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
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
