September is the Cruelest Month

[itsallovernow]

Fuck April. September in Southern California, when it's still a bazillion degrees and things are blooming and the cats are all, "dude, did you know winter's coming? and I should practice sitting on your head since I've forgiven you for that whole miserable heat wave summer/laptop affair thing? Never mind that it's still a bazillion degrees out because you don't need sleep, right?"

Last night was the final night of my writing class and I desperately hope I can keep the momentum going on the NIP. I'm really pleased that the class liked what they read, that my teacher liked what I turned in. It's still sort of a mess, but it's a mess with purpose now.

And in true rolling my eyes at the things that come out of my mouth fashion, I actually said the words, "Dude, I'm writing the Iliad, not the Odyssey." to someone last night, which is sort of true in that I'm writing the battle and not the journey (and it's probably a better metaphor than I thought, but mostly I was explaining that I wasn't writing LOTR, or anything that involved maps, but that I was also, also tired of writing interior landscape and even then I was confusing myself and was starting to understand that compulsion that fantasy writers have to draw maps). The only seriously embarrassing aspect of that conversation was me worrying that they thought that I thought I was writing something of Iliadish stature. But I got over it. (We spent the first 45 minutes of class trying to find something for me to read, so they know I'm a big dork anyway. I may go back and retry Joan Didion. But... well, here LA isn't my LA. It could have been, but it's not now. I want a great Los Angeles novel.)

Today is one of those days in the publication cycle where I have just enough to do to ensure that nothing gets done. I've got ficlets in the works for several people, and owe robynbender a five things (which I'd spaced out on entirely), and I know we're hitting the descent phase of that meme, but if anyone's got any stray five things requests, I'd still be happy to answer them. Fandoms are the obvious - Farscape, S9 & 10 SG-1, Firefly, X-Files, West Wing, but I'd also do Dead Like Me, My Name is Earl, Sayers, Bujold, Veronica Mars, etc.

Comments

VM, eh?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

5 ways that Mac tries to convince Veronica that really, it's cool to read fanfic ;).

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

Yop, beeeeeee-otch, you still owe me fic for guessing that you were all het up about Bob's new cd. ;)

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

You're part of that "I owe ficlets to people thing."

Sticks tongue out.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

see, *I* figured that ;).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

I would like to see five ways Vala overcomes an initial refusal to her advances. Second times the charm, right?

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Here you go: http://thassalia.livejournal.com/301599.html#cutid2

Hee.

[annakarrennina.livejournal.com]

5 things Aeryn will never tell John.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

1. How many times, that first cycle, she wanted to contact Crais, wanted to go back to the life she knew. How easy it would have been to betray all of them, to accept her fate, even knowing what that meant. That she didn't because of Pilot and Moya, and not, until later, for him.

2. How little of what he says that they still understand. And how many times his babble translated into a come on to any of the various species they've run into. And how tempting it was, that one time, to let the Artian trader buy him. They'd have eaten off the profits for monens.

3. That it wasn't until D'Argo was almost two cycles, and looked at her with that adoration and curiosity and love and absolute trust, that she really accepted being a parent. And was glad for herself, as much as for all of them. She had a child to have a family, to have John, to make him her own, to have control of that choice when so much else was uncontrollable.

4. That she does not regret bringing Scorpius on board, even if she'll never quite forgive herself. Because it was better than the alternative and John was the one who'd taught her that kind of selfishness in the first place.

5. How many times, during that cycle when the clone was burrowing into his brain, that she stood outside his door, wrestling with decisions - to kill him, to frell him, to guard him with her life.

5a. That there are no longer any secrets between them. It's not something that needs to be said aloud.

[mesascaper.livejournal.com]

I'm loving all these 5-things responses. Wonderful stuff out there. And since there can never be enough of Cameron Mitchell, how about 5 things that make Cam smile.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

1. Getting up in the morning, getting out of bed, walking around. He still takes it for granted sometimes, but after a mission when he's got bounced into walls or doors, or when he's just gotten his ass kicked by Teal'c, he'll wake up the next morning, a little stiff, a little sore, will set on the edge of his bed, the dogtags resting against his chest, feet on the floor and just be really fucking glad to be there.

2. His team, particularly when they're in squabbling over-active preschooler mode, when Sam's excited and Jackson's incoherent and Vala's exuberant and Teal'c's riding herd on all of them without actually saying or doing anything. He's got a new definition of heroism, of duty and dedication and commitment and he's proud to be a part of this.

3. Putting his feet on the soil of a new planet. Cam was never one of those kids who had astronaut dreams. He wanted to fly, and he did, but his ambitions were limited to doing that and doing it well. Space. Aliens. Things beyond his heaven and earth? They never really came into play. But every week, he steps foot on an alien planet, and man, if he really doesn't have the best job on this or any other earth.

4. Women. Particularly the ones smarter than him. He loves his mom, his sister, aunts and grandmothers and the myriad other women that have come and gone in his life. When asked to choose, he's always chosen flight over flights of fantasy, over love. But these days, he wakes up to Sam's smile and her fine mind and capability and he's a little in awe. He sees Vala in the mess scamming the airmen, stealing their deserts, sees her in the field, kicking her own kind of flamboyant ass, and he's just so damned pleased to know them. And he keeps the secret to himself of the ways he'd like to know them better. That's his, and his alone.

5. As it turns out, in the face of smoke and dust and loss and destruction, they do save the world. He's got a broken leg, probably one that won't ever heal right. Jackson's pale and bloody, Sam has a burn on her left side that looks nastier than anything he's seen in a while, and they've all lost next to everything. But Vala climbs on top of the rubble that used to be the Orii's stronghold, knowing that in the midst are people who used to believe in other things, in more earthly things, knowing that somewhere down there is the mortal remains of her immortal daughter. She stands on that mountain, hands on her hips, and looks back at him. "We didn't lose," she said, and there's finally wonder in her voice.

"Yeah," he says. "How 'bout that."

[mesascaper.livejournal.com]

Oooh, those were lovely and made me smile too!
Cameron is so adorable and I ♥ the Cameron you write. Each of these scenarios I think would summon a different smile from Cameron, even if it's just in his voice.
And I can picture them all.
I love this meme. I even cheated and asked for this same 5 things over in synedochic's LJ
Thanks!