So um, yeah, remember that whole plan to go into fic_rush with 10 prompts, and come out of it with somewhere around 10 short fics?

Ha ha ha ha ha, I am so funny.

Okay, I did manage one short fic. And it's a complete fic -- yay!-- although short, but it's one of those short fics that needs to be short, at least in my opinion.

But as for writing to the other 9 prompts, not so much. The prompts you guys gave me looked interesting, and then there were the ones I chose myself from the random pairings generator, but when it came to trying to imagine writing anything to them, it was a big fat blank.

However, as I said, I did write one story to one prompt, and I did write a drabble recently to another prompt, so at least the muse is waking up a little bit, although obviously she's still a little sleepy. Thank you to those of you who gave me prompts, and I'll keep them around, and if they do inspire me later, I will do something on them if I can.

On the bright side of fic_rush, primsong came and joined us and seemed to actually like it! I still encourage everyone to come try it out next round, even if it's just for an hour or two. It's a great feeling to get writing encouragement -- not to mention useful tips -- from others, it's nice to pass encouragement along to others, and if nothing else, it really teaches you the value of an hour.

There's an auction going on of Doctor Who props and costumes, and I thought it was kind of interesting -- then I took a look at the full catalog, and they don't just have New Who, they've got stuff going WAY back! There's one item from the Third Doctor era, then a nice selection of Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor items. So, I just had to share with you all some highlights:

-- a dinosaur model used in "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"
-- a sarcophagus cover from "Pyramids of Mars"
-- Time Lord costumes from "The Deadly Assassin"
-- Nyssa's costume from "Castrovalva"
-- an Ergon head from "Arc of Infinity" (come on, who wouldn't want that?!)
-- Seventh Doctor hat, handkerchief and scarf from "Time and the Rani"
-- Ace's costume from "Dragonfire" (yes, including the bomber jacket)
-- The Kandyman from "Happiness Patrol" (let me repeat that -- THE KANDYMAN FROM "HAPPINESS PATROL")
-- A cheetah person costume from "Survival"

There's stuff from New Who, too, including costumes and a section of the TARDIS (!). Sadly, the bus from "Planet of the Dead" has been withdrawn. Well, what would I do with a bus? But how cool!

You can see what's up for auction here: http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=catalogue&iSaleNo=18192#

The lots are basically in order by age, so click on the last page to see the oldest stuff, and work backwards from there. Or click on the "view whole catalog" link.

Muses are starting to come back at least a little bit, because I have written a drabble! This is from a prompt on the cc_sff community, in their Sarah Jane Drabble Tag thread.

Title: Other Uses for Sonic Devices
Rating: G
Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Tenth Doctor
Summary: En garde!
A/N: Based on this prompt: Sarah Jane, Ten, non-standard use of sonic screwdriver.

The noise from her sonic lipstick was ruining it, so Sarah turned that part off and just kept the tip glowing red while she made her own sound effects. The Doctor soon followed her lead, and the humming noises he produced were really quite good as he fended her off with his blue-tipped sonic screwdriver.

"I am stronger in the Force than you!" proclaimed the Doctor. He gave his sonic screwdriver a spin, then waved it around.

"Never!" cried Sarah, brandishing her lipstick.

Blue against red, good against evil, they battled. The Doctor smiled, and for once let evil win.

fic_rush is this weekend (still an awesome event if anyone wants to join in, by the way) and I have decided to go into it with my very own set of 10 writing prompts, with the idea that I will spend the time writing to as many of those prompts as possible. I might do a bunch of drabbles or ficlets, or snatches of conversations, or a prompt might catch fire and turn into a full-fledged fic . . . but no matter what, the idea will be to keep writing, and to write as much as possible, and to keep myself going by having different prompts and ideas to turn to in the hope that this will lure my muses back from the vacation they seem to have gone on.

