From half my flist:

( List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns. )

Patterns? Lots of dialogue, lots of complex or compound sentences. Lots of first person, lots of angsty hints. Holmes, NCIS and New Avengers all mixed up together.

Three drabbles and three longer stories, one I wrote for the original request, one as a pinch hit, and one I'd been writing and found it fit a request. I'll probably cross post them to this journal when I'm conscious though.

The Secret Santa Affair Man from UNCLE, rude
10 x 100 Lord Peter Wimsey
1918 Sherlock Holmes/Lord Peter crossover

Encounter with Saint George Lord Peter again
The Tiger Song Calvin and Hobbes
Useful Howl's Moving Castle, movieverse


Edited to direct links to save the yuletide server some strain...

I don't know when I'm going to manage to thank all the people who commented -- probably not till after I get back to Boston! -- but if you commented and you're reading this, believe me, I appreciated it!

I got tagged by only_po

Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

I did this before, I think and came up with different answers… Ah, well, favorites of the moment include:

Balance (written under a different pseudonym, my first toedip into Harry Potter)
A Decided Genius (Sherlock Holmes! Some of the ideas I incorporated into it go back more than twenty years in my notes.)
Keeping Warm (definitely not G rated.)
Chosen (because it is that time of year, after all)
And cheating a little bit, five drabbles:
Old Friends, In the Girls’ Bathroom, Unexpected Encounter, Éomer at Cormallen, and my very first drabble Bag End at Night.


Tagging…. Er, I’m really bad at that. But I’d love to see Shirebound, Rubynye, Belegcuthalion, Febobe, and Surgicalsteel take this on, if they’re willing, among others. If it looks like fun to you, do it!

Edited to fix links... I hope!

One of the reasons I'm still on livejournal is because of crack_van. I've found so many good stories there I've lost track. They're taking a vacation for the next month, but in the mean time there are all the old entries to wander through, and piles of things in the memories.

http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/2768122.html?style=mine is a great example (especially for the Harry Potter fans among you.) If you follow the link, don't forget to check out the sequels too.

ETA Somehow the link changed. Try this one: http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/2772990.html?mode=reply

Experimented with Welsh rabbit to go along with the experimental White Zinfandel I bought (I'm a teetotaller normally, but I'm researching a story.)

Okay. Forgot to buy porter when I got the Zinfandel, so I popped around to the little liquor store in the square. I asked for porter and the little Chinese lady behind the counter just blinked at me. "Beer," I expanded and she pointed me at the coolers with a very vague wave. There was something called itself porter, but they wanted me to buy the sixpack and that wasn't worth it. I ended up buying a can of Guinness, which is stout, but probably from the right islands, right?

Printed out the recipe from Alton Brown. Realized I forgot the cream, again, but I had a jar of English clotted cream I meant to use up months ago in the fridge. It's cream, right? And I didn't feel like going out again.

So, assemble ingredients. Dry mustard, got it. Worcestershire sauce -- just enough at the bottom of the bottle. Kosher salt, ditto. Pepper -- well, it ain't fresh ground, but it'll do. Butter. Toast. Get that ready first. Flour... pry flour out of freezer, which is icing over again dammit, and try to remember that I need to go to Sears and find out about a new gasket. Refrigerator is less than five years old, but the darn freezer just won't stay sealed. Butter -- yup. Measure things into cups like Alton does so I don't have to try to do it later. Shred cheddar. All set? Put the butter in the saucepan and start whisking in the... dammit I forgot to measure the flour.

Quickly get flour from bag and add to already melted and starting to turn brown butter. Whisk like a madwoman. 2 minutes and the stuff isn't going to turn brown yet? Alton are you mad? Wait, he's got it on medium heat and I'm remembering a different roux recipe. Too late, add the worcestershire salt and pepper and then the beer and turn down the heat while opening the clotted cream.

