Identiverse News and Notes

Hi!

Thank you for taking part in this and offering one (or more!) of my fandoms. Whatever you write - whether it's directly from one of my prompts or from your own inspiration - I will love it.

In case you want to see what I've received in past years (or what I've written - which might be more relevant this year than normal), my AO3 name is Athersgeo. I like to try and keep things simple!

With that covered, here's the main information you've come here to find!

General Bits and Pieces

1) In terms of genre, I'm pretty easy. My default setting tends to be action and adventure, but I will read pretty much anything. The one exception to this is horror - I'm not a horror fan. That said, all my fandom/character choices allow room for darkness, so as long as you don’t hit the relationship DNWs and don’t fall foul of point 4, below, you’re good to go.

2) In terms of rating, anything goes. I tend to prefer there to be some sort of plot, but beyond that I'm good with everything from Gen to NC-17! Consent is deeply sexy. Please no non-con or dub-con.

3) In terms of pairing, again, pretty much anything goes - I will buy just about any relationship if you can sell it to me. There are two exceptions, in my Green Rider requests and also the AC: Odyssey requests. I'll detail that in those sections, though.

4) In terms of story style, I like my stories to leave me with a smile on my face. I don't mind stories that tug on my heartstrings or stories that have me reaching for the tissues, just as long as they don't leave me on a down.

5) Characters are mix and match across all requests

Fandoms

Green Rider

Karigan Gladheon, Nyssa, Lady Estora

I've written in this fandom (several times) for Yuletide, and now I’m requesting it! What I love about the series is the increasing complexity and the fascinating female characters and I'm beyond fascinated to see how Kristen Britain is going to bring things to a conclusion.

This fandom has a really hard and fast DNW as far as relationships go: please, no Karigan/Nyssa. If you choose to write Nyssa, going darker is fine, but I'm not up for going that dark.

In terms of prompts and ideas...
-Nyssa's backstory - she appeared more or less out of nowhere in Firebrand and was all evil and creepy. Was she born that way or was she made? Who trained her and taught her the skills she uses on Karigan and Zachary? Was it Grandmother, or is there someone worse than Grandmother? Is she the person behind the death of Osric M'Grew? (Between what's in Blackveil and what's in Firebrand, it's implied but never outright stated.)
-Karigan, post Firebrand - how does she deal with having Nyssa snarking away in her head? How does it change Karigan? How does hanging out in Karigan's head change Nyssa? I have to think that sticking herself to someone as essentially good/kind as Karigan is is going to have an impact on Nyssa. Maybe they jointly end up in a situation where Nyssa actually finds a way of redeeming herself? Or maybe Nyssa settles for a running commentary on the stupidity and politics of bureaucracy (given Karigan's promotion in Firebrand, does she start having to go to the meetings described in First Rider?)
-Estora - She may not be kickass in the traditional sense, but she is resourceful and smart and far more capable than her enemies have thought she'd be. Something that explores that - either following on from negotiating a treaty from her bed with a chauvinistic Rhovan delegation and ripping up tradition by promoting Captain Mapstone or perhaps during the time covered by Mirror Sight. Alternatively, I would absolutely adore something that told the story of her relationship with F'ryan - it's something that we've been told about throughout the novels but we've never seen it in detail.

Feel free to combine ideas or go with something of your own. Feel free to rope in any of the other Green Rider characters as you need!

Daevabad Series - S A Chakraborty

Zaynab al Qahtani

Note: I wrote in this fandom last year, but not for Zaynab.

This series came to a conclusion (oh my stars, WHAT a conclusion) back in June-ish and I don't think I've really stopped thinking about it since. (I may also have giggled for a day straight when I finished the epilogue.) The whole series is just a magnificant fantasy saga and well worth your time if you haven't read it. Seriously. 19th Century Cairo, Djinn, magic, religion and complicated politics that all pulls from traditions that have been previously often overlooked in fantasty. What's not to love?

Most of my requests take the ending of Empire of Gold as the jump-off point, so fair warning: here may be spoilers, but I'll try to keep them at a minimum.

So, prompts:
First, let me just say that anything about Zaynab will be awesome. We end up knowing so much about her brothers, but she remains in the shadows.

