Patron Saint of Falling Over Things

My Camp NaNo cabin is set up - let me know if you would like an invite. You need to have signed in at campnanowrimo.org and given your project a name. (It doesn't have to be a good name - mine is called "Project Finish Everything".) Camp NaNo differs from the regular NaNo in November because you can pick your goal: it can be so many words, so many hours, lines, pages.

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In other news, I just finished Killing Eve S2 and omg, I have a lot of feelings. Some are good feelings? And some are screaming. But now at least I can try to write for some of the many fic fests I am eyeing:

- Rule 63 Exchange - is open for sign-ups. I am not sure if I should sign up or write one of the excellent prompts that I've seen.

- Multifandom Drabble 2019 - sign-ups are closed, and we're waiting for assignments, but there's a lovely lot of prompts that you can write treats for. This is a very treat friendly fest. And it has an app, so you can sort prompts more easily:
Multifandom Drabble 2019 App

- Everywoman 2019 - is open for sign-ups.

- fandomgiftbox has gift boxes open for filling now. (I think they're still posting boxes, actually?)

- Femslash After Dark 2019 - open for sign-ups.

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I keep typing 'her' for the paragraph break instead of 'hr'. Must have femslash on my mind.

Also, it is very, very cold (for values of cold = Australia, do not laugh at me, Northerners.) I have been wearing a beanie inside the house.

Brain report:
It goes up tiddly up up, it goes down tiddly down down. But it goes up? I guess that's good. I'm back to two sessions a week with my trainer and I think it's giving me a mood boost, but with every mood boost comes a kind of mood flop. I wake up, I feel good and optimistic for a few hours, then it feels like the ground has dropped out from under me and I wonder what the point is to existence.

It's one year since 60% of Australia voted to let me get married. I am surprised at how bitter I am about the whole fucking thing. Every time I see my straight friends on facebook congratulating themselves on being so openminded, I want to cry. I mean, in that twelve months I didn't get married. I weaned myself off the extra antidepressant I had to start taking so I wouldn't have panic attacks in public during the debate. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off. (And down tiddly down down...)

Okay. Up. Go up, brain. There are lots of good things in my life. I have a big bang to post at the end of the month! I'm 22K into this year's NaNo! I have lots of lovely wool to work with! It's okay. I can manage this.


Garden report:
Tomatoes went in the beds on Cup Day (the first Tuesday in November) as is traditionally recommended by old gardners who know things. We've got three from Bunnings (big box hardware): Grosse Lise, mini Roma truss and Nonna's Favourite. And from seed I've got Green Zebra and Red Pear in the beds. In the greenhouse there's Orange Sunrise Bumblebee (this is too many adjectives for a tomato, IJS), valentines, and Wapsipinicon Peach which is apparently a fuzzy tomato. (Not sure if want? But could not resist trying to grow it.)

Cucumbers: Lebanese and Crystal Apple. Zucchini: Blackjack and Costata Romanesco. Climbing beans: Purple King, European and Northern. Peas: purple and yakimono giant. (The giant peas really are huge. Fingertip to wrist in length.) I've optimistically started eggplants - Long Purples, which I call Lebanese - and put lots of dynamic lifter on this time but they've been stalled at the two-leaf stage and I think I really can't grow eggplant which is one of life's cruel ironies.

Is that everything? Lime and Genovese basil... Some other rando tomato leftovers from years past that I can't remember. Oh, purple spring onions, but they're still at the skinny chive-looking stage. Celery is finishing up. Broccoletti is getting lots of brockles. Spinach has been slumbering all through winter, sadly, but is now starting to get leafy.


Linkspam:
History
- I think this comes via jenett? Folklorist shares the untold story of Australian fortune teller, Mary Barrell
I find this fascinating because of my long-languishing YA Melbourne based Victorian-era paranormal novel. I love all these gradually disappearing stories of Australia's occult history.

Politics and Reproductive Health
Via goodbyebird, The California Sunday Magazine: A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions.
Interesting but very explicit - it talks medication, equipment, training for providing grass roots abortion.


