The Little Girl Recovers

[przed]

Ros seems to be over whatever nastiness she's had the last three days, and is now down for her bedtime. Which is awesome. I don't think any of us was looking forward to another night like last night. (At the worst, Ros was waking up about every 2 minutes, wimpering and crying in utter misery.

It was difficult, but at least she never hit the go straight to Emerg, do not pass go warning signs that the Telehealth gave us. Which was an axillary (armpit) temp that hits 104 or a dose of Tylenol that doesn't bring down the fever at all. Her axillary temp peaked around 103.4, and the last Tylenol took the fever down a grand total of 0.5 degrees, so we came close to throwing her in the car and running to the hospital, but we held off.

Now I just have to convince myself to go to bed early. We didn't get much sleep at all until 3 a.m., and not much quality sleep after that. Not with a thrashing, feverish little girl between us. (We don't usually let her sleep with us, because she usually takes that to mean it's playtime and why aren't we getting up to play with her.) Though I've been extraordinarily alert considering just how little sleep I've had the last two nights.

Comments

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Fantastic news! *hugs you*

Now go to sleep!

[(Anonymous)]

Definitely a relief. (And there's an inspiring icon. Sleeping!Bodie is adorable.)

Of course, did I go to bed early? Of course I did not. I am a sleep-deprived idiot.

[przed.livejournal.com]

That reply was me, BTW. (Stoopid LJ login.)

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I assumed it was either you or your clone... *one never knows*

I *know* I should sleep more but usually finding time for creative projects involves shaving kip time.

[przed.livejournal.com]

finding time for creative projects involves shaving kip time.

Isn't that the truth. I've not been doing nearly as much writing/vidding as I'd like lately, and it's really coming down to how much sleep I'm willig to forgo. *sigh*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah if you don't find time to let the voices out of head things get decidedly odd. *g*

Just in case that sounds strange, well even stranger than I usually sound, a psychiatrist mate of mine once said that writers were the acceptable face of schizophrenia. Ahem...

[przed.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. I've got a number of characters bouncing around my head, trying to get out right now. (I neeeeeed more time!)

A relief to know a psyciatrist has deemed it "acceptable." *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I particularly love it *cough* when they start arguing with you about what you want to write. *g*

Well she also told me once that my ability to do higher maths fast by seeing patterns in my head was an indicator of autism -- I'm not in the slightest bit autistic -- so I wouldn't be too relieved. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

I particularly love it *cough* when they start arguing with you about what you want to write. *g*

Yeah, that's always a kicker. (It's especially fun when it's Bodie and Doyle and I can envision the withering looks I'm getting from them. Not to mention Doyle's insolent lean against a wall while he gives me the sceptical eye.)

BTW, I've been meaning to catch up on all those lovely drabbles you've been writing and I've not had the time. Soon. I hope.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... Bodie gives me a bad enough time but Doyle, ack! So bloody pissy!

Although they're not the worst ones I have to deal with. Believe me, trying to write slash for Gene Hunt? Not a very cooperative soul at the best of times and when you give him a sex life that involves his Cortina... Erm... yeah.

That's nice of you but I do understand how RL often gets in the way of our fannish lives... Bloody RL. *moans, kicks desk*

[przed.livejournal.com]

I don't envy you writing Gene Hunt sex scenes. With the Cortina. heh

I think my worst subjects are Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. Getting them into an explicit sex scene is nigh on impossible. I keep envisioning Illya giving me an incredulous stare while Napoleon fiddles with his shirt cuff. And Bodie and Doyle snigger in the background and ask if I want them to show how it's done. (I think my subconcious has more fun than I do.)

I'll 'ave some of that RL desk kicking.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, Tina is a... free spirit. She's been around the block a few times with just about all of the major characters in LoM... How a girl cortina gets a reputation. *g*

I LOVE Napoleon and Illya but have had very little luck with reading the fan fiction. I've come to the conclusion that my take on the pair of them must be very... off as so few of the writers appear to agree with me. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.

*moves over and points to desk* Have you tried flashslash? It only takes 8 minutes and I find it very therapeutic for those days when you have to write something or explode... but you have no time to write. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, just what is your take on Napoleon and Illya. I may be able to point you to some fic you'd like. (I suspect my version of those boys might be a bit vanilla for you. I can't even believe how chaste some of my earlier UNCLE stories are.)

I've toyed with giving flashslash a shot. I used to be a big fan of the contrelamontre challenges back in the day. But 8 minutes! That's a bit daunting. Still, it might be worth a try...

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I think I've read just about everything available at the archives.

I don't require my slash to be graphic, I don't mind it of course *whistles* but I don't require it.

I just have a lot of problems with how... erm... weak Illya is in a lot of it. I just don't recognize the tough, smart, snarky man I see in the show.

