I have four days away from work, so a six-day weekend, and I head to Canberra tonight for a four-day trip with my wonderful man. I've just started packing and I'm feeling pretty damn good.

I'm taking my computer because I'm determined to finish my snupin santa story on the plane. It's driving me insane, I tell you.

Anyway, stolen from jamie2109:
The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So ask me something you want to know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Probably no one wants to know anything about me, but that's okay too.

I hope everyone has as good a weekend as I'm planning to have!

Yes, that's right, in a particularly unfunny piece of wank we discover that the Lambda Literary Foundation has decided to ban straight authors of GLBT literature from their GLBT literature award. Unsurprisingly, a number of straight authors of GLBT fiction are upset about this.

However, not wanting to get into the right or wrong of the situation, what I found interesting was the opinions of some commenters on the quality of gay fiction written by straight women. This is probably a good example.

The general consensus is that straight women write gay men like a heterosexual couple but both of them have penises.

I know I'm not a gay male, so I can't say what a gay relationship is actually like, though I imagine they are as varied as het relationships. But most of the M/M fiction I read, both fanfic and original fiction, presents gay men as people in a relationship, with occasional communication problems, people who fight and make up, people who have sex and also occasionally like to cuddle. Is that not a fair description of a gay relationship? Is it the cuddling that's the dealbreaker?

Any thoughts? Do you have to be a gay male to be able to write M/M fiction? Can readers tell when something is written by a gay male as opposed to a straight woman? And considering most of the stories we're talking about are in essence escapism for readers, does it matter that some points are romanticised?

E.T.A I would write about Roman Polanski, but Debra Winger's statement that it was something that happened 32 years ago and is completely over bar a legal technicality pissed me off way too much. What's the legal technicality? That he raped a thirteen-year-old girl, or that he skipped the country without serving his time? Considering they let him plea to a lesser charge, I really think he should have been a man and done the time.

But there is a reason :)

I didn't tell anyone earlier, because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it, but I signed up for the severusbigbang this year. I needed to write a minimum of 15,000 words - which may as well be a three part novel for me. And I did think I wouldn't manage. I still have a lot to do, but I seem to moving along at a steady pace, even though I need the first draft done by Thursday (or probably Friday, with the time difference).

And I have to say, it was planning that made the difference. I've never been one to write plans for stories - since I write short ones I tend to get an idea, start writing and see where it goes. Sometimes I have an idea of the ending, sometimes I don't, but I never put down plot points first.

With so much to write, I figured a plan might come in handy, so I used the fractal planning technique to get an outline of the whole story. After doing that I realised I'd only have to write about 200 words for each plot point to make the 15,000 word goal, which made it seem a lot more attainable.

I think I'm going to go way over 15,000 words, but that's not a bad thing. But hopefully I'll be able to write for the AWDT again next week after this draft is done :)

I think I've finally kicked the writer's block that was only affecting me when I was trying to write sex scenes. I finished my story for hp_cross_fest today (while sitting in the jury pool room) and managed to write some description withheld to protect my anonymity sex, so it appears I'm back to being able to write the porn. I guess I should catch up with that awdt prompt I half wrote. I'm embarassed to say it's a sequel to James Potter and the Flitwick Fling. It's hard to come up with funny lines after you've already used "nine inches of manmeat".

In other news, I've gone on a bit of a health kick. In order to stick with my goals, I decided to do a triathlon in March as well. I was going to do one in November, but they cancelled the event.

So, I've dug out books on how to train for triathlons and have chosen a plan called "Sprint Triathlon for those with limited fitness." Unfortunately, they didn't have any plans for "Those with no bloody fitness whatsoever" or "Those for whom walking up a flight of stairs remains a struggle." So, I'm running, cycling and swimming, and have to do each twice a week. Since I did none last week, I'm learning that my willpower leaves a lot to be desired. The run is starting with only five minutes at a time - build it up slowly - but even that pushes my heart rate above what should be it's maximum, and leaves me breathing like I've just sprinted up Mt Everest. So... wish me luck.

On the plus side, I fit into my skinny jeans last week :D

Lastly, RIP Patrick Swayze. I've seen Dirty Dancing more times than should be allowed, but I'm planning on watching it again tonight. I want to say something soppy, like ... his dancing will live on forever, but I think I'll sound stupid. So just know that I'm thinking it.

Title: The Sport of Kings
Author: kinky_kneazle
Rating: G
Characters: Harry/Draco
Wordcount: 404
Disclaimer: Owned by JK Rowling.
Summary: Is Draco king enough for the game of golf?
A/N: Written for the awdt, where the prompt this week is the five words golf, plaid, stampede, bourgeois, crocodile.

