MetaFic

It is snowing here; started last night and we have probably over 8 inches on the ground right now. We are under a Winter Storm Warning and a Blizzard Warning will kick in about 5pm (local) this evening and stay in effect overnight. The initial forecasts were 12+ inches, now it is up to 22 inches. Whoohoo! I know the amount of snow we get in the Mid-Atlantic states might not be much to other readers, but for us real big snow storms are quite rare. This is our first in over three years. It is making a nice addition to the Christmas decorations inside and out!

I just saw a news snippet that Lucy Vodden died yesterday (Monday) at the age of 46. Just an ordinary person who unfortunately suffered from Lupus and didn't live an ordinary life. Those of us at this site, of a certain age, will be interested to know she was that "Lucy"; the friend Julian Lennon drew a picture of some fourty-odd years ago. John asked him what the picture was and he replied "it's Lucy, in the sky with diamonds."

Okay... Uploaded Necessary Things via Notepad to SIYE. Paragraphs were hosed up and I corrected them so they matched the story as posted here. Using the preview function everything looked hunky-dorey. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the story this morning and found one long sentence, far beyond anything Kezzabear might post here. Called up the edit function to fix the mess - lo and behold, all the paragraphs are there. Everything is just fine and dandy.

Although I keep getting junk mail from AARP I have no plans on becoming a fanfic retiree. Chapter 9 has gone through an early beta check (you can thank NotACat for a very quick turnaround) and will be ready for late beta reviewing er... soon.

Chapter 10 is only 10% complete due to the events of chapters 9 and 11. I never meant this story to be so Ginny-centric, but that seems to happen anytime I try to write her. Perhaps that is why she appears so little in canon. Jo would have wound up writing Ginny Weasley and the Harry Potter story. :-)

The good news... Tonight I should have the chapter to the point I'm not too embarassed to let my pre-beta see it. (Ahem. Heads up for incoming, Phil).
The bad news... I've blown my self-imposed deadline of having the next chapter up in a month's time.
More good news... I tried to keep this chapter shorter (is 10-11k short?) so the excess stuff went to chapter 9 which is now about 40% written. :-)

Ta da! It has been a whole month since my last entry and I finally have the chapter to a point where I merely cringe when letting my beta look at it. If worst comes to worst I still have the truck driver school phone number he sent after I submitted the previous chapter. Chapters 8 and 9 are plotted with their scenes sketched out. I am building the narrative about these. Things have expanded a bit from Josh's original outline for Lost Tower. I have 15 chapters all told, but another one may be added.

Well not so much... Parts were NOT working. It is better now. Oh! I finally got my copy of "Fighter Combat" back. Folks like Moshpit and Viridan know about oriental martial arts. I don't. So TLT Harry will have European martial arts instructors and lessons. Also, wizards may know how to play complex (but two-dimensional) games in the air but Muggles know how to fight in three dimensions. Harry will be reading my copy of "Fighter Combat" when the chapter opens. Moody borrowed it from me.

Chapter 6 is (finally) up at SIYE. I am writing furiously on the next chapters. However, one can run furiously on ice and still make little progress.

By the end of next week chapter six will begin it's beta journey. I am wrestling with a change in a character's attitude. Given the supposedly dark nature of what is happening, the character was far too jovial for my liking. That and Ginny has a nasty habit of doing unexpected things. It's a problem with any fanfic I write where she makes an appearance (sigh). Chapter seven is about 70% done and eight and nine are in expanded draft form.

Sort of a slow day today at work. It seems everyone here is waiting for TS Hanna to give the TV reporters a thrill up their leg. Whe we will get is a more than normal amount of rain and a morning of gusty winds. (yawn).

Anyway... to keep awake, I have posted an old story that I never got to my beta at Phoenix Song before DH came out. My take on what happened at Godric's Hollow. OBTW, in case you don't get the flavor from the story, I truly despise Peter Pettigrew. I told Bun-bun (the Sluggy one) that Peter was a tele-marketer who had his number. Problem solved.