fox

Still haven't looked at the flist (that's since, like, the 27th, so I may never see what you all have been saying in there).  I'm coming to you live from Chez NoRMaNs to report that they are both still preposterously cute, it is 40 degrees here in ORLANDO (!), and the yuletide authors have been revealed.  The author of my lovely present was wickedgameff, of the first of my treats was melanie_anne, and of the second of my treats was mtgat; thanks again, guys!

mtgat was also, incidentally, the first person to comment on the story I wrote, which was Other People's Battles, written for Vix (whom I spent the whole yuletide period believing was uschickens but turns out, apparently, to be someone entirely else.  [g])  The request was for Willow, Madmartigan and Airk, with the prompt "You know they had a history.  Were they stable lads laughing together until Madmartigan impregnated someone's daughter and got kicked out?  Was one of them the son of a wealthy man, and the other the stablemaster's son?  Why did Airk leave him in that cage?  I ask you."  And this turned out to be really hard!  I think I wrote a good story; many thanks to those who left lovely comments on it, and to the ever-loyal sanj, through whose grace I have still never gone un-recced at yuletide time.  :-)

Off to wake a baby from her nap.  See y'all next week, if I don't get back online sooner --

I wrote Romeo/Mercutio in blank verse for my first yuletide in 2004, so I've been fine ever since then with the idea that I started at the top and the only way to go was down.  I know better than to expect everything I write for yuletide to be comprehensively praised and recced all over yuletidedom and and and.  But, but -- the pinch-hit I did that year got props too, and my entry in 2005 as well, and my entry in 2006, much to my surprise and delight.

This year, having written a fic that I happen to think is better than last year's, no recs yet (which I'm 99% fine with, really, only a little disappointed to break my streak [g]), and only one comment!, and that not from the recipient, who on the one hand didn't say she was going to be away -- but on the other hand, hasn't commented on the Treat someone else wrote for her either.  (I believe she is away, and just didn't say so in the thread.  That's all I'm willing to say about that without Revealing Too Much.)  The one comment I've gotten wasn't e-mailed to me, so I keep refreshing the comments page in the hope that the count will go up, but it keeps not happening.

I think the X factor is the fandom.  This may be the most obscure fandom I've written for yuletide, so lots of my 1200+ cohorts may be browsing right past it.  But, but, the same thing was true in 2005 -- the obscurity of the fandoms is too close to call, I think -- and that story got more love than this one.

Sigh.

I am enjoying the archive, don't get me wrong!, when I have time to read a couple of things from it.  May get two or three more read today -- oh, there goes the shower, so I've got a little time now while I'm in the queue.  :-)

[eta:  And in contrast to the last few days before I left Oxford, I'm not at all disappointed in the fact that I'm glad it's not just me.  ;-)]

Done. Proofread. Formatted. Uploaded.

Also uploaded for ellen_fremedon.

AND IT IS STILL DAYLIGHT. This year kicks last year's ass. :-D

[points]

I'm feeling a little better today.  Still further toward sorry for myself than I'd like, but not as far as I was, and besides, everything -- everything -- else is swiftly being replaced by yulepanic.  Fortunately, I believe I have v. little on my calendar today, and I'm closing in on the end.  (Note to self:  you also owe ellen_fremedon a beta.)

So, yeah, as assignments were coming out and then going back and then coming out again, I was in a haze of Running A Bonspiel, so I noted the mixup and reassignment and haven't got around to leaving a note for Santa (or whomever) until now.  Sorry!  (God, someone in my building is making popcorn or something, and it smells wonderful.  Nom nom nom.)

So, ahem.  ( Hello, Yuletide Santa! )

1.  I have completed my yuletide signup.  It gets harder every year - harder to decide what to request, is what.  That's very difficult for me!  There are very few things I'm just yearning for someone to write -- one of which is the As You Like It Touchstone/Jacques I keep requesting.  Someday I'll get it.  :-)

2.  Oh, oh, oh, in sixteen days there will be a grocery store at the bottom of my hill.  My excitement over this fact cannot be textually rendered.  (It can't even really be verbally rendered, as I demonstrated to cmshaw last night.)  Not just a corner store, mind you.  A brand-new 24-hour Harris Teeter.  And it's there!  It's been "coming soon" for so long, and now it's really there, with signs and shelves and freezers and everything.  cmshaw and I spent some time peering through the windows playing Guess the Dry Goods.  OH.  The only thing that could make this even better would be if the pharmacy were also open 24 hours.  Ah, well, a girl can dream.