ilien

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 12:37:40 GMT

"Hey, are you busy right now?" he asks, "I'm not distracting you from anything? No? So, funny story. That mattress we bought for the extra bed? I'm afraid we won't be using it, after all; it got a little damaged."

(c) my father, telling me he almost died in a fucking fire.

"Let's not tell Mum, okay? You know she worries."

Right. And I fucking don't.

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Stoves

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 12:15:08 GMT

My dad's house caught fire at seven o'clock in the morning today: there's a Russian stove that's used for heating, and part of the chimney caught fire (apparently, previous owners had part of the chimney made of wood and we never knew). By some incredible miracle, the smoke woke my dad up early enough for him to be able to put the fire out in time (well, part of the ceiling burned down and the chimney collapsed, but the house is still standing and nobody died or got brain damaged). If it had started an hour earlier, he probably wouldn't have woken up. If it had started a couple of hours later, he wouldn't have been home at all, and the house would have burned down altogether - which is, of course, much better than it burning down with him inside, but pretty awful, as well. As it was, it took a few buckets of water and a lot of stress because at some point the fire was spreading faster than he was putting it out.

He's okay and the house is relatively whole, just some minor repairs needed. He won't even get too cold without the stove, because the other stove is undamaged and has a separate chimney; he's only a little inconvenienced by the smell. Going to the city because the house nearly burned down, until the repairs are complete? Out of the question.

In the meantime, last week I was visiting my mother and discovered that her entire apartment smelled like natural gas. She doesn't have the sense of smell, so for how long the gas leak had been there, is anyone's guess - since just after my brother's last visit, for all we know. The leak is in her gas stove, but she refuses to immediately buy a new one, because A Lot Of Reasons, and keeps using the leaky one, just turns the gas on and off where it enters the stove (I don't know the English words for that) every time she needs to cook.

a) How the hell did those two people manage to raise two reasonably functioning children?
b) What the fuck, what the actual fuck?
c) I almost got orphaned twice this year (at least twice, there must be things they aren't telling me) and it's not even mid-February. Can I get a hug please?

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Snowflake Challenge: friending meme

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 15:24:24 GMT

Names I go by: ilien, ili
Other Places I Can Be Found:
Tumblr: here
AO3: here
Livejournal: I’ve got an LJ account, but it’s only used for DW reposts; I don’t read my friends page there.

The fannish platform(s) I am most active on is/are: I browse Tumblr mindlessly all the time and post my fics on AO3 when I write them. I’m eager to be on DW more if it gets more active.

My main contribution(s) to fandom is/are: writing and reading fanfiction, an occasional meta when I have something to say
Link(s) to my Masterlist(s): My fics on AO3

Fandom(s) I enjoy:
My favorite people/characters in this/these fandom(s) are: Right now I’m obsessed with The Witcher, and when I’m obsessed, everything else takes second place. Some of the “everything else”: Star Trek (TOS, AOS, TNG, DS9, occasionally Ent, Discovery, hopefully Picard?), Stargate SG1, MCU (Captain America, Thor, The Avengers /last minutes of Endgame never happened/, Daredevil, Jessica Jones), X-Men reboot movies, Yuri on Ice, Leverage (it’s my comfort show), Highlander the series, Babylon5, Doctor Who (2005), Grimm, Hawaii 5-0, Max Frei.
Pairing(s)/grouping(s) I ship within this/these fandom(s) is/are: Geralt/Jaskier(I’m working on my OT3 feelings here, but I’m not there yet), Kirk/Spock/McCoy in any combination, Garak/Bashir, Archer/Tucker/Reed in any combination, Jack/Daniel, Tony/Steve/Bucky/Sam in any combination as long as Steve is there, Matt/Foggy, Charles/Erik, Eliot/Parker/Hardison, Duncan/Methos, Susan/Talia/Marcus in any combination, Nick/Sean/(Juliette), Steve/Danny (how are they not canon at this point?), Max/Shurf, basically any ship in Yuri on Ice.

