June 2014 recs update:

* 29 Avengers (mostly Steve/Bucky but a couple other things thrown in)
* 1 Amelia Peabody

***

So due to some dumbassery or other on the part of the dude buying my parents' house, the closing is being delayed yet again, which means that instead of having a speed-round of condo-hunting resulting in a move by October 1, I am going to have to re-up my lease where I am. At least the rent increase is only going to be 1%, which should be manageable? But I'm disappointed. I had a really comprehensive spreadsheet about the places I saw online that matched my requirements¶ that I wanted to look at in person. (I know it seems like an impossible thing to do in such a short timeframe, but given the factors - I've picked an area in Queens I'm relatively familiar with, I would've been able to put down a down payment of significantly more than 20%, and I have very good credit - I thought it would be possible.) I should have known better than to get excited! Things rarely work out so neatly for me. Sigh. I guess now I'll have a lot more time to go through the whole process. (I can't afford to break my lease, and I'm not moving twice in such a short period of time, so staying put for another year seems like the best option.)

--
( ¶Collapse )

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I have looked at a lot of condo/co-op listings over the past few weeks, and man, people are terrible at taking pictures. Eventually - I don't have a time table but eventually (and hopefully before interest rates go up too much) - I'll progress to looking in person, and the pictures won't really matter, but for now, at least, I've figured out what my priorities are and what would be in my theoretical price range. I'm reconciling myself to leaving Manhattan, too.

In the meantime, today I got rid of two bags of books and one bag of clothes that were too old/raggedy to give away, as well as a bunch of old papers that were cluttering up the joint.

I've spent the past couple of hours doing some inbox decluttering as well, so if you get a comment from me in response to something you said months ago, um, hi? I'm trying to be better at responding? And then maybe I will be able to start writing again. This morning I was definitely thinking of bits for a story I want to work on. *hands* Who can say? looking at condos and furniture to put in them is a very soothing way to pass the time, and a lot less work than writing. *g*

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+ RIP Peter O'Toole.

+ I have 1100 words on my yuletide story and could conceivably end it in a couple paragraphs if the rest of what I have in mind fails to come together. I hope it does, though, given the number of research tabs I have open right now. Sigh.

+ Oh my god, the Giants are embarrassing themselves. Well, the offense is. The defense is doing pretty well, but it doesn't matter if they don't score any points. *facepalm*

+ 12/15: Fictional character you'd most like to be BFFs with, and favorite fictional character who you wouldn't want to be BFFs with, and why? for imwalde

Huh. My first thought was Lorelai Gilmore, but she might pall on close acquaintance. Then I thought of Veronica Mars, because she is a loyal friend who will also help you get revenge if you end up in need of it, though getting into her circle of trust would be difficult. Maybe Cordelia Chase? If she weren't dead? As an adult, though, not during her queen of Sunnydale stage (though I still love her then). Giles? Giles could be the answer. Or Hermione Granger. I feel like Hermione and I would have a lot in common, except for the part where my ambition levels are on par with Ron's rather than hers, so I'm not sure she'd have time to be friends. Huh. Same with Donna Moss, though maybe once she's out of the White House. CJ Cregg is also a possibility, though she might be too busy doing her philanthropy and raising her kids. Steve Rogers would be an amazing best friend (ask Sam and Bucky) but I'm not sure I could live up to his expectations and that would just make me sad. So I'm going to say Stephanie Brown. Because even with her double life, I feel like she would be a good friend to hang out with and offer a shoulder to cry on, and you could always just go to the diner and have waffles, which is basically my social life at the moment anyway.

+ Yesterday I finally uploaded a Christmas icon and changed my DW layout to a more holiday-y type of thing, though I don't like that it doesn't provide comment counts on the post recap in the sidebar. One of the things I dislike about Tumblr is that I don't care how my Tumblr looks to other people, I care how my dash looks to me, and I can't change that and that's unfortunate.

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I guess it's time for the monthly roundups.

Monthly Writing Roundup - April 2013

Internal Displacement (@ AO3)
Avengers (2012); Steve/Bucky; pg; 3,830 words
Bucky can't imagine choosing anyone but Steve, time and time again.

I hope May is more productive.

*

Top 5 Songs - April 2013

5. Sabotage - Beastie Boys
4. Biloxi Parish - Gaslight Anthem
3. We Lost Magic - Empires
2. Keep It Steady - Empires
1. Hard Times - Empires

So a while back, angelgazing wrote a large part of a story that was basically a Steve/Bucky rock band AU (which will hopefully some day be finished and posted *cough*) and somehow we just associated Empires with Bucky and his music in the story and so in order to get into his head for writing "Internal Displacement," I listened to them a lot. *hands* I still want Steve/Bucky vids to "Hard Times" and "Hell's Heroes," and "Surrenderer" is totally a Bucky-likes-it-when-Natasha-doms-him song, and "Homewrecked" gives me ALL THE BUCKY FEELS. So. Yeah.

In other Steve/Bucky news (or Captain America 2: ALL STEVE'S BUCKY FEELS), meinterrupted has kindly linked to some more stills from the Cap 2 set for those of us who don't look at tumblr at work. Spoilery, I guess? I have to say, I don't love Natasha's hair like that. I mean, Loki's terrible hair is a character point, and it makes sense; the rest of them having awful hair does not. I'm kind of dreading Bucky's Winter Soldier hair, tbh, and I like it long in the comics. (I mean, I like it short in the comics too, but I'm just saying.) Steve's hair looks great here, though, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing you could do to Anthony Mackie to make him unattractive, so there's that.

( speculation based on those photosCollapse ) Also, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson need to make more movies together where they makeout. I know it's not going to happen in this movie and I'm already disappointed about it.

*

Recs Update:

unfitforsociety has been updated for April 2013 with 24 recs in 7 fandoms:

* 13 Avengers
* 3 Spider-Man
* 2 Elementary
* 2 Crossovers, 1 Young Avengers
* 1 Arrow, 1 Community, and 1 The Iliad

*

Also, after the DW update yesterday, I changed the layouts on all my DW journals because they are so pretty: musesfool, unfitforsociety, and even my locked/private writing journal, thescratchpad (I made a public post so you could see what it looks like). I always feel like redecorating in spring.

*

Today's poem:

Eclipse
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

She's been warned not to sleep with moonlight
on her face or she will be taken from her house.

