wiseheart: (Mycroft_drink)
wiseheart ([personal profile] wiseheart) wrote2014-10-01 10:28 pm
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So, it is party time again, folks!

Each year this time, we launch my virtual birthday party, which starts on October 1 and ends on October 9 at midnight, sharp. The goals of the party are to post as many comments and collapse as many threads as possible, on as many new pages as we can. It is always great fun, as you can see if you check out the similar entries of the last few years.

This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.

Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)

So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!

Soledad, in excited expectation


IMG_2675

Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.

Enjoy!

[identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
This one is for the fanfic (or original) writers among us: are you currently working on anything?

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I've mostly been stuck recently, but been trying to get back into working on my various ongoing projects:
  • Firiel - I've been trying to split this into separate stories to try and make myself finish a bit

  • Project currently called Firiel's heirs, which is AU from the main story line where she has more children in Gondor after the fall of Athedain, and Denethor discovers their descendants while trying to work out who Thorongil is.

  • Swallows and Amazons/Narnia crossover featuring Lucy and Bridget ending up at the same school and talking, not realising that the other's adventures are different for a long time, and bonding over being treated like their official age.

The think the rest of everything is very stuck at the moment, of course, whether I make any progress depends on what my Yuletide assignment ends up as.

[identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm in a unique situation - never before have I worked singularly on one story for such a long time. That one would be Kansas 2 - The Yellow Brick Road.

Yes, I am updating Adventures weekly, but those are all pre-written chapters that have been waiting for their turn in FF.Net's Document Manager for a long time. And Prophecy Change is practically a repost of Flarn Manages, the Minbari Sue I was writing with [livejournal.com profile] eye_of_a_cat - all I'm doing is removing the gratutious Minbari phrases and chunks of purple prose.

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Impressive to be ahead in things! Hopefully it keeps on flowing nicely for you.

[identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
God, I hope so! Kansas 2 is supposed to last 54 chapters, and I've just finished Ch 14!
sammydragoncat: (Default)

[personal profile] sammydragoncat 2014-10-09 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Still even if some of it has been pre-written - that is an impressive amount of work.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
So you have a Denethor & Thorongil story! [Is intrigued]

Are you planning to participate in the Autumn (in the northern hemisphere) Pico this year? I seem to recall you were working on Firiel ?last year.

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
There is very little of it so far, it keeps getting stuck.

It depends on how the Yuletide work is looking by that point - hopefully assignments and the first rush of questions will be over by then, and everything settling down (plus sharing out more work to volunteers). I've started Autumn Pico several times, but not done so well on finishing. I'd like to participant as it has been very good in getting me making progress on things in the past.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Delegate, delegate, delegate!

I'm not sure how many times I've finished (if at all) -- I tend to get distracted, either by lack of progress in writing or RL events.

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Delegate, delegate, delegate!
Yes - trying to work towards it being far more of a general team effort, and working out which bits really need to be done by mods (which I suspect is very much a minority of the work, but lots of the decisions), and how it can be spread out without causing problems and stress.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Good idea! I'm so hopeful that YT will continue for years without causing another generation of mods to burn out. It really is by far the best part of Christmas for me, and has been for years (not that that is saying much, given some of the past events).

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
*nods* Part of the planning is to have it so that it can be handed on in a other people (when either hh or I or both of us decide to stop modding) in a controlled and documented way, as it would be very sad to see it die. It would be good for it not to be so stressful, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to control it - but it is the plan.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds very sensible. It's a pity so much of AO3 makes the task harder, but at least you don't have to create the AO3 infrastructure from scratch. The admin side of the Mithrils was so painful that I don't think I'd ever volunteer to do anything remotely similar again.

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 10:29 am (UTC)(link)
*nods* At least AO3 is mostly stable or quickly fixed when it goes down - I remember the old site and signups not going through due to load, and having to be done again from scratch (and no editing them, just replacing). I think there are definite improvements - just a pity that some of the rest of the problems can't be solved.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
The year the old site got hacked & everyone had to reload their stories was a memorable one.

I hadn't realised that the mods couldn't see the nominators -- I did wonder why the series of LJ queries when it seemed quicker to e-mail!

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes - it would be much simpler that way! It is rather sad when people don't reply to queries, especially as we do try to get everyone to follow the lj/dw announcements; but every year it seems that people don't.

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I think so many people have migrated from LJ that they simply don't log in more than once in a blue moon to see announcements. I noticed some people on Tumblr complaining that that hadn't been updated recently -- I didn't even realise Yuletide had an official Tumblr.

[identity profile] solanpolarn.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I am writing lecture notes, but I don't think that quite counts...

[identity profile] solanpolarn.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought you might be asking about fiction, and my lecture notes aren't supposed to be that!

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I was hoping to make more progress on my Earthsea novel Jade Dragon, but the only thing I managed to do was to relocate some of my paper notes after the builders made my bedroom into a waste ground. After the [expletive deleted] Windows XP computer debacle, I still don't have a computer connected to both the internet & my printer, nor any likelihood of one in future. Though we have purchased an uninterruptable power supply to stop lightning storms from deleting my files while I'm working on them remotely.

Given how busy I am between now and the end of the year, I probably need to restrict my energies to Yuletide, and even that is beginning to feel a bit goey, what with the moving 'n all...

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Good luck getting the notes and files sorted out!

[identity profile] espresso-addict.livejournal.com 2014-10-08 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I really must work out a way of writing that works with the new Windows 7 laptop that won't allow me to print. I suspect half-moving to Scotland in the next few months isn't going to make life any simpler on that front!

[identity profile] lhun-dweller.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
I'm still playing with "Awful Mary Sue" in my head. I should dig out the Litmus Test and see what I still need to cover. I'm afraid this inconvenient business of finding a new job cuts into my free time. However, my thyroid problem seems to be settling down (radioactive iodine: just say yes, please!), so I'm sleeping through the night again and, in turn, getting my brain back. I was afraid the fuzzy thinking and bad memory was going to be my permanent, post-menopause condition, but things are improving as the blood test numbers improve, so here's hoping....

[identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com 2014-10-09 10:30 am (UTC)(link)
Good to hear things are improving for you! It would be fun to see more of the story.