Look below.

I'll wait.

DID YOU SEE IT? I POSTED SOMETHING! SQUEEE!!!!

It's a banner day here in Vanilla-land. I will pat myself on the back and give myself a gold star and a cookie because I actually crawled out of my hole. Then I will crawl back INTO my hole and finish working on more stories to share!

Let's see, it's been, oh, months since I've posted. Since then I won some awards at the Spuffy Awards and Spark and Burn (SQUEEE!!!!!) and took a creative writing class so now I'm even more self-critical and crazy...I'm graduating college in less than 2 months (and having a heart attack about that fact) and...well, that's kind of it. I'm pretty boring, and ridiculous busy. But LOOK BELOW! I POSTED!

Thanks to all of you who have been gently nudging me to get off my ass and write some damn stories. It's wonderful to know that my writing is missed!

My goal is to post at least five new stories/chapters/whatnot before graduation...we'll see how that goes. If I don't succeed, I have the whole summer to be lazy and write until I enter The Real World. Gasp!

I've been terribly lax in keeping up with all of you and your writing, but I plan to devote a large chunk of time to doing just that this coming weekend! Hope you're all well, and you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Soon-ish.

Title: What Doesn’t Burn
Rating and Pairing: PG-13…none of the sex but much of the angst. Buffy POV piece with heavy heavy Spike/Buffy subject matter, undertones, whatever. But it’s not Spuffy ‘shippy lovely and happy. I wish.
Beta: dampersnspoons who rocks my socks and astounds me with her brilliance daily, and whenever she emails me I do a little dance 'cause it means she likes me, and dearest Shadowsbabe looked over it in its original form ages and ages ago. Thanks, lovelies!
Summary: What burns doesn’t matter, and what matters doesn’t burn. In the wreckage of her life, Buffy searches for her vampire. Post-“Chosen”.
Obnoxious AN: I FINISHED SOMETHING. I DID. LOOK AT IT. OMGZ. I said that I would post and then I didn't and I cried and failed and now I HAVE. I present to you what started as the beginning of a story that I worked on months ago and then abandoned, and it has languished on my hard drive ever since. It is now just a one-shot, and will stay in this short form unless the heavens above open up and the aliens return me my brain. Does not look likely.
Actually Related To The Story AN: The quote in the summary and the one directly before the fic are both from the play “Ashes” by the Dancing Shadows Theatre Company from London. I saw them perform in August of ’07 at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest and was enthralled. I do not own those quotes (or the characters, of course…sighs.)



( What Doesn't Burn )

*pokes head around corner*

Hi, guys?...Guys? Where are you going? It's me! I'm not a zombie, no. I'm alive!

Yes, I am indeed alive, though my long absence may have convinced you otherwise. My perpetual block of awfulness is still going strong, which sucks for numerous reasons, the most pressing of which is I have a short story due in my creative writing class next Tuesday and I am so made of fail. I did manage to pound out three pages today, the most I have written in MONTHS, and my roommate insists that they do not suck. So that is nice, if not totally comforting when the voice in my head is cackling (CACKLING), "She lies. They all lie. You are death. You are a black hole of trash. And also, you're fat."

I do plan to do some posting this weekend, though! No updates for my current stories, alas. First up will be DrabbleFest 2009, a two-part fiesta of, well, drabbles. Some Spuffy, some not, half AH and half canon. Are you excited? ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?

No? Okay. Moving on.

As I'm sure I've said before, I have about five-ish half-written fics floating around on my hard-drive. I never started posting them for a few reasons, such as the fear of having too many WIPs and never finishing them all. (And fear not, all of my current WIPs WILL be finished, one way or another. You have my word on that.) Anywhozzle, I've gone through some of those fics and found scenes that work pretty well as ficlets, one-shots, whatever. That way y'all can see some of the stuff I've been working on without fear of blue balls from lack of posting satisfaction. Indeed.

Maybe some feedback will knock down the cackling (CACKLING) in my brain, and spark some joy and hope and fluffy kittens.

Speaking of fluffy kittens, my roomie and I are catsitting for a friend of mine and have been for about a month (and will continue to do so until June-ish, maybe). He is adorable. He is a fluffy ball of joy and hope all on his own. He likes to wake me up by laying on my face and suffocating me. He also likes to chew my hair, sit on the edge of my bathtub while I shower, and eat my toes. I love him.

And I love YOU, yes, you. I hope that my love has transcended time and space and lack of posting, reading (lord almighty I have a lot to catch up on), commenting, and sanity. Lack of sanity. Now I fear I must go, because this post has wandered off into "what the hell is she rambling about" territory, and I have a mid-term tomorrow and must memorize hormones and biology and pregnancy and GAH.

FYI: no desire to get pregnant. Your bladder gets tiny. And mine is small enough as it is.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Five minutes before I had to leave for class today, I realized I couldn't find my school ID. Which I need for lots of things including free bus fare, printing at the library, and getting into the Jenny Lewis concert I'm going to tonight. So I had to go buy a new one, except I just found the one I thought I lost stuck to the back of my iPod. Goodbye, $30 dollars.

Then, on my way to class, I completely ate it on the sidewalk and scraped up my knee. Blood. Bruises. Thank God I didn't tear my favorite jeans.

And, when I got to class, some bitchhobag stepped on my foot and DIDN'T EVEN APOLOGIZE.

And I have a test in my mythology class on Friday that promises to be quite difficult.