Clotted. My god, it isn't clotted, it's SOLID! A spatula won't do it, it takes a steak knife to start persuading this stuff out of the jar and into my dark brown mess. Turn the heat off entirely and keep persuading, stirring now and then to try to get the cream to melt. (Which it does, actually.) At this point there's no hope, so add the cheese anyway a bit at a time, stirring and stirring and well, it doesn't taste absolutely awful... oops, add the mustard and the hot... what hot sauce? Alton!!! Oh, there it is, right in the ingredients list. 2 drops. I must have hot sauce here somewhere, but for two drops, I'll be a wimp.

Cut up the toast on the plate and spoon... er... squidge the lumpy cheese stuff onto it. There's way too much for any human being to eat, so leave that to settle on the turned off burner. Fetch out little bitty bottle of White Zinfandel...

Eat. Drink.

Think.

Well, it's not actually awful... Might be a good combination when made by someone who knows what he's doing. Maybe.

And the remaining cheese sauce may be okay -- it got a lot less lumpy left to its own. i'll add a bit of milk to it and heat it up again later this week to try again.

But on the whole... well... maybe I should stick to frozen food.

Drat the mainstream media. Can't they keep a secret for a few days?

I'm really mad at the NY Times. I hope Scholastic doesn't send them any book for review until the publication date for like the next four years.

Ah well.

While I've been hiding I have also been typing frantically at a final chapter for a Harry Potter story I left as a WIP four years ago. *removes mask to reveal rabbit*

Yes. It's done. And it's all my fault.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/601118/1/Yet_Another_Snape_meets_the_Dursleys_story

Now, doesn't that give you some hope that I'll get back to my LotR WIPS too?

*grin*

(I'll check my flist tomorrow night.)

Thanks everyone, for the input. I decided to break the story into four parts, and last night I went ahead and posted, knowing that the next couple of weeks are likely to be intensely on the Harry Potter side of the Force. I'm still not quite happy with the last line, but I can fix that...

The story is here, if anyone is interested. It's a New Avengers story where Purdey and Gambit first meet, based on a pre-series publicity picture and a comment Gambit made in the very first episode. I also brought in a character who shows up (very briefly) in a different episode, which was fun, but a bit angsty, since he kicks the bucket canonically.

( But I'd forgotten a few things about ff.n )

Thinking of posting something to ff.n -- a New Avengers story I've been working on for a while with a couple of collaborators. Thing is, it's been so long since I've posted there that I was truly taken aback when the "test" file loaded its in entirety.

That's nearly 60,000 words. 99 pages in 12 point font.

And I can post it as one chapter?

*yikes*

So the question is, which do y'all think folks would rather have -- four shorter "chapters" or one long fic all at once? I know breaking it up would glean more comments in a different fandom, but I don't really know how many people are likely to read this anyway, so that's not a factor. Would it be less scary that way, though?

Any opinions?

*listens for crickets*

My furnace is not working properly. It's sixty degrees F (15.5C) in my apartment and has been since yesterday morning. Seeing as how this is the week that winter finally decided to show up in Boston, and my windows leak, it's not been the best of mornings. But I'm skipping work to wait for the plumber, and I have DVDs and hot chocolate, so I will survive.

Wrote a drabble for one of surgicalsteel's characters. It's over here.

Man, I miss writing drabbles. Here's hoping inspiration will nudge me again.

( Edited to add the drabble: )

Even if I didn't write it:

http://gardnerhill.livejournal.com/9880.html

Rec-Go-Round: Rec me one story you've written (preferably fan fiction, but if you've not written any fanfic, then you can rec an original piece instead) that you're proud of, any genre, here on my LJ.

Then go forth and ask the same in yours.

ETA: poems are also good. Or essays.

For those that played in my last entry, I show that
UPDATED

Of them that has got it right:

claudia603 wants LotR Done!
frodobaggins252 wants Frodo and Sam together caring for each other
jewelsong wants hobbits, preferably Frodo and Sam DONE!
mordelhin has given me a visual clue that has left me unfortunately clueless... I have no idea who is in your icon! Done!
elanor1013 would like Hermione or LotR Done!
siouxieq would like HP/DM
unhobbityhobbit would like anything hobbity
belleferret and cara_chapel and trilliah DONE 1 of 3, 2 of 3 would like F/S
cocoabug wants Frodo and Sam
danachan would like Pippin or M/P
lily_the_hobbit would like Sam pondering Frodo
jane_somebody would like Harry and Ron

The door is still open if anyone else is interested. I'll tackle some drabbles after I've had a nap.

wip_amnesty will be closing for the year soon, but onedeadbunny is just getting started...

