I never thought I'd do this, but this is an attempt to help myself out with something.

To put it bluntly, my iBook DIED. I've repaired it once, but this time, my technician guy says I should just give it up and buy new. And he did stress for me to buy new, something with AppleCare.

This is where the trouble comes in. I just moved, as some of you know, so of course that's where all my funds have gone. The new MacBook I'm looking at (plain MacBook, not Air or Pro) will run me about $2000. I've gotten up... $95.

So I'm asking for help. More on it is in my author journal (Yeah, finally getting published! Go me!), katherinewrites, specifically this entry:
http://katherinewrites.livejournal.com/1968.html

If you can donate, please do so. I will love you forever. And it's possible you might get mentioned in the next book.

If you can't donate, please pass the following link along to your FList or anywhere else you think it might help:
http://katherinewrites.livejournal.com/1968.html

Thanks,
ESM, Apollymi, Katherine

Current Mood: hopeful

Dear Writing World:

I've finally lost it. Not only did I start another new story recently, I'm also playing around with two challenges ideas.

Idea #1:
(This one would be LJ based.)
A bi-weekly challenge, any story 500 words and over. The challenge would be that the story would have to be based on any one of a set of icons created for that week's challenge. So one week there would be new icons coming out, the next week new stories based on that icon.

For instance, if in Week 1, I made this icon:

Then in Week 2, someone could write a 500+ word story using that as its basis.

It would not be limited to just one series. I'd like to be able to get a well-rounded mix, including Yuugiou, GundamW (Wing), Gundam SEED, Jyu-Ou-Sei, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Naruto, and others.

Idea #2:
(This would be more website based.)
Any story, any pairing, for Yuugiou, as long as it is romance and fits into one of three categories: 10,000+ words, 25,000+ words, or 50,000+ words. Yes, I am proposing a Yuugiou novella challenge. There would be some stipends of course: say, the 10k category has to be Romance/Humor.

For this contest, there would even be prizes, say a $15 Amazon gift certificate for the one runner-up in all three categories and $30 for winners in each category. There might even be a special prize for judges' favorite. And I think doujinshi might also be considered as a back-up prize. (I'd love to be able to offer fanart too, but I'm not a good artist - and the good artists I know, I don't know if they'd be willing to help out.)

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Willing to join either? Willing to judge on #2? Respond please.

Current Mood: curious

First off, yes, this is about the GWYaoi 2005 Challenge.

Okay, yes, I don't really care that I'm competing against Klepto in the Wild Card Category. (Yes, even with no names, I can tell her writing. Her writing level and style is very apparent. The vastness of the out of character-ness and lack of AU warnings also points a very clear finger.)

What does bother me a quite bit is, I took the time to write two brand new stories. I put months' worth of work into both of them - and had time permitted, one of them would have been quite a bit longer; I just ran out of time with a grand total of 15,000+ words completed on it. The other I wrote and wrote till the damn thing started eating my soul. No one but my beta-readers saw either of them - and I was stingy with even that much. (One of my beta readers has yet to be able to read the ending to the longer story; I'm being that paranoid with it.)

However, if I'd known that apparently that rule about 'we want new stuff only - don't send us anything that's been online or on an ML' didn't really apply, I'd have sent in Color of Life or Gods and Other Creatures -- one of my longer, better works. I wouldn't have stayed up till 1 a.m. on nights when I had to be up by 5 trying to finish the two new ones I wrote. I wouldn't have spent my entire lunch breaks at work four to five days a week belaboring over each word I put down on paper (and yes, I handwrite my rough draft before it goes into the second draft typed, and sent to betas for a third and final draft). I wouldn't have put one of my most popular stories (Blood and Sacrifice, for the interested) on hiatus for months... if I had known that rule did not apply.

If a badly written and poorly expanded fic posted across the 'A Dragon's Lair' Yahoo mailing mailing list as a round robin starter can go into the contest, then I should be able to use one of my older stories as well.

Yes, it is a fanfiction contest. Yes, in the grand scale of things, it does not matter more than a single drop of rain in a hurricane. However, if a contest is going to be promoted as fair and equal, the same rules should hold true to all its participants, should they not? 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander' and all, right?

I am tempted to, today, email Genki and demand my stories be pulled from the contest. If the same rules aren't applied to everyone, they shouldn't be applied at all.

That is my rant, and actually I feel better now that I have that out of my system. I won't be happy if a pre-established story wins, but again, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter, but if so, I will not be participating next year - and may request my entries this year be removed.

And yes, this is a public post. If you have something to say to me about it, you can leave a comment, but it'd be better to email me at esm@eternalsailorm.net or eternal.sailorm@gmail.com.

Thank you.

