tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001write like you need it to surviveWriting every second I'm alive.Dira Sudis2013-09-15T04:59:55Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:672270Oh, right, posting!2013-09-15T04:59:55Z2013-09-15T04:59:55Zpublic8Uh... I've been playing a lot of Candy Crush today. Chocolate is evil!<br /><br />Also, third straight day of writing. \o/ A different story every day, but whatever, details.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=672270" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:671420Tuesday = good things post2013-09-11T02:44:28Z2013-09-11T02:53:57Zpublic41. I went and ran by the Lake this morning--my new stretch of lakeshore, adjacent to my new part of the city. It's hillier than my old Lake route, but also intermittently shady, which was lovely today. <br /><br />2. Richard Armitage Story Time! I listened to a good hour of Richard Armitage reading (sadly, only an abridged edition of) Georgette Heyer's <em>Sylvester</em>. Mmmmmm Richard Armitage in my ears. ♥<br /><br />3. Quality time with <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://renenet.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://renenet.dreamwidth.org/'><b>renenet</b></a></span>! :D <br /><br />4. I cracked and started reading <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/KouriArashi/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/KouriArashi/'><b>KouriArashi</b></a></span>'s ongoing Derek/Stiles mates WIP, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/877251">Divided We Stand</a>. There's already 20 chapters and over 105,000 words, and although it's a super slow build it has definitely already gone some satisfying places in the part I've read, so I am not (yet) regretting the WIP-ness. Although I also haven't gotten to the end of Chapter 20 yet, so that could change.<br /><br />5. <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/aethel/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/aethel/'><b>aethel</b></a></span> made <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/962498">podfic of my Derek/Stiles story "Dream a Little Bigger (Darling)"</a>! Candy-sweet fluff for your ears. <strong>ETA:</strong> I definitely recommend the with-music version. Because I totally cracked up at the music. ♥<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=671420" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:671083Back to my roots2013-09-10T03:58:34Z2013-09-10T03:58:34Zpublic1Tonight was the monthly meeting of my local SF book club. I hadn't actually read the book (Nalo Hopkinson's <em>Midnight Robber</em>, which was generally liked by the group, though I gather the dialect it's written in was a challenge and the subject matter included child abuse and incest--a bit of a Donkeyskin/Deerskin story, structurally, I think) but I went anyway, because I don't like missing out on my once-a-month chance to hang out with my book group peeps.<br /><br />It struck me tonight--maybe partly because I was effectively lurking, except when I couldn't restrain a remark and/or got put on the spot by a direct question tangential to the actual book--how much this was like my foundational fannish experience: the Lois McMaster Bujold Mailing List, c.1996. I'd already been a fan of LMB's books for a few years by then--I read <em>The Vor Game</em> for the first time when I was twelve, and the rest as I could find them, in whatever order I laid hands on them--but we got internet in the fall of 1995, just before I turned 14. I spent a lot of time in X-Files AOL chat rooms that fall and winter, but I also found my way to the List, which soon became my home and family in a way that is hard to even describe, let alone really make understood to people who weren't on the List then. It was full of all these people who loved the books I loved and had read way more books than I had--who were smarter, more widely educated (whether in schools or through their own experiences), and more articulate than I could yet dream of being, and they never seemed impatient with me despite my overwhelming fifteen-year-old-ness. They were kind; they taught me to expect good things of fans, fandom, and the internet, and to try to be a good thing in turn. I grew up on the List.<br /><br />And eventually, like all fannish communities, it went a bit sideways, and then I discovered slash fandom: another home, another family. I still go to SF cons regularly, and have gotten to feel very much at home (and surrounded by literal as well as figurative--biological as well as affinal--family) there. But two years ago, determined to have some sort of social life in the city where I live, I started going to the SF book group and, readers, I love my book group.<br /><br />There's just something wonderful about sitting crowded around a table with a dozen people, listening to them hash out their reactions to a book I haven't read a single page of, because I want to share it with them even if I didn't actually read it. It's this beautiful microcosm of SF fandom--we manage to represent most of the major archetypes, I think--and it's my people. My book group. ♥<br /><br />Also, when we went around at the end of the night and everyone reported what they'd been reading, the new guy said "the Vorkosigan books" and I actually straight up clapped my hands in delight. One of these years I am going to get the group to read a Bujold book and then I will die of happiness and/or shiv somebody for not loving it enough.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=671083" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:670749Oops!2013-09-08T12:39:15Z2013-09-08T12:39:15Zpublic9And then I missed a couple of posting challenge days due to moving--hey, remember when you would NOTICE if someone didn't post for two days and you might get kind of worried about them if you didn't know why they were gone? Those were the days.