Clicking away on the DW random pairings generator has given me 7 prompts, so I am looking for 3 more. So, if there's anything you've always wished I would write, now's your chance! Suggest as many prompts as you like, and I will take the 3 that inspire me the most into fic_rush this weekend, and hopefully produce something on them. In fact I might take more than 3, because possibly something you guys come up with will inspire me more than the ones from the random pairings generator.

The prompts can take whatever form you like, but I'd suggest at a minimum giving me a character or a set of characters, plus a phrase or a setting or a circumstance to get me going. You can also do "what if" scenarios, or "tell me about the time" scenarios, or anything you can think of, really. You can use any fandom / characters I know (feel free to ask if you're not sure), and you can suggest crossovers. If I choose your prompt, I will try to write on it this weekend; if I don't get to it, or don't finish it, then I will take it up again in the not-so-distant future.

Ooh, I'm kind of excited to see what you guys come up with now . . . well, assuming anyone wants to see me try to write to their prompt, that is. ; )

I've been in a horrible non-writing space lately where I really feel that I want to write, but every time I sit down to try to do it, I either can't write at all or I write something that I end up hating.

I tried going to the DW random prompts generator and clicked until I got a prompt that looks interesting, but nothing is coming. And meanwhile I have this WIP that is sitting on my shoulder making me feel really guilty because I've been making zero progress on it.

Fic_rush is happening again this weekend and I'm planning on participating, but last time it was only marginally helpful -- I did end up writing some stuff that I liked at the time, but now I don't like it anymore.

I would just think that I need to take a break from writing except that doesn't seem to be it -- it's more that I feel that I want to write, perhaps even need to write, but just can't. Argghhh! Has anyone else gone through something like this? Any thoughts / ideas / suggestions gratefully accepted. . .

Finished watching both "Carnival of Monsters" and "Delta and the Bannermen," and, um, yeah. I think "Carnival of Monsters" was better (sorry, Seven fans -- but hey, Ian Marter!) but both were a little on the bizarre side, shall we say?

( spoilers )

Had a hard day today and was just randomly playing on Netflix to see what Doctor Who episodes they had available for instant streaming when I clicked on "Carnival of Monsters," a Third Doctor episode which I'd never seen before. So picture me innocently watching, idly wondering if this one's any good and then OMG IT'S HARRY SULLIVAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, actually Ian Marter but OMG IT'S IAN MARTER!!!!!!!!!! Playing *another* naval officer! Did the guy get typecast in Doctor Who, or what?

So now I'm obviously going to have to watch the rest of this ASAP. "Delta and the Bannermen" is due to show up tomorrow in the mail, and I've never seen it either, and I was looking forward to my first time seeing Seven and Mel together, but now that one's just going to have to wait. Because did I mention Ian Marter? In fact, if I'm not careful, I'm going to be dragging out my "Terror of the Zygons" videotape next, I just know it . . .

Finished reccing Calufrax, and it was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Once again I had a horrible time trying to narrow down a huge initial list to only 7 stories. Last time I recced, I had a different Doctor in every story (did anyone notice? They were Three, Six, Eight, Nine, Ten, Handy and Eleven), and this time the Doctor mix wasn't as good -- Ten showed up in five of the seven stories -- but I did get some good variation in genre, including a missing scene fic, a fix-it fic and a crossover, plus two Classic Who fics (I think Romana counts even though she was paired with Ten). I also managed to hit both SJA and Torchwood, neither of which I got in last time. Every story got some love from at least one new person, and really that's what it's all about in the end, so overall I'm very happy with how it went.

There's a new community that's dedicated to celebrating minor characters and original characters in Whoniverse fanfiction -- who_like_giants, in case you haven't seen it yet. Not that I expect anyone in particular from my flist to show up over there, except that I do. You know who you are.

