If you've drawn me as your assignment over at spn_btvs and have come over to find out a bit about me, the most important thing to know is this: I will love whatever you write so long as it even comes within a ten mile radius of the request. The fact that you are writing it for me is the most important thing.

Thank you!

Write your story, I hope my prompts help you on the way, but this will be your story - and I will love it.

If you've drawn me as your assignment over at spn_btvs and have come over to find out a bit about me, the most important thing to know is this: I will love whatever you write so long as it even comes within a ten mile radius of the request. The fact that you are writing it for me is the most important thing.

Thank you!

Write your story, I hope my prompts help you on the way, but this will be your story - and I will love it.

I done made a wallpaper last night - but realised that I'd already posted three times yesterday so I didn't post it here (season three DW casting spoilers by the way). Maybe if I didn't make multiple posts here I'd actually get something productive done, hell word countage alone I could have finished Final Straw two months ago... If I hadn't, y'know, started flailing about the potential for slipping into character bashing in the fic and frozen up. And hell, how can a story be about Xander when he's only made cameo appearances in all three parts so far? If someone other than me had written this and submitted it to INAP, it'd be knocked back for that. Probably. *flails*

And then there's the Dark Xander fic, I had a plan last week, I was in a bolshie mood on Friday and spent the entire day actively not working (multiple absences meant people assumed I would cover their asses for them) and instead I wrote a long plan for a story which could work (and which is heavily inspired by an avenue I considered exploring back in the _end_of_days days (the Vi story, not the Nhamo one - for those of you who followed that RPG). And now looking at it all I can see is cliché writ large. So it's back to the drawing board, except the drawing board is staying resolutely blank now and taunting me with the fact that if I would stop over-thinking it then I could do it. I am severly lacking in inspiration now, I'd like to explore the possibilities of Xander being backed into a corner and having no choice - but being cognicent of his actions - but the simple fact of the matter is I can't bring myself to conjure up a situation where he would act so basically out of character. Yes, Xander could be a bastard, his words were as much weapons as they were jests, but actually acting out in a dark way? The situation(s) that would trigger that are eluding me right now. (Or at least ones which don't result in a simple 'vengeance seeking' fic are.)

So I'm scuppered right now, flailing about on here instead of forcing myself to write something - anything. Maybe I should write the cliché story, maybe being aware that it is a cliché would help? What is it Pratchett said, "clichés become so because they are the hammer and nails of communication", oslt. Or maybe I should just shut down the computer, grab a notepad and go write emo poems on a beach somewhere. Live the cliché.

Good grief that got a little emo there didn't it? *sigh once more* anyone have any ideas/bunnies for Dark!Xander that they're willing to give up for adoption, I'm all ears - check out the post over at pygs_lj for those already posted (I'm tempted by 4thdixiechick's scenario but when I put further thought into it all I'm getting is, yup, you guessed it, cliché. (Not the idea itself, but my execution of the idea.) I should stop kidding myself that anything I write is going to be 'original' really, I should learn to embrace the cliché.

Ficathon pimping - Rose Tyler Ficathon (the one that's turned out to be 'shippy' above all else); the other Rose Tyler one (which is a gen post-Doomsday one, which if I would consider entering if I could actually write anything at all right now); Old Friends With Indescretions - II Willow/Xander ficathon; and of course theDark!Xander Ficathon which is a promptless ficathon open to all.

Oh! Almost forgot, smhwpf, I never did send this on to you did I? Plagiary: Cross-disciplinary studies in plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification - that journal we talked about a few months ago. It's on Directory of Open Access Journals now so it's freely available to everyone.

Heh! ETA monkey_matt and I have been brainstorming about the Dark!Xander thing, I think I summed up my problems with this little comment: "Why are all the good stories already written?!" *g* Although - thank you Monkey!

