Me

NOTE TO SELF: AUGUST 2014 LOOKS AMAZING! START SAVING UP NOW!

Thursday 14 to Monday 18 August 2014: Worldcon will be held in London: http://www.londonin2014.org/, and londonin2014.

Friday 22 to Sunday 24 August 2014: Eurocon will be held in Dublin: http://www.shamrokon.ie/

The name of the convention is Shamrokon, and Guests of Honour are Seanan McGuire and Jim Fitzpatrick.

I took the OTW Community Survey!

"This part of town is nothing but a maze of depilating buildings."

Run! Run awaaay! Before the buildings grab you and shave you bald! ::g::

(Quote from ch. 2 of 'Starting a New Leaf' by nile-reina.)

"The unicorn, on the cusp of adulthood, glazed at them solemnly."

I love the mental image of a young unicorn, working as a glazier -- maybe it's his first job? -- replacing windows with extreme solemnity, a little frown of concentration between his eyes. ::g::

(Quote from ch. 10 of 'Bound' by lilyseyes.)

April Fools, and Camp NaNo's June and August sessions.

I was looking for month-long writing challenges like NaNoWriMo, but for the summer, to help me be more productive. I've found several, but the one I'm really happy about is April Fool's (the FAQ) (and April Fool's Forums). I really like this challenge because it's so much more flexible than the standard NaNo: you get to set your own goals, and they'll let you use fanfic, schoolwork and even some work assignments. The forums are up and running now, once you've signed up and logged in, and I hope to see you there!

I've also signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo's first summer session in June. Camp NaNo is an official spin-off from NaNoWriMo. They'll be running two summer sessions this year, and Registration is already open for both June and August. (If you already have a NaNoWriMo account, you can use the same login for Camp NaNo as well.) I've signed up for August as well. ::g::

750 Words and Written? Kitten! are online tools that encourage you to write, through varying degrees of positive reinforcement. Write or DIE!, on the other hand, uses bowel-churning terror.

WriteTrack is a free online wordcount tracker I like. WriteTrack lets you weight days differently, to allow for days where you can write loads, and days where you can't write at all. It also automatically adjusts your daily word targets for you. It also gives some charts and stats that can help you analyse your productivity, if you like that sort of thing.

One of my favourite writing tools is yWriter. I'm trying Scrivener for my current projects (because I want to use more imported notes from webpages, so I need Scrivener's Research folder). I still prefer yWriter for actually writing, though, especially on long projects. It has a lot more tools, including built-in wordcount daily targets (especially useful for challenges) and can track wordcount by character. The storyboarding feature is also very visual and helpful for laying out scenes and story flow, and I miss yWriter's built-in writing tips and tricks.

I bring you the second meme that I've done tonight: the Letter Meme.

1. Leave a comment to this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. (The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows.)

moth2fic gave me the letter "D" -- and my mind immediately went blank on all D-names.

1. The Doctor. I was panicking about getting 5 names, but the Doctor saved me! I love the Doctor in most of his incarnations (except Six, who was creepy), though Five, Eight and Nine are my favourites. Five was my childhood doctor, the one I grew up with. Eight has so many possibilities, because there's so little canon; he's a gift to fanfic writers. Nine is the start of New Who (and he has all the angst ever!), plus a great, infectious smile. The Doctor's a great character, and a great TV show. The format and the incarnations help keep it fresh and interesting, and it really is a TV phenomenon.

2. Data. I love the way you can get into what it means to be human and sentient with stories focused on Data, and also think about the value of emotion, logic, rationality, etc.

3. Deanna Troi. I really liked Deanna Troi. It was nice to have a woman right up on the bridge of the Enterprise; that was still a big deal when Star Trek: The Next Generation started. I liked her empathy and her Betazoid heritage, too, and her personality, although I didn't always like what the writers did with her character.

4. Duncan McLeod. Of The Clan McLeod! When it comes to Highlander, I prefer Methos or Amanda, but Duncan makes a great foil for both of them, and I like his idealism and his sense of honour. And his sense of humour,too! Plus, nice to see a Scottish character as a lead character.

