The Fortune Cookie

And Then There Were 80,000...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:07:00 +0000

80,000 words, that is.

I know there's still another full day of NaNoWriMo left, but I'm throwing in the towel early. At the beginning of the month, I barely dared admit to myself, let alone everyone here, that I was aiming for 100,000 words in one month this year. I really didn't want to say it out loud in case I failed. Well, technically I've failed, but I really don't think I have anything to feel bad about. If anything, I feel really proud of writing more than I have ever written for NaNo before.

Maybe I'm just sentimental, but NaNo to me has never been completely about the final word count. I've had years when I've reached 50,000 words and years when I haven't, and I look back at them all equally as fondly. I remember the Rat Races (funny that, I know ), the dares, the hilarious typos, two years of NOWL, staying up until stupid o'clock with my fellow Loonies just trying to reach the day's word goal. I feel pretty exhausted and not very keen about the prospect of ever writing again (my poor fingers!), but I've survived and got the word count to prove it.

Thank you to everyone (including my wonderful NaNo mums this year ) for helping me almost reach my personal target. I'm sorry you had to put up with all my Rat Races, but I think without them and the friendly competition between Loonies I wouldn't have written nearly so much.

Now the editing begins, because I know this year more than any other that I really have to edit! Thanks for another memorable year and I'll see you all for NaNo 2013, ready for Rat Race #1.

Old Stories, New Stories and Moving

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:14:00 +0000

So if any of you follow me on Twitter, you'll have seen that I'm currently in the process of moving to France. Technically I've actually been here a week already, but I think "moving" entails so much more than physically packing my bags, jumping on a train and arriving in a new town & flat some (many) hours later. I think I'm reasonably settled, I'm all unpacked. Sadly, things like phone contracts and internet connections are taking a very long time. There's a free wi-fi hotspot quite nearby, luckily, so I can get on fairly often. I do miss being here more often, though.

I've moved to France to improve my French. I'm here for a year-long teaching placement. I really underestimated how exhausting speaking another language is - I know for many people on HPFF English is not their first language and I really do have a new-found appreciation of how difficult that must be sometimes. I walk around my new town feeling like a complete alien, trying to get by with some rusty French and lacking in self-confidence. It's amazing to be here, though. My French improves every day, I meet new people and make friends and start to appreciate everything in a whole new light. Anyway, all this is rather exhausting, as you can imagine I'm trying to get back to normal as soon as possible, never fear.

When I do log on, I check the Dobby votes. I can't help it I'm so delighted that I'm nominated in four categories this year, it's really so lovely. Actually, the most amazing thing for me is that two of my old stories are finalists. I know I probably won't win in either category for those, but it really amazes me that they were even nominated. Something that newer members might not appreciate is that once a story is completed, or no longer updated, it sort of slips under the radar. For example, my story Sitting in the Orange Tree was first nominated for a Dobby (Most Original Story) in 2008. That's four years ago. Back then, people had most likely heard of it. But time goes on, my readers probably left to get on with real life and I wouldn't expect anyone to read it now. I was really amazed it was nominated again after all this time, and the same goes for Colour My World. Anyway, my point is, it was really nice for me to revisit my older stories to pick a chapter for the finalists topic (which was really difficult... my writing was so bad back then!) so thank you for nominating them and reminding me of my older writing.

So new stories: I posted the sequel to Just Rose a couple of weeks ago (it's called Taking the Biscuit). I'm working slowly on the second chapter, but what with being tired from culture shock and trying to get used to my new life I'm struggling to find time for writing. It's coming, I promise. Back in August I also started working on two other stories, which I'm refusing to post until I have more written. Perhaps I'll be working on them during NaNo. One is a story about James II robbing Gringotts and the other is a James/Lily AU. We'll see how I get on with them before I say any more

Oops. I didn't mean to ramble! Thanks for reading, and thank you for those of you who are voting for me at the Dobbys. I'm hoping to read as much as I can of the other finalists before the staff votes, so wish me luck with that!

5 Years

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 19:28:00 +0000

So every year I tend to post an extremely sappy blog, marking another year passing for me at HPFF.

