Luzula

Ugh, I am sick, and also unable to talk at all due to a sore throat. : ( My voice can be pretty fragile and so I take care not to strain it in these circumstances, and have now got a replacement for my teaching in the beginning of next week. Housemate who got sick before me has lost his sense of taste and smell, which obviously alarmed me! But testing says it's not covid.

It's true that I'm writing fewer words per day than previously, but I am so happy I'm not losing my writing--I really like my idea for candyheartsex and am having fun writing it! \o/ And glad I signed up.

The Stone Book Quartet by Alan Garner (1978)
My last bookshelf book before all my books were packed away in boxes! I admit I chose this one because I was tired, and it had very large print and was a children's book (of sorts). I liked it--it's a contemplative historical book, with vignettes of four children of different generations of the same family, separated in time. The focus, as far as I can tell, is craftsmanship, in stone and metal: discovering what one has a talent for, what one learns after long experience, what elders can teach (or not teach) to children.

Hornblower and the Atropos by C S Forester (1953)
And now begins the Summer of Ebooks! I want to read self-indulgent things for a while, as a reward for the work of moving. First out, my next Hornblower: it can be such a comfort to read the next book in a series where one already knows the characters and what one is likely to get. In this instance, exciting naval adventure--this one is pure Hornblower, in a way, with no slashiness, just the page-turney anticipation of finding out how he's going to solve the latest difficulty. I do wish the author had assured us that those Ceylonese divers were well paid, though. I fear they were not.

During packing I also reread my shelf copy of my own fic If Fate Should Reverse Our Positions. I can't say it's my best fic ever, since there are so many different aspects of writing, but it's certainly the best plotting I've ever done. Very proud of that. And it's good to be able to enjoy my own fic so much on reread, too! I was however annoyed by small editing issues, such as "hmm, I see I was still using that word which I later learned was inappropriate for the period", or "arrgh, I wish I'd used contractions a little more in dialogue". But I think constantly going back to edit would have ruined the reading experience, so I didn't.

Let me also recommend the Yuletide fic A Winter Wood Warming (9272 words) by Terrantalen, which is fic for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, with Emma Pole/Arabella Strange. Very well written epistolary/documentary style fic.

As was probably obvious, I was the author of Letters Between Ardroy & Paris in the Years 1739 & 1740, which is pretty much what it says on the tin: a correspondence between Ewen and Aunt Margaret when he was at university in Paris. It was a gift for sanguinity. Thanks to garonne for beta reading!

I was going to refrain from guessing, but when provoked to it, I speculated that sanguinity wrote neither of mine on the basis that she usually has spaces around her m-dashes, but that she otherwise might have written my Jill/Kitty fic A Former Acquaintance because it contained a plot element inspired by the sequel, which she has read. If it wasn't her, it was probably edwardianspinsteraunt, which indeed it turned out to be--thank you so much, it was lovely! : D There are now ten fics in this tiny fandom. \o/

I probably don't get to take credit for my idle thought that garonne might have written my Heron fic Known Jacobite, Cameron of Ardroy, since I didn't write it down! This fic has an outside POV of Ewen and Keith, and garonne is fond of outside POV. Thank you so much--I love that trope too, and it was interesting to combine it with the epistolary form!

I also worked on a different fic for this exchange, but I ended up abandoning it since I couldn't figure out the ending. It was inspired by one of the prompts on edwardianspinsteraunt's sign-up: to have Jill and Kitty corresponding between their meeting in Lugano and Jill running away from home. Jill would have thought it was a great idea to collude with Kitty and pretend to be her lady's maid, but Kitty would be aghast at such a proposal. Despite both garonne and regshoe beta-reading the draft, I never figured out how it would end. I guess I'll reread it later and see if I can make it work.

I just had an idea: could I manoeuvre Keith into the Jacobite army and Ewen into the Hanoverian one?

And I think I can: actually there was a prominent Wyndham politician who was a Jacobite, so it's quite plausible that Keith's family could have been Jacobite. What if Keith's father on his deathbed extracted a promise from Keith that he would support a Jacobite rising? Keith himself might have mixed feelings about this, but when he is so conveniently captured at the outset of the Rising, there's an excellent opportunity to follow his family tradition and his father's last wish and join up.

As for Ewen, I don't think I can maneuver him into the Hanoverian army as long as he is a Cameron chieftain. But what if he were a younger son without land of his own? I mean, Alan Breck Stewart was in the British army before Prestonpans, probably just as a job and a way to gain experience, and Cluny McPherson had a commission in the British army before he changed sides (there are more examples). So it's not unreasonable.