During the books: she's a pawn to be married off by her father when he's still alive; a spoiled brat to Nehri when she first arrives at court; she's also shown as a leader in Empire of Gold; she loves her brothers. Something that plays with any of that (or all of that) will be fantastic.

Zaynab's childhood; learning the water magic she wasn't supposed to have and growing up outside of court. Just how much of a tear-away was she? How did she adjust to life at court? Telling her beginnings and how she came to be the brat who got Nehri drunk would be fabulous.

Zaynab's future: out of all the characters at the end of Empire of Gold, she's the one with the least charted future. We know she's going off adventuring, but where? How? With who? It's a chance to explore the wider world from the books. And she's gone armed with a weapon she needs to learn to use. A 1000 word story on the mishaps of her training with the zulfiqar would be brilliant, just that right there!

Include anyone else you need or make it a character study.

Assassin's Creed
Just a bit of general fangoobering about the series as a whole before I move on to the last two requests, mainly so I don't repeat myself! I got into this series with Syndicate - I've always been a bit of a sucker for hidden societies and secret wars and the steampunky asthetic appealed. Since then, I've played through at least some of all the games barring the very first one (c'mon Ubisoft, remaster it for PS4, please!!!), Black Flag and Rogue (they're on my list for after Valhalla) and Valhalla's on my wishlist for later this year. As a classics geek, Origins and Odyssey particularly hit my spot - although climbing around the colloseum in Brotherhood is still probably the coolest thing I'll ever do in a computer game (shimmying up Posideon's bronze butt is probably a fairly close second...)

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Kassandra, Herodotus

What I especially adore about this game is how developed all the characters are. For one thing, it was fantastic to play a character who was an actual functional adult - and Kassandra is not just a mature/sensible adult; she's mature enough to know that she doesn't know it all. As for Herodotus, he's pretty much how I've always pictured the Greek historian. Curious to a fault, wise and not a little mischiveous on occasion. He serves as a fab mentor for Kassandra through the main game and I was sad when he left the Adrestia at the end of "Every Story has an Ending".

In terms of game-play, I've played right through the main game, all the Lost Tales of Greece and Legacy of the First Blade. Still working on Fate of Atlantis

Hard DNW: no incest (or anything that could be interpreted as incest - so no Herodotus/Kassandra), please!

Prompts and Ideas...
-Herodotus and Kassandra part company at the end of "Every Story Has an Ending", but does Kassandra see him again? Perhaps towards the end of his life - or maybe she stops by more regularly and brings him new stories (maybe Kassandra's the one who told him the story of circumnavigating Africa!).

-Herodotus is the father of history - we've got a lot of his writings, but what if there were more, secret, writings that he kept to record his adventures with Kassandra? Do they end up as part of Assasin history (there's a narration in ACIII that suggests they just might)? Or do they end up in the hands of the Templars? Or maybe it's a bit of both...a bit like Kassandra herself.

Rope in other AC: Odyssey characters as you need.

Assassin's Creed: Origins

Aya/Amunet, Bayek

Most of the AC games have some kind of tragic back story to them, but I think this one is probably the one I found most effective. Particularly towards the end, when the reality finally sinks in for Bayek, that no matter what he does, he's never going to get back what he lost. I don't mind admitting, I did actually have a bit of a sniffle at that point. The whole story was also brilliantly done overall. One of the periods I've studid is the late Republic/early Empire of Rome so it was kind of awesome to see characters like Julius Caesar and Cleopatra brought to life in this way (and yes, I freely admit that I enjoyed the absolute HECK out of stabbing Caesar!).

In terms of game play, I've completed the main game but not played any of the DLC (yet)

Prompts and Ideas...
Pre-game
I'd love to see a time when Aya and Bayek were happy. How did the Aya come to be in Siwa? How did they meet?
In-Game
The game mainly follows Bayek's actions, so what's Aya up to? What are her adventures with Cleopatra? We do know that she hunts down The Vulture and The Ram, but what then? What else?
Post-game
What is Amunet's role in the on-coming Roman civil war? Did she follow through in her threat to Cleopatra? What is Bayek's role? How does he react/feel as Egypt is finally subsumed into the Roman Empire? Do either of them find happiness again?

