Okay! Here is something silly and self-indulgent! It seriously has no appeal except to Jenna and to me. It's something that we've jokingly talked about three times now, and since I owe Jen about eighty-nine stories, I figured I might as well write it. Writing something is better than writing nothing, after all, and writing something I find hilarious is better than writing, you know, something else.

Whatever, it's almost one am, I don't even know what the frig I'm talking about anymore.

***

( Self-indulgent crossover, for the win! )

So, Saturday was the first meeting of the summer critique group I am throwing together. We did a quick writing exercise and I thought I would post it here. I am trying to stretch my writing muscles again after being blocked for quite a few weeks.

The prompt was "the day before the disaster," and I wrote a scene that takes place right before the start of my kids' novel. I might write a little bit more, but this is all that I wrote on Saturday.

***

There's a spelling test last period and Keerthi hasn't studied. If it was anything else, she wouldn't have worried about it--she's ahead in most subjects and knowledgeable enough about others to fake it, but you can't fake spelling and it's something she's never quite mastered. She reads voraciously--anything with words on it, her father says--but regardless of how many words she looks at, some of the letters never seem to be in quite the right order when she writes them down.

She tries to cram during lunch, drowns out Julie's excited chatter about her new phone or clothes or whatever, and looks at the words, tries to memorize their make-up. She doesn't understand why she can recite scientific laws and solve complex proofs, but can't spell "anniversary" with the a's and e's in the right place.

By the end of lunch her head is swimming and she's only eaten half of her sandwich. Margo is concerned, but Margo is always concerned. Margo is both her best friend and the closest thing their group of friends has to a maternal figure. Keerthi shrugs at her and doesn't say anything. She's not sure how to explain it anyway, to tell Margo that there's something wrong with her parents, that there's something going on that's just beyond her understanding, that's killed her concentration.

She gets through Math and Gym by rote and take her seat in writing with more resignation than trepidation. She's not going to do well. She's accepted that. At least it's not like third grade, when spelling test scores were announced to the class and kids who got 100s got to go to the front of the room and put a sticker next to their name on the spelling chart. The test score will be between her and Mrs. Forrest and no one else will have to know.

She fills out the paper as best she can and takes comfort in the fact that she at least knows one of the challenge words. When she hands in her test, she tires to put it out of her mind until the end of class.

On her way out the door, Mrs. Forrest hands her paper back with an 85 written on top.

"I'm disappointed in you, Keerthi," she says. "You can do better."

Keerthi's disappointed too--it's the worst grade she's ever gotten. Of course, if her parents are getting divorced or have cancer or lost their jobs, a stupid spelling test won't matter much anyway.

So, I'm trying to get back into both finishing my NaNo novel and working on another project with the same characters. Between 14valentines last month and then some fannish fests I was doing, it's been awhile since I stretched my legs with these guys.

That all being said, what do you guys want to see? Prompts? Questions? Particular bits of history that you may be curious about?

I know this is probably appealing only to Jen (if only because Becky is in Japan and not online all the time XD), but I thought I'd throw it out there.

As usual, I won't promise everything, but I'll try to at least answer the questions if I don't write the whole story, but I'll do my best to write the stories as well :)

Just a heads-up: I'm going to be transferring all of the old stories from my GJ writing journal over here in the next few days. I'll be backdating them, but I'm sure some will slip through the cracks.

So, if you see a story pop up and then disappear almost immediately, it's because I've backdated it. Once I'm done, I'm going to try and put together a coherent timeline for my original stuff. This is going to be slow going, but I'm working on it.

So, inocciduous has been having an even worse week than me. The only way I know how to make things better is to throw stories at them and hope it helps. That is what I am doing here.

This takes place in the universe where Danny is a newscaster, blahblahblah, the same one as my kids' novel, you all know the drill by now. This is... before Danny was out of the closet. As will quickly become apparent. I think Keerthi's about three and a half in this story, if that helps.

***

Felicity wasn't surprised that Rajiv's parents offered to pay for the engagement party. She was actually more surprised that they hadn't throw she and Rajiv into the car and driven them to city hall to have them sign a marriage license the moment they announced their engagement. But, hey, if they wanted to throw a party, Felicity wasn't going to stop them, especially if it had an open bar.

