to look at a car trailer. The Hubby would like to be able to drag the Willys down to Moab a little easier, and we've been looking for something that would do triple duty for the Willys, the race car, and the Purple Cruiserberry if we decide to haul it behind the motorhome. Thus, our quest.

Long story short, we bought the thing. Weather kind of sucked, but we didn't wreck or even come close, so, WIN. Worth the seven-hour drive.

And then I get back and attempt to catch up with my flist. Skip=120, dude, y'all have been busy today.

And in the middle of all that, I'm checking my email, and I've got a review alert for the ReaverFic. Seeing as that the ReaverFic is loaded with very dark angst and major character death, I always wibble a bit when I get a review for it.

The review was:
Well fuck... I don't really know what to say... Fuck...

Mine is an evil laugh. Mission accomplished. What can I say?

(OMIGOSH. Should I have cut that? It makes the post R-rated! Someone's delicate sensibilities might be injured...

Wait, this is LJ. Do people here have delicate sensibilities? Guess it depends on whose ox is being gored. Not that I'm bitter.)

It's weird; I keep getting favorited over there, when I haven't posted anything since July...and then the next newest one was August of '07. I have no idea how people are finding my fic. But...cool? I guess. Glad they're still enjoying it. Although I'm not sure that reviewer "enjoyed" the story. Nor are you actually meant to, because...well. Reavers.

Also, I took the little 'puter with me on our road trip, and poked the not!kkbb/im novelthing yet again. The good news is, I still like it. The bad news is...

Um. There isn't any bad news. Not really. Yay!

There's nothing like waking up in the morning, after having your sleep interrupted for two and a half hours because even though your body and your eyes were both craving it your brain was going a mile a minute, to a review on an old story that makes you tilt your head and say "Do what, now?"

Apparently my Xander-in-Africa story, in which he encounters an Apatasaurus at Lake Tele...

is a crossover.

*boggles*

Really, I had no idea. I also have no idea what it's a crossover with, unless it's "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend," which, I suppose, is a possibility.

I just thought I was writing dino-fic. Silly me.

Well, one good thing about that two-hour stretch of sleeplessness is that it gave me the next part of the Tony-POV actual!Iron Man fic. So, that's something, I guess.

And in weight-loss news, 123.4. I'm on track to be 122 by WorldCon. And I look fabulous.

I swapped out my Zoe/Jayne icon manip for the Tony/Pepper manip instead. Alas, the end of an era...

Really, I do. They feed my hungry soul with their accolades and let me know that my writing isn't total crap after I've gotten yet another form rejection from yet another pro publication.

And I realize that I am the Queen of Open-Ended Endings.

However.

This person HAD to have gone to my profile to find two of the three fics she reviewed. Is it too much to ask that she actually, you know...read it? At least the part that says "I'm not writing fanfic anymore" in big bold letters?

I won't be continuing any of these stories. EVER. I'm sorry. I realize that I left several of them open for post-NFA goodness, and probably could have gotten entire virtual seasons out of those various scenarios, but I don't work that way. Considering the fact that one of those stories was posted in March 2005, one in August 2005, and the last one in August of this year after sitting on my hard drive for eight months, which I posted as a last hurrah...

No! No continuations! Not happening! AUGH.

Although it does make me kind of sad that the Muses never gave me any ideas for continuing some of those stories. Because some of them were damb interesting, to me, anyway.

All right. Back to the A&tS fic. It's not going to edit itself.

(x-posted to fanficrants)

I have a cold. I think. Yuck. I have been completely uninspired to write anything and I'm really tired. And my leg hurts. That place where I scraped it on the rock on Antelope Island? It's turned a lovely purple color, on the inside of the leg, from about an inch over my ankle up to the bottom part of the calf muscle. I've been using Bag Balm on the scraped parts, because that stuff is amazing. I'd take a picture, but I wouldn't want to put anyone off their food. *eyes it* Yeah, it's kind of scary-looking. But not in an OMG IT'S INFECTED way, so, yay.

You know, it sure would be nice if anonymous reviewers would leave an email address so I could point them at my profile when they say they hope I'm inspired to write more [insert your favorite crack here], and so I could tell them they'll have to be content with what's there now. *sigh* Well. They've got a link right there on the story they liked; hopefully they'll use it. Really should update that profile...

Remember the badfic author from awhile back? She's re-uploaded that horrid Angel fic. At least she changed the character's age (she's sixteen now, oh joy *eyeroll*) and got rid of the script format, but it still lacks basic punctuation or anything resembling a coherent plot. Seems like an excuse to get Angel and her Sue I'm sorry, her OC Slayer, into bed. I'm...just not even going there anymore, y'all. The story needs a beta in the worst way, and I'm SO not the one to do it.

