Thoughts on the Journey

I've been doing a lot of baking lately, trying out new recipes that have turned out really well. On Sunday night, I made naan which turned out delicious and I've recently found this whole wheat sandwich bread that's easy and lasts. My writing is going slowly as my creative energy seems to be channeled into cooking.

For me though this is a time of year when I love creating for others and would love to send out cards to anyone who would like them. Comments will be screened on this post and you can also message me to let me know that you would like one and your address or even to say that your address hasn't changed.

My December meme is here and open for topics to write about or fic prompts.

From k_a_webb a meme that gives me an excuse to update. She gave me 27.

If you comment here with the words "I wanna play" I will assign you a number from 15-30 of facts about yourself to post about yourself in your journal.

1-I'm allergic to pretty much the entire bee and wasp family-the vespids.
2-I lived in New Zealand for three years.
3-I speak French and can read and write Latin and Ancient Greek.
4-I always have a book in my purse-current one Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older.
5-Country music is my comfort music.
6-The best way for me to finishing writing a fic is if I'm writing it as a gift for someone or as part of a fic exchange.
7-I didn't get my driver's license until I moved back from New Zealand in 2008.
8-My dream job would be as a youth librarian at a small public library or a middle school librarian.
9-I hate the texture of raw coconut.
10-My two favorite kinds of tea are English Breakfast and Earl Grey.
11-At the moment I live in a seaside town with a lot of retirees.
12-For every new book I'm reading, I'm always rereading an old favorite at the same time.
13-I love working as a fact-checker, its intense and interesting and has helped me feel far more confident in my research abilities.
14-Every day I wear my watch, two bracelets and always put on earrings and a necklace.
15-I discovered my first grey hair was I was in my sophomore year of high school and have a grey/silver streak hidden in my hair.
16-I'm part of a blended family, the youngest and the glue with two older brothers and an older sister.
17-I studied abroad in Athens in 2002 and whenever I read about Greece's troubles, I remember how beautiful the country is and how kind the people were.
18-I've been wearing glasses since fourth grade and contacts since my senior year of college.
19-I miss having a cat.
20-If I won the lottery, I would pay off friends' debts then travel to see everyone especially my new nephew.
21-I was raised as a Quaker and consider myself one.
22-I don't like the taste of coffee.
23-My favorite color is dark blue.
24-I know how to do stage makeup.
25-I get my best ideas when walking or driving.
26-My great-grandfather was a Congressman, a member of the House of Representatives.

Life has been busy for me, but good other than some bad dreams. One was strange but almost nice. I dreamed about being with a group of people who were traveling with Alan Cumming, first to a party at his wonderful and complicated apartment and then to I think Jamaica. That part wasn't as nice as suddenly we were meant to be swimming with the sharks. I woke myself up then and then last night I had a dream about being at a school and a general bad day.

I've seen this meme going around and love the idea of it. After this I'm going to go and ask other people about their fics. I'm also in the midst of finally watching Leverage's final season. I love this show.

Comment with the title of one of my fics and a number (or more than one of either) and I'll witter egomanically about:

1) how I came up with the idea
2) something I deleted
3) my favorite bit
4) something I struggled to write
5) what the writing process was like
6) how I thought people would respond
7) how people actually responded
8) something I wish I’d done differently
9) something I think I did right

My works are over here and I'm also open to questions about fics connected to RP or even OOMs.

Alternately, or in addition: tell me about a book you read recently, and I'll tell you about a book I read!

I love this bit too as I love knowing what everyone's reading.

I made it safely after a long train ride halfway across the US and I'm now comfortable in my hotel room. Earlier I had a walk around the convention center neighborhood which as nice after sitting for so long. There was one horrible moment when my first train was running late and I thought that I'd miss my second but didn't. I'm looking forward to the conference which I know will keep me busy and I'm going to try and not bring too many books back with me, I can only carry so many.

Now for an interesting meme from in_the_blue: You know that meme that goes around sometimes where you post your five favorite kinks and then five favorite couples, and it's like a wish into the universe to see if anybody will write it for you? Let's make it a little more interactive.

Comment here if you want to play, and I will give you 3-6 couples that I associate with you, and you make an entry in your journal talking about those couples and fics that you wish the universe would write for you.