Given the ending of Legacy of the First Blade, if you wanted to bring Kassandra in from Odyssey - perhaps as a mentor to a young Aya, or perhaps to the newly grieving Aya out on her revenge mission - I'd be open to that.



So there it is. My fandoms for this year. I hope it's helpful. I hope it sparks something - whether it's one of these ideas or something else (because at the end of the day, these aren't the only stories I'd like!). Go nuts, have fun - and thank you :)

Ath

Hi!

Thank you for taking part in this and offering one (or more!) of my fandoms. Whatever you write - whether it's directly from one of my prompts or from your own inspiration - I will love it.

In case you want to see what I've received in past years (or what I've written - which might be more relevant this year than normal), my AO3 name is Athersgeo. I like to try and keep things simple!

With that covered, here's the main information you've come here to find!

General Bits and Pieces

1) In terms of genre, I'm pretty easy. My default setting tends to be action and adventure, but I will read pretty much anything. The one exception to this is horror - I'm not a horror fan. That said, two of my fandom/character sets do allow room for darkness, so it's not a hard and fast DNW this year.

2) In terms of rating, anything goes. I tend to prefer there to be some sort of plot, but beyond that I'm good with everything from Gen to NC-17! Consent is deeply sexy. Please no non-con or dub-con.

3) In terms of pairing, again, pretty much anything goes - I will buy just about any relationship if you can sell it to me. The one exception is in my Green Rider requests. I'll detail that in that section, though.

4) In terms of story style, I like my stories to leave me with a smile on my face. I don't mind stories that tug on my heartstrings or stories that have me reaching for the tissues, just as long as they don't leave me on a down.

5) All the characters are mix and match across all my requests.

Fandoms

Green Rider

Karigan Gladheon, Nyssa, Lady Estora

I've written in this fandom (several times) for Yuletide, but this is the first time I've requested it. What I love about the series is the increasing complexity and the fascinating female characters and I'm beyond fascinated to see how Kristen Britain is going to bring things to a conclusion.

This is the one fandom with a really hard and fast DNW as far as relationships go: please, no Karigan/Nyssa. If you choose to write Nyssa, going darker is fine, but I'm not up for going that dark.

In terms of prompts and ideas...
-Nyssa's backstory - she appeared more or less out of nowhere in Firebrand and was all evil and creepy. Was she born that way or was she made? Who trained her and taught her the skills she uses on Karigan and Zachary? Was it Grandmother, or is there someone worse than Grandmother? Is she the person behind the death of Osric M'Grew? (Between what's in Blackveil and what's in Firebrand, it's implied but never outright stated.)
-Karigan, post Firebrand - how does she deal with having Nyssa snarking away in her head? How does it change Karigan? How does hanging out in Karigan's head change Nyssa? I have to think that sticking herself to someone as essentially good/kind as Karigan is is going to have an impact on Nyssa. Maybe they jointly end up in a situation where Nyssa actually finds a way of redeeming herself? Or maybe Nyssa settles for a running commentary on the stupidity and politics of bureaucracy (given Karigan's promotion in Firebrand, does she start having to go to the meetings described in First Rider?)
-Estora - She may not be kickass in the traditional sense, but she is resourceful and smart and far more capable than her enemies have thought she'd be. Something that explores that - either following on from negotiating a treaty from her bed with a chauvinistic Rhovan delegation and ripping up tradition by promoting Captain Mapstone or perhaps during the time covered by Mirror Sight. Alternatively, I would absolutely adore something that told the story of her relationship with F'ryan - it's something that we've been told about throughout the novels but we've never seen it in detail.

Feel free to combine ideas or go with something of your own. Feel free to rope in any of the other Green Rider characters as you need!

NB The Dream Gatherer: A Green Rider Novella is out at the beginning of November. I'm not sure if it's going to be relevant to any of my requests, but if it is, you don't need to worry about spoilers; my copy is pre-ordered so I'll be all caught up by the time of story reveals!

Ember in the Ashes

Laia, Helene Aquilla, Livia Aquilla

Potential spoilers ahead for Reaper at the Gates.