The type(s) of fanwork(s) I consume the most is/are: fic, fanvids, gifsets, meta discussions
Fanwork tropes/clichés I enjoy are: fix-its for everything bad in canon, polyamory if it’s a trope, mutual pining, crossovers, angst with a happy ending and a looooot of other things I can’t even list because there are too many.

Non-fandom things I enjoy:
Watercolors. All of them. I’m pretty awful at painting and will never be anything than a beginner, but I have a lot of feelings for watercolors and watercolor painting.

I post/want to post mostly about: Currently? The Witcher. Like I said, I’m crazy about it right now, it’s a phase. In general - my current fandom of choice, mostly, and some RL rambling.

One thing I am good at: not replying to comments due to social anxiety? I’ve got lots of experience, can provide references.

Other things I want to share about myself: I go through phases: get obsessed and can’t talk about anything else for weeks, write some fanfiction and get active in fandom, and then one day some offline stuff happens, I lose interest and vanish off the face of the Earth. Then I get obsessed again - with something new or with one of the old things, you can never know - and dive back into fandom, and then I lose interest. When I’m not active, I still read my dash and my reading page and talk to people in private, of course, but I just don’t have anything to say in public fandom spaces and don’t interact much until my new obsession hits me.

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SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #14

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 15:22:55 GMT

In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) What makes it particularly appealing for you? What do you like in fanworks featuring that trope?

I think in my posts from previous years I talked about my love to crossovers and polyamory. So, today I'll say a few words about canon-compliant fix-its.

Because canon can be awful fandom does it better, we all know that.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #13

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 10:23:08 GMT

In your own space, create a fanwork.

I mentioned a Highlander crossover in one of my previous posts, and it looked like at least someone is as interested as I am. So, I wrote this.

Not my best work, I guess, but I'm so excited to be writing again!

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #8

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 10:26:05 GMT

Rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.

One of my favourite prompts of the challenge and I am NOT prepared. I mean, I usually have at least a few dozen favourite fics in my recent obcession, but I've been into The Witcher for only a few days, and the fandom is still very young, so my bookmark list so far looks pretty much exactly like the first two pages of the fandom tag on AO3 sorted by kudos, but that's because I haven't had the time to venture further. So, I'll have to do with what I had before a week ago, I guess, although when I hit a new fandom I can barely think of anything else for a while.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #7

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 15:45:01 GMT

Promote/Rec/Sing the Praises of Yourself!

I kind of liked this particular challenge the last few times I did it. I either had things to brag about - new fics, mostly, or had a couple of people to back me up when I asked to tell me I'm great :) It was nice. I dropped out of active participation in fandom over the past couple of years and didn't achieve anything significant in my offline life, either. Well, in 2018 I did the "draw every day" challenge for about six months, but last year I didn't even do that. I collected a nice collection of expensive art supplies, though, thanks to my generous family and friends. Not much of an achievement.

So, here are some of the nice things past-me contributed to fandom, even if present-me has nothing to brag about.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #6

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 14:54:27 GMT

In your own space, make a list — anything between one and ten things is a sweet spot, but don't feel constrained by that! - of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, or that you'd like someone to make for you. Are you dying for podfic of your writing? Do you need icons for a character that doesn't get much fanart? Is there a story you want to read? Are you looking for new canons to get into? Would you like a collaborator for a project?

Maybe you want more people to talk about a certain fandom with, or you'd love to trade ficlets with somebody over email. Maybe you're new to a fandom and would like some recs to start reading, or communities to join. This is the time to ask!

Now is quite a few days past the time, but since it's never too late for this challenge, here goes.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #4

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 23:12:21 GMT

I really apologise to all the three people who still have me on their Reading page and don't get any posts from me over the entire year - and then get spammed with THIS. I'm sorry. I love you guys, you're awesome.

I'm skipping #3 for now, because I don't really have anything to say that I didn't say (here is one of my older posts for the same challenge) before.