Her family was mingling with Rajiv's family with an ease that surprised her, their friends seemed happy for them (or at least happy for the free liquor), and nothing was crashing and burning.

Yet.

She was one hundred percent positive that she was making the right choice. She loved Rajiv, she couldn't imagine spending the rest of her life with anyone else. She had been the one to propose! (Well, the last time, at least.) But there were, perhaps, some reservations and some fears that she was still grappling with.

She needed a drink.

She managed to snag another glass of champagne and duck through the well-wishers and out into the hallway. There was a coat room off towards the door that she had noticed on her way up, and it was as good a place as any to get drunk and freak out a little.

It seemed she wasn't the only person to think that, either, since Danny Stevens was already sitting on the floor with his head back against the wall, a bottle of champagne on the floor next to him.

She was really, really hoping he wasn't dead. That would pretty much put a damper on the party.

( Danny is drunk and sad. )

I'm not done with this. It's really rough and isn't finished and needs a good grooming, but I want to include it in my word count for the year, so I'm posting what I have so far.

It takes place in the AU where Danny's a reporter and Alan consults for the network and has a baby daughter. The Reporter AU, as I call it. Anyway, this is Danny being a moody, fickle ass, which he is for the first three or so years of this AU.

***

It's been almost two months and Alan still isn't exactly sure what he and Danny are doing. No, that's not exactly right. No one can say he doesn't know his way around the bedroom, and his professional life is thriving, and Danny is a huge part of both of those things. But that's part of the problem--there's Daniel Stevens, intrepid reporter and Danny, who buys his daughter presents and tells him he's amazing in the quiet hours of the morning, whispering it into his hair as they drift off into sleep. There's another Danny, too, and this one Alan hasn't quite but his finger on. The third Danny is distant and aloof. He's brusque and disappears for days at a time, leaving Alan uneven and unsure when he shows up, not quite able to figure out what he's supposed to be doing.

( this is really crappy, but now it's in my word count! )

I don't know if anyone will actually do this, but I am feeling like an "ask my characters anything" meme.

So. Ask my characters anything, guys. Original, mostly, and anyone, but if you have a burning question for Iowa!Will or Rodney McKay or whatever, I guess I will answer that, too.

This isn't everything I've written since I last posted, but I'm going to just post scenes as they're complete. (Or so I say now. I'll probably change that eventually.)

This is just a straight-up morning after post. Alan and Danny banter. Alan takes a shower. Seriously, that is what happens in this. I wasted [number] words on this. AFTER I hit 50k. I TOLD YOU, THESE TWO START TALKING AND I CAN'T STOP.

I also decided to, temporarily, edit out a tiny plot point? I think it's just melodramatic? But I want to talk it out a little bit. I might go back and put it back in. Um, but there's that, and also... um, what else was I going to mention? Oh! I skipped over like, eight scenes that were basically self-indulgent curtain!fic about buying new linens and moving furniture around. I am crazy, guys.

Man, what am I even talking about anymore? I am tired. Andy Cooper just got a shout out on The Real Hosuewives of Atlanta, which isn't even something I watch, but is on now, apparently.

Um, anyway, here we go.

***
Today: 1046
55458/50000
***

( Really, pretty much this is boring and whatever )

Okay, so I took about three days off, but not really. This is nearly 3k that I wrote over the course of three days, in two tiny chunks and one big chunk. I also wrote another 3k-ish of ANOTHER story that I posted the day before yesterday, and despite this 6k in three days, I still feel like I'm slacking off. Huh!

Anyway, now that NaNo is over, I'm going to wait until scenes are over until I post them instead of posting in the middle of scenes and stuff. I've got a couple more of Alan and Danny and then we get to the last big plot point/the denouement and climax and ending. Woo hoo! But yeah, this is Alan realizing he fucked up and doing something about it. FINALLY.

I wrote a lot of this while I was in pain/tired/on a lot of pain killers, so I hope it all makes sense. Also, I introduce two new characters. Because there aren't enough already. We probably won't see Rajiv again, but Felicity might come up.

Um. Hm. What else? I think that's it. I'm really tired and really excited to finally have Danny and Alan back together for real. I'm also glad to be nearing the end. Hitting 50k was AWESOME, but actually finishing this monstrosity will be something else all together, man.

