Thrihyrne

So in my current active writing notebook, starting at the front is my weasley_fest fic. I don't want it to be long, I really don't. But I think if the two characters in question simply get together, it's not as interesting as it could be. So still a ways to go with it. Starting at the back of the notebook was my most recent Slave Breakers story, and then the genfic Gimli story. I've decided that the Beornings must have taken a toll in silver or some other useful metal. I had to rewrite a whole section when I realized the Carrock wasn't directly above the Ford of Carrock, as in, not leading directly to it. While initially jazzed with this story, now I'm wondering why I picked this particular moment of Gimli and Glóin's journey to Rivendell. Am leaving it alone for inspiration to come along. In the middle of the notebook I've started another Slave Breakers story; that's the one that I've been envisioning in my mind's eye for a few days and is quite contentedly and at great speed writing itself. PWP with characterization exploration in that realm is just so much fun. Plus the visual in my mind's eye of Andrei/Lee/Bran was simply too exquisite not to write. Hee.

There were the M+M edits yesterday, thanks to Oshun's and my talk on Friday. And I'm about to go through withdrawal as I'm down to the final of the three Lord John novellas, the last book on tape to do with him that my library has. In looking at Ms. Gabaldon's Lord John series, I'm thrilled to see there's another one forthcoming; damn, is she prolific. I would jump at writing Lord John fanfic, but they're nearly all mysteries of sorts and/or to do with military life and that's not my strong suit. Not only that, but for it to be canonical, it would take quite a while for him to get together with anyone, England in the mid-1700s not exactly being queer friendly. The everyday vocabulary of a lord in that time period, especially to do with clothes, transportation and genteel conversation would also be a bit of a trial, at least at first. I've noticed some of it slipping into my current fics, but not specific words like swive, weskit or sodomitical society. :P

Mulling around in my head is what to write for Ardor in August. I checked out both Morgoth's Ring and The Children of Húrin to glean further first age knowledge. The concept and characters are coming to me for this particular story, but I haven't started writing. I'd really like to at least finish this Slave Breakers threesome (which is, surprisingly, turning into an illuminating look into Bran's thoughts on life post-freedom) and the Gimlific so I can focus on weasley_fest. Oh, and incorporate Oshun's edits. She's going to break me of my encourage me to use semicolons with less frequency. I knew I lean on them a lot. Soon I'll know just how much!

Hope you all have had a pleasing weekend!

I don't know how this has happened, but it's already Wednesday and thanks to the changes in my increased responsibilities at work and the fact that we're now in training, for the first time since I started working at the Opera here, I've been bringing work home in my psyche. This morning I found myself looking in the mirror and saying, "Shut up!" because I was making a to-do list of things to bring up with my supervisors when I get into work. But these hours here this morning before I go in, they're mine, my precious hours to type up fic and get a wee package sent off to a friend, check email, etc.

A couple of squee-worthy things for today and this week:
☞ A lovely St. Patrick's day card from eldritchobbit
☞ A thoughtful postcard from niennaainur (which is now on my cubicle wall at work!)
☞ An invitation to join a Faramir-centric archive thanks to posting that one wee Faramir/Boromir story to the Of Elves and Men yahoo group. I do remain a bit baffled that that one is far more popular than the Aragorn/Halbarad, but it's also a lot shorter, less angsty, and F/B has a built-in following. Whatever. It's flattering!
☞ I wrote my contribution for the raythoo songfic challenge last night. It's on the short side, but given the content, you wouldn't want it to be any longer. It's really, really dark and I like the imagery in it. I do remain a bit confounded (in a good way) as to how fertile and cross-pollinating my enthusiasm for the new Battlestar Galactica has been with my other fandoms. I have no desire to write BSG fanfic, but the music from the series and some of the plots and themes are definitely seeping creatively into my other works.
☞ Some new and/or re-discovered words! In doing canon research for the Wraeththu story as well as some other reading, I have new words to add to my vocabulary in addition to the ones I get every day via Wordsmith.org. And the words are: pulchritudinous, lich, revenant, quodlibet, moue, peripatetic and pith. Words are great.


Back to it! Happy 'hump day' to one and all.

