laliandra | Entries tagged with on being a tortured artiste

Hi my loves!

I think I've been more productive this week than I have been in the last two months combined. Come, let us bulletpoint.

I finished And The Sky Is Limitless \o/ FINALLY, RIGHT. I'm not sure quite when brimtoast and I came to the decision that we were finishing edits and posting it but it was sometime after 1am. So, yeah, I stayed up until 4am. But now it is done, hurray and people can READ IT, the WHOLE THING \o/\o/\o/
It even comes in a beautiful .pdf that shiningartifact made. IT LOOKS LIKE A REAL BOOK, YOU GUYS.
I started my new job! Look at my priorities, lulz.
I handed in my TSNBB draft! I mean, it's a sham of a facsimile of a thing but it is IN and that's the important thing. Go Teaaaam \o/
I fixed the bug on my phone that was only letting me have one email account on it. I have many identities, phone, I need them all at my fingertips.
I dyed a white dress green after taking it up and re-hemming it. Because sometimes I am a fifties housewife.

But yes, New Job! It's one of those jobs that is both vague enough that's it's very hard to explain and specific enough that if I gave all of the details you'd be able to find me. Not that I mind that particularly but I like to pretend I am some good at having a Sekrit Identity. Anyway, I get to speak French all day every day because all of my co-workers and most of our clients are les francophones. Which is really great but also completely exhausting. It's been a while since I spoke French, never mind had to parse conversations between a group of native speakers, so the levels of concentration required at the moment are kind of killer. There is another girl, Elodie, starting with me, which is nice because it means we are learning together and get to ask each other stupid question. She's pretty awesome!

Elodie: Sorry, I have a really sarcastic sense of humour. Don't take me too seriously.

Me: That is the opposite of being an issue.

Elodie and I: *have a long ranting discussion about how terrible Twilight is*

Elodie: The thing is, I'm a feminist. Saying that there is nothing else in a woman's life apart from a man, that is everything I am fighting against.

Me: *_*

The whole atmosphere is so completely different to my last job, I can't even begin to tell you. My boss is lovely, slightly mad and very French. She keeps telling us how much she values our input. She tells us scandalous stories about our clients and google images the underwear models who work for us.

Also, slightly hilariously, there are already two people in my office and one in the Paris office with my actualfax RL name. So I will be Lal at work as well!

So, yes, it's been something of a crazy week. I have been so tired I've just been coming home and napping. I know it sounds strange, but I think finishing SPAU really knocked me for six, the sheer emotional investment I have in that story and those people is overwhelming. I have to take time before replying to comments, partly so that I can do the dance of comment joy, and partly so as I don't leave replies saying OMG YOU LIKE THEM I DO TOO I LOVE YOU FOR LOVING MY BABY. Yeah. Writing makes you crazy, y'all.

Anyway, I have to go sort out my big bang draft. Apparently when I said, "I REQUIRE THAT SOMEONE WRITE A CONPEOPLE AU" that person turned out to be. Ugh, plot, how do you worrrrrrk. And the boyfriend has made lamb curry from scratch.

:D and how are yoooooou?

Seriously, my boyfriend referred to Edaurdo from The Social Network as "the accountant one" and I was outraged on his behalf.

YOU GUYS thank you so, so much for all of your lovely comments at my love meme thread, seriously, I am verklempt. I keep going back and reading them, thank you anons and not so anons, you consistently brighten my day and I would like to snuggle you all to me. I think I caught everyone else's threads but if not lmk! What, it's not like I was being super mysterious with my comments.

Things are still kind of sucky with Real Life, which involves a lot of mooching around the house by myself punctuated by going for long walks in the park down the street. The lack of structure in my life has got slightly concerning.

Yesterday

Me: Huh, it's Wednesday but I don't remember what happened Tuesday.

Me:*ponders*

Me: Oh well! Must have just lost a day *carries on*

Today

Me: So I'll see you tomorrow!

Boyfriend: No, Friday.

Me: No, because. Oh. OH. Is today Wednesday?

Boyfriend: Yes... I think you need to get out more.

So that was alarming! But on the plus side I have a new phone which is lovely and functional and so very shiny! I may just refer to it as The Upgrade.

On a related note, a couple of people have asked what "SPAU" is. Which is really a reflection of how little I use the actual title of anything I write. It stand for SteamPunkAlternateUniverse, or the fic that I am (still, mother of god, what is wrong with me) writing. It's actually called And The Sky Is Limitless and I am currently mired in Part 5 of 6. If you like airships, banter about tea-making and people being stupid about the things and people that they love feel free to check it out :)? :D?

The main issue I am having (apart from the fact that writing feelings is hard, who knew) is that I've got really into this one fictional universe and can't think outside of it. I know there was a time when I couldn't move for plot bunnies and so it's really disconcerting to only be able to think of one story and not be able to come up with ideas for anything outside of SPAU (see).

Hopefully this will sort itself out because coming up I have

thesocialbbang and

pod_together

Open for sign ups May 16 to May 27 on LJ and DW How much fun does that look? Come sign up with meeee!

And finally this is Percival

brimtoast bought him for me in Chinatown and he has three friends who now live in various parts of the USA. He was with a stand of Mario figures and pandas and cartoon creatures but we have no idea what he actually is. Apart from adorable, naturally. Both me and

brimtoast 's boyfriend came to the conclusion that he looks like the simple dog from Hyperbole and A Half, with his little :/ face of confusion.

Do any of you recognise him from anything or is he just a Mysterious Blue Thing of Cute?

ETA: UGH, FAIL. Also I am still open for mixtape requests! If you want to download the ones I have already done there is: Tick All The Boxes - a mix for

swiiftly who couldn't decide what she wanted and so got indecision. Check Your Cynicism At The Door - a bombastically happy mix for

taurenova . Cheer Up Indie Kid - a happy but still vaguely cool mix for

altogetherisi .

And The Sky Is Limitless
Fandom: AI S8 (Kris/Adam)
Rating/Warnings: Rated R for some swearing, fighting and suggestive talk. Er, also, everyone is British in streampunk :)?
Summary: In which Captain Kristopher Allen loves his ship but needs a hobby and Prince Adam is unbalancing. Featuring sky pirates, political machinations, unexpected weaponry and Much Ado About Cogs.

