Reads Randomly

In the past month, I've gone to Japan, been shaken by an earthquake while NOT in Japan, tried to ignore some significant anniversaries of major tragedies, applied to a graduate program and before any of that happened saw the final Harry Potter with my brother, completing the set. While each of those are worthy of their own post, I'm not feeling very good with words right now. Instead, I bring you YouTube videos from various shows I've enjoyed over the years. See them before they get reported! :-)

( We've got Sorkin, Asian dramas and Charlie Crews, if you're interested... )

Next time I post, I promise it will be Quaggy generated content. :-)

When you see this, post an excerpt from as many random works-in-progress stories as you like. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.

Well, zinke  did it, so I guess that means I should too. Especially since I have a Great Big List of Doom that I'm trying to finish.  This is also something of a three month status report.  I'm not nearly as far along this list as I'd like to be.

So, for most I have a sentence or two, but with fics that are longer/closer to done, I've actually included full paragraphs. For those that are curious, the last time I did this meme, out of the 10 fic I gave snippets for, one I totally gave up on and four I actually finished and posted. The rest are on this list.

The UPDATED Great List of Doom

( West Wing )

( Avatar: The Last Airbender )

( Life With Derek )

( Life )

( Sports Night )

( Everything Else )

Yeah, it's still a ridiculous list, isn't in?  I think part of my problem is that, in addition to all the real life distractions, I've been working on at least six of these fic at a time.  Maybe if I just concentrate on one or two, I'll start completing more!

And, as always, any questions, comments and/or encouragement is greatly appreciated!!

Four years ago, right around this time, I posted my first fic and the legend LJ of Quag E. Mire was born. At first, this was just supposed to be an LJ for my fic, but things expanded a bit.  I've met knew people and got involved with new things and new communities.  But fic was the reason why I started this journal. Since I've been posting all my old stuff over at FF.Net, I've had a chance to go over everything I've written so far.  So for my anniversary, I thought I would do a top ten of my favorite fics. Not surprising, given the fact I've only recently branched out into other fandoms, they are all West Wing fic.  These are they ones that I really think hold up, even if I've improved as a writer.  Please forgive the arrogance. I'm mostly just looking back.


1) Less Traveled By
If I never write another West Wing fic (and I have since, so don't worry), I'll be able to say I went out on a high. I don't know if I'll ever be able to top this one.

2) Left Waiting
At first this started as a prequel to fix What Happens In Hospitals, but it became a strong piece in its own right.  This is one of those pivotal fics where I think my writing style leveled up.

3) Untitled Fic (I sometime refer to this as "Art Imitates Life" or "It Takes A Year")
It's actually pretty unfair of me to include this on my list, since the entry is friend-locked and I have no intention of changing that. I wrote this after my father died, basically borrowing West Wing characters to say what I couldn't on my own back then. I can't objectively judge whether or not it's the best thing I've written. But I like it and it has meaning for me, so it makes the list.

4) Regrets
Another one of those writing breakthrough pieces. Up until this point, I had basically been writing character studies. This fic showed me that I could mess with peoples emotions. (I was trying to come up with a less evil way of putting that, but in the end I decided to call a spade, a spade.)

5) In Bed
I don't know if I'm supposed to admit this about something I wrote, but this fic still makes me laugh.

6) Hobbesian
This is pre-series and I usually never stray from Season 7, but it took a life on its own. (Well, once I finally figured out what was wrong with it. Thanks again for the help, Amy!)  I spend so much time getting into characters' heads that the chance to look at everyone from an outsider's POV was a lot of fun.

7) Expecting
I'm not adopted nor is anyone in my family, but I still manged to make this resonate for a lot of people. That might be one of the things I'm most proud of.

8) Untold Plans
I will never write an opening line better than this one. End of story.

9) Outside Looking In / Inside Looking Out
These two really do have to be read together.  Maybe it was using the quotes and song lyrics, but I managed to dive deeper into Josh and Donna's head than I had previously.

10) Band of Brothers… and a Sister
A mostly un-shippy fic for me, but sometimes that's a good thing.


So that's it.  I thought about doing a separate list of my favorite 100 word drabbles, but I think my ego has been fed enough with this post, don't you?

For this meme, zinke asked for commentary for Back Against The Wall, the first part of my first and (so far) only series Things Not Meant To Be. She couldn't have chosen a better fic. This was a pretty significant piece for me and so I have a lot to say about it, to the point I nearly did commentary for the whole fic. But if I did that, then I would want to do it for the whole series, and I'm only going to do that if there's a lot of interest. So, rather bite off more than I can chew, I stuck to commenting on the snippet itself and not go into the more spoilery things about the rest of the fic and the rest of the series.