She wears eel-skin to protect herself. She tilts
her face to the night sky when no one is looking.
During the eclipse, eels bubble in their dark

and secret caves. Toads frenzy in pastures
just outside of town, surrounding the dumb cows

in a wet mess of croak and sizzle. Years later,
she would touch the hand of a green-eyed man
by the weird light. Because of him, she plants

a moon garden: freesia, snowdrops, fothergilla,
bugbane. She is a runner-bean, stretching best

and brilliant in this light. Their child is moon-faced.
She is crazy about them. She is lunatic. She
is taken. She is a hymn book flipped open.

*

And so National Poetry Month ends for another year. *sadhair* I hope you enjoyed reading the poetry as much as I enjoyed posting it.

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Board meeting went off without a hitch. Upgrading my work PC to Windows 7 and Office 2010 also hitch-free, except for the little bit of time when my boss came back and wanted to use her own computer and mine was still being upgraded, so I went for an early lunch, and my afternoon has been ENDLESS. There's a reason I don't have lunch until 2 pm at the earliest and that is because when lunch is done, it's 3 pm and then it's home in two hours.

Anyway, upgrade went smoothly except for, you know, all my settings and stuff are gone, so I've been trying to remember (work-related) passwords and re-adding all my Firefox extensions etc.

So far I'm a little confused about where stuff is and why they changed it so much, but nothing's made me flat-out ragey yet, so we'll see how that goes.

I also just changed my journal layouts at both DW, where I had the one I LOVED (Just Like a Man by grrliz) but was retrofitted from LJ back when DW first opened and, sadly, was starting to throw out weird quirks since DW has changed its style system etc. and the CSS was not updated (at least to my knowledge), and the one on LJ because I love the sorbet theme but it was too something for my monitor at work. So now I have very similar, very bland layouts that don't hurt my eyes and hopefully don't bother anyone else who might actually look at them. I did some jiggering with colors and font sizes, but that's basically it. And now I have the sandy heart icon in both places. Nicely summery. *g*

OH, AND ALSO, in case you didn't know - and i don't think this is across all layouts - there is now an option under "Customize Your Journal: Display: Presentation" that allows you to get back an approximation of the old comment page and it considers it your style and shows you other people's comment pages in it. the box is called "Additional Options > Use classic commenting page." Customized comment pages must be enabled for it to work (it tells you that right there on the screen).

The style I chose is called Travel Afar and it's in the minimalism family, so possibly that's based on the code that was going around for a while for Minimalism Georgia? I don't know anything more about it, so I can't really answer any questions, but I hope it works for people! And I personally find it a lot less ugly than that Minimalism Georgia style was. *hands*

As an aside, I find it really unfortunate that LJ doesn't let you change any of the fonts or colors in this layout. And I don't have the CSS knowledge to do it that way. I'd like the links to be a little bit darker blue, is all. They're nicely teal on DW, but on LJ I'd like them more royal/cobalt. That way I can tell the difference, since the two layouts are fairly similar, color-wise otherwise.

I still long for the day I can get someone to make me a pretty cherry blossom theme, but that doesn't look like it's ever going to happen. I can see what it should look like in my head, pink and gray and white, but I don't have the skills to do it.

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holy crap, i have had a lot of wine. I met fleurdeleo at our favorite recently reopened restaurant and there was dinner and wine and nutella crepes for dessert and so I'm a little tipsy and a lot sleepy. Last night, I went to bed at 9:30 because of that low-grade fever and I basically slept through until my alarm, which was amazing - 10 hours of sleep on a work night! - but which kind of tells me I must have needed it, because I didn't get the usual headache from sleeping more than 8 hours. I don't know. I just know it was a good night's sleep. I missed White Collar, though. I guess I'll watch it eventually. It's not really something I worry about being spoiled for.

Also, you know what came out today? Winter Soldier #1. ♥BUCKY♥ ♥NATASHA♥ ♥BUCKY/NATASHA♥! I love their relationship SO MUCH. (though I still want him and Steve to have CLANDESTINE MAKEOUTS. Why is there not more Steve/Bucky/Natasha? WHY?) I love how impressed with her he always is. I actually paid money for it and I enjoyed it, though goddamn I hate serialized storytelling. GIVE ME THE WHOLE STORY AT ONCE, YOU FUCKERS. LET ME READ IT AT MY OWN PACE. AHEM.

Mostly I am just all ♥BUCKY♥ because, well, BUCKY. Getting his own book. And unlike when Jason got his own book, it's actually not enraging. I really do need a Natasha icon, because she is a BAMF.

***

Also, I have been searching around for an LJ layout that I find acceptable, because I couldn't take that super fugly Minimalism Georgia one even with the comment pages coded to look like the old ones. I like the layout I chose this morning, but there must be some way to make both the sidebar and the entry area slightly wider. Anyone know the CSS to do that and can share?

***

Now I just need to stay awake long enough to sober up, and then I can go to bed. (If I go to bed now, I will just wake up in a couple of hours, unable to sleep.)

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\GIANTS/

I have to say, I was not impressed with their early play, but they turned it around and jesus, Manning + Manningham = AWESOME and Hakeem Nicks was fantastic. I was happy to see the running game finally assert itself, though I was irritated with how much it failed early on.

It was an exciting game and obviously I am pleased with the outcome. Onward to the frozen tundra of Lambeau field!

***

There was fic this morning:

The Spin I'm In (at AO3)
Captain America (2011); Steve/Bucky; pg; warning: homophobic language/bullying; 3,585 words
Five times Bucky kissed Steve because of ~reasons~, and one time Steve finally believed he really meant it.

This was all angelgazing's fault as she (we) is (are) kind of obsessed with Bucky's mouth (apparently I am now writing another story on this theme at her behest *hands*), and I wasn't sure it was going to work, but I like how it turned out.

***

So I really couldn't take dealing with the commenting business on LJ anymore, so I redid my DW layout to my LJ layout (it's not perfect, but I do love the layout - anyone know how to make the subject lines on entries show up bold?) and then on LJ installed the marginally less awful Minimalism-Georgia layout (so unattractive!) with custom CSS that makes the comments in my style look like the old comment page. Because honestly, the changes were keeping me from commenting as often to others and from answering my own comments because of how awful it was. This isn't the best solution, but it's the only solution that works for me atm.