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

The State of Things To Come

So, this is the first part the American Idol Steampunk AU that I’ve been writing for about 18 months now. The plan is to post it in parts - I’m currently estimating 6 - over the next few weeks. Basically this is the best plan my beta and I could come up with to provide the impetus to get the thing done, because then I have a deadline and a reason to finish up (and hopefully a good injection of enthusiasm)!

Because the large majority of this story is already written there shouldn’t ever be too long a wait for the next part, which is the main reason that WIPs make me sadface, and is the excuse I have for being a total hypocrite about this.

Author's Notes
I have so many people to thank, this is going to be like the Oscars only with less tuxedoes. Sadly. Firstly, this is my love letter to AI fandom and our summer of luh. Rock on, benches. Thank you so very much to Colline, Isi, Play, Kaz and everyone who has been resolutely encouraging during the (oh god) many months that I’ve been writing this. I would have given up on the whole thing without your awesome encouragement. Thank you

swiiftly for looking over this post and holding my hand at the last. Extra special awards for cheerleading and panic managing above and beyond the call of duty go to

shiningartifact and

novembersmith , who never judged me for yelling at my characters. Mostly though, thank you is inadequate for my marvellous beta

brimtoast . If this story is my baby, then she is its fairy godmother and has nurtured it and talked me through character arcs and fixed my many, many errors and has never given up on me, even when I sent her drafts that said things like “Insert end of scene here” and “SOMETHING WITTY HERE”. I’m incredibly lucky to have her as my friend and to get to take advantage of her hilarious, charming, firm-but-fair beta skills. I’m still sorry about the commas, my dearest karalarabell.

Any remaining errors are my own fault or the result of me stubbornly waving my artistic licence.

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

Today I am celebrating meeting one of my very dearest friends, the lovely, most lovely in fact,

brimtoast , in a thing we like to call Campfireaversery because we met in a campfire chatroom. And became the kind of ridiculous middle school BFFs that warranted me making her a friendship bracelet. Because I like an extended metaphor. Also we are dorks.

Clearly I am No Good with words without Kara to beta me, which she has done tirelessly and wonderfully and if I've ever written anything you've liked, you should thank her, because otherwise I would still be comma splice happy and too unsure and flaky to post anything.

Plus, you know, she rocks in many ways and I am attempting to repay her for everything, the understanding and hilarity and all the amazing TV shows and music and fandoms and people she has brought me, the only way I know how. Which is to say, with ridiculous fic in which nothing much happens and people make history jokes. This may or may not be better than that time I rewrote an AVPM song...

This is a fic for This Is Now, a SUPERB Harry Potter RPG that Kara archived and then got me to read. It took me a while, maybe a month all told but it was amazing. Worth every second. And I really, really recommend it. If you are even considering this, DO NOT READ THIS FIC because it is set after the end of the game and so the spoilers, they are EPIC. If not, this is a pretty damn sad Harry Potter AU. I really don't mind if all y'all skip over it, don't worry.

Because really, this one is for

brimtoast . I'll see you soon, bb!

( This fic was provisionally titled "But really Lal, what are your thoughts on grief" )

Seriously, I love you. Firstly, I am SO SORRY for leaving this friends locked. I wrote half of it and then my RL exploded , please accept my most abject apologies.

So, there are things that I love in general in any kind of story.

<3 Banter. It is my greatest, dearest love. It can be flirtatious banter or friendly banter or people trying to get one up over their nemesis banter. I don't care. I am a banter!slut and I don't care who knows it.

<3 People being passionate about things. Just, yes, yes please. Which is linked to -

<3 People being good at stuff. I don't care what! I especially like to see ladies being purely competent at stuff, because, yeah, that is still upsettingly lacking. Extra bonus points if that is ladies being matter of factly good at stuff without it being made a Huge Deal By Everyone and making them any less of a normal, flawed person. Speaking of which.

<3 Flaws. I like my characters to have them, and I like the people who they love to have them and I like them to recognise that the person that they adore, in whatever sense of the word, has them.

<3 Trivia. What I mean by this is, little details that make up a world. Or fun facts about squid. Whatever. My greatest fic moment was sharing my "polar bears are ninja" funfact with the world. I just like all the crazy small facts of this world, and all the fictional ones, too.

I mean, obviously I do not expect you to be able to fit all of this into one small story! But take this as a flavour of the kind of stuff that I love bestest, but I love all kinds of other stuff too.

I love fluffy stuff, and I love hopeful endings. I don't like neat, everything tied in a bow, over simplified resolutions. I do love angst and complications. I don't love despair.

As you can see from that last example, I tend to put stuff that I like into my own writing, which can pretty much all be found listed on my Master List or my AO3 account. Other people's stuff that I like is bookmarked at delicious. I would say enter at your own risk, because the bookmarks were written for my own crazy self, and are therefore, well, kind of insane.

As for my specific fandoms. Well, I am happy with anything, which is completely true, I promise you.

Lady Gaga (Music videos)

<i>I think all of Lady Gaga's videos are truly amazing and have such a clear sense of story that I would love to see explored further. The one I am really drawn to is Alejandro. It's so compelling and cool, I would adore anything that goes into the characters and stories depicted in it. But any would be amazing.</i>

Okay, so obviously Lady Gaga is incredible and always makes incredible videos. And she is always at the centre being fierce and complex and awesome. The Alejandro video seems to have about 5 stories in it and I would kill for any of those to be told. I have seen some excellent Telephone fic (this one is a good example) but not a lot for the others and whenever I see the videos I pine for fic. Things I Like About This Canon - awesome ladies of awesome, surreal and brilliant worlds, dark undertones.

2. Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

<i>I would love anything set in this world, but one of the things that I love best about these books are the cons. So I would really love a story of a con job. It can be set any time, before the books, during or after, I don't mind. A real bonus for me would be to see something more of Nazca Barsavi, because I think she's amazing, but that would just be a cool added extra. Or if you just wanted to write something focussed on her, that would be awesome too. Any ratings or pairing are fine with me, including slash.</i>

I loved both of these books so very much. I think I loved nearly every single character who appears in them, and the world that they are set in is so intricate and unusual and just plain cool. Like, I said, I loved the confidence tricks, the schemes, the sheer balls of the thieves. I have such a thing for this genre of story. I loved Oceans 11 and Duplicity and Hustle. I just find clever people doing clever, complicated, immoral things sexy, okay? I loved that there were a plethora of ladies doing all kinds of things well. I loved the relationships the characters had. I loved that things went wrong, and sometimes they could fix it, and sometimes they couldn't. People got hurt, and had to heal. There were consequences to being stupid, or slow, or wrong. I thought Nazca was a wonderful character and I would love to hear more about her life, which is why I singled her out, and I adored her friendship with Locke. But really, anything anything anything.

Glass Books of the Dream Eaters - Gordon Dahlquist

This is probably my most open request, because I loved the world and the characters of the book and would love anything that explored any of those further. I wanted so much more from The Dark Volume, so I'd be happy with something set after it (and I would kind of prefer if the deaths were at least given a bit more explanation, but also I figured there was at least one fake one there. But if you don't agree, that's fine!) Or alternatively, more backstory would be marvellous for Celeste, the Cardinal or the Doctor. I just loved them and would love stories about any of them! Things I Loved About This Canon - the main characters being flawed and competent as all hell, Celeste and her love of shoes, the steampunk brilliance and general worldbulding, the huge set piece adventures and the Victorian sensuality .

Again, many apologies for the lateness! I am delighted we share a fandom and whatever story you want to write, I know I'll love it. HAVE FUN AND MERRY YULETIDE!

This is such a self indulgent post, really, but my brain feels all implodey. I'm still getting over a throat infection and I slept on my friend's floor last night, which is the first bit on context you need. And Leeds train station was covered in posters for the Hush Hush sequel (the book that

altogetherisi and I find more upsetting than Twilight. Really. What Aja (and awesome linkees) said, only with considerably more swearing. My hatred is endless) which made me full of violent thoughts. All in all, everything is a bit strange and vague with sleep and rage right now.

Mostly, though, my brain is being eaten alive by it being all WIPs, all the time...

So, this is what the inside of my head looks like...

Inception (Just in case you hadn't worked out that this fandom has eaten my brain or were worrying about running out of fic *g*)
( Oh, so very many (dangerous) ideas )

*cries* Steampunk AI AU which has been a WIP for *mumblemumble* months. Years. Lifetimes.
( I can practically write this part from memory )

500 words of Summer fics
( Yes, yes, I know, not summer anymore )

Sigh. And those are only the ones that have a googledoc of their very own. I hope y'all are doing well! Feel free to commiserate or just say hi or whatever. It's all groovy <3

Current Mood: sleepy

I keep thinking aout making a real, honest to God post. I am also thtinking about some sort of Intro/Masterlist post thing because, hi new people! I'm still trying to work out what people need to know about me. Suggestions?

But then I figured, ah, whatever, I might as well just throw together a random collection of things for y'all, featuring Inception, work, POST but sadly no bats.

Firstly, this is why I should always spend a lot of time on Skype with

kaiserkuchen . But also why our Inception Big Bang plan is Somewhat Vague (you guys we are doing Inception Big Bang and I am super excited and mildly terrified but GO TEAM US!)

Me: I don't know, whenever I think about Arthur's job I think, "what actually is a point man" and I just go to this weird 'A Very Potter Musical' place in my head.
Kaz: Two things about AVPM. No. Three things. Firstly, the Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts song is crazy catchy. The dude who plays Harry is crazy cute and the dude who plays Voldemort is like, craaaaaaazy hot.
Me: Yes, yes and yes. Anyway. So, I just think of Arthur standing up all earnest and going, "POINTMEN ARE PARTICULARLY GOOD FINDERS" and then Dom(bledore) squinting and saying, "... WHAT THE HELL IS A POINTMAN?"

Oh what times we have.

Inception Fandom remains incredible and really, really good for my Internet Bucket List. I was going to write "would be good for my Internet Bucket List" but that would be pretending that I don't have one. I am trying to keep up with the INSANE amount of fic being produced by reading on my phone on the way to work. Because I have

bookshop 's delicious saved on my phone bookmarks like a creeper. Anyway, Say I'm The Only Bee In Your Bonnet now has 100 delicious saves! \o/ FOREVER! Plus

taurenova has agreed to write her amazing AU (yay boybands!) if I write mine (er, ballroom dancing). This is actually the third Inception fic I have recklessly agreed to write via the medium of Twitter. The 140 characters makes me crazy, clearly. But, yes, so many lovely, lovely things :D

Incidentally, I love how we are all pretty clear about why we love Joseph Gordon-Levitt (because he is adorable and I have loved him for at least ten years ever since he was a snarky alien child and also he is seeeeriously hot. And also THIS [he makes his own French part *_*]). But we all seem to be all kinds of confused about Tom Hardy, the man, the enigma. French film expert and shoe obsessive. Man with chav tattoos and who spells with numbers. IDEK, you guys, but ILHIM.

I have also recently got amazing post from Kaz and

mcollinknight who sent me a awesome package with sweets and this amazing necklace which has flowers on one side and is made from an L scrabble tile. AN L FOR LAL SCRABBLE TILE, YOU GUYS. :D! And a postcard from

shiningartifact , who went on holiday without telling me where and so I waited for her postcard to find out and it
was kind of super exciting for me. And also everyone else who I had told about this. Plus lovely voiceletters <3.

Work remains kind of this bizarre mixture of really dull and randomly hilarious. I work with this one guy who used to be in the army until he broke his leg in four places on a training exercise and it's so strange because I walk to work with him and he tells me about like, grouse shooting and kayaking and how he can't sleep because his company just got shipped to Afghanistan. And I tell him about how The Last Airbender is a bad, rascist movie and dancing. It seems to be working out okay.

Also we are all going out to a kareoke bar next month, as some sort of work bonding thing. We all have to sing. What the hell am I going to sing?!

