(no subject)

I'm in the middle of two writing projects with deadlines, and I'm also thinking about yuletide. Looking at the brainstorming post has made me eager for actual sign up and for getting my writing assignment.

Each year, I look forward to my assignment more than I do to getting a fic. I anticipate stretching my mind to come up with a story more than I anticipate reading anything that will be posted. Not that I don't enjoy reading or adore the fics I get. It's simply that the writing engages a different part of my mind than does the reading and that the writing presents more of an active challenge. I suspect that the fact that my list of offered fandoms is always fairly large while I can only put in four requests makes the assignment part of things more mysterious. There are dozens of things I could be asked to write and only four that someone might write for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing the official list of fandoms. I like the process of figuring out what to offer. I've actually gotten more conservative about it over the last three years. Last year, I limited it to things that I thought I'd enjoy writing and left off things that I *could* write but would have a lot of difficulty with. Basically, I pared down the list to fandoms with fantasy, SF and other non-mundane elements. (My confidence in my ability to write in a more or less realistic fandom is low.) I further pared it down to things that I could review rapidly or didn't need to review.

Picking my requests is easier. I have three unfilled requests from last year. They're all things I'd still love to get. I might shift one out because it's the fandom I put in there as easy to match if my request needs a pinch hitter. Then again, I need one of the fandoms to be that sort of thing. (I consider movies the best for easy pinch hitting because movies are easy to review or even to view for the first time with an eye toward rapid fic writing. I expect that a song would be as good and that a stand alone book would be nearly as good.) That means that I have one slot for something completely new. I've got a short list of possibilities.

I'm definitely asking for Ayatsuri Sakon and Planet Ladder again. I'll probably not rotate those requests out unless somebody writes one of them some year. The one I might or might not keep is Sky High. Nothing else on my list of possibles is that short, not by a long shot. Of course, there may end up being something on the fandom list that pings me as more potentially interesting. That last slot.... There are several things I could put in. I'm not sure how much I care about Condor Hero, but fic for it might be really fun. Rurouni Kenshin could be fun. Scott would share the joy in a Babylon 5 fic. I'm curious as to whether it's possible to reconcile the silliness of Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok with the darkness of Norse mythology. I could also go back to Princess Tutu, Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Haibane Renmei or Zelazny's Amber books, the requests I've had filled before. (Yes, that's one more than the years I've done Yuletide. I got a NYR fic once. That was a thrill.)

I'm sure I'll think of other oooh-that-would-be-neat! fandoms after I see the list of eligible fandoms.

(no subject)

Did I give someone who reads this the copy I had of Nora Roberts' book, Morrigan's Cross?

I've had a BookMooch request for it, and I can't find it. Before I completely disassemble the house searching for it, I thought I'd ask. I can't think of who I'd have given it to. I didn't like it due to some anger inducing race issues and probably wouldn't pass it on to someone who was looking to read for pleasure (at least not to someone I know who was looking to read for pleasure). I might, however, have given it to someone who was a Roberts completist, who was reading popular romances with an eye toward writing them or to analyzing them.

Anybody?

If I can't find it, the person asking for it can still get it easily. There are seventy-five other people offering it on BookMooch. I just don't want to give up on getting rid of my copy. I don't want to keep the book, and it might be months before someone else wants it. ::grumbles::

On the plus side, this has led me to moving the loveseat in the living room and cleaning under it. The next step is looking under the bed. Ick.