***

Holy crap, did that just happen? I can't believe Denver just beat Pittsburgh. holy crap.

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Let's start with a non-yuletide vid rec:

Marchin On by beccatoria, which is an AMAZING and FANTASTIC animated Young Justice vid that gave me ALL THE FEELINGS last night. ♥TEAM♥ They are such darling babies. I totally teared up, and I had the song on repeat my whole commute this morning, thinking of the vid.

And now, 20 more yuletide recs:

( DCU, DCAU/Middleman, Kings, Burn Notice, Alexander/Hephaistion, L'Engleverse, Little Women, Gentleman Bastards, Calvin & Hobbes, The Mummy, Lamb, Sports Night, Earthsea, and Ten Inch HeroCollapse )

And there's still so much left to read. Good thing after today I'm off for a few days.

***

I am never going to get used to seeing every page on LJ in my own style (or yours; um, yeah, I was much happier when I didn't have to see anyone else's style but the default site and my own)! I hate it so much! but I won't turn the default back on because I hate that too, and also it makes it more difficult for other people. There's got to be a way to make that Minimalism Georgia style less blah (firstly by getting rid of that font. Georgia! What is this, 2002?), or something. lorax linked me to this script, which makes things a little better (though it doesn't solve the icon problem), but then I realized that it only works for me, not for people reading/commenting on my journal, so it doesn't really solve the problem. Urgh.

***

Oh, lastly, I posted a story yesterday, probably the last of 2011:

Chicken Soup With Rice (at AO3)
Captain America (2011); Steve/Bucky; pg; 2,245 words
When Bucky gets sick, it's Steve's turn to fuss over him.

Since angelgazing wanted a story where Bucky got sick and Steve fussed over him. It was supposed to be a lot funnier, with Bucky not so stoically suffering Steve's OTT mother-henning, but it didn't quite work out that way. *hands* I like it, anyway. Thanks to the people who commented. I really appreciate it.

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Basically, there are numerous things about today that could be summed up by me saying to the computer screen, "ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO YOU SPEAK IT?"

I fear for the future sometimes. If your last name starts with a T, I realize that rhymes with P (which stands for pool!), but your email address should not be victoriap@gmail, because THAT IS ALREADY MY EMAIL ADDRESS AND HAS BEEN SINCE TWO THOUSAND FOUR. JESUS FUCK, HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW YOUR OWN EMAIL ADDRESS?

Ahem.

I feel bad for this person, as this was not just spam from Lands End or Harry & David or whatever - it was from an admissions office. Otoh, if you don't know your own email address, possibly you're not the kind of student they're looking for. I just replied to let them know, but gah.

***

So I really don't like using custom commenting, nearly as much as I hate the new LJ default comment page, so as much as I ADORE my current LJ layout, I'm thinking of switching to the one that can give me custom comments pages that look like the old default (as seen here at fail_fandomanon), but the layout is so blah and unappealing to me. Has anyone figured out a way to make it look nicer while still keeping the comment pages like the old default? And can they share it with me?

***

I keep feeling like I'm supposed to be writing something but no (well, okay, yes, white_lotus, but I still have time for that. I always planned to write it over New Year's weekend). It's a weird feeling. I might be able to eke out one last story in 2011. What do you think? angelgazing wants me to write her some Steve/Bucky, so that could be happening, even as we speak.

***

Still reading through YT. More recs coming soon. Watch this space!

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Oh wow, I am usually not so alarmist, but wow, the change to the default site style LJ comment page is heinous. I immediately switched to comment pages in my LJ style, which can I just say, I LOATHE WITH THE VENGEANCE OF A MILLION FIERY SUPERNOVAE, but which is still better - and more useable - than the fug of the new design.

To do that, you go to Customize Journal Style and click "no" on "Disable customized comment pages for your journal." [eta] the customize journal style link. It looks like this is an option only available to paid users who use s2 journal styles. [/eta]

I hate having to do it, but it feels like the lesser of two evils to me. I don't care about comment subject lines personally, though not having them fucks with various comms and memes, but the whole interface is horrible and also you lose the mouseover text on icons on comments, which is something that I personally like a lot. I wonder how accessible these changes are, too.

I am seriously considering closing comments down on LJ altogether, because it's so horrid either way.

It's easy for me, because I've been ready to go since Strikethrough, but there are people I can't leave and who won't move. I keep hoping this is the time LJ's fuckwittery convinces them, but inertia is a powerful force. Sigh.

Anyway. Dreamwidth is having a free-for-all account sign up - until the end of the year, I think, you can set up a free account without an invite code, and I recommend it. It just works better. [eta 2] the Dreamwidth create account link [/eta 2]

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I did get rid of some old icons and upload some new ones this morning. It feels like a breath of fresh air. *pets the pretty*

***

There's a proliferation of year-end memes I'll be doing over the next few days, because memes are fun and fun is good, so here's the first of them:

First line of the month for 2011:

January: Since author names have been revealed, I guess it's time to claim our yuletide stories.

February: Writing Roundup – January 2011

March: I forgot to mention, I updated unfitforsociety (also, check out the stylin' new layout), on Friday.

April: Earlier this week, the weatherman was talking about today's weather and tossing around words like 'nor'easter' and I was just like, fuck you, winter, you win.

May: The monthly writing roundup looks like this:

June: I have an incredibly terrible headache.

July: At noon today, if all goes well, my mother is having a defibrillator implanted.

August: I was telling fleurdeleo about Captain America last night, and how next year the Avengers movie would be coming out and she was like, "Will there be more Agent Coulson? There should be!" And I was like, "I really hope so!" Because no one's job is harder than his. Except maybe Pepper's.

September: I posted a story yesterday!

October: So I finished all four books in Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series (a fifth book - of course - is due in March 2012) and despite the lax editing, which led to some jarring mistakes being left in, I enjoyed them a lot.

November: Oy, so apparently someone is signed up on linkedin with my gmail address, but it's not me, since I never did get around to setting up a linkedin profile, and now various cousins have found it and are like, 'add me on linkedin'.

December: I woke up this morning at 6 am with a sore throat and aching sinuses.