***
This scene: 2822
54120/50000
***

( Alan finally works his life out. Yay! )

Um, this is totally NOT NaNo. I decided to take a day off, although I really didn't take a day off. I wrote about 600 words, but I'm going to wait until the scene is done to post the rest of them now that I've hit 50k. Also, I hate Twilight and needed to express my hatred or else bottle it up forever until it kills me.

Um, Keerthi! It takes place after the kids' novel that I haven't written yet! Keerthi is eleven here, meaning her friends are twelve and thirteen. Once again, Alan and Danny's inability to stop talking ever shines through at the very end. No matter what universe I write those two in, that remains constant--they never, ever shut up.

***
keerthi hates twilight and it's all danny's fault - g - does what it says on the tin. also, Margo is in it.
***

"And who are you guys meeting?" Alan asked.

"Elise and Julie," Keerthi said, digging in her pocket for her cellphone.

"And Julie's sister Kathy," Margo supplied. "And their cousins... um... Francine?"

"And Holly," Keerthi said. She checked for a text from Julie and then shoved her phone back into her pocket. "I think you met them like... once before, at the Winston's Christmas Party back before Danny started refusing to go."

"They're exactly like Julie," Margo said. "It's so annoying. One Julie is more than enough most of the time."

Alan bit back a smile. "I think I know exactly who you're talking about. But Kathy will be there?" The girls nodded. "And you'll call me if anything comes up, right? Danny and I will be right at the other end of the mall at Best Buy, where he will no doubt talk me into buying some sort of electronic device that we have absolutely no need for." Keerthi rolled her eyes, but seemed to be suppressing a smile herself.

"We'll call," she said. "We'll be fine. We're just going to tag along while they get all sparkly for the stupid movie tonight." She and Margo rolled their eyes in unison.

"Oh, honey, Danny would be so proud," Alan said, reaching out out to ruffle Keerthi's hair.

"Dad!" she whined, ducking away. "You're going to mess up my hair!"

( Right, I keep forgetting that we've reached the stage where you care about things like that. )

Oh wow. Today was. Wow.

I had a lot of fun with what I wrote today. Alan is a mess, but taking the first steps towards getting his life back together. I set up a really great scene for tomorrow. Some more Doug, a quick, intriguing scene with Dan, and the argument on the path between the school and the apartment complex which I have been thnking about writing for three years now. It's good to have that one on paper. I got to research (for a ONE LINE MENTION) the Main Street Museum in White River Junction, which I now want to go to SO BADLY even though it is a five hour drive from me. My total today was even 2727, which is my favorite number TWICE.

Oh, and did I mention I broke 50k? ;D

This is really... I am pretty sure I'm in shock. This is my fifth or sixth year doing NaNo and I have never even come close to winning before. This is insane. This is just... totally insane.

And I have SO much faith that quatredeathlady and rueican will make it. You are SO CLOSE guys! SO CLOSE! ♥

And, like I said, as soon as we're all free that first week of December, we are going out for drinks and I will buy the first round. :)

***
Today: 2727 (NO REALLY! :D)
51233/50000 :)
***

( Alan talks to Doug, fights with Danny, fights with Dan, and vows to fix his life. )

Wow. This second contains The Conversation That Wouldn't End. Which is really saying something, considering most of my writing seems to be dialogue in this project. You'll see it when it happens, though. Danny and Alan talk about a dinner they attended with Alan's family, and it goes on forever and probably isn't as funny to anyone who isn't familiar with the character of Alan's father.

Anyway.

I did most of my writing in Panera today, as I spent most of the morning watching Food Network and had to escape the house in the evening when my father started to watch teevee. I probably would have gotten more done if I had stayed longer, but around quarter after nine I was the last person in the place and I felt a little self-conscious, so I left, even though they were open for another hour. I'll probably return tomorrow, though.

I could have kept going with the scene(s) that follow, but it's late and I should get to bed and I thought that was a good cutting off point. Sort of. I want to say that I hope that I wrap up the Danny/Alan/Dan triangle by Monday, as I had only allotted a week for it, but who knows. I'm going to try and force it, if only because it would be nice to have a complete-ish draft by the end of the month, and I will never get there at this point. Also, I lost the paper that said how everyone was getting to the prom and now I can't remember why they all need to wait for Laura to get a ride home. MUST REMEMBER.

