It's okay, I've done it before.

I'm back, unpacked, third load of laundry in the machine, watched the Stig, whom I taped last weekend.

Had a wonderful holiday in a beautiful part of the world and so wish it could have gone on for another week. Got lots done, walked on the beach, climbed some hills, went down a slate mine, ate seafood and yummy ice cream, tried to pronounce some Welsh words (badly), played bridge, and even wrote a fair amount of fic!

Which leads me to this:


Happy Birthday to my FAVOURITE LION!


I have loved you for years and I do appreciate that your creator has let us play with you and your friends. And we're not done yet...get some rest because 30 is just the beginning.

Hoping (crosses fingers) to be at the Oxford King's doubleheader tomorrow, so won't have too much time to post and also BT's southern coverage area was down all day and had no internet connection for 12 hours. *Curses MOD for not letting anyone have cable modems!*

Husband home from tour of France in broken helicopter. Said- and I quote- whole operation was yet another RAF clusterfuck- end quote. Oh well, your tax £££ spent well. Again.

Interesting reading on some of my H/D flist's posts about the whole n0ob/established writer relationship (I don't use the term Big Name Fan, as that's purely a relative description). Here's my take: I read everything depending on my mood and if I like the pairing and the sound of the premise. There is NO author I avoid reading. If I like the fic a lot, I gush. If I don't, I'll still thank the author for sharing it. (I usually find something in a fic I thought was inspiring). I do have my favourite TYPE of fic, rating and kinks, but I won't exclusively look for them. And I don't read something just because I've liked the author's work before- I read it because- well, I've explained above.

I JUST LOVE FIC. I'm so lucky that people with more time and talent than I have post wonderful stories. I beta, cause I don't have the time I need to write (and brother, do I need a lot of time...) and I personally feel it's a nice way of saying thank you.

Yes, I do feel let down when I get few comments on my own work- I'm a shy writer and need a lot of *squishes* as well as a ton of concrit. I'm not going to pretend I don't like the attention. I have a good-sized flist and for the most part, I do get a lot of feedback, but yes, sometimes it does feel like pulling teeth. But that's mostly my own fault for not blowing my own horn loudly enough! So, I am now going to be the cross-posting queen and hope to enter more fests so I can stop moaning and actually DO something about what annoys me about fandom (and this is in NO way limited to H/D, btw. This isn't the only fandom I play in but it IS the most vocal:)

And for the record, on the whole, I've felt very supported by well-established authors. I rely on them for my fic fix, so I'm not about to say that they don't support the fandom. Without them there wouldn't be one, huh? I'd've never even thought of posting a fic if they hadn't inspired me.

In other, and more important news, I was doing some infection control training for the nursing staff here yesterday. And they asked me to join bank staff! (For those of you who don't know, "bank" means people they can call to fill in or work the odd shift.) They'd like the staff to be an RGN (me), have training/certificate in massage therapy (me) and have a background in health promotion (me). It doesn't pay as well as the day job, but the hours are good- will probably do the odd Sunday shift or night- and the patients--- er- HAWT! And a lot easier to look after than some places I've worked bank on. And seeing as my hubby has expressed an interest in joining the police force when he comes out of the RAF, I think this is soooo cool! *does happy dance*

Okay, all for now. Can play now that internet is up and running- I got so much done today when I wasn't on-line! What a surpise. Am off all next week, so I'll be around. So long as BT doesn't fuck themselves up again.

Gonna go *censored* my husband now.

Hi everyone! *waves*

I'm in beta heaven with all the fests going on out there at the moment- wo0t! But I've got a few questions for mods and writers.

ST authors: PATIENCE! Am going this weekend. Start sending now.

HP authors: I need to get some holiday booked and figured you will keep me busy this summer, so it seemed as good a time as any. Are you all mostly going to be at Az. for the whole week and planning to sit on your inspiration or are you all taking laptops and starting to write in the dark the instant the scene in the loo has finished? Should I clear the week of 20-25th July or the one before or after? Opinions? Right, have booked the week of the 27th-31st July cause a) that will give people time to regroup and b) if Doug gets deployed this summer, he has to be in the Gulf by 1 Aug.

BSG authors: Just another brief reminder for those writing in the new series- names as well as numbers are always nice, but not completely necessary. For those writing in the old- nggghhhhhhhhhh... am loving the work.

SW, L&Os, D, CoD, any other fandoms: Business as usual.

Have been really busy at work with flu stuff and kid and I came down with d&v, so I've not been posting much of anything, BUT I am winning at SAS and picking at h/d and getting betas turned around pretty quick. Am really enjoying the beta work, so keep it coming! Oh, and joining HiH on Sunday (as soon as that gets sorted- so to speak). Anyone on my flist who's over there, keep an eye out for me. No prizes for guessing where it looks like I'll end up...*roar*

For everyone at HSU, and particularly kilter and ladyoneill, tell your bloody EAs to stop frightening the children with their bloody 70s rock anthems.

And thanks again to dripping_cherry and noeon for keeping me laughing!

I'd say something to the May birthdays on my flist, but you'll be hearing from me soon enough...anyway, all for now!