And finally, in dancing news, I have started samba and reggaeton again :D. I went all of last year but I haven't danced since. It does mean that I have a *calculates* 14 hour day on Mondays, but it's so very worth it. I feel achey but very satisfied and I'm looking forward to feeling more fit and flexible. Plus I love my teacher, she's so great, and the whole class spent our break talking about Strictly Come Dancing. I love that show more than anything. It is genuinely my favourite show on television, the happiest of all happy places. Twitter friends, I'm really sorry about the spam, but love makes me crazy.

I think that's everything? I hope y'all are doing well. Tell me some news! I have seen many entries that I mean to reply to (OMG, Anna, seriously, you rock) and I will hopefully get round to it at some point. I pledge a love eternal to every one of you &hearts

Remember how last time I posted I mentioned that I was excited for

novembersmith 's ~~jacket~~ (no, that joke will never get old to me, why do you ask?) Big Bang EPIC fic?

Well, it is posted and its fabulousness released upon the world.

"The Anatomy of a Fall" is the story of a boy and the boy he meets in the woods. It's about creepy small towns in America. It's about love and loss and growing up. It's incredible.

So you should all go read it right now.

It is a bandom AU, but you don't need to know the fandom to love it, trust me. I love it because it ticks so many of my absolute story loves.

There is adorable banter! Realistically written teenagers! Amazing group interactions! Jokes! Beautiful, atmospheric language (including some stunning metaphors, my not so secret favourite thing ever)! NERD JOKES! A slow build love story! Suspense! Mythology! Hot make outs! People being good at stuff! BANTER!

Also, I think I have to say something about the narrative voice. It's just so.. so clear, you know? As someone who tries this writing lark now and then, let me tell you that getting your POV voice so spot on all the way through is near on impossible. And this fic pulls it off with aplomb and darlingness, in what is essentially a novel. Gerard is defiant and grouchy and geeky and unthinkingly sweet and unknowingly brave. I love him, and marvel at Lauren's mad skillz.

Seriously. Read it.

Obviously y'all know that that the author is a dear, dear friend of mine, but let me assure you that this in no way cheapens this heart felt rec. It just means that I can tell you that I know that she has worked long and hard on this fic, like, years long. That she has panicked that no one will like it (because we are neurotic creatures, us writers!). That I have lucked out with being friends with her, clearly!

Anyway, my contribution has mostly been of the ridiculous nature, and so my present to novemberlauren is err,
( This? )
The two ahem, works have literally nothing in common in terms of quality and outlook! This is just my own craziness. Sorry, Lauren! ILU!

Current Mood: moody

Okay, so the posting more thing. That went well! The thing is, I have realised that I only tend to blog when I'm happy, and things have not been great, recently. I got made redundent and I had a series of days whee all I could think was "why do such bad thing happen to such good people?". So, yes. But, I am feeling more positive and thus more like blogging. And you know what this means, a meme! A lovely meme about writing, gakked from

rickey_a . This also seems a good moment to point you in the direction of my Author's page at the Archive of Our Own, which I am slowly but surely filling with nice, cleaned up versions of my fic. All handily stored in one place! For (HINTNUDGEHINT) ease of reading and commenting.

I am also declaring this post a "Ask Me About Writing" post. Just in case you had a question you wanted to ask me about anything I have ever written, or in general about being the horrible cliché of a writer that I am...

( I was going to call this Inside My Mind but I thought it might actually put people off )

Current Mood: pensive

Happy 2010!

I had a most excellent New Year's Eve. It involved homemade hats and glitter glue, chocolate fondue, champagne cocktails from the roaring twenties, Nat making friends with a baby, much Inappropriateness and Innuendo("Is Ivy's flange warm?") and The Hat Game, Scattergories and The Humming Game.

\o/

I also kept people still living in the past apprised of the situation re: zombie uprisings and robots. Still no hoverboots. I'll keep you posted!

Anyway, today being the first, I can reveal my Yuletide story! And also talk a lot about the phenomenon known as Yuletide madness. Oh! And explain my present to my December ladies (

pigrescuer ,

jorajo ,

miabee023 )

I wrote Tipping The Balance, a fic for The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. If you would like to go read and then come back, my ramblings below might make some sense... You can comment here or on the Archive of Our Own!

( The story of my Yuletide story, or how I stopped worrying and learnt to love my inner Neil Gaiman voice... )

And now I get to share Yuletide with everyone. Yuletide is amazing. There are thousands of fics, and I have hardly begun reading but seriously. There is fic for the unexpected and the delightful. I suggest that you go read

novembersmith 's recs, and then go to her author page and read everything there, because she was a crazy, wonderful person and wrote FOUR fics and I assure you, they are all AMAZING.

Plus, she deserves some extra love, because without her, I would never have got so very much Yuletide Treasure - a wonderful story of my own, some unbelievably nice comments, the proud, real ficcer feeling of having a AO3 account and the joy of seeing so many people just being so happy and geekishly delighted by things that they love. <3

Current Mood: nerdy

You guys, Christmas is INSANE when you work in retail. And when you are working twelve hours days. And when you are trying to write a Yuletide fic that doesn't suck. And also have a life. So far, so good, but I'll let you know how long that lasts!

So, my job is going well! My days mostly go something like this

6.30ish - Get Up. Stagger around.

7.00 Bus No.1 Listen to mp3 player (I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue! Radio 4 comedy FTW)

7.31 Bus No.2 They not to fall asleep and have schoolchildren draw on me or some such.

8.30ish Lift from Coworker J. Discussion of how BLOODY COLD it is.

Working Day - Answer emails. French people tend to come in two modes, either Terrifyingly Polite or DRAMA CAPS THIS IS THE MOST TERRIBLE/WONDERFUL THING THAT THERE HAS EVER BEEN. It's kind of amusing, but a bit of a mood whiplash! Sneak read flist. Write about perfume. Go on Wordreference. Utterly fail to have a lunch hour. Promise people that their order will definitely be there by Christmas. Repeat.

5.30 Bus No. 1

6.30 Bus No.2

7.00 Get home. Collapse in heap...

I mean, I like my job, which is more than I could ever have hoped for, and I like having money (OMG MONEY!) but yes, that is a twelve hour day.