Anyway. Um. Gosh, I'm tired. I will probably hit 50k tomorrow. I am kind of in shock.

***
Today: 2008
48445/50000
***

( Reminiscing turns into... other things. )

Oh my GOD, guys, what about today was so hard to write? I had the whole day off. I made biscuits. I made a pie. I ate two slices of pie. I picked my cousins up from school. I drove to five grocery stores. I picked up my pay check. I watched teevee. I did EVERYTHING but actually sit down and write! It was insane!

It's after four am now and I'm just winding the scene down. I had hoped to write the next scene, too, but I'm exhausted and I'm sure my parents will have ~*chores*~ for me to do tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep.

Still! What the fuck! And most of this is terrible, too. It's all exposition (I lied when I said I was done with exposition--now it's Danny's turn) and dialogue and craziness. No plot actually happens. I actually edited out one minor(ish) point of the exposition (the part where Danny says he has a story about Jimmy) because I was embarrassed by how long Danny was talking.

Anyway, as awful as it is, it's all I've got for today, so go nuts. More tomorrow, hopefully.

***
Today: 2648
46389/50000
***

( Danny and Alan talk. Extensively. )

Watched the babies tonight. So tired. Did not have much time to write. Here's what I did. Tomorrow I'm off all day and I'm planning on spending most of it in bed, writing and sleeping, so hopefully I can burn through the actual conversation between Alan and Danny and the, ah, aftermath, tomorrow.

Also of note today: They started the official NaNo word count verifier today. I ran my novel through it and it added a whole 1000+ words to my word count! That was pretty nifty! So, from now on, the total word count I list will be from the NaNo website and the section word count will be from Ye Olde AllWorldPhone.com word counter XD

***
Today:1852
43694/50000
***

( Alan talks to Danny. One and a half times. )

Another quick one with only a little conversation. I had another headache tonight--writing after work is hard, especially when I have to go back to work the next time. I've been kind of spoiled for the past two weeks--the first week of November I took a vacation day on Wednesday so I only had to go in every other day, and the second week we had our hours cut, so I had to work at weird times on every other day, so this is the first week I'm writing where every night is a work night. IT IS HARD. I have a lot of respect for those of you who do it all the time.

Anyway, I basically just made myself finish this scene today, and even that was cheating because I've written this scene before, so I had that to use as a blueprint. I ended up trashing most of it. In the original, Dan was much more abrupt and angry and that just didn't seem to fit his character. So yeah. Started basically from scratch with a rough outline.

That's basically all I've written today, Alan confronting Dan. I just barely made the 1666 word count with it, but I did make it! So there's that!

Tomorrow night I am watching my aunt's foster kids for probably the last time, so I'm not sure if/when I'll post, but I'm off all day Friday and don't plan on leaving the house, so I'll make up for it then XD

eta: HOLY SHIT I BROKE 40K?! WHAT THE HELL? OH MY GOD.

***
Today: 1697
40670/50000
***

( Alan and Dan )

I've got a terrible headache and I've got to work tomorrow, so this is a short bit with little to no commentary. Not my best work ever. Hopefully I'll have more time to write tomorrow.

Also, I have a pretty solid feeling that this thing is going to blow right past 50k.

***
Today: 1602
38974/50000
***

( Alan and Doug, then Alan by himself, then Alan and Danny )

Hey there, guys. Took the GRE today. Don't want to talk about it. Didn't start writing until about 10pm, so there's not much today because I have to be at The Bookstore at SEVEN THIRTY tomorrow morning, because The Bookstore hates me.

This is the part that I have been waiting for :) Tomorrow, we'll see get some exposition as to why everyone is here and where they came from and what's going on.

***
Today: 2033
37373/50000 (note: oh my god, luckiest word count ever!)

***

( Alan gets sick and the (not really) triumphant return of Danny )

Day two of the write-in!