Been re-watching Fourth Doctor episodes lately, which I needed after saying goodbye to Ten -- it's like slipping back into a comfy sweatshirt, and a nice reminder that while the actors move on, their episodes remain. Also, as much as I love David Tennant, there's nothing like revisiting one's first Doctor -- just watching those old Tom Baker -era opening credits with the two converging vortex lines is enough to instantly take me back to childhood, and put a huge grin on my face. Speaking of which, I'm really excited that "Masque of Mandragora" is coming out on DVD in a few months! Now if we can only get "Android Invasion," I'll be able to replace the entire contents of my old videotape that disintegrated.

Okay, so that's not going to be true for everyone reading this, but I bet that at least some of you were born after spring 1987, right? That's when the contents of the videotape I watched today were aired.

I had intended to watch "Stones of Blood" (all lost_spook's fault, by the way), but it turned out that while the videotape was labeled with that episode, it had been taped over. In spring 1987. I was able to date the contents very well, because there were references to upcoming air dates in April, and an episode of "Starman" on the tape. Yes, that's right, Starman, the television series, which only aired for one season (in 1987).

So then of course I had to sit down and see what the hell else was on this mystery videotape. It turned out to contain the last three episodes of "War Games," about 5 minutes of the last episode of "The Sea Devils," the opening credits to "Earthshock," and all of "The Deadly Assassin." Obviously my local PBS station was bouncing around between Doctors at the time (not unusual), and there was a fair amount of taping and re-taping going on, for which I blame my brother, mostly -- "War Games" sounds like him -- but then again, I suspect that "Starman" was my fault. I used to have a crush on Robert Hays.

"Starman" was hilariously bad -- pretentious, hokey sci-fi -- but I'm sorry I wasn't able to see "Stones of Blood." Although most likely that is hilariously bad too, seeing as my brother and I relegated the videotape to the "can be taped over" pile. At least the combination of "War Games" and "Deadly Assassin" was an interesting one, especially in light of "End of Time." Gallifrey and the Time Lords have really changed quite a lot over the years, haven't they?

. . . I've decided not to do a full review of "End of Time, part two." Instead, let me share with you the positives from it, the things that I really liked:

( spoilers )

So not only did I write a Yuletide story, but I ended up writing a drabble-ish little thing for Yuletide Madness because the prompt was so cool and I couldn't resist. Since I have some fellow Gilbert and Sullivan fans on my flist, I've decided it's worth sharing here even though it's just a short and silly "Yuletide folly" (I like the sound of that; sounds very G&S-ish).

Title: The Pirates of Iolanthe
Fandoms: The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe (yes, they count as two different fandoms for Yuletide!)
Rating: G
Characters: Pirates, Daughters and Fairies
Summary: What if the pirates from Pirates of Penzance, having resumed their ranks and legislative duties, were in the House of Lords during Iolanthe? (Note -- this was El Staplador's brilliant prompt; I was just inspired by it.)
A/N: Written for El Staplador in the 2009 Yuletide Madness challenge. It's not quite drabble-length, but it rhymes!
Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed because public domain, baby!!!!

( fic here )

Time to post the story I wrote for Yuletide, and the fandom was . . . Red Dwarf!!!!

(Yes, you read that correctly. I made the huge genre leap from writing for Doctor Who, a British science fiction television show, to writing for Red Dwarf, a different British science fiction television show! My range is so impressive, isn't it?)

Thanks go to my recipient, xparrot, who went easy on me for my first Yuletide by giving me a great prompt, and gave me an excuse to pull out all my old videotapes and fall in love with this show again. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it.

Title: Upgrade
Fandom: Red Dwarf
Rating: Teen (for general Red Dwarfiness)
Characters: Lister, Rimmer, the Cat, Kryten
Beta: Eledhwen
Summary: The crew want to give Rimmer's hologram program an upgrade.
A/N: Written for Xparrot in the 2009 Yuletide challenge.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction, offered freely. Red Dwarf and all characters belong to, um, some entity that's not me. It's probably Grant Naylor Productions, or the BBC, or the Jupiter Mining Corporation, but I don't really know. Sorry I can't be more helpful, and would you like some toast?