F&SF will send you a free copy of the September issue if you promise to blog about it after reading it. I've sent for mine, because hey. Free SF. Never a bad.

Well. I shall stare at the Books Gone Bad story. Or possibly the Stuff That Thing story. Or maybe I'll just watch Dresden...

...for the poor little badfic author. She's probably feeling quite picked on by now.

( Again, for my own records, because I'm betting it'll be gone in the morning... )

In other news, I broke 850 words in the BeeFic. It's nearly done, I think. I just need to think my battle through a little better. But seeing as it's three in the morning, I'm going to sleep on it.

Because I know she's going to delete it AGAIN, and there goes my review. So, here it is:

Okay, better...

But one big block of text is impossible to read. Start a new paragraph when a new character begins talking.

Commas are useful. They make your sentences more coherent and easy to read. Try reading the story out loud. If you're turning blue because you can't take a breath? That's a bad sign.

"Hay" is for horses. The word you're looking for is "hey." Most word processing programs have a handy "find and replace" function under "Edit."

The first word of a sentence has a capital letter, even if it's in quote marks. If a character asks another character a question, it ends in a question mark, thus: "So what do you want to eat?" asked Shayera.

I know this writing thing seems like a lot of hard work, and it is, but it's ultimately rewarding when you have something on the page you can be genuinely proud of. No one's asking you to be perfect (because I go over my stuff ten times and STILL find mistakes on the eleventh run-through), but it should look like you've polished it as well as you're able. :)

My inbox is still empty. But she did fix the script format and get rid of "sinus," so...maybe there's hope yet. But she really needs a beta reader. Or six.

I haven't even attempted to touch her plot, although many many things could be said about it. But she needs to fix her mechanics before she worries about the actual story, I think.

So I left the aforementioned badfic author a review on her newly-uploaded JLU fic.

( Behind the cut, because, are y'all bored yet? )

Writing? Oh, yeah, that. I got stalled at "mouse-leather armor." Guess I should start poking it again...

ETA: And that one's gone now, two hours after I reviewed it. Still nothing in my inbox...

Yes, little fangirl. I am stalking your FFN account. Learn to write and format properly, and I shall cease.

I can't even report this one to GAFF for snarkage, because there's underage sex in it.

Silly me, when I saw the rant at fanficrants, I decided to go hunting the fic myself. It wasn't hard to find, right there at the top of the Angel section on FFN.

And it's one of the most horrible trainwrecks I've ever read. Here. Share my pain. I'll wait.

Okay, back now? What did I tell you? Bad spelling--although nothing's misspelled, per se; she knows where her spellcheck is, at least. But some of the words that get used in place of the right ones are hilariously awful.

No commas or periods. Who does that? Has this person ever actually read a book in her entire life? Dialogue in script format, in violation of the FFN's TOS--not only that, but it's underlined and italicized. Ugh. WTF?

And then she turned Angel into a child molester.

Yup, her protagonist is twelve, and Angel has sex with her. *head explodes*

So, I left a review. Honestly, the thing reads like something an eight-year-old wrote, so I wasn't nearly as harsh as I wanted to be, but, DUDE.

( Review under the cut, in case anyone cares. )

*sits back and waits for a flame to hit my inbox*

ETA: Annnnnnd... the story is gone. Damb. I'm glad I saved the review.

get into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. But internet fights over stupid crap are FUN. Plus it lets me trot out the "D'Argo -- Shut Up" userpic, which I don't get to employ nearly enough.

In other news, I'm still deciding what next to send to Writers of the Future. I was going to package up the Werewolf Fic and send that, but if the GargoyleFic comes back from F&SF before the end of the month (and my, but they have a frighteningly fast turnaround time; I got the last thing back within a week), I could send that instead. The Werewolf Fic is kind of light and funny and they're always complaining that they don't get enough humor--but the GargoyleFic is, possibly, the stronger story. I don't have to mail anything out until the 30th. Decisions, decisions...

And I get a review for Assimilation, also known as the ReaverFic. Yeah, you know, that one. *shudders*

Cool torture fic there, I really love the Reavers, I can really identify with them.

Forgetting something.

OH! Yeah, pretty sad what happened to Serenity's crew, real ... sad.

*brain breaks*

He. Identifies. With. Reavers.

*runs screaming into the night*

In other news, I picked up a copy of the latest Angel comic, Auld Lang Syne (Issue 3). And all I can say is ... HEE! Angel and Spike beating the living shit out of each other never, ever gets old.

Really should be writing...