5. Dawn. On here because I still remember the shock of the moment Buffy's sister first appeared. That was a great storyline. Michelle Trachtenberg is an amazing actress and a beautiful woman.

(I have a feeling I'm going to spend the next few days having A-ha! moments about other D-named characters I could have included on this list ::g::).

I'm never sure how much importance to give these tests. I seem to be pretty self-absorbed this month, with that 90% Intrapersonal score. ::gazes at navel::


I've taken this test before, but this is the first time I've come out as INFJ. Introverted and Intuitive tend to stay the same with me, but Thinking/Feeling and Judging/Perceiving often swap places, so I've been INFP, INTP, and INTJ before.

Novel Writing Month Challenges

I like writing challenges, because I'm a terrible procrastinator, and if I'm left to my devices I'll 'do it tomorrow' until the end of time, so deadlines and support groups are good news. I really like NaNo's, but November is not always a good month for me; I tend to have more energy in summertime. So I went looking for other NaNo's, and this is what I found, in case other's find it useful.

March looks a bit quiet, to be honest, although there is a March thread on NaNoWriMo's forums.

April has April Fool's (the FAQ) and April Fool's Forums. Although the forums look dead and empty, that's only because April Fool's has moved to a brand-new site this year, and sadly lost their old archives along the way. I really like this challenge because it's so much more flexible than the standard NaNo: you get to set your own goals, and they'll let you use fanfic, schoolwork and work assignments.

May has MayNoWriMo.

June has three options: JuneNoWriMo, and Write a Damn Novel in June are the independent options.

There's also Camp NaNoWriMo's first summer session. Camp NaNo is the official spin-off of NaNoWriMo. They'll be running two summer sessions this year, and Registration is already open for both June and August. If you already have a NaNoWriMo account, you can use the same login for Camp NaNo as well.

July has JulNoWriMo's site, which is looking good this year.

August is Camp NaNo's second summer session. Registration is already open, and you can use your NaNoWriMo account to login.

September has SeptWriMo.

October has OctNoWriMo.

November is for NaNoWriMo, the most famous 'write a novel in a month' challenge of all.

December has NaNoFiMo, but when I looked, the old site seemed to have been overrun by spammers, so I'm not going to link to it. This is NaNoFiMo's new site. (Note: I think this site is being run by a new team.)

750 Words and Written? Kitten! are online tools that encourage you to write, through varying degrees of positive reinforcement. Write or DIE!, on the other hand, uses bowel-churning terror.

WriteTrack is a free online wordcount tracker I like. WriteTrack lets you weight days differently, to allow for days where you can write loads, and days where you can't write at all. It also automatically adjusts your daily word targets for you. It also gives some charts and stats that can help you analyse your productivity, if you like that sort of thing.

One of my favourite writing tools is yWriter. I'm trying Scrivener for my current projects (because I want to use more imported notes from webpages, so I need Scrivener's Research folder). I still prefer yWriter for actually writing, though, especially on long projects. It has a lot more tools, including built-in wordcount daily targets (especially useful for challenges) and can track wordcount by character. The storyboarding feature is also very visual and helpful for laying out scenes and story flow, and I miss yWriter's built-in writing tips and tricks.

Works-In-Progress Meme nicked from natsuko1978.

I will post the names of all the files in (all) my WIP folder(s), regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Choose one or two and I will post a random snippet.

I often write little notes for ideas, so that I don't forget the plotbunny. Unfortunately, many of my Works-In-Progress go no further than that. Some are little more than note-form or bullet-pointed concepts. Many will never be finished. Some are abandoned. Some are over 70,000 words long -- and still not finished! (Why won't stories write themselves?!?)

( Click here to see the list of titles. )

Huh, my fic titles are more descriptive than I thought. Also, having the list all together like this is terrifying. I was going to count them, but I'm not sure I want to know. (Don't tell the plotbunnies, but the herd may need to be C-U-L-L-E-D.)

Oh, Elf!Harry -- oh, that was such a cute story, in my head. (What? Shut up.)

