I have finally got round to uploading all my fandom stocking fics.
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I only wrote one Yuletide fic this year and it was:

The Three Sisters (2316 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters: Mary Crawley, Edith Crawley, Sybil Crawley
Summary: Once upon a time there were three sisters and they loved each other very much.

I saw Downton Abbey on the list of fandoms and thought I could probably write that if I tried. It turned out I could. My recipient asked for anything with Mary in and then gave a list of ideas. Given that I have a younger sister, I thought I knew something about what it might be like to have two. Hence why the story ended up featuring all three sisters. But also, Sybil was my favourite character, however, as I re-watched the relevant bits of Downton Abbey (and discovered it was much improved without the Bates and Bates/Anna stuff), that Mary was a lot more interesting than I thought. She might now be my favourite character.

I have managed to read all the fandoms I know in the Yuletide archive before the reveal. I was going to do a recs post but I realised that although I was bookmarking things on A03 to start with, I haven't for a while, so I can't remember what I thought was good any more. Also, the Yuletide comm has so many recs posts, it's just got boring now (and it's not helped that someone's set the RSS feed to just show the first line, so half the posts I have to open just to find out that either the recs are in a different post, or I don't know the fandoms).

So instead, since I've been saving them for this, I'll talk about the fics I got:

everywhere you're leaving something (4308 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Spooks
Characters: Erin Watts, Dimitri Levendis, Beth Bailey, Tariq Masood
Summary: Erin comes to terms with the workings of Section D.

This is a great story about Erin joining the team and getting to know Dimitri. It's just the story I wanted about the time between series 9 & 10.

Star Wars on Bannerman Road (772 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures
Characters: Luke Smith, Sky Smith, Rani Chandra, Clyde Langer
Summary: Luke is home for the holidays, so it's time to work on Sky's pop culture education.

A bonus Madness story! It has lovely friendship stuff between all four and sibling stuff between Luke and Sky.

I am rubbish about saying why I liked these things, but I did. The best bit is I put both these fandoms on my list because they just had their last ever episodes this autumn and I got fic for them both!

(And why does A03's share button create some lovely html, then randomly put paragraph tags around the summary so it appears two lines below the bit that says 'Summary:'?)

I was having withdrawal symptoms not playing with blogging sites, so I have created a fanfic blog over at Dreamwidth at pa_fic.

All of my fanfic is on my website at http://www.paranoidangel.me.uk/fanfic/. There you can get an RSS feed of the whole thing, or just fandoms and there's a link in the sidebar that tells you how to search multiple tags and/or fandoms.

Everything I've written since March 2009 is also crossposted to LJ at pa_fic. Now pa_fic will have everything from 2012. I haven't copied over the old stuff to LJ and DW because the crossposting plugin won't do that with old entries to communities. And the version on my website gives better options for finding things.

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I have finished my Yuletide fic. And uploaded it. After I had it opened and the form filled in for ages while I tried to think up a summary (the title on the other hand came quite easily). I usually try to get it finished early, but I don't generally manage quite this early. The difference this year is that work hasn't been so busy for so long and I haven't had Rotaract. Usually I'd be dealing with our stall at the Christmas fair at the start of December, Cheese & Wine in January, various Christmas dinners and all the usual Rotaract stuff. It's actually been a quiet time of year, which makes a nice change.

Next I have six fandom_stockings to write. And I've signed up to write a 2000-5000 word Five Things fic for fivetimesbb. That's 400 words a thing it can't be too hard, can it? (famous last words). The current working summary for it is Five songs Johnny Chess wrote based on the stories his parents told him of their adventures with the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Along the same lines, but not involving actual writing, I am reccing for calufrax the first week in January. I know there were fics I wanted to rec last time but had to narrow it down. If only I'd written them down...

Of course, there's still Yuletide Treats. I haven't decided if I'm going to write any of those yet.

For those of us who can't grow moustaches or write 50,000 words, November is picowrimo. Given that last year I managed a week and then work took over my goal this year was:

I might try and finish off some half-finished fics sitting around on my hard drive.

