Alison's House of Grey

Yes, I've been hiding for a bit. For those who are curious, here's what I've been up to...

( Read more... ) 

So that's why I've been MIA for a while. It's been a productive couple of months, but I had to shelve all of my fandom-related projects while I did that other stuff. Sorry to anyone I left hanging. It certainly wasn't my intent. The good news is that I'm back now, firmly on summer vacation, and I'm ready to tackle some new projects/challenges. Speaking of new projects...

Mark your calendars for the Grey's season premiere countdown. Starting on Sunday, June 14th, I'm planning to dust off my Grey's DVDs and watch an episode a day until the premiere in September. I'll probably do it over at The Elevator, so anyone interested in ducking in and joining in on the commentary is welcome. I just thought it would be a good way to make it through the long summer break. 

Title: Many the Miles
Chapter 3 of 20
Pairing: Meredith & Derek
Rating: M
Word Count: 3,968
Summary: After meeting online, Meredith and Derek recognize that they have an instant connection. But when Derek arrives in Seattle, will they be able to make things work? AU for people that hate AU. All of the normal characters and settings you'd find on the show, and lots of drama reminiscent of seasons 1 and 2. Revised version. Previous chapters found here.

( A one-hour tour... )

Title: Many the Miles
Chapter 2 of 20
Pairing: Meredith & Derek
Rating: M
Word Count: 3,418
Summary: After meeting online, Meredith and Derek recognize that they have an instant connection. But when Derek arrives in Seattle, will they be able to make things work? AU for people that hate AU. All of the normal characters and settings you'd find on the show, and lots of drama reminiscent of seasons 1 and 2. Revised version. Previous chapters found here.

( Shepherd's the triathlete? )

Title: Many the Miles

For the first time in the three years I've been living in Atlanta, I got a snow day. WOOHOO!!!! I grew up in Michigan, where snow days are the norm, but here, it takes a tiny miracle to get the kind of weather conditions to trigger a snow day. For example, the amount of snow that we received yesterday would be laughable to those living in Michigan, but Atlanta's just not equipped to deal with any of it. They don't have rock salt and snow tires and plows all over the place. So overnight, when the temperatures dipped below freezing and all the melted snow and slush turned to ice...that's the miracle I'm talking about.

The funny thing about snow days, from a teacher perspective, is that they completely change my mood waking up. Ordinarily when my alarm goes off, I hit the snooze button several times and then drag my ass out of bed. This morning, I woke up on my own at 4:30am, checked the news on my iPhone (no luck yet), went back to sleep, woke up again at 5:50 (before my alarm), saw my school's name on the list, and bounded out of bed filled with glee. There may have been happy dancing and squeels involved. Even now, it's not even 6:30, and I'm happily pounding on my keyboard. I don't think I've ever done anything happily at 6:30am in all the time I've been in Atlanta. 

This is glorious!

And with that, I'm going to go back to bed before the complete benefit of my snow day is lost. *g*

If you haven't heard atelevatorjunkies  already, ariaadagio  and I are challenging each other to some MerDer fic writing. Complete rules and details found here.

03/01/2009: Prompt 02 from greysaddict522  to ariaadagio . Post An Honest Mistake. Meredith discovers the obnoxiously large white teddy bear in Derek's study. 

By the time I went to bed yesterday, I had written 5,755 words for chapter 17 and shipped them off to my beta as a rough first draft. This makes me exceedingly happy on two levels. First, it means that she can stop holding chapter 16 hostage from me, and I can hopefully get it posted in the next day or so.  Second, chapter 17 was the last major roadblock that I can foresee before I finish this fic. I think I'll have 21 chapters total, according to my outline, so the finish line is finally approaching. A few of those chapters are rather action packed, so they may stretch a bit, but the vision of the end is making me happy. Hooray!!!

I'm going to get back to writing now...I only have a few hours left before I'm going to have to shift gears and move onto writing a character sketch for my fiction writing class tonight and completing lesson plans for the week. *sobs*

 I have been ridiculously MIA lately. Some of it I could rationalize because of an unusually hectic workload; some of it is related to the writing class assignments I've been doing lately (sorry guys, not turning in MerDer fanfic for that!). But really, most of the MIA-ness stems from an overwhelming sense of writer's block. It's weird--I have the whole story mapped out in great detail, but this particular chapter isn't working. I've done some unusual things to try to force the creative juices to flow. For example, the next chapter is actually done and has been with my beta for over a month,  but I've requested her to hold it hostage for me so that I can have added incentive to work on the next chapter since that's where my meltdown seems to be occurring. So anyway, I've committed myself to plopping my ass at my desk and writing today, and if anyone has any sage words to pull me out of this rut, lord knows I could use them. 

I already shared my opinions of last night's episode at elevatorjunkies , but I just finished rewatching the entire episode again, and I must say... I still love it. It was chock full of juicy nuggets of amazing goodness from start to finish. I feel like the show actually has all the right pairings at the moment. The scenes between Owen and Cristina were heartbreaking and rich. Alex and Izzie are so, so tragic in their own way. I adore Mark and his struggle to come to terms with falling for someone who happens to be a 24-year-old Lexipedia.

Then there's Derek. I couldn't love him more. PD totally rocked throughout this episode, and he completely blew me away in the last scene with his mom. I'm thrilled to see that we're finally getting so much info on him and that they're making him more than just a pretty face struggling to work things out with Meredith. It's about time. His character is such a gold mine of potential plot and drama. I love wherever this is going. 

