At long last, the third and final part of my Tamara story, Safe Journey, is posted for your perusal. It's called The New Guatrau. Intrigued by that title? Go on and check it out, then feel free to discuss the story over at the forums! That's what they're there for!

You might be wondering about the title of this post. I've had a lot of trouble getting these stories up, and I apologize for that. I've been trying to keep you updated and let you know I was still here and still care about the site even as crazy stuff has come up. However, even with the crazy stuff, it was just my own stupid fault these stories haven't posted on time, and I've learned a couple of things:

1) Fan fiction is still writing, which means that it's hard work and takes time.
This should be obvious. Hell, I've made that point to non-geeks who don't consider it "real writing" for a while now. But I haven't written fan fiction in a long time - not since I was about 12 - and when I decided to do a three part story for Beginning of Line, I didn't write it before the site went up. I figured it would be easy to dash off, and I could leave it for last minute, because it certainly couldn't be as difficult as the "real" writing I do.

Ha. Ha.

I got really into writing the first part, featuring Sam, and it surprised me that it took me several weeks. It surprised me how much I wanted to edit it, and how well I wanted to craft it. It shouldn't have, but it did. Then the second part, though I knew what I wanted that part of the story to be, proved more difficult, and the week it was supposed to go up came at a time when I had a trip planned to L.A. Then all this other stuff happened, and well - hiatus. After I posted that, I swore to myself that I would get the third part up on schedule. But again, life got in the way, and resolving this story took more time than I anticipated, because I didn't take into account that, Wait a minute, I might have to put some actual thought and energy into this.

Props to all the fan fiction writers out there who already knew what it apparently took me running a fan fiction site to figure out. Fan fiction deserves the same attention and care as original fiction. Case closed.

2) Finish the piece before you agree to submit it.
I learned this not only with my own piece, but through several people who submitted stories to the site. I agreed to do a three-part story before I'd written it, and I shouldn't have. It held up the site. As editor, I accepted work based on the promise of a second part without knowing whether it would be finished or not. I shouldn't have. Thankfully, everything's worked out, and I have every single episode through the end of the season (eleven more episodes!) present and accounted for.

Still, it's caused me more aggrivation than it's worth, and you lapses between stories you didn't need.

I'm still very new to this. As I said when I started, I'll be making mistakes and figuring things out as I go. But I'd like to tell you that the bumpiest parts of the journey are behind us! I'll be back on schedule, editing and working with each writer on their story as I was doing before my story came up. I'm already making plans for Season 3, and when the time comes, there will be deadlines that will be strictly adhered to. I will be doing my best to make this site as awesome an experience as possible for all of you.

As always, if you have any suggestions for me on how I can make things better, or just have ideas in general, you can talk to me about them in the comments, the forums, or by emailing me at beginningofline[at]gmail[dot]com.

Thank you all so much for your patience, your understanding, and your support of Beginning of Line!

Your Guatrau,
Teresa

This week, we are back on track! We start with Artsy Monday, where we get to know our most recent artist. This week, we'll get to know Abby Geiger from Montreal, who did the awesome drawing of Sam and Tamara Adama that went with Part One of Safe Journey, and has some lovely new drawings to go along with stories coming up! And now, without further ado:

1) If you had to choose ONE, what's the most important thing people should know about you?
That I'm not afraid to take on challenges and try new things, and when there is something I really want to accomplish, I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen. Tell me "no" and I'll try all the harder!

2) What do you enjoy about drawing as an art form?
The challenge of creating the illusion of a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional surface. Of course this can be done with other media, and I have dabbled in painting, pastels and prints in the past. But I prefer pencils because they are easy to control, very portable, less messy than pastels and less hassle than stretching canvas and cleaning brushes. I also like the challenge of creating depth and luminosity without using color, although I have toyed with the idea of creating a colored pencil portrait for submission. It's been some time since I worked with those however, so we shall see.

