Hugs from Azkatraz *glomp*
I don't have my own computer with me, so pics shall be forthcoming when I get to download them (We were in the bedroom with Snape last night, just to dangle a delightful image of what is to come...) And there were duckies ;)

Yesterday, some of us went to a presentation after lunch that was absolutely AMAZING. This good little Hufflepuff took notes to share because she found it incredibly validating and encouraging.

Making the Jump from Fan Writer to Pro...
The presentation was given by Ravenna C. Tan, who is a fanfic writer, a published author and the founder, I believe, of Cirlet Press.

She gave us a list (amongst other things) of what fanfiction has already given you as a writer, what you already have that will make the gap jumping to ofic easier for you as a fanfic writer.

1. You know your writing habits. It is highly probable that you will not change your writing habits. If you write 500 words a day, binge write 10000 in a weekend; you'll probably not change that when you write professionally. The advantage is that you know your habits and you can plan for them.

2. You know how much you can write and how fast.

3. You have learned to plot and pace longer pieces of work already.

4. The way we post one chapter at a time might actually work for us in future, because with new media, serial writing is going to become more popular.

5. You've learned to trust yourself already.

6. You've got experience with loads of tenses and point of view already; you're not afraid to take a style risk.

7. You've learned to prose polish; feedback, reviews etc. have given you a lot to learn from and made you a more mature writer.

8. You've learned to collaborate and learned not to write in a vaccuum.

9. You already have a support system who will be there for you, to give you confidence and to help you cope with any bad reviews you might get. Chances are your friends now will beta, encourage and be there for you for your o-fic.

She says that you've learned to develop a thicker skin.
"Bad reviews are like somebody knocking on your door and telling you your child is ugly."

10. Going professional doesn't feel all that different.

11. You probably won't stop writing fanfic and that's OKAY! Fanfic is FUN. You have friends there. And most of all, it's part of your creative engine and you don't have to leave it (make use of pseudonyms if you want to separate the two).

HBP was mostly (except for the 4 year old whining behind us) AWESOME!!

<3

Now I need to go and pack because... this time tomorrow I'll be in the air. SQUEE.

(Am very bouncy and acting shoe-size tonight. Scuse me.)

Hufflepuff House now has its very own cosy common room (conveniently located near the kitchens).

hufflepuff_owl.

Come on in an have a cuppa ;)
(And we can discuss how we're going to rise to the top of the House Points log, yes?)

Happy (belated) Birthday to perry_downing, apollinav and countrymouse1!!

I hope you guys had wonderful, fabulous, magical birthdays :D

The Five Meme - character sketches.

You post a "Top Five" topic, list, category, whatever, in my comments section.

(examples: "5 Severus and Hermione Didn't Kiss, But They Should Have", or "5 Things Bones Never Told Jim").

Then, in comments, I'll post the answers to all your Top 5 ideas, according to me. Serious or fun! Then you post this offer in your own journal.

I'll do this for: Harry Potter, Hunger Games (bloody well go read it NOW if you haven't!), Vorkosigan Saga, and Twilight.

I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Rove before. He's... well, he's Rove.

He's an Australian talk show host, I guess, but he's highly amusing, and he interviews celebrities and makes fun of current affairs (Michael Jackson media coverage got the stick this week). So... at the end of every interview, he asks each celeb 5 questions (Sadly, he's removed the standard, "Who would you turn gay for..." Pity).

Here are Dan Radcliff and Rupert Grint's final five... the interview was done in Dumbledore's office (where the books on the shelves are actually the yellow pages with fancy covers--it's in part 1 of the interview).



( Part 1 of that interview )

Another advert playing here on Down Under telly that displays very (very) dubious taste.

It's a "change the channel, NOW" one... and then it's too late to find the remote and I have to watch Arth snicker at it. Sigh.

( Yeah... )

A very Happy Birthday to southernwitch69 for yesterday, and to ihkelele and machshefa for today.

Mwah!