I have to admit that as soon as I found out Mama Shepherd was coming on the show, I was incredibly curious about how she'd be written--particularly since I wrote an entire fic about her death. I must say, however, that after going back and rereading the chapters of Gravity where she was alive in flashback form, I could definitely imagine Tyne Daly's character in those scenes. My thrill at that realization almost made up for all the cringing I experienced in seeing how many bad writing habits were on display when I wrote that fic. I can't believe it was a year ago already... Despite the bad habits, it's still the fic I like the most of all that I've written. I'm withholding judgment on Many the Miles until I finish it, but I suspect Gravity might always be my favorite.

Speaking of writing...I signed up for a real, live, 8-week fiction writing class in Atlanta with a professional novelist! Woo hoo!!! It's supposed to be small -- 10-12 writers -- and it's 2 hours once a week. I think I'll get a lot out of it, and maybe -- just maybe -- I can finally move my idea for a non-fanfic novel out of my noggin and onto my laptop. *head explodes*

Okay...off to pack before my inaugural extravaganza. Plane leaves at 4pm tomorrow, and I'm thinking I may need to go shopping for some warmer clothes tomorrow morning. And pack. And do laundry. *gulp*

 I am heading to DC in a couple days to attend all sorts of awesome inauguration festivities and party with friends (old and new). I'm thrilled about the whole trip, and my Obama-mania is at a fever pitch. Tonight, however, on the heels of a completely awesome Grey's episode, my husband asked me a question that I couldn't definitively answer.

Who would I rather meet: Barack Obama or Patrick Dempsey?

My love for PD runs deep. He's on my list of 3 celebrities that I get to take a pass on the marriage vows for. After a few minutes of deep deliberation, M finally added that there is no possibility of sex in either scenario, just conversation. So, in the spirit of Obama-mania and the inauguration, I chose Barack, but I'm still a bit conflicted. 

Pluses for Patrick:
- the hair 
- the charm

Pluses for Barack:
- leader of the free world

Decisions, decisions...I'm glad voting in the election wasn't this hard. 

 Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe welcome to the year, and I must say that I'm looking forward to the year ahead. Even though it's the last Saturday of my glorious winter vacation, I feel pretty good about my productivity and relaxation these last couple weeks.

I've been doing some writing (and sent my beta the next TWO chapters of Many the Miles -- but give her, and then me, some time to work on those since it's about 16,000 words that she has to edit and I'll have to fix. *g*).

I've spent major amounts of quality time with M, who, despite living with me, I felt like I hadn't seen in forever given the crazy semester he endured. We managed to clean out our bedroom, closets, office and kitchen/pantry and trashed/recycled/donated a ton of stuff. Just the act of decluttering so much makes me feel better. It was a daunting task, but we did it. And after the last couple weeks of actually taking the time to talk and take care of one another, in many ways, I feel like we're closer than ever. Pretty amazing after being together for 11 years. 

I've spent a lot of time reading pro-fic. I had a conversation with ariaadagio recently about books, and she ended up giving me a huge list of recommended reads based on our similar tastes. I've read the first book of the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I just started reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've enjoyed both so far, and I intend to read all the books in both series this year. (I also intend to get a library card because all of these trips to Barnes & Noble and Borders--my two favorite stores--are going to bankrupt me.)

Finally, although I tend to hate New Year's Resolutions, that didn't stop me from setting goals for myself for 2009. 

( There are 9 specific things I hope to accomplish in 2009. ) 

A few things to share in numbered form.

1. I finally updated Many the Miles! Woo hoo!!! Chapter 14 can be found here. Eventually, I will put it all on my LJ page, but I didn't start this story out here, and I haven't gotten around to moving it over yet, but yeah...Maybe over winter vacation.

2. This has been the longest week of the longest school year ever. Monday I had to leave school early because I inadvertently had a showdown with a pile of fire ants, and they won. Ah, the many joys of assisting with supervision during PE. Today, some mystery epidemic struck four teachers in my hall, rendering them violently ill and sending them all home early (including one who had to go to the ER). All were fine when they arrived at school. Coincidence? No freakin' way. Fortunately, I am (thus far) unscathed, but we may need to call in Dr. House to solve this medical mystery.

3. If you are not already a member of the community elevatorjunkies , then a) why the hell not?! and b) you're missing out on my 12 Days of Meredith and Derek countdown AND you're going to miss out on some super awesome holiday one-shots by some fabulous authors. Watch for those on Monday, December 22 (the same day, coincidentally, that I will be packing up my car to drive to Michigan for a week of family and Guitar Hero World Tour).

4. I haven't started any holiday shopping yet. I'm totally fucked. This weekend will be hell.

5. Random Public Service Announcement: If you write a fanfic and include any variation of "I suck at summaries" in your summary, I categorically will not read it. Categorically. If you can't piece together two sentences to describe your story, I have no faith that you can piece together coherent paragraphs or a high-quality plot. There, I've said it. And judging from the summaries I've read in the last few days in my quest to find something new to read, it needed to be said. *stepping off of soap box*

6. I will definitely be around the online world in the next few days, but I don't know that I'll be posting to my personal LJ (probably just at the forementioned elevatorjunkies , which you really do need to join). If I don't get a chance to post here, let me just say that I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, joy-filled holiday. I have been blessed in "meeting" so many fabulous people online this year and last, and I wish you all the very best as we close out 2008.

Here's hoping 2009 brings some serious Meredith and Derek action!!!!

I've been hiding, I know. But I come bearing gifts ( or, at the very least, the promise of gifts... )

Here's where I'm at on my NaNoWriMo work.

Word Count: 13,992

I'm slightly behind pace for where I want to be, which is problematic because I'm faced with a busy work week. But the story is definitely coming along. I'm hoarding it a bit for the moment while I figure a few things out, but here's a very quick sneak peek to prove that I have, in fact, been working.

( Many the Miles Sneak - Chapter 13 )

I'll likely have a complete chapter posted later this week when I finish tinkering with it and send it through the appropriate channels. Thanks for being patient. Good things are on the way, I hope!