I'm tired, roll over.

[minxy]

Bullet point edition of my life as a dolphin:

- I raced almost non-stop (two water and half-a-cliffbar breaks) in a 20 mile 9-man race yesterday. It was actually a 9-woman race, which was awesome, and it was meant to be a race where, you know, you have *substitutes*, so that people can *rest*. 3 and a half hours later, I had a chance to rest. I kicked ass. So much fun. Beautiful conditions out on the ocean. Perfect for racing. I am so SORE and I love it. I've been stretching for hours and hours yesterday and today. It's luscious.

- My last few procrastinator children at gateverse_remix (yay for those who posted, yay!) keep promising me that their stories will be posted tomorrow. And then I check in with them a week later and no, really, their stories are almost done! I think they're trying to convince themselves as much as me. If they are still promising, still planning to post, I can't very well ask for back-up hitters, can I? Dangit, this modding thing was so easy up until this point.

- I signed up for apocalypse_kree The prompt is a gorgeous poem about culture shock and sharing a drink. I think I'm going to write a 10-minute AU of Children of the Gods, and I have no idea how a project that big is going to get finished in my lifetime. I suspect that surrealis will take very good care of my soul bit while I work, though. Endlessly. I blame Teal'c.

- Sometimes I miss my gazillion icons I had when I was a paid user. Sometimes I miss the editing feature when I say something really stupid. I'm not sure I'm willing to give LJ too much more money, though. Dreamwidth? Sure.

- I accidently spent the night with my Coworker Upon Whom I Am Inappropriately Crushing, but it was terribly innocent, unfortunately. I was wiped from the race and ended up falling asleep on the couch (pretty comfy couch, actually) under a pretty blue and white batik print cotton fabric. He was throwing a house-warming party and really wanted me to come even if I was late getting back from the race. I arrived at, oh, 10:30 or 11 (dear GOD,) tolerated already-drunk people, chatted quietly in a corner and watched a movie with the Boy after the other people left. Sadly, I think he gets too nervous to ever make a move, though there are all these almost-suggestions and nearly-expressed ideas. If he could risk just a little more to indicate what he *wants,* then maybe I could respond, but oh well. It's completely inappropriate anyway.

- I am out of money for the month and need to check to make sure I have money available for critical things like student loan payments. And yet, somehow I find myself on www.athleta.com sale page, filling a virtual cart with virtual articles of clothing that I would really, really enjoy having in my grubby little hands. For reals. Alas for a decent salary.

- I think I need to admit, probably entirely due to beta-ing and being a person off whom drafts are bounced, that I will read WIPs now, and apparently they don't break my brain. I suspect the idea that the author might not ever finish them is still making me wary of stories by people I don't know well, but it's probably time to come out about reading the darned things. *shakes fist at synecdochic, but not really*

- And I keep forgetting this one, but people! I WROTE A STORY. The story is here, and it's a most unusual Teal'c and Vala story. Most unusual. Not that stories about Teal'c's relationships with people are ever highly subscribed. I think a year or two ago, though, when Bra'tac crept into my brain, he left behind a tape recording on repeat that plays things like 'you've written about Teal'c, about his loves, about his family, now write about his *friendships.*' Bite me, Bra'tac, that's what I would say, if I weren't so fascinated by these little esoteric stories.

Without Fear of Wind or Vertigo. In contention for most surprising protagonist ever.



I think that's it? I'll get back to you if I forgot something.

ETA: and here it is. WHY HAS NO ONE CLAIMED A CAM/TEAL'C OR JACK/DANIEL PROMPT AT APOCALYPSE_KREE? It's only the end of the world, people. Go stake your claim on a bit of muse.

Comments

[synecdochic]

Don't think of it as "reading WIPs". Think of it as "providing valuable motivation and cheerleading to the author during her writing process". ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

I think of it as "getting really good stories written at me". *g*

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

If they are still promising, still planning to post, I can't very well ask for back-up hitters, can I? Dangit, this modding thing was so easy up until this point.

I ran into this exact thing on the first ficathon I ran, and it drove me crazy. I felt like if I passed the assignment on to a pinch-hitter I was essentially calling the late writers liars to their faces, and if I didn't, I felt like I was cheating people out of stories that, as the mod, I'd promised them they would have.