I have not yet thought further about this in terms of engineering interesting plot situations where Keith and Ewen could meet--any ideas? : D

Here's what I wrote and recorded last year! AO3 says I wrote 190K, but I had about 100K of "Three Strands" written at the beginning of the year. So subtracting that, and adding the 30K of the werewolf WIP, I wrote about 130K, which I'm happy with. I have also crossed the milestone of 1,000,000 words posted on AO3! \o/

My main achievement this year is finishing Three Strands, of which I am quite proud! Eight of my stories this year were written for exchanges, and the other two (or three, counting the werewolf WIP) were longer. I think this pretty well describes my current mode: plug away steadily at a longfic, while taking breaks occasionally for shorter stuff. Although (like last year) I did also write pretty substantial fics for Yuletide. I am now in a steady long-term relationship with my current fandom, and have plenty of ideas left to write in it.

Podfic-wise, I've had a few very productive years, and have now begun taking it easier and letting the podficcing lapse for a while--I haven't recorded anything the last few months. Probably I will eventually do another Broster book at Librivox? Otherwise I have no plans, except to keep teaming up with authors for pod_together, which is a lot of fun.

Flight of the Heron fic:
Three Strands, Braided Together: 'As the threads begin to twist themselves at your first meeting,' said Old Angus, 'so will they continue to shape themselves at the rest—three strands, braided together at the end.' Keith/Ewen/Alison, 148,200 words
A Point of Honour: Ewen has gone down to Fort William to visit Keith; meanwhile, a visitor from Mingary Castle arrives at the fort... Keith/Ewen, 4,200 words
A Pup of Lassie's: In a public room in York, Keith overhears a Yorkshire farmer telling a story he has heard before... Keith/Ewen/Alison, 3,700 words
Brother of His Wolf's Mate (Come When Ye May): Keith and Ewen deal with the aftermath of their wolves' mating, and with the consequences of their mate-bond. Keith/Ewen, 10,400 words
Preserv'd for Posterity: Dear Sir, I have not the Honour of being known to you, & you will no doubt wonder at a Stranger writing to you without an Introduction, but I must hope that you will excuse the Liberty when I have explain'd my Purpose. Ewen & Robert Forbes, 1,700 words
The Flight of the Geese: Ewen flies south with the migrating geese. Keith/Ewen, 800 words
The Marrow of His Heart: When Lachlan comes back to the shieling at Beinn Laoigh to find Ewen gone, he must do everything he possibly can to track him down and help him to escape—with the help of an unlikely ally along the way. Lachlan & Keith and Lachlan & Ewen gen, 12,500 words

Le Guin fic:
A Digit of Mishnory: Therem in exile: gutting fish, being one of many, and being alone. Therem gen, 800 words
Estraven the Traitor: I had heard the story of Estraven the Traitor many times during my childhood. Sorve gen, 500 words
The White Ladies of the Ring: There was a sorcerer imprisoned in the Labyrinth, and Arha had told Kossil that she would kill him—but she did not want to. Perhaps she needed to ask someone for help... Penthe/Tenar, 7,900 words

Podfic and audiobooks:
Three Strands, Braided Together, by me (Keith/Ewen/Alison, 16h 33 min)
Nearly Enough, by sanguinity (Hornblower, Bush/Hornblower, 1h 50m)
The Gleam in the North by D K Broster (12h 54m)

Anyone else in my fannish circles doing this one? I missed nominations, but I see that other people have helpfully nominated Flight of the Heron, The Wounded Name, Kidnapped, and Jill...

Today I am going back and forth to Stockholm in one day, which is quite tiring, in order to have a meeting with a minion of the Swedish minister for rural affairs, together with representatives from some other organizations. I guess it went okay? He did give us a whole hour after only promising half an hour, so he did listen to what we had to say, even if I don’t think it will change the government’s abysmal forest politics.

Writing-wise, I am still working on my werewolf fic, and struggling with a plot element which needs the skills of a mystery writer. I very much do not have those skills. /o\

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton (2022)
Wow, this was pretty powerful, and I loved the art style. I am used to thinking about the environmental harm of fossil fuel extraction, but not as much about the harm those kinds of working conditions make for the workers, especially the women. OMG, what relentless sexism and harassment. But it has compassion for the male workers, too.

Hornblower and the Crisis by C S Forester (1967)
This is the last, unfinished one (I am reading them out of order, directed by sanguinity’s recs and my whims), and I quite enjoyed it. What an opening--prime example of Hornblower taking things out on Bush. And then it’s exciting naval adventures all the way, which I was in the mood for. The Irish revolutionary in one of the short stories quite stole the scene; would read a book about him. Hee, and the one with Bonaparte was hilarious.