( Back Against The Wall snippet - DVD Commentary )

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Quaggy. Quaggy used to write fic. I don’t know what happened to that girl, but I miss her.

Lately, I’ve been having trouble concentrating enough to write… anything, not just fic. But I’ve really been having problems with the fic and that depresses me. I'm not lacking ideas, but I can't seem to finish any of them. Clearly something needs to be done.

I need something to help get the words flowing. I was thinking of back when I was writing 100 word drabbles for West Wing. The weekly challenge of trying to write short piece of a pre-determined length on a topic I could not predict was better for my writing than anything else I tried. I experienced it again when I wrote 100 word drabbles for Avatar. Unfortunately, being on the other side of the world was not a good time to take advantage of the situation.

The problem is that tww100 has basically died and I know of no other drabble community that works in the same way. I was thinking of starting my own multi-fandom drabble community, but I don't think that would satisfy my needs.

So here is where you come in. If anyone gives me a prompt and a fandom, I’ll write you a 100 word drabble. It can honestly be any fandom, not just the usual suspects, provided I'm familiar with the show and the characters. (If you're not sure, give me a few options.) I relish the challenge. I do however reserve the right to refuse to write for a particular ship. I'll write a drabble with any characters as long as I don't HAVE to make it romantic.

So go ahead... Hit me with your best shot. I think we'll all benefit! :-)

ETA: If you're having trouble remembering which fandoms I'm into, my quote bar (kudos to unoriginal_liz  for the idea) and my icons should offer some suggestions.

I never did that Facebook “25 (or 27 depending on who you ask) Things About Me” thing. For one thing, I still refuse to have a Facebook account. Secondly, I’m not sure my list would be all that interesting…. Until I realized I could make it fandom related.

I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.

( 25 Random Things About My West Wing Fanon )

I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.

Somebody mentioned that no one had posted and Cold-inspired anniversary fic. This seems a total shame, so I'm going to try to finish a drabble in the next few minutes, but in case I don't make it, I offer a "translation" of the infamous "I feel terrible" scene that I posted on the keytuskids on the first anniversary.  Some of you might even remember it!


JOSH: I'm sorry. Uh ... (he opens his mouth, then closes it) ... about this morning, it was ... (he shakes his head slightly, eyebrows raised) ... inappropriate. Translation: I'm sorry. I shouldn't kiss you because I'm your boss.

DONNA: Don't worry about it. Translation: Trust me, I don't mind.

JOSH: Totally inappropriate. I--I feel terrible.  Translation: Except I really don't.

DONNA: Don't. (she smiles)  Translation: Good

JOSH: Seriously. Translation: Cause I want to do it again.

DONNA: Seriously. (still smiling, she nods) It was bound to happen sometime. I'm going to call the White House, talk about Kazakhstan. Translation: Good. Because I've been wanting this for a while.

(she walks away and all he can do is stare after her, mouth agape)

JOSH: ................... Translation: You mean I could have done this YEARS ago???!!!!

Okay, that's not really the name, but it might as well be for me. I'm seriously suffering from a lack of motivation to write. I mean, this goes far deeper that your usual run of the mill writer's block. I have two unfished memes waiting for me to get back to them! MEMES!!! So, I'm doing this in hopes of exorcizing some demons and that my fic writing muse will return to me. Lord, knows I would have enough to keep her busy.

I snagged this from zinke and caz963 by the way...

When you see this, post an excerpt from as many random works-in-progress stories as you like. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.

Out of curiosity, I went back to check the last time I did a meme like this. It was two years ago and out of the nine snippets I posted, three still haven't seen the light of day. The Untitle Santos fic now has a name (you'll see it below), but it is no where close to being done. As for the Perspecitve series, "What Was Said" was posted as For The Best, but the other two aren't even in my active pile! Who knows if I'll ever get to them!

But that was then, this is now. For this meme, I've limited myself to the fics that I keep in my "active" (heh, yeah right) pile. These are the ones giving me the guilt trip every time I open My Documents folder. Yes, I have even more than that in the works, but either I've left them on the back burner or they are still in the early, early planning stages. And we are not even touching my orginial (as in non-fanfic) work! Sigh. Please come back, Writing Muse! I need you!

( Snippets under here... )

Comments, criticisms, encouragement, prayers to the Writing Gods are always welcome.

While I’ve tried to keep my thoughts in order, don’t expect me to come to any conclusions.  This is just stuff that have been on my mind…

So, I recently passed my six month anniversary of writing fanfic.  In honor of the occation, I thought I would do something completely conceited.  Below is a list of all my fics and drabbles (earliest first) and my favorite line from each.  Just because.


Wow!  I've been busy, haven't I?