And so, I have three DARLING ladies who all have birthdays in December and who, by all rights should have something written for them from me... But... BUT, I will have a good surprise for you at the end of the month, I promise!

Yuletide fic carries on apace. I have the required amount of words, and remain hopelessly in love with my source. Sigh. If I can be a millionth as good as it, I will be happy! I spend a lot of time on the bus creating my own little world, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. Yuletide is so exciting! I had no idea! I feel so FESTIVE!

In terms of actually having a life, I went to London to visit Belle, Sal and Wren. It was delightful, and we got to see the canal boat which Wren lives on with her boyfriend and hear about Sal's crazy country adventures and Belle's internship with UNICEF. I love my friends, they are the very best kind of special snowflakes.

OH! Thank you for my snowflake gifts, lovely people! I was so touched. And I love that

ontd_ai broke LJ with them. This makes me happy.

AND FINALLY I got everyone's cards and etcs send out on Thursday, so you should start getting them any day now :D

I had to go to the Post Office in my lunch hour, which was interesting...

Lal: *enters with large bag of presents, feeling Santa-like*
PO Lady: Last international posting date stuff?
Lal: :)? *produces many letters*
POL: Is that everything?
Lal: Um... No? :)? :D?
POL: *sighs*
Lal: *sits on floor to stick stamps and labels and customs stickers*
Random Middle Aged Lady; It's good to see people make eccentric use of the floorspace.
Lal: Lady, you have NO IDEA. If you could see what was inside some of these envelopes...

So yes, I'm not dead, and I will see some of you soon (MARMFISH I AM EXCITED FOR OUR COOKIES ) and will be updating more in the future and generally being a better LJ friend and I hope that you are all well!

Current Mood: exhausted

So, I am now a working girl.

No, wait.

I am a Person with a job and a title and everything. It is European Relations Executive. Most people I know's reaction can be summed up as such

.... AHAHAHAHAHA.

Anyway, SOME people were slightly less hysterically amused and decidedly more awesome. Like

kaiserkuchen , who drew me AN AWESOME PICTURE OF AWESOMENESS.

( Srsly! )

!!! Hi Kris hi!

And by some fluke, she drew Kris sitting on an EXACT COPY OF MY CHAIR AT WORK. Look at his adorable PLAID TROUSERS AND EXPRESSION OF SRS BNS. This means I should add Sexy Librarian Kris AU to my List of Things To Write List*, right?!

You know how sometimes people on your friends list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when!?" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

If you like, copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

You guys feel free to ask for further explanation or anything you have ever wanted to know!

FIRST NAME: Lal! Well, not really. But really! I guess half of you know my real name by now, but I really love being Laliandra, it's so pretty.

AGE: 22. Mmm, symmetry.

LOCATION: In front of my laptop, my far too cold attic bedroom, my delightfully multicoloured house, my cobbled street, my city, The Frozen North, En-ger-land.

OCCUPATION: I actually have one of these now! I translate and write blurbs about perfume (it is hard to resist being passive aggressively bitchy about Paris Hilton's perfume) and put things in boxes and tell people where their stuff is (usually where it is supposed to be). I have to get up CRAZY early, and get the bus to work. But the people I work with are cool and put up with me saying things like "OMG Anderson Cooper's mother has her own perfume!" and "Oh damn, I shoulda used the subjunctive there. Want to know something cool about the subjunctive?"

PARTNER: Is a word I dislike. Unless you use it for Partner In Crime. I do have a boyfriend, who goes by the name of Nat round here, and we have been going out longer than we both like to admit. Luckily we are both really conflicted about being romantic! <s>He makes me smile</s>

KIDS: They're great! I genuinely like children and have the Gift when it comes to making babies smile. I used to be a children's party entertainer. But oh god, not for MANY years. I want to do a lot of unchild-friendly things first!

BROTHERS/SISTERS: Nope! Make sweeping only child statements AT YOUR PERIL.

PETS: Sadly not. I have had many over the years, but uni life is not for pets. Me and Sal very nearly bought a kitten last year. We really shouldn't be left alone with fluffy things...

LIST THE 3/5 BIGGEST THINGS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE:
@ My new job
@ Organising meet ups with various peoples
@ Planning going to see my Dad in South Africa and catching some sun and some Test Matches there, too.
@ My WIP/ Things to Write List**
@ Trying to get my bed mended (lame but important! It could fall apart under IN MY SLEEP)

PARENTS: My parents met at my Dad's birthday party. He was dressed as a chorister and my Mum thought he was gay (Drama student, you see). The next party was thrown my Granny (Dad's Mum) and was a tarts and vicars theme with a genuine priest and a genuine prostitute. Granny was the Madam. This should probably tell you all you need to know about my family. My Dad is tall and has distinguished grey streaks in his hair. He writes adverts for a living, or he does occasionally, mostly now he bums around South Africa. He is a great cook and a hopeless speller. He is obsessed with penguins. Both my parents had South African fathers and non SA mothers. My Mum was a bluecoat and when she was 20ish ran away to Spain to become a go-go dancer and when that didn't work out she sold her own blood to buy her ticket home. She used to leave me notes everywhere. She was madly in love with David Bowie and Stephen Fry. She worked in marketing, so I think about advertising more than is normal, I fear. She never forgave me for not growing one shoe size more so that she could steal my shoes like she stole my jackets. I stole right back, of course.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS? Well, like C, I think I have separate groups. I have the friends I went to school with (one of whom is getting MARRIED in less than a year!). They are mostly silly, darling, spectacularly geeky boys, apart from Cat and Lil. Who are still silly, darling and geeky, but also very foxy ladies. I've known them all a long time. We have History. We mostly keep in contact by phone and Facebook these days, but I'm still glad I have them.

Then I have my uni friends. Apart from a couple of people, they have all sadly upped sticks and moved South. Apart from Nat and Elliot, and I'm keeping a careful eye on them! Anyway, most of my unii friends are marvellous, smart, funny and girls. I lived with 3 amazing ladies while at uni, and I miss them so badly! I need people to watch Strictly Come Dancing with, talk literature with, discuss our invisible friends and Gaudi and Falafel, our imaginary goldfish, with... But I'm going to see them all in London soon!

