Here I Am

Day 14 - Go forth and commit an act of kindness. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it, tell us about it if you’re comfortable doing so.

I did my random act of kindness anonymously, but it's done.

Day 15 - In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share you love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so

Dear fandom friends,

You guys always make this place worthwhile. I love that we can all go off, get lost in our real world lives, and come back, picking up where we left off with each other. I love how generous most people are, how people support each other within fandom and stand up for each other. I love having other people out there that love the same things that I do and get how it can eat at your brain and take over. I love how awesome most people in fandom are, despite attempts from some to create drama and wank. Continue to be awesome, fandom. The next four years will be hard for some people and fandom remains a great safe haven for some of us.

To my friends list in particular: Thank you for making even stressful days better. Thank you for being around with random fannish fun and understanding when I disappeared after my mother died and life happened. Thank you for being great people that I admire, get envious of (in good ways) and care about.

Love,

Mare

**

And if you're interested,

Half hour left to my work day. And then I'll get to sit in traffic, but I've got my podcasts ready to go and that tends to make the commute much easier. I'm a pretty easy-going person most of the time, but I get into a car and my anger goes on high. I've been trying to work on it. Even when people are idiots, especially when people are idiots, because they remain oblivious and I'm the one that gets tense.

So let's continue Fandom Snowflake catch-up

Day 11 - In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is really hard because there are so many great creators in fandom.  I've been around for a long while and there are some that aren't as prolific anymore, but who really affected me with their works.  There are others that have been around and still post a lot.  And there are always new people that I discover as I go.

I'll say someone I admire and always read is musesfool/musesfool - she writes amazing stories in a number of fandoms and they're always so good.  

I'm currently obsessed with Life of Bucky Barnes by Petite-Madame.  The art is amazing and I'm constantly in awe of it.  And the accompanying story by stephrc79  is my go-to read of the moment.  I love their takes on Bucky and Steve. 

There are a lot of other creators I continue to admire and adore, too many to name or rec here.  Though I feel I'd be a terrible partner in crime if I wasn't thankful for steph /iamtheenemy - we go back to Nsync fandom days, a mutual love of Lance Bass and continue over the years to get the other obsessed with all sorts of fandom things.  Neither of us are as involved as we once were, but we had a fun reccing journal and she still writes some stuff that I always love.



Day 12 - In your own space, post a rec for fannish spaces and resources - comms, challenges, twitters, tumblrs, etc. Tell us about where you hang out. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I haven't been as up on fandom in recent years as I was before.  I always take part in Yuletide no matter what, so that's something I always stay aware of.

I highly recommend checking out:

ante_up_losers  - if you love the Losers and like creating fic/art because it's currently open for sign-ups.

And picfor1000  is open for sign-ups until the end of the month.  It's always a fun challenge to undertake. 

Really will catch up on this thing! So I apologize for more than one post from me.




Day 9 - Send feedback to two fannish people — they can be anyone you want: a writer who’s made you happy, a moderator of your favorite exchange (not us!), a fanartist you avidly follow… There are so many possibilities. Just let someone know you appreciate their work.

I always leave kudos over at Archive Of Our Own, but I went ahead and left some actual feedback for people.  I'm hoping to go through the day one challenge posts, read the fannish stuff people rec and leave feedback...but didn't have time for that yet.  So instead I left some feedback for a story that I love and just never commented on.  And then I left a comment on an ongoing WIP that I adore and live for updates of.   I always mean to leave comments, but then I can never think of things to say.  And I know that even "great story" is nice to get as a creator, but that doesn't always sink in when it comes to be squeeing at others. So this was a good challenge for me.
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Anyway...



Day 7 - In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Draft a critical essay about a particular media. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of a Broadway show, a movie, a concert, a poetry reading, a museum trip, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Compose some limericks, haikus, free-form poetry, 5-word stories. Document a particular bit of real person canon. Take some pictures. Draw a stick-figure comic. Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I've been working on pieces for fandom_stocking at the moment. I cant' share them at the moment, but shortly I will. 

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Since Day 4 didn't require a post, I did that and Day 5 to catch up a bit more.

Day 4 was to comment on someone's post that I didn't know. - COMPLETE.

Day 5 - In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Okay, so I've had a bunch set aside to rec for a very long time, so three...two of these are from Yuletide.

1. If We're Strong Enough by thisissirius - The Martian, Chris Beck/Mark Watney - it's possible I'm bias because it was a gift for me, but I really enjoyed this. I loved the mix of happiness that Mark was rescued and alive, but the guilt and issues that come with what had happened to both of them.

2. You Might Think I'm Crazy by minim_calibre - What's Your Number, Ally Darling/Colin Shea - Set after the movie ends, it explores the relationship between Ally and Colin and I love the different sides to both of them as they move forward.

3. And So the Wheel Turns by cleo4u2 - Captain America/MCU, Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes - an AU where Bucky doesn't fall from the train, but Steve still goes into the ice. A lot of focus on Bucky finding out how to live his life without Steve and then the two of them finding a way to come back together when Steve returns. I really enjoyed this.

Don't worry. I'm not going to spam my friends list. I figure I would just do two today to get the ball rolling. And I'm avoiding doing some of my work. After this, I really need to focus on trying to create some gifts for fandom_stocking



Day 2: In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This was hard for me to narrow down because I'd say there were a few that changed my life. Like I read the book Outsiders when I was ten and I adored it. Every year until my late twenties, I would read that book at least once a year. I gave a copy to my little bit when she was ten because that book was just something special to me.

That said, I think the thing that really changed my life was the broadway play, Rent. I was a Renthead. I've seen the show an obscene amount of times. I got to know the cast and the crew. I stood in the lines with other fellow Rentheads before it went to the lottery for the cheap, good tickets. And I walked away with lifelong friends because of that show. It's weird to me that it's been twenty years, but a lot of those same people that I met because of a shared love of a musical that just clicked with us...they're still in my life, still some of my best friends. And I can't imagine my life without any of them.