some stats:

2009’s wordcount: 131 200

BOO YEAH! This wordcount includes ‘real’ posts to LJ and original work as well as fanfic. But still. WOOT! Thank you to last year’s 200-words-a-day resolution: it forced me to prioritise writing. Also, it reminded me that a: writing being really fun doesn’t make it a bad indulgence you should ignore in favour of your friends and b: writing being really hard doesn’t make it a chore you should ignore in favour of your friends.

2009’s fics: 7
2009’s ficlets: 16

2009’s sets of drabbles: 12
2009’s drabbles: 63

Under the circumstances, I’m answering with a fic and a drabble/drabble set for every question. Mostly drabble sets, which are often effectively fics.

( Favourite story this year )

I went to the NUS LGBT conference this weekend! I shall post about it soon. It was good, and mostly impressively progressive, and I am all excited about Righting Social Wrongs. Also I met an incredibly beautiful girl who writes, and lives in London, and likes the Electric Ballroom and lesbian Gothic vampire paintings.

Unfortunately, I immediately got a stomach bug on my return. I HAVE MY FIRST EXAM ON TUESDAY, I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR ILLNESS!

Speaking of time and the lack of it, I am rather urgently in need of a beta. Seamus/Draco, in-Hogwarts, everybody’s sixteen so of-age in my brain but possibly not in yours. Any offers? Plz?

And now I must sleep some more, and finish rereading Ghostwalk. Which I heartily recommend, incidentally. It’s helped save my revision period, although Rebecca Stott’s beautiful, intricate sentences, like clockwork jewellery, are not at all suited for speed-reading.

I’ve resisted posting about this, partly because my internet access has been extremely sporadic (I went home for two weeks for Easter) and partly because I knew it would be a post of full... well, cheese and whine. You see, ( I have writer’s block. )I thought I should say hello.

I broke, I’m doing it.

( Oh dear, 13 WIPs does seem unlucky )

[1] Go to my 'fic'/'drabbles' tabs and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. (could we make it one long line, or two?)
[2] I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from. I SWEAR I WON'T CHEAT. (honest! It's no fun otherwise!)
[3] A drabble of choice for the first three of you that manage to stump me ;).

Icon has no relevance, I just love it. :)

Gacked from - well, most of you. With bonus pontification!

( Meme )

Guys? The auction is up to $47 811. They're doing a 'last chance salon' to help us make it $50 000. How amazing would that be? The power of fandom raising half a million dollars for charity!

I'm offering three 2000-word minimum fics, for $10 each. Anyone want one? Hell, buy more than one if you'd like! Smut, comedy, darkfic, smut, fluff, smut!

Leave a comment here if you'd like one.

lavillanueva, don't yell, OK? Deadlines are as nothing before the awesomeness that is this!

ETA: all three are SOLD!

Writing-related question, darling flist: have any of you ever been on a hot air balloon ride? What was it like? Did you take off smoothly and was the ride bumpy? Was the wind noisy?

Answers on a postcard. Thanks.

Have you ever planned to write a scenario, or an idea - nothing immensely specific but you knew vaguely what you wanted to do - and someone got there first?

Now on one level, you're very pleased. It's well written and it's cute, it's exactly the sort of thing you would have done but different, and almost certainly better than anything you could have come up with. You're busy, besides, and have other things to get to first; you would have kept rejecting it as too fanon or not urgent for at least another couple of months. She's done it now, and it's great. You're enjoying it a lot. Really.

And still, despite the fact that it's selfish and stupid and makes no sense, you sort of want to sulk because damnit, I had ideas and I wanted to write it myself!

Am I the only one?

Don't get me wrong. The story I'm thinking of is extremely cute and I have faith it will be very well done. I just wanted to do it myself.

Argh. This is probably all misplaced aggression and depression after fighting with my parents. It makes me itchy, though, and uncomfortable with myself. I'm used to righteous rage and this is sulking.

( Picture the scene... )

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Location: cloud nine

I am finally up-to-date with my friends' list. Since the computer still isn't fixed this is a state that cannot last, but it's lovely to feel like I actually know what's going on instead of perpetually being a week behind. I love this icon; using it right now just makes me feel even more on top of things, since I usually only break it out when I've just been away for a fortnight.

*sighs and goes to work on back-burner-ed fic*

You may all know that I'm terrible at picking out titles for my stories. I'm currently working on an original, and have spent the three days bothering my friends because I can't come up with a title and neither can they. Luckily, I had a burst of inspiration last night.

And yet, and yet...

So, there's this family. They're an 'evil' magical family. The 'evil' in quote marks because the current generation is deceitful, nasty and incredibly selfish, but do not glory in destruction or want to rule the world. They're very gentrified; way back when they were the Lords of the Manor, and are still rich. They are associated with dragons and snakes (which is part of why they live in the English countryside - since St Patrick, no one of their blood can visit Ireland). They're near Stonehenge.

WHAT IS THEIR NAME?!

It's vitally important, considering how many important characters come from this family, that it be a good name. I would like an ssss sound since they're so serpentine. What can it be?

Am considering:

Salisbury - for the place, obviously
Selosiss (Syl-oh-siss) - my favourite, but sounds like a disease
Wyverns - some play on 'wyvern' would be good
Ouroboros - some version of this; it's a mythical Celtic snake

So... suggestions? Help? Could you read 'Poppy Selosiss' as a character name and take it seriously? Do you know any snakes from English/British mythology (that is to say, Celt/Saxon/Viking/Roman-at-a-pinch - damn those invaders) with names I could use or edit? Do you think I should stop stressing about this and just write my damn essay? All opinions welcome.