Believe it or not, the Blake's 7 fic was meant to have a happy ending, but my god, B7 CANON DEFEATED ME. Oh Blake! Oh Avon! *wibbles*

I think the Snape Mentors Harry fic has already been done too often in HP fandom, and I -- literally -- don't know what I was thinking with the DS Hookerfic: there's only 3 or 4 sentences in that file. *facepalm*

I think my top five favourite story file titles are: 'JWxTS Jeeves & the Feudal Spirit', 'Lewis Bi in BVI', 'M7 Undercover in a Gay Bar', 'SGA Girl John Sheppard vs Gay Rodney McKay', and 'SGA Glory Hole'. Although 'SGA Harlequin Regency AU McShep' wins the sounds-like-badfic award, hands down.

The MfU 100 Things Memo fic is nearly finished, and hilarious, if anyone wants to volunteer to beta that? *G*

But, anyway -- ask for whichever snippet intrigues you, and I shall provide. *g*
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Thank you Xandutch and thank you Moonlettuce for the blue Dragons! Sooooo cute. ::hugs you both::

( And a meme, behind the cut: )

To quote this UK Direct Gov ePetition:

ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet.

ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small "club" of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc).

Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries.

ACTA would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries.

Stop ACTA from ruining Free Speech NOW!"

For more information, visit http://www.laquadrature.net/ACTA or watch http://youtu.be/citzRjwk-sQ

I think we should be very concerned about ACTA as it is in many ways worse than the US's SOPA and PIPA, since it is less openly debated and will be even more wide-ranging, and almost global in it's reach.

Julian Sanchez's arguments against SOPA apply equally well against ACTA: SOPA, Internet regulation, and the economics of piracy

I am particularly concerned about the effect on medicines and the generic drugs business in developing countries. Whilst there are copyright issues, I think that saving lives should be the priority over protecting the profits of multi-nationals.

Read more about it here: After SOPA/PIPA in the US, ACTA Makes Its Way to the EU Parliament Remember, this agreement will be signed by 27 EU countries as well as 12 other countries.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has a post on ACTA here:2011 in Review: Developments in ACTA which provides a good round-up, although La Quadrature is more up-to-date, especially about recent EU developments.

Originally posted by electricdruid at The fiasco continues
.

Random life update:

1. Alright, Sherlock's sexy. I knew that going in. I am surprised how sexy John Watson is, for a rumpled-looking middle-aged man in badly-fitting clothes. The man wears cardigans, and often looks like he hasn't slept for a month! How is this so sexy? ::eyes Martin Freeman::

2. Slightly worried about the upcoming theatre trip. In a moment of stunning genius, it looks like I've deleted the email confirmation. ::facepalm:: Luckily, it looks like they'll accept the credit card I bought it with as proof of purchase, so.

3. Oh, god, finances. ::shudders:: Don't ask.

4. It's cold. You know which fictional TV character I really want in my bed this time of year? Diefenbaker. He would keep my feet so warm.

5. I'm watching "Help! I Caught It Abroad!" on ITV2, about London's Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Good grief, that is some scary shit. I MAY NEVER LEAVE ENGLAND AGAIN!

6. I can't decide if I need to spend more time on the various social media sites, or less. Pretty sure my current random pattern of ignoring it/following it obsessively is the worst of both worlds. I seem to be missing out on a lot, but there isn't time to follow everything.

7. Added Adaptxt (predictive text app) to my smartphone. I love it! Free (at the moment, on Android, anyway) and has a UK English dictionary, and it already works better than Samsung's predictive text thingy.

8. I love Spock.

9. There is no 9.

Happy New Sherlock's Eve! Photo manips: 1 x SH/JW, 1 x Sheridan Holmes, fem Sherlock.

All 3 pictures behind a cut, because they're large. All of them are safe for work.

No spoilers in the pics or this post itself, but be spoilers may happen in comments.

( Behind this cut, the Before pic of Sherlock Holmes!Cumberbatch )

( Behind this cut, the After pic of Sheridan Holmes!Cumberbatch )

( Behind this cut, the two pics side by side for comparison (hopefully) )

( Behind this cut, a Sherlock/John photo manip that I call 'Hands!' )

I've set up a comm. I've set myself up as mod/administrator. I've set up my email to receive notifications. I've set up a co-mod with administrator privileges. So far, so good.