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

Every time I do this, pretty much every year since 2014, one of the tasks I set for myself is to write more. It worked out great in 2017, I have to admit, but not so much all the other years. And I also set the task to finish at least one of my abandoned WIPs - and I still haven't done that. I also haven't brushed up my French or my Swedish and now I'm looking into Greek (can you predict how well that will work out? I can) and never got more active in fandom. I did, however, rearrange my work schedule as I had planned in 2017 - and that's probably somehow connected to how productive I was that year.

Did I draw any conclusions from that and changed the way I set goals for myself?

Not really.

So, for 2020 I'd like to:

1. Write at least one nice fic that makes at least one person smile.

2. Finish one of my WIPs or stop worrying about them.

3. Set up that painting account or start sharing my watercolour paintings in one of my existing online places. I'm not sure which one is better.

4. Finish that work-related WIP, get my money, or not get it, and forget all about it because it's become almost paralysing for my entire life now.

5. Be a little more active in something non-work related, be it artist community, fandom, some offline fun or just talking to my friends. I've been bad at socialising these past few years; more anxious than before and much less communicative; I've even stopped replying to comments on my own fics, which is awful of me. I should try to do better.

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #2

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 22:11:43 GMT

In your own space, talk about your fannish history.

Like I said in the precious post, one of my first loves was Highlander. Duncan/Methos was my gateway drug into English-speaking fandom, and fandom in general, in fact, if you don't count my first fandom that didn't really call itself a fandom (it was one, none the less, but things were quite different then and there).

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #1

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 20:43:37 GMT

I'm doing this almost two weeks later, but I didn't have the time or the energy to do this earlier, and I'm not sure I have them now, but I was really looking forward to Fandom Snowflake last year, so I'm going to give it a try. Challenges not coming out every day this year is, indeed, a blessing.

In your own space, introduce yourself!

Oh, so hey there. I'm Ilien, or ili. It's okay to spell my name without the capital i, because I'd rather you spelled ilien than Llien, Alien, Llen, or anything else along those lines.

I'm sometimes a writer, occasionally a member of some fannish communities, very rarely an artist and always a lurker. Even when I don't write anything for years and don't even log in to leave kudos, I still read a lot of fanfiction and send my mental good wishes to everyone in the fandom.

I'm a multifandom multishipper with a lot of beloved fandoms and ships and very few NOTPs; if given a choice I prefer polyamory over any other kind of ships and happy endings over deep meaning. I also believe that it's much easier to make a person cry than to make them laugh, and a realistic happy ending is much harder to write than an equally realistic tragedy, and when I'm writing my own stories, I do my best to make the ending at least a little hopeful.

I've got so many universes I'm in love with that it's almost impossible to list all of them, but my first loves were Max Frei and Highlander the TV show, while the fandom that inspired me to write at my best was Yuri on Ice, and the world where I would watch almost anything is Star Trek. My favourite captain is Picard (this is being written mid-January 2020, so I haven't seen the Picard TV show), my favourite Trek show is TOS, and favourite Trek character is Julian Bashir. As for other fandoms, my favourite Star Wars episode is probably 6, my favourite Doctor is Nine, but I prefer Martha Jones to all other companions; my favourite characters of all times are Methos, Susan Ivanova and Minami Kenjiro; my favourite MCU movie is the second Thor (unpopular opinion, I know), and my most beloved villain is MCU Loki.

Right now I'm on a hiatus from writing, because I've got a huge work project that's taking all my writing energy, and I don't have any left for writing for myself, but hopefully, one day I'll be finished with that one and get back to being more active in fandom. For now, Hi! Nice to meet you!

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 - DAY 9

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 17:46:30 GMT

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Oooh, I love this part! It always lets me think back on the year and pick the fics I want to share the most!

This year, it's especially great, because although in 2017 I only wrote for one fandom, I managed to write a lot; much more than I did any other year. Not all of it is ready to be posted yet, but I really love most of the stories I've shared. So, here.

The fandom I've been writing for recently is Yuri on Ice. I'm eternally grateful to this universe for everything it did for me in 2017, and one of the things it did was pulling me out of my writer's block.

