#going yard

THANK YOU!!!

Look, I’m not gonna lie - I truly did not expect ANYONE AT ALL to read, let alone like, Going Yard. It’s a Baseball AU that gets super duper nerdy about baseball and is more about this ridiculously weird team and them chasing down a pennant than an actual love story (mostly because Steve and Bucky are stupidly stubborn and don’t know how to communicate like adults throughout, what 95% of it? I might be being generous there. :D)

So to know that people really seemed to dig it and that it’s got this cult status is everything - especially for people like yourself who aren’t baseball fans! That is, no lie, the biggest compliment I could have ever hoped to get about this fic. So thank you again! <333

Hi there, Nonnie!!

So, we’re talking the scenes that I had completely locked down in my head and wrote the entire fic around just so I could get to them, right?

I had two of those for Going Yard:

The first one was the scene in Chapter Seven after Bucky’s no-hitter - from the bar with Teheran showing up to congratulate him on his game, to the parking lot after with the kiss and the call about Bucky’s grandmother, I saw every tiny piece of that scene SO clearly & wanted to know what had gotten Steve and Bucky to that point and what was going on with them.

The other one was the locker room scene in Chapter Six - the “I Rode Bodacious For Nine’ scene. (That t-shirt is a real thing btw - Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves wore it in honor of Tim Hudson after a game against the Rockies) I just loved that t-shirt story so much & wanted to write a scene about what it would be like to be that pitcher getting hazed in the locker room like that & that sort of camaraderie & how the season would be going for a team to be that loose and having that much fun. 

Hi there, Nonnie!!!

YES, I did! Steve won the Rookie of the Year award when he was with Boston. :) It’s mentioned as part of the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast in part 10.

Bucky did not win ROTY - but only because his debut was way too late in the year, not because he didn’t put up stellar numbers in his rookie starts. Mid-season callups tend to have a harder time garnering the necessary votes for the end of year awards. (Yes, I may have given this world WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much thought as I was plotting and crafting Going Yard, why do you ask.)

Oh sure!  My basic policy regarding any of my fics is never to say never to any sort of sequel or timestamp, so if the right idea popped into my head, I would be thrilled to revisit any of my ‘verses.

Right now, my issue is more ‘no desire to write at ALL’ not ‘no desire to revisit Going Yard’, if that makes sense. :) 

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Oh sure - I always meant to actually WRITE about the 2014 World Series as an epilogue to Going Yard, but I ran out of time. And I always wanted to write the plus one with Bucky for As Time Goes By, but then two brilliant writers wound up doing it for me, so I didn’t have to. :D

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

@cesperanza can mold character and plot like a master sculptor, @susiecarter is a genius at stringing sexual and emotional tension until it’s almost painful before beautifully delivering, @kaydeefalls can bring out emotions you never even knew you had, @wintergaydar‘s beautifully emotional and resonant fics gave me the courage to start writing in the MCU way back in 2013...and thats’s just off the top of my head.

There have been SO many writers over the years and fandoms who have inspired me in so many countless ways, and naming them all would take forever. But I’m continually inspired by my fellow writers and in awe of their talent. You guys all rock like a mountain range.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Doesn’t everyone?  I mean, yes, if I were to go back and look at my early LOTR fics, I’m sure I would hide under a rock and never crawl back out, but I also look at it as a learning curve. You don’t become a better writer unless you WRITE.

So yeah, there are totally older fics where I side-eye myself and my choices, but I don’t regret having written them, and I’d never take them down. :)

Hi there, Nonnie!!!!

Okay, HR Derby first: 

Thor has competed in the HR Derby the most times (6x - never won)

Steve has as well, but only with the Red Sox (3x and never won)

Clint competed once when he was having a monster year at the dish, and won the damn thing, which he never lets anyone forget ever :D

Hi there, Nonnie!

Oh sure, there’s totally a catchy portmanteau for Steve & Bucky - the Avengers had one before the guys came out even. (It’s BuckRogers, btw, and there are MANY nerd jokes about how they’re so good they’re out of this world, because the MLB marketing team is the goddamn cheesiest and I am here for it)