Thank you, so very much, to the anon(s) who gifted a whole bunch of my comms with glass heart v-gifts; also to ellia and sciencegeek, who gifted bloodclaim with the hearts; and to literati, tabaqui, and another, or possibly the same, anon who sent me beautiful glass heart v-gifts.

The last few months have been rough, and 2012 has not gone well so far, but your thoughtfulness and kindnesses had me crying my first happy tears of the year, so again I say ♥THANK♥YOU♥.

I hope you all had a good Half-Price Chocolate Day Eve. ;)

I hope you're all having/have had/will have a wonderful, festive, celebratory moment of your choice, even if your choice is not to have one at all. ;)

Yeesh. Nearly two months since I've posted anything. What a fun time that's been!

I signed up for ae_match, with oodles of enthusiasm and ideas for fic. I wrote the first chapter of an Inception/Harry Potter crossover (Eames is a Malfoy squib, dontcha know!), building on art by the amazing pearljamz, and then... came down with a month long bout of bronchitis that had me coughing up enough green goo to provide special effects for a remake of the Exorcist. Bleh.

Once I could breathe again, I mostly slept for two weeks, told everyone I was feeling much better and started work on chapter two... and then the bronchitis boomeranged back and wiped me out for a second time.

I still feel like I want to sleep for a month and eat nothing but Tesco Midget Gems - they were all that kept me going through both bouts, odd but true. I was constantly ravenous but too wiped to crawl to the kitchen. Mommie Dearest was delivering them in bulk.

Now, every time I think 'I'll write something!' or 'Oh, dear gods, I have so many emails to wade through in my inbox, I'd better get started on that right now...', I somehow end up at neopets (I KNOW!), or playing just one last game of freecell, or urgently needing to watch this movie or the entire season x of y show.

I want to write! I just...

I started this post two hours ago, got the title in place, and realised I hadn't opened tweetdeck in forever. 106 tweets later (and a dozen linked in webpages and images and hey, while I'm on channel 4's news website, I'll just see what's been happening in the world...) I actually started to type.

ae_match is officially over, but there's a grace period until the end of September and the fic is sitting in my brain waiting to come out (and the one where Arthur is the baby of a crime family full of much larger brothers, and the one where he and Eames (are) own(ed by) a Maine Coon called Mr Charles who hates Cobb), but... words fail me.

So, how you all doin'? :D

Ten days ago, I finally got all my ducks in a row, holiday okayed, finances healthy enough that I could decide, yes, I was going to writerconuk's meet in Coventry for the first weekend in August. Yay!

Seven days ago, I woke up with a tickle in my throat.

( Guess who's not going to Coventry, plus bitching about the mysogyny at the DCnUCollapse )

So, no fun fannish weekend. Which meant I suddenly had money to spare and a resentment of DC burning a hole in the pit of my stomach.

And then someone on my Twitterfeed (either @GailSimone or @dcwomenkicknass) linked to Womanthology, a startup large scale anthology comic showcasing the works of women in comics, and their fundraising page, Womanthology@Kickstarter, and an hour later I was pledging $70 to the cause.

( What I get for my money, along with the feelgood factor...Collapse )

While all this has been going on, I've been dipping my toe back into the waters of original writing, over at lj_scribe - a weekly prompt-based short-form writing comm with regular prizes of lj tokens.

My first entry, a haiku, was chosen for the final poll and seems likely to be a winner, and last week's prompt of "This will be our little secret", inspired a poem, "Little Man", that made my skin crawl as I was writing it, and has garnered some stunning comments. (If you click the link, please read the warning at the top of the post.)

( More about the comm, plus the latest dh fic news! :DCollapse )

*smooches you all through a prophylactic* (NOT LIKE THAT! So I don't infect you all with my lurgy, you dirty buggers!)

Interesting week...

Monday: ( I may be on a tv or monitor near you very soon!Collapse )

Wednesday: ( What I did between the hours of 1am and 4am. (Hint - involves policemen, a police dog, blood, an unmarked white van and poorly maintained powertools)Collapse )

Thursday: ( Win round one of ae_ldws: banner inside, fic to come!Collapse )

So, how has your week been?

