Tikatu's Travels Through Time

Been working on coding things for my personal fiction site. I’ve finished and posted Mosaic – though that will be updated when the muse strikes – and I’m working on The White Winds. There’s still lots to do, but I’m almost halfway through the chapter formatting. I’ve managed to get it down to a routine. Open the .txt files, put in the chapter coding snippet for each chapter. Scroll down and add the back and forward buttons snippet. Tweak them to the proper chapter numbers. Remove the “next time, next chapter” stuff and paste it in a .txt file. Scroll up; add new title and cut the teasers and disclaimer. Then save as a .shtml file. Leave them all open, find a scene divider and change it with the short horizontal line snippet. Copy that, and do a global replace on all open files. Do a preview skim to make sure things look right, then save and close all. Really, I just did about 15 chapters and it only took an hour or so.

Seriously, the biggest time eater is finding images for the splash pages and writing the foreword. On Mosaic, it took me beyond forever to figure out which screencaps to use (and I found I’d duplicated some from earlier stories), and then the free photos that spoke to the drabbles. For The White Winds, I’ve asked my daughter to update a piece of cast art that she’d done for me earlier. Her artwork has progressed soooo very far that she was embarrassed by the old stuff. Since I’m working so quickly on coding this, I should poke her about that piece.

I’m also trying to decide if I should add my two non-Thunderbirds one-shots to the One Shots book. I’ve done one for The Incredibles, and one for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. My fanfiction is so heavily Thunderbirds-oriented, but these deserve a home, too. (They are posted on ff.net and on FanNation.) Tell me what you think about that.

In other writing news, I’ve pulled most of my work from Lunaescence Archives. I have several reasons for this. Things that were broken aren’t being fixed is one of them (thinking of forum registration here), but an increasing dissatisfaction with the way the archive is being run, and the ever-stronger skew toward anime and manga (and reader-insert) stories are probably stronger reasons. I’m sad about this, really; so many archives tend to go downhill once their owners are no longer involved in running and upgrading them. And now this has happened (IMHO) to Luna. (Yes, this puts me in mind of Thunderbirds Central, and parts of IR:TNP that need updating, too.)

As far as my personal “cyberstalker” (Lillehafrue’s term) is concerned, I haven’t heard from her again. Hopefully, I never will.

Back to the HTML editor, Batman!

(I drafted this entry before the events of September 8. See the relevant post for more details on that. Didn't want people connecting the two... which shows my state of mind since, I think.)

"That's the main thing I've found with fan-created sites; as real life closes in, the site suffers because, let's face it, real life trumps fan-stuff every time." Me, August 23, 2008.

I wrote this when I recounted the revival of an archive that I'd thought had been dead/dying, but that has been resurrected in a new form. My question was - and still is - will the owner's commitment to his archive endure? I hope so, but knowing his past history, I'm skeptical.

However, during the past couple of weeks, I've come to realize something else that affects fan-created sites of all stripes: the "bright, shiny, new". This happens when a new, cool show/movie/book/what-have-you catches someone's attention and they basically drop the fandom(s) they're currently involved in like a lead weight to reach after the new thing. This isn't always a bad thing; people do mature in fandom and moving out of a fandom isn't always precipitated by a new one coming along. Sometimes it's not a dropping of one fandom, but an adding of another, with a fan giving both equal attention. But, in my own experience, it's often the first case that leaves archives, websites or messageboards abandoned by their owners - unless they turn the sites/boards over to someone who is responsible and enthusiastic about carrying it on.

Why is this particular observation coming to me now? Because I think I've got the "bright, shiny, new" myself. Not for another fandom. But more for other websites, other opportunities on sites where concentrated participation is de rigeur. Sites where, if you want to be read, reviewed, whatever, you must reciprocate - and reciprocate a lot. Sites that require focused daily attention.

Now, this isn't always a bad thing, either. For any one site to have a lively, panfandom atmosphere is rare, I think, and can be an interesting place. FanLib was like this; a lot of writers bravely read outside their fandoms, outside their comfort zones, and not only read but reviewed and gave good constructive criticism. I enjoyed that immensely, both from the giving and the receiving ends.

It's just that, for me to participate to the level that was expected, I found I had less and less time to devote to those fandom-specific ventures that I myself have started, or that have been entrusted to me by others. My own sites, in particular my MSN Groups, have languished, with only the occasional news item and the monthly caption contests keeping the sites from looking like they've been abandoned. My C2 community has been comatose for the past couple of years; I keep wanting to revive it, but never seem to have the time. I have seen so many things happen to other sites - their owners don't want to destroy them, but they don't have the time or inclination to keep up with them, or add to them. It makes me sad and irritated when the only posts I find on an otherwise interesting site are from "lonely singles" spammers that a somewhat interested group owner could remove with a couple of clicks.

