What to do...?

I've been part of the fandom for about two years.  I really enjoy it.  I don't get involved in the drama.  Actually, 99.9% of the time I'm completely unaware of it.  I guess you could say I was even the victim of a witch hunt at one point almost a year ago when one of my stories was pulled from ffnet. 

It didn't matter to me that much.  Was I annoyed?  Sure.  Did it ruin my life, keep me up at night or become an ongoing sore spot?  Nope.

However, for the first time ever, I read a story yesterday that bugged me.  Well, isn't the first time I've read a story that bugged me, but it is the first time I've have trouble letting it go.  It immediately bugged me when I read it, and here it is, 24 hours later, and it is still bugging me.  I've tried, throughout the day, to phrase a review that would address my concerns while still remaining respectful.

I think it have it.  I'm a writer, I can get my point across without being crass, rude, contemptuous, etc.  Then I realized, that there is no way...NO WAY...the author of the story is going to see my point of view.  No.  Way.  So...what to do?  Do I post the review and deal with the inevitable shitstorm?  Do I decide that it's hardly my place to share my thoughts when they are so out of kilter with the author's?  Do I post an anonymous review? 

None of the above?

What would you do?

Too Much Tragedy

It seems that every time we turn around there's a new disaster or tragedy in the world.  If you're like me, you probably feel helpless in the face of the recent disasters in Australia and Japan and the less recent disasters in Haiti and Louisiana.

There's little I can do.  There's little any one of us can do.  Besides these disasters there are ongoing tragedies near and dear to the fandom as well, like Sexual Assault Awareness, cancer research via Alex's Lemonade Stand, Parkinson's Research and Autism Awareness.

Together this fandom has done some incredible things.  This is why I will be contributing a one shot to Fandom Fights Tsunami.  This one shot will be something that many readers have asked for: THTF's Bella and Edward's first time from EPOV.

Please click the Fandom Fights Tsunami link and make your donation today!

Reviews

So, I've read a lot of fanfiction.  A lot.  I find stories I love and want to tell the world about them, but my piece of the fandom is pretty tiny.  Two years ago, I was asked to review a story for the Perv Pack's Smut Shack.  I did so eagerly.  That story was socact's Same Time Next Year and I still love this story today.

Last year, I was approached by the Fictionators to write a small piece about 107yearoldvirgin's story, Decoy.  I was flattered and happily obliged.

More recently, I've been rec'ing stories in my author notes.  I was thrilled when the authors of these stories contacted me to thank me for their bump in readership.  I wondered if writing real recommendations/reviews would bring further attention to the stories I love.  I approached Sandy, Mistress of Southern Fanfiction Review and asked her if she'd be interested in publishing the occasional review.  While Sandy and I are both fans of well-written stories, we tend to read very different ones.  She accepted and I've submitted a review or three to her in recent weeks.

What I've decided to do is to post my reviews here, as well.  They'll post here after they run on whatever site for which I write them.  This is more of an archive of my reviews than anything else.  I do hope you'll be encouraged to read the stories I enjoy.  If possible, let the authors know that I sent you their way.

Best,
IT

Ramblings

I’ve been getting more than the usual amount of interest in the many unfinished stories on my profile. Thank you for that. Here’s the plan. My FFTF fic, Need You Now, is complete and will be published with the compilation available here. I will finish THTF (See that light? It’s the end of the tunnel.), finish Gives You Hell, which is one chapter from completion, and complete Rejection, my AU New Moon story. I am committed to a Halloween one shot for 2011 as well. No, I’m not kidding. If you want something from me, you need to ask at least 10 months in advance to have a prayer of me getting it to you on time.

U + UR Hand, Lips of an Angel, Resubmit, Christmas Wrapping, and Be There are complete. (I’d love some reviews on those, friends! Just saying.) Nice Guys Finish First might be turned into a fluffy short story. Might. Metamorphosis and Gotta’ Be Someone are my earliest attempts at fanfiction. They’ll never be more than fluff and they might not ever be completed. I was writing off the cuff and that doesn’t work. Then again, I’m ridiculously OCD and having them unfinished bothers the hell out of me. So who knows!

Then I have two insistent plot bunnies. One is an AH E&B which will be fully written, beta’d and preread before it is posted. The other is a Darkward fic, which some of you may have heard me talk about on Twitter. I refer to it as my Priestward fic. The Darkward fic may or may not happen. Not sure I’m up to the challenge. And I know I’m not willing to put up with bullshit from religious zealots who will want to try to save my soul. This is a bad, bad fic. It also requires some research, which I don’t have time for. Right now all I have is a handwritten prologue in a purple spiral notebook that I keep losing.

More news: The Bargain has a new home. Well, it will have a new home. Sandy at Southern Fanfiction Review has agreed to host the story when I’m ready to put it back up. She and I have talked about the issues that got it pulled from ffnet and have, what we believe, is a workable solution. I’ll let you know when I have a date for it to go live. It won’t be soon, but at least it is off life support and breathing on its own again.