***

And the first line of the first story of each month:

January: Harry doesn't sleep much, hasn't since fifth year and the endless loop of Sirius's fall replaying in his mind like the way Dudley used to replay the come shots of the porn movies he wasn't supposed to be watching, but that Aunt Petunia pretended didn't exist. (Share each other like an island; HP; H/R/Hr)

February: She's a model employee. (Backwards and in heels; Under the Red Hood; Ms. Li)

March: "You can't shirk this responsibility forever, Clark." (Face Up and Sing; animated Young Justice; Batman, Superman, Superboy, Martha Kent)

April: "Dad, please." (Push the Button and Pull the Plug; DCU; Babs, Jason)

May: When people talked about their New Year's Eve traditions--New Year's Rockin' Eve on TV and a champagne toast with friends, or a trip to Times Square to spend it with the world, or a secluded getaway with that special someone--Derek always smiled knowingly. (Happy New Year (Begin the Beguine); Criminal Minds; Morgan/Garcia)

June: "I have a brother," Alex says one day, sitting across from Charles, hands clasped between his knees in a transparent attempt to keep from fidgeting. (Dig for Fire; XMFC; Charles, Alex, Scott)

July: The giant space squid wraps a tentacle around Kon's shoulders, pulls him into the hot tub, and asks to penetrate him anally, and Kon is so impressed that he's able to translate all those slippery vowel sounds into actual words that he doesn't even freak out until he wakes up. (your heartbeat for a thousand miles; DCU; Tim/Kon)

August: "Stop hovering, Steve. I know you're out there." (Find a map and draw a straight line; Captain America; Steve/Bucky)

September: Aside from her name neatly typed in the center, the envelope has no marks on it, no postage and no return address. (One equal temper of heroic hearts; DCU; Bruce/Diana)

October: Steve climbs the steps of the New York Public Library and takes a deep breath. (Better Late Than Never; Captain America; Steve/Peggy)

November: Steve comes back from his visit to the nursing home with the desperate desire to get drunk. (you and your high top sneakers and your sailor tattoos; Avengers; Steve/Darcy)

December: Logan is easy to spot in the line at Starbucks, though there are several men in the place who have similar facial hair. (Decaf Skinny Latte; Captain America; Logan & Bucky)

***

Oy, I can't stop coughing. Time for more cough drops.

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people! I need new icons!

Things I definitely want:

= Nick/Cassie (I am already paging through beadwithshimmer's icons tag)
= Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner version [I already have a Kate Bishop Hawkeye icon])
= Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson version)
= Bucky/Natasha (comics)
= I need a movieverse Steve Rogers icon where you can see his face. Preferably if he's making an adorable face (I love his adorable faces!). Also a movieverse Steve/Bucky icon where you can see both their faces. And possibly a comics Steve/Bucky icon from, like, Who Will Wield the Shield? when they're both dressed as Cap. Or I dunno. I have to think about that.
= Babs/Dinah, maybe? Or Cass Cain? Steph/Cass?

Any suggestions on where I could find any of these? I don't know if I am up for making any myself.

And I can always move some of the ones I have on DW over to LJ when I clear out some space. Hmmm...

In other news, writing is still hard! wah!

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I changed my DW layout (nothing fancy, just one of the canned ones on offer) and now I'm having a hard time adjusting to the fact that this is what my flist looks like. I like it, and it's easy on the eyes, but I'm not mentally connecting it with MY journal/flist yet. *hands*

Also, I am very tired, and it looks like I'll be paying for leaving early yesterday by staying late tonight.

Also, also, just got the news that my sister is in the ER with what may be a raging staph infection. Sigh.

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Both yesterday and today, the alt-text on Dinosaur Comics has cracked me up. If I ever get a dog of my own, I might have to seriously consider naming it Rex Luthor.

Last night, mousapelli told me they were having crazy thunderstorms where she was, and that they were likely headed in my direction. Smash cut to sometime after 1 am and being woken up by HUGE THUNDER BOOMERS AND LIGHTNING. Ugh. I did not get a good night's sleep after that, so I got up about half an hour early and took a shower. Normally, I shower at night, so this was like a surprise extra shower with bonus hair washing! It doesn't quite make up for 30 minutes of lost sleep, but I also got to look at Tumblr before I went to work, so I guess it was all right.

I spent most of my morning, the parts where I wasn't on a conference call regarding pension plan audits (how is this my life? as our CFO said to me the other day, "the only people who love auditors are their mothers." I laughed. also, said conference call lasted only 20 of the 90 minutes it was scheduled for; note to self: Don't let Boss2 schedule things because he pads the schedule), tweaking Pinboard to be prettier, using stuff mentioned in here and here.

God, what would we do without murklins and all these awesome scripts? Now I just need to figure out how to change the format for how the dates display (I would prefer month-date-year to year-month-date, which is how it is now). And I just have to keep track of all the changes so I can also implement them at home. *snerk*

But I feel like I'm finally accepting that the way I used to use Delicious is not going to work anymore with the new version (though I still forget sometimes and save links there), and that I have to just go forward with Pinboard. Hence the prettifying. The one thing I miss is the ability to have the link visible in addition to the title and comments and tags - then when I was ready to make a recs post, I could just c&p into Word and code it rather than having to right click and copy each link individually. I know, I know, my life, so hard.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with Pinboard. Hopefully that will last for a while.

(I'm also trying to fight the urge to change the style of my DW, since I like the style I have, but there are so many other pretty ones!)

***

I posted a story last night:

Pentimenti (at AO3)
Captain America (comics); Bucky, Steve; g; 1,480 words
Bucky always hated "The Gift of the Magi."

I am amused by that summary, since it basically appears to have fuck-all to do with the story (it's relevant, I swear!), which should more rightly be summarized, "Bucky has a nice wallow and buys Steve some art supplies," but that didn't amuse me as much. Also, the story is in second person, so if the seemingly useless summary doesn't drive you away, the POV choice will. *snerk*

No, seriously, though, I know some people are unhappy about kudos on AO3, feeling that they take away from people leaving actual comments, but I have to tell you, since I've started more frequently posting things that I know will only get one or two comments (five comments is considered a cornucopia in these parts these days!), I've been so grateful for kudos, because they tell me that there are other people interested in these stories that I want to tell, despite knowing that there really isn't much of an audience (besides me) for them, at least among the people reading this LJ/DW (I still have not sought out any comms for any of this stuff, and I probably won't).

