writingbookstvmovieslife

[topaz119]

::waves::

So, I'm writing an Avengers/Agents of SHIELD/Hawkeye Clint/Coulson that I've wanted to write right from the start of AOS, and I'm posting it a chapter at a time, because that's the only way I can reliably finish anything these days...

...but holy crap, three on-going canon sources hurts my braaaaaaain. (Okay, technically Avengers isn't ongoing, but I keep ending up with bits of Thor 2 and IM3 working their way into my brain, so maybe I should just count it all as MCU and leave it at that?) Also, it would be really helpful if Marvel would come out with an actual timeline for the post-Avengers world. I'm taking IM3 as the following Thanksgiving/Christmas, but then Thor 2 is... ???? And AOS ties in directly with the events in London, which leaves me again going ????? I'm just throwing it all in there and mixing Hawkeye in however I feel like it, but I think I'm going to have to draw a line in the sand and go off on my own now, because I have no idea what to do with Hawkeye 15 and whatever they're about to throw at us next week on AOS...

...and that was probably 100x more than what you signed up for around here, but it feels like I just freed up my brain to keep going on the writing, so cut-text it is.

I feel vaguely guilty for doing anything but trying to write on this thing (I, er, underestimated how long it was going to take to claw out of the angsty hole I dug for everyone, so instead of a nice 15K fic, I'm about to crack 25K and still have a third of it to go, whoops), but I have managed to read a couple of books (I finally realized I could put my iPad in a ziploc bag and read in the bathtub, which makes life SO MUCH BETTER, duh.)

What I've Just Finished
So poisontaster not only sorted me out on where to start with Barbara Hambly, but also loaned me her pick, so Bride of the Rat God, it was. I enjoyed it immensely, especially the setting and atmosphere of 1920s Hollywood, which was vivid enough to be a character of its own. So, that was fun.

And then I resolved to actually *read* some of the sale-of-the-day e-books I compulsively buy, so I dove into the first of the Phryne Fisher mysteries, Cocaine Blues, and didn't come up until I'd gone through Flying Too High and Murder on the Ballarat Train (and #4 is on the way from the library.) I think it's safe to say I enjoyed the series--it's nice to read something outside the usual post-WWI setting of England/NYC (these are set in Australia) and Phryne is entertaining enough in her own way. Plus, dear lord, the *clothes*. I find myself googling her designers and imagining my grandmother (who was a knockout in her day) in various and assorted outfits. The mysteries are fine -- I never bother trying to work out who the villain is when I read these things, I just float along and (if all is working right) am entertained by the spectacle, which these are doing nicely.

What I'm Reading Now
Nothing, at the moment -- or, well, cookbooks as I sit around assorted therapist/orthodontist offices. Canal House Everday and Bouchon Bakery (which qualifies as strength training, too, as it is huuuge.)

What I'm Reading Next
Phryne Fisher #4--I can't remember the name, just that it's waiting at the library and tomorrow is conveniently enough a work-from-home day, so I can grab it on my errand run around the little town we live near.

Other random stuff
Spring break -- I am experimenting with a third-party broker for Disney Vacation Club properties and have a savanna-view studio reserved for approximately the price of a moderate-resort room. (This is mostly so that #2Son can hang out in the room and have something to see if the rest of vacationing gets to be too much for him.) I will report back on how it all turns out, but so far it's been pretty painless. I also started making dining reservations in November, as soon as D confirmed that the varsity team was playing in a WWoS tournament, so I'm holding Saturday evening fireworks-timing at the California Grill, a reasonable time for dinner at Le Cellier, and an actualfax dinner table at Be Our Guest. (My squee is only barely contained at this trifecta of Holy Grail restaurants.) The Flower & Garden Festival is doing food booths again this year, so that's cool; the new MK daytime parade starts in about a week (and has so many steampunky elements I might have to see it more than once); and the construction walls are down from around the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, with the possibility of it being in soft-opening by the time we get there. For this being my 4th trip in 9 months, I am ridiculously excited by all of this.

TV -- Behind on everything except for SPN but that's only because BabyBoy has caught the bug and watches it in the morning before school. I was very happy to see who I saw this week, even if I'm seriously ready to start smacking some sense into people named Winchester.

Movies -- We finally (!!!!) coordinated schedules and went to see The Hobbit last weekend, and all I can say is that I have given up trying to be rational about those movies. As soon as the score begins, I just fall into this place where I'm catching up with friends I haven't seen in decades and while I can objectively see where the first part was a little slow, I honestly didn't care. I think we're trying for the Lego movie this weekend; I have promised not to make loud comments about Manic Pixie Dreamgirls while there (note the 'loud' part, because that's as far as I was willing to go.)



Anyway. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I'm still here (and on tumblr and twitter and goodreads and pinterest -- come see me if you're hanging out there, too!)

Comments

[synecdochic]

Writing for comics often involves saying "the timeline is irreconcilable between these different titles so fuck it imma DO WHAT I WANT". Heh.

And omg, yay disney dining trifecta! I was checking for a friend who was considering her first Disney trip, and I've noticed it's definitely possible to get a lot more of the formerly-180-day places closer to travel. Hooray for the new credit card guarantee keeping people from table-squatting. I was getting Le Cellier tables at reasonable dinner times like six weeks out! It's amazing how much of an effect the credit card guarantee has had.

[topaz119]

I'm usually pretty good about skipping around comics canon and taking only what pleases me, but I was getting all cranky about this for some reason. Possibly it's just that it's February and I hate everything?

And yes, omg, that credit card guarantee really does seem to be working! We managed pretty decent restaurants over NYE even with a mob and we didn't even get the villas until Thanksgiving.

