Poll: Yuletide! Yay!

[thefourthvine]

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]

Comments

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Site is back up yay!

Yay, indeed! I've been doing my regular reloading thing again, and I'm all agog because we're one person away from equaling 2004's participant total. Yowsers.

*unreasonably excited*

Last year I got a great assignment in a fandom I'd never written in, and I enjoyed that. I want to make sure I have something like that again.

That makes sense. That's pretty much my default experience for Yuletide; there's never any chance I'd write a story in any of the fandoms I volunteer in without Yuletide there to prod me. (But I've been lucky with my requests, too. So far. *crosses fingers*) But if you'd normally write at least some of the fandoms on there - which is much more likely, since you're actually productive when it comes to FF - it makes sense to tailor your sign-up so you're only writing something that will really feel like a Yuletide story (as opposed to just a story written at the end of the year).

Partly it's because I have a long story in progress that I want to be able to concentrate on, and partly it's because I expect to be quite busy with other things during the next two months.

Ooo. Am I allowed to ask the fandom of the long story? (I'm assuming dS, which is always exciting, but it could be something else, too, and I want to know what I'm awaiting.)

And, yeah. I've only ever done Yuletide, even though so many of the other challenges look tempting, because I figure no matter how crazy RL gets - and last year at this time RL was, quite frankly, both crazy and deeply horrible - I'll be able to carve out the time for one story. (Unless I'm, you know, unconscious somewhere or something, in which case a pinch hit is pretty much inevitable.) But more than one seems dicey.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I'm all agog because we're one person away from equaling 2004's participant total.

And we have smashed that barrier! Woo!

You're exactly right about why I'm limiting my fandoms to unusual ones. That's why I chose not to offer Wilby Wonderful, Hard Core Logo, or Canadian RPF - I have written in them before, can do those anytime, and know that I have a readership. (But I'm looking forward to seeing any stories written in those small fandoms.) On the other hand, I'm offering another related fandom, just because I haven't written it (other than a few drabbles the other day) and because it's genuinely even smaller than those. I was tempted by Heroes, another fandom I've only d(r)abbled in, but I can see that it's going to be a big fandom, and I want to keep to the genuinely tiny ones, not just the tiny-because-just-beginning. There is one other fandom I'm offering that I've written in before, but I haven't done so in a long time and I feel I need the jumpstart to write in it.

Most of what I'm offering are things that I have (or can get) the source, but I had never thought fannishly about before. And then I looked at the fandom list and thought, "oh, cool! That might be fun!"

Last year I wrote a Northern Exposure story that rekindled my love for the show and its characters. (And the recipient apparently liked it too, because she made artwork for it!) This year, I'm not offering it again - but I'm requesting it!

I'm only offering to write in one of the fandoms I'm requesting a story in - and that's a 'fandom' that as far as I know has zero fanfiction! But what's really cool is that one other person has requested it, so maybe we'll get lucky this year.

Ooo. Am I allowed to ask the fandom of the long story? (I'm assuming dS, which is always exciting, but it could be something else, too, and I want to know what I'm awaiting.)

Aw, how kind of you to ask - I didn't think my writing was on your radar screen. Yes, it's dS, it's a sort of genderfuck bodyswap thing (Hi! I have an oeuvre!) and it's currently just over 22,000 words and something like 2/3 done. I hope.

Which, tangentially in a ps, do you still use your other lj at all? I originally friended it rather than this one because of complex reasons having to do with preferring to avoid rec journals (yet being interested in what you have to say otherwise) but then you haven't posted there in over a month, and you're posting interesting meta over here more frequently, and oh! the dilemma!

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

And we have smashed that barrier! Woo!

And how. We're at 629 as of my last compulsive reload. Yow.

I feel like I should send flowers to the Yuletide mods or something. I mean, I'm excited, sure, but I don't have to wrangle 630 participants.

I was tempted by Heroes, another fandom I've only d(r)abbled in, but I can see that it's going to be a big fandom, and I want to keep to the genuinely tiny ones, not just the tiny-because-just-beginning.

I know. Looking at Heroes' stats on the fandoms list, I realized that I really need to get Best Beloved some downloads of the episodes, because there could be a real fandom there before long, and it sounds like just my sort of thing.

Most of what I'm offering are things that I have (or can get) the source, but I had never thought fannishly about before. And then I looked at the fandom list and thought, "oh, cool! That might be fun!"

Pretty much exactly my strategy, except I also subtract anything that makes me think, "Oh, cool! That might be fun!" and then, "But OMG it could be very scary, too."

I am not a brave Yuletider. Or, okay, I am, but my bravery consists of signing up at all.

And the recipient apparently liked it too, because she made artwork for it!

That is the best Yuletide response ever. Whoever she was, I love your recipient from last year.

But what's really cool is that one other person has requested it, so maybe we'll get lucky this year.

*eyes you*

Now I am intensely curious. I am so asking you what that fandom was after this is all over.

(Actually, I'm kidding myself. I have a hard time remembering what day it is; remembering that for two months is really unlikely.)

Yes, it's dS, it's a sort of genderfuck bodyswap thing (Hi! I have an oeuvre!) and it's currently just over 22,000 words and something like 2/3 done.

Hi! I LOVE YOUR OEUVRE TO PIECES! And, um, is it done yet?

How 'bout now?

How 'bout now?

Okay, seriously, I will stop my imitiation of a small child on an interstate car trip, but - I cannot wait. Just the words "dS genderfuck bodyswap" make my heart sing. Although I maintain that that's true of pretty much anyone. I mean, show me someone who isn't excited by dS genderfuck bodyswap, and I will show you a person who is missing out.

Which, tangentially in a ps, do you still use your other lj at all? I originally friended it rather than this one because of complex reasons having to do with preferring to avoid rec journals (yet being interested in what you have to say otherwise) but then you haven't posted there in over a month, and you're posting interesting meta over here more frequently, and oh! the dilemma!

At this point, I would totally merge the two LJs - the original reason for having two was secrecy, which it turns out I totally suck at. I would much rather have everyone in the world know I write mediocre FF than have to log out and log back in to answer comments. But it's not easy to see how to merge them, especially when I'm sometimes posting RL rants and suchlike; those things really don't fit here.

So. I can't help you, exactly, except to say:

Recs + Meta + FF rants + all polls (since I can't do those anywhere but here) = thefourthvine
My own FF + RL rants + the very occasional meme + random crap = littera_abactor

Um. Does that help?

Basically, I see TFV as my real LJ. LA is my satellite LJ, for the stuff I don't feel comfortable posting here, for whatever reason. As I grow more comfortable posting stuff here, less stuff goes over there, although stories and memes will always go there. But I have to warn you: the primary content of this LJ will probably always be recs, so if you want to avoid them, maybe LA would be the better fit for you.

So I guess the short answer is: I don't know. I mean, if I understood my own posting strategy and boundaries and hang ups and so on, I wouldn't have to have LJs all over the place. *hand waving gestures of helplessness*