A new comm, and a question

[dolorosa_12]

I am very much Not Coping (with, well, take your pick of the conga line of political horrors parading their way around the world), which has made posting (and indeed, being online at all) very difficult. As such, this is going to be brief.

You may have seen this already on your own Dreamwidth feeds, but inkstone has set up a bullet journalling comm, bujo, if anyone's interested. I've started using a bullet journal this year; I've always been a dedicated planner, and I'm combining bullet journal use with the online management tool Trello, as well a standard weekly planner, because one form of organiser is never enough!

I also have a question for those of you who regularly participate in fic exchanges. Last year I had a kind of vaguely defined goal to participate in more exchanges than Yuletide, and ended up doing both Night On Fic Mountain, and My Old Fandom (as well as Yuletide). I enjoyed both immensely, and if they run again, I'll definitely be signing up. In fact, I enjoyed writing for those exchanges so much that I'm completely hooked, and want to participate in even more! That's where you come in. I'm asking for recs for fic exchanges that you particularly enjoyed. It probably helps a bit to know more about what I liked about the exchanges in which I've participated thus far:

They were for small fandoms (not big megafandoms) and not fandom-specific

Participants could write gen or shipfic (I think I'd be happy to participate in a gen-only exchange, but to be honest I prefer the flexibility)

The lower word-count limits were low - 1000 words is fine, but a 5000-word lower limit would probably be difficult for me

They weren't happening at the same time as Yuletide, or immediately before or after

Based on those preferences, are there any exchanges you'd particular recommend? I like writing fic that centres on female characters (M/F, F/F, or female character-centric gen), if that helps.

Comments

[shopfront]

worldbuildingex is open for sign ups right now until Feb 1, has a bunch of small fandoms including a bunch of books and is geared more for gen but not necessarily excluding ships (matching just isn't done on ships, so it's chance whether your person wants ship fic).

Other things I'm keeping an eye on this year are space_swap, femmeremix and auexchange. Althought FYI I have only heard of the last two, never participated. I also adore femslashex and recommend it very highly, it beats out Yuletide as my fav exchange each year.

[dolorosa_12]

femslashex is definitely one I've been considering trying out for a while, so thanks for the recommendation. I'm not sure I've got enough spacey fandoms to be able to do space_swap, and I don't like remixes or AUs (apart from canon divergence in a couple of very specific circumstances), so I'm not sure if your other recommended exchanges are for me. But thank you very much for your recs! I think I'll almost definitely be doing femslashex, especially since you recommend it so highly.

[isis]

I enjoyed Trick or Treat (trickortreatex) the last few years - 300 word minimum, both art and fic, timing is for collection open on Halloween.

[dolorosa_12]

I've seen a lot of people participating in trickortreatex over the years, and it's always looked like a lot of fun, so I will definitely subscribe to the comm and make a decision about participating closer to the nominations deadline.

Thanks for the rec!

[the_rck]

I like not_primetime. It's for medium sized fandoms. It's aimed at things too big for Yuletide (though there's some overlap at the borderline) but still not huge. I didn't do it last year due to health crap, but I enjoyed it previous years. I'm pretty sure it runs late spring/early summer.

There's parallelsfic for rare Asian fandoms. That runs mid to late summer. The last time I participated, the moderators weren't checking to make sure fandoms were actually rare as long as people weren't nominating things like Naruto.

fic_corner is an exchange focused on children's and YA books. A lot of those are rare, but things like Harry Potter fall into the acceptable category, too. I'm pretty sure the Fic Corner is running this year, but it alternates years with youcandothatinfanfiction which is an exchange for TV shows aimed at kids. I have not done the latter (last year was the first year, and I was having those health problems), but I did enjoy the former.

[dolorosa_12]

I'd heard of not_primetime, but given that all my fandoms have, like, four pieces of fic written for them (usually all by me), I'm not sure that anything I'd want to write or have written for me would be eligible.

fic_corner absolutely sounds like my thing — it is exactly what I was looking for! I've subscribed, and am really looking forward to participating.

Thanks so much for the recs!

[dhampyresa]

Night On Fic Mountain should run again this year, fyi.

[dolorosa_12]

That's great to know, as I am certainly intending to participate again. I found it to be a really enjoyable experience.

[dhampyresa]

Aw, thank you! That means a lot.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

What is a bullet journal?

I was just in a fest that was fun, but it's definitely fandom-centric.

I'd personally like a fest that's not only multifandom, but neither gen NOR ship centric. Like you, I prefer flexibility. People have all kinds of relationships and dynamics, so sticking to just one can be a little difficult.

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

A bullet journal is a kind of organiser/planner where you schedule events according to monthly goals and weekly activities. The video (http://bulletjournal.com/) on the bullet journal website might make things a bit clearer, as it's hard to explain without visual representation. In the basic format, all you need is a notebook and a pen, but some people go all out with elaborate colour schemes, washi tape and stickers. I tend to stick to the basics. I'm already a very organised, planning sort of person, so bullet journalling is basically a fancy new format for something I was already doing: writing up weekly/daily lists of tasks and crossing them out when I had done them.

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. I've been avoiding the internet due to politics making me miserable and despairing.