I honestly think I get two or three kudos notifications every day on random stories, most of which got few comments when I posted them on LJ/DW.(Oddly enough, most of them are on the Dick/Jason stuff, which pleases me.) And most of them are anonymous, so I really don't think those folks would be commenting if there were no kudos function.

Let's face it, a story (by me) about Bucky buying Steve art supplies or teaching Kate Bishop to swing dance, or an animated!YJ M'gann/Artemis PWP is not really going to rack up comments and I don't expect them to - getting one or two is happy-making for me, because that means someone else liked this random thing I was interested in writing about. But getting a steady trickle of kudos on them long after I've moved on is even more pleasing, and I don't think that happens much with comments, at least not on the bulk of stuff I've written.

Obviously, I can only speak to my own experience with this. Others' mileage may vary.

***

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/381840.html. people have commented there.

Happy Father's Day to any dads out there. We are going to my sister's for a bbq shortly.

*

All I want is a layout that features cherry blossoms somehow. Why is this so hard? Why do I suck at making pretty things? Ugh. I was so frustrated last night that I actually went back to writing! And wrote possibly the silliest thing I have ever written. And I remind you that I have written stories about sock monsters and exploding pies (not in the same story). All mousapelli's fault, as she not only encouraged me when I told her what I was doing, but actually came up with something even more hilarious, and then graciously allowed me to use it in the story. It's probably a good thing that I have such a small audience these days. *snerk*

*

Last night, I finished reading Feed by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire). I enjoyed it a lot, and not just because it's the first book I read on my iPad (which is fantastic by the way; I still have not really progressed past the "sitting on the couch, hugging it like a teddy bear" stage). Like World War Z, which I also enjoyed a lot, it's the story of a post-zombie-apocalypse world, and how the world functions is fascinating. I also enjoyed the main characters, Shaun and George, a lot (I might possibly ship them a little? Shut up.), and I was genuinely shocked by ( spoilersCollapse )

So I definitely recommend it, and I'll be getting the second book shortly, though I'm still kind of annoyed at there being a trilogy.

*

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/336928.html. people have commented there.

Last night I tried the simple polenta recipe from How to Cook Everything and it was MADE OF FAIL. Dear god, it was a pot full up with FAIL. (and I say this as someone who likes polenta, so its not like I didn't know what I was getting into here.) Also, I got spattered with hot milk and cornmeal, which was unpleasant, but doesn't appear to have left any marks. So much for having fried polenta for lunch this week. Today I have a turkey sandwich. I don't know what I'm going to do for the rest of the week. I just need to get through tomorrow's board meeting. Then I have Friday and next Monday off, and hopefully by then I will have both my new kitchen cabinet (scheduled for delivery on 3/5) and my new laptop (estimated delivery date: 3/4), and life will be AMAZING.

I don't know why I lie awake in the middle of the night and make myself anxious, when things during the day are mostly pretty good. I am actually mostly on top of stuff. But my brain, she does not seem to think so at 4 am. What is that about? Ugh.

And then I keep waking up at 6 am to pee and not being able to get back to sleep.

Dear body,

Our alarm goes off at 7:25 am. Surely we can sleep for that last hour and twenty-five minutes. It really would make things easier during the day, and ensure that we're not completely exhausted by 3 pm and useless by 6 pm.

I'm just sayin'.

unfortunately yours,
me

***

I guess it's time for the monthly wrap ups. Since I don't have access to my music, there won't be any downloads this month, but they're things I've uploaded before, so...

Top 5 songs - February 2010

5. An Alphabet of Hurricanes - Tom McRae
(the song, which is not for some reason on the album of the same name)

4. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Florence + the Machine

3. This Tornado Loves You - Neko Case

2. Antebellum - Vienna Teng

1. Howl - Florence + the Machine

***

February 2010 writing roundup

Working on the Sequel
Supernatural; Jamie; pg; 100 words
Jamie's always loved horror movies.

Shutdown
Homicide: Life on the Street; Kay Howard; pg; 320 words
"Is that all you got?"

The Mommy Problem
Friday Night Lights; Tami Taylor; spoilers through "I Can't"; pg; warning: ( spoilerCollapse ); 378 words
Tami knows how to handle this.

Target Practice
Firefly; Zoe, Simon; g; 335 words
Zoe's got the patience of a stone.

The Short List
Supernatural; Jess/girl!Sam; au; pg; 1,092 words
Five things Jess knows about Sam.

this earth makes sanctuary where I stand
L'Engleverse; Meg Murry O'Keefe (Meg/Calvin); pg; 1,160 words
Meg makes some decisions.

The Girly Arts
Dark Angel; Original Cindy, Max; g; 494 words
"You can't take care of everybody else 'less you take care of yourself first."

Surprise, Party
White Collar; Peter/El/Neal; pg; 1,342 words
Surprise parties are undignified and Peter wants nothing to do with them.

you are a house around which I am a wind
Supernatural; Dean/Sam; pg; 1,370 words
Dean spends hours every day searching for something, someone, before he remembers he's alone.

Plus three purimgifts ficlets that were last minute pinch hits. I feel that if you know me, you know which three these were.

So that makes 12 stories in 8 fandoms. That's a good month.

And there was a story last night that didn't make it into February:

Disaster Relief
Supernatural; Bobby, various; pg; spoilers through 5.14; 3,865 words
The world is ending, but until the final confrontation comes, there are battles to be fought all over, every hunter now a soldier, and every town a front.

I woke up yesterday morning with the opening scene in my head, and the title all picked out. It was just a question of finally sitting myself down to write, which took nearly all day (the settling down, not the writing). I like how it turned out. That's the first time I've ever written Bobby's POV, and it was fun revisiting all those one-shot characters, and I was very pleased when I realized how it was all going to tie together at the end, because I wasn't sure that was going to happen until fairly late in the game. Then I took a break to take a shower, and voila!

Never underestimate the power of the shower to shake things loose, is what I'm saying.

***

Lastly, I really like my new DW layout, especially once zillah975 figured out how to make the sidebar work.

***

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/138725.html. people have commented there.

Apparently the graphics on my layout have exhausted their bandwidth? I don't even have a photobucket account, so I have no idea what's up with that, or how to fix it (i.e., what the URL is in the layout code to change). I suppose I will start looking at new layouts when I get home tonight. Or sooner, if it really starts to bug me.

