Wrote a bunch of Blackmail. Wrote enough of That Iceland Story that I have a handle on how I need to completely rewrite it. Am plagued by visions of yet a third story. Head down.

Send coffee!

Work is... hilarious.

Life is... proceeding.

Writing is going in fits and starts. Stories I have touched recently: ( Blah blah blah... )

So you guys want plotty shippy stories, with Buffy and a bit of Jenny, and you can't keep the various storylines any straighter than I can. Okay. I'll give you whatever comes to mind today while I stare at your prompts and pour coffee down my throat. Flashfic ho! Also, the h/c prompts from the fest will likely show up as well.

( Other notes about my long weekend thus far... )

What I am up to: outlining. Occasional bits of writing, but mostly outlining. I'd like to finish some stories far enough ahead of the due date to get them beta-read for the things I most need beta-reading for. That is, structure, story construction, did I manage to get any conflict into it this time? did I torture my characters at least a teensy little bit? and so on. My next big deadline is summer_of_giles and I want to have something chewy to post on my two days there.

I've been outlining three different stories. I'm not yet sure which story or stories will be the ones I write when I get down to it. I have learned I don't do well predicting that: the unconscious mind is opinionated.

Can't wait for House tomorrow night! Last week's was excellent.

ETA: Minor House spoilers in comments.

Hey! summer_of_giles has plenty of open slots this year. Go sign up to snag a day for your very own. Last year's fest was great, and I expect to see more great stuff this year, too.

Normal Antenna service resumes more or less now. I'll probably have to work all weekend, but that happens every so often. Sigh.

What's interesting this week? I have the new Bujold sitting on my living room sofa waiting as a treat for when I finish the stories I need to post on Sunday. That's interesting!

am writing next chapter of blackmail stop
also next chapter of reconnection stop
am having mental whiplash stop
also posted stupid essay of pointlessness
should be working on remix story instead
have lost mind somewhere
halp
antenna (me)

On the plus side, Project Telecaster is going well. All the body drilling is now done. The to-do list is now:

• drill guide holes for Sperzels in the head & install tuners: done!
• solder the electronics: half done!
• mount everything to the body
• string it: won't get done because my string ferrules are too big!
• adjust intonation & neck
• tune up
• learn to play guitar

The problem is that I have now an army of elves assisting me with bookmarking items for giles_watchers. When I go to bookmark something these days, I usually find that one of the magic elves has beaten me to it. It's amazing and freaky. It'll make me lazy. I mean, lazier than I was already.

My on-going thanks, then, to elves nutterbudgie, seldomifever, and xdawnfirex.

Today I wish to rant about synonym-itis. But I won't. I will confine myself to noting that the word "digits" has entered the proscribed list, along with "ministrations" (in a sexual context) and "engulf" (in any context that does not involve disastrous floods or giant squid).

A full list is available upon request. Just fill out a form in triplicate at any Antennarepublic governmental office.

Have started on season 2 of the West Wing. Will not mention spoilers, but I very much enjoyed the first two eps.

theblackmare, I was thinking of you today as I drank gunpowder tea.

Mr P ran off with my Banks yesterday, but made up for it by reading the first section to me while my headache was at its worst. I love being read to. This is one of the things that makes alixtii's response to my prompt (for the hetfic_minis Buffy round) extra-fun for me. Though six hours of reading! Would Giles have a voice left? He must have used magic.

Note also that I have finished and posted a story, and I feel much better about my writing mojo today. Though brilliance is beyond me, I shall aim for solid, stolid entertainment. My next project due is Buffy/Giles for my own ficathon. That is why I'm writing HH5 right now. I procrastinate from writing by writing.

( Fic I read today, or meant to read... )

Three prompts in progress in one thing. 2000 words and rising. Maybe finished tonight. Maybe not. Pardon me while I vanish again.

Two brief items:

1. "Fenrisulfr" was nominated for a couple of categories for round 8 of the Fang Fetish Awards. Thank you so much to whoever nominated it! It's one of my favorites, if I'm allowed to have favorites.

2. Much writing in progress. I did not post anything yesterday, though I had really hoped to be able to, but it's coming. At the moment the pile includes three Giles/Ethan things (Doctor crossover included), one Giles/Xander ('Rough Boys" draft 2, which I think is going to be my excuse to send email to neglected beta reader), one Giles/Jenny, and one Giles/Buffy ("Blackmail" segment).

No, wait, more.

3. The only Yuletide stories I've read have been in the Fry & Laurie RPF category, which I cannot possibly explain. Because RPF for non-historic figures makes me squeamish.

4. iPod + BtVS S4 + ziploc baggie + Lush + bath == heaven. Re-watching the first two eps has allowed me to rediscover my love for Willow, during a sweep of the show when I liked her better than Buffy. I still have a hard time forgiving her for "Bargaining", though.

5. I failed at Xmas this year. Though I did give Mr P some very nice striped slipper-socks, which he likes. But seriously, I have a pile of stuff that I accumulated earlier in the year, intending to give away come the holidays. And I just didn't. Sigh.

6. My head hurts. Please make it stop.

Things to be noted
1. I made peony tea in my office yesterday, thanks to tea sent by kivrin and glass infusing mug, ditto.
2. I found miriam_heddy's post on teaching writing students about plagiarism, in the context of the controversy about the OTW legal team, to be interesting.
3. I bought a second copy of The Black Powder War because I couldn't find my first. When we got home from the bookstore, Mr P walked over to my original copy, picked it up, and said, "You mean this book?"
4. The journal now has wintry Giles in blues. I need to redo the entire layout. I was reading something about quiet structure in design recently, and thinking that I need to apply those principles here.
5. Buffy got a letter yesterday in the real-mail RPG game I'm failing to be useful in.
6. Half of the songs in the lyrics meme thing are still un-guessed, including one mega-famous song by a mega-famous band. Mr Pedia amused me by guessing the unguessed ones by a process of deduction, using things he knew about me.
7. The Christmas Day ficletspampoll is still open, if you haven't requested something.
8. I am writing.

Things to be done
1. Thank kivrin.
2. Link to the post here.
3. Apply palm to face.
4. Find some moments to push pixels around in Photoshop and see what looks good. Don't take time from writing for this, though.
5. Make self useful. Open it, read it, post it, and have Buffy write a response. It'll be fun!
6. Mock my flist and pimp the meme.
7. Pimp the poll. Beg people who didn't get their birthday ficlets to bear with me.
8. Don't jinx it.

Massively busy work day yesterday, as I egged on the designer into some big changes. Will be busy until the end of the month, as I have just created a lot of work for myself. It's okay. It's the sort of work that will sell more sprockets when complete. And we all know sprocket sales are a good thing.

Read some of the recs you all gave me the other day. Did not write. Have been dreaming over my Buffy is the Hero story. I know what I'm doing now. Frantic prose-spewing will commence tonight. "Rough Boys" draft will sit for a few days in the oak cask, fermenting.

I'm very much looking forward to the lack of pressure after Sunday, from no more looming ficathons. I've written my worst work for ficathons, but never my best. I did my first one just over a year ago, and it has been a most informative year.

I'm sure I'll be tempted into it again just for the feeling of participating in the community.

Huh. Well, that's a draft. 4300 words. HH4. Gotta sleep on it, though.

Am writing.
Am watching baseball (of course) and feeling quite anxious.
Not as anxious as Giles is.
More later.