Day 15

Talk about why you participated in Snowflake &/or what you got out of it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I joined in because vae, sorchasilver and marginaliana recommended the challenge to me as a low-stress challenge that would ease me back into posting on a regular basis. And you know what? They were right! Thank you, ladies.

I had a great time writing on a (semi) regular basis for this challenge, and I met some lovely people. Everyone was incredibly kind and friendly. It was a wonderful way to ease myself back into DW and blogging in general.

Thank you especially to the challenge mods for a wonderful challenge and community. <3

Day 13

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

One goal overrides all the others - get a new job. My current role is not doing my mental health any favours, and I really do need to move on to something that is a better fit.

The rest of my goals are primarily around mental health: read more, write more, start writing in this journal again, that sort of thing. If I'm using the last 18 months as a comparator, I suppose an improvement isn't terribly difficult. But let's set that bar low, shall we?

So -

1) New job before the summer. That means I have to update my CV, a task which I failed to do over Christmas despite having 3 weeks off. But maybe I needed 3 weeks of nothing. Nevertheless, it's one of those tasks that has to be completed very soon.

2) Reading more means going back to the "50 books a year" target. That's a lot less than others manage, I appreciate that, however focusing my attention for any period of time is a skill I've lost. Multi-tasking? I'm there. Single focus? No. So this is a bit of a challenge, but let's see how I get on.

3) Write more. I signed up for chocoboxcomm and I'm trying to write more of my WIPs. I need to get back into the mentality of just writing, rather than requiring what I write to be satisfactory. Inevitably a certain proportion of words will be utter dross, and I need to get back to just getting stuff on the page because it's the process of writing that helps.

4) DW journal: probably not every day because that's beyond me, but anything would be an improvement.

That's probably enough for now.

Day 7

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that are new to you. (The recs from Day 2 might be a good place to start.) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Yesterday, rather than filling in Day 7, I wrote something new - a rambling Riddler/Joker fic, based on The War of Jokes and Riddles. I'm not ready to post it yet because it's not finished and frankly it's not terribly good, but I'm not going to bin it, either. It's the journey, not the destination, right?

*

Day 8

In your own space, post self-recs for at least three fanworks that you created. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

After Day 7, day 8 was very easy. I don't really have favourite fics. I have some I don't like, some I'm downright ashamed of. I have others I'm proud of, or some that I remember working hard on and it's the memory of writing that I focus on. In no particular order, here are some fics I liked creating.

the ripple effect (4316 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Clint Barton & Tony Stark, Laura Barton & Tony Stark
Characters: Clint Barton, Laura Barton, Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Fix-It of Sorts, Reconciliation, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Clint sorts out his priorities
Summary: Middle of the night phonecalls rarely bring good news. This one is no different.

Why I liked writing it: my favourite fics are team-as-family fics. I love fics where the team gathers around and supports each other, and where their petty grievances are outweighed and superseded by more important matters. I knew what I wanted to see in a Clint fic, so I wrote it.

and thus the heart (8840 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Formula 1 RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna
Characters: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna
Additional Tags: Mildly Dubious Consent, First Time, Phone Sex, Prostate Milking, Voyeurism, Rough Sex, post-season 1993, pre-season 1994
Summary: Alain retires in 1993. A little after that, the phonecalls start.

Why I liked writing it: I'm going to write porn, I said to myself. I never do that, and I'm going to do it now. And then I'm going to grind them into powder.

up, up the long delirious burning blue (1226 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Top Gun (1986)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Relationships: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Characters: Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, War Era
Summary: Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth / And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings ... Maverick is re-assigned to Bosnia. He's not prepared for it, not in the least.

Why I liked writing it: I don't know where this little fic came from, but I'm weirdly fond of it. I feel that writing it helped me set something right in my own head, although I can't remember why that would be. I think I wrote it in between jobs - having finished with one deployment, and starting another, and feeling that little bit closer to burn-out than I would have liked. I think a lot of that came through in writing this.

Sold Under Sin (3038 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Transmetropolitan
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Spider Jerusalem
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Yuletide 2008, Satire
Summary: How to get screwed with your pants on.

