This Edge of Lasg'len

It all started here. I woke up and looked at 'my' Discord server for the bloated tic of a fanfic (hey that rhymes, neurospicy two seconds!) I write with my partner SonaBeanSidhe, Aran Thranduil's Dining Hall. There hadn't been enough tea yet so the natural response was 'wth is this?' Well, THIS was going to Hoover my next two days and counting. Just visit the post, dear friends of the writing persuasion and you would see (I'll save you time because I'm nice this way) that there are many screenshots supporting just what the meme says: This Instagram OP knows a writer who found herself in a steaming pile of mess with the Google Docs TOS (which is really also the Google Drive TOS, making it somewhat difficult to locate said TOS. I'll save you more time. Here:

This information comes from https://support.google.com/docs/answer/148505#zippy=%2Csexually-explicit-material So, it was the act of sharing the files, not having created or stored them that triggered what had happened. Okay, still not reassuring. In the meantime, I was concerned enough to post what had happened to r/FanFiction. Within minutes, my post had been frozen by the mods there. I can see their concern. I believe they had only seen the meme-like first screen of the Instagram post, and it does come off like a bad Snopes Fail. They asked me for more proof. The first thing I did was a search for previous instances of Google having frozen Drive accounts previously. They are limited, but they exist. The concern here had to do with the current lack of information as to why the action happened, and whether we who collectively authored and had shared Docs with explicit content were about to have our Drive accounts fall before the scythe of an overzealous AI rollout on the part of Google. Which led to the second part of this. My first response to the mods was as follows:

A little while after I sent this, an update appeared on the Instagram OP's account (easy to find) so I added this:

The salient point of the update was that the author had received restored access to her Drive, but NOT the Doc that had started the entire difficulty. I waited for a response. And waited, and waited. In the meantime, I had no means to add to, respond to, anything to my original post or defend myself against some fairly sharp initial criticisms leveled against me by individuals who clearly hadn't read anything beyond the initial meme. Special. While I understand a sub this large likely has a lot of messages to field, I also felt that given they managed to freeze my post in a matter of minutes, they were really taking their time responding. So I weighed in on Instagram with a message of support. If nothing else is taken away, please take this: Back up your files. It's easy to create an alt Google account; this other account will have its own Drive storage. Share your folders and files with yourself. If you don't already realize, in Docs under the File dropdown menu the third option is Make A Copy. If you have shared the original document 75 times, you won't have shared that copy at all. Consider backing up your works to Indie platforms like Get Hermit, Ellipsus and The Quill. There may be others. Your own external hard drive is also a very good idea. But wait, you ask. What about just using MS Word, or having copies as a PDF file in the Adobe cloud? Not so fast, my friend. Look at Microsoft and Adobe's TOS regarding sexually explicit content...you'll get an unpleasant surprise. I did. In the meantime, a third update came from the OP on Instagram shedding far more light as to what had likely gone wrong. She had shared the Doc with she guessed 18-20 people as beta readers. The belief is now that one of these persons actually turned her in to Google via their abuse form. To quote one of the commenters on that update: "I heard from an agent that Google will only do this to your account if someone reports it. Google isn’t scanning docs for explicit content (except maybe images), but yeah, for this to happen, someone had to report her document to Google." This felt like a relief...and yet is still packaged inside a cautionary tale. How many of us have shared by 'whoever has this link'? I have, or rather, I had. I revoked all such permissions to all large stories and folders in favor of my few trusted long-time friends and beta readers. The works are on AO3. I don't need those Docs links to be free floating all over the place, not after seeing what can happen. I was on vacation in England some years prior when I realized I had lost the ability to send out all outgoing Gmail. It took me several days to figure out what had gone wrong and nearly lost me my ability to receive Covid test results at a time when that was a travel necessity...almost disastrous. Fortunately I had multiple email accounts and could work around the problem. Which brings me to the last of this.

