Thoughts on the Journey

I've seen a number of people doing snowflake_challenge and I like the idea of it as my writing is something that's a huge part of me.

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.

Too Deep to Wash Away (2006 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Becoming Jane (2007)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jane Austen/Tom Lefroy
Characters: Jane Austen, Tom Lefroy, Henry Austen, Cassandra Austen, Reverend Austen, Judge Langlois, Mrs. Austen
Additional Tags: Fix-It, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Siblings, Family, Love, Happy Ending, Writing
Summary:

In this story, I have done my best to give Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy a happy ending within the confines of their world. They both try to proceed with their lives but luck changes and their families try to help them be happy.

Henry married and Tom received a letter but no invitation which wasn’t a surprise. Within that letter, Henry wrote a line that struck Tom more than he thought words could do as he said; My sisters are as ever themselves though more quietly. I will not speak much of them but her words will appear, my friend.

This is also a gift to Jen who's words inspire me.

This is my fix-it fic for Becoming Jane and its one I'm proud of as I felt like it would fit within the time. Austen is a favorite author of mine and being able to capture some of that wit and manners of the Regency Era was a large challenge of writing this one.

The City's Call (3200 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Warehouse 13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Secord/Rebecca St. Clair
Characters: Jack Secord, Rebecca St. Clair
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Established Relationship, Boarding School, New York City
Summary:

Jack and Rebecca are called into a case at Somersby Academy, a boys' boarding school just north of New York City, where they have to figure out what Artifact is making the boys act like addicts.

“I don’t want to miss anything, any connection, that’s what we’re doing. Reaching out and finding things and yeah, sometimes that means we go looking down in the City, but it’s the City. We’re allowed.”

This fic was the first time I ever wrote a case fic and I loved how it turned out, still one of the stories I'm proudest of.

Victor's Son (1811 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Relationships: Sabriel/Touchstone
Characters: Prince Sameth, Ellimere (Old Kingdom), Touchstone (Old Kingdom), Sabriel (Old Kingdom)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Character Death, Death References, Family
Summary:

This story came about as I wondered how the characters of The Old Kingdom who are incredibly tied to duty and death would fit in the world of the Hunger Games. One of the ways Sameth is defined is by his difficulty with death and killing, which is an even greater hurdle in Panem. This is the story of his games.

Everything was a prop or a weapon, Sam knew that, had been trained it since he was a boy, be wary and know that death can come from anywhere.

I rarely write fusions or AUs, but the idea for this story came almost whole cloth to me but its one my fics that I think lands in an odd place. Sameth isn't the most popular character in the Old Kingdom fandom and its an odd combination, but I'm proud of how I was able to combine these two complex worlds and keep Sam himself.

My mind was a rather strange place last night as I dreamed that I was not Batman and not exactly Bryce Wayne but someone in between. I was investigating something at a girl's boarding school that reminded me of the main castle in Prague. As in there was the entire little city in this small space, it was a claustrophobic sort of dream. Also at some point in the dream, I turned into a student who was lost and couldn't figure anything out.

I'm pretty sure I know why I had such a dream, that was because last night I watched the season finale of Hannibal and then before going to bed finished reading The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie and there were unexpected parallels going on.

( Spoilers for Hannibal, entire season and A.B.C Murders )

Otherwise, I'm finding it weird to not be heading off to work and so am spending a lot of my time writing and preparing to head to the ALA conference in Chicago from June 27th to July 1st. I'm excited and scared as I know there's more I need to be doing to really be at my best for looking for a job. I have blog posts that I should get writing but mainly that words I keep getting at the moment are fandom ones. I did get some minicards made up for myself, which I love. They have all my pertinent information on them and as my Wordpress blog is pretty much my digital portfolio, they should work.

On Wednesday, I went to the Detroit Zoo and had an amazing time, it was wonderful to just wander around and enjoy the crowds of kids and the beautiful weather. The only annoying part was that when I was trying to get a picture of the prairie dogs, I missed where the concrete changed and skinned my elbow and acquired a nice bruise on my knee. I'm still a little sore since I didn't fall all the way down, I took a major bump. I think I might end up doing another post with just those pictures or at least some of my favorites for those who don't follow me elsewhere to see them.

