An update, and some updates

[starfishstar]

If you look at the post previous to this one, you can see I've been updating my recs list. This is actually something I'm always updating, in a low-key way. It's just gotten to be a bit more of pain to do, because I'm the kind of weirdo who is still determined to keep everything on DW and LJ an accurate mirror of each other, not to mention the Word doc version I keep as a back-up, so every update has to be performed in triplicate... One day, I will find a way to streamline this process yet still satisfy my inner perfectionist, but we're not there yet.

Anyway! My recs are mostly Harry Potter, but I've also got sections for a few other fandoms, which is the part I've been updating. (Especially Merlin, somehow – I seem to have stumbled across great new pockets of Merlin fic, even all these years after the show aired.) I've also been reading enough Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries that I really need to make a recs section for that one of these days. And I secretly have so, so, so many BBC Sherlock recs, offline, but I'm not sure I'll ever manage to collate them into a recs list online, at least while I'm still actively reading in the fandom. Again, because the updating is so laborious. (Is it only me, but...formatting on LJ was always such a pain, but in some ways it's even harder on DW...?) 

But anyway. Blah blah blah, me and my tech unsavviness! ;-)

Real life has been some really bad family illness stuff (I'll probably talk about that eventually, just don't feel like getting into it right now) and because of that, I've actually moved back to the US and will be finishing my master's from there. But, because I left Europe so precipitously, I'm now back again for a shorter visit, to finish up some business here (including research for the master's) as well as for a friend's wedding! So I was in Iceland, now Germany, then Scotland and then hopefully Sweden for the research. It's never boring...

I'm hoping my somewhat increased availability will let me sign up for Holmestice, and maybe Yuletide too. As I've had (very) slightly more free time, I've tentatively allowed myself to start a couple of fics again – though it's more an "add a few paragraphs every couple of weeks" type thing. As usual, of course, it's all very obscure things that no one will want to read ;-) ...but at this point I think I'm simply embracing my chosen obscurity! (Thing like genfic about minor Harry Potter characters, or a Tonks-centric F/F fic.)

That's all for now, I think. Hello from Germany, soon to be Scotland.

Comments

[trobadora]

*waves from Germany to Germany*

It's great to see you around! And I hope you do manage to sign up for Holmestice and Yuletide. :)

[starfishstar]

Ha, ja, stimmt! Hallihallo! I didn't think to ask what part of Germany you're in (if you care to share that) – it's too late now, since I'm leaving again, but it would be funny if you were in Berlin. :-)

I really hope to sign up for Yuletide, though it'll be my first time, and I've always found the instructions dauntingly complex – one of those things where I'm sure it's easy once you've done it once before, but hard to figure out if you haven't!

[trobadora]

Hallöchen! :)

I'm pretty far from Berlin - I'm down south in Bavaria. But if you're ever anywhere around here, it would be cool to meet you.

I'm happy to help with Yuletide - just hit me up when things get going. The instructions are only complex because they have to cover a lot of edge cases, but the basics are really simple. :)

[starfishstar]

True, yes, that is quite the other end of the country! (I was even further north on this trip, too, because my friend's wedding location was up in Meck-Pomm...)

I really appreciate your offer of help with Yuletide, and I may well take you up on that! I had a look at the FAQ and it's actually not as convoluted as I remembered, but I may still ask for help. Thank you. :-)

[scfrankles]

Feeling a little smug - I've never had any problems with the formatting on either LJ or DW ^__^

I'm so sorry real life hasn't been treating you and yours entirely positively at the moment. But I hope the wedding went well, and Scotland and Sweden go equally well.

And I hope to see you and your obscure fics at Holmestice, and perhaps at Yuletide too - I'm just considering whether or not I might give it a go ^___^

[starfishstar]

Ha, smug are you? ;-) I don't know why it's always such a struggle – weird formatting always creeps in out of nowhere, and then I have to go into the HTML version and fix it, and most of the time it changes back to the wrong version again anyway... Both LJ and DW just hate me I guess!

Me and my obscure fics...Holmestice really is a good place for us isn't it? I was SO happy last time when I finally felt up to the challenge of offering obscure fandoms, and I will merrily continue to do the same!

Ooh, please do Yuletide! I'm planning to try it this year for the first time ever, and I would love to know someone else doing it. I think so far Trobadora is the only person I know. :-)

Edited to add: Meant to say, thank you for your sympathy! Real life stuff sucks right now, but I had a wonderful time in Berlin; am now in Scotland working hard; and just booked my research trip to Sweden. Yay!

[scfrankles]

I really think I might have a go at Yuletide - I'm feeling quite excited about it now ^__^

Btw, I saw your question on the official Yuletide post but I thought I'd reply here because I don't want to get in the way of the people who really know their stuff.

But looking at the FAQ on AO3 for Yuletide 2018, it says:

Requests

...For each fandom, you can request 0 to 4 (nominated) characters.

If you request 0 characters, your writer is allowed to write about any of the nominated characters they want, or about the fandom universe in general. You may not request 0 characters and then insist on specific characters (nominated or not) in your optional details. [My bolding.]

So, unless I'm misunderstanding this, it looks like--whether any characters have been nominated for the tag set or not--you can simply request 0 characters for a fandom in your sign-up and that gives your assigned writer carte blanche to use anyone in the whole fandom.

[starfishstar]

Ooh, yes, do it do it! I'd love to be able to cheer you on, and just generally to know another person who's doing it. :-) I'm curious what you're thinking of nominating, if you care to share?

True, good catch, that phrasing does make it seem pretty clear that if I don't request any characters, then the writer is allowed to write about nominated characters...or anything else as well. Over at the Yuletide post, the consensus seems to be that I should use the "optional details" section to make explicit that I really am open to any characters, whether nominated or not.

I actually *did* end up nominating some characters, because why not add to the options on offer, but I still think it would be fun to have my request be like: here's a sketch show that's run for seven series, six episodes each, almost never a repeating character in any of those...GO WILD. :-)

[scfrankles]

...here's a sketch show that's run for seven series, six episodes each, almost never a repeating character in any of those...GO WILD. :-) Sounds good ^__^ And hopefully your assigned writer will take you up on it ^_____^

I've just finally made my three nominations. Had quite a shock re one of the fandoms when the AO3 canonical tag came up as a suggestion - last time I looked there was nothing there, but now there's one solitary fic ^___^ Anyway, I doubt my choices will be your kind of thing but here they are:

Dear Ladies (TV)
Restless Natives (1985)
The Small Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter (Radio) [This is the one that has broken its duck on AO3 ^^]

Dear Ladies and Restless Natives are from my childhood and adolescence. I would hesitate to recommend either to you - there's a lot of nostalgia going on there ^^" I've written all the Dear Ladies fics on AO3 and I would love to read one by someone else. And Restless Natives has no online fics at all - my 17 year old self would have been thrilled if she'd been able to read any.

Gerald C Potter is from the late '70s but I actually only started listening to it in recent years. I love the relationship between the two central characters, Gerald C Potter and his wife Diana "Magnolia Badminton" Potter - he's an author who writes murder mysteries and she's an author who writes romantic novels. They make for a kind of domestic comedy double act ^__^

[starfishstar]

I'll totally look those up! I *love* how mindbogglingly obscure and diverse Yuletide nominations are – like, I look at what people have nominated, and most of it I've never even heard of, much less read/seen. What a cool premise it is for an exchange. (All my nomination ideas felt so tame and mainstream in comparison!)