giving you this book im reading riiiight now, downbelow station, something's telling me you might like it somehow

So… it’s Complicated, but giving Edward Stratemeyer credit for Nancy Drew is only part of the story!

hey, thanks for reminding me of this!

i can't believe i forgot mildred wirt benson! i did remember harriet stratemeyer adams, but i was under the impression that her sole involvement was the much-later edits; i'm glad to find out otherwise. i had no idea so many of the originals were written by women other than mildred wirt benson, as well, and what a delightful thing to learn.

end-of-year book asks

Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

hmmm... last year i read sheine lende by darcie little badger, which won the lodestar for ya this year (it was fine, a snake falls to earth is my favorite of hers). i probably read some more of the hugo nominees but i can't be bothered to look at them all if i'm honest

What reading goals do you have for next year?

31: do they like receiving gifts? giving gifts? what is their ideal gift?

This is a fun question so I'm gonna do it for a bunch of them!

Vector: Receiving gifts makes him pretty uncomfortable and concerned about whether the giver expects something (behaviorally) in return. Giving physical gifts is a chore to him, but he likes paying for people's meals or sending them software or music files. His wish list, if he had one, would be mainly practical items he's been putting off buying or nicer versions of things he can't yet justify replacing (see recent “towel blindness” reblog).

Eckhart: Gift-giving and -receiving are primarily tools of social manipulation to him. He could be flattered with a nice (read: expensive) gift. Contract corporate espionage and other shady business have his basic needs met and then some, so he'd like to receive high-end cologne, designer sunglasses, or extremely specific daily-wear-appropriate military footwear.

Padma: She loves getting presents and, to a slightly lesser degree, giving them! Her gift preferences vary depending on the giver – she expects her multimillionaire parents to get her ridiculously expensive, precious things (antiques, bespoke clothing, vehicles, fine jewelry) and from friends and Courtney she wants things that show how well they know her (unique vintage/thrifted clothes, a discontinued perfume hunted down on eBay, something handmade, on one notable occasion a leather bracelet made with Courtney’s cloned skin cells).

Courtney: She enjoys getting gifts a normal amount. Giving them stresses her out because she really wants to do a good job and is never sure if she’s picked the right thing. She would be happy if you got her a silk scarf, bass accessories or effects pedals, or edibles.

Xamira: Receiving gifts is equally stressful and nice to her. She hand-makes most of her gifts (she’s a crocheter primarily) and likes customizing them to the recipient. She’d like chunky acrylic jewelry or bookstore or yarn store gift cards.

Levi: Holiday and birthday gifts (giving or receiving) make em anxious to the point e avoids participating whenever possible, but e really enjoys more casual gift-giving (e.g. “I got you candy at 7-Eleven while I was doing errands”). If E must receive a gift, consumables like food or soap/bath bombs are best because they don’t add to eir permanent clutter pile.

Alane: Much like Eckhart, gifts are mainly a tool for them. They give elegant, thoughtfully selected and wrapped gifts, and gracefully receive gifts while quietly finding the whole process inconvenient. They would like tickets for a wine tour, incense, raw linen clothing, silk underwear.

Dr. Loukanis: Loves receiving a gift, outsources gift-giving logistics to his wife and work subordinates because it’s “boring”. He would like civet coffee, caviar, cocaine, or experience gifts like hang gliding or waterskiing.

You can submit as many prompts as you want, but we only guarantee* as many gifts as you registered sacrifices, with an upper limit of 5.

*see the full rules on ao3 for the conditions

We decided to only allow one format per prompt so that the prompt itself can be more specific to the format. You may be happy with any format, but sometimes it's hard to look at a prompt that feels very tailored to one format when you're looking to create for a different one?

Being both a writer and a podficcer myself, I get ~10minutes of audio out of ~1k words, and while there will usually be editing work after that, writing also takes longer than reading, so I do believe that that is fair.

That being said, all of the media minimums are just suggestions, and if you think your podfic is involved enough to be a good gift at a shorter length, whether because you put lots of work into edits or because you chose a fic where the audio just turned out shorter, that's absolutely fine!

Ooh thanks for telling me! Now I'll known not to watch that video