Sign your life on the dotted line.
It's that special time of year again! It's my birthday! Okay, actually, no, that's not true. My birthday is coming, in, uh, 40-something days,* but I was referring to The Yuletide Obscure Fandoms Exchange.
Yes, I am a yuletide baby. Why, you ask? Why this challenge, hackthis, and not mine?! See the thing is, I used to sign up for a lot of challenges, because my flist is a pimping sort of DO THIS list, and I wanted to participate in everything. Sadly that ended up turning into a "perform on demand" requirement, which took away a lot of the enjoyment, and this is why I don't tend to sign up for challenges and fic-exchanges, etc.
yuletide is my exception. I save myself for Adrian Pasdar yuletide.
I've participated every year it's been run and I've never been disappointed. I've freaked out. I've flogged myself and said, "You dumbass, why did you say you'd write that?" And the answer is, because it's challenging and once I write something for yuletide I don't sign up to write it again the next year. I've written The Usual Suspects, Spider-Man, Grey's Anatomy (het, which still shocks the hell out of me), Ocean's Eleven and Entourage and loved every last bit of it, fear and all.
In my mind yuletide isn't about the story you receive -- although you know, that's damn awesome -- but about the story you write. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that my recipient liked what I created for them. Sometimes you don't hear this though. Sometimes you get insulted (bad form, people, really). Sometimes you hear nothing at all. But sometimes you hear that you created just what someone else was hoping for and that warm fuzzy feeling makes everything worth it. And okay, there's always that moment of panic after you sign up and after you get your recipient where you think, "The fuck?! I can't write this? Why do I do this shit to myself," but that turns out to be, IMO, one of the greatest motivating forces: proving to yourself that you can do it. And yes, I pointed out above that it's nice to hear your recipient liked it, but you know what's even better?
Knowing that you did. It's about knowing you finished something you thought was going to bend you over the desk. So, yes, in a manner of speaking yuletide is about giving to someone else, but it's also about giving back to yourself, and really, don't you deserve some love too? Exactly.
Go sign the fuck up. Now. And then go get some celebratory icons from liviapenn. You can thank me after Christmas.
*What, like you'd ever expect a Slytherin to be modest in the first place? This is where I place my order for my ever-lost Adrian Pasdar clone and a Nathan/Peter video for Charm Attack. Or possibly Flagpole Sitta. Or any song that slodwick and I soundtracked. Life is too short to not ask for what you want.
Yes, I am a yuletide baby. Why, you ask? Why this challenge, hackthis, and not mine?! See the thing is, I used to sign up for a lot of challenges, because my flist is a pimping sort of DO THIS list, and I wanted to participate in everything. Sadly that ended up turning into a "perform on demand" requirement, which took away a lot of the enjoyment, and this is why I don't tend to sign up for challenges and fic-exchanges, etc.
yuletide is my exception. I save myself for Adrian Pasdar yuletide.
I've participated every year it's been run and I've never been disappointed. I've freaked out. I've flogged myself and said, "You dumbass, why did you say you'd write that?" And the answer is, because it's challenging and once I write something for yuletide I don't sign up to write it again the next year. I've written The Usual Suspects, Spider-Man, Grey's Anatomy (het, which still shocks the hell out of me), Ocean's Eleven and Entourage and loved every last bit of it, fear and all.
In my mind yuletide isn't about the story you receive -- although you know, that's damn awesome -- but about the story you write. Nothing makes me happier than hearing that my recipient liked what I created for them. Sometimes you don't hear this though. Sometimes you get insulted (bad form, people, really). Sometimes you hear nothing at all. But sometimes you hear that you created just what someone else was hoping for and that warm fuzzy feeling makes everything worth it. And okay, there's always that moment of panic after you sign up and after you get your recipient where you think, "The fuck?! I can't write this? Why do I do this shit to myself," but that turns out to be, IMO, one of the greatest motivating forces: proving to yourself that you can do it. And yes, I pointed out above that it's nice to hear your recipient liked it, but you know what's even better?
Knowing that you did. It's about knowing you finished something you thought was going to bend you over the desk. So, yes, in a manner of speaking yuletide is about giving to someone else, but it's also about giving back to yourself, and really, don't you deserve some love too? Exactly.
Go sign the fuck up. Now. And then go get some celebratory icons from liviapenn. You can thank me after Christmas.
*What, like you'd ever expect a Slytherin to be modest in the first place? This is where I place my order for my ever-lost Adrian Pasdar clone and a Nathan/Peter video for Charm Attack. Or possibly Flagpole Sitta. Or any song that slodwick and I soundtracked. Life is too short to not ask for what you want.