And it's not just sites, it's fanworks, too. How many WIPs have fallen by the wayside due to this? I've been moving like molasses on my own three, and I get angry at myself about it. I'm determined not to abandon them, but it gets harder and harder to make the time to write each day. There are other storylines clamoring for my attention, not just in fanfiction, but in my role play as well. The role play comes first, the WIP second. When will the new ideas get their time if I'm determined to finish what I've begun before I start something new? (Not to mention that NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!)

So, which way do I go? Do I reach out to the newer sites, give them my time and energy? Do I go back and concentrate my efforts on my older sites? Do I shrink my fannish circle or do I expand it?

It's time to reprioritize and decide what is most important to the fan in me.

The Girl got her beginner's permit today. She needed it by tomorrow for Driver's Ed, so when she got home from school, we boogied on up to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles so she could take the "Knowledge Test". I'd already printed out the necessary forms and had filled in (with typing where possible) the information. Before we left, we double-checked all the identification she had to bring with her: Social Security card, birth certificate, and proof of residency (in this case, her school ID card).

She had 22 minutes to take the test; she did it in 16. Missed 5 questions, which was good enough to pass. So now she has another picture ID (which looks pretty good) in her wallet. It's good for a year.

And, oddly enough, everybody at the DMV pronounced her name properly. The lady at the counter that we dealt with did mention she had to be careful to get the "unusual spellings" right, but that was all. (Her name was Ianthe.)

In other spheres, the RP is going great guns for a change. People are excited about it again, and we've even got a new player. We zipped through five days or so of game in the corresponding amount of real time, and are now working on the long-awaited Halloween party. Rain has done some art for various people (including a wonderful scene of my character dancing with her SO!) and I think is working on more. She also put up a really heartwrenching series of posts with her character visiting his mother's grave. Wonderful stuff!

The White Winds is calling me, and I worked on Overtures a little as well. Need to keep it up and get these stories finished!

We're supposed to have a brainstorming session this weekend for IR:TNP.

I know Lille and Hobbeth will see this, and part of me wants to leave it as private. But it's how I feel, and they should know. So here it is, gals, how I feel about the RP. I want to go on, but not by myself.

It has gotten downright cold here! Freeze warnings for last night and tonight. Gotta get the hubby to put down all the storm windows; the boys' room is freezing and we don't need a higher gas bill than the one we're going to get next cycle! I am so tempted to put some money into a few electric heaters; electricity is cheaper than gas right now and if last winter's bill is like this winter's bill, we'd probably save in the long run. I wish we had better insulation, but the people who built this old house were made of sturdier stuff than we are, apparently.

I feel the compelling need to write, but I have so many ideas in my head that I don't know which fic or which RP to start with! At least in IR:TNP, there are a couple of people with posts ready; I've given a nudge to the one who's supposed to start the ball rolling there. At CIR, I suppose it's my turn to post but trying to put something coherent together is eluding me. I posted last at Thunderfan, and a good one it was, too. One of my best lately at that site, in fact. I've got an idea for The Magician, but there are small details to work out there as well. Daria's Thunderbirds RPG is floudering again, but this time I feel no compulsion to jump in and save it.

I've got a bit of Turnabout chapter 15 done, but am still puzzling over how this bit of plot should go. And Washed Up (which I believe I will rename to Serendipity, since someone else on ff.net has a fic entitled, Wash Up) is buzzing around in my brain as well; problem is that it's later chapters that keep flying around. I suppose I should write them down so that I lose nothing. Then there's the novel, which I really feel bad about. But part of me just doesn't want to actually put fingers to keyboard! (Ironic, I know, seeing as that's just what I'm doing now.)

I guess that it's a matter of picking one and sitting down and writing it until I reach the chapter's end. And Turnabout is probably the one that needs my attention the most. So I guess I'll work on that first. Hopefully I can focus in on it and get this next chapter done.

... but I've got one of my IR:TNP authors working on her next post and she wants my input.

Sigh.

Ran around like a chicken with my head cut off this afternoon, shopping for groceries and such. The kids had the day off for teacher's work day. Nice not to have to get up and make lunches but Hubby missed his bus and I had to get up and take him to work. They'll have next Tuesday off for voting, too.

Worked a bit on Chapter 14 of Turnabout over the weekend, and fleshed out some of my novel as well. Noticed today that someone put up a TB fic on fanfiction.net called WashUp. I guess maybe the "babe washing up on Tracy Island" fics have either been pulled or been ignored by the newer writers. I hope she didn't get any ideas from the bits I posted on Live Journal. Though I will admit that the plot has been done to death, I planned a twist on the traditional scenario. I should finish that fic, I really should.

funky_cheese sent me a picture to post on IR:TNP; the one of my character's daughter. So cute! I can hardly wait to see what she makes of my character's sons. Took a quiz that rockchick86  posted on "What Kind of Lunatic Are You?" I was "normal"! Yeah, right. Just ask my kids if I am.....

Well, the author has left the chat, and so has our companion in crime, so I'm going to put my husband's uniforms in the dryer and go to bed!!! Yeah!

Never thought I'd see the day that I'd welcome sleep so much.

Sigh.