Done! Done! Done!
My SSHG Exchange fic has somehow managed to finish itself! Early in the game it threatened to turn crack-ish, and once I had deterred it from that course, I then was very much afraid I had written myself into a corner, plot-wise. Comes from plunging ahead without a plan of attack. (Note to self: Don't ever start with WIPs!)
But my glorious beta (unnamed for now, for obvious reasons, but brilliant indeed) found some time between the frantic seconds of her busy life to send me notes on the first bits, and her comments inspired me to buckle down and finish the damn thing. I mean, how can you not adore a woman who (a) knows commas better than my college English prof buddy Suzi, (b) makes sure my incantations and name references are just right, and (c) inserts glorious little notes in the margins to let me know when she's squee'd or laughed outright or reacted in some other lovely way that reminds me of the fun I had writing that particular bit?
Now I simply have to decide if I need to add a warning to let the unsuspecting know what I've done with one particular canon character, who needed to go very dark indeed in order to help me out of that corner. Forgive me!
I hope she approves of the bad thing I've done and also hope that all the good things I've given to my OTP make up for it.
And then I will have to wait a VERY long time to hear back from readers. *sigh* No instant gratification for me!
P.S. Does anyone know of a good program for a PC (free or not too expensive) to do periodic cleanups? I have the standard anti-virus. etc., stuff, but the system has been running veeerrrrrrrrryyyy sloooooowwwwwwllly lately, and I don't remember what it was I had on the old computer that allowed me to run a variety of regular checkups. It shouldn't take me an entire day to download a short video of my brother's band. Nor should that freeze my internet connection for hours on end. Should it?