in my life

Hello! One million years later, insert obligatory moaning about how I never update anymore and how much I miss it and how much fandom has changed et cetera, I have been STRUGGLING with writing this damn Our Flag Means Death fic because writing! Is hard! And I truly worship all of you who manage to do it, so often, so consistently, so well, you are all gods.

Because I'm trying to write a Passover fic (/o\) and I am already waaaay past my self-imposed deadline of the seder (//o\\), I have come here to complain about writing and also self-motivate by linking to recently-posted fics, "recently" meaning "within the past 2 years" apparently because that's just how out of touch I've been.

A bit of atmosphere: it is a beautiful spring day. I've taken a day off from work. I have a bouquet of tulips and another bouquet of other flowers which I bought for the holiday, and they are blooming and gorgeous. The window is open, and as happens in this season, many flies have come to visit and are circling in the air, currently counting around 20, and I have no earthly idea how I will get them out. They are extremely annoying but I do feel better for sharing, so sorry for that.

Okay. Fics what I have posted! All written for exchanges because apparently that's the only thing that gets me to write.

In Sickness (3667 words, gen, Yuletide 2020)
Fandom: Society of Gentlemen - K. J. Charles
Relationships: Dom/Silas, Richard/Cyprian
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Illness, Injury (mild), but seriously a LOT of fluff
Summary: Silas learns it's okay to be taken care of . (Or: five times Silas or David find themselves sick or injured.)

Silver White Winters (2373 words, gen, Old Guard Fic Exchange 2021)
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Relationships: Joe/Nicky, team friendship
Additional Tags: Domestic Fluff, pure fluff, Vacation, The Team Deserves a Break, Skiing, Pre-Poly, Gen or Pre-Slash
Summary: Joe, Nicky, Nile and Andy spend the winter in Europe, which means one thing: ski trip.

Seems like we've been here before (4238 words, PG-13)
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Relationships: Joe/Nicky
Additional Tags: Road Trips, Time Travel, Pining, Huddling For Warmth, Identity Porn, (just a little), Holy Land Shenanigans
Summary: Where Nicky finds himself back in the 12th century, and tries his best not to fuck up the timeline.

vehigadta (and you shall tell) (3244 words, gen, Yuletide 2021)
Fandom: The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Characters: S. Morgenstern
Additional Tags: Meta, Non-Linear Narrative, POV First Person, Framing Story, Epistolary Elements, Jewish Character, framing story takes place in the time of covid
Summary: Assorted items from the writings and correspondences of S. Morgenstern, and how I came to find them.
(I feel like I should write a DVD commentary for this one, otherwise if I come back to it 20 years in the future I will have no idea what part of it is fact and what part of it is fiction)

Bethlehem (1300 words, gen, 3 stories for Purimgifts 2021)
Fandom: תנ"ך | Tanakh
Characters: David's sisters, David
Summary: Three scenes from the life of David's sister.

And for completecism:

Who Tells Your Story (2200 words, gen, Purimgifts 2019)
Fandom: תנ"ך | Tanakh, Generation Kill
Characters: Brad Colbert, Ray Person, Evan Wright, Yael, Barak
Additional Tags: Crossover, AU - Fusion
Summary: Meet the foot-soldiers of Bet Company - proud, hardened professionals who deal in that most specialized of Canaanite exports: conflict. The true story of iron chariots, milk, and a platoon at war on the Tavor.

Best to Take the Moment Present (2484 words, explicit, Yuletide 2017)
Fandom: Home Again (2017)
Relationships: Alice/George/Harry
Additional Tags: Fluff, Post-Movie, fumbling towards OT3, mostly a lot of flirting, Threesome - F/M/M
Summary:In the end, to no one’s bigger surprise than her own, it’s Austen who rolls his eyes behind the Saturday morning Times and says, “For god’s sake, Alice, just sleep with the kid, even I can’t take it anymore.”

On Location (1278 words, gen, Yuletide 2016)
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Relationships: Anthony Mackie/Sebastian Stan
Characters: Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland (Actor), Paul Rudd
Summary: Everyone has a Chris Evans problem at some point. It's practically a rite of passage.

