Summer of ?

Thanks to everyone who offered kind words and support for my friend. He is doing much better and was released from the hospital yesterday. Would have posted last night, but seriously, WTF was up with LJ?

But that's not what this post is about. Many of you long time friends may have noticed a certain waning in my enthusiasm for all things Buffy. I read a bit, I comment, but I don't seek it out with my former zeal. I feel a little bad about my new fascination for a certain Potions Master, but there it is. Last year I signed up for Summer of Giles, only to have Potterdammerung hit about the time I needed to be seriously working on something-- anything. I posted a short fragment, gave the other story start to a good home, and that was it.

So, what should I do this year? Sounds like a job for... a Poll.

[Poll #1172603]

Of Hairstyles, Scrivener, and Summer of....

I did indeed cut my hair yesterday, donating my 10 inch ponytail to "Locks of Love" and getting a free cut in return, though I didn't know about that part until I tried to pay at the end. I got something called a "bob" and I'm not entirely sure I like it. But I can go back anytime in the next couple of weeks and get it re-cut, so I think I'll live with it another few days, anyway.

And last night I ran across the most Amazing program. I downloaded the 30 day trial and, Dude. This is going to be my birthday present to me. It Really Rocks. Between this new tool, into which I imported the disjointed mess that is "In Loco Parentis," and the fact that LJ was not letting me in all night, I got the first half of Ch 7 banged out. I think lost text will be significantly less a danger with this tool, plus it allows me to look at multiple things at once and start fresh on a new page when I need to. I was doing a lot of the same organizing before, but with multiple open documents. And it has a kind of advanced "Write Room" interface-- a word processor where it's just you and the text, not all the other toys and gadgets on your desktop to distract your attention. Plus a lot of other features I can see definite possibilities for.

One very cool feature I want to use, as soon as I find some good image files, is the Research Section, where you can store notes, photos, even quicktime and audio files. I can stick an image in the right hand side of the viewer and have it up on my screen while I'm writing. There's some screen shots on the link above-- see the creepily atmospheric castle? Anybody who has/ knows where I might lay my hands on suitable files, please let me know.

Finally, with regard to my "Summer of Giles" Poll: Thanks to all who voted and commented. I've said before, crossing the Buffyverse with the Potterverse is fraught with difficulty, not least because the ridiculous aspects of both combine to a kind of critical mass far too quickly. And I don't write shipfic, much less slash. And just about any concept I can come up with intersecting the worlds, I've seen done. So, no. I won't be doing a crossover. I'll rewatch the series over the next few weeks, and I'll start dusting off my 06 Nano novel, probably availing myself of my new noveling tool to get a handle on the material.