~ I'm taking a sabbatical for a time from beta'ing. I'm working with a couple of newer authors, and I'm also engaged in two HP-oriented events that I'll be writing for with deadlines, plus I'm going full bore on my Wraeththu sequel. I won't say no necessarily right off the bat, but please ask first, even if you're somebody I've had an open door policy for. And if I say no, please don't get mad!! I'm feeling rather overwhelmed.

~ I have a lot of yarn. I'm a knitter, and my yarn stash has gotten a bit out of control. I don't have a digital camera and taking pictures of yarn seems silly. I'd like to give some of it away if there are some people on my flist who might be interested in some, let me know. Reply here or drop me a line via email and I can describe some of what I have, how many skeins (admittedly, much is a skein here and a skein there), fiber content, stuff like that. If you're looking for something in particular you can let me know that too.

This post brought to you by the word whimper.

My workdays are quite frenetic, hence why I've not posted much during the week. My job has decidedly changed, but as I've become a bit more used to it, as well as fine-tuned my attitude, things have improved. I do find myself looking askance in many ways at some lower management decisions, and can only shake my head. Of the three supervisors for customer care, I believe the oldest is 26 or 27. So... I've been out in the workforce for at least a decade longer than all of them, and have a bit more perspective, which keeps me from going slightly batshite on occasion.

So! ( music and links! )

I've also finally taken a couple of leisurely walks down the dirt road which I now live on. There are a lot of cows nearby, as well as some 'regular' houses that aren't on farms. Lots of dogs, and trucks, and large swaths of grassy hills until they meet treelines. It's delightfully quiet and relatively serene out here, truly. You can't hear the highway, and due to a distinct lack of street lights, the stars at night when the sky is clear is absolutely phenomenal. Did I mention there's no shortage of cows down the road? Pretty funny. I'm settling in well to the new place and the independence of my roommates means that we can chat if we want, but pretty much we all do our own thing, which I find to be just perfect.

Not much in writing news: finished the epilogue for my ginger_lust fic which has already been beta'ed and is now at a second; edited for two of my dear friends; wrote two drabbles over at rondracodrabble and have found myself getting back to the last installment of "Magic Immunity." I did get a short but enthusiastic review for "Crown of Rope" over at Skyehawke, which was gratifying.

I hope that you all have a good beginning to your week! Oh, and risiepookie, thank you so much for your gorgeous card and bookmark and the pictures! How splendid to have pictures of your smiling face that I can look at any time. :D

I'm actively engaging in the privilege of beta'ing a really well done WIP by kerryblaze, The Darkest Recesses of the Heart. I really do enjoy beta'ing for the most part, but I may perhaps be somewhat unintentionally frustrating in that while I definitely squee to the authors in person, especially when beta'ing, often I don't revisit their fics once they're out in public to voice my pleasure there. This story is a WIP, but I have no doubt that she'll finish it over time, if only to prevent me coming up there and demanding to know how it ends!! kerryblaze (formerly known as Kerryblaze) is a very solid writer, and this fic is no exception; it's plotty, has enough angst and realism to really appeal to me (not to mention the pairing), but one of my favorite aspects of it is the original characters she's crafted. I've been a sucker for original characters and them fitting seamlessly into canon fic since my very first fanfic story, ever, Boar and Steward, a Tolkien fic about a fictitious eight year old girl of Rohan. I wrote it not knowing that OCs were nearly always immediately regarded with apprehension, especially female ones. I suppose since mine was a young girl, it escaped the knee-jerk Mary Sue label. At any rate, in The Dark Recesses of the Heart there's a bevy of original characters and they're three-dimensional, as is the town in which nearly all of the story has taken place, a real town in the U.S.

So if you're a Harry/Ron fan, go off and read The Darkest Recesses of the Heart, currently at eleven chapters. It's been primarily gen so far, but she's starting to get into nearly-adult territory, which promises to be delicious and quite satisfying for the characters once it occurs. If it does! I don't know how it'll all pan out— another bonus to beta'ing something like this as she's writing it. I've never beta'ed a WIP before, it now occurs to me. Anyway, I recommend this story without reservation. If you enjoy it too, let her know!

Number of chapters or stand-alone fics beta'ed: 6
Number of new beta-ees who have yet to contact me: 1
Number of new beta-ees whom I've challenged/confused with my commentary: 1
Number of my own fics completed: 0
Number of group saunas attended: 1
Number of Diet Cokes consumed: 4


On today's to-do list:
~Finish How Close the Divide, though it will end with its own cliffhanger
~write some R/D and/or R/H drabbles
~send notes to a couple of friends going through a rough time
~sew up seams of sleeves and put sleeves into a hand-knitted sweater for me- nearly done! Speaking of, here's a pic of my best friend's new bub on the fish blanket I knitted for her:

( fish blanket )

~email my grandparents
~call various people, including my former apartment rental folks
~couple of other things not to be discussed yet

I guess I'll be needing/hoping for two or three betas for this latest Magic Immunity installment; it's about 17K in the wordcount realm, 27 or so pages. Any takers?

... you discover a post like this.

::is proud and boggled by the amount of fun and work that the admins at The Quidditch Pitch engage in::

And yes, I beta'ed the 100 page story pretty quickly. I know what it's like to want to see your work up for the public. But also- I'm being fangirled! And fanboied!! Perhaps this means I've come into my own in HP fandom. :D