As November started I had a fic I wanted to write for the End of SJA ficathon that would fill in two squares on my fanbingo card. I not only started it, but also finished it. Mind you, it helped to have a deadline and since I was running the ficathon and had already extended the deadline, I didn't feel that I could miss it. The House That Clyde Built is a story written in emails. Which turns out to be harder than it looks, especially considering that it's all dialogue and that's the easiest bit to write.

Then there was a langford_u (Stargate AU) fic I started in 2006 when the comm was still active. I came across it in March and had a look at it. I was determined to get it finished and I did. I discovered, when I got it American picked, that my American has improved a lot since then (it also helps to tell OpenOffice what language you're writing in...). The fic is Just a Game.

After that I realised I didn't have much time before Yuletide assignments went out. I chickened out of anything longer and found a short Stargate Atlantis fic lying around. Since I wrote that in 2006 I can't tell if there was supposed to be more of it, but it looked pretty done. So I edited it down to a double drabble (since it was never going to make 300 words). It's a Weir/Caldwell fic: Just Chess.

Then Yuletide assignments came out, so the rest of pico was spent on that. I can't talk about it, but I have the first draft done. Or at least it's done in the sense that I need to stop endlessly tinkering with it and get it to a second draft so I can read it without getting bored and work out what else needs adding or taking out.

So that was a pretty successful pico. This month I am writing my Yuletide assignment. I am only allowing myself to think about Treats and fandom_stocking fics once my assignment is at least in beta.

(And having used the lj comm code I modified from an existing plugin for the first time, I have realised I need to modify it again now that LJ has changed the way comm addresses work)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing a story for me. The optional details are optional. I've just tried to give you some ideas of what I might like to see, but if none of them are your thing feel free to disregard them. I am sure I will love anything you write with the character(s) I've requested. Feel free to us any other characters you'd like - there are none that I dislike in any of these fandoms.

What I like:
- Stories that explore the relationships between characters
- Stories that explore characters
- Scenes/fic that is like it could be (part of) an episode

What I dislike:
- Sex scenes, so nothing over PG-13 please
- British people using Americanisms and American people using Briticisms
- Relationships other than those in canon (and the exceptions noted in my optional details) - but you can never go wrong with gen

I know there are two Sarah Jane-related fandoms on this list. Don't think that I'd like one of those more than the other two - I want each of these requests equally.

Below are my prompts: Read more...

Last week was ridiculously busy at work, so I was looking forward to a weekend with nothing planned, getting on with a few jobs. Sadly my immune system had other ideas and I had a sore throat and a cold instead. Although I did sleep for twelve hours on Saturday night, which made me feel so much less tired.

So I spent the week feeling rubbish and improved towards the end of the week. Which is the opposite of how I usually feel when a week goes by.

This weekend I spent getting the jobs done that I should have been doing last week. Oh, and spending the whole of this morning fixing my computer. Theoretically it was an easy fix, if only my Ubuntu installation pen drive. But I have now added to my list of Linux distros I've used with Puppy Linux. Which looks like the Windows sort of environment with Linux icons. And barks when it starts up, which frightened the life out of me because I wasn't expecting it.

I did finish a fic a couple of weeks ago and then didn't want to post at the same time as the other one, otherwise I'd look far more prolific than I really am. But I have now: John Chesterton: Time Lord (spoilers for When a Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler). When I first had the idea, at the end of the first half of the series, I was intending to write something serious. But by the time I came up with a plot it ended up being not terribly serious at all.

This week has felt so long. After not being very busy at work for months, this week I was suddenly really busy. I was definitely ready for it to be the weekend on Wednesday, after I'd worked late on Tuesday, then come home and did some more work. But I still made it to ballet on Wednesday, which did make me less tense.

The crazy part is that I can't quite believe it's gone from being hot enough to need the windows open all evening to being so cold the heating needs to be on in the space of a week. This time last week I was at home, trying to take photos of the cat (who really doesn't pose). But he did recognise me, even though I hadn't been home since Easter, which is good.

Before work got busy I finished off my girlsavesboyfic fic, and have now managed to get the time to post it: Winds of Time (When Ian is lost on a cold, empty planet, it's up to Barbara to save him.)

The End of SJA ficathon now has a prompt claiming post up. There are 89 prompts and so many that I so want to see written.