My 5th HPFF anniversary was on 30th August, and as always I'm still quite surprised I'm here (not because you're all horrible or anything, but considering how much my life has changed over those 5 years it's a wonder anything at all has stayed constant).

Penny and Alo have got me in a numbers sort of mood so I thought I'd add up some numbers and mark important dates to celebrate my 5 years on the archive.

July, 2008: I became a TA (which means I've been a TA for 4 years now... gulp.)
September 2008: Was a finalist for the Most Original Fic Dobby for Sitting in the Orange Tree
October 2008: I became a Prefect, followed by a promotion to OT Mod in July 2009.
September 2010: I joined the staff as a Staff Mod Which means 2 years on staff now and explains any display of insanity since then.
November 2010: I became a Validator
October 2011: Won a Dobby for Best One-Shot for Glass and Fade to Grey was a finalist in Best Founders.
Summer 2012: I've joined fictioncentral.net (12+) as a Validator! Very excited to see the site grow.

This year I actually tried something new and entered 3 challenges! (I came first in all of them (2 for Kingdom Come, 1 for Little Heart), thank you to those lovely members )

Those have all been wonderful wonderful bonuses to the primary reason I joined the site, which was to write. Since starting my first story back in 2007 (an action adventure novel that I completed at 60,000 words before deleting in 2011 or something), I've written more than the 23 stories currently listed on my page. If I try and count up how many I have including deleted, it must be at something like 30. I think that's quite a lot for me

I have completed 6 chaptered stories (ranging from 5,000 words to 125,000 words), with three still incomplete and the rest of my stories being one-shots. When I first started posting, I made a promise to myself that I would write every genre and every ship (hey, I'm working on it!) and complete everything I start.

So as I still try and complete those goals, you guys have been so great I have my lovely share of reviews (nearly 2,000 total ) and reads. Colour My World, a story I started on holiday in 2008 on a whim and completed early 2010, is ~200 reads from 100,000 . You all make me feel so lucky to have stumbled across this site 5 years ago pretty much to the day and I've met some wonderful folk. This is me trying not to get mushy, but this has just turned into a number-flinging post that will bore everyone to death so sorry about that.

So... hugs, thank you and see you again for my 6th anniversary mushy post.

Saying Goodbye to Just Rose

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 18:25:00 +0000

I don't think it's really sunk in yet and I have to keep reminding myself, but yesterday I finished writing Just Rose. The total word count is about 125,000 words, and though I have still plenty of chapters to put on the archives it's significant to me at this moment in time because I've finished writing it.

I started Just Rose on New Year's Eve, December 2010. It was my first foray into the genre of humour, something I'd never tried before and didn't really expect to enjoy all that much. Luckily I absolutely loved writing it and it's grown to be my longest and one of my favourite fics of mine. I'm not sure whether it's because I completed it and enjoyed it despite my doubts and insecurities or whether it's because I really grew to love the characters I'm not sure, but I've loved thinking of stupid and silly plots and characters and seeing the positive reactions of those who read it.

It's always sad when a fic is over. I miss writing some of my older stories even though I'm pleased they're finished. There's a great moment of happiness and pride when you write the words "the end" and realise that this is pretty much like saying goodbye to your characters forever. Yes, you can go back and reread, edit and rewrite, but there's never the same sense of unknown you get when you're on a new journey with your characters as you put them in new situations.

So although I'm happy that I've written the ending that I wanted and I feel like I wrapped up most of the loose ends, it's sad to say goodbye.

Hopefully those of you who are reading (or will, hopefully, read!) Just Rose enjoy the last chapters and like the ending. I almost got stuck from being so worried about not doing the end justice and not wanting to finish. But it's done now and that's another fic completed and ticked off the list.

My next projects will be to complete Strawberry Hill and to get Saturdays up and running. We'll see how that goes

Camp NaNo, my writing saviour

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:36:00 +0000

I don't often talk about my writing unprompted, especially not in blogs. I've talked about NaNo when everyone else did, discussing mostly word count more than anything else. I blog about staffer things, because I feel like that will be at least helpful or interesting to some. But I find it extremely difficult to just go out and talk about my stories. Whilst I'm procrastinating on a huge amount of uncompleted assessments/essays, I might as well bite the bullet and blog.