~Eternal SailorM
(The Management)

Current Mood: pessimistic

And not so very long after I completely moved to the newer journal. Oh well... *shrugs*

And you know, I probably should be doing this, but you know? Tough shit. I'm going to anyway.

I have been out of the RPG community since 2003. I'm only just starting to get ready to hurl myself back into the fray. Yes, I have had bad experiences RPing and I'm not ashamed to admit it, but I'm not going into that because I believe it was thoroughly covered back in 2002 and frankly I don't feel the need to rehash old material.

I don't feel the need to live in the past like it seems some people seem to. I don't feel the need to badmouth someone and drag their name through the mud for three years because I disagreed with them. I don't need to control every action of every friend I have because - guess what? - I want friends, not puppets. Friends can disagree and act differently and still be friends; it's part of what makes being friends interesting. Wouldn't the world be a boring place if we all agreed, after all?

The person this is addressed to is no longer on my friends list, but I'm sure she's eventually going to read this because I know she has the obsessive need to check and see how popular she is with people who don't like her.

Guess what? I've thought of you exactly five times in the last three years, Star. The first was when I was starting my RPG, Reich, and that was only to lament you dragging other players behind my back as a GM, forcing me to create a new RPG - and inform my new co-GM of what had happened so it could be avoided. Co-GMing you was a mistake I'll never make again; thinking you were my friend was another. The second time was when you IMed me to shoot the breeze. The third time was when I heard you pulled the same stuff you did to me on some of the people you dragged off UC. The fourth time I thought of you was in September 2004, during the midst of Hurricane Ivan when a couple of my friends decided to shoot a video featuring "the lump too heavy for the hurricane to move", featuring flying roommates and airborne Pikachus. (And Sara, I still need to get that video from you.) And finally, the fifth time I thought of you was a week ago when I heard you're pulling the same stuff you did to me yet again to someone else.

I think I've said it before, but I don't care what you do to me but I will take offense if you do it to someone else. Three years ago, I bit my tongue and didn't go warning people off your games. That's what adults do; we respect other people's ability to make intelligent decisions on their own, even though it seems that many of them could have benefited from me telling them what happened to me. And when I found out what you did to them, I didn't stand and point and say 'I told you so' no matter how hard it was to resist. I've also moved on. That's another thing adults do. Forgive me for having to use small words, but you do not seem to be able to grasp these concepts. Do I need to go even smaller?

Grow up. Act like an adult. Act like you have the sense the Goddess gave a rock.

Or do you just delight in making other people miserable? Is that your calling in life and we just missed it till now? Please let me know. You're not even banned on here anymore because, really, the words of nitwits and bitchmonkeys don't bother me anymore. You've proven yourself dishonest to me, so why should I care what you think. I'm just curious if you actually claim to have reasons this time. Come on. Surprise me. Respond.

And this post is Public, so anyone else can feel free to respond as well. Give me opinions. Tell me what you think. I double dog dare you.

I finally got all my doujinshi I want to sell scanned (or the images downloaded from various sources), so I'm now prepared to put them up for sale. OBO, of course, stands for "or best offer". I have 24 total that are up for grabs, ( so I'm going to do a numbered list under a cut. )

So that's the list of all the doujinshi I have for sale now. More may be added later, but I'm not anticipating it at this time.

If you're interested in any of them, leave a comment with your best offer. (I have my asking price and as low as I'm willing to go listed for each one.)

Please, help me out!!

Current Mood: tired

I've finished Chapter 43 of Gods and Other Creatures!! I'm in the process of typing it up now.

HOWEVER, it will not be posted till one of the following occurs:
(1) 1 more review for Chapter 42 on FFnet
(2) a review for GaOC on MMorg
(3) a review for GaOC on MLcom
(4) a review for GaOC on DeFA
(5) an email review
(6) a specified time (known only to Ryoko and I) has passed

Yes, I'm holding the bloody chapter hostage. Live with it! *evil laughs*

Current Mood: crazy

You're most like Yami Bakura!


Of Duels, sexuality, and monsters, aka which Yugioh Character do you mirror in sexuality?
brought to you by Quizilla

..... And I answered honestly, is the sad thing....

Current Mood: amused

The Llama Song

This thing is addictive, much in the way of Spiderman will make you gay, The Lost Episode of the Smurfs (some warnings should go with that one!), and Whee! (Gonads & Strife).

So, never say I didn't give you anything.

Current Mood: amused

Does anyone want a Samhain/Halloween card from me? If you do, please leave a comment or send me an email with your mailing address.

Current Mood: chipper

Little thing I made to share with kcanopener

I went on another Yuugioh icon making spree last night after work. I wanted to share one of my newest ones with kcanopener, since she might appreciate it.

( Image hiding behind cut )

Current Mood: artistic