I done made a wallpaper last night - but realised that I'd already posted three times yesterday so I didn't post it here (season three DW casting spoilers by the way). Maybe if I didn't make multiple posts here I'd actually get something productive done, hell word countage alone I could have finished Final Straw two months ago... If I hadn't, y'know, started flailing about the potential for slipping into character bashing in the fic and frozen up. And hell, how can a story be about Xander when he's only made cameo appearances in all three parts so far? If someone other than me had written this and submitted it to INAP, it'd be knocked back for that. Probably. *flails*

And then there's the Dark Xander fic, I had a plan last week, I was in a bolshie mood on Friday and spent the entire day actively not working (multiple absences meant people assumed I would cover their asses for them) and instead I wrote a long plan for a story which could work (and which is heavily inspired by an avenue I considered exploring back in the _end_of_days days (the Vi story, not the Nhamo one - for those of you who followed that RPG). And now looking at it all I can see is cliché writ large. So it's back to the drawing board, except the drawing board is staying resolutely blank now and taunting me with the fact that if I would stop over-thinking it then I could do it. I am severly lacking in inspiration now, I'd like to explore the possibilities of Xander being backed into a corner and having no choice - but being cognicent of his actions - but the simple fact of the matter is I can't bring myself to conjure up a situation where he would act so basically out of character. Yes, Xander could be a bastard, his words were as much weapons as they were jests, but actually acting out in a dark way? The situation(s) that would trigger that are eluding me right now. (Or at least ones which don't result in a simple 'vengeance seeking' fic are.)

So I'm scuppered right now, flailing about on here instead of forcing myself to write something - anything. Maybe I should write the cliché story, maybe being aware that it is a cliché would help? What is it Pratchett said, "clichés become so because they are the hammer and nails of communication", oslt. Or maybe I should just shut down the computer, grab a notepad and go write emo poems on a beach somewhere. Live the cliché.

Good grief that got a little emo there didn't it? *sigh once more* anyone have any ideas/bunnies for Dark!Xander that they're willing to give up for adoption, I'm all ears - check out the post over at pygs_lj for those already posted (I'm tempted by 4thdixiechick's scenario but when I put further thought into it all I'm getting is, yup, you guessed it, cliché. (Not the idea itself, but my execution of the idea.) I should stop kidding myself that anything I write is going to be 'original' really, I should learn to embrace the cliché.

Ficathon pimping - Rose Tyler Ficathon (the one that's turned out to be 'shippy' above all else); the other Rose Tyler one (which is a gen post-Doomsday one, which if I would consider entering if I could actually write anything at all right now); Old Friends With Indescretions - II Willow/Xander ficathon; and of course theDark!Xander Ficathon which is a promptless ficathon open to all.

Oh! Almost forgot, smhwpf, I never did send this on to you did I? Plagiary: Cross-disciplinary studies in plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification - that journal we talked about a few months ago. It's on Directory of Open Access Journals now so it's freely available to everyone.

Heh! ETA monkey_matt and I have been brainstorming about the Dark!Xander thing, I think I summed up my problems with this little comment: "Why are all the good stories already written?!" *g* Although - thank you Monkey!

Feel like crap this morning, have a really sore throat for some reason - felt it coming on yesterday but put it down to me running out of antihistamines (hayfever gives me an itchy roof of the mouth thing - I figured the throat was an extension of that) but I'm now medicated and my throat feels like someone's had a go at it with a power sander (with high grade sandpaper). Probably not helped by the fact that Dram is turning into a night owl. Sleeps right through the whole day so that he can wake me up two hours after I get to sleep, and again at three am and again (and this is the killer one) at five to five. My alarm is set for 5.30, when he wakes me up 35 minutes before that it's not worth even trying to get any more sleep. It's his lampshade that does it, it scrapes against every single vertical surface in the room and then gets him trapped under the bed (lampshade = the cone thing he has on around his neck to stop him scratching at his eye). I think I'm going to take him to the vet tonight 'cause there's a little bit of... seepage, shall we say, at the corner of his eye. It's probably just his tear duct not getting a chance to clear 'cause his eyelids are sewn together but I want to check it out anyway. He has another week before the vet is going to take the stiches out so it's another week of him bumping into things and tearing the wallpaper off my walls (accidentally, the lampshade gets caught on a loose edge and it tears). Joy.

So now that I've bored you with my (again) lousy health and Dram, let me catch your interest again with the Old Friends With Indiscretions Willow/Xander ficathon Round Two Sign-Ups! (Okay, that sounded catchier in my head...) I'll be signing up once I come up with what I want and what I don't want, so come join in!