Recs
Fic rec of great love from the Person of Interest Big Bang:
Just One Stray Match (41961 words) by loveandthetruth, livenudebigfoot
Chapters: 14/14
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lionel Fusco/John Reese
Characters: Lionel Fusco, John Reese, Harold Finch, Sameen Shaw, Root | Samantha Groves
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Firewatch Fusion, Cabin Fic, Wilderness, Hiking Porn
Summary:

1989. Lionel Fusco doesn't belong in the woods in general or the Shoshone National Forest in particular. But he doesn't need to be a good fire lookout. He just needs a place to hide.

Unfortunately for him, he's been found.

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It's an AU set well before the series, and it's a fusion with Firewatch, a mystery video game where you play someone living in one of those firewatch cabins in the forest looking out for brushfires. It's so good. It's loyalty kink and examining who you really are when you're outside your comfort zone. It's an ode to Fusco and his utter goodness (which as a dirty cop can be problematic.) It's a love song to National Parks and hiking and living wild in isolated places.

If you're not familiar with the fandoms, I'd still rec it, since it takes place long before we get to know the characters from the show, and you don't need much canon info. Think of it as a story about a disheartened dirty cop who takes a summer job he's completely unsuited for, and falls for a mysterious and traumatised stranger living wild in the forest.

(Bearing in mind the week that California has had, if you're unhappy reading about fire or fire damage, this one probably isn't for you.)

tl;dr, it's the kind of fic that makes you pick up a fandom - I've got the Firewatch game in my wishlist on Steam for the next time it goes on special.
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More recs:
- Fanart - No I in Team - by goss. Beautiful, beautiful Daredevil and Ironman art for marvel_bang. Just - when can I see this on a comicbook cover pls? Pls.

- XVII by phoxinus. Tarot fanart for Watership Down in the style of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot. It's beautiful and full of symbolism and very apt. Of course Hyzenthlay is the Star. Of course. I second everyone saying they'd love a deck in this theme.

- Singing Again at Seven Bells by selden, from the Original Works Exchange. I'd say "Lady pirate mermaid femslash" and that would ordinarily be enough for me, but there's so much more going on in this fic. There's boarding school backstory and there's historical pirate world building and there's... so much. It's so good. Nhhgggnh.


Other Fandom Joy
-This Metafilter post: Please rec me your fabulous fanfiction
Take a trip down memory lane or find some new faves

- Femslash Kink 18! The Annual Femslash Kink Meme 2018 is Coming!
Prompting opens soon.

- at navaan, Spicy Advent, a porn advent calendar.
All the slots are filled (snerk) but the collection is open for submission (snerk snerk) and as Advent progresses, navaan will post the links. (I think? I think this is how it works. It sounds like fun.)

Non-Fandom Joy
- At Mashable: If you want to explore the Australian bush as a sleepy wombat, 'Paperbark' is the game is for you.
I cannot wait for this game, it looks so pretty!!

- From the ABC, A sleeping quokka in the Rottnest Island settlement.
Everything quokkas do is adorable.

- Monterey Bay Aquarium Builds Life-Sized Blue Whale Art Installation Made from Discarded Single-Use Plastic to Raise Awareness About Ocean Pollution.
It's a very pretty whale, too.

- Also from the ABC, Warrnambool's popular wombat mural a happy accident.
This is such a country town thing - artist goes to his local bridge to do a trial of chalks on concrete thinking it will just wash away in the next rains. Council worker sees wonderful mural and realises that it's just in chalk, so quickly seals it in place. Presto! Permanent mural!!

- From Eyewatch Warrnambool's facebook, Why did the duck cross the road?
Obligatory 'police stop the traffic for ducklings' video. Interestingly, this is just near the old McDonalds that got turned into a funeral parlour. (Must make for some interesting ghosts, I think.)

- via spindle_ella, the first episode of Wellington Paranormal: Wellington Paranormal S01E01 - Demon Girl.
This show is amazing. Just. Yeah. Amazing.

In conclusion, my NaNo progres:

State of the Nano:
It's week three, I'm eight thousand words in the hole, it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses. HIT IT.

Seriously, I had a really shitty start to the month and I've been writing flat out since about the 6th, and I just can't make the difference up. But I'm still trying. Not drowning, waving. So far. Also, it's not the end of the world if I don't make it, right? (RIGHT??)

