Retrograde

Oh bloody fucking hell.

Last thing I do before logging off and finally getting some sleep is checking my email. And now, after all this time, I get someone else who wants to use the characters I threw into my own version of the Dariaverse in their own damn fanfic. I have told them no, because I have told other people no and it wouldn't be fair if I let someone else do it now. I can only hope they damn well listen to me.

My gods, what is wrong with people? I mean, I don't really have any recourse to stop them, but fuck's sake, I threw characters that I made up out of my own damn brain into fanfic, and now people with apparently far less imagination than me have decided they want to make these characters their canon?!? What the fuck? (Okay, so maybe I'd be less pissed off if the meta-fic in question [my term for fic written based on a fic universe; how much more meta do you get?] was any damn good. I'm shallow like that. This is why I didn't mind Brother Grimace but sure as hell mind this.)

I'm out of the damn fandom, okay? I came out alive (barely), with my sanity intact (barely) and with a lot of really good friends (you know who you are). TLAS was my stupid bit of fun from nearly ten years ago so come on, people! Let it go already!

Not. Fucking. Canon. Okay? Not even that good alternate universe. Go away and leave me alone!

Rain Avoidance Tactic #1

I'm trying to avoid the necessary smokes-and-cola run for a little while (it's raining like buggery out there) so here's the news.

I have until Sunday night to get myself back on a halfway decent sleeping schedule, because I have registration with two agencies on Monday. Oh, and one on Tuesday. Not that I've heard much from the agencies since the initial flurry, but at least they know I exist and I won't be panicking about that for another month anyway. If it's approaching Christmas and I still have not seen work, then I'll panic. I've got enough on my plate as it is, what with the whole being ill thing.

Speaking of, that damn barium meal thing is scheduled for next week. Since they couldn't shove a camera down my throat, they're going to dump me full of pseudo-minty-tasting yick and take pictures from the outside, which of course isn't going to show much in the way of inflammation but what're you gonna do? Well, I suppose what I'm going to do is hope like hell that the barium meal isn't anywhere near as bad as the endoscopy was.

Then there's the CbN thing. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really not sure why I bother checking that site anymore. I keep getting thestral coming up to me and saying, "Hey, we should just RP whatever characters we want and never mind not having a board..." or "So were you thinking of applying to any other boards? Let me know so we can play together" or bitching out the mods or what have you for not taking charge and making immediate decisions or I don't know what all; I tend not to pay attention. I mean, I'd tell him I'm on-again-off-again running some CbN-ish stuff for any of the old players who are remotely interested in keeping their characters running, but I don't really want to tell him that. Actually, I don't want to make a big deal of it at all, as this really is just a small thing and no attempt whatsoever to poach players or make any comment on what the old Mage STs are doing. This is just me not wanting to lose a good dynamic. So anyway, the people who actually know it's running are few and far between. I'm also not telling thestral about the new London board, because not only do I know how he talks about mods who don't behave exactly how he wants them to behind their backs, but I've heard stories about his dealings with mods and some of his previous attempts at characters and, seriously, no. If by some chance I do wind up staffing CbN in its new incarnation (highly doubtful, given that it's been weeks since I offered and have not as yet heard jack), I'll deal with the little toe-rag. But ... well, I have no wish to deal with that my first time as a lead and solo admin. I mean, it may happen anyway, but I don't have to invite it with all due foresight.

Beyond that, not much is new. I really need to get back to work on the NaNo; the problem I'm finding with short stories is that ... well, I care less. Or maybe it's the being ill. My knees are still pain incarnate and I'm exhausted and/or suffering insomnia, sometimes in combination, at the weirdest times. I just want the whole thing to stop now, please.

'Tis the Season to be Fangirled

Apparently, 'tis the fucking season.

I got the following email today:

( Dear writer, you owe me fanfic! )

This was my reply:

( Dear fangirl: Until I'm being paid for this, I don't owe you a damn thing. )

Thankfully, the one who wanted to use my characters has said that she won't post any of the stuff she writes on any sites, and I'm not going to stop her from writing it so long as it doesn't go out anywhere. She also asked if there's any hope for her as a writer, and I really don't know what to say. There's a lack of comic timing and subtlety in her work, and she doesn't really pay all that much attention to the characters' voices from what little of it I actually read. So I'm putting off answering that one for awhile.

Why? Why do these things happen?