in-flight wireless, facilitating Yuletide silliness

[swan_tower]

So I discovered I have longer to write "Coyotaje" than I thought, which means I was able to let myself stop pushing on a stone that really doesn't want to roll yet. Still need to get the thing written soon, but as long as that one wasn't moving forward, I let myself write a silly little treat for Yuletide, above and beyond the story I was assigned. The recipient is somebody I don't know in the slightest -- which pleases me, because there's something delightful about total strangers writing stuff for each other. Friends writing stories as gifts is also nice, but when it's a stranger, it's all about shared love for the source. Somebody else going, "omg, you've seen/read/heard that, too? Isn't it fabulous?"

After the brain-drain that was With Fate Conspire, this is, indeed, what I needed. Stories as play, without having to put on my professional hat. December is a good time of year for recharging, and I can feel myself getting excited about other things now. We'll see how much I can get done before the calendar ticks over.

Right now, though, I'm on a plane, which was okay for polishing that Yuletide story, but not terribly good for drafting something new. Plus, I'm very sleepy, and can't let myself nap. Time to find someway to keep myself awake.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My work here is done.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Your nudge was well-timed: I got an AO3 account during the summer because I could tell my brain was starting to burn out on all the heavy lifting. I hadn't yet finished either of the stories I was playing with, but the impulse was there, and then your comment on the shuttle gave me the last push I needed.

(And you were a useful person to provide that push, because I admit that as a professional writer, I feel a little peculiar doing Yuletide. I'm not already a part of the fanfic community, so on the one hand I feel a bit like an outsider horning in, and on the other hand I wonder what readers of my fiction think about me doing this. But it helped to have a fellow pro saying, you should do this.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are other pros participating. They're not all public about it, though.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I know there are; it just helped to have the "you should do Yuletide!" nudge come from one of them, as it helped allay my odd feelings on that front.