...okay. Feeling mildly more accomplished to face the day. On we go.

I have been quite terrible at posting recently, and by recently I mean the past year, and pretty bad at fandom participation (but very, very good at fandom consumption - I still read all of the fic). BUT:

purimgifts stories are now live and revealed, and that, as much as it's not been my best year modding and I will have to have deeper thoughts about that soon, that is still something I'm proud of and makes me so happy to see. This year, 158 works were posted in 120 fandoms, all focused on female and/or Jewish characters (and/or characters persecuted by evil viziers!), and I haven't managed to browse through even a small percentage of them but the ones I've seen, and I'm sure the ones I haven't, are just perfect little gems of fics; this ficathon really does feel like a colorful basket of treats, whether you look at just the gifts you received or the collection as a whole.

And as we are aware I have not exactly been on a fic writing roll these past few years, BUT I have written fic! 3 ficlets for Shoshana-ben-hohim, to be exact:

Masquerade (or: Gary Bettman doesn't have bad ideas) (Hockey RPF, 580 words, gen)
Characters: Gary Bettman, Rahm Emanuel
Summary: "Which one of you morons decided it would be a good idea to sic twenty thousand masks of Jonathan Toews on my town?"

A Healthy Debate (or: bad ideas everywhere) (Hockey RPF, ~700 words, gen)
Characters: Gary Bettman, Bill Daly, Steve and Donald Fehr
Summary: Wherein Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr get into a really weird twitter war.

When You're Lost (Hockey RPF, 1000 words, gen)
Characters: Kelli Stack, Patrick Kane
Summary: Kelli's drunk enough to think that Patrick Kane looks hot tonight, which means she's probably drunker than she wants to be.

...because the world needed some cracky Bettman holiday fic, okay. Next stop: a Passover Hockey/Sports Night crossover. I'm telling you, guys, this year it might actually happen. I can feel it. (Don't trust me on that.)

Hello! Today is a terrible, horrible, no good day and I hate that that's the way I'm breaking a month-long, christ, silence but there it is. I haven't actually been away, I've been wanting to post pretty much every single day and just haven't been able to muster up the energy to do so.

State of the me: I am at work, I am not having a fun day, I am still deeply into hockey fandom, mostly reading fic and watching games and listening to podcasts and reading blogs. I want to say that I read everything on my flists, still, but that would be a lie, sometimes I skim :( It's been a busy few months :(

State of the state: we have a government! It is... not nearly as bad as it could have been. I am confused.

State of the world: We also have a pope! Who is a George Bluth lookalike, which is not awkward at all.

Okay. I basically wrote exactly 1 fic in 2012 (/o\), and just the 3 purimgifts ficlets in 2013, which makes me undeniably sad but I have recently begun having hockey plotbunnies and I hope hope hope to write more soon. In particular I have a Passover hockey plotbunny, so like, please someone hit me over the head if I don't write it thank you.

Until that happens, here's what I wrote for Yuletide and Purimgifts:

An Unexpected Visitor (Parks & Recreation/The West Wing)
Words: 1700 words
Rating: PG, gen, no warnings
Summary: Pod!Chris arrived in town on December 21st, 2012. (Written for krabapple for yuletide 2012.)

And for hagar_972 for purimgifts, three stories that take place in the same place, which had different names in different eras (my how clever am I):

1. Gate of the Valley (Bible)
Words: 765
Rating: PG, gen, no warnings
Characters: David, Abigail, Joab
Summary: At the Gate of the Valley, a royal carriage breaks down.

2. Neveh Ilan (NCIS/The Voice (Israel) RPF)
Words: 1000
Rating: PG, gen, no warnings
Characters: Ziva, Tony
Summary: Ziva meets an old friend during a visit (home).

3. Bab El-Wad (Israeli Defense Forces - Anthropomorphic)
Words: 990
Rating: PG, gen
Characters: ...anthropormorphic IDF corps er
Summary: The corps wait around.