ETA Lookee in the comments! mariole has written me some Sam comfort!

belleferret has dipped her toe into the waters of F/S with her first fic, here:

http://belleferret.livejournal.com/591.html

Well, the portmanteau tale is turning into a tree, but you're all still invited to play. Just add on to one of the possible threads, or diverge with your own idea.

http://rabidsamfan.livejournal.com/211798.html

At the moment we've got Pippin heading for a bellyache, finding Aragorn in a state of distress, or having a misunderstanding with one of the Guards... I'm enjoying the possibilities!

They're mine, too, which only adds insult to injury. One I thought I posted and the other is a piece I was thinking of working on.

Grrrr. I need a better "search" function...I know for a fact it didn't find every file it should have...

Ten signs that you’re reading a fic by rabidsamfan

( this one was hard! )

I am reading the comments, and enjoying them, but I'm saving my energy for fic, so here's a general thank you for everyone who's commented on the last bits.

I'm basically flipping open the book and trying to get a hundred words out before I go to bed, right now -- the Bergil bit I've been working on since before Christmas and tossed it out because last night I hit Balin's tomb and couldn't think of anything. If there's a scene I haven't drabbled that you wish to nudge me at, I'll look, but can't promise anything.

I've been rereading some of my older fics, trying to spark a fit of writing, and I've got to admit, some of it's not bad.

Fourteen Days was the first LotR fic I ever wrote or posted, and while part of me itches to do some minor revisions, even now I'm still pleased with most of it, and occasionally find myself reading along as if it were something written by another hand entirely.

Which of your fanfics -- from any fandom -- do you go back now and read and think "Did I write that?"

Obviously, I need a good hard kick in the writing gear. I'll make no promises, but if you're willing to try tickling my muse, I'll see what I can do.

I just took on a challenge -- but since I can use old ficlets as well as new ones, it won't be as bad as all that. Sam had been taken, so I glommed the Fellowship over at fanfic100.

( the table of prompts )

The "Stump the Author" meme -- I gacked it from cara_chapel because it looks like fun.

A-- go to my LOTR fanfiction and pick out a line or two from one of my stories.
B-- I will respond with which story I think it's from.
C-- I'll write a scene (in this case, a ficlet of 100-400 words) for the LOTR characters of your choice with the plot point of your choice to anyone who stumps me.
D-- If I get more than ten responses, I will do the first ten ficlets who stump me.

Obviously, you'd do well to pick something challenging, but unless it's really unique, I'm going to say it should be more than five words.

Have at thee!

i_o_r_h_a_e_l has done another lovely tribute for Frodo's birthday this year, and I participated again.

It's here: http://www.geocities.com/rovers04/2005_cover and then follow the links. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Mind you, I'll bet you can still take advantage of being on the other side of the International Date Line and send her a piece to be added to the fun. The theme this year is birthday cards and letters that might be sent to Tol Eressea...

The original challenge is here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/i_o_r_h_a_e_l/339334.html

I'm trying to catch up my list of fics and drabbles, so I added the stuff to the table I'd made before and there are 25 pages worth of them. Yeah, the table is set up for landscape instead of portrait pages, but that's still a lot of words! And it's just LotR!

I did get the memories in on LJ, though I'm still cleaning up the formatting. (They're all under "myfics")

Sometimes I think that the powers that be need a good loud raspberry.

Just posted an HP fic at ff.n. Posted another one a few days ago.

Seems that the entry blocks for the TITLE and SUMMARY of stories won't accept certain characters.

Like a slash.

Or parentheses.

Or apostrophes.

Hell, I couldn't even use a decimal point in the title of one piece. (Although to be fair it would probably have shown up in the summary.)


And this promotes good use of grammar how?