In subsequent ficathons, I made it a hard-and-fast rule, stated flat out at the beginning, that any story which still wasn't in after a one-week grace period would get passed on to a pinch-hitter, but added that anybody who wasn't finished by then was welcome and encouraged to keep on writing, because nobody is ever going to complain about getting two stories.

I think that rule may well have saved my sanity. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

If I do it again, I may institute that rule. I might, at this point, institute the rule now. It makes me sad to think about authors not getting stories.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I think that sounds like a great idea!

Question: do you think exchange ficathons work better than prompt athons, or is it six one way/half dozen the other with advantages and disadvantages?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Well, prompt challenges are undoubtedly a lot simpler, especially for the mod. No matchups to make, and if somebody fails to come through, it's not like they're leaving somebody in the lurch. And from a writer's point of view, the pressure is lower, and you're not running the risk of getting stuck with a scary assignment.

Personally, though, I usually find fic exchanges a lot more attractive and fun. I like the possibility of facing a real challenge, the satisfaction of creating a story for someone else, and the excitement of getting one written just for me. I even kind of like the pressure; it's motivational.

But you definitely shouldn't take me as representative of anything! This icon is called "ficathon whore" for a reason. :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

As one of those long-lost procrastinator children (have I said I'm sorry enough) I can vouch for, well, what you suspect being true. In that the whole time I had a draft that just wasn't quite working and real life kept pulling me away from writer-ly brainpower. But I has championed over it!

YAY for racing and apocalypses and time with Coworker of Inappropriate Crushing!

*tackle-hugs you*

(yay story!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

You are so awesome. I am surprised and overjoyed at the receiving of fic (and Teal'c fic too! TEAL'C FIC YAY.) I shall champion it myself in coming days. Thank you.

Yay story!

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Hopefully not too surprised! But yay for the joy and thank you so much for giving me an excuse to play with Teal'c and Jaffa society!

You are very welcome :)

*dances you around LJ*

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for the update and i will read your story sometime this week.

real life is eating my brain.

*clings*

i am very sad that i dare not enter the apocalypse challenge but i will be reading avidly. but i do have a bunch of my own bunnies i'm trying to get going on.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

*makes soothing noises*

Oh, that pesky real life stuff. I am ignoring it right this very moment to respond to comments while I drink my coffee.

I think that one can never have too much inspiration. I will use different quotes and prompts as inspiration for different sections of the same fic. Which is all to say: go check out the prompts and see if they move you on whatever you are working on. And if they move you to work on Jack/Daniel stuff? Well then, lucky us!

Don't let them get your brain, dear. It's alright if your hair gets nibbled on, but not your *brain*.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

*defends brain from all comers*

*clings*

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Yay race! Go you.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

*GRIN*

It is ridiculous how many endorphins were coursing through my bloodstream. I adore that sport.

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

Dangit, this modding thing was so easy up until this point.


Heh. Yeah, this is always the hard part. As someone who has both run ficathons and defaulted on ficathons, I say: get backups. A week is plenty leeway. If they do finish their stories then you'll have two fics which is even better than one. And the authors presumably know they're late, so truly they won't get mad.

(If they do? Send them here.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

I think I may have suggested that I would assign back up writers if stories were going to be more than X days late, but what got me was that everyone felt like they were almost ready, almost there! It's a tough call.

I'm down to three outstanding stories, though. I think it's time to call in the pinch hitters.

(and, thanks for the perspective.)

[siegeofangels.livejournal.com]

I always viewed remix challenges as a different animal than challenges that are more overtly gift exchanges like Yuletide. Remixes are all about the interaction for me--with remixes, I'm more interested in getting the chance to poke at someone else's story and seeing what my remixer does with my story and hearing what other people think about my take on Story X than I am in getting a gift that's tailored to my specifications.

And I've gotten a lot of that interaction already, so I'm not weeping into my cornflakes or stomping away from gateverse_remix because I didn't get a story yet. And I totally understand that sometimes real life is more important than writing a story where the Sesame Street Muppets go to Atlantis instead of the Muppet Show Muppets, and I understand that sometimes people have inexplicable writer's block.

So. You know. It's all good.

(And thank you for modding this whole thing--I can't imagine the time and mental effort that went into it.)