Birthday greetings, thoughts on Awards, and a moan.

[speaker_to_customers]

Happy Birthday to psubrat

I'm up for two "Best of the Best" awards at Vampire Kisses. I haven't voted yet; I don't even know if I will. Is it ethical to vote for myself? Even if it is, is it honest? There are too many hard choices. I'm just not up to making hard choices at the moment. Maybe I'll just hide my head in the sand and wait until it goes away.

I put "The Cloak of Mist" up on my site a week or so back, as the watchersdiaries had had it exclusively for long enough.

Only ONE person has read it there, and I'm fairly sure that the reader would have been a moderator from the Shadows and Dust Awards (for which I self-nominated it, not only legitimate but actually required for the nomination to be accepted) checking that it was a valid submission.

I can't believe it. I'm getting 70 visitors to the site a day, most of them are probably old readers checking to see if I've put up anything new, and I've got a new story there and they're not reading it! It's the best thing I've ever done - not only do I think that myself, but the comments I got at watchersdiaries indicate that a lot of people agree with me - and my own fans aren't reading it. Presumably because it doesn't contain Spike?

And the suckers don't seem to be biting at the "Savage Beauty" project on ff.net. Wonder how that would go down on my website?

Comments

[mommanerd.livejournal.com]

I think in the open-voting awards sites you are allowed to vote for yourself. I never have just... because. But still, if you do, there is nothing "cheating" about it. I think they even encourage you to "pimp" yourself to get others to go vote for you. If everyone nominated does that it all works out.

Still - it's uncomfortable.

Congrats on your nominations.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Not nominations as such; it's all the winners of rounds over the past year.

Thank you.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

I vote yes, but never for myself. It just somehow seems... wrong. If I'm gonna win something, I'd rather it was voted for by other people who say 'yes, this is good. this deserves to win'.

Question I struggle with is "Is it okay to nominate yourself?"

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Nomination isn't a problem; curiouswombat is always willing to nominate me for anything and everything, even unprompted.

I had to nominate myself fot a Shadows and Dust award recently; the watchersdiaries mods posted to point out that the fics there were eligible for that award, and suggesting that we go there; when I did I found that the deadline for nominating others was past and they were only accepting self-nominations. It would be a shame for The Cloak of Mist not to get some recognition, so I nominated it.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the recognition bit - sometimes you work hard on something, sweatimng blood and tears to get it just right, and then everyone ignores it. While a mini thing you knocked up in your spare time and release for a laugh gets raved over. *sigh*

Btw, hope you don't mind, but I recced "Savage Beauty" over to su_herald. On the other hand, if you start getting the real ff.net people coming over, then I had nothing to do with it.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Of course I don't mind. It was you? I thought it was dodyskin.

[booster17.livejournal.com]

Nah... what you do is email the herald and pimp, and then the editor collects them all together and what they spot, and posts in one place.

Slight mistake on my part - should have said I pimped it to su_herald.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Just in case you think all his nominations have come from me, I have to point out that I have only actually done it maybe twice or three times. Quite often by the time I think about it it's too late, or someone else has done it, or I just feel guilty nominating my SO!

[steanne.livejournal.com]

see now, i was waiting for you to put it on your site to read it, and people generally announce when they do that. as you just did.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't bother mentioning it here because I was referring to it all the way through posting at watchersdiaries. I thought my F-List would be reading it there if they were interested.

[elisi]

Maybe you could put a few bits and pieces from your rave reviews on your site? All those 'Gosh, this is the best thing you've ever written' might get people interested?

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

My site is cluttered enough as it is (although I've tidied it up a lot today) and I think review extracts might make it worse. Plus, I'd really need to get the permission of the reviewers to do that.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

'I only read Spike.' I am amazed at the number of people who say this - someone lower down the page does as well - it's such an odd way of deciding what to read! I can understand 'I only read fictions by Miss Murchison and Enigmaticblue', 'I only read things less than 5000 words long' or 'I only read finished works', but 'I only read things with a specific character' seems so weird to me. It is exactly the same as someone saying 'I only read books with Miss Eliza Bennett in them.' Or for that matter 'I only eat food with onions in it.'

It is so sad that you will miss gems such as julia_here's 'Another Irish Rose', or 'Aren’t You Grateful It’s Not a Bunny?' by appomattoxco.