1. My favourite fic of mine, for 2017, surprisingly, isn't the one that got the most attention. I love all of my worlds, of course, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to write them, but Benefits and Convenience has a special place in my heart. It's a Yuri Plisetsky/Kenjirou Minami fake marriage fic with kittens, pokemons and caramel. It's happy and light-hearted, and I had a lot of fun writing it.

2. The fic (or, rather, a series of two fics) that didn't get as much attention as I would have wanted it to get was the last thing I finished in 2017, written as a gift for Phayte. Celebrations is a series of stories about birthdays and winter holidays in St.Petersburg. I kind of have an idea for continuing it, but for now, there are two stories in the series: a fic about Yuuri celebrating his birthday, written for Phayte's birthday, and a story about Viktor and Yuuri going to Viktor's mothers to celebrate his birthday and the New Year, with a lot of food, Russian amounts of snow, and a bit of happily resolved angst - that story was a Secret Santa gift, again, for Phayte.

3. And another giftfic. This one is a little cracky, since it was a rather contextual New Year gift for Eveth_21, and its reception from the rest of the fandom had me pretty puzzled: with fewer than a hundred people having read it, almost half of them left kudos. I've never seen anything like that happen before to my fics. Random JJ Generator is a gen story about Yuri, the Russian team, and a trolling vending machine, told from Yakov's point of view. JJ doesn't make a personal appearance in this fic, but still manages to make Yuri very, very angry.

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 - DAY 7

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 19:32:37 GMT

In your own space, create a love meme for yourself. Let people tell you how amazing and awesome and loveable you really are. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Surf the comments and find people to give love to.

I'm great, right?

I mean, there's bound to be at least one person who thinks so?

Or, alternatively, I sometimes write half-decent fics. Should be good enough.

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 - DAY 5

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 22:54:52 GMT

Recommend a fannish or creative resource. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I've got this ridiculous tumblr blog no one needs except for me: iliwrites. I use it to reblog posts with helpful writing advice, to keep all of them in one handy place.

Here are some useful things:

A huge selection of links for writers. Writing advice, libraries, software, dictionaries, and more.

Some resources for the writers who are struggling with naming their characters. Everyone has that problem.

How to write (just about anyone). A leader, an asshole, a vampire, a pyromaniac, a hippie - pretty much anyone you can think of.

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 – DAY 4

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 22:35:27 GMT

In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. And if you grant a wish, do the same thing!

1. Highlander crossovers. All the Highlander crossovers in the world, with everything under the sun. There's no universe that can't be a Highlander crossover. How about a Yuri on Ice crossover with Victor being Immortal and Yakov his adopted son?

2. Can someone rec me their favorite Duncan/Methos fics? I know there are a lot of them, but since most of them aren't on AO3, I'm having a hard time finding even those I've already read.

3. Yuri on Ice polyships of all kinds. It's such a perfect fandom for beautiful polyamory stories, videos and pictures! And it's not that there aren't many of them already (I'm not the only one who noticed all the possibilities), but you can't have too many, right?

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 DAY 3

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 18:34:16 GMT

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is always a very hard task. How can I pick just three? They're all awesome, just check out my AO3 bookmarks page; there isn't a single not-awesome fic there, okay?

Oh, well.

( Yuri on Ice, Agent Carter, and an original fic )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 DAY 2

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 12:58:27 GMT

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I can't pick just one of them, there have been so many. So, I'll pick three.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2018 - DAY 1

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 19:44:04 GMT

In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think my first Snowflake Challenge was in 2014; that makes 2018 my fifth challenge. Some years, I did all (or almost all) daily challenges and had a lot of discussions over them, and some years, like last year, I barely managed two or three before offline life overtook me and didn't leave me enough time to even answer the comments to my own posts, let alone to do anything more.

I started doing it back in 2014 because I wanted to be more active in fandom, any fandom (before that, I hardly did anything social in fandom and would stick to lurking and posting an odd fic here and there), and a low-pressure challenge that coincided almost completely with my winter break seemed like a perfect opportunity. I can say that it didn't disappoint; I met a lot of great people while participating in the challenge, and that, eventually, helped me to become more active in other corners of fandom.