<br /><br />So now I am all moved to my new place--or at least, I have furniture and books and working wifi and a <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://iulia.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://iulia.dreamwidth.org/'><b>iulia</b></a></span> here, so it is officially Home. I have to go back to the old place today and do all that "um, right, I'll get that later stuff," like cleaning and picking up all the rugs and emptying the fridge and so on. The movers were so quietly efficient that Iulia and I were taken somewhat by surprise when they were like "Okay, that's everything, let's go," so I may have left a few things behind that I didn't mean to, like... tools to reassemble the kitchen table properly once it was in my new kitchen. DETAILS.<br /><br />New Roommate N absented herself almost immediately after we and the movers got there, though she turned up again in the evening and ate pizza with us, politely half-watching the football game that Iulia and I were VERY EXCITED about (Michigan vs. Notre Dame!) so, uh, first roommate impressions: probably a little mixed. But she doesn't seem to mind about the wall o' books I put in the spare room and her tiny row of DVDs fits neatly in the leftover space on my DVD shelf, so. So far so good.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=670749" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:668277So this posting-every-day thing happens EVERY DAY? What is that about?2013-08-29T02:51:40Z2013-08-29T12:11:39Zpublic8Today is one of the days I get off work comparatively early, and this morning I was looking forward to this stretch of hours and marveling at all that free time, and then I thought, quite virtuously, that I would definitely take out the trash and do some productive moving-preparation and packing things.<br /><br />Yeah, so then there was an 85,000-word Teen Wolf porn stars AU (<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/935102">Dating Backwards</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/RemainNameless/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/RemainNameless/'><b>RemainNameless</b></a></span>, A+ would ride this ride again) which in turn somehow tipped me over into downloading Candy Crush, so ... yeah, not so much with doing useful things around the place.<br /><br />Other things:<br /><br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://kass.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://kass.dreamwidth.org/'><b>kass</b></a></span> posted her first Welcome to Night Vale fic! And I helped! <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/945580">Stardate</a>, Cecil/Carlos, for the <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/collections/idylls">Idyll Challenge</a>! ♥<br /><br /><br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://tw-holidays.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='http://tw-holidays.livejournal.com/'><b>tw_holidays</b></a></span> is coming back! Signups start September 1, and we're almost entirely on the AO3 this year! <br /><br /><img src="http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/brilligspoons/7421068/99589/99589_600.png"><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=668277" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:667977Good things about today.2013-08-28T02:57:57Z2013-09-11T02:45:34Zpublic5Because I need to remember to focus on them, or at least not to focus on the other. In no particular order:<br /><br />1. The washing machine (which was not working last night, as I discovered after I poured in the detergent) got fixed while I was at work! My clothes are in the dryer now and soon I will have my favorite work outfit all ready for wearing tomorrow.<br /><br />2. A coworker gave me a ride to and from work, so I didn't have to wait for the bus in the godawful heat or play air-conditioning roulette once I got one. Plus, spotted awesome purple lightning crossing the sky on the way home!<br /><br />3. Celery. Mmmm, celery.<br /><br />4. Did not spend most of the day anxiously refreshing Facebook for information about my teenaged cousin, who got hit by a car Sunday night and spend most of yesterday in surgery. Word is that she had a good night last night. She's at a really excellent hospital. Have now mostly managed to stop feeling weird and bad for being unable to promise family members I'll pray for her.<br /><br />5. Just betaed fic for someone I am very glad to be sharing another fandom with! ♥<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=667977" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:667716dira @ 2013-08-26T07:20:002013-08-26T12:43:05Z2013-08-26T12:43:05Zpublic27More WIP Amnesty! Kidfic this time--werewolf eye color, in particular, got jossed here. But mostly, uh, in the survival-of-the-fittest competition that is my brain, hookerfic beat out kidfic for The Next Huge Teen Wolf Epic I Will Spend A Year Writing, so this one's never getting finished.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://dira.dreamwidth.org/667716.html#cutid1">November in July, set pre-S3, jossed and permanently incomplete, 9000 words.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=667716" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:667495Welcome to Night Vale recs!2013-08-26T01:23:55Z2013-08-26T01:23:55Zpublic11Huh. Does anybody make WTNV icons? Are there comms? I only really interact with Night Vale via tumblr and the AO3.<br /><br />ANYWAY.<br /><br />Welcome to Night Vale! It is great! It has Cecil/Carlos in canon and also in fanworks! There is TONS OF FANART. <a href="http://dsudis.tumblr.com/tagged/welcome+to+night+vale">I reblog a lot of it on Tumblr</a>.<br /><br />And there is fic!<br /><br />First, fic that isn't (primarily) Cecil/Carlos:<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/911481">The Untimely Disappearance of the Voice of Night Vale</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/Margo_Kim/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/Margo_Kim/'><b>Margo_Kim</b></a></span> - Cecil has disappeared, and Head Intern Jessica (who did not survive to be Head Intern by drawing attention to herself or investigating anything ever) has to step up to the plate.