I was suppose to work on the sequel to the Person of Interest Sentinel/Guide fic, and the POI S5 fixit fic. Instead, shocking nobody, I have started new fics.

NaNo breakdown thus far:
- Person of Interest, Root/Shaw cavalry fic, 2225 words
Inner writer conversation:
Me: What would Shaw call her horse? Should there be some canon reference here?
Shaw: If I had a horse, I'd name it after food.

So Shaw's horse is called Hoggett, and Cole's is Annie because he's a romantic. Also they have sabres.

- Person of Interest, Unexpected Jessica/John pegging fic, 16K
Me: Imma write some pwp in an AU where Jess and John keep seeing each other after he joins the CIA
Also me: *gets really involved in details of AU and has to remind self to put in sexy pegging scenes*

- Fandom redacted, Yuletide fic, 4K
About halfway there, and very much enjoying writng it.

- Person of Interest, John and Grace roadtrip fic that will somehow become a threesome, 11K
Grace is awesome, and I love writing a character who is smart and empathetic and basically normal in the POI universe.

None of those are what I was supposed to write, but never mind. Also, I miss television and crochet and sleep. I need to finish Black Sails. And read all the things.

ETA: Added fandoms in because, as monanotlisa points out, every show has a Jess or a John, it's true.

I something something made it to 50K in NaNo. I don't know why I didn't quit, and I don't know what I actually wrote, and what are words anyway? In the last desperate hours, I wrote some fic about Harold Finch feeding a kitten with an eyedropper.

I finished some stuff. I wrote some crack. I need to get onto Yuletide now.

( state of the meatsack: )

omg I just found a post I wrote in the first week:
( talk of pee, weight-loss, generally a bit deluded )
Wow, I am so much less off my face now. I was really sick. :O


Activist Links
- Rec: rydra_wong is doing stellar work collecting and compiling links.

- And as always, thisfinecrew is a great resource.

- How to call your reps when you have social anxiety
(This one has done the rounds everywhere, but I liked how clear and simple the plan was.)

- Revenge
(I really liked this poem, especially:
And of course it’s not fair but rest assured,
anxious America, you brought your fists to a glitter fight.)


Links to Distract
- The Cast of Criminal Minds Like You've Never Seen Before
I WOULD FREAKING WATCH THE SHIT OUT THIS SHOW, with all the ladies running heists and shacking up together and why can't this be on tv why.

- Captive Prince opening titles
Oldie but a goodie, and the casting makes me laugh. Also, really skillful, you know? It pleases me.

- FringeMusic107 is a youtube channel that makes mixes of TV themes, and I found them to be really good writing/studying music, especially the Person of Interest themes. I played Harold's Theme a lot through NaNo.


Anyway. I am not dead. The world goes on. We are a great team. I love youse guys. <3

1. I switched on cross-posting to Tumblr. I hope it works! (Totally inspired by muccamukk who is getting femslashex organised for this year.) I already have cross-posting set up for comicstore_news but I want to be more integrated here.

2. femslashex, a femslash exchange that is lots of fun! The new schedule is up, and nominations will open soon.

3. I did Camp NaNo. I wrote 30K of Person of Interest fixit fic. Now I must finish it. I'm starting to think I'm a serial non-finisher of long fics. (Would anyone be interested in Ameripicking?)

4. Imzy is a thing suddenly, and might be the next thing fandom moves to after Tumblr. It seems to have comments that thread, and a generally more friendly atmosphere, though there is some question about whether they'll allow NC-17 art works. (The answer from the creators right now seems to be yes for fanworks, no for pr0n, which might not make for the best fandom environment? But they're talking about it, at least.) My personal comm is here - that's what people seem to be doing, since you can't follow individual profiles just yet.

Some others I've followed:
femslash_frivolity
fail_fandom_anon
pokemongo (still very quiet)
misbehaving_muses (This is a place to vent, complain, or brainstorm when your muses refuse to cooperate.)
personofinterest (But I don't know if it's a fannish comm or what.)

And a few I found that other people might be interested in:
cap_ironman
vorkosigan
forever_tv
babylon_5
the_mentalist
tragic_magic_ninjas - Naruto comm

Porn/erotic art policy + feature requests on Imzy - this is more discussion from the creators about the subject, as well as news about features to come.