In terms of fandom writing, I wrote a femslash piece for the Marvel Femslash Prompt Fest, its a little out of my normal round but the prompt clicked for me. Harder than Steel, which is Raven/Emma and explicit.

Today has also been a busy day as the DE was a prompt one and I wrote a number of fics, some of I might expand out and I'm still open for more prompts there.

It was also FicFriday over on Twitter and I'm still taking prompts there as well.
( Twitter Fics )

My original plan for today was to go out somewhere either to the DIA or the Detroit Zoo, but instead I slept in wonderfully long and late. It turns out that I needed it and then I went and enjoyed a nice lunch. I opened up my package from my parents which had homemade chocolate-hazelnut brownies, which are delicious, lovely earrings with a circle of red and blue glass and a pile of Agatha Christie mysteries. One of them is a Poirot, which I recently bought for myself to reread as I was having a kind of craving for it. I love that we think that much alike. Early, my mother also sent me a Lush gift card which I haven't used yet but have ideas for.

Tomorrow if the weather's nice, I will head out to the zoo and then next week will be odd but good. None of the last days are actually full days so Friday really was my last full day of school. It was a nice day, chaotic and fun and it struck me how I've made an impression, the head of maintenance just kept talking to me about the history of the school and his experiences. And after work when I was eating a sandwich, two high school kids saw me and checked in. I think that might have been because one I was gone for so long and two because my eyes watering and contacts being horrible made it seem like I might have been crying. Other people checked in with me too, it was a good day. I'll probably have more feelings as time goes on but for now, I can look back at this year and be thankful for what I've learned and the trust put in me by the kids and others at the school. Wherever I go next, I'm to quote Wicked changed for good.

I realized due to heading off on my roadtrip that I never got around to writing up last Friday's fics and I ended up doing some this Friday as well. Its going to be a long list.

( Twitter Fics )

My break is off to a nice start. On my drive down, I had a wonderful stop with muji where we had lunch and ice cream and a great time talking. The timing for getting off the road was perfect and hope its not too long before we can talk again. Then the rest of the drive went well and I ended up watching Thor with my parents. They ended up liking it, my mother more than my father, which make sense. He doesn't like movies with fast cuts, but my mom wants to see all the other films in that verse.

Yesterday was very full as there was a progressive Easter dinner, appetizers at a house a block over then the main meal at my parents' house and dessert. It was delicious food, good company and I kept getting all sorts of interesting advice on how to deal with my work stuff. A real range from speak your truth and get out of there to you just have to put up with this kind of stuff at times. Its given me a lot to think about.

After I finish this post, I'm going to walk into town for some lunch and tonight, there might be an EP of someone. I'm just enjoying feeling relaxed and that I don't have to do anything.

Since I was on the road on Friday, I spent the night in my hotel writing a lot of Friday Fic.
( FicFriday )

Life is feeling nice. I've got a plan for heading back to work. I'm going to do my best, they've given me goals, I'll reach them and keep on doing what I think the library needs as well.

Then at the end of March, I get a slightly longer break in which I hope to try and see people and get to visit NYC. My visit with dodger_sister was wonderful, lots of lazing about. I'm now someone that her cats know, which makes me incredibly happy. Then I came home to a package of goodies from ladyoflorien and my place, it feels nice to have another night to rest and prepare myself before going back to work.

I introduced her to Becoming Jane which prompted me to finally finish a fix-it fic for it as well as some EPs. I got to thread Tom and Jane with dynastessa again and it was painful and lovely. Now I just need someone to beta it for me. Anyone up for betaing a post-canon Becoming Jane fic, its only about 1700 words?