Since SJA is ending this autumn, it seemed only fitting that it ends with a ficathon. So I am running the End of SJA ficathon because I haven't run a ficathon for two years, so it must be about time

This is a prompt-based ficathon, so no matching up for me and not writing for someone else for anyone. Or any penalties at all. You can leave prompts for the next two weeks, then write something by the end of October. Easy!

A year ago I discovered lotr_community when I wanted to get back into writing LOTR again and needed a challenge. So I wrote a few things and then it all went to pot in the autumn when my Sci-Fi Big Bang fic took over. It didn't help that I was determined to write different things. I've gone back to it this month and told myself that if I want to write fluffy and/or angsty Elrond fic I can. So I have. It's not finished yet and it's not due yet, but I have 800 words of Elrond and Arwen fluff and I don't care if no one reads it. I actually wrote something, which is a start.

Mind you, I've also signed up for girlsavesboyfic, the premise of which is that you write anything you like where the girl saves the boy and/or the world. The idea being that that's unusual. Except all the girls I could immediately think of writing have done that in canon... And then I remembered I signed up for fanbingo and I have some squares that I will never fill unless I specifically write something to fill them. And now I have a vague plot idea and a main character definitely in mind.

And at the end of the week (ish) I am going to be running an SJA ficathon. So I think that'll all keep me going until Yuletide...

Yay for it being a three day weekend. Although that meant today was manic at work as we all tried to get stuff launched before the weekend. I am looking forward to three days off and watching Reading. Although it clashes with Doctor Who, so I'll have to tape them both.

Yesterday I managed to post my femgenficathon fic: Stuck With You, featuring Jo Jones née Grant.

I've been watching Downton Abbey too. I kept meaning to watch it, being as so many people talked about it, and then I heard there would be a second series in the autumn, so I thought I ought to get on with it. I was expecting it to be the usual serious period drama, but it's actually quite ridiculous and I am liking it.

This week I have been acting as if I'm not ill. So now I am regretting it. There went my weekend of actually getting things done.

But on Tuesday I went to see Harry Potter. It was good and I was very glad I hadn't read the book since it came out because I remembered quite a bit of it. Although it was quite surreal watching it, having played Lego Harry Potter. I kept recognising bits of Hogwarts.

Today I posted my Sci-Fi Big Bang story: The Atlantis Sacrifice, which turned into a massive pain in the arse. First I discovered that the plugin I have that automatically posts links between all parts of your fic broke a few WP versions ago. There are alternatives, but they just create new taxonomies, and I can do that myself.

Then uploading multiple chapters to A03 was really hard. I didn't look at the help because I expected it to be obvious. I ended up with chapters in the wrong order and some of them repeated. And I thought it was all draft, but it wasn't.

And then LJ decided not to let me read the comm. It still isn't, but I can still open individual posts and the RSS feed is definitely updating, so I don't know what its problem is.

The word count on this Big Bang was 25,000, but I only managed 24,100. It took enough effort to add in the last 3000, I wasn't going to manage another 900. And annoyingly, it's still not the longest thing I've ever written. The last Big Bang I did had a word count of 20,000 and I wrote 26,000.

But now it's all finished and posted and I really have no excuse to not start of my femgenficathon fic.

Blogging hasn't been top of my list of things to recently due to lack of time and energy.

A couple of weeks ago we moved offices, so it now takes longer to get there and back. But I have been exploring different routes and discovered they all take the same amount of time. Although there's one I don't really want to do in the winter because it's narrow and has no streetlights - the main road doesn't have streetlights either, but at least it's the main road.

So then I overdid it with work and extra driving and randomly waking up at 5.30am for no reason. I was so tired a couple of weeks ago I slept during the day. And then slept for twelve hours, which would have been better if I hadn't then woken up dizzy.

So then I spent a week being dizzy. Which was just what I wanted when I was already feeling behind.

I went to see a ballet choreographed by my former teacher. Which I actually enjoyed (the only other time I went to the ballet I found watching the orchestra far more interesting than watching the dancing). It was interesting to see them perform movements we've learnt, but I got to see how they're supposed to look.