And then I have you guys! I have my fabulous spammers, I have Kaz to text me 7 times in one hour about Adam Lambert. I have the Marmfish (seriously, people, MEETUP?!). I have the lovely C to drag into fandoms with me. I have my Campfire ladies, who are so marvellous I have no words. OHTEATHREE, OKAY? I have some dear friends who I chat with through the internet and I'm happier for it.

So, OMG, that got much longer than expected! As a reward, footly bits aka footnotes.

* The List - Lessons in cookery for TDL marmfish, Something Royal-y for Havemercy peeps, Love is Not a Zero Sum Game or Venn Diagrams are fun!, A Beginners Guide to Bromancing, Sexy Librarian AU ;), More Postcards from Nowhere, More NbNW.
** - WIPs - Kradam talk food, game shows and ninja-ness for Kaz, YULETIDE, SPAU,

Snippets and explanations given freely and with love to anyone who asks. You made it this far, you deserve a reward!

Current Mood: bouncy

Hi Person who is going to write me a story! And Everyone else who is along for the ride.

So, this is my yuletide letter, which is a teeny bit late seeing as assignments have already gone out and for that I am so, so sorry. Because, basically, you are SO awesome. You picked one of my fandoms, I already know that you are awesome.

So, there are things that I love in general in any kind of story.

<3 Banter. It is my greatest, dearest love. It can be flirtatious banter or friendly banter or people trying to get one up over their nemesis banter. I don't care. I am a banter!slut and I don't care who knows it.

<3 People being passionate about things. Just, yes, yes please. Which is linked to -

<3 People being good at stuff. I don't care what! I especially like to see ladies being purely competent at stuff, because, yeah, that is still upsettingly lacking. Extra bonus points if that is ladies being matter of factly good at stuff without it being made a Huge Deal By Everyone and making them any less of a normal, flawed person. Speaking of which.

<3 Flaws. I like my characters to have them, and I like the people who they love to have them and I like them to recognise that the person that they adore, in whatever sense of the word, has them.

<3 Trivia. What I mean by this is, little details that make up a world. Or fun facts about squid. Whatever. My greatest fic moment was sharing my "polar bears are ninja" funfact with the world. I just like all the crazy small facts of this world, and all the fictional ones, too.

( In which Lal is more specific and more general... )

Much love,
Lal, who just loves stories...

So, that's what I like! But really, I'm easy. What do YOU like?!

Current Mood: giddy

So, let's talk writing...

I signed up for

yuletide . \o/ It's after Bonfire Night, we can talk about Christmassy things now, right?

For those who don't know, yuletide is a fic exchange, but for small fandoms. Which I like the idea of, because some of my very favourite fandoms are, well, bijou? Cosy? Anyway, I have offered myself to write all manner of exciting things and if it all goes horribly wrong I shall be blaming

novembersmith who, in the grandest traditions of the marmfish, will probably blame me...

Anyone else doing yuletide this year? Or any other kind of fic exchange? Any tips for a total newbie? I am super excited about it. I want my prompt now!

So, I am really going to have to try to finish That Damn Steampunk AU. Currently I am stalled a little, and mildly concerned that it is slightly chatchatflirtporridgechatEPICAIRSHIPBATTLEchat. Oh well. Could be worse.

It also has no name, and I can't call it SPAU for all time. It's a little like SPEW, for a start! Um, help?

It does have a kick awesome summery, though, if I say so myself. "In which Captain Kristopher loves his airship but needs a hobby and Prince Adam is unbalancing. Featuring sky pirates, political machinations, unexpected weaponry and Much Ado About Cogs"

And finally, NaNoWriMo people, how goes it? I am so proud of you all, and expect great things! I will be over here cheerleading like crazy.

Like this *\o/*

<3 Lal

ps. all y'all who had thoughts about blogging, I am in awe of your depth of thought. My flist wins at life.

Current Mood: creative

See, I have not thrown myself off the top of the Parkinson Building. I realise I rather freaked out at y'all then ran away and didn't post for WEEKS. Please accept my apologies. But people keep asking me questions like "What are you going to do with your life?" and I just don't know.

I'll keep you posted.

So, what have I been doing with my time, you may well ask. Well, I have been having terrible days like the one last week I decided that replacing my foundation was a luxury I couldn't afford. Plus, you know, all the days with conversations that went something like this -

Dad: *makes plans*
Nat: *makes plans*
Dad and Nat: *look at me expectantly*
Lal: What I am bringing to this conversation is the ability not to curl up in a ball and cry. Go me.

I don't like talking about this too much here, because I am useless with sympathy and am incapable of talking about serious things for too long. I have no talent for unhappiness, it makes me feel self concious. I tend to rather make bad jokes.

*makes an abrupt change of subject instead*

Thank you, everyone, for all your reasons to be cheerful that you left for me. The theme seemed to be very much pretty boys and cake. I love that you know me so well! My flist is a Reason to be Cheerful, no doubt about it. I highly recommend the comments if you are feeling down.

And I have been having good days, great days too. I went to the Isle of Man for a week with Nat and was fed by my family and bought books by my friends. It's one of those things I may get round to blogging about properly, one of these days. They were all good days.

Or the day I met the lovely

vandulocity for coffee in the arcade (I love the arcade, it makes me feel fancy!) and we had a good old fashioned marmfishy chat.

(A marmfishy chat - One that goes off on tangents, makes other people around you look at you strangely, includes many references to books, the internet, food and, of course, marmalade.)

Or the day that I got exciting post from Kaz *swishes around in her new earrings and drinks thai green tea*

Or any day that I watched an episode of Glee.

In other Lal related news, seeing as we are playing catch up...

My Dad is moving to South Africa! Which is exciting for him, and also for me. Just in time for the World Cup! I will be much more excited about going to visit him now. SA trumps the Isle of Man on so many levels, let's face it... Sunshine, glorious sunshine!

I am really enjoying living in my New House. Though it is not so new any more, seeing as I've been here 2 months. I still miss my lovely ladies of the Hessles, but my new housemates kind of rock, too.