I've also been catching up on Boardwalk Empire and I love it. My free HBO thing ran out but while I had it, I happened to watch a good chunk on the third season. I'll be honest, the first reason I stayed watching was Charlie Cox being Irish and dangerous, then the story pulled me in. I'm in the midst of seeing the second season and need to get the music and possibly buy the DVDs. I could play Margaret Thompson as her journey is painful but she keeps finding a way.

This meme is floating around and I love the idea of it. Last seen at ashen_key:

Tell me about stories you think I should write. I mean, if you could sit me down for a day or whatever and say, "Ok, I want you to write this story for me," what would that story be?

I'm not actually promising to *write* any of these, mind you, but it's fun anyway. And who knows if I'll be inspired!

Yesterday was a good FicFriday with a theme of horses for the millirodeo.
( Horses on Twitter )

Title: Being Respectable
Characters: Jane Austen, Tom Lefroy
Fandom: Becoming Jane
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me.
Summary: Written as a gift for dynastessa who requested: Please write me a ridiculously sap-filled story about Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen.
This story is Jane and Tom enjoying a wonderful evening together after throwing a card party in London. Set sometime after the fix-it fic that I will finish. I hope you like it, Jen.

( She had talked of novels with many of the women and politics with everyone, they were helping London to see all that they could do. Though they would do it their way, because the way everything worked now wasn’t right. )

I've been running ever so slightly late for work this week and the last as all the stress of what I have to get done has been catching up with me. Today I took that as a sign and didn't go into work, which was what I needed. I've slept in and been able to knock a couple of things off my to do list. I now have more contacts, have ordered a really lovely pair of glasses though glasses are my back ups but still, these are cute and an investment.

Hello to everyone from the friending meme, I figure I should tell you something about myself now I'm not in as bad a place as I was yesterday.

-In September I started a job as a middle/high school librarian in a small independent school in the Michigan suburbs after spending a year looking for a job and living in Ann Arbor. I got my MSI degree at UoM and stayed there in the hopes of finding something. I write a lot about this job as the school hasn't had a full time librarian for a couple of years so I'm helping to define the position while I work. This is exciting and stressful and takes up a good bit of space here. If you'd like more context on my work, I have a librarian blog and my work tag is cowboy school.

-The other thing that takes up a good part of my time is milliways_bar, a panfandom roleplaying game that I've been at since February 2006 or 2007, I'd have to check my dates. Milliways is one of my happiest places on the web and I'll often write about it on here as well as Milliways' specific fic. Over there I roleplay Will Scarlett from Robin Hood legends, Charles Xavier from X-Men: First Class, Sameth from the Abhorsen Chronicles, William Evans from 3:10 to Yuma, Moist von Lipwig from Discworld, Demeter from Greek Mythology, Jane Austen from Becoming Jane, Tumnus from Narnia, mainly book with some movie influences and The Pirate King from The Pirates of Penzance, 1983 Kevin Kline flavor.

-In terms of writing, I love finding ficathons to write for but often will be working on various pieces. The current fandom I'm writing the most for is X-Men: First Class because Charles Xavier creates far too many plot bunnies for me. I also roleplay him in Milliways and his point of view fits me. I've been lately getting into fic exchanges as I love them. This is my fourth year doing Yuletide, my second doing ineedmyfics and my first year doing the Narniaficexchange and I plan on doing more as writing for someone else makes me happy. Whenever I see a prompt meme that I like, it ends up on my journal and I try to fill all of them though sometimes they get lost.

-I grew up outside Philadelphia and consider myself an East Coaster though I've spent the last three years in Ann Arbor and have started a new job in Michigan. I love to travel and have lived abroad in New Zealand.

I think that's all for now. Two quick holiday reminders. If you would like a card and your address has changed or I've never sent you one before comment here and if you would like a gift fic comment here. I can't promise that either of them will get done by Christmas but they will happen.

It looks like Sandy might cause some trouble with getting my stuff out of Delaware and that might mean some more nights in the hotel.

I'm feeling kind of silly because I keep missing Slenderplot stuff, DW, you need to give me notifs when I track a thread. I do love how the plot is going and I need to remember to write a William OOM covering him getting a door and heading home since he's not involved in the endgame at all.