8 minutes is longer than it appears to be... and nobody cares if you fudge it a little we just post at the top how long we actually ended up taking. Anyway, if you want to give it a shot you're not obligated to post the results. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Which archive are you reading? I ask, 'cause I write a rather tough, smart, snarky Illya, who's not prone to behaving like a twelve-year-old girl. Most of my stuff is on my own site: http://przed.com/fic . And I strongly recommend Taliesin. She's a lovely writer (and my former main zine editor) and does a very tough Illya. I think most of her stuff is up at her own site, Taliesin's Reach

As for flashslash, now you've done it. I've just written one of the damn things. I'm blaming you. Like officially, on the post and everything. *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

who's not prone to behaving like a twelve-year-old girl. Aaaah... so you know what I mean. *g*

I haven't read your MFU fic yet -- *rubs paws together* -- and I thought I'd read one of Taliesin's where Illya burst in to tears... but it sounds like I'm mistaken. I've read so many stories, got a few paragraphs in and backed out hastily that I've sort of lost track of them. I've read at all the archives linked by MUNCLE.

Yeah! I noticed that you've done 110 so the reading will have to wait until I've caught you up. As you're not supposed to look at the prompt words until you're ready to write it basically means you can't read someone else's story until you've tried the prompts on for size yourself. *g* I hope you enjoyed the experience. It is oddly liberating and often leads to ideas for longer stories.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Taliesin might, at some point, have written a crying Illya, but I can't think of where. She has, however, written incredibly smutty stories, and really gritty, nasty ones. Give me 'til tonight and I'll put together a starting MFU rec list.

The flashslash prompt was oddly liberating. (*Don't think, just write!*) Shall have to make a point of trying it regularly.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Erm... just how gritty and nasty? I'm not in to BDSM and death fic for the most part leaves me cold.

A list would be fantastic -- I have a couple of mates too that I've pimped into an interest in MFU, ND's even started making icons -- but PLEASE don't rush on my account. You have a little girl who is just recovering and sleep deprivation to deal with. ♥

As said, I rec flashslash to people for those days when you really *have* to write something or your head will explode but you just don't have time. You are of course always free to use older prompts too. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

More gritty than nasty, really. No deathfic, and only the occasional more playful BDSM. I know just the stories I want to recommend, but I'll need to pull titles and links from home. Shouldn't take me too long.

I'm definitely thinking of going back and trying a few older prompts. I need something fun to do on the coffee breaks I don't usually take. *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Well as long as there's clear consent and it doesn't get much beyond the handcuffs sort of stage I'm not a complete wimp. *g* Once you write confessional box sex you can't really claim to have a case of the vapours. *g*

Thanks, that would be lovely.

I usually end up writing them while on a coffee break, in a looooooong meeting where there's no good reason for me to be there or while I'm waiting for dinner to cook. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Here's a few MFU stories to get you started:

To Live in Interesting Times, a near-future AU, and my favourite of Taliesin's stories. There's a lovely follow-up called Sufficient Unto the Day.

The Ties That Bind, Napoleon and Illya, handcuffed together and on the run from Thrush. Long and lovely.

Joust, fencing and sexual innuendo, my favourite things.

As for my stories, it's at the very end of my cycle, but I think Los Vivos y los muertos is one of my very best. You should be able to follow it without having read the stories that precede it.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the recs and I'll be sure to pass them on to my mates as well. I never read AU myself but one of them might well like it and the rest look promising. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

You don't read AUs? I know it's a cliche to say this, but there are some really prime Pros AUs out there.

I'll go trolling through my MFU zines and see what other stuff I can find that might be available online.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Erm... I've tried. There are apparently some excellent ones and very well written they are too, but most of them read as OF to me and that's not what I come to fandom land for... My OF reading time is already too small for all of the books I'm always piling up to read. About 80% of my reading time is spent on novels and the other 20% on fan fiction... rather like my writing time.

I've also often found that the plotting goes horribly wrong in a lot of longer fan fiction stories, the AU ones in particular. The editor in me is often struck by how I could cut 20-30,000 words out and have it be a much stronger story. Just a personal opinion and one that's got me in to a lot of trouble. I've been around in fandom for long enough to learn the hard way that sacred cows must *not* be tipped not unless you want to see a lot of torches and pitchforks so I usually stay out of story discussions. I passed a comment on plot structure in an Ellis Ward story once while saying how much I'd enjoyed it anyway and received PMs that were awfully polite but basically told me to mind my Ps and Qs.

I don't mind the occasional divergent storyline type of thing quite so much, y'know, the sort of thing where one of the lads is still in CI5, but still, not really my thing.

Thank you for your MFU fandom pimping efforts. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Ya know, you might want to give Taliesin's story a try anyway. It's sort of a mutant AU. They're still in UNCLE, not a Regency romance or an elven wood or anything. She's created a dystopic version of our world, where an undisclosed catastrophe has redrawn the world map and UNCLE is a more ambiguous force than good it was in the show. Plus it has the virtue of being short-ish, and strongly plotted.

That said, I know what you mean about certain works in Pros. While there are AU novels I adore (Ellis Ward's Harlequin Airs, I know, I konw) and others I enjoy (Meg Lewton's Regencies, which are outrageous romps), there are others I just want to take a blue editorial pencil to and carve up.

I didn't participate in the recent discussion of The Cook and the Warehouseman on account of I would have absolutely nothing good to say about it. I read the whole damn thing, but more with the slack-jawed amazement one generally reserves for train wrecks and particularly awful car crashes. And do not get me started on Larton. Or Master of the Revels. I've kept my copy of that because the art is outstanding, but after many attempts, I'd rather watch paint dry than have to read it.