...as you may have deduced, my recipient was Israeli, which allowed for a bit of fandom flexibility/limit stretching. At least it got me writing again! I am telling you. HOCKEY PASSOVER FIC, IT WILL HAPPEN. Very possibly as a crossover even, shocker shocker. *fingers crossed*

SO HI. This thing right here is back:


A multifandom ficlet/art exchange focusing on female or Jewish characters,
and also some evil viziers.
Sign ups end on the night of Feb 3rd.
Rules, FAQs, and sign ups here!

There is also a pimping post if you want to grab the code, and a brainstorming post if you want to brainstorm, or you can jump straight ahead to the sign up form at the AO3.

Sign-ups this year are super short (started today, end on Sunday the 3rd!) because I suck. Then there's a super short time frame to write (Feb 4th to 21st), also because I suck! And because Purim is super early this year, I guess I can blame the Jewish calendar a little bit. But mostly I've been too exhausted to, er, get things moving, and I feel bad and hope people have fun and participate anyway.

If you have never done Purimgifts and are curious but don't feel like reading the whole FAQ, please feel free to ask and I'll pimp it to you personally :D

Okay. Sleep now, and then another DAY (and I mean a day), and then there will be a weekend, wow do I need there to be a weekend. WEEKENDS FOR EVERYBODY.

A multifandom ficlet/art exchange focusing on female or Jewish characters,
and also some evil viziers.
Sign ups end Feb 8th.
Rules, FAQs, and sign ups here!

THAT'S RIGHT. There is an AO3 collection and everything! Sign up form is here!

Also I HAVE TO GET UP FOR MY FLIGHT IN HALF AN HOUR. Worst time management, worst, but okay. I have a stocked up Kindle for the flight (books! fic!), which I will try to ignore in favor of sleep. I've decided not to take my dSLR to London, which hurts my heart, oh my god, but it will be much more convenient to walk around without it, especially for the show. Still. My camera ;___;. If you happen to meet me in London and happen to have a dSLR you can lend me while we're together, that would be awesome lalala aaaaaaanyway I will go nap now.

\o/

(I have not signed up yet, but oh god things I want to recieve: The Good Wife! The Hunger Games (idk!)! BANDOM duh! Hmmmm what more what more I need to think.)

So I realized that I never crossposted my purimgifts stories to LJ/DW, and oh, god. I'm one of those people now. The ones who are all "oh yes I wrote this fic and totally forgot to post it here ha ha I am so nonchalant and carefree and don't care about comments and stuff". I DO CARE. I AM NOT ABOVE SELF-PIMPING MYSELF TO DEATH. I think I was just having a weird and super busy time around Purimgifts and kept wanting to make a special post or something and putting it off till I had time, and, well.

With THAT out of the way -- these were my Purimgifts ficlets, written for lferion, in the slightly belated manner to which all my purimgifts recipients throughout the years have become accustomed:

Three Reasons Adam Doesn't Let His Mom Book Them Shows Anymore

I. An Unexpected Venue (Adam Lambert/Narnia, G, 700 words)

II. Meleth Sôg (Adam Lambert/Lord of the Rings, G, 630 words)

III. Do You Know What You Got Into (Adam Lambert/Batman verse, PG, 740 words).

...summary in title :-)

*

Also -- and I apologize for taking so long to post about this -- reena_jenkins, who is a posfic master, has recorded my old House/X-Men crossover The Trouble With Mutants, and you can download it and leave her a comment here. It's an excellent recording and she has such a good acting voice, and I am honored and excited and utterly pleased. She really is awesome :D

Dear flisters/rlisters, in order to widen my pool of potential purimgifts pinch hitters since I fear I'm beginning to run out, do any of you want to be added to the list? It means you'll be notified whenever a new pinch hit comes out and you can claim it if you want.

Fulfilling a request requires writing 3 ficlets, each between 300 and 1000 words (but no more), about characters who are female or Jewish or persecuted by evil viziers, in whichever fandom you claimed; in addition, you gift your recipient with three images of any kind you wish. (Rules/FAQs are here, if you want to check them out.)

