I'm not crazy, I'm just a little bit scared...
Another year has come where I haven't signed up for the Life on Mars Ficathon. I'm finding increasingly that I am not nearly close to reliable enough to sign up for ficathons and fests. I don't know how I used to do it. (I'm sure the unemployment helped.)
All of this might make me sad, if not for the fact I'll probably end up pinch-hitting. Last year I actually wrote one of my favourite ever stories as a pinch-hit, so this is not always a Bad Thing.
Seeing the prompts come in was really cool. I was happy that they were all prompts and not entire plot synopses. There are some excellent prompts that I'm not ashamed to say I sort of hope I get to pinch-hit. And there's nothing there that I think I'd find totally impossible, unlike last year, where there was one participant I could never have written for in a million years.
I also really like the additional comments people make. Sometimes they're simply extensions of what they like/dislike, but occasionally you get fantastic comments such as "bananas are good!" (The example uses a The Weekenders reference of "I like pointy things", so that kind of response is highly encouraged.)
Now, of course, the hard part comes. The match-up. It's always the most stressful part of the experience, not least because it never, ever works out perfectly. There are many times when I've shaken my fist at the sky and cursed unspecific deities. Hopefully, this time, it'll all work out okay.
All of this might make me sad, if not for the fact I'll probably end up pinch-hitting. Last year I actually wrote one of my favourite ever stories as a pinch-hit, so this is not always a Bad Thing.
Seeing the prompts come in was really cool. I was happy that they were all prompts and not entire plot synopses. There are some excellent prompts that I'm not ashamed to say I sort of hope I get to pinch-hit. And there's nothing there that I think I'd find totally impossible, unlike last year, where there was one participant I could never have written for in a million years.
I also really like the additional comments people make. Sometimes they're simply extensions of what they like/dislike, but occasionally you get fantastic comments such as "bananas are good!" (The example uses a The Weekenders reference of "I like pointy things", so that kind of response is highly encouraged.)
Now, of course, the hard part comes. The match-up. It's always the most stressful part of the experience, not least because it never, ever works out perfectly. There are many times when I've shaken my fist at the sky and cursed unspecific deities. Hopefully, this time, it'll all work out okay.