Tis International Women's Day! {{{hugs you all}}} Tis also Pancake Day! {{{feeds you all}}}

Thank you to everyone who sent me greetings and ecards and v-gifts for my birthday; you all helped make turning 41 almost painless...or maybe that was the booze.

I spent the day watching gloriously slashy tv and movies (Hawaii Five-O! Supernatural! Glee!), eating fish and chips and chocolate (though not at the same time) and drinking a cocktail I threw together from the bottles that survived Xmyth:

one measure whisky
one measure Bols banana liqueur
two measures ginger wine

After my second one of those, I was feeling no pain, and also only half of my toes, and when I shared the recipe with entrenous88, she christened it the Sassy Monkey. I suspect that says more about me than the cocktail, but I likes it, so Sassy Monkey it is! :D

( Inception; VOTE NOW!; National Poetry Month fic exchange; how is JGL so awesome?; shows I am watching and whyCollapse )

I am home, exhausted but happy, after three wonderful days with most of the usual Horbling suspects, gingerpig, ruric, lonelybrit, vampirefever, eatenbyweasels, princess_s, esmerelda_t, vic_amy_z, sometimeredhead, and one new face, Claire - the second Brit that gingerpig has picked up and adopted in LA. She finds us the bestest toys! ;)

The journey there was an adventure. Over 9hrs of travelling, on two buses, three trains (including a missed connection) and a taxi ride which was diverted by the police due to something involving a lot of red flashing lights and a 500yd section of blocked-off road. After a detour down dark, narrow lanes that even the cab driver wasn't sure about, I finally arrived and immediately changed into my PJs and poured a drink. I'd earned it!

( Dream On! Sorry, I mean Read On. ;)Collapse )

Nobody break the internet while I'm away, k? And don't go doing anything silly while I'm not here to point and laugh.

See you all when I sober up!

*smooches*

So, tomorrow, at sparrowfart o'clock, I am off to Horbling, but today, darkhavens is seven years old. SEVEN YEARS!

It doesn't seem like five minutes, but in 14 days it will be SEVEN YEARS since I read my very first fanfic, which was also my very first slash, which was also my very first Spander. And then another 12 days after that (after I'd stripmined the internet for every bit of Spander I could find), bloodclaim was born. *g*

So much has happened in those seven years. I spent about 2 years being mono-fannish, and then a friend snailmailed me three eps of Stargate Atlantis, because she was so certain I'd love it. And I did. ♥ It took me another year to add the third fandom to my collection - Supernatural - and after that, I just kept finding new ones. New toys to play with, new voices to pick up, new canons to break or put back together... or totally ignore. :D

During those seven years, I've collected an amazing bunch of friends, met over two dozen of them, and somehow amassed a boggling number of readers and lurkers and commenters. *hugs you all*

It's been seven years of creativity, crazy, crack and calm oases; seven years of love, laughter, learning and licentiousness.

Here's to the next seven(ty)!

#1 I am still alive and lurking. More on that later.

#2 Fandom comms all over LJ are, at present, being spammed with porn vid posts by at least two journals: elianaabel447 and angiepritchard. I haven't put direct links to them as, if they're spamming, who knows what else they might be up to?

Four of my comms have been hit: slashthedrabble, slashtheimage, spn_betas and we_love_secret6. The others are, I hope, now safe, as I have banned both journals from all of my comms, via LJ's nifty Admin Console.

For those who are not tech savvy (which very definitely includes me), here is the admin console reference, providing instructions on how to use it.

It's all pretty basic. To ban a journal from your comm(s): ban_set username from commname, repeated in the console window for each comm you have mod privileges with, and then click and you should get a list of verifications in green text.

The posts in question are (mostly, I hope) being deleted as spam, so hopefully LJ will kill the journals pretty soon, but... well, it's LJ, so let's not all hold our breaths. ;)

In conclusion: I am alive and modly, if somewhat quiet. *hugs you all*

ETA 23/09: Two more names for the rollcall of stupid: pamelahunt310 and madelynestes418

At last, my WriterConUK post!