And while I have my *pimp* hat on, there's a new graphics contest open for Doctor Who iconers - martha_stills - first challenge has been posted but they need more members - go join!

And another pimp - the Rose Tyler ficathon. I'm tempted by this a lot, the two things that are stopping me are 1)I'm already committed to two ficathons around the same time and 2) most of the sign ups so far are shippy in nature and we all know how I feel about that... I'm going to ponder some more on this. Or maybe someone should set up a multifandom 'gen' ficathon? 'Cause I'd be all over that like a rash... will not set up a ficathon, I have too many other things to do and it just seems like a really stressfull thing to run

ETA ( quotes meme )

Feel like crap this morning, have a really sore throat for some reason - felt it coming on yesterday but put it down to me running out of antihistamines (hayfever gives me an itchy roof of the mouth thing - I figured the throat was an extension of that) but I'm now medicated and my throat feels like someone's had a go at it with a power sander (with high grade sandpaper). Probably not helped by the fact that Dram is turning into a night owl. Sleeps right through the whole day so that he can wake me up two hours after I get to sleep, and again at three am and again (and this is the killer one) at five to five. My alarm is set for 5.30, when he wakes me up 35 minutes before that it's not worth even trying to get any more sleep. It's his lampshade that does it, it scrapes against every single vertical surface in the room and then gets him trapped under the bed (lampshade = the cone thing he has on around his neck to stop him scratching at his eye). I think I'm going to take him to the vet tonight 'cause there's a little bit of... seepage, shall we say, at the corner of his eye. It's probably just his tear duct not getting a chance to clear 'cause his eyelids are sewn together but I want to check it out anyway. He has another week before the vet is going to take the stiches out so it's another week of him bumping into things and tearing the wallpaper off my walls (accidentally, the lampshade gets caught on a loose edge and it tears). Joy.

So now that I've bored you with my (again) lousy health and Dram, let me catch your interest again with the Old Friends With Indiscretions Willow/Xander ficathon Round Two Sign-Ups! (Okay, that sounded catchier in my head...) I'll be signing up once I come up with what I want and what I don't want, so come join in!

And while I have my *pimp* hat on, there's a new graphics contest open for Doctor Who iconers - martha_stills - first challenge has been posted but they need more members - go join!

And another pimp - the Rose Tyler ficathon. I'm tempted by this a lot, the two things that are stopping me are 1)I'm already committed to two ficathons around the same time and 2) most of the sign ups so far are shippy in nature and we all know how I feel about that... I'm going to ponder some more on this. Or maybe someone should set up a multifandom 'gen' ficathon? 'Cause I'd be all over that like a rash... will not set up a ficathon, I have too many other things to do and it just seems like a really stressfull thing to run

ETA ( quotes meme )

ficathons a-plenty at the moment!

As well as the possible resurrgence of the Old Friends With Indiscretions Willow/Xander ficathon and the whichwillow Willow ficathon, liz_marcs is looking to see if there's interest in a Dark!Xander ficathon

Go on, you know you want to.

</pimp mode>

(and randomly, reading everyone's reports, how much do I want to go to Writer Con in '08?!!)

( to do list )

ficathons a-plenty at the moment!

As well as the possible resurrgence of the Old Friends With Indiscretions Willow/Xander ficathon and the whichwillow Willow ficathon, liz_marcs is looking to see if there's interest in a Dark!Xander ficathon

Go on, you know you want to.

</pimp mode>

(and randomly, reading everyone's reports, how much do I want to go to Writer Con in '08?!!)

( to do list )

Okay, in my job I get a lot of email alerts to new online publications and there are quite a few which may prove useful for people researching for ludditerobot's Africander ficathon. So I'm going to compile them all here. This is in no way exhaustive at all, it's simply what I'm getting in my "New Journals Alert" emails every day.

African Security Review - Freely accessable online 'multidisciplinary review journal that publishes articles on the spectrum of human security issues, including security sector transformation, civil-military relations, crime, justice and corruption, small arms control, peace support initiatices, conflict management, as well as aticles dealing with the interplay between economics, politics, society and culture and human security and stability'.

