loaded_march | Entries tagged with part ten

Now, this isn't the Extra that I was working on this week (I did say I'm building a tiny pool so that I can still post on weeks when I don't get a chance to write an Extra), and it's short but sweet.

At least I hope it is. I don't normally do schmoop.

Title: Breathless at My Door
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,000-ish
Summary: When Merlin and Arthur show up at Gaius' house in the middle of the night, flushed and breathless, he doesn't know what to expect.

Prompt by

rynne:
"Merlin telling Gaius that he and Arthur want him to officiate their handfasting in part 10"

.

A little while ago, greenleaves-never on Tumblr, whom I didn't immediately associate with the LJ nick

baemlalagreen (because I suck like that, I need a flowchart to keep you guys straight between Tumblr and LJ, I swear) contacted me to ask for input on a piece of art.

This piece of art was awesome. It's battle art. It's a visual representation of the battlefield on the testing grounds toward the end of LM#10 Means to an End.

Sometimes, when I have to write a fight scene with multiple parties, I need to sketch something out on paper, which ends up with spoiler notes and arrows and little exploding bodies, so I've never really scanned anything to post for you guys to see. So it was mind-boggling to see that someone had almost completely and perfectly reproduced this map based on text alone. There were a couple of tiny little tweaks (which have been added), but believe me, my mind wasn't just boggled, my mind was blown.

It remains blown. Go here to see the battle map for yourself. It's gorgeous and it's awesome! Thank you,

baemlalagreen!

A million apologies for the wait. First for the long time to recover from writer burnout, then to get my head wrapped around the story again, then for the delay getting it edited and finally reviewed and posted.

You've all been very patient and supportive and you all deserve a big hug, so c'm here and get one.

So, part 10:

Here it is, and I hope it was worth the wait.

FYI: Because of the length, I had to split it in two chapters.

Part Ten: Means to an End
Word Count: 111K
Summary:
Conspiracies. Double-dealings. Intrigue.

Arthur has had it with being manipulated, with waiting for something to happen, with not being in control. The enemy's playing games and has every intention of using them and throwing them away like a two-bit hooker past their prime, and, honestly? The team's done with this rubbish. They've been pushed around, kept in the dark, strung along.

Now it's time to push back, to take risks, and to hope it's not going to go all to Hell.

Maybe because I totally called it as being Hell Week Number One (of two), and still somehow managed to wrangle at least a partial day off on Friday, I am so far not half as stressed as I expected to be, which means, yes, totally am knocking on wood right now to make sure I didn't jinx myself, though I probably already have; my shoulder's kind of fucked and it hurts at a degree above and beyond the normal why do I do this to myself at the gym soreness.

Yesterday, I managed 5,000-some words, and today I squeezed out 4,000-some words plus a rough sketch mapping out [EDITED OUT BY EDITING CENSORS], and you know that'll just be interesting, right? *looks around* Geez, guys, weren't you listening? I just gave you the ending right there.

Anyway!

I really, really, really want to get this done this week, and by "this" I mean LM Part #10, but don't get excited yet. I'm in such a rush to write the final scene, which I have so clearly in my head, that I am forcing myself to write all the way through (because writing non-linearly screws me up like nothing in the world) that I'm probably skipping out on some important mini-scenes and not fleshing them out the way they should be. And what that means is, I'll be going back to fix problems and fact check and add more stuff and oh my fucking god how did this get to THIS word count while I wasn't looking, and, yeah. Let's not forget the all-important beta, too.

So, hi! How are you?

From a conversation this morning:

"What happened to Puppy #2's fur?"

I glanced down at Puppy #2, and saw where the fur around his head was all slick and spiky, and said, "He's trying a new hair gel."

Anyway, it's been one of those weeks where I my mood was alternating between wanting to lash out at someone in a painful and destructive manner, and with wanting to push everyone away. So far this week, I've received some not-happy news, swore a lot, had a bitch, please moment, endured a few days of intense frustration, and finally, had to tell everyone to back the fuck off and let me deal with the situation. Next week -- actually, possibly the next two weeks, if I'm being honest -- won't be much better, so if I'm ridiculously snappish or absent, that would be why.