( (STORY HERE) )

By "it," of course I mean "End of Time, part two." It's late here so I won't post a full review, but I just had to share one tiny reaction. ( spoiler )

Wishing everyone a very happy new year!

Yuletide stories are open for reading, and I've gotten my gift fic, and it's marvelous -- The Day's Unfinished Task, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) missing scene fic for a scene that I've always wanted to see -- in fact, if I were to try to choose out of the entire series "here's the missing scene I most want to see," that was probably it! And it ties beautifully into "My Late Lamented Friend and Partner" and gives us Marty's perspective and it really is great, anonymous author, so thank you! I'm also just blown away that you didn't know the fandom and went to go check it out because I requested it and then fell for it! Wow! What a great spirit of Yuletide thing, spreading love for a small (in this case, extremely small) fandom. I sincerely hope that I didn't inadvertently make you feel that you had to do that -- BSG fic would've made me very happy too, I swear -- but it does bring an extra smile to my face to see more fic in this fandom because it is so bereft. I'm sorry that as a consequence you're not getting very many comments -- yes, it's an extremely small fandom -- but if it counts for anything, you've made me very happy. : ) So thank you.

My own assigned story went over well with the recipient -- yay! I also wrote a Yuletide Madness story and uploaded a last-minute Yuletide Treat.

Now, stealing from hhertzof: If you feel like guessing which Yuletide stories I wrote, leave a comment! Yes, I know it's pretty impossible to guess given that there are over 3000 stories, so this is purely for fun and I don't really expect anyone to get any of them. However, here's a hint: three stories, three different fandoms, three different recipients, and no one is going to be surprised by any of them. Let's just say they're either fandoms I've talked about liking in this journal, or they're not exactly a huge genre leap from writing in Doctor Who. (My lack of range, I invite you to marvel at it.) If you get one right, I will pat you on the back and say "well done!" Exciting, right? And . . . oh, okay, I might also write you something short in response to a prompt. Since I suck at making icons. : )

So, I am one of those people who has a free account, and as a consequence I see ads displayed on pages when I am on LiveJournal. I have no problem with this. It is a way for LJ to make money off of me, and it's fine, and I fully accept that it is the trade-off for my not forking over for a paid account.

BUT, recently there has been a new type of ad that darkens my entire screen and interferes with my ability to see what I am looking at. It started around the time of the no-email-alerts-on-comments debacle, and it's been gradually happening more and more frequently to the point where I am getting seriously pissed off. It's all right to show me ads, but NOT all right for those ads to keep me from the content on the site! (And by the way, I always close out my browser immediately so I have yet to even see what the ad is for -- something you folks might want to consider, LJ-gods, because I'm sure I'm not the only one.)

I would go ahead and just pay for an account except for two things: 1) I really, really do not want to link my RL identity with this blog. I admit to a certain paranoia about it, but I simply never want my professional identity and my fanfic-writer identity to meet, and I do whatever I can to support that firewall. 2) The more LJ pisses me off with their new "no, we won't let you see the page" style of advertising, the less inclined I am to want to support them by giving them any money.

Anyone else having these issues? (I think a lot of you have paid accounts, so maybe not.) Also, if I do decide to capitulate, does anyone know if a manual payment through PayPal would do a good job of hiding my identity, or would my real name (which I obviously need to give to PayPal in order for them to process my credit card) show up?

I HAVE A YULETIDE STORY!!!!!!!!

No, not the one I wrote -- I already know all about that one. I mean, the one someone wrote for me! My account over at Archive of Our Own says I have a gift, which means my Yuletide author has uploaded my story! It's there! It's waiting! And I can't read it yet!!!

Can I get it early if I point out that Hanukkah is already over?

I will not go to the fandoms page to try to figure out which fandom it was written in. I will not go to the fandoms page. I will not go to the fandoms page. I will not go to the fandoms page. I will not go . . .