First, I do actually want to talk about staffer things briefly Mostly, because I'm really excited for Camp NaNo in June! Lots of hard work tends to lead to a great deal of insanity, and if there's one thing about my fellow staff is that they work hard and are crazy too. I am so looking forward to letting off some steam and getting back into writing.

The term "writer's block" is one I like to avoid. There have been dryer spells in my writing in the past but I've never been one to label that writer's block. I lack motivation more than anything, which is what NaNo gives me and why I'm looking forward to June and getting back into the swing of things again.

My plan is to write as much of Just Rose (M) as I can. I'm not sure whether that will fill all of my 50,000 words, it will just depend on how soon I finish it, but having just posted my last pre-written chapter I'm realising how much I like having a backlog of chapters and how better the reader response is when I update regularly. I've started planning out the next sections (part 3 and 4 of 5), taking me up to about chapter 40.

Other projects I'm keeping in mind are Saturdays (M) and Strawberry Hill (15+). The former I've not had motivation or inspiration for since I posted the first chapter, though I have started writing Chapter 2 recently, and the latter I want to finish this summer at some point. If I finish Just Rose before the end of June, Strawberry Hill will be my next project. Otherwise, I'll save it for August Camp NaNo.

(This is why I don't blog about my stories much... am I boring you yet? ) Niggling at the back of my mind is my poor neglected Gideon (M), who hasn't seen a new chapter since January and a new review since early December. Maybe that can be saved for November's NaNo. I don't write it often enough to keep track of the timeline; it's written backwards and it seriously hurts my brain trying to work out what should happen when and what has already happened It seemed like a great idea at the time, when I thought I could do with a challenge... Still, I'm not beaten yet and I'm sure I'll come back to it at some point.

I've had a productive year for one-shots this year I've written two, Kingdom Come (15+) and Little Heart, born to die (M). I find that whenever I'm having a writing dry spell, it helps to write a few one-shots. Writing angst takes me back to where I started out and it's comfy and safe and I really love it. Not to say that I don't love writing humour, but it's relatively new to me so it's not so comforting to write . I wrote Kingdom Come in one day of absolute bliss and complete absorption, writing non-stop until I had finished it. Little Heart, born to die was a new ship for me (Snape/Lily), so that was also very lovely to try.

Anyway, I've talked long enough and avoiding doing my work for far too long I'm excited for June Camp NaNo and for getting back into writing again. I know I'll get there, but for now I have other things to focus on. But hey, at least if I'm not writing I'm in the queue more often

Who else is signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo?

The Nature of the Queue

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:43:00 +0000

I'm quite happy to admit that once upon a time I thought that "backlog" equalled wait time for validation. I'd estimate the date my chapter would be validated. 7-8 days later when my chapter still hadn't materialised, I'd wonder why I was still waiting.

"The queue was at 7 days when I put it in, why hasn't it been validated yet?" I'd ask myself, wondering if the validators had maybe taken one look at my story and gone to get extra coffee before abandoning it as a lost cause.

The truth is actually that backlog does not equal wait time. I know we say this all the time, but perhaps it's still confusing. I understand. If the queue is "7 days long", why would that change? There aren't any more stories in front of mine that have increased wait time. If the validators are working at a nice, even pace, shouldn't it be exactly 7 days before I myself get validated?

The thing is, as validators, we're not robots. As members, you're not robots. Sometimes I validate twice as many stories as I did the day before, sometimes less. When I have an exam coming up, you might not see me in the queue for a couple of days. And, like validators, members have similar fluctuations of activity. You're on school holidays, so you write loads and post a new chapter as fast as you can. All these things mean that the queue is different every day. One day we might have lots of submissions and lots of validators on hand but the next day will be different.