I did manage to see a house that I liked and now I am moving into it! I had a list of all the things to look at (so I know, for example, that the bathroom mirror is too high for me to see in, but at least isn't over the sink, so won't involve me standing on one foot and leaning over the sink to see in it), but I mostly just liked it. I am moving mid-August. I need to sort out some men with a van to pay to move my furniture, but any help anyone can offer would be appreciated as it's not likely to do my dizziness any help for a start... If anyone is curious I can message/email them the estate agent's listing.

I also signed up for femgenficathon, which is due around the time I'm moving. And 100 drabbles of summer, which is due a couple of weeks later. Neither of them have any penalties for defaulting, so we'll see. The main trouble I'm having with femgenficathon is which female character to write, there are so many to choose from...

I am on the last edit of my Big Bang. I will be done before Wimbledon.

Tennis! As great as it was to see some of the French Open I could have done without the camera work. Any time the players weren't playing a point the shot would change to the spectators and then move along and zoom in on a player and wave about and zoom in and out. I swapped to the radio commentary at one point because it was making me dizzy. I did hear the commentator remark that Federer looked calm after losing the first point in the tie-break. Which of course is nothing like how he usually is... I've seen a bit of Queens so far and I'm much preferring the camera work. And looking forward to going to the final on Sunday. Fingers crossed for nice weather (or at least no rain).

Happy birthday lost_spook.

I intended to write you some sort of short ficlet and I originally thought it should involve Lynda and Harry Sullivan. And then I thought Kenny and Harry would be better. So I wrote a couple of sentences and it turned out not to be like that at all. And then having got it down to a drabble, it needed another one to go with it. But they do star Kenny.

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I have finished the second draft of my Big Bang fic! I read it through and only have one plot hole now, and that should be easily fixed by adding a few lines. I have to get the word count up by 4500 words, but since it felt rushed and there are still a lot of words and sentences that need changing, that shouldn't be a problem. I just have five and a half weeks to get it done and into beta before Wimbledon. Which ought to be do-able, I'm just going to take a break to get it out of my head a bit and while I write something for inmemoryofsjs.

Ballet was cancelled for the second time this term (and it's only week 3). The arts centre just give the impression of people who don't know what they're doing. I get the impression that they moved it from Thursday to Wednesday just because, which then meant the last two terms' teacher could no longer make it, rather than the other way round. I just want to go over there and organise them. Or tell them what I think about that, but I won't manage to do it politely, so I won't. But I was really enjoying ballet and it was helping, so I'm hating not going.

Although tonight I got some Rotaract stuff done. It's just starting to feel like a long drawn out death at the moment. I used to come away from Rotaract meetings feeling all excited about Rotaract and now I come away feeling depressed. It makes it really hard to do the jobs I need to do for it because I don't want to. Partly because they're the usual things to keep it running that seem pointless when it's closing, but aren't because they still need to happen for the next month and a half. Or they're things to close the club and I don't want to.

Now that the remix authors have been revealed, I can reveal that I wrote Feels Like Home (The Green Planet Remix), which is a Stargate Atlantis Five Things fic.

Every year I want to do something different for remix. This year I expanded something short (the original author called it a drabble). And I discovered writing early Rodney, when he hates everyone, is fun.

Today I posted my Remix fic. Which took ages - I can never get the A03 form right. But at least the archive was fast for once. But I did do it this morning, which probably helps. All I have to do now is wait for it to go live and the archive to go slow.

I am working on the rewrite/first edit of my Big Bang story. The rewrite and first edit are usually separate things, but I'm doing them in one go. The week before last I resented it a bit because I was trying to do a scene a night and it was taking up all of my evening that wasn't spent lying down (I can type while lying down, but it makes my back hurt). This week's been a bit better, partly because I've been staying up later to see if that'll make me sleep later, but also because I spent half the week to tired to do any writing.

But I have 24 scenes in this version and I have done 14 of them. So I am over halfway through. It's looking like it's going to be 20,000 words, if each scene that I'm keeping comes out a third as long as the first draft. So then I'll just need to find 5000 more words in the next couple of edits. I have two months until Wimbledon, when it'll need to be done, so at the moment it's looking doable, fingers crossed.

And since I posted a snippet at the Sci-Fi Big Bang comm, I will post it here too. Read more...