Randomly, I started a new diet (where "diet" does not mean "trying to lose weight" but "making sure I'm eating more protein", because I've been bad about that lately, and "swearing off the sweets", which, haha, is like a New Year's Resolution broken the day of) last Sunday, but quit on Wednesday, and somehow, despite the glut of bad eating, I lost three pounds. I'm not sure my body got the message when I said, not trying to lose weight here.

It took a few sweet PMs and a couple of nice comments and a ow, stop hitting me on the head chat with a friend of mine for me to realize that, perhaps, this post, where I said I felt guilty about not writing more LM, and about being slow with responding to comments, had made other people feel guilty, too -- and for that I apologize. I just want to make it clear that 99.9999% of you are absolutely, completely, entirely lovely people who make me smile with your comments and your pictures and your links and give me all sorts of ridiculous feels and that you have absolutely no reason to feel guilty about anything, believe me. It's the 0.0001% that my post was directed at -- the people who push and push and nag and nag until I throw my arms up in the air and stomp off and lock myself in my room with my books and my puppies.

Anyway, about those metrics: My Monday-to-Friday word count totals up to somewhere north of 20,000. I spent Saturday beta-ing a BB fic, fixing the coding for the BB that I'm posting on Friday and giggling with unspeakable glee over the art that is being done for it, and today I... um. I made fun of Puppy #2's dew-slickback hairstyle, a big pot of chili, a couple of loads of laundry, and now I'm about to embark on a Wreck and Rebuild paragraph that has apparently been languishing in my Inbox for quite some time (I'm so sorry!).

So where does the word count leave me in terms of % completion for Part #10? Fuck if I know. Friday afternoon, in a fit of oh my God how much more do I have to write, I sat down and wrote out the scenes that I know are important. There's only three.

Three long, sprawling scenes.

*headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk*

Am I getting closer to the end? Yes. When am I going to finish it? Dude, I don't know, and that's the frustrating part. I don't even know when I'll have time to write (never mind have the brainpower for it) for the next two weeks, but I'll try.

Since I failed on the daily word count -- which I'm sure people don't need to see all the time -- I'm just going to go with a weekly word count this time around.

The last time I posted metrics was on Monday, to the tune of 4,000-some words. I wrote more or less steadily every day since then, with Friday being my worst day, and I took today off from writing entirely so that I could beta a Big Bang and read a couple of the Big Bangs that have been posted so far. So, a six-day wordcount comes up to some 22,000 words, and this isn't an exact number, because I haven't been keeping proper track, but it's definitely the minimum that I've written so far.

To roughly estimate where I am in the story, I'd say somewhere in the middle, with no idea of how much further there is to go in terms of how long will it take to get to the end or how much longer will it take me to write it and post it. I just wish I could do a data dump directly from my brain, I really do, because I have every scene in my head ready to be written.

In other news, if you haven't been keeping an eye on the

paperlegends community, there's been a number of fics posted since August 1st, and those that I've read so far (and I haven't read many just yet) are both fun and amazing. You should check them out!

I received several lovely PMs from people offering their support over the fanfic of my fanfic incident, which still baffles me, and I'd like to thank you all again for your kind words, especially to one person in particular, whose PM I can't seem to respond to because LJ is either being pissy, or I am failing in some catastrophic, yet completely obvious way. If you haven't received a response from me, it's not because I'm ignoring you! Thank you again for what you said!

Anyway, today was a good day at work. The time just flew by; I was training my assistant, and had to stop a lot to explain things, but my assistant is a sweet young woman who absorbs everything like a sponge. I sincerely hope that she considers going back to university to further her education, I can see her going very far in whatever field she chooses to specialize in.

Apparently having a good day at work means I have a good day writing, because I am up 4,000 words on LM Part 10 for today.

So I've had a few days where either I didn't want to write because I was too bummed out or too tired, and then the Olympics started and I realized I hadn't blinked in over an hour, never mind not written a single word, so...

My four-day word count (from last Thursday to today) is a pathetic 6,000-some words.

