I think an important thing for me this year is learning how to say no. I don't necessarily mean to other people, I mean more to myself.
I like signing up for fic challenges (as I'm sure you've noticed). I like getting prompts that challenge me to write things I might not necessarily thought of on my own. I like writing to deadlines because it stops me from procrastinating.
There needs to be a cutoff point though. As it stands I have one fic due at the end of this month and two due at the middle of next month. I can do it but it's going to be hard.
I'm tempted to say 'no more challenges' after this but I know I won't stick to it. What I do need to do is pay more attention to when deadlines are so I can spread things out a little more evenly.
I was half tempted to sign up for
spn_j2_bigbang this year but I don't think it's going to happen. I don't really have any ideas now my Smith/Wesson one has been done by someone else and I still remember how stressed I got doing
rpf_big_bang last year.
Right, now I've had a little moan I'd better crack on with my M2 fic.
Title: A Switch in Time
Author: coalitiongirl
Chapter: 2/7
Pairings: Spike/Buffy, Xander/Anya (kind of :D- but not Buffy/Xander!)
Rating: 18, or R
Warnings: Buffy/other (barely)
Summary: Four years after Sunnydale, Buffy must travel back in time to stop Glory and avert the destruction of the world. But there's a catch- she's been accidentally put in the wrong body. She's got all the information necessary to ensure a happily ever after for her friends and herself. But who's going to listen to Anya?
Disclaimer: These characters and settings belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing in their metaphorical sandbox.
( He was holding her up at this moment, he realized. This wasn’t sexual at all. Even his body seemed to recognize it. This was the Slayer at her most vulnerable, and she was trusting him, just a little. )
Birds fly south for winter to escape the bitter cold, right? Poor birdies got screwed. I live in an area with a lot of lakes and ponds and there's a large flock of geese. This morning when driving to work, I noticed that all of them were sitting beside a frozen fountain beside the pond. . . then I noticed that two were walking across the pond.
1- The Giles Thing by
drsquidlove: Finally, this awesome fic has an ending. Now, if you've never read Xander/Giles and want to venture into this pairing, this is the fic for you. I think what makes it so special is the parts where the writer focused on the Scoobies/Joyce/Tony's reaction to the ship, the relationship between the characters, growing up for Xander and his friends. And her Tony Harris will always be one of my favorites.
( Check the other four... )
Being sent home again. It's a hard life. LOL
Might actually watch Twilight this afternoon (although I should really be writing)

You may have won the prize for dilligence and attendance at Acton Sunday School in June 1899 but you grew up into a very naughty young lady indeed :)
See this is why I love old books.
Today I saw a book in the second hand books section of the Post Office in Lavenham which I just had to have! I'd only gone in to post some letters but I came out with treasure! It's His Choice and Hers by Evelyn Everett Green and Louise Bedford, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge . And I collect these things . I adore reading the strictly moral tales aimed at Victorian young ladies and their servants; though sadly the days when I could pick them up for a few pence are long gone.
The book plate told me that it had been awarded as a Sunday School Prize but the contents told me that young Dinah Ryan went off the rails :)
When I opened the book out fell a bundle of letters . I might have got a bit over excited at this point because I love finding things tucked in the pages of old books.
Upon reading I found that the letters are all references for Dinah. Seven of them, dated from 1910 when Dinah was an Upper Housemaid to 1915 , when, after a brief spell as a Head Housemaid, she was seemingly back to being just a housemaid.
The letters are addressed from seven different very upper crust houses, all in Ireland, and are supposedly written and signed by seven different employers.
The slight problem is that they're all in the same handwriting, all on the same (folded A5) notepaper and Dinah can't spell Oblige :)
Also unless Dinah had superpowers she'd have found it hard to work in seven different houses for periods of between seven months and two years over a four and a half year time span :)
Faking yer references FTW!! \0/
Anyway Dinah would like you to know that she's strictly honest, sober and quiet, neat and tidy in person and work. She is strong, willing, a good needlewoman and a neat mender. She can also wait on tables.
However I'm not at all sure that her aristocratic employer Mrs fforde of Seaforth County Down would really have written
" There is a lot of visiting ladies comes here in the hunting season and she waited on them most oblidgeingly"
And Mrs Fettherstinhaugh of Brachlynn Co.Westmeath might be surprised to see that that Dinah lived in her service for seven mouths and that she was especially valued
" As there is a lot of visiting ladies comes here in the shooting season"
Oh I like Dinah!!

