Writing Issues...

[liz_marcs]

*meeps on seeing replies to my last post*

Ummmm, lots of reaction there.

*hides under bed*

RL, please slow down. I didn't realize I'd get a reaction like that.

While RL has been bad and keeping me away from the computer and writing, on the other hand, RL has been good for keeping me away from the computer and writing.

I've got to make some choices here, and a little time with State Fair cheezy love has helped with some perspective.


Acme problems
I'm deeply unhappy with Buffy's big reveal in Acme Heartbreak Repair Kit.

Well, not the reasons for Buffy's in-over-her-head descent into the demon underworld of Rome, because she has some damn fine reasons. (That Book Andrew mentioned in the last part wasn't just for show...) Execution is making me cranky. I've fiddled, fussed, and beat at it and I'm still discontented.

I know why. I feel like a big ol' baby whining about this.

I want to keep writing Water Hold Me Down. That's what's distracting me in a very bad way. I'm staring at Water like I'm a kid in a candy store with no money before sighing and picking at Acme.


Drowning in Water
I simply don't like leaving Water hanging where I did. It grates. It would grate me as a reader and it's grating me as a writer. I had momentum on Water and the fingers still want to work that story.

booster17? I hope you don't mind, but I've got to take a step back from Acme. I'm in a position where I'm working on nothing right now because I keep getting yanked back to Water and it's not a happy position for me to be in. I will get back to Acme, but I suspect it's a blow-uppy story and I can't get into two at the same time.


Setting story priorities
So, my next fic post will go back to Water and I will finish Water first. I have to. The story isn't letting me go and it's starting to haunt me while I'm falling asleep to the exclusion of sanity.

Yes, yes. I know it sounds crazy and I know it sounds like I've gone right around the bend, but it's reached the point of head-explosion.

So, my order of business (because I have too damn many stories started and not enough finished):

Water Hold Me Down

No Myth (needs to be slightly re-written to match Water)

The Acme Heartbreak Repair Kit

Discovering the Truth About the Wizard of Oz

Please note: None of these stories are abandoned. But right now, I'm turning into one of those fanfic writers I hate. You know the one: The one who never finishes WiPs. I don't want to be that writer, so I'm going to go with my gut and finish the story that keeps whispering to me.

I apologize to everyone who is waiting for any of these stories. I appreciate your patience and your perserverance on all of these.


Decisions about the Africander Soundtrack
I know people voted for liner notes, but they are, quite frankly a mess. Work on Acme pretty much tells me I don't have enough time in RL to do a good job of them. I've overcomitted on the story front and RL doesn't go away because I want more time to work on fanfiction.

So...

*deep breath*

I'm going to post it without liner notes in a couple of weeks. Formatting the post for the soundtrack takes time (especially for a two-CD set). I need to create links of where you can buy the CDs or support the artists and I need to make sure the formatting is easy to read on LJ. Then I have to figure out the zipped bundles for each part (how large, number of songs per bundle, etc.)

Some of you have heard "scratch tracks" of the soundtrack, but the order has changed, some songs were added and others were dropped. It's as strong as it's ever going to get at this point. Song-wise, I think it's an interesting mix. But it's been 9 months. If I haven't birthed good liner notes by now, it's not going to happen.

Plus, mara_sho did such awsome covers for the CDs that it's a shame they're lurking on my harddrive.

So, yeah, by the end of October, one 2-CD Africander Soundtrack coming right up.


Finally, I beg for an MP3 that I think I lost when my last computer died
Since I'm carrying Water again, I need to request a song for the soundtrack. I (unbelievably) don't have this one, and I thought sure that I did. Especially since I was writing an upcoming part with the idea that I did have it.

Does anyone out there have Dolly Parton's bluegrass cover of 'Stairway to Heaven'?

Pretty please?

With sugar on top?

Comments

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I have "Stairway" somewhere.

I forgot about Oz, and while I'm sure I'll want to read it, right now I'm hooked on Water and Acme and wouldn't mind if you abandoned it. Besides that, I'll do whatever cheerleading you want.

Yay, Liz! Yay, Liz!

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

{{hugs}}

Duuuude. I so needed that support.

*happily goes back to Water*

Gimme an "L!"

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=348A1WSLDY5BC0BR9FW0ZSQ4FC

Anything else you need?

Re: Gimme an "L!"

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Yay! You rock!

Nope. I lost a few more WHMD tracks, but I own all of those on CD, so it's no big to replace them. This was the only track that I didn't actually own in another medium that I lost.

*hugs*

This song had a very specific point in the story. There are probably only a a dozen songs that I considered a "must have" for WHMD and had sections specifically written to fit them (with the exception of 'What?' by Antigone Rising, but that was a found after I wrote the part.)

Anya — not AlternaAnya — thanks you.

Funny thing is, I never liked Zep's 'Stairway to Heaven.' Funny, I know. I didn't like the original (or maybe because it was played so much on the radio that I learned to not like it). I honestly don't think ol' Dolly would've been able to pull off this song when she was younger. There's something so world-weary about this version that it just hits me in a way the heavy metal versions (or the original) don't.

Funny that Robert Plant reportedly hates the song (he calls it "that Wedding Song"). Especially since he wrote it.

Re: Gimme an "L!"

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Fave version is Zappa's, from The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. Story is that Mike Kenealy was just with the band and he and the other stunt guitarist were working together, putting together the songs for the tour, and one or the other found sheet music, so they were sight-reading the solo, playing in unison. Zappa comes up, asking "What are you guys doing?" They showed him the pages, and he said "Make copies for the rest of the horn section." The A part ("There's a lady who's sure....") is reggae and the B part ("And if you listen very hard....") rocks, and it ends with the Laurel and Hardy theme. Great stuff.