There's Elliot, who I've known for about 3 years, but we only discovered last year that we are ridiculously alike and share a freaky psycic connection that means we KICK ASS at pictionary/charades/The Hat Game/Anything that requires you to be on the same wavelength. He does talk about maths a lot, but then no one is perfect.

Then there are two new girls, Jill and Eve. They are both so nice, I feel we are very lucky to have found them. We three girls watch cookery shows together and judge the contestants terribly.

It is Autumn! I realise this is not exactly breaking news, but I love Autumn. The fallen leaves are so pretty, and smell so good. And I get to break out my brown boots and my green wool coat and all my thick coloured tights. And I love summer dresses, really I do, but I love tights and knitwear and hats more.

So, that is me. Any news from where you are? How is uni, new uni people? How goes your writing, writers? (play! Remind me to sort out and send you the notes I made of YOUR BOOK *throws more confetti*) How is YOUR freak out going, dearest C? How is the thesis, Kaz? How the devil are you, everyone?

Current Mood: drained

So, I've been a bit out of contact, I know. This is because RL decided to turn me upside down and inside out and I'm still not sure what's going on. Also, marmfish? My laptop hates Chatzy and won't work if I try and load it. I MISS YOU GUYS!

Basically I applied for a Masters in Applied Translation (French) at Leeds University and they said "Okay, that's fine. You have a place and we will send you your final confirmation when we get your funding confirmed."

So I was pleased and made plans for the next year of my life.

THEN The Isle of Man government didn't send Leeds University anything about my funding so I couldn't get that confirmed and so I couldn't get funding because I didn't have a confirmed place and when I got in contact with Leeds about it last week, they told me that they had given my place away.

THEY GAVE MY PLACE AWAY AND DIDN'T TELL ME.

So. Yeah. Then there was a lot of yelling and crying, and the uni were both unapologetic and unhelpful. And there's nothing I can do, except try not to freak out.

So, that has been my life, of late. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do, so please don't ask. It's all rather up in the air, but rest assured I'll keep you posted.

I am trying, now, though to focus on Reasons To Be Cheerful.

Everyone I know has been marvellous, my new housemate Elliot bought me takeaway pizza and ice cream and watched 10 Things I Hate About You and Get Over It with Me (yay adaptations of Shakespeare into a teen format!), because even though he is a straight boy, he owns about a million chick flicks.

Nat made a Plan B and then a Plan C and then a Plan D (which has a lot in common with Alan's "KILL THEM ALL" plan)

Cat took me to Lush and we got hand massages.

Also, internet friends? ILGUYS.

Kara and novemberlauren threatened picketing and spammed me with cheerful songs, Rhonda threatened people's shins and Colline called me a gem.

I talked to Kaz on Skype in a serious business way for her thesis about blogging and then just randomly for about an hour about all sorts of things. Food, especially. I was on a high all day after that!

I have a New Icon! I love earning new icons! It means I get to open my 'Icons that I Save and Crave' folder, current content approximately 50, and pick a lucky new icon. London is Love.

I have a story that I like and it's really flowing! 5000 words of steampunk AU...

And Strictly Come Dancing starts on Friday!

AND I just had the following phone call.

Lal: Hello?
Nat: HALP I have lost a man in a forest! Oh no! There he is! BYE!

Tell me some good news, dearest flist. Tell me a joke. Tell me about your kick-awesome lives!

Current Mood: disappointed

I am going to try and be organised today!

First OoB: IT'S JUNE. Which means it's Book Day, aka the release day of The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (

sarahtales ).

Do not walk, run and go and purchase this book! DO IT! Ahem. Seriously though, it's the best book I've read all year, and I have read many books, many of them excellent. I can't think of a single reason why not. Also, the fandom is kickass, and you get to be a

marmalade_fish .

I fail at summerising, so here is the book in 20 words, according to Miss Rees Brennan " Fencing. Fighting wolves with bike chains. Torture. Demons. Magicians. Ravens. Books. Families. Rooftop chases. Lies. More lies. Love." If you need more convincing I will explain why any one of these things is impossibly awesome.

Second OoB: My brain twin

mcollinknight has returned to us from Kenya! So I am Order of Businessing in her honour. She built a school, people, I have no words for how sparkling she is.

Third OoB: SUMMER. HOTHOT SUMMER. I am so happy that it is hot and sunny. I love Leeds in the summer, because of the park.

( It was sunny a second before )

Everyone goes and plays and sunbathes and meets up and barbeques. It's brilliant. What did I do in the park? Well firstly i wore a very large straw hat. But I also had a range of fun activities
( I love my notebook! )
Eating ice lollies, reading the paper/doing the crossword, reading The Demon's Lexicon, again, and writing Jenn's birthday story.

Which brings me to my Forth OoB: Namely, it may seem like I haven't been writing a lot but, um, I've been hiding it away! I've been doing bits and dabs of writing for a cute AU, which kind of borders on RPS, and I didn't know if all y'all would be okay with that. But, well, I'm enjoying it, and I like what I've written more than anything I've done in a long time, and so if you would like to read it, I am going to unlock it/link. There is kissing in the rain, the throwing of inanimate objects and boys being hopeless! But also, it uses real life politicians and pundits, so if you feel uncomfortable with that, cool, I'll warn, and I really, really don't mind if you don't read it.

OoB Five: Mission 101! Holy crapola, this is late...

I have

made Thai Green curry from scratch.
made Eccles cakes, which are a northern tradition, and very yummy, pastry and dried fruit affairs. I love making pastry!
Completed The Guardian crossword, in ten mintues flat! 4/10
Begun an address book.
Ginone for drinks with people from French and a photo exhibition with Melinda.

I didn't drink champagne on Mum's birthday. I was busy and poor and in the middle of exams. I might make that a different goal, IDK.

So I'm feeling very summery in a dress I got for free, with the summer stretching out before me, full of potential. I'm pretty damn happy right about now.

Current Mood: hot

[Error: unknown template qotd]I know this is late but I went to watch The Official Secrets Act play instead of posting this. I feel it was a fair trade off!

