My paid LJ account is expiring in 12 days. Four years ago, the very, very generous cordykitten graciously gifted me with her remaining time and I sort of forgot it had an expiration date. Ah well. Had to happen sooner or later.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to thank effulgent_girl for the balloons she left on my userinfo page.

Whee!

Ripples Through Time is now available for preorder. It will be released on March 4.

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Apparently, I still have compulsions.

I didn't realize this, honestly, until I laid down some truth on an anonymous douche-bag. I thought I'd long since graduated to Pure-O in my OCD. And while I have, technically, I'm guilty of everything bolded below. I italicized the only one I don't do now...but I have done it before.

* avoiding numerous situations in which he or she fears the possible onset of their obsessions
* repeatedly asking for reassurance that one has not and/or will not commit an act that he or she perceives as being "wrong" or "bad"
* silently praying or repeating certain phrases in an effort to counteract or neutralize thoughts that one considers to be immoral or sacrilegious
* repeatedly confessing to people, even total strangers, that one has had thoughts which he or she considers to be unacceptable
* continually ruminating about obsessions in an attempt to prove to oneself that he or she has not done and/or will not do anything inappropriate

I don't pray, as I'm an atheist, and I don't confess to strangers, but I have done at least a part of everything. When I was a Christian, I prayed for forgiveness for my thoughts almost constantly. I also prayed not to be sent to Hell, because my thoughts were so violent and wrong, and I was convinced I'd go straight down were I struck dead.

I confess to Aaron pretty much every OCD thought I have. It makes me feel better, and I didn't associate this with a compulsion until tonight. Since my hands aren't red and chapped and since I don't check locks or hold my breath or anything anymore, I always figured I was beyond compulsions.

Pure-O still has the C, though...in some way.

This afternoon, for Valentine's Day, Aaron's taking me to see the single greatest movie ever made. On the big screen!



YAY! I CAN'T WAIT!

Also? If you haven't voted in my poll, please do! *smoochies*

Any of the artistically inclined folks on my flist feel like helping me with a banner project for the Rosalie Stanton website? I have images for you to play with and I'd definitely list your website or whatever pimpage you deemed necessary on my site.

Please? Leave a comment or IM me.


YIM: theorder_hollydb
AIM: rosaliestanton

The lovely and oh so talented edgehead73 surprised me this morning with a post dedicated to story-art for several of my works. Go check them out!!!

Thank you again so much, edgehead73. This was such a pleasant way to start my weekend. :)

I don't like doing this, but I have to be realistic. The site hasn't been updated in months and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I just don't have the time, or honestly, the inclination to keep up with it anymore. I'm not moving on from fandom, as I've discussed before, but I need to limit my commitments. My life just isn't what it once was.

the_jossverse has been an incredibly fun community to manage. It deserves someone who has time to devote to it, and that person just isn't me.

I'll leave it up for adoption for two months. If anyone's interested, let me know. If not, the community will close within the first week of April. I won't delete it; there's always the chance that someone will want it later and I don't want the fic and art to disappear.

Just let me know if you're interested!

FUCK YES!

1,076 WORDS ON TWOTW! I DID NOT MAKE MYSELF A LIAR!

WOOHOO!

Maybe I'll actually get the chapter finished within the next week!... Just nobody hold their breath or anything, and we're good.

We're snowed in here. It's full out Hoth outside, minus circa 1980s Harrison Ford (and that's a damn shame) and though Aaron and I braved the weather to drive half a foot down the road to Subway for dinner, we've been indoor kitties all day. He's playing Mass Effect 2, and I made myself a website.

An author website. It's not as nice or as elaborate as my fanfic websites, IMO, but considering my limited experience in creating websites, I think it's pretty spiffy. Check me out:

The Writings of Rosalie Stanton.

I'm also a sheep who joined Twitter. Baahhhh. Feel free to add me or follow me or whatever me over there. It'll make me feel like I have friends. :D

And now...to write. YES. I SAID IT. I AM GOING TO WRITE TONIGHT. THE WRITING ON THE WALL. 1000 WORDS. BOOYAH!

My editor with Loose Id, G.G Royale, interviewed me a few days ago. The interview is now available on her blog, here.

Really, though, it's nothing you guys don't already know about me. :)

So for the past three weeks, I've been in heavy edit mode. I received the recommended edits for Ripples Through Time (formerly known as Echoes) and kind of...ummm...hit rock bottom. There was so much to do, and I kind of wanted to just say fuck the contract and the joy that was eventually seeing my work in print form, because I really couldn't (and to a degree, still can't) comprehend why any publisher would accept such a sloppy manuscript that needed that much work.

Flash forward. I'm not doing cartwheels over what I've done with it, but I think it's passable, considering amount of hours I put into getting its numerous errors fixed. After all was said and done, I went back independently and began my own sweep of edits, which I finished earlier this week. The manuscript is...well, it is what it is. I have it until Feb 11, but I'm really sick of looking at it.