She gave me:

Tumnus & Lucy: This is a tricky one for me as I don't think there's anything I crave hugely about these two. There's so much great fic and sometimes weird fic out there about them. I'm always happy to see more of them learning and sharing together about their different worlds and especially history. I would love to see more of Tumnus' backstory and how Lucy reacts to it because he clearly feels complicated about what he did during the Witch's reign. Also I'd wonder more about how Lucy's experiences before Narnia play a part in their friendship.

Charles & Erik: These two are another with a lot of fic out there about them, but the kind that makes me happy is when they're confronting how honestly messed up their lives can be. They're both good at their various solutions and fantastic chemistry, but its the tough stuff in between of their relationship that I want more of. This would fill a hole for me from the movies because they skipped over a lot of years and pushed too quickly, missing out a lot of chances to see Charles and Erik working together. I wanted to know if they tried to communicate after Cuba or not, all the messy parts. How did the others react to them since one reason I love the X-Men is that no matter the iteration, they're a family and that kind of relationship effects everyone.

Charles & Raven: I think my tumblr tag for these two best captures the kind of fic I want; best messed up siblings. I want to read about them going to school, being in New York, how do they fit in with other kids, when did Raven tell Charles to never read her mind? I've actually started a few fics along these lines but haven't finished them yet but I adore their relationship. In First Class, its clear that they have a history, worries, in-jokes and I want to see how they got there.

It turns out my answers were longer than I expected but I like this meme. Maybe after the conference when I'm hanging out next week, I might even get some fic writing done.

My horoscope as of today's Washington Post feels very apt: Others might be trying to make your life easier, even though you may not realize it. It seems as if complication after complication continues to be tossed in your path. You might want to be unavailable for a while.

This is one of those horoscopes that I just go, yes, you're true at as I finished my fact-checking job today, have a holiday party for library volunteering tomorrow, an interview next week and still have to start my Yuletide. A lot of this is wonderful, good and a little scary but it feels like a lot. Though I did kind of step out for a little bit by going to the first part of the local shops holiday open house tonight and finding some presents. It was lovely to walk on my own, terribly cold but that made me miss Michigan. I had some wonderful, unexpected conversations and a nice moment before I came home.

There are posts and reviews I want to write but I'm moving past all of those onto today's December Meme. I still have a number of spots open for prompts and talking points on DW and LJ.

Today's topic is from dodger_sister: favorite childhood books?

I love this question and I've been pondering it for a good part of the day as I try to figure out where do I define childhood's ending. I think for me the answer is the end of elementary school, that's when books started to go into another realm.

Chronicles of Narnia: Narnia is a huge part of my childhood. I can remember reading Dawn Treader in Canada when my parents capsized their canoe at my great-uncle's cabin and watching the PBS Narnia movies. They're a bit wobbly but I love those movies a lot. I don't remember when I decided to hold off on reading The Last Battle because I didn't want the series to end, but I still haven't. Narnia is one of the reasons I love fantasy as I do. To try and explain it all is hard but so much comes from how the heart of it is kindness and listening.

Prydain: I had all the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander but my favorite was always the book of short stories of various myths. The one of the bard who had to speak the truth got me, because that's the kind of teacher, storyteller, person I want to be. Truth is hard but important.

The Dark is Rising: I first picked up a Dark is Rising book at my best friend's house during a sleepover, I'd finished the book I'd brought and needed another. I started reading and borrowed it and then found the next book and now own all of them. To me these books are winter and the holidays and the strange cold and quiet of winter.

Pickles the Firehouse Cat: This book recently came into my thoughts as I was browsing the NYPL store and found this whole collection of books by the author and illustrator Esther Averill and went oh, I know you. I texted my mom, because she must know them and after some research realized that I knew and loved this book. My uncle for a lot of years was a fireman so this book meant connected to him and cats.

Wee Gillis, this is another book that I read and read and it made me happy. I have Scottish ancestry on both sides and someone must have gifted me this book, but I don't remember where it came from only that I loved it. I loved how he played and how he cared.

Honestly I could keep naming books for ages as I still have a box/shelf of them, they're the books that changed me and these are only the first ones.

I've now applied to be a substitute, helped out a fun, charity yard sale, found some great finds at the library book sale and had some lazy days. Tomorrow I have an allergy appointment but the next two weeks are all about finishing two exchange fics. In the spirit of feeling like there's no way I can finish anything, have a fic meme from snacky. If something's from an exchange, I'll shift it but I don't think either of my recipients follow me.

