Gifts, and treasures in the post! It's already Christmas!

What a fabulous evening I had last night! I came home and had a long-awaited, wonderfully rambling phone call with wolfiekins, and now feel caught up. That always puts my soul at ease. Over at bestmates_xmas, I discovered the the story written for me had been posted, so I hurried to read it. I commend the author for taking on my topic (infidelity) which is not one that many people wish to write about, as well as an innovative Wheezes product. It has both H/R and R/D, though since it's through Harry's eyes, the R/D is definitely unflattering, but I'll just remember that it's from Harry's POV, and of course Draco would be drawn to Ron. I'm having rather a crisis of self and 'ship in regards to R/D anyway, as we seem to be a smaller and smaller group of active writers, but Wolfie even managed to reassure me about that. Part of our conversation had to do with writing and original fic, and I admitted that I'm totally daunted. That may well be why I've not written crap to do with the stories in my head, but I do think that if I come up with a story arc (for the 'Fang and Fury' one; the others are relationship-based for plot) and some basics about the culture and planet itself, then I'll feel less a sense of panic of "OMG I must create every detail and know it before I commit anything to paper and what if nothing comes to me." In my head, it's just so much easier to write the last Magic Immunity installment; it's a known entity. But I really should push myself.

I'd stopped by the mail box where I had not one, not two, but three parcels, bearing treasures both anticipated and totally unexpected.

‡ From the incredibly thoughtful mrsquizzical, some Norsca that I'd been meekly asking for a while ago, and a beautiful purple Christmas card. Thank you so much!!

‡ From my beloved stuckinsea, some exquisite stationery I'd put on my Amazon wishlist, an early Christmas gift. You are such a dear! You know you'll get a letter from me on it!!! :D

‡ Last, but certainly not least, the long-awaited parcel from Callum James, a gift which will definitively be my holiday reading, the trilogy Wraeththu by Storm Constantine. He'd told me about this series at some point earlier in the year and I'd gone digging along, seeing that there were role-playing gatherings in Germany and a photo book, and that Storm herself and her fans had a very open and seemingly affectionate relationship— at the time, I immediately thought: "New fanfiction academic paper topic!" but then got carried away with other things. Callum, you absolute sweetheart!! Thanks to you, I was up until 2 a.m. reading the first few chapters. I couldn't resist, since I'd already done some research this summer and knew somewhat how I expected it to be. I know I'm going to absolutely love reading the three novels, and hopefully it will inspire me to explore my own worlds, not shrug and say it's all already been done. ;) I'll plan to IM you today if work isn't hellacious.

I hope that you all have a splendid weekend! I may not be around much as I have the rest of my Christmas cards to make and then take my time writing messages to you all and decorating the envelopes, plus now I'll be simply itching to read. I also have a nearly-finished knitted Christmas pressie which must be done by the weekend so I can post it with the couple of others I'm sending out on Monday. So if you don't see much of me, it's just because I'm happily drowning in holiday creativity.

XOXOX