Taylor: 0. Universe: 4.

Fail.

So...that happy meme thing kinda died for me, didn't? Perhaps not because I wasn't happy, but because I was so happy that I forgot to blog about my happiness...curious. Because quite seriously, my holidays rocked. But alas, I will abandon said happy meme in the interest of better pursuits.

And I need your help.

So...clearly, if you haven't noticed, my creative junk or whatever you want to call it has sort of died a tragic sort of death in the last few months. And I no likey. I need my brain revved up or some heroin or some chocolate (which I cannot have for a week because I'm "eating clean" grumblegrumble) to kick my ass into gear. And I haven't posted any non-ficcy things because in the strange place that is my brain I feel like a fraud of a sham of a...Frank Abagnale Jr. if I'm not working on fics. So I disappear. Yes. FYI I am taking a creative writing class at uni and this, my friends, is free-writing of the highest order also known as what the fuck? I am also taking a psych of sex class and we watch porn. Oh yes.

Anywho.

So...the help I am asking for. Prompts, please? A few dear souls on my f-list have done this and it seemed to work out nicely for them. I just need a swift kick in the tush if you know what I'm saying and I think you do. Perhaps these little ideas of yours will inspire just a drabble, or a ficlet, or a glorious saga of epic proportions (doubtful), but I need assistance, I beg of you.

Within the Buffy fandom I'll pretty much try any pairing for this little experiment, so let your brains go as wild and crazy as you like and gimme a prompt. And though this is a fandom I haven't actually written in before, if anyone has some Veronica Mars ideas you can send them my way as well.

Merci. And apologies for my lack of sense-making.

Something that made me happy today: It's Christmas Eve, so of course, I was in a wonderful mood most of the day. I think this might be my favorite day of the year, the anticipation is great. But the most specific moment I can remember that filled me with joy was that my sister and I totally dominated in an energetic game of Scene It, the second movie edition. We kicked ass, and I just love to win.

I hope all of you who celebrate Christmas have a wonderful holiday, and for those who don't, I send you love and joy and happy vibes!

Alas, my vacation to Hawaii was not as sun-filled as I'd hoped. In fact, it rained. The whole time. Oh well, I still enjoyed myself, and spent quality card-playing time with my parents and that crazy sister of mine. I fell in love with our waiter one night, who is both a lifeguard AND a fireman and had very nice man shoulders. Sigh. On the whole, fun was had, and now I AM BACK. Without any obligations for a good two weeks! Which means, if all goes according to plan and my creative juices start a flowin', I'll be posting new chapters soon.

In other news, while I was gone I received emails letting me know three of my stories have been nominated at the Spuffy Awards! Power Play was nominated for Best Short Story, Best Fantasy 'We Missed The Bed, Again', and Best Fantasy Romance. Summer Skin was nominated for Best Fantasy Angst, Best Fantasy 'We Missed The Bed, Again', and Best Fantasy Romance. Lost was nominated for Best Spike Characterization and Best General Angst. Woohoo! If you were the kind soul who sent in those nominations, let me know so I can thank you properly with cyber kisses.

Nominations are closed and voting is now open, and there's some seriously amazing stories nominated! Go. Read. Enjoy. Vote!

So everyone is doing that happy happy joy joy meme, and I feel I should participate, as generally I'm Miss Cranky Pants, Princess of Complainingville. So...okay.

Day One: I'm happy today because of two things. One, I FINALLY shipped off a box that I've been needing to send for ages (yes, Kristi, it's on its way!) and two, it's my mummy's birthday. My sister and I are taking her to dinner then she'll open gifts, and we bought her a very nice Coach purse I hope she likes. I love birthdays, even if they aren't mine.

I made it through my finals, which is quite a celebration-worthy event. Woohoo! I already got one grade back and did far far better than I expected or even thought was possible, so...three cheers for me.

I'm frantically packing right now because I'm completely incapable of doing things in advance, then tomorrow morning I'm off to Hawaii for a glorious vacation with my parents and sister. Yay, beaches and sunshine! When I get back on the mainland I'm hoping for a resurgence of creative whatever so I can get some new stuff to you all!

Happy thoughts and various good vibes and lots of hugs to anyone who wants or needs them.

Title: Lost
Pairing and Rating: Spike/Buffy and NC-17
Beta: clawofcat, xtanitx, Shadowsbabe
Summary: She’s naked on my floor, cross-legged, hair mussed around her face, skin flushed a pretty pink, a bit like rose petals. Her nipples are still hard and dark in the candlelight, cunt still wet with our come. The scent of our sex hangs in the air.
AN: This is mean to fit directly into season six canon, sometime before "Dead Things". Many thanks to the numerous pairs of eyes that looked over this for me. Any errors or weird things left are my own, as I am very stubborn sometimes. It was quite a challenge for myself and I think I did okay! Feedback as always would be greatly appreciated.

( Lost )

So, I should be working on my take-home final, which is two essay questions. Neither of which I understand. Because I didn’t go to class. BUT HEY! WHATEVER! Instead, I bring you this.

A lot of people have shared their thoughts on Twilight, both in book and film form, and I’ve kept pretty mum on the subject because everyone has said it better. But I saw the movie over the holiday weekend and I’m afraid I can’t keep my mouth shut any longer. Not because I hated it, but because…I liked it. A LOT. Believe me, no one is more shocked than I am.

( Opinions here. )