Rilla

* We have reached our destination (for now) safely and with very little drama. That's not always a given when traveling with so many hellmonkeys.

* I have decided to bring "The Dead Path" with me on our trip and try my luck at remembering to renew it online when it's time. I'm enjoying it a lot and I want to finish it in one go (I'm still not done with "Blind Sight" which I keep taking out of the library intermittently).

* I would like very much to have the time and concentration to write my femgenficathon fic this weekend. We'll see if that happens. Everyone here goes to bed fairly early, so it's a possibility.

* Also, I have a lot of fic reading to catch up on since Teddy fest and the Next Gen darkfest are posting again. Yay!

* My parents don't keep garlic in the house. I don't understand these people at all.

* How is YOUR weekend going, flist?

* My thoughts are with Norway this morning. My heart goes out to the survivors and the rest of the country.

* Good luck to all the couples lining up at midnight to get their marriage licenses in NY. My city, in particular, is being awesome about accommodating people. Marriage might not be my gig personally, but anyone who wants to make it work should have the right to do it.

* Still have swollen glands up the right side of my throat and head, but other than that annoyance, I'm feeling much better. It's cooler today, and the farmer's market is going to be lovely.

* I think I had maybe forgotten how kind and awesome SS/HG readers are when it comes to reading WIPs. What sweet, thoughtful people. <3 to you guys.

* Fanfic meme for today:

6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?

I was going to give this my pad answer of "I prefer writing characters who interest me", but on second thought, I don't know how true that is. I think by and large I write more male characters, but they tend to be very specific characters, with qualities that I relate to (there's also a group of characters I like with qualities that I don't have, but that I admire, but I think that's a whole different discussion). So I think that the qualities that draw me in to a character and make me want to write that character are more often given to male characters in fiction/television/movies (which totally sucks in its own right). There are exceptions to this--Justified, for instance. Give me ANY female character in Justified and I could absolutely obsess over writing her.

Also, there's a whole category of female characters I find really interesting whom I haven't written for one reason or another. Madeline and Fiona from Burn Notice, for example. I think I love every female character in Sons of Anarchy, but I don't know enough about either guns or bikes to write in that fandom. I've totally neglected the female characters in Numb3rs fandom even though I love them all, mainly because the David/Colby dynamic just speaks louder in my head. (Have I never mentioned how badly I wanted to write Millie/Alan?)

I don't know. I carry a lot of guilt over how much easier it seems to be for me to write male characters.


( The rest of the questions )

* And it's been a while since I've extolled the virtues of Johnny Flynn. No words for how I feel about this man and his incredible talent. Just none. Here, friends, have some music this morning:

* Finally an SS/HG update from me. The next chapter of The Librarian's Debt is nearly finished and should be off to beta by this evening. I am enjoying the heck out of writing this one. It's been a lot of fun to get back to writing a WIP after posting nothing but finished fics for ages. And scatteredlogic, I *finally* got a pulse on your birthday fic prompt request, but I have a feeling the finished product might be a little lengthy. I'm working on it, though! It was very much inspired by seeing DH pt 2.

* I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of the fic that I need to catch up on reading. numb3rs_novella and teddy_fest started posting this week, I'm behind on reading at nextgendarkfest, and the crowley_bigbang will be posting soon as well. So much good stuff to read!

* Fanfic meme, day 3:

3 – For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?

♥ Harry Potter - Charlie Weasley, Lee Jordan, Teddy Lupin, Luna Lovegood, Severus Snape, Hermione Granger.

♥ Boy Meets World - Eric Matthews, Shawn Hunter.

♥ Supernatural - Crowley is probably the only character I feel I'm really good at writing.

♥ Numb3rs - Colby Granger, David Sinclair, Nikki Betancourt.

♥ White Collar - Probably circa S1 Neal Caffrey, Alex Hunter, Sara Ellis (as she was when she was introduced, anyway).

♥ Justified - Winona Hawkins, Mags Bennett, Aunt Helen, Ava Crowder, Tim Gutterson.

♥ Psych - Shawn Spencer.

♥ Star Wars - Lando Calrissian.

I'm collecting my thoughts on DH for a more articulate review post soon, but in the meantime, a couple of things.

* My proudest geekmom moment happened while sitting in the theatre waiting for the movie to start. Nine year-old hellmonkey pulled out his copy of The Hobbit and started reading it aloud to his grandfather. Because dwarf songs make the time pass faster!

* We're traveling again today, and seeing thistle_verse later!!!! But for now, I'd like to just sit here and write fic with all these ideas in my head. But I can't. Because there is no time! *sadface* (I know! What problems I have, right?)


* So, am I directing any of these DH pt 2 plot bunnies toward anything productive, like the stuff I need to be working on right now?

No, I am not.

I'm writing fic about Charlie and the escaped Gringotts dragon. (I don't think that needs a spoiler cut since it's not an actual scene from the movie, and it's book canon.) My brain started this after reading book 7, but I managed to make it go dormant for a few years. And apparently it's back now.

Honestly, I just completely lack the ability to not write about Charlie or Lee Jordan when I get struck with the inspiration. Teddy Lupin is quickly joining that list.

So, flist, what about you? Are there any characters/ideas that you're never able to shake once they hit you?

* Also? I need more/better HP icons. I've been thinking that for a long while, but now, I want them.

* Um, if anybody finds my motivation, could you please let it know that I'm waiting for it to come home? Of course, this could be due to the ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh headache that's settled in behind my left eye.

* In more upbeat news, I finished my crowley_bigbang! It's about 22k, an SPN/HP crossover, with a side of Draco/Hermione (I know, wut?). And a bit of Bobby/Crowley. Because, really. Anyway, very excited and relieved.