Why I liked writing it: I think Spider is my favourite character to write for. 

pirate superheroes (explode things and steal stuff) (1601 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Nextwave (Comic)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Monica Rambeau, Aaron Stack, Tabitha Smith, Elsa Bloodstone, The Captain
Summary: How to put together an elite fighting team. With bonus lobsters.

Why I liked writing it *points to summary*

Day 5

In your own space, promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Mark Watches - A million years late to the party, I discovered Mark Oshiro's reviews and reaction videos. I'm a recent convert to reaction videos, so maybe it's just the lure of the new that's drawing me in, but I'm really enjoying Mark watching Babylon 5. I've powered through a few other shows he's also watched in the meantime - Veronica Mars, some West Wing, some Star Trek - and for the most part I've found a surprising amount of joy in just sharing his enjoyment of the shows. He goes in cold - no spoilers at all - and he watches each episode before writing about it. There is possibly nothing I like better than watching an unspoiled newbie watching Babylon 5. He has laughed. He has cried. He has yelled at the screen a LOT. His most frequent reaction is "WTF???" which, if you've seen the show, is 110% accurate and appropriate. He's currently watching Season 4. The comments section of his blog is split into spoilery and unspoilery sections. Unspoilery are open text, and spoilery are behind rot13 coding to allow people to discuss things in-thread without spoiling new watchers. I am really enjoying all the strong emotion Mark has when watching a show I love so much, especially in the current context. If you like B5 or are thinking about watching it sometime soon, I strongly urge you to give the site a go and join us in watching.

On the same topic, we have The Audio Guide to Babylon 5. I've linked the Twitter feed because the website seems to be down at the moment. This podcast (available via all podcast apps) was great. It had three people who really knew the show well - Chip and Shannon Sudderth, and Erika Ensign (one of my favourite podcasters) - as well as a guest 'newbie' in the form of Steven Schapansky, Erika's husband. (Steven was the control group.) The three podcasters watched each episode and discussed it at length (episodes ranged from 1hr - almost 2hrs), including behind the scenes information even I (an obsessive fan) hadn't known about. The podcast finished S5 fairly recently and is on a well-earned break, but all episodes are available to download and listen to. If you're interested in how something was made - how it was crafted, what the creator has said about it, how things were received by the fledgling fandom spaces at the time - then this is a great podcast with experienced and knowledgeable hosts.

One of the nicest and most close-knit communities out there is the chmslash community (formerly known as tgslash in some circles). Top Gear/Grand Tour as a fandom hasn't been without its share of dramas, and what I find amazing is that the community has mostly taken that on the chin and soldiered on. There are regular challenges (including the recent Secret Santa) and the members are so incredibly supportive and kind. 

One final (small) plug - some enterprising souls have gathered together to run a Culture fest in the not-too-distant future. If you're a fan of the Culture books and would like to get involved in reading/writing Culture fic, you can find the comm here. 

Day 3

In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


I went all around the houses with this one! I originally wanted to pick something from Babylon 5, but it's incredibly hard to do that without being spoilery. (Trust me, you don't want to be spoiled.) I'm going to mumble something about the last conversation G'Kar and Londo have together and everyone who has seen the show will know exactly what I mean, and I will leave it at that (while waving my arms and crying uncontrollably).

Instead, I decided to go with The West Wing, and this clip:



Let me yell at length about the way in which Bartlet wipes the floor with Dr Laura Jacobs. It's glorious. I love seeing smart people speaking their mind, and there is no character smarter or more out-spoken than President Bartlet - especially when he has a bigot to verbally destroy.

No long, detailed reasons for this (I have injured my hand and I can't type a lot today, plus I tried 3 different versions of this post in an attempt to avoid spoilers) other than just - well, I really really like how Bartlet fights fire with fire, and how the bigoted radio host Dr Jacobs is absolutely destroyed and humiliated in public. *chef kiss*

Day 1

In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is the first year I'm doing this, and I hope I can do the entire challenge, it's useful self-reflection.

( My Happy Place is... )