I do feel better about myself when I'm accomplishing activities, especially creative ones. Today I've done some domestic things (laundry, washing dishes, eating breakfast) and some fandom things (reading and commenting, beta'ing, working on plots). I've been mentioning this knitting project for my younger brother and his wife, who are expecting their first child in May. It's a Dale of Norway pattern, and colorwork. I really despise colorwork. You may well wonder why on earth I picked this as a project. Well, 8 years ago when I was between projects, I thought I'd make a Dale of Norway sweater for my then-spouse, but thought it would be smart to make an infant size one first, and I was bound to have somebody I could give it to. Yeah. Well, the project languished, the marriage came to an end without him getting said sweater (then again, in Nashville, it would have been too hot for one!). I've resurrected this project and have two in-process pics, as well as one of the page of the baby versions in their completed forms from the knitting book. Just so you all have an idea of what I'm talking about. The sweater itself is knit in the round on size 2 needles.

( baby sweater pics )

So! For the rest of today: Writing on my new Wraeththu story, knitting, then work. After work? Probably more writing or knitting. That'll be the theme for the weekend, though I'm planning to go for a walk with evannichols at some point, as well as get up and go to the Episcopal Cathedral again Sunday morning. After the service I hope that I can chat with the choir director in person and maybe even get an impromptu audition if he wants one so I can hopefully join their choir.

Much love to you all! I'll be around and keeping up, I do hope.

I got a very thoughtful beta and some guidance from elfscribe5 today on my slashy santa fic; it's become longer than I'd expected, but I feel much more confident about it now as I write the last scene. It did occur to me while we were IM'ing that I've pretty much written nothing but fest-oriented fics since this summer; nothing has come along and grabbed me, shaken me and said, "Write me NOW" as some stories have done. I guess I miss that. That said, it came to me, a story idea, and one that had appraoched me some time ago and then lurked away quietly. It'd be Wraeththu, a post-series story for once, about Aleeme and Azriel and how they cope (or don't) and recover (or don't) after their experience with Ponclast. It'd be high on the angst-o-meter by default, but I think it could be cathartic for me, and I'm pretty sure there aren't a lot of those fics already written. I'll need to check Forever Wraeththu to make sure.

( More on the incessant job hunt )

New Year's Eve is tomorrow, too; it's not a holiday that I particularly care about one way or another, but I do have plans to join my future housemate, Julia, and some other friends for at least part of the evening. Apparently Julia is also a Scrabble shark, so that could be fun. :) Since I'll have the next day off, I'll probably want to stay up and write, which I can do since I can sleep in. Is New Year's a big day for any of you? If you do go out, please be careful.

Lastly, I'd like to thank the many people who have sent me holiday cards, and also thanks to eldritchhobbit, evannichols, kymyrra and persephone100 for their thoughtful gifts. I really will send out the postcards I designed, once I know when I'll actually be moving. It may be February, or some point in January. I just don't know yet, which is sort of unsettling, but in other ways, it's okay. When the time comes, I have a place to go.

I'll not use my fun double dagger symbol, but:
~ I actually secured some donations tonight, so, yay! Not even for the possible commission for me (they weren't major gifts by any means), but I spoke with lovely people and it helps an art form I believe in, opera.
~ One of my colleagues said I was a ray of sunshine. And she was being serious.
~ I went to a health food-ish chain grocery store to look for a gluten-free pie crust (not exactly for me; I love wheat and pasta and all of that) and ran into the homeowner of the house where I live. It was fun to see him in a different context, and totally out of the blue.
~ I'm getting a massage tomorrow morning!!
~ My Ron/Remus story was posted today, here at the remus_ron_slash fest. It's locked as it's NC-17, and is on the longer side for this fest (a bit over 10K), so if you'd care to read a recently-written HP story from me, there 'tis. It needs some love. Or maybe just a comment or two. ;)
~ I'm going to go to at least one yarn store tomorrow, and take evannichols along with me.
~ I'm able to listen to EdgeRadio again! wolfiekins's station rocks.
~ I'm making progress on my yuletide fic. I'm not supposed to discuss any details about it publicly, but I think I'll feel quite accomplished and proud of it when finished.
~ I wrote cim_halfling a letter this morning. :)
~ To work tonight I wore a cool vest designed by Jade Starmore that I knitted several years ago, and felt pretty stoked about the number of interesting garments and gifts I've knitted over the years. Mine was knitted in a purple heathered yarn, not the goldenrod this person did, but it shows the pattern really well.
~ I think I'll now go and sign up for slashy_santa. Because I don't have enough on my plate. ;)

Well, I think this is probably the next to last post in this; my writing focus is a bit scattered these days between this, beginning the process of reworking "Maelstrom and Mage," revisiting a languishing HP story, beta'ing, and writing a little bit on NaNoWriMo. At any rate, for the few of you who might be reading along, here's more of Kelp and his clan while still with the tree-hara.