I just looked at the BBC 5 day forecast for our area and snow is forecast *every* day. Um...weather gods, this is south London where snow doesn't happen very often. We are not equipped to deal with it. Please take it away!
Actually I'm being unkind. Our local council has just purchased four new gritting lorries (not that you ever see them down the side roads), the main roads are clear and the pavements in the town centre were very well gritted yesterday. I'm not sure that happy state of affairs will last if we really get snow every day this week though.
Yesterday, before the snow I went to see "Me and Orson Welles".
( The play's the thing )
Back to being hypnotised by the steadily falling snow!
'30 DAYS OF YOU'
Day 01 → Your favorite song
Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Well, I can't really talk about this year since it's only just started, and I think I've already said enough about how awesome last year was. I'll just leave it at that
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

Every year as they arrive, we put our Christmas/Holiday cards up on the wall around our Advent Calendar to display...
( Day 133 - Filling the wall. )
Title: Real Me
Author: coalitiongirl
Chapter: 1/24
Pairings: Spike/Buffy is the principal pairing.
Rating: 18, or R for...
Warnings: Language, sexual situations, torture, and rape (the last three warnings in later chapters only). And Buffy/other and [not really] Spike/other, if you're opposed to that sort of thing. There are a few warnings that I won't be adding until later chapters.
Disclaimer: These characters and settings belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing in their metaphorical sandbox.
Summary: When Buffy steps out of the Bronze one night for some air, she's hurtled into a new world that will change her irrevocably...as will the blonde vampire lurking in the shadows...
AU- Buffy is not the Slayer!

( In no particular order )
Thank you to everyone who wrote them, everyone who read them, and everyone who shipped them in 2009. Please continue in 2010. :)
[Fic]
x Maybe, If, Then, Or by
deird1 (Willow PG)
[Ficlets/Drabbles]
x Superman by
dark_amia (Spike/Angel PG)
x Playground Games by
bookishwench (Buffy G)
x Dude, you saved a puppy by
married_n_mich (Buffy, Angel, Faith G)
x L'enger c'est moi by
efnisien (Angel PG-13)
[Icons/Art/Vids]
x 27 Whedonverse icons by
mouthfullofdust
x 20 Whedonverse icons by
nowgold
x 25 Whedonverse icons by
x_forgetromeo
x 60 Whedonverse icons by
obiwahn
Editor's Note: I've seen a lot of requests to join the Herald in my inbox lately. Just a reminder, only the editors are members of the community, all requests to join will be rejected. Please re-read the user info. Thanks.
Gakked from
hils and not particularly surprising - I do like to stay close to canon, I'm afraid. (Text adjusted slightly for grammatical reasons.)
Your result for The Fan Fiction Personality Test...
OOC is blasphemy, canon is everything.
Once you fall in love with a movie, book or TV series, you are loyal like an old dog. You take fanfiction quite serious and use it as a substitute after the canon ran out.
You are probably a walking dictionary of your favourite fandom and you are picky about what you write and read. The closer to the "real thing" fanfiction is, the more you like it.
You'd rather explore a character in all depth, see new sides and learn more about them than create new characters or mix up the situations they are in.
Your result for The Fan Fiction Personality Test...
Slash, pairings and Playboy plot bunnies.
You are very likely female, and you very likely examine characters for their "slashability". Though you insist that your stories don't circle around love and sex between attractive characters, they do.
It is also likely familiar to you that at a certain point in your story, a character (or more) discovers that he (and rarely even she) is gay, and starts a relationship with another character.
Your fanfiction meets the taste of many, especially if your pairing happens to be between two attractive males that are straight in canon.
You probably wrote something about Harry Potter falling in love with Draco Malfoy, Legolas starting a secret romance with Aragorn or Obi Wan being a sex sklave of Han Solo. If not, you probably still consider to do it.
In no special order :
( Read more... )
Or so the News would have you think.
It's just started to snow here in the 'stead. Wish me luck.
.
'30 DAYS OF YOU'
Day 01 → Your favorite song
Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Again the month has only just started but I can talk about stuff I have planned. Nothing much for this weekend. Will likely spend the time writing and may brave watching Twilight for the lulz.
Next weekend will hopefully be the Merlin meetup although I've only had one response so far. I hope the meetups aren't dying a death. That would make me sad.
The weekend after
flickums is coming to visit and we've got a huge SPN marathon session planned where we watch all of our favourite episodes from all five seasons. We pooled our ideas and we now have a list in chronological order (because I am a geek like that)
( Teh list )
And at the end of the month I'm going up to Newcastle to visit Dave. I imagine we'll be going to see The Road at the cinema as he's been banging on about it for ages. I will also be introducing him to the joys of Leverage.
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Seeing any art recs have been a wee bit thin on the ground so far I thought I'd post something. So in no particular order 5 artworks that caught my eye on DeviantArt...( Read more... )