I'm crossing my fingers about renting the DVC points--so far it's worked out well and it would be really nice if that continued to be the case...

[synecdochic]

Everything I've heard about DVC points rental says it works nicely, so I hope it continues to work for you! And yeah. I am 100% for the credit card guarantee. Last time we were there, which was right before it was instituted, we were talking to some servers who said their no-show rate was as high as 70% some days. That's just ludicrous.

And I hear you on "it's February and I hate everything", oh my god do I hear you.

[topaz119]

re: renting DVC points -- pretty straightforward so far, though our spring break is falling into a lower season this year (like, I also had reservations at the Caribbean Beach & they were in the 30% off time, which was a little surprising, but I guess a more people than I would have expected tie their breaks to Easter, which is late this year.) I imagine it might be less easy to get the room/view configuration during higher seasons.

And FP+ is out in all the parks now, too, which is giving me headaches because all our tickets are tied to different accounts. I think I'm just going to deal with it all the day we go to the park.

Oh, did you see where Dale is in Asia w/India.Arie? (I snuck in see her right before she left & thank you again for hooking us up; I don't think I would have survived these last few years w/o her.)

[sperrywink]

Looking forward to your Clint/Coulson story when it is finished!

Sounds like getting your Disney on will be lots of fun again.

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Man, do I feel your pain (on the marrying up canon and timelines thing). I'm currently writing Chapter 5 of "Skies Over Manhattan" -- the Clint & Coulson chapter (no Clint/Coulson for me, that's a ship I just can't ship) -- and yeah, the timelines and the IM3/T2/AoS intersect has been giving me hiccups and necessitated several rewrites. Basically I'm being a bit coy/vague on the whole thing, and silently compressing 2012-13. My main ambition is to get the bloody thing done before Cap2 comes out and complicates my life further.

As for Hawkeye 15 -- well, maybe I'll go there at some point, but not while I'm writing MCU ... my brain would explode. (Plus, Fraction's Hawkeye is not exactly like the MCU Hawkeye, who seems more the Ultimates type, so.)

ETA: My favourite Barbra Hambly of all time is "The Ladies of Mandrigyn", closely followed by vol 1 of the Darwath trilogy.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

I had no plans to bring Hawkeye into this fic, but... I needed something to jolt Coulson enough to tip his hand and the mini-arc about the undercover tape just fit too perfectly. Now I just need for my brain to let go of trying to make *everything* work.

Right after The Avengers, I think I read that the next round of IM/Thor/CA were supposed to be happening at the same time, but that doesn't seem to work with IM3/Thor 2, and AOS is clearly in the Thor 2 timeline, which... I don't even know. I had to plot out a timeline just so I could be internally consistent, but I think I've given up on making it work otherwise.

Clint&Coulson is good, too--can't wait to see how you loop them in!

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

I plotted my own timeline as well, but that necessitated some compression to fit up with the timeline I had going in my story. In Thor 2 Jane yells at him about disappearing for two years, but I find that a bit long, so I kind of ignored it. Then again, the comics aren't exactly a bastion of temporal continuity, so ultimately who really cares ...?

ETA: Yeah, the Fraction tape arc is great. One of my absolute favourites, especially since it still reverberates in the West Coast story line.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

Our positions are reversed this season re: SPN. I'm behind by about four episodes, you are caught up. And in two weeks I'll no longer have my DVR, so I need to catch up before we move. I'll see if I can fit that into my schedule.

Lois and I were going to go to the F&G Festival this year, but the whole moving thing got in the way, along with the fact that her first grandchild is due May 4. But since my birthday happens in the middle of the move, I figured I'm owed a trip to the F&W Festival.

Be Our Guest! Exciting! I'm having such withdrawal right now it's not even funny, what with us not going in January.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

I gave up trying to sit down & watch SPN closely--I just catch the episodes because C crashes on the couch in my bedroom in the mornings and I see most of the show as I get the day moving. It works better now that it's on in the middle of the week because he watches it across the end of the week instead of all at once in the playroom on the weekend like last year.

I'm crossing my fingers for a laid-back Disney spring break--I know I've been a lot this past year, but this is the first trip where I'm not really tied to a group and can just go do what sounds like fun. At least, I hope it turns out that way.

[destina.livejournal.com]

Is it really that hard to get dinner reservations for the times you want at DW resort? That's interesting to me. In the 30+ years I've been going to Disneyland (pre-dating the days of two parks/three hotels and it being called "Disneyland Resort"), there's still only one place that's usually hard to get into - Blue Bayou. Even these days I pretty much can get a walk-in everywhere inside the parks, including there. I guess that's the downside of WDW being so much bigger and attracting so many more tourists.

(frozen comment)

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

For certain restaurants, yes, it's nuts trying to get a table at a normal meal time. That being said, there are a ridiculous number of restaurants around the parks and hotels, so there's always someplace good available, but the ones that are special in some way, they tend to get booked up fast. Like, the California Grill is on the top floor of the Contemporary Hotel and overlooks the Magic Kingdom, with a great view of the fireworks. So they dim the lights and pipe in the music/soundtrack & you can sit at your table and watch (or go out on the terraces.) Le Cellier is ridiculously tiny, so I manage a reservation there (good steaks and my house is all about the beef) about once every 3 years. Be Our Guest is a) still pretty new; b) themed within an inch of its life (the Beast's castle); c) the only place that serves alcohol in the Magic Kingdom.

It's gotten better in the last 6-8 months, since they put a credit card guarantee on most of the reservations--it's stopped a lot of the double-bookings and no-shows. I still wouldn't expect to get any of the big restaurants on the day-of, but there's less of the you-need-to-call-exactly-180-days-in-advance going on now.