At the moment, I'm feeling tired but excited. Even if I don't move into my apartment this week, I will sign the lease and get the key and soon it will be mine. Then I can get out of this weird limbo.

In other good news, I'm just about finished with a big librarian blog post about this new job and it feels wonderful to write up all that I've done. I need to keep reminding myself that its only the end of the second month and that I'm still sorting out getting my own place to live. I've made a lot of progress.

Yesterday I didn't head into school and messed up telling who I needed to, there are still many things I need to organize for work, but I have some great allies there. That makes me hopeful, I have connected.

Another fun part of yesterday was that FicFriday was busy and I wrote a lot.

( Many Twitterfics )

My body is being unhelpful this week, I didn't go to work on Thursday because I woke up feeling wobbly. Yesterday went okay but today I'm back to feeling out of it as my head hurts and I can't seem to find where my energy's gone off to. I apologize if I'm too quiet or snap a little bit, I haven't been feeling my best, but I'm trying to take care of myself.

I'm also worrying about lots of things even though I think I'm doing okay at work, there's just a lot to do. I have an idea for a librarian blog post of what I've done and what's in the works for this first month, but need to check with my supervisors if I should write it. As I'd like to use that blog to record some of the changes and things I notice at the school and my journey as I figure out how to do this. Writing is what helps me get through things and this is such a big job that I need to take time to stop and look at what I've done.

In good news, the roleplaying club is coming together and another student asked me to the supervisor for a video game club. I love that the kids get that I want to support them in their gaming and make it more a part of what happens at school. I just hope that I can get the teachers to see how gaming connects to the bigger conversation about living online and everything like that. It's just a lot and next week are parent-teacher conferences and I have no idea what I'll be doing during them, which is also stressful.

At Milliways, I'm loving the Slenderplot and so glad that people are willing to let Charles slip into their dreams as its a part of the way he works I find interesting. Will's not being as loud, but I'm hoping to get him more involved in the endgame as I love his connected with Jack of the Green. William's involved in a quiet way, which I like since the different levels to approach the plot are nice. Thank you misslucyjane for putting this together.

Yesterday was Friday, which means there was FicFriday and I wrote a nice variety.
( FicFriday )

Today was a really good day and one that I realized I needed. Yesterday I felt like a zombie thanks to how long Back to School night was, I wasn't the only one either, but long day.

The good started with getting to the school not terribly early but early and having time to make tea. I had left my mug in the library yesterday, which meant that this morning my tea was a lipton bag with hot water from a coffee maker. Now this isn't bad, but my norm is proper boiling water and a nicer tea bag but still it was tea.

Then the library was quiet, there were kids but everyone was just being comfortable. I think they've been listening to me in terms of being respectful of who else is in the library. I took advantage of this quiet to put together a possible schedule for all the school emergency drills as this is apparently my job, then filled out rental applications. I know the one I want and that's the one I'm going to turn in after work tomorrow. Then I hope so very much that the turn around will be quick and I could actually move in by October 1st.

Now the big wonderful part of today was talking to this library designer/consultant person that the library consultant the school had talked to before hiring me recommended. This meeting was full of hearing one of the school heads saying we want a plan and images to pitch to donors. Also he liked my ideas and clearly approved of how I was thinking of the space. It was this great moment of yes, change is going to happen and I will be a major force in it, I think more of a force than the school even realizes. The other fun thing was there's this one student who has really reached out to me and as I was on the way to the meeting asked for my help with some research. We ended up not crossing paths until the end of the day today, but I'm going to help him and I hope other people start to see that I can do that. It just feels possible.

I know a lot of you are having hard times at the moment and I hope that the winds change for you.

I also adore the tropes' meme and plan on making the amnesiac Charles/Erik story into something bigger. Please keep prompting me over there as I've discovered that I do like the idea of writing Jane Austen fanfic as opposed to just Becoming Jane fic. This could be dangerous.