I have a bunch of invites, if anyone wants. Leave a comment, or PM if you don't want your email visible in a comment. (ETA: I'm out of invites now, but lilacsigil has a heap, so your invite might come from her.)

5. Discharging some linkspam

Meet Fu Yuanhui, The Most Lovable Athlete At The Rio Olympics (Omg, she is adorable and adorkable. There are gifs there.)

Why tourists are flocking to this Australian hotel room Spoilers: because it was in Free! Eternal Summer. I love how accurately the room and the hotel were drawn, though. That's gorgeous and I can understand why fans would want to stay there.

fuckyeahtarotdecks, because if, like me, you have banned yourself from buying more decks that will just sit on the shelf, you can at least look at some pretty art.

ChrysalisStudios has beautiful jewellery made from actual insects (collected from butterfly sanctuaries. (I really like this: Lime green butterfly wing pendant)

tcustom makes anatomical lockets, which are sort of gruesome and sort of cool. I like the layers on this one: Burgess shale fossil necklace

lilacsigil is at the dentist right now. Let's send her good vibes! So many good vibes that she literally floats up out of the chair with good energy. That will be a surprise for her tiny dentist. (Also, then lilacsigil won't get mad that I'm writing this entry instead of catching up on my NaNo word debt so that we can watch more Jessica Jones tonight. Because we mutually pledged that we wouldn't watch it unless we make our daily word count. And now I'm behind.)

NaNo breakdown:
W13 femslash for (belated) trope bingo - 5041
Killjoys fic for for (belated) trope bingo: - 1873
Sanctuary fic for (belated) trope bingo - 1237
[Redacted fandom for Yuletide treat] - 7868
Sequel to You Can Never Go Home Again (my Tenth Doctor & Sirius fic) which also totally necessitated re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban: 11182
Person of Interest fic for no reason other than it pleases me - 11517
Total words as of last night: 38606


In other news, JESSICA JONES OMG. I would be home watching it right now if it wasn't NaNo, and if we didn't have to buy groceries and go to work and have visitors and seriously what is it with November? This always happens.

November has been surprisingly social - we met up with vass which was lovely, we went to a NaNo write-in for our closest region (which isn't all that close, but a bunch of them trucked up to meet us halfway, which was lovely of them.) Socialising is hard work but it's reassuring to know that I can actually do it with reasonable competence. (Reasonable competence being I didn't faceplant into my food, and I could say more than five words in a row. My personal standards are low.)

Omg, JESSICA JONES. It is everything to me, and I've only watched two episodes so far. But wow. And Luke Cage. And wow. And so many women. And I am re-reading the comics (because I have so much free time, right?)

In conclusion, please send good vibes to lilacsigil so I don't get in trouble.

(I won't really get in trouble. Not really really. D:)

I'm im-ing with lilacsigil at work. She's inputting catalogue data which is all caps, and so her messages are all caps too.

lilacsigil: JUST READ MY MESSAGES IN BRIAN BLESSED'S VOICE
Me: FRESH HORSES!

Also I think the cafe lady made me a babycino. It's all milky froth and no coffee. I feel foamy and undercaffeinated.


Writing:
marvel_bang is done and in editing. I've done the art. I based mine on a vintage condom tin.

( This is the tin. It has a brief cameo in the fic, so I feel like it's basically relevant. )

I'm going to have a push at finishing a line for trope_bingo before the deadline. I have one whole fic, and two halves of fics. I think it's worth the effort, anyway.

Then it will be NaNo, and I haven't decided if I'll do original fic or if I'll pants it with fic. Fic is easier, but I'm still sitting on 50K of Winter Soldier fic from 2014 which I'll probably post around, I don't know, 2020. I don't like having unposted backlog.

I have vague ideas on how to finish up The Victorian Boarding House of Together We Solve Crime. And if that's not enough to fill 50K, I could segue into the sequel, The Victorian Seaside Holiday of Together We Solve Crime. (My catchy titles!)

(This is me at nanowrimo.org)


My little sister sends me links to a facebook group that posts stuff from tumblr. It's weirdly recursive. Sometimes I send her stuff straight from tumblr, but I wonder if that's the internet version of drinking straight from the cordial bottle.

