A Love Letter to Yuletide

[eirenical]

So... apparently there has been a bit of unYulelike behavior over on AO3. I won't expound on it here, but my reaction comment was immediate and sad and reactionary and when I was done writing it, I wanted to share it with more than just those who would read that post on the yuletide_admin comm.

So, here it is, in response to the bad feelings, I give you...

This was my very first Yuletide and elynross... Wow. The work you and the other mods do is incredible and I can't believe that people would take advantage of all this generosity just to abuse it.

So, I'd just like to take this opportunity as a first-time Yuletider to say a few things.

First, on fics I received: I received four incredible gift fics for Yuletide. I had made several detailed and specific requests under the express understanding that optional details are optional and I tried to make sure my author(s) knew that I knew that. I hope they did. Some authors took me up on optional details, some did not. The ones who did not may not have given me what I thought I wanted... but because they wrote what was in their hearts to write, that passion came across and they gave me stories that were better than what I thought I wanted. I am deeply in heartfelt love with each and every one of these four stories and extremely grateful for the authors who wrote them. I mentally cuddled them before going to bed that first night. Er... the stories, that is, not the authors. That would have just been weird if they're not into virtual PDAs. ^_^ (OK, I'm a cheeseball, I'll admit it.)

Second, on fics I wrote: I also wrote four fics for Yuletide, all over a thousand words -- maybe a little ambitious for a first Yuletide, but I was feeling productive and in the spirit. I haven't had a bazillion hits or comments or kudos, but they're small fandoms and I wasn't expecting that. I will say that the fanlove and gratitude I have gotten on all four of them (both from my recipients and others), and the encouragement to continue writing in those fandoms, has had me beaming away for a solid 48 hours, now.

This entire fic exchange has been the most wonderful fandom experience I have had since I was 18 and Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 fandom was all that was out there for me. Fandom has changed a lot over these last 15 years and not all for the better, I'm afraid. I've always held the Yuletide small fandom exchange up on a sort of pedestal because of the sheer quantity of quality fanfic it produces every year and the true holiday spirit it seems to do so in. It's been kind of a "last bastion of what fandom should be" for me and I'd hate to see bad feelings corrupt that.

Maybe this is naive and maybe I've said too much, but, well... there it is.

I love the mods.

I love my authors.

I love my recipients.

I love all the rest of you who wrote so many fics that I want to read that it will take me the next four months to read through them all and enjoy and give appropriate feedback.

You all rock!

Happy Yuletide. ^_^

Comments

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

(Here from Yuletide: ) ♥ Well put, and I'm glad you finally decided to join the fun.

[rchan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad I did, too. ^_^ I had a total blast writing the stories I wrote and got three more stories than I was expecting to get. It was definitely a great first year and more than enough encouragement to get me to sign up again next year. ^_^

Side funny note: One of my four stories was written for a friend and she guessed it was me. *snerts* Anonymity fail. *chuckles* At least she liked the story. ;)

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

You know, I wa wondering if the Solarbabies story was yours after I saw this post. So I'm now 3x as glad you decided to join in the fun. (Off to check out your Dino Thunder fic. :)

[rchan.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yeah... I seem to give myself away in Author's Notes. *sheepish grin* That's how my friend caught me. ;) Thanks, though!

Ooo... yeah. The DT fic... eh-heh. Totally opposite side of the spectrum from the Solarbabies fic. Hope I didn't freak you out on that one. -.-;;;

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

I took a look at the summary & decided to change my mind. :).

[rchan.livejournal.com]

-.-;;; Yeah... like I said. Polar opposite. My fics tend to run the full gamut of randomness these days. Some are safer than others. -.-;;; And, I'm totally not offended. ^_^ I'm well aware that's not everyone's cup of tea. ^_^ At least I write clear warnings. ^_~

If you're looking for a "safe" PR fic... probably the safest one I've written is "Taking Root" -- you can find it on my actual webpage, chibis.net (http://www.chibis.net/) -- but it's a PR Zeo story... and kind of long. And older. O_o;;; Like... 12 years older. My writing has matured some since then. Still. ^_^

I really need to quit babbling at you. Really. -.-;;;