Out of the various choices in this poll, I chose in the end not to go with the Temeraire crossover right now, but instead with the werewolf AU! It is now 4K and so far going well.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814, Librivox audiobook read by Karen Savage)
I am almost finished with the reread (or rather, relisten) of Austen books which I have enjoyed during hiking trips. This one is almost claustrophobic, I think! I just want Fanny to meet some new people and find out who she is outside of the family circle where she has been so subordinate--the marriage with Edmund is just a continuation of that, although I suppose she won't be unhappy. I don't ship her with Crawford, either. I do like Fanny as a character, though. The book is almost the anti-P&P, with Fanny forming a fixed negative opinion of Crawford early on, but instead of changing it, as in P&P, she sticks to it and the narrative bears out her opinion. Of course, this is satisfying, because Fanny, unlike Elizabeth, is not used to relying on her own opinion…

A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies by Jane Barker (1723)
Jane Barker (1652–1732) was an author and a Jacobite who converted to Catholicism and followed James II into exile and lived at St Germain until 1704. She learned Latin, anatomy, and herbal medicine from her brother who had gone to university, and she never married. Besides novels, she apparently also wrote a collection of poems about education for women and female single life. Also she managed a farm.

This novel is similar to other 18th century novels I've read in that it has a frame story and various digressions. It is a sequel to a previous book which I might read at some point (Love Intrigues). The frame story in this case has a lot of similarities to Barker's own life: the older narrator, Galesia, is in the previous book walking in the garden at St Germain and retelling adventures of her young life where she was courted by a man (Bosvil) who proved false. In the present book, she is traveling in England, telling and listening to various stories with fellow travellers. Later on Galesia has an accident and ends up at the house of some lady and retells her own earlier life after the incident with Bosvil (which has given her a lifelong distaste for marriage) with lots of digressions, side stories, poems, and narrow escapes from marriage.

The most interesting of the side stories is a woman who leaves her husband for love of a servant woman. It is called ‘The Unaccountable Wife’ and the woman portrayed as unreasonable--she would rather beg for money in the street and stay with her servant woman, than leave her and get a pension from the queen (the husband is dead at this point). But the unreasonableness seems to be as much about inversion of social station as about gender, I think--much stress is laid on how highborn the wife is and how weird it is that she is doing housework for the servant. Her husband at first sleeps with the servant woman and gets children on her, but the wife was 'extremely kind to the woman, to a degree unheard of' and they 'lay all three together every night'. Then the husband, trying to put a stop to the wife's attachment, tries to send the servant away, but the wife goes with her instead... : D

In Galesia’s own story, I enjoyed most the parts where she is learning medicine from her brother (like Barker herself!) and rhapsodizing on anatomy in poems. She takes such delight in it! Later on when she is living in London, she also apparently practices medicine, at least among her acquaintances, and there is a proud poem On the Apothecaries Filing My Recipes Amongst the Doctors':

The Sturdy Gout, which all Male Power withstands,
Is overcome by my soft Female Hands,
Not Deb’rah, Judith, or Semiramis,
Cou’d boast of Conquest half so great as this

So, I have reread His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (2006), as preparation for possibly writing a Temeraire fusion with Flight of the Heron. I thought, as I did the first time I read it, that it is great page-turny entertainment! Since it's the first book, it has that fun element of the reader discovering aspects of the worldbuilding along with the main character. Which the other books do have as well, by turning it into map exploration, but it's especially good here. I also like Laurence making social blunders among the aviators based on his previous expectations, but doing his best to repair them. I had forgotten that Granby disliked him at first! Aww, and the development of the bond between Laurence and Temeraire is great.

( Notes on worldbuilding )

Firstly, please enjoy Dick Gaughan singing Tom Paine's Bones.

So, an update. I've had a few stressful weeks: a ton of teaching, lots of work and some conflict in my environmental organization, trying to find a new housemate. To my huge relief, work will calm down beginning next week. The volunteer workload will likely continue as is, but I can cope with that if work is calmer. We decided against the housemate I posted about a while ago, deciding to follow our gut feeling, and another one that we liked unfortunately found another place. But if we don't find anyone this month, that's okay--we can share the rent for that room and wait for someone who feels right.

I had pancakes today with a buffet of homemade jam: bilberry, lingonberry, gooseberry, red currant, blackberry, apple. All from berries that either I or my mom have picked. Yum. This is why I make pancakes often...or probably Americans would call them crepes, since they are thin.

I am currently rereading my first FotH longfic (That Good Faith), from a book I have bound myself. It's the first time I reread it since 2020, and while there are small things I might change, I do like it. I can tell that it's my first fic in the fandom--it has that headlong energy of falling in love. <3

My current longfic is at 130K, and I just finished chapter 26, which will be posted soon. And I just started writing my assignment for unsent_letters_exchange. Oooops, and I should write a letter for that exchange! Coming up soon.