Below are the most recent 17 friends' journal entries.

Monday, December 1st, 2008
auburnnothenna	10:53p	the Great Old Ones are watching So. This taking a break from writing thing. I may be in withdrawal. Either that or I'm psychic and a giant meteor is about to decimate the planet. The formless dread and aimless restlessness are hard to tell apart. I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something. If it's the meteor? Been nice knowing you all. Also, this taking a break from writing thing, means I am already doing serious damage to my to read pile of books. This will shortly lead to me and Amazon doing serious damage to my pocket book, I fear. Current Mood: weird Current Music: Golden Palominos - Ride (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
shusu	9:04p	postcard I am ... so blitzed right now. Ok, attempting to string words together. Basically, do you want a postcard? Comments are screened! Also please let me know how to address you (pseud/name/etc). Yes, I may in fact send a postcard to Amazon Queen of Fabulous, just let me know. If you want to send me one -- er, actually I am swamped with stuff, so smaller mail would be appreciated :) Anyway, if you don't have my address, leave your e-mail address and I'll get back to you. Happy Holidays! Current Mood: rushed (Comment on this)
auburnnothenna	1:09a	RIP UOM This is an unfamiliar feeling. Not good, not bad. I've decided to abandon Upward Over the Mountain. I was looking at revising it and first estimate involved probably another 62000 words. That wouldn't have made it good, just made it make sense. Then I sketched out an entirely new ending, cut a whole sub plot, started rewriting and that would have been at least 36000 more words. Then I got the last beta in, reflected neither of my proposed revisions would do a single thing to make the basic plot any less flawed. I'd been holding on to finishing it, even knowing this, and put my betas through reading it because I wanted someone to tell me I was wrong. I wasn't wrong. It's a failed story. Usually I'm fortunate enough to realize something isn't working before I've put this many words into it, but stubbornness and the fact I'd intended it as a gift kept me with it long past when I would have normally seen it wasn't working. Or rather, I could see it wasn't working, but I told myself I could fix it. Hunh. This is sort of liberating. After I manned up and dumped UOM into the failed folder to become mental compost, I scoured the WiP folder and removed nearly thirty things, separating them into outtake/junk and failed/abandoned. There's not much left. Sitting here, I realize I don't want to start another SGA story. Not until the last episodes have aired and I have some idea of what the series is ending as, at least. Though, for all I know, maybe I won't want to then either. I wonder if the SGA well is finally running dry, for me and for others. Maybe everyone is working on something for secret santa. But me? I've got nothing to write. I wander how long I can go without starting something new. How long until I start to twitch. Current Mood: drained (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
mirabile_dictu	2:43p	Yes, that mosaic thing Okay, okay: I couldn't resist. ( Stolen from everyone everywhere ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
mirabile_dictu	3:27p	Gratitude sings Cross-posted to my LJ Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Even those who have already celebrated or who don't celebrate -- it's always give to good thanks. Most of the time I'm not sure to whom I'm offering thanks, unless it's to a specific individual or group of people, but even so, I believe in being aware and appreciative. The Last Good Name wrote a wonderful Thanksgiving post, She wrote And I love Thanksgiving because it's about giving thanks and speaking your gratitude to others, and ( I'm going to emulate her: ) One of the many things I'm grateful for is Cate on LJ, and her terrific ideas, like the recurring McSmooch festival. For this go round, start here, a charming and sweet little story by Kass Rachel and start clicking the little green arrow to the right. Around sixty stories, containing many John/Rodney kisses, and for that, I am deeply grateful. I wrote two little smoochies this time: The Darkest Evening of the Year and John smiles -- which was an awfully lot of fun to write. Only two sentences long! Finally, I want to share two columns from favorite writers of mine. First, Anne Lamott's Thanksgiving column. She's a Christian and I sure as hell am not, but I still really liked it and it really resonated with me. I do not speak for my church when I say, Hah hah. And Jon Carroll's annual Thanksgiving column. But still we have to get through the day. And, I am convinced, the route through the day is gratitude. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
auburnnothenna	8:17p	Kisses in the Morning So, ages and ages and eons ago, I promised enname something with kisses. So, kisses. Set in the same universe as the nights are better (out here) John kisses his fingers and tells Kanaan he never ate a better breakfast. Teyla kisses Torren's forehead solemnly, but smiles like the sun rising before heading out to work in the greenhouse. Kanaan kisses the top of Torren's head, or maybe he blows a raspberry into Torren's hair, since Torren giggles madly and Kanaan walks away from the table with a smile nearly as bright as Teyla's. Ronon scoops Torren up from his seat at the table, holds him high in the air, and definitely blows raspberries against Torren's belly button, making him kick and shriek with laughter, before putting him down. Torren presses sticky, jam-sweet kisses to John's jaw before he takes off after Ronon. Rodney kisses John's cheek, kisses his jaw, kisses his lips, and leaves him breathless and dazed, before he heads off to work in the tower, murmuring, "Sweet," and leaving John with the dishes. (Comment on this)