This is another really complex, rich series that I'm absolutely adoring. I love, particularly, that it's not Yet Another Medieval European Setting and that the underlying mythology pulls in from Africa and the Middle East. Laia's reluctance and determination. Helene's confusion between doing her duty and doing what's right. Livia's quiet dignity in the face of indignity and injustice. I can't wait to see what Sabaa Tahir's going to do next. (If it can be a happy ending for at least someone, that would be a bonus!)

Prompts and ideas...
-Laia and Livia - they've both come a long way from the timid girls they were at the start of Ember. How do they adjust to being the leaders of their respective people? They're both in positions that neither of them expected to be in and Livia has her son to look after as well and there's the looming threat of the Night Bringer to consider as well
-Laia and Helene - they've both loved and (at least for now) have lost Elias. Do they talk? Do they share their grief? What about the motherly connection between them after Helene's healing of Laia? How does that impact them now that they're thrown together? What about Helene's nascent feelings for Harper?
-Helene and Livia - just how much guilt does Helene feel about the situation Livia's found herself in? For that matter, how awkward does Helene feel acting as Blood Shrike to her younger sister? What does Livia make of Helene's feelings for Harper and/or Elias?
-Helene/Laia - I could definitely buy this, maybe not as a long-term pairing but as a short term comfort thing

Given where Reaper at the Gates ends, I'm not expecting this to be entirely hugs and puppies but if it can end with some hope for the future I will be delighted!

Instinct

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Needham, Jasmine Gooden, Dylan Reinhart, Andrew "Andy" Wilson

I'm enjoying this show quite a bit. It's not the most original show (It's a procedural! It's an unconventional pairing! One's a detective, one's not!) but it's fun and it's reasonably smart and I love that the two main female characters aren't needlessly at odds with each other. I also love that we get a health, stable, adult relationship in Dylan and Andy. Plus: Alan Cumming on my TV is always a joy!

For prompts...
-The backstory - how long have Lizzie and Jasmine known each other? Did they train together or did they meet when they got their first jobs? Or before that? Were they college room mates?
-The backstory 2 - how did Dylan and Andy meet? When? Where? And how long did it take for Andy to appreciate Dylan's...quirks?!
-Casefic - something from either Jasmine and Lizzie's shared past comes back to haunt them, or maybe it's just Jasmine who's being pursued by ghosts. Something that allows Jasmine out of the office could be fun. Alternatively something from Dylan's time at the CIA.
-Between episodes - there's quite a few big gaps between episodes (particularly between the pilot and Wild Game and then Wild Game and Secrets and Lies) so something (anything!) that bridges those gaps would be awesome
-Day in the life - Jasmine's clearly fairly new in the role of Lieutenant, newly married and also possibly looking at starting a family, so something that explores how she keeps those plates spinning would be fun. Trying to ride herd on Dylan Reinhart must also add a degree of difficulty to her life. Alternatively, what's a typical day for Andy like? Or maybe a not-typical day for either of them. Or both.

NOTE: This show started airing in the UK in September, so I'm still catching up on season 1, which means that this section's still in-progress (and I'm aware that some of the prompts may end up being AU - I'm good with that!). If this is the fandom we've matched on, I will finalise this by 28th October.

Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series

Plourr Ilo

I've requested this for the last couple of years and received some fab responses, but more Plourr is always a good thing! The basic question remains the same: how does a princess become a pilot and then become a world leader? It's quite a journey - and one I wish we'd seen more of in the books.

Ideas, ideas ideas...
-Her decision to rejoin the squadron (between Requiem for a Rogue and In Empire's Service) - how does that play out? Who does she leave in charge while she's gone? How does she balance the two sets of duties? Presumably she receives regular updates and has periodic diplomatic functions to attend - who in the squadron helps? Who just teases?
-Leaving the squadron - Plourr is one of the lucky Rogues who actually gets to retire rather than go out in a blaze of glory. But when? Is it inspired by the events of Mandatory Retirement, or something else? Does Wedge step in (like he did with Elscol)?
-Rial - does Plourr actually settle down with him? Do they have a future? Children?! (NB I'm not actually asking for kid!fic - but a free and frank discussion between Plourr and Rial on that subject would be highly entertaining!)
-Corran Horn - who gets to tell Plourr that he eventually does join Rogue Squadron? (Another potentially amusing/entertaining conversation given her assertion that it would never happen in her life time!)