( Draco walked down the hallway )

It's freezing here in Adelaide. I'm sure people who see snow on an annual basis would disagree with me, but I'm very, very cold. It's been stormy and there was no power when I got home. No power = K not being able to cook, so I turned around and walked to the take-out shop. It was very, very dark, since even the street lights were off, and very strange to be walking through streets like that. It even took me a while to figure out why everything seemed so different.

So, I thought I might spend part of the evening in a hot bath, with candles lighting the bathroom (solar hot water!), but by the time I got back with dinner the power was back on. I know that if I'd decided to wait and see how long it took before going back out to get dinner, that it would have been out for hours.

nocturnali has convinced me to have a go at writing for publication. The theme (heh, just like awdt is Kinky Presents, so to get some inspiration I wandered around a sex shop with her a couple of weeks ago - all in the name of research. And now that I've started actually writing the story I need to do some browsing of pictures of male bondage. For research. It's a hard life.

nocturnali tagged me to do the desk meme.

Post a photo of your desk.
List 5 book-items and 5 non-book items on it.
Tag 5 friends to do the same.

( My not-office )

My nose feels like ice :( I may have to go to bed early, just to warm up.

Title: Conversations With Those Left Behind
Author: kinky_kneazle
Rating: G
Characters: Remus Lupin, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape
Wordcount: approx. 1100
Disclaimer: Owned by JK Rowling.
Summary: Those who are watching and waiting speak their thoughts.
A/N: Written for the awdt where I'm playing catch-up. The three prompts are "There are two things you don't mess with: coffee and cheese", "Do you know how weird it is to turn around and see you standing there?" and "a little less conversation". Un-betad and written in about thirty minutes, so I hope it's alright.

( We watch you, you see. )

I gotted recced on crack_broom this morning, and no think I can officially die happy.

Considering my week at work sucked, and then I woke up at 6.30 this morning so I'd have time to walk my dog and then spend 1.5 hours on public transport to get to my writing course that I was looking forward to, only to arrive and discover I had the dates messed up and it's next week, so I had to do the public transport thing home again, this totally made my week.

Since I promised nocturnali H/D with coffee and cheese flavoured rimming for the awdt this week, I'd better get to it, but had to squee before I could concentrate on anything else.

Title: Harry Loves Pinky
Author: kinky_kneazle
Rating: G
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Wordcount: 2,695
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to JK Rowling. Happy Days and all related characters/scenes/plotlines belong to Paramount Television. M*A*S*H charachers belong to 20th Century Fox and Quantum Leap themes belong to Belisarius Productions.
Summary: During his birthday dinner, Harry suddenly finds himself wearing a leather jacket in Milwaukee in the 1950s. And is that Draco in pink?
A/N: This all comes from jamie2109's random thoughts about stockcar driver!Draco with a pink neckerchief. That made me think of Pinky Tuscadero, and here is the result. Unbeta-ed at the moment, because my internet is playing up, so please point out any mistakes. Written for this weeks awdt where the prompt is "risk of serious injury." ETA: And for Harry's Birthday (almost forgot). Happy Belated Birthday!

( Why did you just call me Pinky, Fonzie? )

Ali knows I can't resist responding to these sorts of things.

( Three Things Meme )

Because if aliwilde jumped off a cliff, I would too.

Title: Roommates
From: kinky_kneazle
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: It's hard having a roommate.
Rated: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 370
Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling. No money is being made.
A/N: Written for the awdt where the prompt is "Did you have to use all the hot water?" I know I've already done one, but this idea came to me, and I promised jamie2109 some H/D. Unbeta'd, so any mistakes are definitely mine.

( Used the last of the milk )

Title: To Live
From: kinky_kneazle
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Summary: Sirius uses all the hot water, and it sparks and argument.
Rated: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 370
Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling. No money is being made.
A/N: Thanks to nocturnali for the beta. Written for the awdt where the prompt is "Did you have to use all the hot water?"
Also, I'm back!

( SIRIUS! )

The big reveal has happened at harry_holidays and I can send a big thank you out to jamie2109 who wrote Talio Reddo for me. It's femmeslash! Lily/Narcissa with a nice dose of Domme!Narcissa and just very, very tasty. Sue tells me she was asking me questions about what I thought Lily would do while she was writing it and I remained completely obvlivious to her nefarious intentions and was gobsmacked when I saw the reveal this morning and saw she had written it. Everyone should go have a read.

I wrote Founders slash for aigooism.
Title: Twas the Night Before Christmas
Written For: aigooism
Rating: NC-17
Pairing/Characters: Salazar/Godric
Summary: In the midst of a war, enemies revisit their past
Warnings: Angst
Wordcount: 1,400
Author's notes: My beta doesn't have an LJ, so I'll just say thank you to Seamus for the wonderful job he always does when reading my stories. Christmas seems to bring out my morbid side, so I apologise in advance.

Twas the Night Before Christmas