Over the years, I've had the chance to speak about a lot of fandom things that are important to me, have lots of great discussions and meet an astonishing number of amazing people. I look forward to the challenge every year; even the years I practically failed to participate, I looked forward to it quite a lot, and was deeply disappointed that I failed to get enough free time to actually write anything. It's my favorite event of the year.

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Sat, 30 Dec 2017 21:34:57 GMT

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE - DAY 3

Tue, 03 Jan 2017 22:36:31 GMT

Day 03

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2017 - DAY 02

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 23:50:56 GMT

Day 2

In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think I just spent an entire day trying to make up my mind on what to talk about over here, and I thought I failed. There have been so many.

When I started writing this post, however, I realized that there's this one author that did, in fact, both inspire and enrage me.

( Read more... )

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FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE 2017 - DAY 01

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 12:25:07 GMT

Day 1

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I didn't write anything in 2016, so all of my recs are going to be for older fics. However, I posted two of these in early 2016, so, they're new for Fandom Snowflake.

All Love is my Talia&Marcus, pre-Susan/Talia/Marcus Babylon5 fic, written for last year's Fandom Stocking. It's one of my favorite fics of mine now, and I'm hoping to some day write a sequel or two: I adore this ship, and, seeing I'm the only one on AO3 who's writing it, I'll have to write more. This particular story opens the door to how the three characters could even exist at the same time in the same place, so now I can technically write anything, can't I?

Resignation is a Nick/Sean Grimm fic, again, written for last year's Fandom Stocking. It's one of my favorite fics of mine, as well, and my favorite of mine for this ship. I still wonder why another fic of mine in this fandom got more love; I think this one was the best.

Five Gods (there are two short fics and two outtakes) is an ancient (and I mean ancient) series of mine. It was a silly joke, but I still kind of like it. Also, one of my guesses turned out right, which is what made me rec it here this year :)

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Yay!

Fri, 02 Dec 2016 13:24:08 GMT

My ISP unblocked Dreamwidth again (they still block and unblock it pretty much randomly) right in time for fandom_stocking! I'm not sure I'll be able to contribute much this year, but I'm still signing up, and I'm going to try to write something.

I'm so happy it's back!

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Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:50:59 GMT

During my first art lesson, my art teacher mentioned that everyone who wants to become an artist needs to make some art (draw, in my case) every day, at least an hour a day.

Every book on academic writing starts with "if you're not willing to write every day, leave this book, it's not gonna help you".

Everyone who feels entitled to give writing advice to fic writers tends to start with "write every day".

When one starts learning a language, "practice every day" is pretty much the only piece of advice they get from everyone.

I like drawing. I enjoy writing. I like learning languages. That's supposed to be three hours a day if I go for one language at a time.

I suppose it must be great to be a person who can dedicate their attentions to just one thing and actually do it for an hour every day. I, myself, am incapable of that, and I don't have three hours of free time a day to do everything I want to do, let alone some more time for new things that catch my attention. Which is why I spend my free hour every night playing World of Warcraft. At least it never tells me I'm not trying hard enough.

Yeah, I know it's petty and silly of me to be discouraged by something like that.

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Writing, or none at all

Sun, 17 Jul 2016 19:33:31 GMT

So, in the past few months I've written exactly one drabble for the GenpromptBingo. I also brainstormed a few ideas for other prompts in the line, but never got around to writing anything.

Now I'm (hopefully, not entirely guaranteed yet) in for a vacation, and I'm planning to at least try to remember how to write. It's been a very exhausting year, and last time I took a week off and went to the country, all I could do was lie in bed and stare at the celling, listening to the birds. Granted, they're pretty nice birds, but this time I'll be frustrated if this is all I manage to accomplish. Which is why I'm trying to put together all my unfulfilled plans for fanfics - or, at least, ones I still have the desire to fulfill. Perhaps that will help me get my inspiration once I'm out of the city.

( Read more... )

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