This is totally my favorite icon now

I seem to be failing utterly at writing this morning. So I'll waste time on the Internet instead!

sga_genficathon is now posting ('til the end of next week). :)

hl_flashfic is currently taking prompts for flashfic involving minor characters from the Highlander universe. Go! Prompt! Signups open next week.

thingswithwings has made an awesomely critical vid on MANPAIN. (And if you're going "... er, a vid on what?", she also has an explanation/commentary post which is well worth reading! ETA: Now with more links courtesy of rydra_wong!)

tielan has a really interesting discussion post on political affiliations of fandom characters. (Also on DW.)

I find it hilarious and kind of adorable that my cracky little Highlander wingfic, that I just tossed off because "this idea is too crazy not to write", has been kudos'd more than anything else I have on AO3. Oh fandom. But it's a good thing to keep in mind. I think one of the reasons why I'm not getting much written lately is because I'm so focused on writing well, and I keep getting bogged down in structural issues, or abandoning stories because I manage to convince myself that the idea is too silly or too id-stroking or not original enough. But there's no way to know ahead of time what another person is going to find engaging as a reader. I wrote so much more when I didn't worry about that (well, didn't worry about it as much, anyway) and just dumped whatever was in my brain onto the page. Some of it was good, and some of it wasn't, but at least it was there.

I've stalled a bit on Echo Bazaar, because I've realized it's going to take forever to build up enough of what I need to overcome the next challenge in my Ambition quest. So I'm just exploring side stories, increasing my various attributes, spending my money at an alarming rate and waiting for something interesting to happen.

This is totally my favorite icon now

I seem to be failing utterly at writing this morning. So I'll waste time on the Internet instead!

sga_genficathon is now posting ('til the end of next week). :)

hl_flashfic is currently taking prompts for flashfic involving minor characters from the Highlander universe. Go! Prompt! Signups open next week.

thingswithwings has made an awesomely critical vid on MANPAIN. (And if you're going "... er, a vid on what?", she also has an explanation/commentary post which is well worth reading! ETA: Now with more links courtesy of rydra_wong!)

tielan has a really interesting discussion post on political affiliations of fandom characters. (Also on DW.)

I find it hilarious and kind of adorable that my cracky little Highlander wingfic, that I just tossed off because "this idea is too crazy not to write", has been kudos'd more than anything else I have on AO3. Oh fandom. But it's a good thing to keep in mind. I think one of the reasons why I'm not getting much written lately is because I'm so focused on writing well, and I keep getting bogged down in structural issues, or abandoning stories because I manage to convince myself that the idea is too silly or too id-stroking or not original enough. But there's no way to know ahead of time what another person is going to find engaging as a reader. I wrote so much more when I didn't worry about that (well, didn't worry about it as much, anyway) and just dumped whatever was in my brain onto the page. Some of it was good, and some of it wasn't, but at least it was there.

I've stalled a bit on Echo Bazaar, because I've realized it's going to take forever to build up enough of what I need to overcome the next challenge in my Ambition quest. So I'm just exploring side stories, increasing my various attributes, spending my money at an alarming rate and waiting for something interesting to happen.

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/350911.html with comments.

Chickhaven

So today I built Chickhaven *g*, the latest incarnation in a series of attempts to construct a chick house that is big enough to accommodate the rapidly growing chicks, not too large to heat, and easy to clean. They outgrew this one in about a week and a half, and then I moved them into a set of taped-together cardboard boxes, sort of a chick condo (due to the boxes being too small to use just one). But the condo never really worked well; the "rooms" were chilly and dark and hard to get into, so the chicks tended to cluster around the heat lamp, and were starting to fight. On top of that, it was impossible to clean, because the chicks immediately destroyed their newspaper bedding and the bottom of the box, turning it into a marshy layer of paper mache impregnated with chick poop. I tried a sawdust floor, but they kept eating it. Back to the drawing board.

Chickhaven (also known as Chicktopia) is much better. It's made from some random sheets of cardboard that we had lying around from another project a couple of years ago (I think they were used to catch paint drips). One is a flattened box that was used to ship patio furniture, and I have no idea what the other one is, but in any case I was able to construct a really huge cardboard box from the remains. And then I lined it with old dog food bags (... I knew there was a reason we were keeping all of them) because they're made of a slick waterproof material. One end of the pen is a tray full of sand; the other end is covered with newspapers. The chicks ate a worrying amount of sand -- I'm sure some is good for them, but I was starting to worry a bit, though my husband pointed out that any animal that is thick enough to pack itself with sand until it dies is probably going to die one way or another despite all efforts to the contrary. *g* Which, well, point. In any case, they seem to have settled down, although I went out just now and discovered that one of them had somehow managed to wedge herself between the top of one of the dog food bags and the cardboard wall of Chickhaven, thus trapping herself. She seemed happy enough, all wedged down in there with no visible means of egress, but I "rescued" her anyway (to the tune of much indignant peeping).

( A couple pictures of Chickhaven and its residents )

Chickhaven

So today I built Chickhaven *g*, the latest incarnation in a series of attempts to construct a chick house that is big enough to accommodate the rapidly growing chicks, not too large to heat, and easy to clean. They outgrew this one in about a week and a half, and then I moved them into a set of taped-together cardboard boxes, sort of a chick condo (due to the boxes being too small to use just one). But the condo never really worked well; the "rooms" were chilly and dark and hard to get into, so the chicks tended to cluster around the heat lamp, and were starting to fight. On top of that, it was impossible to clean, because the chicks immediately destroyed their newspaper bedding and the bottom of the box, turning it into a marshy layer of paper mache impregnated with chick poop. I tried a sawdust floor, but they kept eating it. Back to the drawing board.

Chickhaven (also known as Chicktopia) is much better. It's made from some random sheets of cardboard that we had lying around from another project a couple of years ago (I think they were used to catch paint drips). One is a flattened box that was used to ship patio furniture, and I have no idea what the other one is, but in any case I was able to construct a really huge cardboard box from the remains. And then I lined it with old dog food bags (... I knew there was a reason we were keeping all of them) because they're made of a slick waterproof material. One end of the pen is a tray full of sand; the other end is covered with newspapers. The chicks ate a worrying amount of sand -- I'm sure some is good for them, but I was starting to worry a bit, though my husband pointed out that any animal that is thick enough to pack itself with sand until it dies is probably going to die one way or another despite all efforts to the contrary. *g* Which, well, point. In any case, they seem to have settled down, although I went out just now and discovered that one of them had somehow managed to wedge herself between the top of one of the dog food bags and the cardboard wall of Chickhaven, thus trapping herself. She seemed happy enough, all wedged down in there with no visible means of egress, but I "rescued" her anyway (to the tune of much indignant peeping).

( A couple pictures of Chickhaven and its residents )

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/351132.html with comments.