As such, there really is no concrete method of knowing when your chapter will be validated. To add to my previous example, just think about queue closures. The queue is shut for a week over Christmas, say. In that week, every member on the site has the opportunity to write something else. You wait for the first day that the queue is open so you can submit your chapter, but here's the thing - that's what everyone else is doing. We open the queue, the "backlog" says 0 hours, so you think your chapter will be validated straight away (sometimes this happens, if we're being speedy) but there's no guarantee. An hour passes, and let's say that 100 stories have been submitted. The queue still says 1 hour. Another hour passes and if we haven't validated anything, it'll say 2 hours, despite another 50 stories being added. Now you have to think about validators who have to validate those stories. It could take us 1 hour, or 3 days.

The backlog, then, is merely how old the oldest chapter in the queue is, not how long future chapters will be in the queue for.

Still confused? I'm not surprised, I went on quite a ramble there. Read this (12+) blog for an extra explanation.

If you find yourself still asking "how long is the queue?" and looking to the backlog, try asking instead, "how long has the oldest chapter in the queue been waiting?"

Brace Yourselves: The Alters Are Coming!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:36:00 +0000

That's right, I'm about to reveal the truth about the staff alternative accounts from April Fools Day. Little did many unsuspecting members know that those they knew, considered friends, and may have even loved, were actually staff members in disguise.

Thank you to everyone who had a guess and commented on my last blog. I know we all had fun acting a bit crazy on April 1st and letting our hair down and pretending to be members.

So, without further ado, here is our list of staff alters!

AllMeMe - me.

burgermoonlight - me again, an alter created for last year's April Fools. Best friend to Jazzy Tunic.

LitlePaddocks630pm - AndrinaBlack

RaddishEarrings - Gryffin_Duck

I hope you all enjoyed the fooling. See you next year (maybe )

Did We Fool You?

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:23:00 +0000

I can't believe another year has passed and another April Fools is over. It's always been one of my favourite events on the HPFF calendar, and it's something that's been great on both the member and staff side of the day. We get to see many new faces on the day, either expressing joy or outrage at whatever the day brings, and we do rather like to use this to our advantage.

I'm talking, of course, about staffers in disguise.

Did you notice any suspicious members? Did we manage to fool you, or were you cunning enough to spot the fake members? Who do you think was a staffer in disguise and which staffer do you think it was?

CHEESE SANDWICH

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:26:00 +0000

WARNING: cheese ahead.

Right. So on Friday it will be my 4th forum anniversary, but I won't be able to post a blog then so I'm doing it now instead I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate 4 lovely years here and say a few thanks to my friends.

I'm not sure what more I can say that I haven't said before, because I am really grateful for my time at HPFF. It's so amazing that I have this site to come to in my free time and I have made so many friends and learnt so much from everyone here. I never considered writing a hobby of mine until I came here and learnt how to start and finish a story, and I have improved so much in what is comparatively a really short time.

So, thank you for reading my stories and for the Dobby Award (I really never thought that would happen!). Thank you for reviewing and helping me. And thank you to all the staff for being so lovely You make this my favourite corner of the internet

...

I TOLD YOU THERE WAS CHEESE.

edit: I almost forgot! Celebrating my 4 years with two new stories this month! Saturdays (M) and Kingdom Come (15+)

Happy Anniversary HPFF :)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:09:00 +0000

So, this is my first entry of 2012. I was going to do a recap/resolution blog a few weeks back but life got a bit busy and I forgot.

Anyway, I'm not actually going to blog about that now either. My thoughts are currently on HPFF's 11th anniversary and my upcoming 5th later in the year. I've been clearing out my inbox today and although a lot of my old PMs were deleted a long time ago, I always keep a certain few PMs in my inbox for sentimental reasons. It's nice to go back and read them every so often and think back to forum times past.

I also took a look at some of my older blog entries, about finishing and starting various stories and some previous NaNos and House Cups. I'm always surprised how fast time seems to pass on the forums/archives and how even though I think that nothing has changed, quite a lot has. People come and go, but the community itself hasn't changed all that much during the time I've been here - it's still as welcoming and friendly as ever It's comforting to know that whatever goes on in my life and how things change, this site will be here for me, the same as ever.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is Happy 11th Anniversary to HPFF! Thanks for a great 4/5 years and here's to many more