In the meantime, Moving Target has been accepted by Lyrical Press. I had some reservations signing with them, based on word of mouth, but the experience has been very rewarding thus far. I'm doing pre-edits at the moment. In reality, though, I'd like to be writing.

Last night, for the first time in a long, long time, I had two very heavy, colorful, plot-intense Spuffy dreams...and it made me miss fanfic in a big ole way. I woke up wanting to write Spike/Buffy in the same way I used to, with newbie eyes and simple plots and just fun, you know? I think once I'm done with edits for Moving Target, I'll have to take a break from the publication world altogether. I miss fanfic. It's so much less complicated.

Also there's no way in hell I'm leaving TWotW unfinished. No siree. Not this gal.

At the same time, though, I think I have to be realistic about some things. I'm not ready to move on but I need to admit I'm not going to be as invested or involved as I have been. I need to let go of certain things and not commit to doin...

It's my release day! Possession is now available for purchase!

Hope everyone is doing well. I've been buried in edits for the past four days, and I don't see myself coming up for air anytime soon. The good news is, it's making me want to write, so here's hoping that translates into some new material from me soonish.

In the meantime, go check me out! And support the arts!

I am totally apathetic about the S8 spoilers. Granted, I've never really acknowledged the comics in my own personal canon, but once upon a time I would've been at least a little bothered. I'm not.

I hope this doesn't mean I'm fading away.

I think some aspects of my results would have been drastically different a year ago, and some of them miss the mark completely. I definitely intentionally write fanfic (and have for quite some time now) and while I do get inspiration from other fandoms, I've never really felt compelled to write anything but BtVS (with the exception of TWW) since I joined fandom in 2002. This wasn't because I didn't discover new loves (hello, exclusive!TWW, Harry Potter, BSG, Veronica Mars, Dexter, etc), but rather because the characters in BtVS kept drawing me back. You might be morally ambiguous, Dexter, with fabulous psychology and intense potential insofar as plots are concerned, but you don't have the draw of Spike. Not to me. And Starbuck and Roslin, strong, kick-ass women that they are, have nothing on Buffy. Not to me.

I think this is why I'll always be writing Buffy/Spike, even if the characters have different names and live in different universes. A part of them will always be them, no matter what.

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I made Amazon!!!!!

Anyone want to review me?

- I'm not dead. I'm not writing, but I don't have writer's block...I don't think, anyway. It's just more...being tired. I think it's the holidays. I have the motivation and the will to actually write, but I'm just really exhausted all the time.

- I think I'm getting sick. I have a sore throat and have called in to work for tomorrow to hopefully just "sleep off" getting really sick.

- I've let myself go. A lot. Weight Watchers kind of became a thing of the past when Aaron made his introduction. That was over 2 years ago, and it shows. Relationships are the stamp of death on diets. But no more...provided I'm feeling at least as good as I do now, I'm actually going back tomorrow...and Aaron's doing it with me. I feel jazzed about it in a way I haven't in a long time. Really jazzed. Wish me luck.

- dusty273, okdeanna and I have conquered inherited Sweet Temptation from the wonderful ghostgirl3. More on that later, as we discuss and divy up responsibilities and the like.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to fight the post-work exhaustion so I can actually get some writing done? I have all this motivation and whatnot at work, and then I get home and just crash. It's dumb. I want it to stop. Help me?

Firsts is a top-rated novella through Readerwise!

That is so freakin' awesome.

Happy New Year, everyone!!!!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I love my mum! I love her so!

Thank you so much, pfeifferpack!!! I had a big package sitting on my doorstep when I got home. Aaron and I devoured the steaks last year, and he got all excited when I told him we might be getting more. THANK YOU, MUM AND DADDY JIM!!!!

Yeah, I don't think there'll be a Christmas fic this year. Maybe next?

I've received a number of cards and LJ gifts - my sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to do that. I've been really lousy about the whole exchange this year. I don't know if it's trying to juggle a full-time job, which I never had in the past, with Christmas shopping and my other expenses or what. But I really do appreciate everyone who has sent me cards or prettied up my LJ user info page with holiday sparklies.

I also highly doubt there will be a new TWotW chapter this week. Everything just gets a little more hectic around the holidays.

For my birthday, I received a Kindle. And I gotta tell you - it's awesome. Completely awesome. I really didn't know whether or not I'd really enjoy it, but I love it. I love having THAT much reading material (plus a way to check email) with me all the time. And I'm someone who enjoys the tactile experience of reading. I love the smell of books and flipping through pages and all that stuff; I'm not someone to whom I thought the Kindle would appeal, but as a writer of e-books and someone who takes WAAAAY too much reading material with her on trips, I decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if one were bought for me. But over the past week, I've pretty much been glued to it, so anyone on the fence of whether or not to purchase a Kindle, you have a convert right here to tell you how thoroughly awesome it is.

Also? therealmccoy1 bought me a shirt that says "To read makes our speaking English good." It's my new favorite piece of clothing.

The past week was a busy one, and bank customers are getting grumpier and grumpier. This week, thankfully, should be pretty easy. We're only open until 12 on ...

...........

Yeah, that's about all I have.