It's no wonder that fanfic writers give up trying to write any totally original stuff when even their fanfic has to always have the same character in for some people to read it!

Go on all of you unicharactercentric readers - try ice-cream - even though there are no onions in it you might find that it's nice!!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Spike is in "Aren't You Grateful It's Not a Bunny?" anyway. Not the main star, Giles and Anya are the leads, but Spike and Buffy are the main supporting characters. I did the choreography for their big fight scene, remember?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's just a while since I read it and I only remembered the Giles and Anya interactions - it was just the first example I could think of without having to go back and re-read. Probably I should go back and re-read!

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of guilty of the 'Spike limiting' thing, in that I don't tend to read fics which pair Spike or Buffy with other people. Spuffy is my 'ship of choice and by golly I'm sticking with it. This is probably because when I discovered the wonderful world of fanfiction, the first stories I read were Spuffy. Plus, I spend far too much time on the computer with such a limit - I'd never get away from the infernal machine if I got hooked on another relationship as well.
However, I have read and enjoyed fics that don't feature Spike, particularly if they are by an author I would general read for Spike/Buffy stories. I'm even being tempted by EnigmaticBlue's Spara WIP, to the extent that when it's complete I will probably read it! So I will try the two stories you recc'd above, and 'The Cloak of Mist' is already on my list of fics to read. Still, fanfic reading will be on hold for a while, as I've just been lent the third installment of the Tuesday Next Adventures (Well of Lost Plots), and I know that once I start reading that I won't be able to stop!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to get into Jasper Fforde. I got halfway through "The Eyre Affair" and just gave up.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of him until a couple of friends of mine were discussing 'The Eyre Affair' and one of them lent me the book. I got half way through and couldn't put it down, and was glad I'd borrowed the second one too so that I could start it immediately. He used Merthyr Tydfil (in the socialist republic of Wales as one of the book's supporting locations, and that drew me even further into the story, having been born and raised there.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

You'll find both of them fit your criteria fine - the only two vampires in Another Irish Rose are Angelus and Dru, so far! It's pre-Spike. Although it is a WIP, so you can bookmark it now, and by the time it works it's way up your list to the top it'll be finished, as I gather it's written quite a long way ahead. It is just so beautifully written.
I can see what you mean about pairing Spike with other people - some of the pairings do just put me off stories, like for me slash does nothing. (Mind you before I discovered it as a description in fanfic I had mainly come across slash as a reference to passing urine!!)

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I will bookmark 'Another Irish Rose' and will keep checking in until it's complete. I've found 'Aren't You Grateful ...' and scanned through the first part of chapter one, and so far it seems entirely my thing - it's already made me laugh, and I like Giles and Anya as a couple. So this one will be set aside for next week when Chris is in France and I can spend a couple of hours reading when the girls are in bed.
The slash thing does nothing for me, either.

[makd.livejournal.com]

I loved your Watchers' Diaries story, though I don't think I had the time that week-end to provide fb.

Frankly, I love everything you write.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ::blushes with pride::

[psubrat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! ::hugs::


P.S. I voted for you. *g*

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ::hugs you back::

[myfeetshowit.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm one of the ones who hasn't read your Watcher's Dairies because of lack of Spike. RL has limited my time lately so I've had to pick and choose and I always end up choosing Spike.

Sorry about that.

I've been mostly limiting myself to one story per author at a time as well.
I think feedback has seemed harder to come by of late so I've tried to give as much to as many people as possible.

I will get to each and everyone of your stories sooner or later though - so I'll be one of the people who gives you feedback on stories you thought were long forgotten. I hope that makes up for not getting it along the way. Nah. I crave as I go along too!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I don't mind people not reading it - I just find it odd that people who have obviously come to my site looking for new stories by me get there, find that there is indeed a new story, and don't read it.

Of course, being fairly Spike-centric myself, most of the Yahoo! groups etc. that I belong to are all Spike based and therefore I can't pimp it in those places. I'm relying purely on passing trade; but the trade is passing and not stopping.

[sharelle.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your nominations! Hmm. I should probably start visiting awards sites. When I first started writing fic, the fandom I was in was so small they never had anything like that. I keep forgetting this one does -- or I'd probably vote a lot more often.

