Thanksgiving Advent, Day Twenty: Yuletide

I've talked about Yuletide before, but as signups for it closed this evening, I was reminded that it's a thing to be thankful for. Why? Because exchanges of that kind are a fun form of gift-giving, surprising somebody with a story written just for them. And while there are lots of exchanges built along these general lines, Yuletide is the two-thousand-pound gorilla on the scene -- if the gorilla was made of fannishness and squee, and flailed around being happy and excited, occasionally grabbing people and sweeping them up into great big hugs.

I'm thankful for it because, as I've said before, fanfiction is one realm where story goes back to being pure play. Not that I don't love my work -- I've already said that I do -- but it's valuable to have a realm in which I can chill a bit more, and not worry about all the concerns that go with writing fiction for a living. The end of the year is, for me, a particularly good time to do that. I'll be sending off the revised draft of A Natural History of Dragons soon, and once that's out the door . . . well, okay, there's something else after that which has a deadline, too. And technically Yuletide has a deadline. But my point is, writing my story for that will feel like a reward. Which is a thing to be thankful for, at this time of year.