Only this and nothing more

I am doing so well in the Christmas exchange fest lottery (especially for someone who, shamefully, is still writing two last short fics).

daily_deviant [on IJ not LJ] set up Kinky Kristmas, as the comm always does, and invited prompts; as a former member I got to submit three, and all three were taken up. Now two of the stories for those prompts have been posted, and oh my! Both are short(ish), but they pack in everything needed, and lots of goodies beside.

Today I find On Merlin's Balls (Lucius/Severus, NC17 natch): a well-written story of ritual and friendship, and hot as you like, and smooth with it. I don't want to give away the author's delightful inventions to flesh out my prompt, but the summary is "The War is over. The wizarding world must be restored. Severus and Lucius have their own role to play in the public ritual - and if they wish to indulge in private too...". (Kinks/Themes Included: body-painting or inkbrushing on skin, denied/delayed orgasm, ritual public sex.)

Last week (and I must apologise for not advertising this earlier, but see above, writing, and associated panic) some wonderful person pandered to another of my kinks in writing Fleur-de-Lis (Lucius/Harry, NC17): a story that again has plot and character (both of which I love and always want) as well as delicious long-hair kink. Summary: When he'd left the Manor five years earlier, Harry hadn't planned to return. He'd only dreamt of it. (Kinks/Themes Included: D/s, hair kink.)

A few days ago I also received my snapelyholidays fic, which I've only just managed to read: Magical Hazard: Handle With Care (Severus/Neville, PG) or here. It's longer (and I love long fics, too, that give the author time to go into things properly), and I don't care if there's little or no smut so long as the characters interact believably, as these do. You get their past and their future, from both their viewpoints (cleanly managed), and there is a wonderful moment of healing for both. Summary: When the Hogwarts governors insist on appointing Neville Longbottom as Herbology professor, Headmaster Severus Snape imagines it won't take much to send him packing.

You really should go read, they're lovely!

*iz inspired to return to current fest fic writing (no 3 almost complete, huzzah), despite eyes falling out of head (yah, boo, sucks)*

I have submitted one (overdue) fic; a second is with my beta readers (and I've been able to put one lot of fix-ups through so far); nos 3 and 4 are waiting for my attention.

Because (all I needed!) for the last five hours I wasn't able to get on the net, and i had to ask myself if that was due to virus activity (so started AVG, which takes about 3 hrs, still running). When I found the backup desktop computer couldn't get on either, I reset the router etc, and when after the recommended half hour wait I still couldn't get on, I phoned my ISP. Who were flooded with calls, natch. Then while I was waiting Yahoo mail finally got working again. However, the techo says they still have their "upstream" problem, and they don't know when it will be fixed. Duh.

Perhaps now my anxieties have been shown to be baseless I can get writing again. For a while I had nothing to do except to look for a book to read, and couldn't find one I was interested in. (Would have read fanfic, but computers busy.)

Perhaps soon I'll get my Christmas cards and letters out. Better be soon, or they'll be arriving after the day again.

Sad that the snowflake blizzard wasn't a generous gesture from LJ, but a glitch in a software update. Remarkable that it took them so long to work out what was going on...

Currently I am working on two stories, and expect to have them ready for beta tomorrow or Monday (my time) at the worst (that's London time plus 11 hrs). They are due Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, my time. I'm unlikely to finish either tonight; I've been writing for six hours so far today, am running out of energy (shoulders ache, my goodness), and am off to my brother's place for smoked salmon and cheese for dinner in a couple of hours.

They're the same pairing, one I write every year, and het. If you need to know more before you can commit, ask, and I'll email.

So far I have around 6000 words towards the snapelyholidays fic (due Tuesday my time). I hope to get it knocked off short enough to fit in one post. (Pray for me, huh.)

The smutty_claus one (due Thursday my time) looks like being finished first; it's currently 8000 words, with the same length ambitions, which I'm perhaps less likely to realise.

Characters in both are going Yak yak yak, alas.

Anyone who wants to volunteer to beta read either (or both, bless your cotton socks) would be greatly appreciated! Could you respond with your email address, please, in case I don't have the up-to-date version? And say, natch, which you put your name down for, if you care. If you have limitations on when you can deal with beta reading, let me know.

BTW, I have two more due by the end of next week. *sags* My own damn fault, as Jimmy Buffet would say.