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/922119">Paper or Plastic</a> by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostsoldier/pseuds/patho">patho</a> - Steve Carlsberg and the <strike>feral dogs</strike> plastic bags.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/914801">How I Survived My Summer Vacation, By Tamika Flynn, Age 12 3/4</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/'><b>thingswithwings</b></a></span> - READ THIS ONE OMG. The summer reading program! The librarians! Tamika Flynn, reigning badass! ♥<br /><br /><br />Aaaand some Cecil/Carlos:<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/925965">Poetry</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/'><b>entanglednow</b></a></span> - Cecil offers a composition of his own for Poetry Week. It is very, very Cecil.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/916507">I Want You to Feel Familiar</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/scioscribe/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/scioscribe/'><b>scioscribe</b></a></span> - Keep a flashlight and a photo album handy in case of power outages.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/904885">Second Date</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/dee/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/dee/'><b>dee</b></a></span> - Cecil doesn't mind, but he does think Carlos is being awfully forward for a second date....<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/52341">Tentacles in Fortunate Places</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/novembersmith/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/novembersmith/'><b>novembersmith</b></a></span> - <em>Aw yes</em>.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/908963">you smiled (and then the spell was cast)</a> by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/AugustaByron/profile'><img src='https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico' alt='[archiveofourown.org profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/AugustaByron/'><b>AugustaByron</b></a></span> - kidfic Night Vale style. So, kind of horrifying but also lovely.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=667495" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:667163Fic Challenge and mini WIP amnesty!2013-08-25T02:50:30Z2013-08-25T02:50:30Zpublic18Firstly, the <a href="http://arduinna.dreamwidth.org/74129.html">Idyll Challenge</a>! Because we need more fic about our favorite characters in their happy places. <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://dorinda.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://dorinda.dreamwidth.org/'><b>dorinda</b></a></span> describes idyll fic as stories "in which the characters are stuck in a peaceful, comfortable, well-stocked place, usually with some kind of swimming available".<br /><br />There's already an AO3 collection set up, waiting for your idyll fic! Check it out! :D <br /><br />And, uh, speaking of happy places--it had occurred to me a while ago that I'd like to write amnesia fic for Derek Hale because not being aware of every horrible decision he'd ever made in his life would actually, in a sad way, <em>be</em> his happy place. I took a crack at writing some, inspired in large part (particularly the title) by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://resonant.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://resonant.dreamwidth.org/'><b>resonant</b></a></span>'s <a href="http://resonant.dreamwidth.org/248136.html">post about an acquaintance's experience of Total Global Amnesia</a>.<br /><br />But I got distracted from the story, as I am prone to do, and wasn't writing very quickly, and then Season 3A of Teen Wolf overtook me and jossed the story in some really unexpectedly fundamental ways. I'd mostly given it up in favor of other stories by then anyway--had actually already started an entirely different amnesia story for <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png' alt='[community profile] ' width='16' height='16' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/'><b>hc_bingo</b></a></span> before the worst of the jossing happened--so this one definitely isn't ever getting finished. I'm still fond of the story, though, so I thought I'd do a mini WIP amnesty and share the part I wrote. It was going to a Derek/Stiles place eventually, but it never quite got there.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://dira.dreamwidth.org/667163.html#cutid1">Teen Wolf WIP Amnesty: The Boy in the Bubble, jossed and permanently incomplete, 7000 words.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=667163" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:667127I am a runner.2013-08-23T13:31:14Z2013-08-23T13:32:25Zpublic27I am a runner. <br /><br />I feel confident in claiming this identity not because I have the hard-earned t-shirts in my bottom drawer - one from a two-mile fun run, one from a 5K - nor because I have my eye on my next 5K (It's called Run With Wolfes, you guys), nor because I own <em>actualfax running shoes</em> and love them quite irrationally. I'm sure I can call myself a runner because I got out of bed on the Sunday of <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://vividcon.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png' alt='[community profile] ' width='16' height='16' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://vividcon.dreamwidth.org/'><b>vividcon</b></a></span>, got out of bed and ate a Clif bar and then went down to the fitness center and ran for fifty-two minutes on a treadmill.<br /><br /><em>On VividCon Sunday, you guys.