Summary: Níl gach uile fhánaí caillte— Not all who wander are lost. (J.R.R. Tolkien) Kelp, a newly-incepted har and his companion, Blackspur, journey from an outer island of Alba Sulh to find others of their kind. Adult. Adventures, aruna, and an occasional warning for violence. No warnings for this post in regards to content except for some angst.

( Reap the Wild Wind, post 6 )

Sorry about the lag; I posted the last part, said I'd have the next part shortly, and then went out of town for a week. But here's the continuation of the prior post. I'll put in the leading up paragraph again here before starting into the new section just to give you a reminder of what's going on. These are all OCs with the exception of Cobweb, back in his early, early years as a har. This is a story set in the misty early years of the Sulh.

Summary: Níl gach uile fhánaí caillte— Not all who wander are lost. (J.R.R. Tolkien) Kelp, a newly-incepted har and his companion, Blackspur, journey from an outer island of Alba Sulh to find others of their kind. Adult. Adventures, aruna, and an occasional warning for violence.

( Reap the Wild Wind, post four )
.:~ to be continued ~:.

Title: Reap the Wild Wind (thanks to Ultravox)
Rating: Adult; nearly all OCs, but Cobweb is there, very new to Wraeththu-dom

Thanks to those who have started down another path with me and Storm's wonderful world of hara. This is set in those early, mist-filled days of the first decades of Wraeththu, and the enigmatic, mysterious Sulh.

( Reap the Wild Wind, post two )

.:~ to be continued ~:.

Title: Down the Whispering Well
This post rating: general
Warnings: angst
Word Count: 3900
Disclaimer: Ashmael, Vaysh, and the harish world all belong to Storm Constantine; I'm merely playing with great abandon in her sandbox.
Pairings: Vaysh/Ashmael (historic)

Novella summary: Being brought back from the dead doesn't mean happily ever after, especially if you're Vaysh. Life has its costs, and he pays dearly. An exploration of Vaysh's character in the years before and through Pellaz's transformation, and the burdens he endures, because he must.

Post summary: A very canon ending; what's done is done, and Vaysh confronts what he must: he is stronger than he realizes. A few quotes, again, from Enchantments, as to ignore them would seem stilted. Continued from post 9, here. Epilogue to follow shortly. My thanks to Storm Constantine for having captured my imagination with Wraeththu so much over the past few months, and having led me, thusly, to those of you reading this.

I'm now ready to write more Wraeththu PWP, or something set far afield from this. These two gapfillers have worn me out, though I still love Vaysh more than life itself. I don't say that this is at all healthy. ;)

( Down the Whispering Well, post 10, end )

Title: Down the Whispering Well
This post rating: general
Warnings: drug use
Word Count: 4300
Disclaimer: Ashmael, Vaysh, and the harish world all belong to Storm Constantine; I'm merely playing with great abandon in her sandbox.
Pairings: Vaysh/Ashmael (historic)

Novella summary: Being brought back from the dead doesn't mean happily ever after, especially if you're Vaysh. Life has its costs, and he pays dearly. An exploration of Vaysh's character in the years before and through Pellaz's transformation, and the burdens he endures, because he must.

Post summary: Five years have gone by; a har from southern Megalithica is reborn and is transformed by Thiede's hand as Vaysh was before. Vaysh is commanded to be his guide, confidante, caretaker— and he doesn't have to like it. Continued from post 7, here. This post has a few actual dialogue quotes from Enchantments; I couldn't really avoid it, but I'll be doing so as best I can now that I'm fully integrated into canon. The story has already been eloquently told by the Master and I don't wish to quote her canon verbatim as that's already been done! But I felt it would be really odd to skip this part entirely, so there are a few sippets of canon dialogue in here.

( Down the Whispering Well, post 8 )