She's so great, though. She's done her final exam. (Please let it be her final exam, please let her decide not to go on to other things.) She asked if she could come down here for Christmas, which is lovely and wonderful, but it gives me faint quakes of terror regarding what the hell my family is doing if she is already planning her escape.


- Flowers for Memories was a crochet art installation at Yarndale 2015. I sent some flowers for their giant garden, and there are photos here. I can see mine!

- How difficult it is to shoot a lock off? Spoilers: pretty difficult

- Altoid tin watercolour palette. We don't have altoids or that brand of gum, but I think I could improvise. (Or you know, use a vintage condom tin!) And how great are those waterbrushes, with the water stored in the barrel? Pretty effing great, let me tell you.

- antarctic_sue is posting again! Daily photos from McMurdo. Some seals. Some weather balloons. Some science corridors. I like it.

- From conuly, Australia in British sign language. Etymology and sign language, differences between countries. The British signs for Australia are really interesting to me: one references convict transportation, the other our slouch hats (from contact with WWI Diggers, presumably?)

- From tumblr: Things I love about the Villain Turns Good trope. I love all of these things. I love that when you write, this is the payoff you get for building nuanced villains. I think about how often we see this in fic, and how rarely we see it in fiction. Right now, I'm thinking of comicsverse!Magneto and Zuko. Maybe it's the babycino speaking, but those two are the only ones I can think of. Oh, and Root. Yeah, Root, though I don't think she has the vulnerability and self-doubt that this talks about, not that either of those are a deal-breaker for me.

I'm pretty excited that I will be watching the next season of POI with all of you guys. Even if it's the last one - I got in on time.

Help! I signed up for cripbigbang (for characters with canon disabilities) and immediately went blank on what to write. Charles Xavier, I guess, except I haven't been feeling very X-Men-ish lately. Or, maybe Vicki Nelson from Blood Ties? (Kind of tempted to write the alt!universe Middleman, but I think that would be really hard to sustain.)

I've been thinking about it too hard, and now it's become a thing. You know what I mean?

I'm trying to think about the kinds of characters I like to write: scientists, doctors, people with skills.

Would Lord John Grey's degree of shellshock count? I thought Remus Lupin might be an option, but it has to be actualfax disabilities, and lycanthopy isn't.

*sigh* This shouldn't be so hard. I want to do it! I'm all ready to get going, and I want to fill out my inkingitout spreadsheet.

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In other news, I'm going back to work on my 2012 NaNo this weekend. Just a heads up, for anyone who wants on or off the filter. (For new people - cos there's a bunch of you! - it's a Victorian era paranormal murder mystery type thing, working title: The Victorian Boarding House of Together We Solve Crime.)

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In other other news, we are not on fire, and it is actually raining. I have my fingers crossed for the fires up near Ballarat, and that New South Wales comes through the next few days with good winds and no disasters.

There's a test post for my NaNoWriMo filter, here on Dreamwidth and on LJ. If you can't see the post, you're not on the filter. If you'd like to be on the filter, let me know and I'll add you.

What can you expect on this filter?
- Me, posting my NaNo wholesale and unedited. It's like raw milk: spurious health benefits, but more likely contaminated with semi-colons.

- Random historical/geographical/medical facts. Watch me do my research on the fly, even though I've had a whole year to do it!

- No obligation to read anything! You are an audience, and your mere existence is enough to keep me posting.

- No obligation to comment, though all comments are welcomed and valued. Possibly clung to and answered lovingly as I procrastinate and deny that there is a word count.

- word counters, banners, magic buttons and picspams.

- possibly some long, scary silences. Perhaps some weeping.


This year, the project has the working title of "Victorian Boarding House of Together We Solve Crime". (Catchy, right? RIGHT??) I have... not planned the ending. I am planning the ending right now. It may yet be a disaster. But it may be a triumph! (Right?)

I have my assignment, it's sparking all kinds of ideas, and it's going to be so much fun. I am excite.

A little while ago, there was this gorgeous post on aiyatheydidnt, with Fan Bingbing dressed as a man, and that's kind of my thing, so I made some icons:




(If that's your thing, too, you're welcome to take!)

Okay! Time's up! *divebombs back into NaNo pool*