</em><br /><br />I've been noticing, lately, that I don't resist running--that I in fact resist having my running schedule disrupted. In July, while off in the wilds of West Michigan for a few days with my family, I got up and went out and ran on the dirt roads around the camp. Twice! I developed a standard route!<br /><br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://resonant.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://resonant.dreamwidth.org/'><b>resonant</b></a></span>'s <a href="http://resonant.dreamwidth.org/254531.html">post about yoga</a> made me think of this, partly because it echoes a lot of the ways I feel about running--mostly the wish that someone would have told me a lot sooner that I could do this, if I just went slowly and was patient with the process of getting stronger. <br /><br />Part of it is different, though. I am a runner, but I'm still not at all sure that I actually <em>like running</em>. It's sort of, you know, boring. And repetitive. And physically unpleasant. I spent most of today's run staring at my watch, telling myself I could drop to a walk in just another minute if I really had to. I occasionally have moments of feeling like I've hit my stride, like everything has fallen into place and running is, for a stretch, easy. But I've rarely, if ever, experienced a runner's high. It's not really <em>fun</em>, although I keep hoping that it someday will be, when I'm stronger and faster and better.<br /><br />But I'm a runner anyway: because neither of my parents made it to their sixty-second birthday without coronary bypass surgery; because it's good to do just one thing for an hour three times a week; because I have a perverse love for those post-run muscle twitches in my quads, like a car pinging as it cools; because I get to listen to podcasts and audio books. Because I want to keep getting better at it. Because I can.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=667127" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:666793Truly retro: posting to Dreamwidth about BOOKS.2013-08-23T03:07:17Z2013-08-23T03:07:17Zpublic12Or, a book, anyway.<br /><br />I just recently finished reading Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling's <strong>The Cuckoo's Calling</strong>, which I requested from the library as soon as I heard about her identity being revealed, and so I managed to be about #38 of 298 on the hold list by the time I got to work that Monday. I figured I should read it in much the same way I figured I should read <em>The Casual Vacancy</em>, and <em>Gone Girl</em>, and <em>Fifty Shades</em>, because it was about to be in huge demand at the library and I should know about it. Several of my coworkers did the same, though at least one was put off actually reading it by an NPR review that said the only surprise was the author's identity.<br /><br />For me, I like my cozy mysteries (I'm currently reading my way through Margaret Frazer's Dame Frevisse series, about a 15th century nun who fights crime). Typical mysteries, like police procedural dramas, are mostly about making order of a chaotic situation, and they do so in a comfortingly reliable way. So I was all for a totally unsurprising mystery novel.<br /><br />So what surprised me, actually, was how much I liked the book and how much I cared about the characters (and then I said to myself, self, this is JK Rowling, she does actually know what she's doing in that particular department, whatever her other failings). In particular, I loved the utterly unromantic relationship between PI Cormoran Strike and his increasingly-less-temporary secretary, Robin. <br /><br />I MEAN, HER NAME IS ROBIN. SHE IS HIS ROBIN. THERE YOU GO.<br /><br />The relationship actually wound up reminding me a lot of <strong>Elementary</strong>'s Sherlock and Joan--I mean, okay, no one else is Joan Watson, it's nowhere near that perfect, but the professional detective being actively encouraging to his amateur protege just made me really, really happy. And I really hope that getting outed doesn't stop JKR from writing more books in this series, because I want more Cormoran and Robin adventures!<br /><br />Possibly I will need to nominate this for Yuletide.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=666793" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-13:55001:666502All the cool kids are doing it2013-08-22T01:05:03Z2013-08-22T01:05:03Zpublic8So there's this trend going around about posting every day for thirty days on Ye Olde Journaling Platforms and I figure, why not. <br /><br />I mean, okay, so I'm moving in... oh god... two and a half weeks, so if I actually manage to post every day you may all get to observe my steady progress toward total stress-meltdown, but that will be a fun experience for all of us, right? <br /><br />I've been really tired all day for some reason--nearly fell asleep between phone calls at work this afternoon--so I don't have a lot of brain to apply to tonight's post, but still. I'm here! On Dreamwidth and LJ! Talking to people!<br /><br />And you know what else is still on LJ (but less so than last year!)? <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://tw-holidays.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='http://tw-holidays.livejournal.com/'><b>tw_holidays</b></a></span>! <br /><br />We're bringing back the TW Holidays for 2013, nearly as new and improved as the Argent Code: we'll be running the challenge through the AO3 this time! Signups start soon, which means I will be pestering you ALL THE TIME to sign up, so you should just agree right now that you're going to. RIGHT? YES? TEEN WOLF HOLIDAYS! THE HOLIDAY EXCHANGE WHERE WE SPEND THE HIATUS FIXING EVERYTHING SEASON 3A FUCKED UP BEFORE SEASON 3B SHOWS UP TO MAKE IT WORSE!<br /><br />Or just write endless road trip and reunion stories and maybe some <em>Welcome to Night Vale</em> crossover/fusion action, I am also down with that.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=dira&ditemid=666502" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments