Yeah, I'm talking about kalliel again, because she posted this lovely essay about Easter eggs, the little bits of her life that she puts into her fic. And she's had an interesting life and such cool (and very Winchester-eque) travels. I mean, look at everything that she packed into one fic.

Me, on the other hand... I've had a fairly boring life, and very little of it makes its way into anything I write. Y'all do not want to read about Sam and Dean's frustrating trip to Walmart, or their stop at a Hampton Inn that looks exactly like every other Hampton Inn (although, Dean would love the breakfast buffet, particularly the make-your-own waffle station). But every once in a while, something real creeps in.

Of flesh and blood I'm made was inspired by a conversation between a family member and a nurse in the ER.

But I've become what I can't be uses a location I've seen while traveling (the giant double church, although it's not actually in Memphis).

My untitled Nazi car fic came about after I rented a Volkswagen and started wondering what Dean would say about it.

Coda was inspired by my very real inability to deal with a whole raw chicken.

What about you? What sights and/or experiences make their way into your writing?

(And okay, now I have to do it...)
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I'm late to this, as I'm late to everything.


If you read LJ on your phone, your year-in-review graphic doesn't have the cheerful holiday goat, even if you're viewing it in a browser and not through the app. Thanks, LJ.

106 posts doesn't seem like very many, especially when you consider that approximately half of them must be episode recap/reviews and polls. I posted a couple of metas and 11 fics in 2017, although one was unfinished and another was actually posted to Tumblr before 2017, so that's really only ten written in 2017. And four of those were short episode codas (in fact, one was a single sentence). I guess my biggest accomplishment, if you can call it that, was that I finally participated in Summergen (which turned out to be a lot of fun and I will hopefully do it again this year). The rest of my posts were mostly nonsensical whining.

The interesting thing about this is, I've seen the stats for people on my flist who have a lot more posts and a lot more interaction from readers. And yet, my ranking of overall LJ users is pretty high (75 as of today). Since that ranking can't be based on my prodigious posting schedule (heh) or my large number of likes and comments (an average of a little over 17 per post, which is mostly from people who have entire conversations in my comments that don't involve me at all, not that I'm complaining because I actually love that y'all do that), so it's got to be based on hits. As in, maybe I get a lot of visitors (I do hit the top 25 posts occasionally) who just aren't commenting. So. Say hi, guys!

Anyway. My favorite things about 2017 were works that were done for me, not by me.

First, the incredibly talented crowroad3 posted all your lovers, a gorgeous little Trials!Sam fic, on my birthday. I said it then and I'll say it again: I'm simply not worthy.

Second, if you're like me, you have a silly fantasy that one day a talented, respected, dare I say beloved artist will read one of your works and say "I want to art that." And it happened to me, when quickreaver created this masterpiece to accompany my OhSam prompt fill. Literally a dream come true, guys.

Finally, tifaching got my spn_summergen prompt and turned it into Message in a Bottle, which is nothing I ever would have come up with, and I guess that's the best part of Summergen, isn't it? Someone taking your wee little seedling and nurturing it into a beautiful flower that you didn't even know existed?

So, that was my LJ year. Real life? Eh. There were upheavals of various kinds, medical dramas both human and canine, setbacks and triumphs. As always, I found myself ending the year pretty much in the same position I was in when it began - broke, exhausted, and frustrated at my inability to find a nice comfortable pair of black over-the-knee boots. Such is life.

How about some resolutions for 2018?

1. Finish those two fics that I've been poking at for a year - you know, the ones where you ignore the huge chunks of plot still to be written, and keep rewriting and refining the non-plot bits that you've already done?
2. Post more recs. Every time I love something, I should share it with you guys.
3. Continue to fight for my right to party.
4. Follow/friend more people. I have a bad habit of thinking I follow someone just because I read a lot of comments from them on my recaps or polls. Luckily, LJ is doing this thing now where they send me "things you missed," and I usually see that email and think "how did I miss this post?" and then realize it's because I haven't friended that person. So I'm gonna fix that.
5. Like more. Comment more. I'm bad at this, because I do almost all of my LJing on my phone, but I just need to get over it.
6. Endeavor to persevere.
7. Whine a little less. (Maybe. That's a hard one.)
8. Find those damn boots.

Let's have a great year!

Friends, Kansans (for surely we are all honorary Kansans today), fandom, lend me your ears. This is a particularly auspicious day. This year, November 2, the day that made the Winchesters what they are, is on a Thursday. I'm wearing plaid again for the occasion, some kind of brushed fabric as soft and warm as a hug from Sam Winchester (and oh, what a hug that would be, and though statistically there's a good chance it would be the last hug you ever received, especially if you were a woman in season 12, well, what a way to go, right?). But I digress. I come to bury Sam Winchester, not to praise him. Although... can't we do both?

Yes, yes we can.




Please stop by the ohsam November 2017 Comment Meme and leave a prompt, or fill a prompt, or do both. Let's both praise and bury our precious little Sammy. (Well, not actually bury. Let's just rough him up a bit.)

See you there!

Get your head out of the gutter. I'm talking fics. I don't post enough recs, and I'm trying to remedy that. So, here we go: four nice long fics to fill your free time while we wait for the S13 premiere.

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One of you wonderful people wrote some Sam/Rowena smut. It took place in S10 but I don't know if it was written during S10 or later. I do know it involved Sam having Rowena in chains in the Brewery of Doom. I forgot to bookmark it and it's killing me. It was written by someone I follow and hopefully someone who follows me as well. If anyone remembers this fic, please give a shout!

Found in the comments, thanks to the ever lovely frozen_delight!

And "hurt" is both a verb and an adjective here, because you can either read about hurt Sam, or you can hurt him yourself using one or more of many fantastic prompts for inspiration. Go check it out!

Because spnopera is coming!

Stories and art will be posted beginning tomorrow, and so many of my favorite writers and artists are on the list... this is going to be awesome!

Since themegalosaurus hasn't posted this to her LJ, go read it on her Tumblr. Just do it. A nicely chilling look at some of Sam and Dean's interactions in last night's episode. Spoilers for 10.15.

ETA... On her LJ now, go show her some love!

Whether you loved or hated 10.11, you will appreciate this fascinating spin on it by frozen_delight. Two words: hive mind. It's fantastic. And it has bees.

For We Are Many

To wish a very happy birthday to my friend agelade and to not feel guilty at all that I'm nagging HER to give ME a gift. Because what I'm looking for is the next episode of Lustraverse, and people, that is a gift to all of us. If you haven't read any of it, go check it out now. Adorable and chilling preseries fic, compelling case fic, an entirely awesome, entirely AU season 9. Do yourself a favor and visit lustraverse!