*

I am having a hard time getting motivated. I spent so much time and energy getting ready for all the meetings that now I have to go back and pick up all the stuff I pushed to the side and I'm like, meh. *yawn*

On the upside, I am taking Friday of this week off, and next Monday and Tuesday (Monday may be a holiday? I am unsure if we actually get Columbus day, but either way, I am not going to be here), so I will have a five-day weekend, which I feel like I desperately need. I'm not sure what my issue is - if it's just the letdown after all the rushing around like a crazy person, if it's the change in the weather kicking in early (I am usually good until January, because I am very fond of the holidays, and that gets me through the darkness of November and December pretty well; then January hits and I want to sleep until April), or if I am just that lazy (I am trying not to think about whether it's actual depression again, not until I've ruled out other stuff). I am afraid I may just be that lazy - I am awesome with deadlines to motivate me, but bad with the tedious every day stuff like booking conference rooms, rescheduling meetings, and doing expense reports. Sigh.

*

I posted a story last night:

The Dover Test
Supernatural; Dean/Risa; adult; spoilers through 5.04; 1,606 words
If she doesn't laugh, she'll cry.

I like how it turned out, though I must have scrapped about ten opening paragraphs before I finally settled. Writing is hard! ( minor character spoilers for 5.04Collapse )

Speaking of SPN and reconciling odd canon things, I found this season 5 timeline yesterday via friendsfriends (spoilers for all of s5 so far, obviously), and it makes more sense of certain things, ( spoilers for 5.04Collapse )

Also from muridae_x, a casting spoiler for a later episode of s5. ( future casting spoilerCollapse )

*

I suppose I should do some of that tedious day-to-day work stuff now, huh?

*

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/77483.html. people have commented there.

So I have, uh, changed my layout and my default icon again: musesfool. It's very... pink. I am not sure I will keep it, but I wanted something less gray than the one I had. That was good while it was January and I was unemployed. It's spring now, or nearly so - I just went shopping at lunch without a coat on (to the Duane Reade on the corner of Duane Street. Shut up. I am easily amused.) - and I am employed in a job that is so far *knock wood* going well. I want something brighter. And I wanted to use the mermaid cafe/drinking theme for my navigation links etc. I might still tweak it a little - link colors and such - but for not having a custom layout, I like it.

***

I should not find the idea of President Obama filling out NCAA brackets swoony, but I do. Oh, do I ever.

***

My inability to keep my eyes open last night and my utter lethargy upon waking this morning, as well as my weird sense of discombobulation on my commute can all be explained by the (actually on-time for once) appearance of my period. Yay? (hence the lunchtime trip to Duane Reade.) Maybe now I will be able to get some writing done. Heh.

Speaking of writing, I am stealing this self-indulgent meme from celli, because I am curious and also having some trouble getting myself started lately:

1. What's something you like about my writing?

2. What's something you think I could do better as a writer?

***

So I did it: musesfool. I really liked the header on the Fleur layout, but I didn't like how wide the sidebar was, nor how cluttered the lines under each entry were, and I don't know enough CSS to modify the things I didn't like. So I went with this one for now. It feels more suitable for winter. I also *gulp* changed my default icon to something more matchy *points*, though I am not sure I will handle not having Xander there anymore. Maybe this will allow me to change my default more frequently, since I won't get so attached to anything else.

Maybe one day I will commission someone to make me the layout I have in my head, but this is not that day.

***

fleurdeleo and I went to lunch this afternoon, and lingered over beverages while I detailed some of the exploits of my misspent youth, and also some hilarious stories about my family, while it snowed and snowed outside.

***

I do like Joe Flacco. I guess I am rooting for Baltimore then? I have nothing against Kerry Collins, either, really, despite the way things went when he was on the Giants.

***

Writing seems to be going forward again, albeit slowly. I did have a couple of ideas of where this story I'm working on is going, so that's good. I wish it were easier - I mean, I have words and I have ideas. I just seem to be lacking the focus to sit down and put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, I guess. I get in my own way. This is why Write or Die works for me - it doesn't allow me to wander off and get involved in something else.

***

unfitforsociety has been updated with 56 Yuletide recs in 43 fandoms. All of them appeared in this journal first, but now they all have author names on, and fandom tags on each post etc., so they're easier to negotiate.

unfitforsociety has also had a makeover. I um, kind of got bit by the redecorating bug again. Crazy, I know.

So, poll!

( help me redecorate!Collapse )

I think this is kind of hilarious after my freakout about changing the layout last time. But maybe I am growing and changing. And I can go back to this one when the weather gets warm again. I dunno. We'll see. But you know I like to poll the electorate. I mean, find out what you think. (nb: this is for LJ only - I don't know if IJ has all or even any of these layouts.)

***

I watched last night's episode of Leverage this afternoon and dear god, how is Alec Hardison SO FREAKING AWESOME? Why is there not tons of Alec/Eliot fic? And Alec/Parker? And Alec/Eliot/Parker? And Alec being uber competent? And Alec being snarky about how unprofessional everybody else is? Seriously! He is MADE OF AWESOME and also seriously HOTTASTIC. *hearts*

***

and I am trying to post this and boom! LJ is not working. After the panic yesterday, I am amused.

***

bits and bobs and bullet points

• I was poking around in s2expressive and I found the bit of CSS to increase the font size on journal entries, and also how to make visited links a different color, but now I am not sure I want the latter. I dunno. On some things I like having the visited links a different color, but on other things I don't.


• I also found, via minervacat's del.icio.us (and geez, they removed the periods after I finally got used to typing it that way), this script that makes the links bold and visited links purple. There I like that the visited links are a different color. I am not sure why it's different in my own LJ.


• I am only mildly spoiled for S4 of SPN (please don't share anything because you don't know what I already know, and I don't want to be spoiled beyond the level I already am), but I really like what I am hearing so far. I have a lot of thoughts about negotiating SPN fandom and my feelings about it (both the fandom and the show, separately and together), but those are muddled and probably best left unposted atm. I also have thoughts about being in fandom in general, and what happens when you are the odd woman out in the place where you thought you would always fit in, and stuff. because I think most of us feel that way at one time or another, whether it's regarding a specific thing in canon, a story or character or pairing that everyone loves (or hates) and you don't, or whatever, and sometimes it comes as a real shocker, especially if you've never been on that side of it before. I am still thinking about that


• In the comments to my post last night (and who are all the people who picked "says"? You are all WRONG!), deirdre_c linked to this vid to "Two Tribes," and it makes me want to rewatch all of SPN ASAP and makes me want September to be here NOW.