Feel free to drag in any of the other Rogues as you need them. Feel free to also check previous letters.

Qing Dynasty RPF

Empress Dowager Cixi

I've spent a long time reading/researching Chinese history. It started originally as background reading for a book and while I quickly realised the book was an utter non-starter (long, boring story!), what I'd read piqued my interest in China and a near obsession was born. Out of all that, Empress Dowager Cixi is probably one of the most fascinating people I've come across.

If you're not familiar with the Dowager Empress, the Wiki article about her gives a decent overview and will point you to more/better/other sources. The short form goes something like this: She joined the court of the Xianfeng Emperor in 1851 as one of his consorts. She was unusual, in that she could read and write, and she was involved in the running of the country even before her husband died. She provided him with an heir which raised her up in the ranks of consorts until she was second only to the Empress. When her husband died she (with Empress Dowager Ci'an) managed* to become co-regents until her son came of age as the Tongzhi Emperor. When he died (without an heir) she became sole regent (Empress Dowager Ci'an having died) to her nephew (4 years old at the time) until he came of age as the Guangxu Emperor. When he abdicated, she was back in charge (largely without the fiction of regency) until her death in 1908.

*They essentially staged a coup - though, as with all things in Chinese political history, it was a bit more complicated than that makes it sound!

During her lifetime, she had to deal with the second Opium War, meddling by foreign powers, a burning need to modernise all aspects of Chinese society, rebellions, corruption (her own and that of officials around her), conspiracies, missionaries and the ramping up of international tensions that led to WWI. After her death, she had her name and reputation blackened by gossip and innuendo - like a lot of powerful women throughout history - though that's something that's been reversed somewhat in the last thirty or so years.

What ever else you can say about her, her life wasn't dull!

Some prompts...
I do have one (admittedly very big!) idea which has been bouncing around my brain since I finished reading Jung Chang's biography of the Dowager Empress: what if she'd been allowed to rule out-right without the constraints and fiction of regency? What if her original reform plans had been implemented fully? What if, as a result, the Boxer Rebellion hadn't happened? How different would the history of China be? How much would it have changed what happened subsequently (the end of imperial rule, the communist uprising, WWII)?

If you're looking for something smaller, I would also love to see scenes from other points in Cixi's life. Before going to the palace, as a child, or contemplating the enormity of the regency, or meeting Europeans for the first time (just what did one discuss with a Dowager Empress over tea and finger foods?!)

To be honest, anything you write me will delight me beyond reason in this fandom (heck, a 1001 word essay on court fashion would be glorious, should that float your boat!) because it's such a fascinating period of Chinese history and she is such a fascinating person with such a mix of forward thinking and traditional ideas.



So there it is. My fandoms for this year. I hope it's helpful. I hope it sparks something - whether it's one of these ideas or something else (because at the end of the day, these aren't the only stories I'd like!). Go nuts, have fun - and thank you :)

Ath

Hi

Firstly I just wanted to say a big thank you to you for volunteering to do this. No matter what you write I'm sure that I'm going to end up loving it.

Secondly, here's the information you've come here to find!

Some general pointers for you, before I go to the fandom specific stuff:

1) In terms of genre, I'm pretty easy. My default setting tends to be action and adventure, but I will read pretty much anything - the one really hard exception to this is horror; sorry, not my bag at all (though I don't think any of my prompts would really work for that)

2) In terms of rating, anything goes. I tend to prefer there to be some sort of plot, but beyond that I'm good with everything from Gen to NC-17!

3) In terms of pairing, again, pretty much anything goes - I will buy any relationship if you can sell it to me.

4) In terms of story style, I like my stories to leave me with a smile on my face. I don't mind stories that tug on my heartstrings or stories that have me reaching for the tissues, just as long as they don't leave me on a down.

Before I get going on the optional details are optional stuff (!), I just wanted to say thank you for whatever you write - I'm sure that whatever you come up with will be brilliant :)

So. Optional details are optional.

