Snowflake Challenge Day 1, 5, 8-10 (catch-up post)

Day 1

In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane.

Charis. Three years ago I joined Charis, the St Louis Women's Chorus, and it has definitely become a Happy Place for me. I was telling some potential new recruits just this week that Tuesday (rehearsal night) basically holds my week together. It's such a wonderful accepting community of lovely humans (not all of us are women, despite the name) and we make magic together.

Making music is literally magic: it is an act of will upon the world that creates an effect, shared and multiplied by being done in and for a group.

Day 5

In your own space, promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them.

1. Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology
Baby's first podfic challenge :-) I had made one podfic before this, but Awesome Ladies V was the first time I made anything to specific requirements and deadlines. And the world can always use more celebration of awesome ladies. I missed a couple of them but participated again last year and intend to do so again this year.

2. HP Podfic Fest
Super encouraging to newbies, and a great source for podfic with a wide variety of pairings, ratings, and situations.

3. Non-fannish
- Captain Awkward: Advice column for real people
- Slacktivist: An evangelical Christian (not that the gatekeepers of that name would accept him) points out all the ways in which today's evangelicals aren't behaving like Christians. I'm no longer a Christian, but I grew up in the subculture he is critiquing, and i sometimes say that if i'd known him and his brand of Christianity before I left for good, i might still be one.

Day 8
In your own space, post self-recs for at least three fanworks that you created.

1. Super old, but still funny: I heard somewhere (possibly in a dream) that Martha Stewart was going to have Cookie Monster as a guest on her show. C is for Cookie resulted.

2. A representative sample: Pomegranate is a recent Harry/Draco podfic that I recorded this summer for the HD Fan Fair. Draco is a restaurateur, Harry is a food critic.

3. I can do twisted, too: What the Lady Likes is a Dark!Luna podfic that I recorded for the HP Podfic Fest.

Day 9
Commit an Act of Kindness.

Gave two dollars to the homeless man at the freeway onramp. Spent the day caring for Tammie after her oral surgery. Looking through snowflake wishes to find something i can do, but I haven't found one yet.

Day 10
Create a fanwork.

I've been working on the fic-that-bit-me, tentatively titled "Yes My Queen", pretty consistently so far this month. It has grown from 1000 words on 1/1 to 3600 today. I also have a short podfic recorded and ready to edit, but I'm thinking to save posting it for this year's Awesome Ladies Anthology.

Snowflake Challenge Day 11

Day 11

In your own space, talk about your creative process(es) — anything from the initial inspiration to how you feel after something’s done. Do you struggle with motivation or is it a smooth process? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to pull out when a fanwork isn’t cooperating? What is your level of planning to pantsing/winging it?

Well, I can't really speak about my creative process when it comes to writing, since I haven't written anything since 2012 or so, until this fic bit me on the night of 1/1. I can say that for this particular fic, I have been visualizing bits and pieces of it at night when going to sleep, and then putting down in pixels the next day whatever I thought of the night before. I've also just gone to my outline and picked a scene or section that I wanted to work on. I have no idea how long it will end up, or how long it will take to get there.

For podfic, though, I can be a lot more certain. Lately it's mostly been signing up for a challenge or fest, and then reading all the fic I can find that fits the stated parameters (recipient's Dear Creator letter, or the fest theme, or length requirements, whatever). I'll put three or four possibilities into a new tab on my Podfic Record spreadsheet, and after a couple-few days of pondering, choose one to do. That one gets added to the "Completed Podfics" page (yeah, even though it's not complete yet), with its due date and other assorted info about the fic and fest. The others, if I really like them, may go into the 'someday' tab on the spreadsheet. I read fics from that when I have time between tests, and sometimes also use it as a source for fest fics.

I usually record in the evenings after work, on whichever evening I don't have other scheduled plans. Sometimes on weekends. I have a small room in my house which is set up as an office that I use as a recording studio. I go in there, close out all the animals and other humans, turn off the air conditioner (if it's summer) and connect my mic to my computer.

I don't do a lot of the things that people recommend for podficcing. I don't pre-read the story out loud before I start recording, I don't mark up the text--I read off my kindle, so marking up is not possible. Reading off the kindle also means I don't have to worry about sentences and paragraphs that cross pages.

I am an edit-as-you-go podficcer. I read until I screw something up, whether it's a word I just can't seem to get my mouth to make, or I transposed some words, or left some out, or I just don't like the inflections or voice I used for the line. At that point, I reread the bad line until I get it right, then delete all the wrong versions. I also go back to the last time I stopped and listen to the recording of those sections as well, in case there are errors I failed to notice at the time, or outdoor street noises that got picked up, or--and hopefully this problem has been solved with my new mic-- there are weird buzzes behind my narration, making perfectly good recording into complete shit. If there are any of those problems, I fix them too.

Usually I can read and first-pass edit about an hour's worth of fic in an evening. Anything longer will take multiple sessions. (I have one half-complete project that I may have to start over if I don't want to complete it with the old mic.)

Once I complete the first draft reading, with all the initial edits as I went along, I send the recording to Auphonic for leveling and noise reduction. Depending on length, Auphonic might complete its processing almost immediately or take 24 hours.

Sometime in here I start collecting images for the cover art and music. If a specific song or piece is mentioned in the fic, I'll usually add at least a little of it. If not, I try to find something that evokes the same emotions as the fic, and use bits of that. I tend to use music or sound effects for section breaks rather than silence.

Then the project gets a final re-listen and edit. Sometimes I get a beta listener before my own final edit, sometimes I don't. Mostly this editing pass is for 1) removing any obvious noises that Auphonic didn't take out, such as obtrusive breathing or mouth clicks, 2) correcting any weird-length silences (too much or too little space between sentences or paragraphs--I do this by eye mostly, gauging the gaps in the waveform--and 3) adding any music. Of course, if there's any narration error, I'll fix those. I do the fixes as a separate Garageband project and send all 30 seconds or whatever off to Auphonic for the same audio processing, then cut&paste them in where they belong.

And then there's creating the cover art. That can take as long as the recording or final edit, sometimes, especially if I'm doing something tricksy and complicated with GIMP that I don't actually know how to do yet so I have to go find a tutorial and try it over and over until I get it right.