auburnnothenna	12:52a	I foresee wasting a lot of time on this It's addictive. On my first try I only managed to wipe out Indonesia, Argentina, and Eastern Europe, but I'll get the hang of it. I'll evolve faster next time. I just need to spread faster than they can close the borders. Yes, I am identifying with the virus. Pandemic Current Mood: mischievous (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
mirabile_dictu	8:35a	Themes to which writers return I was lucky enough to get to participate in this year's Write Something, You Miserable Fuck, which has been a lot of fun, even though I haven't written nearly as much as I'd hoped and planned. (Nanowrimo is beyond me, as is Mininano, but Wrisomifu is juuuuuuuuuuuust the right fit, especially because we get to be miserable. It's expected of us!) Often in the check-in posts, the mods will toss out a question or two; recently, they asked a question I just love: what themes do we as writers keep returning to? That's something I've thought (and talked) a fair bit about, because anyone who's read more than two of my stories knows that I love the stories that include any or all of the following: beloved characters getting older, or even old, or occasionally dying the characters coming to accept their growing ailments and infirmaties discovering that love doesn't depend on youth and beauty; quite the contrary creating family, with a very loose definition of "family" passing on of qualities, both physical and cultural finding happiness despite life's many griefs Stories that hit one or more of those points make me happy. In my RL reading, Margaret Drabble, Anthony Trollope, Ursula Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Sheri Tepper, Haruki Murakami, and Robert Hellenga all address some of these issues in their writing; in fact, I would say that Margaret Drabble has influenced me most profoundly in my own writing because we share interest in the same themes and puzzles. Very recently, two SGA stories appeared that really appealed to me and, not surprisingly, they overlap in these themes. I rarely recommend stories, for lots of reasons, no matter how much I love them, but the coincidence of two such stories posted within a day of each other and within a day of the Wrisomifu question made me decide to do so. So! If you share my interests and like well-written stories that find happiness in the midst of sorrow, that can make you laugh even as your heart aches for the characters, here are two recent ones. Jam and (very likely) Jerusalem, by Almost Clara. Jam and Jerusalem is a British television series by the same folks who did Absolutely Fabulous. I've never seen it, alas, nor does Netflix carry it, but I've heard wonderful things about it. Almost Clara's story is Trollope country in the Pegasus galaxy, and it made me smile and smile and smile. but the nights are better (out here), by Auburnnothenna. I don't even know what to say about this one except it was a complete surprise to me -- and I was even more surprised that I'm one of the dedicatees (is that a word?). But it's full of love and team and a wonderfully realized world. (Frustratingly, I'm sure there's a third story, but I've gone to skip=400 and not found it. Damn.) These stories, coming so quickly together, made me remember how much I love world building and how fabulous it is when done well. And it can be done briefly, in impressionistic strokes; I don't need a lot of back story -- where they are, why they are there, how they got there -- it doesn't need a dissertation, just a gesture and, if well done (as these are), I'm right there with the characters. Anyway, lovely stuff. Also! Auburn has music for hers! I'm listening to it right now. I almost always have a soundtrack I write to -- later, just hearing the songs puts me back in the story. It's fun when other people share their soundtracks. Unrelated to anything but charm: Snuggle Muffin doesn't post often but oh, I love her work so much. Check out the USB stick! So cute. Such talent! In much less pleasant news, thanks to Beth's post here, I discovered that someone has archived one of my stories without asking me. Now, I firmly believe that after I put something out on the internet, it's out there, completely out of my control. By and large, I'm comfortable with that. And if someone wants to save my story to their harddrive/flashdrive/notebook, I'm over the moon with delight. But. Somehow putting someone else's stuff up on another page on the internet, and without their permission . . . I don't like that. I have issues, I guess, and will readily admit that I'm irrational at times. But don't do that. That's just tacky. You can buy a flashdrive from amazon.com for under $15 and get a zillion stories on it. I'm trying to focus on the positive: hey, she liked my story! Oddly, she never wrote me a note saying so. Hmm. Anyway, there are stories there by others, so if you're in HP, SGA, LOTR, Lotrips, or Gundam Wing, check it out, and tell her that's just an ick thing to do. I am compelled to end on a cheerier note, so let me direct you to the latest postings at the Breathe Poetry LJ community, where they are spotlighting Eavan Boland. Wonderful evocative stuff: ( Our Origins Are In The Sea ) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 24th, 2008