This is embarrassing, but I have completely failed on keeping tabs on my own worldbuilding and am now asking people to do my research for me, because I've tried to track down a small detail, and either I am not seeing it, or it doesn't exist.

( Cut in case it might be considered spoilery )

EDITED TO ADD: Fekkin' hell, people. You found it in, what, less than TWO MINUTES. That's got to be some sort of record.

THANK YOU!

First!

merlin_horror is open for both writers and artists to claim prompts! Go, go, go check it out and claim a prompt. The claiming is open until August 1, and both fic and art are due Oct 15.

Second!

summerpornathon Challenge #6 voting is open! Anyone can vote, the comments are screened. The challenge this time was Crossovers/Fusions.

Third! And this is relevant to my interests (link goes to New Scientist) for reasons some of you will already be aware of, and others might figure out, but still! Relevance! I've complained about the poor quality of the so-called automatic captioning that is done on YouTube (it really, really sucks monkey balls, I'm not kidding you. You do not want to watch a video where they're supposedly discussing wave dynamics, but the captioning is giving you instructions on how to catch an octopus. IDEK) many, many times. What is less well known to people is that despite the prevalence of captioning or subtitling on television and on DVDs, broadcasted television shows that are also streamed on the web through the broadcasters' websites are not captioned or subtitled in any way. I have trouble following the logic of not making content accessible when (1) the technology is there to implement it, (2) the issuing media company has made the effort of making content accessible in other formats, why not the web, too? and (3) it's the law in most countries -- in particular the USA, where most of the television shows being streamed online are coming from.

Metrics! There's still hours left in the day, but I'm tired, so I'll quit while the going is good, and I'm stopping at a nice, round 3,000 words for LM Part 10.

And how was your day?

There are signs that I am rubbing off on my supervisor. Following yesterday's debacle, today, he asked me to come into his office to discuss a client's request and hear my opinion on it. The client? The colleague from another division, who wants to use some of our space and equipment to run a short experimental test.

After gritting my teeth I said, "Well, I'm already doing something exactly like that at right this moment, why don't they just send me the samples and I'll tack them on at the end. I'd really rather not have them in my department when they're not qualified to do the work. They'd get the results tomorrow."

My supervisor said, "I was thinking more of loaning them the piece-of-shit totally unreliable equipment that gives unstable readings, that way, they can't blame us for the results because they're the ones who ran them."

The icing on the cake? It came later when he called me into his office again and showed me another email hinting at how ignorant the client is about the experiment. I just about choked when my supervisor said, "I've signed them up for the three hour health and safety training."

Which, if anyone has ever gone through H&S, is a particular brand of torture.

I am pleased.

So pleased, that I am productive today: I have submitted my

summerpornathon bonus challenge, I have finished and turned in my

summerpornathon week 7 challenge, and I have written 3,000 more words to LM Part 10.

And now for ice cream!

So, one week of vacation was completely undone by roughly 10:30 AM today, when I became so completely pissed off with a colleague in a different department that I stalked away from my desk, went downstairs, left the building, and stood in the sudden tropical downpour for the three minutes that it was pouring. It was an attempt to cool off, okay?

I did drip on the way back in, though. When my supervisor asked what was going on, I told him, "When someone sends you a request that is so fucking unclear, you have to ask for a clarification, and they respond with a snarky, no, this is what I want, are you some sort of idiot, which is even less clear than the original request and completely ignore the two questions I asked which would've settled the whole thing, then they're getting whatever the fucking hell I feel like giving them. If they complain, just once, I dare them to, you tell them to come talk to me, yeah?"

My supervisor's response?

"O... Okay?"

It helps that when I forwarded the email I received to him, he had to agree that, yeah, it's their own fault if they're getting whatever I wanted to give them. He asked, "How generous are you feeling?"

I said, "NOT VERY MUCH AT ALL."

Anyway, today's wordcount on part 10 of the Loaded March series -- yes, you read that right, I'm writing LM again -- amounts to somewhere in the ballpark of 2,500 words, plus or minus (okay, more plus than minus) a couple hundred, but I lost track of the words, so a nice round number is what you're getting. Let me head off any questions right now:

I suspect my sort-of-total word count is somewhere around the just-over-20K mark (this was before there were New Words).