While including the subreddit mod's responses here may seem retaliatory/petulant on my part...I'm at best miffed at their shortsightedness, maybe mildly insulted, mostly shaking my head at the fact that there is something to have been learned here that could have affected any one of us. No one was spreading misinformation. Something had indeed happened. The source of it had been unknown at the time of posting. Had they left my post alone I would have gladly redacted as it unfolded; the reason for placing it on that sub was not to create a giant stir but to let others know of the risk of this happening at all and to encourage backing up that which most writers invest a considerable amount of their emotional well-being; the safety of their written works. Yes, I'm neurodivergent. No, I don't always see the world as others do. No, I still don't think this difference allows the response to be interpreted as much other than a slight and working against the interests of authors (I'm on their side and last I checked, readers need the authors to have the things that are written in order to have the things to read. Just saying). Whatever, what really matters is, if you feel this is worth sharing, share, take away the important bits, and if someone out there just wants to write it up in 3 sentences so it isn't a tl;dr, do that too.

And Felagund Seeing That He Was Forsaken

Scribbles and Drabbles 2023! @fall-for-tolkien Anyone who somehow wants to know more about this er art thingy once again I couldn't get going until kind of the 11th hour because my mind is really uncooperative these last few days whatever, please go to my account on DeviantArt same username where I have described this work and its process and details elaborately. Oh wait I can say something here:

Serious positive: OH WOW THESE SPATTER BRUSHES I WANT TO USE THEM EVERYWHERE ANN STOOOOOOOOOOP

"Of All the Transmigrations, Why Am I A Prisoner?" chapter 109 illustration, panel two. Created in Krita 5.1.5

Credits: manhua artist Cai Ji for reference of Tian Que villa. Apologies to Qin dynasty China for my gravity-defying reorganization of their astonishing architecture >.> Translation: demoniokitty

"Of All the Transmigrations, Why Am I A Prisoner?" chapter 109 illustration, panel one. Created in Krita 5.1.5 Credits: manhua artist Cai Ji for reference of Tian Que villa. Apologies to Qin dynasty China for my gravity-defying reorganization of their astonishing architecture >.> Translation: demoniokitty

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

Ann's Rules: Ignore the above if you want to ignore the above. Because rules are meant to be ignored especially if they are on the Internet.

@zhie tagged me...the problem being I know like two writers on tumblr but...oh well? lol.

Earlene stepped off the plane at Donegal International Airport, desperately tired after traveling so far and enduring an epically tedious layover.  At the Edge of Lasg'len. [co-written with SonaBeanSidhe] (Our heroine has just arrived on native soil.)

“Ge? Ge can you wake up?” a quiet voice asked. “Teapot came with me, and I have tea for you.” All Beginnings Are Difficult | Wànshì qǐtóu nán 万事起头难 (Two brothers work to reconcile their shattered relationship amidst Craziness, including a sentient Teapot.

) Faeleth leaned around the chimney from the Heart Room side to see her mother and father standing next to each other, their backs facing her while they stuffed garlic cloves and herbs into multiple dead animals. Vannymorr's First Yule. [co-written with SonaBeanSidhe] (It's Christmas Day at the fantastical, sprawling multi-family home of Eldamar inside Eryn Lasgalen. Of course there's food, lots and lots of food. And weirdness.)

Holding his breath. Holding His Breath. (This dark tale begins with someone under literal water.)

“What shall we do together?” Nenni asked Amaranthine. Chiaroscuro. (Mother and very young daughter decide on what to do...)

The motions. They were the steps one danced when required to do so. The So Much There Still Was. (The words have to do with performing the necessary routines of life, but this is not living.)

Vanwë stared at the small loaf before him. Ghosts. (A diner ponders his bread.)

Lightly, Nenni found herself being shaken on the shoulder. Amaranthine. (A sleeper awakens).

The magnificent snow fortress gleamed in the pale winter sun. Under Pressure. [co-written with Zhie - who is the author of the opening sentence ;-) ] (Children have a magnificent snow fortress at a party.)

“I think we should celebrate,” suggested Gildor. Peacock. [co-written with Zhie - who is the author of the opening sentence ;-) Wait, does anyone detect a trend here?] (Gildor wants to celebrate having at last tidied up after a grand wedding celebration at a large shared home).