How do I set up email notifications for both me and my co-mod? Can I do that, or does my co-mod need to do it? Is it possible using Dreamwidth's Community Settings, or do we have to make a workaround by setting up a shared email account?

I've seen instructions in the FAQ for how to set up as a solo mod, pass all the modly duties on when you want to give up modding, but not how to share modding duties. Please help!

This is the first community I've set up, and I feel like I must be missing something obvious, because I've seen loads of comms with multiple mods, so clearly it must work ... somehow.

I loved the Christmas special! Everything else is behind a cut, because spoilers.

( Thought on Doctor Who's 2011 Christmas Special, 'The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe'. Behind this cut because of spoilers )

Also, the Sherlock trailer? Intriguing does not begin to cover it. I cannot wait for season two.

LJ seems to be moving towards a site-wide re-design. The new comments pages and the recent pop-ups for icons and when you hover over icons, and the new navigation bar design -- they all fit with this prototype. Click here to see the new LJ prototype site re-design

That's in Russian, so I used Google translate on the web page. Click here for the translated page in (rough, but mostly understandable) English.

It look like they are changing everything: comment pages, editing, nav bars, and all the back-end stuff linked off your profile page, like your profile itself, customise style. options, account management pages , messaging & inbox, and friends tools.

Spread the word; this is deeply interesting stuff, and I haven't had time to go through all the links and look at what the future differences might be.

Okay, Livejournal's being extrememly stupid -- again -- and I am so glad I've already deleted all but two of my Lj journals.  I'll get rid of the spare, and then my main journal will become pretty much an archive.

Why? Because the latest improvement has pretty much broken comment thread navigation, as well as a number of other features that used to be useful to me, and the staff don't seem to care.

The latest upgrade has just done too much damage to the site's usability, and I've see a mock-up for where SUP wants to take LJ's site design next next, and, well -- Geocities 1992 called; it wants its frames back.  ::shudders::

See the ugly here: http://livejournal.design.ru/messages/list/post/  ::sporks own eyes::

Anyway, that brings me on to Dreamwidth!

Dreamwidth is allowing free account creation from now until the end of this year, so you don't need an invite code.  If you want to wait to move, I have invite codes you can have -- just ask.

LJ has decided to get rid of subject lines in comments -- see this announcement at LJ News if you haven't already noticed -- and I think the new comments design is fugly and unusable.

It doesn't seem to be affecting my LJ yet, or any communities I've looked at, and the comment feature on my LJ still allows comments to have subject lines, but I've seen the new comment box, and it doesn't have any space for a subject line. Try leaving a comment at LJ News if you want to see what I mean.

It also affects old comments to old entries on LJ News, where they've swapped over to the new system, which makes the comment threads on old entries there impossible to navigate. This isn't an opt-in/opt-out feature: subject lines are just gone.

ETA: The new comment posting box has also lost the "Preview" feature. So, if you want to check your HTML before you post, or make sure the pic or link in the comment works, you can't. ::grinds teeth::

This has really destroyed a lot of the usability LJ used to have for fandom. How can we do memes now? Or RPGs? For that matter, how can we run communities effectively if you can no longer sort through comment threads so quickly?

ETA: The new page also fails completely on accessibility grounds. It looks like no-one even bothered to test this for keyboard navigation, because it's crazy hard, according to what I've heard from people who use keyboard navigation.

The icons pop-out is really annoying, especially for people who use keyboard navigation, but even for people who use the mouse, having to scroll through pages of icons is not ideal.

I can't believe they're taking away functionality, making the site less useful, and calling it an upgrade. ::throws hands in the air::

Right, that's my decision really made for me now: LJ is now too unusable for me to keep paying them, and I think a lot of fans and fannish comms will be heading for DW at speed after this. Far too many people use subject lines to navigate and sort through comment threads for this to ever work. Gah.

ETA 2: If anyone wants a DW Invite code, just ask me; I have several. Dreamwidth are offering free account creation from now until the end of the year, so you don't need an invite code!

Also, it may be a good moment to back up any Journals or Communities you own or mod, using LJ Archive or LJ Sec. It looks like this will affect past entries retroactively, and could make old entries unnavigable.