#it’s a good thing I love spreadsheets and pattern matching and sorting stuff

[conservethis]

The next time you think to tell someone, “Oh, just donate it to the library…” know that this picture was almost a week of work*. A week to fill up 8 boxes with donated books that were duplicates of books we already owned (which are now slated for surplus), 2 boxes of books unsuitable for (or duplicates of books already in) the special collection they were donated to (but which will be good additions to our general collection), and 3 boxes of books [not pictured] that ARE suitable for said special collection.

It’s not even my job technically, but I’m good at this kind of sorting work and agreed to help because it’d probably be another 5 years before someone else got to it. And we needed the shelf space back!

Donating books can be helpful and generous in some circumstances, but dang if it isn’t a LOT of work for library staff to triage donations. It’s why a lot of libraries either no longer take donations, or why they only accept very particular things.

And because my library is at a state university, we are technically a state entity, and as such we cannot donate said books to some other non-state entity. So we can’t just donate them to a prison library or a homeless shelter or other such things. They have to go through the same process as all other university/state property, and be sold as surplus, hopefully to be purchased and resold by a third party (versus just getting chucked into the recycling bin).

*and that was a week with a spreadsheet I already had to check the donations against our holdings. Making that spreadsheet alone was probably another week’s worth of work in itself.

[lwtis]

End Of Year Fic-Writer Meme

This has been a long, weird year, and if you’re like me, you wrote a whole whack of fic over the course of it. So here’s a bunch of questions to ask about that:

What’s your personal favourite thing you wrote this year? 

Catch Me If You Can, most probably. I’m really pleased with the world-building and the pacing, and it’s just an awesome feeling having finished a multi-chapter fic. Concept-wise, Crown To Match My Queen is a close second.

What’s your least favourite thing you wrote this year?

Probably The Importance Of A Well Maintained Spreadsheet (And A Good Label Gun). I just couldn’t get it to work - I really love the concept and it feels like I couldn’t do it justice. Every time I re-read it, I keep finding new bits I want to re-write - not enough plot to justify the lack of shippy stuff, and not enough shippy stuff to justify the lack of plot LOL  

Which of your fics was most different from what you usually write?

Probably Dream Inside The Static (thriller/horror) ! Or Sous Le Ciel De Paris (somewhat anecdotal piece light on the plot and heavy on the introspection about inspiration and feeeelings).  

Which of your fics this year was most successful?

To All The Demons Under My Bed! I am actually kind of shocked how well-received this fic was. But I’m really happy, mostly because the lovely birthday girl really liked it <3

Which of your fics do you wish was more successful?

Dream Inside The Static is something I really love but has some of the least hits and kudos. Understandable - it’s a horror fic set in space with a bad ending xDDD I did get a lot of really lovely comments on it though, and enough ideas and speculation for a sequel in the near-future-sometime <3

What’s your favourite piece of dialogue you wrote this year?

Oh man, that’s hard. But probably this:

“...you’re so beautiful.” he murmurs, fingers brushing against Kyle’s cheek. He licks his lips nervously. “...you’re just...just like - “

“If you compare my eyes to some sort of fucking gemstone, I’m going to break your nose.” Kyle cuts in. His traitorous hands waste no time in grabbing onto the front of Kenny’s blazer. “And then I’m going to write a horrendously pretentious poem about it, title it your name and get it published in every magazine that I can get my hands on. Don’t try me.”

From Sous Le Ciel De Paris

Or this:

“I’ll send right over.” Kenny nods, reaching for the empty mugs. He waits until the other’s shoulders relax a fraction before speaking again. “But if you really are so worried about my sperm count, you are more then welcome to check. Make sure everything is alright.”

From Health Hazards

What’s your favourite piece of description or narration?

Another tough one...probably either this:

The scent soon winds its way to his nose, warm and heavy with spices he cannot name. The chatter is low and lively, most of the tables already occupied. A carefully painted night sky is splashed on the walls and across the ceiling, astronomically-accurate stars twinkling in luminescent paint. In the corner stands a vintage piano with well-loved ivory keys, a dozen small framed photographs balanced on top.  

From Catch Me If You Can, Chapter 3

Or this:

Sweet, round cheeks, with a button nose to match - a little crooked, as if broken years before, and smattered with freckles. His bangs curl around his face messily, thick enough to hide both his ears. When his lips tug into a self-conscious, close-lipped smile, it looks even sweeter than it ever did in his mind’s eye. And in that moment - watching the sunlight paint a dappled pattern over the freckled skin of Kenny’s nose - all of Stan’s sappy ramblings suddenly make sense.

From Seven Days To The Wolves

Which fic this year was most fun to write?

Probably taste for the cherry (I just need to take a bite). Writing sweet, raunchy romance set in a gay burlesque club was really fun. I need to write more Kyley-B, he is a riot. Also anything set in the Stick of Truth universe (Tell Me The Story Of Our Legacy, A Little Wicked) was just super fun. I really love writing political machinations and regency courting. Plus the aesthetics!!

If you could go back and change something about one of the fics you wrote this year, what would it be?

Mostly everything about Importance Of. Also, I would have loved to add a few more clues into the build-up of who the main villain of Catch Me If You Can turned out to be, because I feel like it comes a little out of left field. 

What, if anything, are you going to try to do differently in your writing in the new year?

I am going to try this mysterious method of writing a few chapters ahead with my next multi-chapter fic instead of posting it right away. Try being the key word there! Otherwise I am going to attempt to stop posting things at 3am, as it leads to very harried corrections the next morning. 

(Fellow fic-writers, feel free to nick this, if you feel like doing it!)

It’s been an interesting year, getting back into writing after such a long time. I’m really grateful for all the wonderful people I got to meet, talk with, all the awesome projects I got the chance to take a part in, and for everyone who left me kudos, comments or reblogs on my stories. Thank you so, so much - I treasure them all. Here’s to next year! <3