I've very deliberately only picked one (or two) characters so as to give you the widest scope and so as to not tie you down to writing any particular couple. Feel free to use (and abuse!) any other characters you want.

Kim
She's probably my all time favourite PR character and any story that you can tell - either about her time as a ranger, or afterwards or even before - would be great.

Jen
Behind Kim, she's my second favourite PR character. (Yes, really!*) A story about how she got to be where she was when Ransik escaped would be really cool. So would a story set just after her arrival in the past and having to adjust to such a completely different world. Or the explanation for why she was the one sent after the Muteorgs - that would also be really cool.

Nadira
She's a character with an interesting arc, but for all that, I don't think her story really gets told in PRTF, so something that explores that would be great.

Taylor
She's the last of the PR characters (at least, ranger characters**) who's intended to be the same age as me and, as such, she has a soft spot in my heart. Something that shows what happens to her when her time as a ranger is done would be great.

So there you go. Some optional details are optional. If what you've got in mind fits none of those thoughts, then that's cool too.

Good luck!


*Jen is a large part of the reason why I got hooked on PRTF, contrary to what my scribblings might suggest...
**I'm trying not to think about the fact that I'm now "old" enough to be a PR mentor! (I'm also not counting the part where Tommy was a character in Dino Thunder - partly because I didn't get to see it and partly because Tommy is hardly a new character!)

Dear Yuletide Author,

Firstly, thank you! Just by agreeing to do this, I think you are fabulous and wonderful and no matter what you write, I will love it and be utterly thrilled by it.

If you've stopped by here, you're probably looking for a little more guidance about what I'd like in a story - or possibly what I wouldn't! - so beneath the cut are a few more thoughts on each fandom. Before I get to that, though, a couple of points that go for all three:

-I'm open to anything, if you think you can sell it. I'm easy with what rating you write to and what pairings you choose (het, f/f, m/m, multi or none at all).
-I'm open to almost any genre, if you think you can sell it. Action and adventure tend to be my default settings, but pretty much every other genre is fair game. That said, horror isn't my bag at all and while I don't hate dark and depressing endings, I do prefer if the story leaves me smiling.

( On to the specifics )

So there you have it.

Thank you again :) - and good luck!

Athersgeo

Another yesterday's count...

Words: 465
Projects: In Vino Veritas and Estranged

Still not a massive count, but I'm particularly pleased to get something added in to Estranged as I've been stuck on that for quite a while.

As I mentioned in comments yesterday, my loose goal at the moment is to hit 5000 words by the end of the weekend. Getting more than that would obviously be fantastic, but as a first goal, it's doable.

Today will undoubtedly feature more In Vino Veritas as I'm now on a roll with that one that should see me wrap up the basic writing part this week. I've also got some random scene-bits from a couple of the other projects on the list that I'd like to get down, so, we'll see how that works out.

Right. Time for work.

How the HECK is it now November?!

I really do not know what's gone on with my year. Each time I turn around, I seem to have lost at least three months. About the only positive thing to this most recent vanishing of time is that it's been emphatically work related - since the beginning of July, I have been insanely busy. This might not seem like a positive thing (because I've had very little time to do anything more than eat, sleep and work), but considering that this time last year I wasn't entirely sure how long I was going to have a job... Things are slowing down somewhat now the mega project is largely done, but they're still looking reasonably positive for the next few months.

As the whole eat-sleep-work thing might suggest, I've done precious little in the way of writing in this time, but with it being November, the month of NaNoWriMo, it's time to jumpstart the process again. I'm not actually going to attempt NaNoWriMo (ie 50,000 words on a single story), but I *AM* going to attempt the 50,000 words thing. As I did this time last year, I'm going to have a go at getting some of my long-standing WIPs finished off. It's going to be the same deal as last year - a fixed number of stories (roughly one from each active universe), nothing new to be started and between the lot of them, try to produce 50,000 words.