3) Least favorite/most difficult thing about drawing your fan portraits?
Hunting down the reference pictures. It's very time consuming, especially when I find myself enjoying the show rather than searching for screencaps! Seriously though, I will be the first to admit that I am not good at drawing images right out of my head. I didn't go to art school and get the training that would have helped in this regard, so reference photos are a necessity. However, I have found I don't require such 'perfect' reference pics as I once used to. Practice may not make perfect, but it certainly increases the ease with which I can capture detail that doesn't exist. The drawing of Sam and Tamara I created for "Safe Journey: Hypatian's Bluff" is a perfect example. The reference I used for Sam was tiny, blurry and hatless, and the snap of Tamara was not much better. I had to fill in all the blanks myself, something I was not entirely sure I could manage when I began. But I had a job to do and I wanted it to be awesome, so I rallied everything I had and pulled it off. No one was more surprised than me at how well it turned out.

4) How do you decide what to draw when drawing for fandom? Is it motivated by characters you enjoy, a storyline you enjoy, both?
So far it's been a little bit of everything. Believe it or not, I had originally not even planned to supply any artwork to this project, thinking I would not have the time and that portraits were not really what were needed. When I discovered portraits would be welcome, I did one to accompany my own story and thought that would be the end of it. Then I came across a lovely photo of Zoe that just called out for a rendering. By the time I had taken on the challenge of creating the Sam and Tamara illustration, I was hooked. Gara Singh I did partially because I have a friend who is a Peter Wingfield fan and I knew she'd enjoy that one. I'd like to do one of Evelyn because she has beautiful eyes that would be a pleasure to draw, and because I want to give equal time to the somewhat 'background' characters from the show. For some time now, I've been wanting to draw a picture of Eric Stoltz wearing his glasses, and creating an illustration of Daniel for Beginning of Line is a perfect reason to finally do so. Ultimately, I would like to do a drawing of each and every one of the characters because, as I said, I'm hooked! I'd better get to scribbling, eh?

5) If the technology were available, would you want to be resurrected as a skin-job cylon?
Absolutely. I can't imagine a time when I will be bored with this life. I don't want to 'rest', I don't want to 'move on', and I don't believe we do so anyway - I think when we're dead, we're dead, and everything we ever were is gone forever. While that idea doesn't terrify me, it certainly makes me unhappy. I truly want to live forever, because it will take me that long to do all the things I'd like to try one day! Heck, even if only my consciousness can be downloaded into a box and all I can do is sit on a table and think, I'll take it. I will always prefer to be alive over being dead. The container it's taking place in is secondary. So yes, bring on the cylon technology! When they start handing out the resurrection tickets, you can bet you'll find me standing right at the...dare I say it?...beginning of line!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your patience during the site's extended hiatus. Life threw me curveballs, and I made lemonade. Or, whatever. The point is, I'm back, and so is the site! Check out the second part of my 3-part Tamara story called "Safe Journey: Spatiu Gol," which features a screencap by the talented Juanita Martinez and a fabulously appropriate ad by Rhesa Sealy.

We've also had a WINNER in our BOL Opening Credits Sequence contest! The winning video, as selected by Sasha Roiz, was submitted by Bernard Kyer! According to Sasha:

"[Bernard's video] gave a greater scope of the world and characters in it, while maintaining a sense of the foreboding. Nice work!"

In addition to Bernard's video being a permanent fixture this season at our WELCOME page, he will be receiving a copy of Beyond Caprica: A Visitor's Guide to the Twelve Colonies signed by author, Bob Harris, and Caprica co-executive producer, Jane Espenson. Congratulations, Bernard!

An autographed copy of Beyond Caprica will also go to our runner-up, James Garza, whose submission can be viewed HERE.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Sasha Roiz, Jane Espenson, and Bob Harris for their involvement with the contest and support of the site. I hope we're doing your show justice over here. :)

Welcome back to Beginning of Line everyone! I promise not to stray for so long ever again!