Still here! And recs...

I just realized that I didn't post in January at all, making that the first month in nine years that I haven't appeared here even briefly.

Let's not let that happen again.

First, a little emotional honestly: I'm a little overwhelmed at work, flist. Intellectually, I know I can do this, intellectually I know it's all going to be fine, but perhaps my long-time strategy of panicking inside but pretending everything's okay needs to be amended. ARRGH! TOO MUCH GOING ON! I'm anxious all the time and waking up at 3:00 in the morning, and maybe I should talk about that instead of keeping it all inside. It's okay to panic a bit and feel insecure, right? The key thing is keep turning the page in spite of it all.

I haven't been reading or writing or commenting much, but I'm trying hard to remember that you can't just skip important everyday things like sleep or proper meals or fannish fun in the name of Getting Things Done. Balance, balance. Breathe in, breathe out.

Second, something for you: recs!

* femslash_remix posted last week! _hannelore wrote Up in the Air (Minerva/Rolanda, rated PG, 1100 words), a remix of a story by kellychambliss about Minerva's insecurity and confusion in the face of Rolanda's infidelities; woldy wrote A Love Story in Six Baths (Minerva/Augusta, Minerva/Augusta/Frank, rated R, 1900 words), a remix of a story by cranky__crocus about the tensions in a three-way relationship between Minerva, Augusta, and Frank Longbottom (the father of the Frank we know from canon); and kellychambliss wrote Bequest (Minerva/Walburga, Minerva/Rolanda, Sirius, rated PG-13, 6000 words), a remix of a story of mine about the present-day reverberations of a youthful relationship between Minerva and Walburga Black.

I was absolutely delighted with Kelly's remix, which took a story about unspoken pain and turned it inside out by shifting the POV from reticent Remus to Minerva and Sirius, two characters who can't help speaking their mind. But all six fics are worth reading as a set, because the three new stories are very much about the therapeutic powers of remixing. All three authors chose stories about pain and difficult relationships (and Minerva McGonagall!) and turned them around by changing tone, changing the frame of reference, or even encouraging characters to intervene where they had sat silently in the original. Head on over and enjoy these!

* For those of you interested in the women of Sherlock, the Three Patch Podcast recently had an episode on femslash that includes a great list of femslash recs.

* I'm really enjoying a Sherlock WIP by splix, The Case of the Green Gown (Mary/John, Sherlock/John, rated explicit, six chapters and 37,000 words so far). Splix has done an extraordinary job setting up this mesmerizing story--there's both a case for Sherlock to solve involving a deadly green gown and an equally compelling mystery for the reader: how, nine years on from BBC canon, did Sherlock and John's relationship become so distant and strained? Given what I know of ACD canon and Splix's past fic, I believe this story is headed towards Sherlock/John, but it's remarkable right now for a beautiful, nuanced, realistic depiction of tension within John and Mary's loving but troubled marriage. Mary's just exquisitely drawn. Splix is posting regularly and can be depended on to finish WIPs, so please go enjoy this one!