Question which I think I asked before. Has anyone else watched Boardwalk Empire? I just watched the first season after loving the second and third when in Michigan and I think I might rewatch them. Its not my normal kind of show with how violent it is, but basically Margaret's character pulled me in. Also as someone who grew up with visits to Ocean City, New Jersey, the setting interests me.

Leave a comment with one of these and I'll post, without editing*:

FIRST — the first two sentences of my current project
LAST — the most recently written two sentences of my current project
NEXT — the next line. meaning i will finish the sentence I’m on and write a new one, which you’ll get.
[insert prompt here] — you post a prompt, and i’ll write three sentences based on that prompt, set in the same time/setting as my current project
THE END — i’ll make up an ending, or post the ending if i’ve written it
BEFORE THE BEGINNING — three sentences (or more) about something that happened before the plot of my current project
POV — something that’s already happened, retold from another character’s perspective

*okay, I might have to edit some names out of an exchange fic, but that's about it.

This meme has been floating around and I want to try it out. Open until I say its not.

Let’s play Burn Read Rewrite.
It’s like Kill Fuck Marry, but with books.

I'm slowly coming out of being in a bit of a low place and I always enjoy this meme. Last seen on alas_a_llama's journal.

One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind you how great you are.

Don't forget to post this in your own journal so I can compliment you, too!

Today has been a nice quiet day as I spent a lot of it reading the newest Elemental Master's book and then went to a neighborhood Thanksgiving party that was relaxing and nice. The coming week will be busy as I'm off to visit a private school that a family friend's husband, who was a friend before he died was chaplain at and who is introducing me to the librarian. Its where they filmed Dead Poet's Society, there will be some inner fangirl squee in the midst of the informational interview. Life is good and I feel like I'm starting to get myself out of the low place I've been the past couple of weeks, now if I can just get my yuletide to behave for me. There are words but they're not in a definite shape, which I'd like them to be.

Link to a fun fic-a-thon.



Now this meme has been going around and I do love the idea of it.

Pick a date below and give me a topic — it can be anything, from fandom-related to book-related to life-related to history-related to whatever you want. Including requesting me to write you a fic instead of talking about something.

They will probably be brief, or not, depending on the subject. Also, if you pick something that for whatever reason I don't want to talk about, I'll let you know so you pick something else!

December 01 -
December 02 - rosabelle: Favorite YA books?
December 03 - bjornwilde: name three of your favorite scenes. These can be from books, movies, TV shows, RPG, Fic, whatever.
December 04 -
December 05 -
December 06 - lady_bols: Favourite TV shows, at least three, and why you like them.
December 07 -
December 08 -
December 09 -
December 10 -
December 11 -
December 12 - quarter_to_five: show/episode/book/movie/something that you just hated.
December 13 - in_the_blue: You're stranded on a desert island and can only bring thirteen pieces of media (assume you have something to watch/play them on, because I'm nice and it's a luxury desert island). What books/movies/CDs/whatever do you bring?
December 14 -
December 15 -
December 16 - swankyfunk: Out of all the places you've visited, where would you most like to live and why?
December 17 -
December 18 -
December 19 -
December 20 - aberration: Favorite movies! At least three, but as many as you want.
December 21 -
December 22 -
December 23 -
December 24 -
December 25 -
December 26 -
December 27 -
December 28 -
December 29 -
December 30 -
December 31 -

Request away! I AM AT YOUR DISPOSAL.

My last couple of days have been a mix of lazy and not fun due to health. I spent last night coughing up far too much gunk from my throat and blowing the rest out of my nose. At the moment I'm feeling closer to normal but still worn out. For the Fourth, I did almost nothing which was what I needed after how busy the conference and travel were. This weekend, I'm getting a visitor who is all about a lazy time, which should be nice.

Though I'm not doing a lot, I have been getting things done. I completed the online application for the job I had an interview at, it was a really annoying form. One of those where it claimed to be saving it for you but really wasn't, but its done now. I've also added another part to my conference write up on my librarian blog about the school library program I went to.

Yesterday was wonderful in Milliways with the Hulk plot and me and Charles sharing hurting heads. I might end up opening that EP again today, last night I was too out of it to start more threads.

I have a number of writing projects that I need to get started on; book reviews on Goodreads, more conference write up and starting a fic for an exchange. In the spirit of help me find words, here's a meme I love from newredshoes:

Tell me about a story I haven't written, and I will give you 1-3 sentences (or more) from or about it.