* I've got one more thing to finish in the next few days, and then I'm writing the next chapter of The Librarian's Debt. Yay!

* Oh, oh, oh, and in case there was any question that I am a perpetual twelve year-old. I'm reccing again at the crack_broom this month. And I'm reccing Albus Severus/Scorpius. Also, my birthday is this month. And I've been absolutely gleeful that I get to rec AS/S for my birthday! Really, honestly, there is some great stuff on that ship, and if you guys are so inclined, please go check it out!

* Hey, silly luddite question here. How do you make a link to, say, a journal or comm on IJ (or DW), and make it look just like a link to an LJ comm, except with the little IJ symbol? I've seen people do it, but I've never learned how.

* Why, yes, I did cry through the entire bit with Jo and the trio giving their speeches at the premiere last week. I am going to be a mess during this movie, man. I have a feeling eldest is going to get up and find another seat so she doesn't have to be seen with the crying lady.

* Still need to catch up on last week's Burn Notice and Suits. Oh, and Torchwood Miracle Day. Summertime is just not conducive to watching TV for me.

* So, how are you, flist? It feels like ages since we've talked.

* OK, now I'm going to crawl into my bed in my very dark bedroom and not get up until tomorrow. <3

* Ugh, why do I do this like EVERY time now? I start writing something, get on a roll with it, and then I get near the end and decide it's an utter pile of shit and not worth finishing. I'm totally held up on all these other things I want to write because I need to finish this fic first, and I just can't.

* Other than that, not much going on except day three of headacheyness. Stupid weather with its changing and being all weatherly out there.

* Still anxiously waiting for the GOP to finally bring the marriage equality legislation to the floor in the NYS Senate. Argh, sooooo frustrating.

* RIP Peter Falk. <3 His character in The Princess Bride taught me everything I needed to know about passive aggressively convincing a child to give a book a chance, long before I had kids.

* Okay, I'm off to buy cheese. We're out of cheese, which tends to make people 'round these parts a little testy.

* Good Monday morning, flist!

* ellensmithee and I had a slight change of plans for our het_bigbang. We've tentatively decided to switch to Numb3rs instead (OMG, how long have I been trying to talk her into writing that? Ha! Victory is mine!), and the story idea of the moment is Ian/Nikki. (Did you see that, mustangcandi???)

* Netflix and LJ were both being uncooperative last night. It's like the internet did not want me to be entertained. So we watched most of Any Given Sunday on tv instead. I've never seen it before, and didn't realize it would be so Oliver Stone-ish. I mean, I guess I should have, but I was kind of surprised anyway.

* I've decided I'm too much of a cranky old lady to use tumblr. I don't understand what is going on there at all. You kids get offa my lawn!

* I have to make grown-up phone calls today. Uck, I hate the phone so so so much. Also, I'm so far behind on work, OMG. And homeschool paperwork. Real life, leave me alone.

* It feels like we just got here and tomorrow morning we're leaving again.

* I finally had enough of the Lifetime Movie Network here and I'm forcing my parents to watch Numb3rs and Justified. Because, dammit, yeah. Also, I finally got them hooked up with Netflix. I'm expecting many phone calls when I get home asking which remote to use and which buttons to press.

* Eldest is reading "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret?" This leaves me feeling a little weepy and oddly shocked that I'm old enough for her to be that old.

* Second eldest just started "The Hobbit". My heart is filled with such joy. I can't even.

* One week until the release of Alpocalpyse. I've been a Weird Al fan ever since I can remember, and the hellmonkeys are probably even more excited for the new album than I am. So, there's that. Yay!

* Hey, is anyone on my flist interested in beta reading a fairly lengthy cross-dressing focused fic? HP fandom, slash, for an anonymous fest, and it should be finished by early next week. Let me know if that sounds like your kind of thing.

* And how ARE you, flist? I feel like I haven't asked that question in ages. <3

* Okay, so it's just a temporary keyboard, and I look like a dork sitting here with a keyboard in front of my laptop, but I can type again. Happy day! The moral of the story is: Take better care of your laptop, Rilla. It is important to you.

* I'm going to try to catch up on commenting today. I scrolled through my flist yesterday, but using the point-click onscreen keyboard was maddening and I couldn't do it.

* So yesterday I got my assignment for the pphpficexchange (Harry/Pansy exchange) and I'm so, so, so excited for it! OMG, I know I say that with, like, every exchange, but this one is going to be so much fun to write.

* Now this weekend I need to finish: My nextgendarkfest fic, which is almost done but for a couple of brief scenes, crowley_bigbang which has been on the back burner for a while now and just needs a few thousand more words, and the next chapter of The Librarian's Debt, which is shaping up well and won't take too long. After those things are off my plate, I'm going to finish my teddy_fest fic, which I'm absolutely and completely in love with.

I wrote it down, so it's going to happen, right?

* For now? Back to my knitting project, and sorting out the bookshelves this afternoon. Joy.

* New White Collar tonight. I'm all ready to start the season with a blank slate. Don't disappoint me, show. Please?

* How are you, flist?

Loud downstairs neighbor is loud. LOUD. Why so loud, downstairs neighbor? The people you are talking to are standing right next to you.

OMG, how did it get to be 1:30 in the morning?

But I finally got a pulse on this nextgendarkfest fic!

That means I'm starting the next chapter of The Librarian's Debt tomorrow. *g*

Also, I have decided that I love my numb3rs_novella so very much that I'm just going to keep editing and re-editing it forever and ever and ever, apparently. Ha!

Also also? I have Corona and lime wedges. Now I need a beach, and I can be just like a commercial.