Mmegi Botswana's only independent newspaper.

Africa & Asia: Goteberg Working Papers on Asian and African Languages and Literatures

African Sociological Review (Only abstracts are freely available - full text access is subscription based)

Refugees Magazine - freely availble, not primarily African in focus but it is a UN publication.

Afrikanistik Online "Afrikanistik Online is a multilingual peer-review e-journal that represents African Studies in the sense of Diedrich Westermann: The people are always in the focus of research." (Open Access - meaning it's free for research purposes. Multilingual, principally French from the look of it)

Africa Confidential - Subscription based but special reports are freely accesable and abstracts are available.

ABYZ African newspapers links - sorted by country.

Swahili Forum "Swahili Forum invites scholars and writers to submit papers on all aspects of Swahili language, culture and society aswell as book reviews pertaining to these topics. "

liz_marcs is also compiling a list of resources here!

Okay, in my job I get a lot of email alerts to new online publications and there are quite a few which may prove useful for people researching for ludditerobot's Africander ficathon. So I'm going to compile them all here. This is in no way exhaustive at all, it's simply what I'm getting in my "New Journals Alert" emails every day.

African Security Review - Freely accessable online 'multidisciplinary review journal that publishes articles on the spectrum of human security issues, including security sector transformation, civil-military relations, crime, justice and corruption, small arms control, peace support initiatices, conflict management, as well as aticles dealing with the interplay between economics, politics, society and culture and human security and stability'.

Mmegi Botswana's only independent newspaper.

Africa & Asia: Goteberg Working Papers on Asian and African Languages and Literatures

African Sociological Review (Only abstracts are freely available - full text access is subscription based)

Refugees Magazine - freely availble, not primarily African in focus but it is a UN publication.

Afrikanistik Online "Afrikanistik Online is a multilingual peer-review e-journal that represents African Studies in the sense of Diedrich Westermann: The people are always in the focus of research." (Open Access - meaning it's free for research purposes. Multilingual, principally French from the look of it)

Africa Confidential - Subscription based but special reports are freely accesable and abstracts are available.

ABYZ African newspapers links - sorted by country.

Swahili Forum "Swahili Forum invites scholars and writers to submit papers on all aspects of Swahili language, culture and society aswell as book reviews pertaining to these topics. "

liz_marcs is also compiling a list of resources here!

acme54 pointed me towards this seriously funny run-through of Serenity. How to cover the whole movie in a few very funny comments...

Mal: Run like hell now, strangle Joss Whedon later!

...and...

ludditerobot has launched the Africander ficathon Details are in his post along with countries still to be claimed! Go, sign up if you haven't already!

acme54 pointed me towards this seriously funny run-through of Serenity. How to cover the whole movie in a few very funny comments...

Mal: Run like hell now, strangle Joss Whedon later!

...and...

ludditerobot has launched the Africander ficathon Details are in his post along with countries still to be claimed! Go, sign up if you haven't already!

Title: Dangling Conversations
Author: Shona
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be - I'm just playing in this pretty big sandbox.
Notes: Written for the Old Friends With Indiscretions ficathon on the willowxander community. Prompt is by wisdomeagle: We are verses out of rhythm, Couplets out of rhyme
Sorry for the delay in posting this and thanks to smhwpf, willowmina and emeraldswan for looking this over for me!
Setting: Approximately nine to ten months post-Chosen, the Scoobies have scattered to the four corners of the globe but absence makes the heart grow fonder, now if only they could talk about it...
( Dangling Conversations )

Title: Dangling Conversations
Author: Shona
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be - I'm just playing in this pretty big sandbox.
Notes: Written for the Old Friends With Indiscretions ficathon on the willowxander community. Prompt is by wisdomeagle: We are verses out of rhythm, Couplets out of rhyme
Sorry for the delay in posting this and thanks to smhwpf, willowmina and emeraldswan for looking this over for me!
Setting: Approximately nine to ten months post-Chosen, the Scoobies have scattered to the four corners of the globe but absence makes the heart grow fonder, now if only they could talk about it...
( Dangling Conversations )