Change names to protect the guilty.

Heh. Just call 'em archetypes.

"Dear Whiny Self-Absorbed Wannabe who called me a social climber at ArmpitCon in 1999...."

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A happier drabble:

“Can I get you something to eat? Something to drink? No? Are you sure? Don’t be silly, it’s no trouble at all.”

“You’re too thin, eat something,” my grandmother would say as she pinched my hips to emphasize her point.

“I made your favorite for dinner.”

“Stay for dinner; we can always boil more pasta.”

“We had extra dinner, and we knew you would be alone tonight, so we brought it over.”

“I know you said not to bring anything, but I couldn’t come to dinner empty handed.”

These are the words my family uses to say, “I love you”.

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sj -so yeah. When I was growing up nobody could get out of my house unfed.

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Aww, sj. It's sweet. My one clear memory of my grandfather (he died when I was about six? seven?) was him telling us all "Eat, eat, eat!" He was brusque and intimidating and that definitely meant "I love you."

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Thanks! One more. I can't resist this topic.

There are days beyond my control. My body or my brain betrays me, and I look to food for comfort. At one time, this meant getting food from a drive thru window. Anything quick, hot, and bad for me would do. Now, I take comfort from making my own food. I soothe myself with each small accomplishment, even if it is just putting the water on the stove to boil. With each step, I take control of my life. Later, I take comfort in the smile on my lover’s face as he serves himself a second helping of comfort food.

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Allyson, I meant to post this earlier and I wish I had before you popped in so it didn't sound like hairpatting. But I wanted to tell you that you really are doing so well with your "professional author week." You've come up with some great material; I've really enjoyed reading what you've been working on. You worked steadily all week and did both revisions and expansions. You really plowed through some great material and tightened up your existing stuff well. You're doing great.

And you're a damned good writer. Your work is compelling, funny, wry and personal. It's a topic that's not covered well already, and you have a unique take on it. You already know that you've got a distinctive and entertaining voice. Your introspection and observation make this topic and your book both intensely personal and absolutely universal.

You're on the home stretch now. You're going to make it, and you're going to do fine, and it's going to be great. And we all love you even if you were to completely flop. Which you won't. And we'll still love you even if you succeed.

Meanwhile, about the extra words -- wasn't there talk at one point of you doing several small interstitial pieces that you could just pop in between the longer essays? Could you still do something like that, maybe profiles of people (anonymized or not), or snarky definitions of fandom words or concepts, or bits of insider info about the showrunning process?

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12 of them 750 words each - and Bob likes carrots is your uncle.

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Meanwhile, about the extra words -- wasn't there talk at one point of you doing several small interstitial pieces that you could just pop in between the longer essays? Could you still do something like that, maybe profiles of people (anonymized or not), or snarky definitions of fandom words or concepts, or bits of insider info about the showrunning process?

Allyson, this is a good idea. As are Deb's words and Cindy's list. DO NOT offer to give the money back. You can do this, without a doubt. If you need help or want me to look at something this week, just shout -- I'm around.

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Cindy, I've talked about just about everything on that list, except maybe the Bronze Safety 'Net. It's probably timely due to all the MySpace hysteria.

Oh, good point.

I appreciate this a lot. It's thinking about answers to questions that makes things start flowing, again. I just sent an e to a friend and said, "ask me something. anything. doesn't matter if it's embarassing."

Here's one: What was your absolute lowest point in fandom?

I would like to maybe write an open letter to the douchebag who was such a shit at Comic Con. That's be hilarious, short, and catharsis all wrapped up in about 800 words.

Yes. I bet you could do 1000.

What did I do with my time?

I assume you were being rhetorical, but that could be another essay.

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OK, another question for Allyson:

Is there anyone (as in, specific person) in fandom who you know it behooves you to like - but who you really really really can't stand?

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