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 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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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)

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.)

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.

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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Yesterday ended up being a good day.

First I found my Dalek 10 colour pen! It had got itself in the gap between the seat and the back of the driver's seat. Which explains why the seat was so uncomfortable all of a sudden. But doesn't explain how it got on the seat at all - I last saw it on the passenger seat. It must have jumped. But at least I have it back now.

Red ebook readers don't seem to be available online for love nor money. So I went to PCWorld on the basis they have one on display. And they don't have any in stock anywhere in the area. So I have ended up buying a silver one and a red cover. They should be here by the weekend, so I can play with it.

I have this morning off, which is very nice because I've had the chance to do a few things. Especially because I woke up at 7.30am...

I also posted a couple of Ian/Barbara fics this week. The Right Track I had the idea for at Christmas and wrote while I was avoiding writing any of my Big Bang fic. And then I wrote The Dalek Invasion of Johnny’s Wardrobe while I was still avoiding writing any of my Big Bang. They're both around 1000 words and utterly pointlessly fluffy, which has been a nice change to writing unending plot.

I got all nostalgic, going back to writing Stargate/Atlantis and re-read everything at langford_u which is an American university AU. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time and I got all nostalgic about how much fun it was to read the fics and participate in that universe.

Reading through in order, I eventually came to the two I'd written. I was surprised to find they weren't as bad as I remembered. Which is either a good thing because it means I wasn't that bad five years ago. Or it's a bad thing because it means I haven't improved in five years.

But I did remember starting some other things. So I looked in my Stargate wip folder and found all sorts of things hiding in there. There's a langford_u fic that seems to be finished, so I'm trying to decide whether to polish it off (I reckon five years is probably enough to be my own beta) and post it, given that the last post on the comm was in 2007. But there are also some other little bits in there that might not take too much effort to finish off.

And there are half-started fics that I do have plot notes for that I could finish if I tried. And one file called "atlantis mckay". When I opened it I found it contained a few paragraphs of a fic starring Rodney McKay. I just have no idea where I was going with it...

That was just the Stargate folder I looked through. I might brave the other wip folders this weekend to see what gems are in there...

I have been good this weekend and got some writing done - namely my story for lotr_community, which was due in today. There was only two weeks to write it and I spent the first week writing fandom_stocking fics, and then second week working. But now it is done. The stories won't get revealed until tonight (or it might be tomorrow night, now I come to think of it) so I can't post it until then.

But I have posted a Jack & Elizabeth (Stargate Atlantis) fic: The Blue Devil. I wrote the first draft of it in December 2009. Then was too busy to write more for a few months, but managed to finish it off. Then tanaqui was too busy to beta it for a few months, but it was worth the wait. So then I somehow managed to come up with a title a couple of weeks ago. Now I've got round to posting it. Although I can't for the life of me work out why/how I came up with that title. Oh, well.

Now I need to finish some other stuff I've started. I decided, in order to help me finish stuff to join fanbingo. There's no deadline on it, but my challenge to myself is to fill it this year. My card looks like this.

I'm also quite tempted by Big Bangs. There's an LOTR Big Bang starting this year at lotrgficbigbang and I do have a story starring Arathorn and Gilraen that I started a long time ago and pretty much needs starting again. It might be long enough, but I think I need more time to get back into that way of writing. So maybe next year.

There's also the tardis_bigbang. For the first week of picowrimo I wrote about 1000 words a day of a DW story. It needs a lot of re-writing and I'm not halfway through, so I could finish that. Except that the TARDIS Big Bang doesn't give enough time for writing, so I would have to start now probably.

And looking at this Jack & Elizabeth story again reminded me that I have a plot written down starring the two of them that would be a crossover between all three Stargate series and could well be long enough for a Big Bang. The scifibigbang is for Science Fiction and Fantasy, so all three of my ideas could be eligible for that. And based on last year's dates, it could be enough time for me to write something.

Decisions, decisions....

I have now posted all my fandom stocking fics. I may or may not get round to posting them elsewhere as well, so for the moment they are on my fanfic LJ.

They are:

Doctor Who:
A New Life for livii
Martha tries out adoptive motherhood. Starring Harry and Martha

Five Minutes Ago for dbskyler
After Terror of the Zygons Sarah is keen to get back to London. Starring Sarah and the Fourth Doctor

UNIT Christmas Party and Zombies for carawj
This year's UNIT Christmas party will be one to remember. Starring Sarah and Jo

The Importance of Being Female for silly_cleo
The Doctor is no match for the combined force of Jo and Amy. Starring Jo and Amy.

Thames Octopus for rivendellrose
Harry has a story. Starring Sarah and Harry.

Too Many Concert Goers for jjpor
The Doctor and Ace go to a concert. Double drabble starring the Seventh Doctor and Ace.

Friends and Romans for clocketpatch
Ian and Rory have a roman sword fight. A drabble and a half pair starring Ian & Barbara and Rory & Amy,

Explanations and Underestimations for infiniteviking
Jo helps the Doctor in the lab. A drabble starring the Third Doctor and Jo.

Life in the Olden Days for minerva_fan
Barbara gives Ian a history lesson on relationships. Double drabble starring Ian and Barbara.

The Wrong Way for curuchamion
Harry meets some interesting-looking aliens. Drabble starring the Fourth Doctor, Sarah and Harry.

Sarah Jane Adventures
Buried Alive for shinyjenni
Sarah Jane and Jo in a coffin. Drabble starring Sarah and Jo. Spoilers for Death of the Doctor.