• I am contemplating the Bones/SPN crossover, and I kind of know what I want the plot to be (though the details are yet to be worked out *sigh*), but I feel like it probably needs to be from the POV of a Bones character, and I am totally not comfortable with that. I mean, it's true that the first story I write in a fandom is sometimes a crossover, but I usually try to stick with the POV I'm more comfortable with, i.e., one I have written before. (the first SPN story I wrote was a crossover, but from Sam's POV. Of course, the other character in that story is someone I'd never written before either, so it was a tossup, and it needed to be in Sam's POV to work.) But for this to work, I think it almost has to be a Bones character as the POV person. Unless I bring Henriksen in, and he can straddle both worlds, and I could write from his POV? Hmmm...


• Speaking of Bones crossovers, I still want that Bones/XF crossover, and I think that might have to be from Booth's POV. There, I haven't written in either fandom, and my grasp of XF canon is tenuous at best, but based on viewing the movie last week, I could probably manage Scully. Hmm...


• Still speaking of Bones, I discovered the names of a couple of the songs used on the show that I liked, but they don't appear to be available from iTunes. I am specifically thinking of "Bring on the Wonder" by Susan Enan f. Sarah McLachlan. I can't remember which song it was in the pilot I liked, so I might have to rewatch. Possibly it was the one at the end. Anyone got a Bones soundtrack they can share? It's funny how this show is totally my happy place right now, without any fannish baggage attached. Even the season 3 finale didn't mess that up. I love the characters, but I am not actively fannish about it, though obviously I am not opposed to seeing those characters meet other characters I love, nor am I opposed to reading good Bones/Booth fic.


• My box from LUSH came today. Sigh. The whole retro-LUSH thing killed me. I mean, I had a gift certificate or two, so I didn't spend too much, but more than I expected to. But! Slammer! Back for Breakfast! How could I resist? Plus I got another bottle of Olive Branch, which I adore. I foresee a lot of showers in my future. I'd forgotten Red Rooster smells like red hots. Also, the free sample of godmother soap smells LIKE HEAVEN like candy. I can't quite pin it down - strawberry laces, maybe? Happy childhood? Something like that.

***

The cable guy came at about 12:45 and was done by about 1:05, so I am all hooked up again. Thank god.

Oh, cable internet, never leave me again.

*clings*

***

So now that I've redecorated my LJ, I feel like maybe I should change my default icon. Now, I know some of you change default icons like most people change their underwear, but I have had wet!Xander as my default since, like, three months into this whole LJ adventure, which means it's been about six years. Sometimes even I am surprised I don't look like Xander. *snerk*

But I have been thinking that maybe a change would do me good. I don't know! I am change-averse!

So I ask you, oh wise masses of LJ, what do you think?

( icon poll!Collapse )

***

Recs update!

unfitforsociety has been updated with 36 recs for July 2008:

+ 14 Supernatural
+ 7 Iron Man
+ 4 crossovers
+ 2 BtVS/Angel
+ 2 Harry Potter
+ 1 each Narnia, Sandman, Friday Night Lights, Homicide: Life on the Street, Battlestar Galactica, The Dark Knight, and Sarah Connor Chronicles

I was exceptionally amused that "Detachable Penis" came on while I was doing the Supernatural set. *snerk* I think every post about SPN (and SPN fandom) should be titled "gonads are useful for their purpose, but they are no substitute for brains."

I feel like I didn't read that much this month. It's been a weird month, really - new boss, new hours (necessitating new sleep schedule), LJ blocked at work, etc. I didn't write much this month either. Sigh. I do really like how my spn_summergen turned out, though. I just have to do whatever revising the beta requires. And pick a summary.

Maybe now I will watch more Bones and answer comments. Or write. Or go for a pedicure. Hmm...

***

So after many reassurances from callmesandy and hummingwolf that I could go back to my old layout if I don't like the change, I took the plunge: musesfool.

I am still not sure about it - I like the layout, but it really limits my ability to customize - I can't make the journal entries or the sidebar wider, I can't make the font larger (or choose a different font), I can't change the color of the links. I am not sure I like such a non-customizable layout. I went into it thinking I could tweak all that, but apparently not.

So we'll see how it goes. It's not like I can see my flist at work anymore anyway. Sigh.

***

So I've been poking around, reading about WordPress and thinking about installing it on my site to use as a story archive. Since it has the ability to import LJ entries*, and thus, I wouldn't have to re-upload everything, it currently has a leg up on eFiction, which is the other possibility, but would require re-uploading every story, and since I have about 700 stories, that is not exactly my first choice. On the other hand, eFiction creates indices and allows for searching, which I don't think WordPress does; however, WP does allow tagging, which could totally take the place of indices. And it also allows crossposting with LJ, which would mean I wouldn't need to update separately going forward.

My webhost provides both MyPHP and MySQL, though I've never used either, but I understand they are necessary to do something like this.

So I guess I am asking people who use one or the other to weigh in and tell me why you like the one you use, how easy it is (because remember, technology hates me, so the easier, the better; also, I am incredibly lazy - if it's too much work, I will never do it), how customizable it is (especially looks-wise), and what you don't like. (And if you'd be willing to hold my hand if I did decide to install one or the other.)

*Also, can it import selected entries, or is that an all or nothing kind of deal?

***

I just watched WIAWSNB and AHBL and wow, Jensen really let the Texas out, didn't he? I still dream of the AU where Jake teams up with Sam and Dean to take the YED down. Sigh. Such a waste of what could have been an awesome character. Also, I miss Ellen. I need to write some Dean/Ellen.

I was also backing up my LJ and came across an old post where I suggested a Supernatural/Y: The Last Man fusion, and seriously, people, why hasn't this been written yet? Either with Dean in Yorick's place and girl!Sam, or where Sam has a vision of the gendercide and magicks himself and Dean into girls so they survive. I am not picky. I just think it'd be AWESOME. Monkeys, pirates, ninjas, lesbians, secret agents, amazons, and zombies! A post-apocalyptic roadtrip around the world! Ridiculous comic book SKIENCE! undertones of hetcest! There is no bad there, people! I mean, you should be reading Y anyway (I am waiting for the next - and possibly last? - TPB to arrive - they keep pushing the date back; it's July 1 now, I think), and soon it will be over so you can read it all at once, and discover how awesome it is for yourself. But add in Sam and Dean (and at least one of them as a girl!) and it'd be EVEN MOAR AWESOME!

