thefourthvine | Poll: Yuletide! Yay!

I am very excited about

yuletide, and I've been bouncing around like a crazed thing since I signed up. (This is the Anticipation phase of Yuletide. Yes, there are phases of Yuletide. Yes, I have actually written them down. I know, I know, so pathetic, but it's an important thing to me, okay? I was never that excited about the holidays as a kid, but as an adult, Yuletide makes me absolutely delirious with joy.)

Anyway. I deal with the Anticipation phase (This is actually Anticipation Part One, because sign-ups are still open. When they close, I will start hard-core Anticipation. It is dangerous to come within seven feet of me during that time.) in many ways, but in part by refreshing the requested fandoms list, so that I can admire the shiny numbers climbing ever higher. (Plus, this year, there is a festival of gold and green to admire there. You can even see how many people asked for and volunteered for a given fandom. It is the coolest thing ever!)

But the site went down briefly today. Suddenly, I had no outlet for my Yuletide glee. Hence, this poll.

And if any of you have friends listers who are also doing Yuletide, I'd love it if you'd point 'em over here, 'cause I don't know how many of my own friends listers are. (You all should, though. You get a story! In a tiny fandom of your choosing! And you can write a story that will make someone else's heart sing! And this year there is no qualifying requirement! Go, sign up, and then come back and take the poll!)

Yeah, yeah. 'Tis the season to abuse exclamation marks and the Create Poll function on LJ. Happy holidays!

[Poll #855532]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*stares*

You...you wrote a story for I Capture the Castle? And I have not read this story? Curse you, Yuletide archive, for being gone for two months just when I discover this!

*shakes tiny fist at Great Yuletide Archive in the Sky*

I don't volunteer for *everything* I know canon for, but I also volunteer for stuff that I only have a passing familiarity with canon but would need to do further research to write, if it's potentially interesting enough to me! Last year I was strict with myself, and only volunteered for stuff I was pretty sure I'd really LIKE to write.

Interesting. Now I wish I'd also asked how people's strategies change from year to year. Like, I know that the first year, I just picked the first three on the list I knew the canon for and went back to bed. (I was sick, too sick to look through the list. Lesson learned: don't sign up for Yuletide with a fever. It worked out okay, sure, but...it could've been bad, is all I'm saying.)

Last year, I felt I was being intensely brave; I offered 22 fandoms, including one that I was willing to write any character for. This year, I offered 30, and half of those were any character fandoms. I consider this part of my overall Yuletide Growth. (Although I am of course terrified that it's going to bite me on the butt. What if I get something I can't write? Oh. Wait. That happened to me last year, and the year before, too.)

But now I want to know how other people change from year to year. Wah.

Huh. Although the archive is down, I think you can still read it here (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/18/traveldocuments.html).

Anyway, I think my strategy has matured a bit now that I've had multiple goes at the whole yuletide thing; I long to challenge myself, but I *don't* want to promise something that I can't quite deliver.

I'm being smarter about NOT offering things that a simple revisiting of source material would be insufficient for the *fandom*, if you get what I mean -- like, there's a difference between "nonexistent" and "established-but-rare" fandoms, and quite honestly I'd rather tackle the nonexistent fandoms than the ones that may have all sorts of fanon that I'm unfamiliar with.

I long to challenge myself, but I *don't* want to promise something that I can't quite deliver.

This is my terror. Last year, I was sure I'd done precisely that - I volunteered for Mr. and Mrs. Smith because it has that bantery, dialog-intensive style to it that I'm most comfortable writing.

And then my recipient wanted porn. And I totally wanted to give it to her, but I wasn't sure I could. It was very scary. (She liked it, though! Or she said she did, anyway.)

(Side note: the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, Yuletide-wise - last year, when I wrote my Dear Santa letter, the recipient from the year before commented on it to say how much she'd liked the story I wrote for her. I - I honestly almost tear up thinking about that even now, because I was so touched. The only thing I really, really want to do every year is make my recipient happy. And that's so hard to do, and you can never be sure you have. Except, if someone makes the effort to say thanks again a year later? You pretty much can be sure. It was the best thing ever, especially since I've never been very confident about the story I wrote for her; I was new to Yuletide that year, and I was really panicked, so hearing that was cool beyond measure.

Hmmm. Possibly I should let my writers from the last two years know I liked their stories again. *makes mental note*)

I'm being smarter about NOT offering things that a simple revisiting of source material would be insufficient for the *fandom*, if you get what I mean -- like, there's a difference between "nonexistent" and "established-but-rare" fandoms, and quite honestly I'd rather tackle the nonexistent fandoms than the ones that may have all sorts of fanon that I'm unfamiliar with.

Oooo! Smart. This is something I had in mind when I was picking fandoms, but I didn't quite articulate it; it was just kind of subconsciously there, that I'd prefer a nonexistent fandom to a rare one. (Only two of the ones I volunteered to write are rare, and I'm familiar with both of those fandoms, so the fanon, etc. won't be a problem.)

But I wasn't sure why I was veering away from the rare and new fandoms (as opposed to the nonexistent ones) until you made this comment.

*admires your sleek and shining mind*

And I totally wanted to give it to her, but I wasn't sure I could.

See? Yay, yuletide makes you stretch and WIN at it. I think most people feel that way when they get their assignments, I know I do.

And... honestly, it's not like I'm all about the getting, but the story I got last year makes me CRY EMO BUCKETS everytime I so much as think about how wonderful it is, and how personally for ME. It turns out it was written by a good friend whom I pimped into the fandom in the first place, but of course on release day I had no idea, I just knew that the universe loved me far more than I deserved, and I got the BEST STORY EVER.

(Also, my mind is nowhere near sleek and shining -- more like drunk and timid. But, hey! Looks like I can fake it.)

I think most people feel that way when they get their assignments, I know I do.

I hope - I mean, that sounds bad, but you know what I mean - that most people do, but every year I'm vaguely demoralized by the people who post, on assignment day, "OMG best assignment ever! I can so totally write this! Writing it RIGHT NOW!" I'm happy for them, of course, but at the same time I am sick with envy.

Of course, those people mostly are much better, more practiced, and more confident writers than I am, and usually they post more than a story a year, which really helps with the whole writing process, I think.

the story I got last year makes me CRY EMO BUCKETS everytime I so much as think about how wonderful it is, and how personally for ME.

The story you got last year is excellent beyond anything. I love it to bits, and I am still vaguely envious that it was written for you.

Also, my mind is nowhere near sleek and shining -- more like drunk and timid. But, hey! Looks like I can fake it.

Actually, your mind is a perverse and twisty maze filled chock full of mutant goodness. And I love it for that.

Except, if someone makes the effort to say thanks again a year later? You pretty much can be sure. It was the best thing ever,

That's why I always make a point to re-feedback if I re-read story (deliberately, as opposed to re-reading it merely because I didn't realize I had already read it until I was halfway through), because I figure that, "Yeah, you made cry. AGAIN." never really gets old, no matter how many times I say it. Indeed, I'll even resort to e-mail for that sort of feedback, whereas otherwise I tend to very rarely comment outside LJ.

Wow. I am impressed. I have a hard enough time sending feedback the once; twice is so far out of my league I can't even imagine it.

But that is an excellent and cool thing to do; writers must love you for it.

Just, wow. (Yes, it's worth two wows.) Sending feedback twice. If I did that for everything I re-read, feedback would become my full-time job, and I would so suck at it.

*awed*

Poll: Yuletide! Yay!

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