I got the bad writing out of the way early on: really bad novel at age 15, in bad Italian, grandiose and self-indulgent and thoroughly pointless. No idea where it is, but the point is, never been ashamed of it. It was a story. I told it, however badly. I put too much me into it - I was 15, for fuck's sake - and then put it away for two years. I looked at it again, burst out laughing, and never looked back.

There was a story in there, and characters, ones on a journey.

Allyson, also with the beta, please, ma'am. And title: "Emotional Rescue, Deep-Space Style"?

OK - I gloat gloat gloat.

Completely up to date photo of Isle of Dogs.

See the south bank, the big white rectangles in the river? That's the Royal Naval Dock Yard. Not too far from there, in Greenwich, just to the east? Was Henry VIII's manor house, Pleasaunce (aka Placentia). He married three of his wives there, including Anne of Cleves.

Directly opposite the Royal Naval Dock Yard is a small green undeveloped square. It's where I'm going to set my 16th century haunt-inducing crime.

My story just fell into place.

Gloatygloatgloat.

Happy now.

I'm almost ready for Beta reading of Save Firefly, which needs a sexier title but I won't deal with that til it's really most sincerely dead.

Hey, and finally I'll be able to ask to read it on time!

Whenever I read the words "Save Firefly", I think about the big red button in (wait for it) "Out of Gas"¹. I can't help it - my mind immediately goes to that visual place.

It's really interesting reading about the different approaches of everybody here. Nothing to add, sadly, just waving to the people I haven't posted with for so long.

¹ deb, and anybody else who hadn't watched "Firefly" - it's the one episode I can't stop falling in love with. Also, embarassingly enough, I can't stop posting about it, either.

I didn't have the same love affair with FF that some of you all did, but Out of Gas was the best episode...possibly its playing with cop show forms had something to do with that. Obsessed? Nah.

Monday means new drabble topic time!

Challenge #27 (the 2 choices of art-themed drabbles) is now closed.

Challenge #28 comes from Deb, who suggested the theme fateful encounters, which is a theme that seems to need some dramatic music playing behind it. Fateful Encounters!!! [dum-dum-DUM!!!]

Go to it. Background music not required, because I'm just being a dork about it to amuse myself. You get that, right?

Someone remind me how much better I'll feel if I just go ahead and make the one or two tiny edits where I think DH had good points and get these contest entries in the mail today. Also that that'll free me to finish polishing the partials I'm planning to mail to the editor and agent I met at the conference no later than 10/27.

Do it to it, Susan. You know you want to.

Nilly, that's a sensational name. Loves it, I do.

And on the new topic? Oh, there are going to be a lot of drabbles coming from me on this one, methinks.

January, New York City, 1968

Whole lotta blizzard going on.

I'm fourteen, and I have a date with a cutie named Jay. I could see his penthouse from the steps of the Metropolitan Museum, if we weren't in the middle of a damned whiteout.

I'm in miniskirt, antique fur. Head down, I charge up the stairs, and slam into someone coming out. I go flying, stockings ruined.

He's very pretty, blonde, English, apologetic. Takes me to Bloomingdale's in a cab, buys me new stockings, takes me back to the museum to keep my date. As he's leaving, he introduces himself. "I'm Brian - Brian Jones."

Susan, make the edits, mail the things, and move along. They're tiny things.

Speaking of which, have big old post office run to do myself, including ten copies of my precious authors' copies of FFoSM to my agent, as promised.

OK. Entries will be mailed today unless I end up having to spend all my day at King Co. Public Health getting Annabel a flu shot--I'm still trying to get through to our pediatrician to get their advice.