( Fun, facts and frolicingCollapse )

Other write-ups can be found here: kazzy-cee, hils, shapinglight, brutti-ma-buoni, lilachigh, thismaz, and the comm you need to join and watch if you're interested in joining us next year (and why wouldn't you be?!) is writerconuk.

WriterConUK now has a Twitter and a Facebook Page, though they're still in the 'what do we do with them now we have them?' stage. But keep an eye on them, because eventually we'll figure it out!

Tomorrow, at sparrow fart o'clock in the morning, I will crawl out of my pit and start throwing things with reckless abandon into a case because I'm off to a hotel in Coventry where I will spend the weekend with just_sue, kitty_poker1, thismaz, bogwitch, hesadevil, brutti_ma_buoni, kazzy_cee, lilachigh, shapinglight, curiouswombat, speakr2customrs, ningloreth, peasant_, eternal_red, quinara, hils, gillo, wildecate, daiseechain, booster17, and will be sharing a room with mirasol.

I shall return, exhausted and severely in need of an internet fix, on Sunday evening, when I shall no doubt try to read three days' worth of flist before I go to sleep. Because that's what I do. ;)

Hopefully, I'll be inspired to continue working on the tinyfic prompts I demanded from you all last month, several of which I managed to squeeze out before the muses took off again. Train journeys seem to help the flow of words, so who knows, I may return with actual porn!

Until then, be safe, be well, and don't break the internet, k?

( Something that makes me smileCollapse )

Hi, all.

It's been a rough few months in my personal corner of the world, and that looks set to continue for a while, but I am still here, watching you all from the lurker-filled shadows. I'm only commenting every once in a blue moon, and not writing much of anything, though I do feed the bunnies to keep them hopping around my feet for when I'm able.

( Oh, gods, not ANOTHER new fandom?Collapse )

And now for a meme, ganked from entrenous88, to try and kickstart my thinkyness!

Pick a fandom, and I will tell you who I would:

1. Bake cupcakes for:
2. Trust with the keys to my car:
3. Put thumbtacks on their chair:
4. Have a crush on:
5. Pack up and leave if he/she moved next door:
6. Vote for as president:
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. Pair up:
9. Vote off the island and into a volcano:
10. Wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:

I watch a lot of crime/detective/law shows and a lot of sci-fi, so feel free to go crazy with the show choices. If I've seen more than a couple of eps I should be able to wing it. *g*

My weekend started on Thursday, when I hopped the train to Kitty's so we could set out at sparrow-fart o'clock on Friday morning. That's the first time I've seen 6.30am from the right end in about 20 years and I feel all accomplished now! *g*

( SFX Weekender 2010 Con ReportCollapse )

...Also the first, but that's a teeny little detail, right? :D

I am exhausted and exhilerated and still drunk from the bottle of whisky I managed to all but empty, all by myself, last night through to six thirty this morning while cackling madly with Kitty. *thud*

There will be details aplenty tomorrow, (Spike! Ianto! My Dr Who, and Sarah Jane!) and at least one photo, but right now I have to go see what you've all been up to without me.

Of course, I already know what kitty_poker1, suki_blue, mirasol and sweet_exile have been doing, because they were right there with me in glorious Camber Sands, sharing my VIP accommodation... and we also met up with vic_amy_z, lonelybrit, princess_s and vampirefever, so there are probably con reports all over the place already.

*runs to load flist*

This year I'm going to try and post a bit more often, not just throw fic at you all and then hide in the shadows. I hope that doesn't scare anyone off, but feel free to scroll past, or run for the hills, or defriend me at will. I promise not to sob too loudly. :P

Tomorrow I am back at work after a fun-filled week off. I didn't go anywhere, but Mommie Dearest is here and she's a laugh a minute. Here's what we've been up to.


