drive by update

In case anyone is wondering why I haven't updated in a while, here's a quick summary of our activities.

Our Irish Dance club had an important open air gig last Friday, with guest dancer Liam Caputo. Of course it rained cats and dogs, but the Keltics, a great folk band, made room on the music stage, so the dance performance could take place on a dry stage. In short: the whole evening rocked, in spite of the sucky German summer.

Sunday the family went to dance practice, yesterday too. My one-two-threes are getting better. Yes!

I am working on my sooper sekrit project again: the play I'm writing for our Dance club. I made lots of progress, and I'm feeling creative.

I also tinkered with my slashfest fic, which I'm writing for stakebait. I'm already late, and it will get a little later, but I'm working on it. Which reminds me: I need a beta for that fic: it's Giles/Angel, post-Gift. Someone who can also point out emotional inconsistencies. The fic is about Giles and Angel trying to deal with a) Buffy's death and b) the torture Angelus inflicted on Giles in S2.

Right, gotta run. Have to cook.

A kingdom for a cleaner!

As usual, I'm the last to find out about the latest kerfuffle. I always loved CJ's writing, and I'm convinced that she has more than enough talent to make it as a professional writer. I also think that her request for money was a big mistake. Several writers and archivists discreetly display their pay pal buttons, heck, even I have one, but making a broad appeal to one's readers for money opens a huge can of worms and CJ should have known that.

I can see that writing fanfic can turn into something that closely resembles work. You put in many hours, and carry the characters around in your head even when you're not writing. There comes a point where you ask yourself if feedback is payment enough for all the work you've put in. Especially when money's tight and writing seems to be the only marketable skill you have. The trouble is: the market is harder to break into than Fort Knox. So why not ask your readers to pay for the pleasure your stories are giving them? Some of them pay good money for stuff like the Anita Blake novels or for vastly inferior official tie-in novels. Why shouldn't they pay for fanfic? If they could buy your book at the book store, they might. Yeah, I can understand CJ. But the problem is that what she's asking is illegal.

a) Thou Shalt Not Make Money Writing Fanfic (because we do not want to incur the wrath of the Powers That Hold the Copyright)
b) Thou Shalt Not Use LJ to Advertise
c) FANFIC comes from the word FAN. Sorry, but if you're not a fan and doing it for the love of it, then you should turn pro and try to make it 'out there' in the market. Good luck.
d) Why should fandom support one author in her quest to turn pro when zillions... okay, hundreds of able fanfic authors who'd also like to turn pro, write for free? They too have to work, clean the house, run their families, make their spouse happy, etc (in fact, I wouldn't mind a sabbatical year either).

Last year, when I was desperately trying to find the money to go to Writercon in Vegas, several people kindly donated money, making it possible. I was and am incredibly grateful to these wonderful people and to the organizers who set up scholarships, and not a moment passed while I was in Vegas that I wasn't aware of my good fortune. And I tried to give back as much as possible by sitting on panels etc. But it would never have occurred to me to ask my entire readership for what amounts to a one-year grant.

Like I said, CJ is very talented. She should sit down and write original fiction. And then, when she's got a manuscript done, she should submit. Again, and again. While writing the next novel. Until she's lucky. I know that, because that's what I should do too. shatten once said: "Writers write." He's right. If fandom and fanfic keep her from writing than she has to cut those ties and concentrate on her career. That's just how it is. LJ and fandom are time consuming.

And as for breaking into Fort Knox: Go read shatten's post on manuscript rejection.