auburnnothenna	10:52p	today is the day of sucky annoyances The book I ordered, which purportedly was the complete collection? Wasn't. The one thing I wanted a copy of isn't in it. I'm this close to stealing the book I saw it in from the library. Well, no, I'm not, because stealing from the library is worse than taking candy from a baby. The polenta I prepared for the Chicken Polenta dish? Generally comes out better if you measure in 3 and one-fourth cups water, not 1 and one-fourth. I remembered this when I took the sad, flat,  cornmeally pancake out of the oven. The full gallon of milk shoved to the back of the refrigerator? Is frozen solid. Semagic deleted my story post and the comments already on it when I was trying to post to sga_noticeboardThe cats, the lovely, lovely, dear, I'd like to strangle them both cats, dumped the bread pan soaking on the sink counter over. So, today is the day of sucky annoyances. However, on the non-sucky front, murron has a great post of the attraction of rare pairings, slash, and fandoms. I thought so even before I got the blush inducing part. It's here: Do we swing that way? Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
apple_pi	8:07a	1. My laptop is still in the Dead Zone; we're waiting until the start of December to buy a new hard drive for it. So I'm using Mr. Pi's computer, which means I have to wait my turn for it (wah!), which means I'm online a lot less. ( There's stuff about SGA, Psych, and my family under here. ) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
auburnnothenna	8:39p	I must resist Waiting on betas. Twiddling thumbs. Waiting on betas. Considering popcorn. Waiting on betas. Considering insanely ambitious project of lunacy. Twiddling thumbs. Waiting on betas. There's a theme here. Dear God, watching CSI reruns, someone save me! Twiddling my big toes. Twiddling is starting sound really dirty. As in the dog just twiddled on the carpet. Filing my nails. Waiting on betas. Buffing my nails. Considering biannual application of nail polish. That would mean tomorrow I could spend the day picking it off compulsively. Perhaps it's time to give in and read The Mirador. I confess I prefer Bear to Monette, but only by a thin margin. Revisions, what revisions? Imma gonna throw the whole thing in a hole and bury it. It still twitches sometimes, but I think that's just gas from the decomp. Current Mood: frustrated (Comment on this)
shusu	3:16p	i'm hooked on ncis i keep hoping to see dinozzo DIAF so far no luck p.s. they're teasing me, tho Current Mood: hopeful (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 21st, 2008
randominity	9:23p	Ding 20! I finally reached level 20 on my "main" character in Warhammer Online today. That means I get a mount! \o/ I have been playing a Magus for the past few weeks to complement the NK's Goblin Shaman, and though we hadn't been able to play together until recently because I had to catch up with him, the past week or so we have been an awesome team. He heals, I kill everything with magic. I wasn't sure I would like playing a Magus due to the fact that their straight damage output isn't as good as a Sorceress, and I do so like to blow things up with magic. But I feel pretty effective and a lot less squishy with my demon summons hurling fireballs at my enemies from afar, and my demon summons that blow up when someone steps too close, and my demon that I ride around like an unholy Chaos skateboard. So, in other words, my Magus is the kind of caster I think I've fallen in love with. :D This week also is the live Heavy Metal event for Warhammer, with daily tasks to be done and rewards based on the points you get for doing them. Today we got a trophy to wear on our armor, and at the end of the event, we'll get early access to the two new classes being added to the game. NK and I want to play the new class Knight of the Blazing Sun when it's added and try to model it after Claymores (since you can wield a two-handed sword, glee. And by the way, I would sell my ovaries for that figurine). We're such nerds. The Warhammer website even has some fiction explaining the birth of the class and everything. We are having SO MUCH FUN OMG. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
mirabile_dictu	8:55p	Poem for Dr. Jennifer Keller Do not read if you like Keller. ( Advice to a Discarded Lover ) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
auburnnothenna	11:39a	Official, like Congratulations, eretria! Current Mood: giddy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
auburnnothenna	4:33p	Fic: SGA: The Red Dress (Ardhanarishvara coda) Err, well, I was supposed to get this beta-ed but the hell with it. If I don't put it up I'll forget about it. ETA: now beta-ed. 11.20.08. Title: The Red Dress Fandom: SGA Rating: NC-17 Disclaimer: So not mine. Size: ~1200 words Genre: Slash, PWP Pairing: Sheppard/McKay A/N: a coda scene set after the events of Ardhanarishvara (co-written with monanotlisa. Who has now beta-ed this!). Summary: John succumbs to impulse. ( The Red Dress ) Current Mood: quixotic Current Music: Eliza McCarthy - Bold Privateer (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
mirabile_dictu	9:31p	Home, safely home Not to be mysterious but to those of you who know why we had to go to Sacramento: the trip went smooth as milk. Decision to be mailed to us within thirty days, but the judge seemed very sympathetic, especially since the Other Guy didn't bother to turn up. Special thanks to Iolanthe Rosa, who will get an email soon. Webster is almost euphoric that it's over. One good thing about this happening today is that I missed the Great LJ Outage. I have to admit that my opinion of them is so low that I was shocked it was up by the time we had returned; I figured they'd need a couple of days to get back on line. Go LJ. Also managed to write almost 400 more words on That Fucking SGA Story, so that makes me happy. I see by DHew's most recent Twitter that the next SGA episode is one I will skip. There's a big part of me that is anxious for the show to go off the air so I no longer have to dread such episodes. I'll just re-watch Echoes or Grace Under Pressure instead. Tomorrow I go back to work and as much as I enjoy the work I do, I really wish I could retire now. Staying home with Webster and putzing around the house is a thousand times more fun. (Comment on this)