( MD - fitted for slashgoggles and addicted to solitaire on the laptop, all in one week.Collapse )


( What have you signed up for now, you mad cow?Collapse )


( TV and DVDs - Power-Watching With MotherCollapse )


( SFX Weekender = PARTAY TIME!Collapse )


I think that just about brings me up-to-date... ( Oh! Books wot I haz red!Collapse )

And now I'm off to read more comics - Secret Six, from the beginning, under orders from Suki. It's a hard life. *swoons*

Welcome to 2010! I hope it brings joy and laughter and good things to all. Now, a bit about the state of me. :D

Last January, I signed up for findyourwords, choosing a target of 50k for the year. I didn't quite make it, for various and sundry mostly family-related reasons, but I got close enough to put a smile on my face:


That is almost as much as I wrote in the last two years combined: 2007=25k, 2008=22k. *boggles*

So, I've decided to sign up for it again, and have once again chosen 50k, but now I'm looking at 75k and thinking... it's only just over 200 words a day, self, you know you can do it. And I have until the end of January to change my mind. *headdesk*

literati and I also set a reading target of 33 books for last year, and while she made it with whole days to spare, I didn't quite hit that target either (30/33 = 91%). Also, partway into the year, I convinced her that twelve comics equal one book, so the majority of my total 'book' count is actually made up of DC comic runs and major comic events.

30 / 33
(91%)

2010's target is 40 'books', and it's going to be even more comic-filled and full of pretty pictures and speech bubbles. And this whole comic book addiction is all suki_blue's fault. :D

Egifts galore! Thank you to lonelybrit, crazydiamondsue, entrenous88, tabaqui, jjjean65, ok2nv_theoracle, outsidethebox, cityphonelines, ruric, hils for my Snowflake Cookies, to lostgirlslair for my Christmas Cookie, and to kittypoker1 for the Fancy Hot Cocoa. *noms and noms and chugs* :D

Also, thank you to jjjean65 (again), heuradys and debris_k for the Snowflake cookies now gracing bloodclaim's profile page.

The virtual snowfall here at LJ didn't last long (before they took away our pretty freebie *pout*), but while it did, it made a lot of people happy. LJ, take heed - DO THIS MORE OFTEN! (After you've fixed the notification database you screwed up with your last code push that means some of us are still waiting for our comments from the last few days!) ;)

ION, I'm almost over my lurgy, but my voice is taking its own sweet time coming back. Right now, I'm at the dirty phonecall stage, all deep and gravelly, and it's rather boggling to see how many people it really gets to. I've been informed by several people (a couple of them complete strangers!) that I could make a lot of money with this voice. I'd be tempted, if I didn't know it'll be back to normal before Xmyth. *siiiiiiigh*

There will be fic. Soonish. Most likely. There are multiple flavours bubbling away in my brain. But there will also be a Mommie Dearest descending upon me next Monday, which will be cause for much squeeing and gossip and hilarity, but also much distraction.

♥ to you all!

Because I've been sick for two weeks and am unashamedly in need of petting, I come bearing not just one but two memes to the tune of 'love me doooooo'. :D




♥ANOTHER ANON MEME♥

THE FANFICTION LOVE MEME

/shameless h0ring for attention

There will be fic again eventually, I promise. I'm actually able to read more than a sentence at a time now, so the writing thing is sure to come back soon. ;)

*smishes and smooches you all in a totally germ-free way*

I have just spent a glorious weekend with 11 totally insane people. The usual suspects were there: eatenbyweasels, esmerelda_t, gingerpig, lonelybrit, madders, princess_s, ruric, vampirefever and the newly betrothed vic_amy_z. We also had some fresh blood in the forms of sometimeredhead, a woman with a prodigious caffeine habit and a disturbing knowledge of government lube guidelines, and ok2nv_theoracle, this year's token male and token American! He did us proud. ;)

My liver may never forgive me. I consumed about 70cl ( around a fifth) of scotch, and almost a third of a similar-sized bottle of bourbon. And then there was the bottle and a half of ginger wine that was my main 'mixer'... ;)

( Let me tell you more!Collapse )

( Horbling #6 iconic quotesCollapse )

( I can has laptop! What it is?Collapse )

In conclusion: I AM BACK, Y'ALL! Whatchoo been upto?