Maybe this weekend I will try to marathon s3, and see how it hangs together.

***

I updated unfitforsociety today with 42 recs for June 2008:

* 18 Iron Man (movieverse)
* 13 Supernatural
* 5 crossovers
* 2 The Office
* 1 BSG, 1 HP, 1 Lucifer, and 1 Sarah Connor Chronicles

I also used one of the layouts available to free accounts to redecorate over there: unfitforsociety. Possibly that will assuage my desire to redecorate here, because I am not sure I could deal with that kind of angst, though I did find a couple of layouts I really like: this [and I don't even really like green, so I'd never actually use it, but I find it soothing to look at] and this, in particular. I tried this but it was too narrow and I couldn't see how to widen the entry area. If I do end up switching, it will probably be to this. I did wonder if this would be customizable with purple accents and a header with an orchids graphic, but since I have no idea how that works, I would probably have to commission someone to make me a layout, and I have not reached that point yet.

***

I was going to do some fic coding tonight for my site, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. I am hot and my mosquito bites are very itchy. Last night i had to take a benadryl to sleep because I was so fucking itchy. fucking mosquitoes. we hates them, precious.

***

There was girl!Sam fic today!

Built for Hurricanes
Supernatural; girl!Sam/Dean; au; adult; coda for Mystery Spot; 2,070 words
Wednesday ticks over to Thursday, and Sam thinks maybe she can sleep now.

I'd wanted to write a girl!Sam coda for Mystery Spot since it aired (I've had a file titled "Built for Hurricanes" since then, 'cause I knew that would be the title), but it wasn't until Friday night that I figured out that I should integrate it with the girl!Sam skinnydipping story I wanted to write. Then it all came together, and I really like how it turned out. Though I ended up with "Sink to the Bottom with You" in my head, but I only have it on cassette somewhere. Anyone got a copy? (and also, "Radiation Vibe"?)

***

You know I don't generally talk politics here, but I am doing a little victory dance for Barack Obama. \o/

***

I am procrastinating on writing this porn because the logistics are bothering me - I wrote a very similar scene with the same two characters in a different story, and now I am like, huh, is this too repetitive? - so I have been looking at LJ layouts and communities that provide LJ layouts and I am so confused!

I was going to switch unfitforsociety to one of the themes LJ provides, except of course, all the ones I really like are paid accounts only, and since it is a basic account sans ads, I am not sure I want to upgrade just for that. And also because I am not sure when it reverted to not paid if it would then become a basic account with ads, which is a heaping helping of DO NOT WANT.

But I am way too skittish to test it out here, because I've got this one all customized (you laugh, but if you look at the original theme as provided by LJ and how my LJ actually looks, I did do a lot of tweaking, even if it isn't the kind of layout designing people who actually design layouts do), and I am not sure I could recreate it if I didn't like whatever new thing I picked.

I can see in my head the custom one I want - it's very plain (light to medium grey background, white journal area, black text, purple links; sidebar and icons on the left), and there are a couple existing themes that would do it with tweaking, I think, except I'd need to add the orchids header, which, hi, I don't even have, and I have no idea how that works. I mean, I know there is CSS and you edit it, and it's not like I haven't installed layouts on the Remix comms, 'cause I have. I did. But amberlynne just told me what to do and I did it.

IT IS SO HARD TO BE ME, Y'ALL.

I am also thinking of reorganizing my tags, but then I look at the list and feel fatigued and have to go lie down.

***

Have a poem:

To be a goddess

One summer, amidst rumours of your escape
from your pedestal in the temples of Kumaon,
I saw you high above the conifers
pale arms resting on the mount
you rode so casually
hair like skeins of wool in the wind
bending to let you pass

Even from that great distance
of time and space
your eyes glinted like opaque rivers
on a dark summer evening

and met mine
but gave no answers to questions that rose
like lengthening shadows on dusk covered mountains.

~Saba Saddique

***

*looks at subject line*

I might have to title a story that.

***

RIP Bo Diddley and Yves Saint Laurent.

***

Earlier this week, I dreamt that I made amberlynne redo my LJ layout, to something beige to match this icon. *points up*

Now I am actually considering changing my layout. I realize for some of you, this is a semi-monthly event, but I am very bad with change, and have had two layouts in the six and a half years I've been on LJ (and I've had the same default icon forever). But amberlynne gave me some links to look at, and I've sort of been checking them out, and I think I might want a change. I don't know. I kind of want something white and gray (with black text) with orchids in the header, though it would have to have the sidebar on the left, and most of the space be given to the entries, rather than having it be a skinny column in a big empty space. I prefer icons on the left on my flist, as well. I do a lot of LJing at work, so it can't be too funky, and for the actual journal entry area, I must have decent-sized dark text on a white background. (I also disable the custom comment page and use the default LJ view.)

I dunno. Anyone got any suggestions? I am not going to make any decisions just yet, but I am kind of yearning for something pale and pretty.

***

I am attempting to write (I am actually writing this LJ entry and watching the hockey game - writing during hockey games is iffy at best - it's not like baseball where there are a lot of lulls) this story, and I am having problems choosing how it will go.

So much of writing is choice - whose POV is it in? what tense? what structure? etc. - and right now I am having a hard time figuring out who does what. I know what I think is in character, and what is in character in this particular situation, where things are not the same as they always are, but the story has a certain shape and meaning in my head, and I'm trying to figure out how to best convey that - do they have angsty sex here and then later it is comforting? Or do they not have sex at all here, and later it is a big climax (pun totally intended)? I didn't plan on two sex scenes - didn't plan for there to be that many scenes at all, really, but things are rarely as straightforward as I expect them to be.

I think this is where I have the most problems, where I get stalled out on stories - sometimes there are too many choices, and I don't know how to make them, because I want all of the stories and each choice closes off a particular avenue and way the story could go.

It's much easier when I have a clear idea of how to get where I want to go. Sigh.

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