I got a lot more done today than I normally get done in a day. I'm going to say that's because I a) don't have internet access to distract me and b) don't have MonstersHD to distract me. Also, I am very eager to get to Danny (in case you couldn't tell), so I rushed a lot of things, I think. A lot of telling rather than showing, but I feel like eighty scenes of Dan and Alan fighting and then getting back together, sort of, would be boring in the long run. So. Summary.

Um, I think I made some things pretty obvious in this part, as far as the antagonists go. Oh well. I am past the point of caring!

Most of this felt like it took forever to write, but I got a hell of a lot done today, so maybe I am just making that up? Who knows? What the hell am I even talking about, guys?

Anyway. Here's today. I might write more later tonight (because we are FINALLY getting to Danny), but I probably won't post it until tomorrow. (Also, I am taking the GRE tomorrow, so if I kill myself during the test, I will probably stop posting.)

(Or maybe I will post as a zombie. Either or.)

***
Today: 3590
35341/50000
***


( Doug and Alan and Gloria and stuff. )

I think I miscounted days before or something.

ANYWAY.

Hi guys! And by "guys" I mean "Nicole and Chris" and it is hilarious that I am saying that because they are RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF ME watching Christine play Fallout 3.

Yes, today was our write-in. It was pretty awesome. Equal parts happy distraction and encouragement. I got... well, it doesn't FEEL like I got a lot done, but I guess I did? I got through a lot of scenes that I wanted to get through, even though I didn't go into as much detail as I probably should have. I'm hoping to bring Danny either tomorrow or Monday and I am FILLED WITH GLEE ABOUT IT. I am such a nerd for Danny Stevens, guys. Um, it's pretty sad, mostly because he is my own character and being a nerd about him makes me feel like an egotist.

Anyway.

Dan was a lot of fun today, as was Alan almost punching Hank in the face. Doug was fun, too. Everyone was fun, in that sad way where there are dead bodies.

I also talked out a couple of issues with the latter half of the novel. I think (I know) there is going to have to be a PoV shift near the end, and I feel more comfortable with who I've chosen to shift the POV to. Justified, I guess, that I'm making the choice I want to make for the right reasons, as everyone else agrees with me. Or something.

Why the hell am I even bothering to type this shit? CHRIS AND NICOLE ARE HERE AND NO ONE ELSE CARES. XD

***
Today: 4110
31752/50000
***

( Alan, Doug, Dan, Hank, police officers, Laura, and a bunch of abrupt scene endings. )

Wow, guys. I am so excited about what's coming up.

Today went pretty well. I had a really late start because my brother is home from school and I haven't seen him in a while. Things with my brother used to be weird, and I don't want to go into detail here, but we had some catching up to do, in our way. Anyway, I ended up finding a paycheck that I had to cash today and running errands and studying for the GRE and doing a favor for my boss and going out to dinner with my family, so I didn't get to sit down and write until about 7:30, 8:00. Still, I managed to get all of this done while also watching teevee, so I'm feeling pretty good XD

I'm also feeling pretty good about what's written today. A lot of Alan's emotional stuff comes to a head (finally), plus, a major plot point happens. Finally. It only took 26k, right?

Danny is coming up soon, guys! Like, next week! I AM SO EXCITED. I missed him, no lie. Plus, Alan obviously missed him, and how much Alan is hurting is starting to hurt me a little. I'm happy that, you know, the first part of his hurting is going to end soon. But this is... this part has a lot of things hashed out. Also, Danny's ubiquitous t-shirt returns. Not that any of you would know or care (and I love that I am talking like more than quatredeathlady, rueican and inocciduous are reading XD), but I think that t-shirt of Danny's that Alan stole has been in more stories of mine than some minor characters XD

I have to admit, I did cheat a little today. Initially, I had planned to gloss over the part of Alan's explanation of Danny to Doug because he had said something similar to Dan about 12k ago. In the end, I was nervous about word count, and I felt like the method that he delivered it and the words he chose really spoke to his emotional state, so I kept it in. Still, I am a cheater.

But yeah, I'm feeling pretty good! Alan has sort of cleansed himself for the time being, Doug's reached out to him, and PLOTTY THINGS HAPPEN.

(Also, oh my god, Danny is coming soon!)

***
Today: 2414
27643/50000
***

( Alan unloads on Doug. Doug and Alan make a discovery in the woods. )