The deadline for new pinch hits is currently the 16th/17th. IF you want in on the list, leave me your email in the comments, which are even screened, just for fun.

Thanks ♥

I'm sorry, one last banner because I just made it:



So, okay. For those of you who don't know it, purimgifts is a fun little exchange that takes place around the Jewish holiday of Purim but is not religious in nature and anyone can play (please do!). It includes writing (and receiving):

*three little ficlets, each between 300-1000 words (which means that overall you will be writing 3000 words TOPS)
*three graphics, which can be photos or icons or art or any random pic you find on the internet.

And because Purim is kind of a women power story about how a woman saved everyone, fics should be focused on:

*characters who are Jewish and/or
*characters who are female and/or
*characters who are persecuted by evil viziers.

All in all, it is a pretty low-key low pressure gift exchange, and the more people I know and fandoms I like participate, the more I enjoy running it :-)

So like, LET'S SAY you wanted to sign up and write Bandom, eligible characters would be: *points to banner* Killjoys Mini-Ray, Lyn-Z, Greta, Vicky-T, all of The Like, Gabe Saporta, Joe Trohman, Alex Greenwald, Eric Ronick. And another music RPF person you could write is of course Adam Lambert :D

And like. To name a few randomly popular fandoms. You can write about Arthur from Inception or Tim Drake from DCU, both of whom have enough canon/fanon support to be considered Jewish. You could write about any of the girls from Glee or Grey's or Friday Night Lights (please!) or Merlin, or... dig into your current fandoms, I'm sure you can find someone you want to write 300 words about. All the Sorkin shows people, the Whedon shows people, the Brian Fullar people... you get the gist :-)

Rules and sign ups here. And that is all I will say about the matter.

Also! The sky was very pretty yesterday: ( single pic )

And now to watch FNL 5x11. Only two more eps to go ;__;

1AM again, and I am falling asleep. Again. There are too few hours a day, man, and I keep wanting to say more and more things and I don't know when that will happen. And also I have recs to post! I haven't even gone through half of the no_tags I want to read, and I have recs from there too, and -- okay fuck it, just so I don't forget:

This amazing Merlin fic by anon that sophinisba linked me to -- it's a fandom AU, where Arthur is a BNF and Merlin is his beta and they fall in love and it's amazing and funny and I was just smiling the whole way through :D It's a kinkmeme WIP but constantly updated and up to 25 parts so far, and really, so much fun :D

I've been waiting so long to be where I'm going by lalejandra - PaTD, Ryan/Spencer, four times they kissed and one time it turned into more -- one of my absolute favorite no_tags fics, which starts with a beautiful scene with them as teenagers but then progresses to show all the different stages of their relationship and the band until today, and it's just, every single thing I wanted to read about the two of them pre and post split written in the most gorgeous way possible. Awesome post-split fics are so, so satisfying. I loved this.

Five Times Spencer Smith Came Out -- Spencer/Brendon but mostly Spencer gen, five small scenes about coming out, aww ♥. Just a small, really nice fic.

...and also a ton of more no_tags fics to rec, so okay, hopefully I will remember at another time.

Now, a note some notes about current politics:

( No Thoughts, just thoughts; one of those times where this place really leans towards journal rather than blog. )

And now it's 4AM and I have somehow distracted myself into wakefulness and I will hate myself tomorrow.

Also, also. I really need to set up purimgifts by this weekend omg. I'm afraid I haven't given myself enough time to look at the AO3 sign up forms (the one time I tried my net connection died) and I fear changing the set-up and figuring out how AO3 sign ups would work would, in this timeframe, be more work than having sign ups on LJ and manual match ups.

Anyway, I am getting excited about it though. I really hope we'll get some Bandom fic this year (any Bandom people reading this, rest assured that I will find a way to pimp this exchange to you, it is short and sweet and you will LIKE IT), and IDK. Every year there are a few stories that make me the happiest person in the world, to know that in some way I helped enable their existence. So that is something to look forward to soon.