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

I've been missing Water. Course' now I'll miss Acme, but I pretty much miss all your stories. Trouble with being a great writer I guess, people actually wanna, you know, read your stories. :)

And I easily understand why Water took control of your brain. Two Xanders? And two Faith's? That's like twice the number of reasons to like a story. :)

But you don't owe us anything.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-)

But it's a knee-jerk thing. These stories are unfinished and they need to be.

[goosegirl9.livejournal.com]

Don't apologize to us - we're not doing you a favor for reading your stories - quite the reverse! Frankly, you are a good writer and I'll read anything you write.

I have a little reprieve from RL last night and this afternoon, and you know what I did? Read about six chapters of "Water". It was so great. I can hardly wait to get back to it, so I'm glad to hear you are going to work on "Water" for a while. Then I want to read the other WIPs!

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Heh. I still feel I owe. It's RL pounded into my head. Thanks for your understanding.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

I'm astonished that you can write as well as you do, and as much as you do, and keep all those story lines straight.

I'm loving Acme but I miss Water and feel as if I've been hung over that cliff so long that I'm starting to feel the strain, so, yeah, more Water would be just fine and dandy and I'd love to see more of it before more of Acme if that's what get's me more Lizfic the soonest.

Julia, would use the cheerleader smiley if I was at the S'cubie board

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you. Like you, eight hours a day at work for waaaay too many years for practice.

Right now I'm rerunning through my Water notes to make sure I didn't blank on anything before polishing the next part.

[thirdgorchbro.livejournal.com]

Aw, we love you anyway. I'm always just so happy to see you post fic, I don't care if it's (like a certain Kzin) Spike-as-Lithuanian-goatherder fic. :-D

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I'm so far behind on LJ reading it ain't funny.

The Goatherder fic is a hoot (it's supposed to be a hoot, right?) But I've been missing updates to LJ FList all week. *hangs head*

[bastardsnow.livejournal.com]

::clears throat::

Liz, Liz, she's our gal! If she can't do it, no one shall!

You like that? I made it up all by my self.

Anywho, I'm pretty sure most of us (or at least me, and that's really who i'm caring about here) will take your stories in whatever order you wish to present them to us (or possibly, whatever order they wish to present themselves to us).

Do your thing... we'll be here to read. =D

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks.

[set-aka-ian.livejournal.com]

[quote] So, my next fic post will go back to Water and I will finish Water first. I have to. The story isn't letting me go and it's starting to haunt me while I'm falling asleep to the exclusion of sanity. [/quote]

YAY! I'm digging Acme, despite myself, but I'd really, really, really prefer to see more Water first!

And it's refreshing to see that I'm not the only one who can't sleep when they've got a story in-mind. I can't even count the number of nights I've tossed and turned and finally gotten up to type something out of my head so I could get to sleep. (Apparently it's a symptom of ADHD, but I'm old enough that we didn't use words like that. Lazy daydreamer was the label of choice when I was a kid.)

I really get the ancients and their 'Muse' concept. Mine has a mind of her own, and writes stuff, and I just feel used. Sometimes I read my own stuff and wonder where it came from... I end up all paranoid and afraid that I must have unconsciously plaigerized it from somewhere, since it doesn't feel like something I wrote.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned YAY! You're finally on LJ? I keep meaning to mention that. :-)

[set-aka-ian.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks. Got tired of being anonymous-guy.

Love the 'anxious' icon. After years of being told that Office Space was the funniest thing ever (but avoiding it since the people who told me this have also suckered me into interminable Kevin Smith and Adam Sandler movies that left me wanting to run amok with a machete and die in a hail of gunfire), I finally got to see it and thought muttering Milton was a hilarious character.

[4thdixiechick.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you intend to finish all these stories. Please don't feel bad about what order you choose to work on them. We're lucky to read them in any order, and at any pace you choose!

Happy Sunday.

[learnedhand-dj.livejournal.com]

As the person who first encouraged me to actually post some of my stuff, I think of you as my fanfic writing mentor. Or at least my fanfic writing example. But if we could switch roles for a minute, I'd like to give you a little counsel. I think it's great that you take your responsibility to your readers so seriously, but please, you shouldn't apologize for anything. I think most fanfic readers understand that fan fiction is a hobby for the writers, which means that the fics we get are gifts from the writers to us of their free time. How can we complain when someone who has given us so much has to slow down the gifting for a little while?

Switching the roles back, the fact that you are so concerned about the few weeks it's been since Water was updated shames me with my snail-like pace on Influx. Still, I take heart from the fact that RL kicks you in the ass sometimes, too. With people around like nemo_gravis who seem to be able to write non-stop, it's good to know that even the best of us sometimes can't get done what they'd like to get done.

Write what you want to write, Liz, when you have enough time to write it. No matter when it is posted, I'll be happy to read it.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I'm way happy enough with what you've done with Acme, Liz - you have gone above and beyond the call of duty on a ficathon assignment. So you do what feels best for you and your writing.

Besides, I'm a Water fan too, so I can't lose!

[sunnyd-lite.livejournal.com]

Ashes to ashes
ghosts to ghosts
we will read
whatever Liz posts


Really anything you write is so worth reading that I'll do so no matter what the story, what the order. Please post anything you like or I'll be forced to come up with more clunky cheers..yup that's a threat.

just started hitting your archives.

[sanityfaerie.livejournal.com]

I just finished Living History over the course of two consecutive evenings (1-60 the first evening, through to the end on the second) during which I did not get nearly enough sleep (30 minutes?)

Wow.

I gotta say, I love your little moments of human truth. Love them.

Also, Rudra is about the cutest fictional character I've ever read. Ever.

*Really, Really shouldn't go read No Myth now. Really shouldn't.*

that is all.

the Sanity Faerie