The stories I'm going to be working on are as follows:
1) Soaring Eagle (PRTF/Airwolf)
This one is rapidly closing in on a decade unfinished. I'm pretty sure no-one else even remotely cares whether this gets finished, but DAMNIT it's a point of pride now!
2) Estranged (MASK)
This story's languished in development hell for a couple of years; I'd like to see it finished, because it lays the way open for me to get to the story I *ACTUALLY* wanted to tell in this universe!
3) Red Rain (CSI)
Believe it or not, this is actually mostly done. I just need to stitch the disparate bits together
4) In Vino Veritas (NCIS - Coming Back to Life)
This is a nominally short story that fills in a little piece of backstory for the CBTL universe. And features Palmer. Lots of Palmer.
5) A Kind of Magic (NCIS - AKoM)
A little like Red Rain, this is actually mostly done, it's just suffering from too much talk and not enough action so the big red pen of doom needs to be pulled out...
6) Who Wants To Live Forever (NCIS - AKoM)
I know I said one per universe, but as this follows on directly from AKoM (and I'd really, REALLY like to avoid the cyber-lynching that would occur if I post the conclusion of AKoM and don't at least have the first part of this one ready to go), it gets on the list
7) The Trouble with Triplets Difficulties for Francie (CS)
This is another that's been dangling for a while. It's also somewhat homeless since the CBB stopped fic posting, so I need to have a think about where that's going. (Yes I am aware of the Sally Denny, before anyone points it out! My problem is whatever I do I've got to post up the previous two stories in the series, so I need to figure out something that isn't going to drive me utterly nuts.)

A couple of contingencies:
8) Learning to Live (NCIS - CBTL)
If no.4 gets wrapped up, this is the next story in the series
9) Silence Must Be Heard (CSI)
If no.3 gets wrapped up, this is the next story in the series

And the obligatory exception to the rule...
10) Yuletide
If/as/when my Yuletide assignment arrives, given the short deadline, getting some work done on it ahead of December would be good. Of course, that assumes Yuletide nominations open any time soon...!

There will be daily updates on progress and all that jazz.

There's also some updates on various other things - but as I've run out of time just now, they'll have to keep until later.

Toodle pip!

Edited to fix my counting skills and to correct a project title - obviously I wasn't QUITE as awake when I posted this as I thought I was!

How is it now June? Seriously, I swear I do not know what's going on this year. I lost February and I've been trying to catch up ever since...

Life, in short, has been absolutely crazy one way or another - most of them, to be fair, good ways. In a quick bullet-point-type list I have...

-Taken my first dancing exam in 25 years...and passed it with a distinction (!) [somewhere in north west Bristol, the lady who taught me dancing as a kid is probably STILL rotating in her grave over that one!]
-Finished my first multi-part story in at least four years (and it's also pretty much the first multi-part story I've written in four years that hasn't gone kinda dead half way through!)
-Finished my latest OU course (that's a very recent one - the last assignment went in this week), so I am now pending the results of that and, subject to them, also pending my degree classification.
-The above means I'm now giving some serious thought to "what next"...though that's a post in itself and one I don't have time to get into at the moment!
-Earned a couple of rejection slips for short stories (none of which surprised me too terribly much)
-Begun to feel at least cautiously optimistic about my job situation (which is a huge change on three months ago)
-Just finished a rather lovely vacation with V (who came to visit for a week) which entailed some lovely trips, a lot of walking and a visit to the cinema to see Thor (I have thoughts on that subject but that's another post, too!)

And I think that's the highlights. There's also been a boat load of writing, a tonne of reading (the last assignment for the OU course involved an absolute mass of research), not enough sleep (health-wise hasn't been quite so great - again, a post in its own right) and more joys of living in the "country" vs within Bristol (yet another post!).

So yes. Not dead, just busy.

Hopefully, I'll make good on some of those separate posts a bit later - right now, I have a mound of work to deal with!

It has been a very busy day - and very, VERY productive. (Massive thanks to all the number callers - I can safely say this is the most fun I've ever had while also doing all the little tasks I tend to put off!)

For anyone interested, here's the complete list of what got done (and what didn't!)
( Long List is Long )
PHEW.

Time for that glass of wine (well, baileys, in my case!) someone suggested!

x-posted to declutter_bugs

...and they've made a good start on March, too.

Also: You know you're writing about Greek mythology when you find yourself having a legitimate reason to write the following sentence in a schollarly essay:

Turning her into a heifer, of course, might not be considered the best tactic.