So I have made a few new friends (if by 'made' you mean 'was friended by because I am a terrible wuss and fail at friending', and I do), so I thought this would be an opportune moment to fill you all in, and sneak in some extra stuff for those already in the know. Also, to me this seems like a question that could mean two things.

HI! Lets get to know each other better!

I go by the name of Lal round here, and sometimes IRL too. (Hi people-who-already-knew-that. I can't think of anything extra to put here, apart from that sometimes I am also the Maven of Cupcakes, which was news to me too!)

I study French and History -more on that here- at the University of Leeds. I should really be doing scary Final Year work instead of doing this. (and I am drowning in books and post-it notes.)

I live in a house at the end of a terrace with 3 other girls, Belle, Wren and Sal. They are charming and fabulous and put up with my absent-mindedness with great forebearance. (Also, sometimes we all sit around the table with tea and biscuits and talk about Narnia for hours on end.)

I have some too good to be true friends, but mostly they are a bit odd. I have a boyfriend called Nat, who has a grown up job and who lives to mock me. I have a slightly crazy family (you know, the type who people meet and go "Ah, I see, this explains a lot"), who are mostly in the Isle of Man or South Africa. Which are 2 of the places I grew up. (my crazyawesome Granny sent me a book about emoticons and an Aero bar today)

In regards to this journal, I have a Mission101, which I try and update every month, and I like to talk about books, languages, random things that happen to me, music and anything that takes my fancy. My most used tag is crazy conversations. I don't update everyday, but often. I often make bad jokes and literary references. Sometimes there are pictures of cake. (I think I am quite good at commenting and the like, no?)

Recently I won an Advanced Reader's Copy of Sarah Rees Brennan's-

sarahtales - book. I love her blog and her writing and fangirl her madly. (And it came today!!!! With a really sweet message! I am throughly gripped and delighted already.) So you'd need to know that I will probably mention her too.

My fandoms are wide and varied, I write fanfiction occasionally, and I run a Sekrit Book Club, but mostly I lurk in corners and am generally delighted by people's creativity, involvement, silliness, insight and ability to bring the lulz. (that means you guys!)

If there's anything you would like to know, feel free to ask. Suggestions here.

The question is weird though, because to me it initially sounded like, if someone you already knew read this journal, what would they need to know?

Well, they would need to know that I have probably given them a pseudonym. That I love my lj, but no, I don't tell RL friends about it. This is mostly because it contains Things That I Have Written, which I neurotically cannot show to people face to face. I wouldn't have to tell them that I am weird, because that, they already know...

The line between RL and online stuff is a strange one, essentially. I might need to think more and post more later. What do you think? I would write more but I need to finish my ARC!

Current Mood: enthralled

Requests at the end, first, DELIGHT!

I am delighted, yet again, because my tee shirt came! You can buy them at Shop Marmalade! It's much greener than it looks in the picture. It's uber soft as well, you know how tees shirts get after you've had them a little while, only this came like that.

Here is a picture of me being a total poser in it.
( Je suis poseur )

And also what I believe they call 'The Money Shot'
( isn't the lettering the CUTEST?! )

I have also found out that you can preorder my friends' band's album from Amazon! I find this remarkably exciting. They are unfairly talented and charming boys, who always have something smart to say. For example, regarding So Tomorrow, one of my favourites, they say

The song was written for a friend of ours who was so anxious about his future and his decisions that he couldn’t move forward at all. OSA have on occasions found themselves equally bewildered by the choices that they see before them. We live in a dual world where every small personal decision we make might have enormous consequences; eg. when OSA buy a cheap pair of trainers are we saving money so we can pay our rent, or are we supporting the abuse of a 14 year old in a sweat shop in the Phillipines? AAAAAAAAAAAAAggggggggggggg

ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So Tomorrow asks how much time we can afford to spend feeling guilty, and whether it might not be better to go out, take up cigarettes and stop waiting for life to miraculously become easy.

And to all of those of you who are anxious about the future, just remember: It’s not happened yet!

So, in the sprit of the thing, I have started to apply for a Masters in Applied Translation. ARG. Terrified!

Anyway, I am very happy but utterly museless. I really want to write, but I can't think of what. So, I'm taking request. Anything you've ever wanted to ask me about? Go for it. Want me to write you some fic? Just just tell me what. Specific as you like, in fact, go super specific, I need help and inspiration! I'll blog/write/well thats all I can do because I fail at drawing whatever you like.

HAVE AT IT!

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: in a sunspot
Current Music: OSA So Tomorrow

Profile

laliandra

October 2016

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Page Summary

*Levels Up*
I'm starting to think I should just tag my whole life #overinvestedinfictionalpeople
And The Sky Is Limitless Masterpost
This Is Now fic for Kara
Most Dear Yuletide Writer
Who knows what goes on in her pretty little head (hint there is many a WIP)
Bits and Bats (Does Not Contain Actualfax Bats)
It's a Ghost Story, Baby, Just Say Yes
Just write, self. Just write.
Making the Yuletide Gay!
News From The Frontline
Working Hard For The Money
Dearest Yuletider (or What Lal Loves in Stories)
*Dons beret and heads to the garret*
*Is Not Dead*
A Shitty Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
The Day Today
Writer's Block: Previously on My Journal
In which Lal takes requests and has a Zombie Boyfriend (onlynotreally)

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A Study in Contradictions

Entries tagged with on being a tortured artiste

Levels Up

I'm starting to think I should just tag my whole life #overinvestedinfictionalpeople

And The Sky Is Limitless Masterpost

This Is Now fic for Kara

Most Dear Yuletide Writer

Who knows what goes on in her pretty little head (hint there is many a WIP)

Bits and Bats (Does Not Contain Actualfax Bats)

It's a Ghost Story, Baby, Just Say Yes

Just write, self. Just write.

Making the Yuletide Gay!

News From The Frontline

Working Hard For The Money

Dearest Yuletider (or What Lal Loves in Stories)

Dons beret and heads to the garret

Is Not Dead

A Shitty Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

The Day Today

Writer's Block: Previously on My Journal

In which Lal takes requests and has a Zombie Boyfriend (onlynotreally)