I have no idea how long this one will be, but there are plot points I am struggling to pull loose enough to tie together, so depending on how well I manage

Yes, the boys definitely do kiss, and that's all the spoilers I'm willing to give up right now.

I didn't forget to post yesterday's metrics -- I was distracted by the Wrecking Ball post. By the time it was posted, it was late and I'd gone and scramble to bed to try to restore some neural activity to make it through the day today.

But, anyway. Yesterday I pulled off a healthy 3,000 words, and today, I replicated the feat with another 3,000 words. I could write more today, but I am going to nitpick at my BB for the rest of the evening.

I am, however, in massive amounts of trouble, because the High School Merlin prompts (Merlin/Arthur pairings, Other pairings) have been posted, and there are several delicious prompts that I am tempted to snap up.

DAMN IT!

At least I couldn't impulsively sign up since the claiming isn't until Monday, so, you lot? Your job is to keep me from signing up so that I can finish LM's Part 10 and the BB fic. The easiest way to do it? Claim every prompt before I do!

Today was only marginally better in that I ~~forsook~~... ~~forsaked~~... ~~for~~... wait. Hold on.

Why is "forsook" a word? It looks SO WEIRD.

Anyway. Today was only marginally better in that I forsook my own workload, hijacked my coworker's, and somehow managed to get a few things done regardless. Apparently the trick to dealing with a Gilli coworker is to give them one line of instruction, tell them they can find you in X location, then run away to hide in Y location.

Today's wordcount for Part 10 of Loaded March was a respectable 4,000-and-change, and no, don't ask me how I managed that much because I honestly don't know. I had a shit day, and I don't want to even entertain the idea that my high word count might correlate with shit days, because that's just seven shades of depressing.

In other news, because there NEEDSMUSTHAVE more Merlin people:

[Merlin Friending Meme]
Dude, this gif is adorable. Go sign up!

So, today's word count on Part 10, which has no title but has an ending and a long way to go before I can get there, is somewhere on the order of 3,500.

I got more work done on the BB fic as well, but mostly because I threw in the towel and ran away and hid at lunch, because if I hadn't done that, I would've been hounded to within an inch of my life, which is part of the frustrations that I've been having lately.

( Long/Short Work Rant )

I have good news, bad news, and worse news. Yes, we're playing this game again.

The good news, if you couldn't tell from the subject line, is that I have started to write Part 10 of Loaded March. After a one-month (and change) hiatus from writing (almost) everything LM, mostly to give myself a clear head and a break, I have cracked fingers and gone back to work.

Today's word count was 3,000 (give or take). I'm a bit shaky on the plot, but I have the ending so clearly set in my head that I doubt I'll really have a problem getting there. I have no idea how long this part will be (either in amount of time required to write or in word count), so stay tuned.

The bad news is that I'm starting to write Part 10 without having finished the Big Bang fic, which has massive problems forcing me to go back to fix them before I can continue and get to the end. I know the story, I know the plot points, I know the ending, but there is Very Important Stuff missing that needs to be put in, or it'll be like reading a train wreck. Since I'm a little (*cough*) obsessive about finishing things, I'll be working on the BB fic in conjunction with LM Part 10, which is going to slow it down a bit.

The worse news is that I haven't really had a break in the last month (and change). I might not have been working on LM, but I was still writing. If it wasn't the BB fic, it was another fic that, if I finish in time, I might either add in as another BB, or throw it to, well, all of you, before I get mauled for taking too long to write LM. The vast majority of the last month has pretty much broken my brain, and I blame work; I've pulled several 12-hour days where I was lucky to sit down for five minutes to eat something before I had to rush off again. I had hoped that it would slow down, even stop, by now, but we are apparently approaching fiscal year-end, and everything is something of a clusterfuck. I can only imagine what it must be like for the people who actually work in administration and who have to deal with the fiscal aspects.

What that means is that I am not entirely sure if I will be able to maintain word count each and every day on LM or anything else, but if and when I am not a drooling ball of brain-deadness, I will try.

And occasionally whine. A lot.

Brace yourselves.