In regards to the etiquette of voting, I'm not sure if this will make you feel any better about it, but I've never had any problem voting for myself during my life. (Especially if it was something that I really wanted, or something I honestly felt that I'd be very good at -- elected positions, awards, whatever.) It's obvious, by the quality of your stories, that you put a great amount of work into what you do, and you seem genuinely proud of it. If it's been nominated, and you feel that it's deserving, there should be no shame in showing it. (As my mother used to say, "If you don't vote for yourself, how can you expect someone else to do it?") Plus, how many politicians do you think cast their vote for the "other guy" on election day?

Vote proud! Vote Speaker! *G*

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Your mother has a good point; I probably will vote for myself. Shame I'm up against my best online friend and her story that I admire tremendously.

[pfeifferpack.livejournal.com]

In the words of my ancestors (and Bro Finan) Go raibh maith agat for the lovely The Cloak of Mist. I've been wanting to read it, but was trying to pump out my kinkathon mini epic. Lovely Slayer lore (and what a wonderful Slayer, Watcher and her Icelandic love, Egil). I love how you've put in history and myth in this. So wonderful (glad King Brian's killer was finally put to dust). Behay should live long than join Egil in either heaven or Valhalla. Wonderful story, rich and lush in the telling.

Kathleen

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Gura mie eu (in the words of Bahey's people).

Wonderful feedback, rich and lush in the giving.

[sevedra.livejournal.com]

I haven't been reading any fic lately because my lit/comp class is kicking my bootay. Sorry. I'll read it in mid April when class is over. I am SURE it is fabulous. It would have to be, wouldn't it?

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the compliment!

[nandibble.livejournal.com]

A modest suggestion. Your site isn't the easiest to navigate (per me only). Might you put a NEW or UPDATED notice (with a link) right on your TOP page, where it's impossible to miss? I think that would make identifying new stuff easier for the person browsing through.

Also, might you gather the pieces of Savage Beauty into one place? I just looked and they're not on your website. Might you put them into Memories, here on LJ, as some writers do? I want to continue reccing this tale but haven't yet found all the parts. (I will, though. It just takes effort.)

Warmest regards!

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion! I haven't done it quite like that, but I've now got an Updates page with huge links to it from the main homepage and each of the two fiction index pages, and I've cleaned those index pages up a bit.

Savage Beauty is in Memories, actually. I will put it on the website as well, probably tonight as I doubt if I'll get much writing done now.

[nandibble.livejournal.com]

Then it seems I don't know how to reach/access your Memories. Maybe a link like "Previous parts here when you update would let the reader find the foregoing story more easily.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I didn't bother at first because I was updating so fast and there weren't any other posts between Savage Beauty updates, but I'll be doing it in future now that there have been the drabbles and birthday greetings breaking up the sequence. It is up on the website now, anyway, and the revised site layout should mean that it's pretty unmissable.

[jerusha]

Two words: stupid people. If they're not reading "Cloak of Mist" they're just stupid, because it's brilliant. You're right. And the people at ff.net must be too stupid not to bite. It's so worth it just for the sheer humor.

But I'm with you. I refuse to even peek at the Best of the Best, because I know I'm probably there, and I refuse to care. So I'm doing the head in the sand thing too. You want to join me?

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I've followed nandibble's suggestion and made it far more obvious on my site that there is new material there, so if visitors were simply not seeing "The Cloak of Mist" they don't have that excuse now.

Re the Awards: Too late. I was swayed by the words of sharelle's mother, and I've been and voted. You are, of course, there; and I have of course voted for you in a couple of categories. You might not do as well as you deserve, because you are competing against yourself in more than one category.

[jerusha]

Wait, I'm competing against myself? I don't know whether to feel pleased or embarrassed about that. Darn it. This means I'm going to have to go take a look. And vote. Though not for myself, because I would feel absurdly guilty.

And that's a good decision, to make it more obvious that you've got new stuff up. That might help. At least one would hope.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Perhaps your new site interface will help. Also, re: Savage Beauty on ff.net, I find that site a little cumbersome to negotiate (when I'm tired or when it goes unaccountably slowly). Hang in there. You know all your stuff is beyond good. (There's nothing wrong with a little self-acknowledgment I say).

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

The new site interface does indeed seem to be helping; another five people have read it there now.

In the same period 47 people have read "It's got to be perfect"; but it's a start.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

That's heartening.