Letting Go for tigerkat24
Sarah Jane has to learn to let Luke go. A drabble starring Sarah and Luke. Spoilers for The Nightmare Man.

Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures
Smurfs for cosmic_llin
Sarah Jane has a problem, the Seventh Doctor has a solution. Starring Sarah and Ace

Stargate/Doctor Who
Humans for eponymous_rose
Teal'c and the Doctor find they have something in common. Starring Teal'c and the Eleventh Doctor.

Quantum Leap/Doctor Who
New Worlds for azarsuete
Sam leaps into Harry Sullivan. Starring Sam, Al and the Fourth Doctor.

Since Yuletide has half been revealed and fandom stockings don't get revealed for a few more days, they'll count as 2011's stories and I'll do the meme for 2010. Which I keep wanting to call this year. And since eponymous_rose has slightly different questions from the ones I did last year, I'll steal hers.
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I've been home for a few days to see the cat, who is crazy. And very naughty. I get a few things done, then have to stop to play with the cat. He particularly likes paper. He takes it off to play with - no idea why but it keeps him happy. He also likes having a ping pong ball thrown up the stairs for him to chase. Or often for me to chase because he's just sat there and watched it. There are photos of him, some of them are new.

I have managed to change my blog about a bit to get rid of some of the crap I had down the sidebars, and only have one sidebar, so it doesn't look so cramped and busy any more. And discovered while I was doing it that my tag cloud didn't display. It does now. And I did my Remix reviews for Sel's website, which would have been so much easier if I'd done them at the time and not had to re-read them...

Writing-wise I have looked a bit prolific lately. Partly because I actually got off my arse and wrote stuff this month. I managed to write something for lotr_community: The Ghosts of Men about the Dead Men. I got my fic in for intoabar early: The Magic Ring where Maria Jackson unexpectedly finds herself in Rivendell. And I wrote an episode tag for SJA: Death of the Doctor by starting it before the episode was broadcast: The Importance of Family starring Jo.

For November there's picowrimo which is a mini Nanowrimo where you set your own goals. I haven't had the energy to do it the past few years, but this year I am going to finish my Four, Sarah and Harry end up in present day UNIT fic that I started a long time ago. I thought that after that I'd done every combination of Sarah and Harry fic, until I thought of two more I could write. So it seems not. And then there'll also be Yuletide, of course, but by the time the assignments have gone out and I've done some research it'll be late November by the time I start writing that.

Back at the end of May I signed up for a challenge to write 100 drabbles by early September (I forget the exact date). And I intended to write them all about Harry Sullivan, not knowing if that was possible.

And it turns out it is. I've written 100, 99 of which from his point of view. You can see them all using this tag. If you look at the tags at the end of each post that'll tell you who is in the drabbles in that post and when they're set. I started off posting them in sets with similar times and characters, but by the end I was mopping up a bit.

On the whole I quite enjoyed it. There were still some ideas I had to do that I had left over. It was good to get into the mindset and write 5-10 a day. But it's a hard way of writing 10,000 words!

My drabbling's going well. The trouble is I keep wanting to get to milestones, so I wrote seven today to get to a third of the way through, although I stopped one short. I think I am all drabbled out for the day.

I've posted twenty of them. Since I've been writing Harry stuff for ages I've got some fanon to fit into the gaps, so I wrote a character guide to explain who my OCs are.

1-5, set during Harry's childhood and featuring Will Sullivan

6-10, set during Harry's childhood, with just him in

11-15, set after Harry leaves the TARDIS and featuring Sarah Jane Smith

16-20, set in the present, and generally about the OC Harry marries when he moves to Geneva to work at UNIT Medical

I have finished my month of drabbles a day! I really did write one a day and not get ahead at any point. The month suddenly feels like it's gone really quickly. Although I had a few days where it was a struggle to find the time to write or I couldn't think of what to write, I did manage it. And never felt the need to make any of them a double drabble either - they nearly all came in at roughly the right length. They're all on my website under the drabble a day tag. I also wrote every single prompt I was given.

I also wrote for Remix - although that I finished in April. I wrote Of Memory (The Poker Face Remix). Since I quite wanted to write Stargate I was happy to get someone who wrote Stargate. So that worked out well for me.

You might well ask what's next. Well, apart from the unfinished fics I have sitting around that I will finish one day... Now I'm going to write 100 drabbles between today and 6th September (which is 99 days, incidentally). I didn't mean to, it just came up in one of the comms I'm in. The plan at the moment is to write all of these centring around Harry Sullivan. We'll see how well that goes, but the comm has only given me 75 prompts, so I'd love some more to fill the remaining 25.

The last drabbles I have written are:

24th May
LOTR
Holding Knowledge
Elrond observes a discussion between Elladan and Elrohir.

25th May
Quantum Leap
Leaper's Fatigue
It’s the end of a leap and Sam’s tired.

26th May
LOTR
Homely House
All the Elves in Rivendell have their duties, Celebrían especially.

27th May
Torchwood
Cure for Claustrophobia
Jack finds out a secret of Ianto’s

28th May
Doctor Who
Give and Take
Amy and Rory are trapped and need the Doctor’s help.

29th May
Doctor Who
No Explanation
This time Sarah doesn’t need answers.

30th May
Ashes to Ashes
Waking Up
Gene has work to do.
Spoilers for series 3, episode 8. If you haven’t seen it, don’t even think about reading this.

31st May
Doctor Who
The Importance of Being in Love
Sarah and Harry and a discussion about love

Cure for Claustrophobia came out at 161 words and I had to beat it down. Since I had to delete so many words, here's the extended version: Read more...