Yep, I've got yet another one! Shit got done tonight, I tell you what. :D

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Kara/Lee
Word Count: 3,151
Spoilers: Through S2's "Home, Part 1"
Rating: PG
Summary: Every time she thought of the situation she was in, the decisions she had to make, panic seized her and closed her throat.
Author's Notes: This is where the fic truly begins to deserve the AU label, as ongoing events start to intervene and deflect the characters from their canonical paths. We're still working within the framework of canon, though, so there's some familiar dialogue as well. :) There's also mention of some controversial topics, but I do hope that everyone who reads this will take those in the spirit in which they were intended, as a civil discussion rather than a condemnation either way.

Read it here @ jedionpaper

New icon! I, uh, thought it suited me. ;)

So, surprisingly, this is a non-fic update, sandwiched in between me doing Saturday chores on Sunday. Believe it or not I actually put down on my to-do list "Update LJ with something other than fic updates" just to prove how pathetic I am. Heh. But I have been writing a lot lately, and as I was saying to trialia the other night, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm not buried neck-deep in papers and essays and assignments and reading and studying for the first time in ... well, since I can remember, really. November has historically been a really shitty month for me creatively due to all the deadlines, such that I have usually been able to get almost no writing done because of school. Obviously, school had to be the focus when I was still attending it, but I'm not gonna lie, it drove me UP THE WALL sometimes when I had to start on the umpteenth paper or whatever instead of writing.

This year I've got none of that, and so my muse has gone into absolute overdrive. Which is AWESOME. :D I whipped out two chapters of Insanity Underrated this past week and another last night, and I am praying to the fic gods that I can continue to use all this free-floating inspiration to push through the rest of the S2 arc and perhaps even into S3. That would be SO awesome, and might even allow me to finish up this fic by the time 2010 rolls around. Which would be more awesome still. Unlikely, perhaps, but awesome. I adore Insanity Underrated, I honestly do, but I don't particularly want to spend almost three years working on it like I have with To Ignite the Stars. Granted, TIS was always going to be a much longer and more ambitious project, and I knew that going in, but it still kind of ticks me off that it will be three years come June 2010 that I started it, and I am not even anywhere CLOSE to being finished. Real life has had a lot to do with that, since various collections of catastrophes have befallen me since June 2007, but still. I've never been able to write fast. It is a slow, painstaking process for me. I wish I could do it faster. >.>

( Thoughts on the latest plot arc of Insanity Underrated ... don't click if you haven't yet read Chapters 9-10 )

I began Chapter 11 last night, and wrote exactly 900 words of it before going to bed. In keeping with the unofficial NaNoWriMo theme, my word count since the start of November is 10,024, which, although probably still way behind where I should be if I was actually doing NaNo, is not too bad for me. This is, of course, not counting the work I did on the fic before November - Insanity Underrated is, in total, 29,860 words long right now.

*crosses her fingers* Fic gods willing, I should have more for you guys relatively soon. :)

I am feeling rather accomplished these days. I'm sure you can figure out why. ;)

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Kara/Lee primarily, with mentions of Helo/Sharon
Word Count: 3,156
Spoilers: Through S2's "Home, Part 1"
Rating: PG
Summary: “Kara,” he whispered, while his heart sang with relief.
Author's Notes: THE REUNION!!!! *squee!* Ahem. Yes. I have been looking forward to that for quite some time, as you may be able to tell. ;) It was so much fun to write, as upcoming chapters will also be. :D

Read it here @ jedionpaper

I have once again committed fic! Whee! Basically, I have done nothing but write since I posted my last f-locked entry, and it has helped. A lot. I am so grateful to Insanity Underrated for pulling me out of this latest funk. It sounds so silly to be dependent on a FIC like this, but that's the way it is. Anyway, I have not one but TWO chapters for you guys today. Enjoy!

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Kara/Lee, some Kara/Sam (both chapters are mainly Kara and the Cylons)
Word Count: 1,838 and 3,030 respectively
Spoilers: Through S2's "The Farm"
Rating: PG-13 for some disturbing themes
Summary: After getting shot in a skirmish, Kara lands in an old hospital where the doctors are not what they appear to be ... and learns something shocking about herself.
Author's Notes: In the second chapter, I introduce what will come to be a major plot point in this fic, and I have to say I'm quite nervous about it! It's been in the outline from the beginning, though, and I don't see any other way of saying what I want to say in this fic without it. I just hope you guys will trust me with it, to take the characters where they have to go while still keeping them in-character. :) Enjoy!

Read Chapter 8 here @ jedionpaper

Read Chapter 9 here @ jedionpaper

Yep, finally. Meant to have this posted way earlier, but I spent the evening ... otherwise engaged. Bleh. Anyway ... will crosspost to communities tomorrow during lunch hour when I'm not falling face-first into my computer keyboard from physical/emotional exhaustion. Heh.

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Mostly Kara/Sam this chapter, with many mentions of Kara/Lee
Word Count: 2,529
Spoilers: Through S2's "The Farm"
Rating: Hard R
Summary: The trouble was, she had chosen.
Author's Notes: I'm doing a sort of unofficial NaNoWriMo thing this month, wherein I attempt to write a specific number of words per day of one of my fic projects, and right now the benefactor happens to be Insanity Underrated. :D Which means you guys will probably (HOPEFULLY) be rewarded with more frequent updates. I'm really getting anxious to write more of S2's arc, and so I will be aiming to push through that this week. Crossing fingers that I succeed! This chapter is quite heavy on the Kara/Sam interaction but with tons of Kara/Lee mentions tossed in there (which is why I'm crossposting it to the K/L comms, same as always). K/L fans, don't fret: your turn is coming. And in a big, BIG way. Promise!

Read it here @ jedionpaper

All righty. I was going to hold my tongue on this. I was going to live and let live. But after some of the things I've seen and heard from fandom over the past few days, I can't help myself. I have to say something, even if it's short-ish, and even if it annoys some people on both sides.

I have to admit that I did not expect this kind of garbage - because that's truly what it is, garbage - from BSG fandom. I am not condemning all of the fandom. I'm sure there are some folks out there who, like me, are merely bemused and a little disgusted by the whole thing. I also need to preface this by saying that by and large, BSG fandom has been one of the most considerate, polite, open-minded, non-wanky fandoms I'm involved in. Maybe I just don't hang out in the wanky parts, or maybe I missed the wank, but either way, consider this: within a week of me starting to participate in SW fandom, I'd had my first flamer/batshit person, while I'd gone over a year in BSG fandom before I encountered anyone even remotely crazy, and said craziness wasn't even directed at me. It has been, for the most part, very refreshing.

The funny thing is, I've actually seen more batshit stuff since the end of the show than I ever did while it was running. And that's what I'd like to address - namely, what the hell happened?

( What the hell happened? My theories, under the cut )

Maybe everyone should just become a multishipper, like me! The icon is quite correct: we do complain less, I think.

But I'm not going to make you become a multishipper. Then, I would be forcing my opinion on you - and that's just not kosher, is it? ;)

*Insert requisite disclaimer here about all of the above being merely my opinion, this rant not applying to all BSG fandomers, etc. I have no desire to start even more wank, as should have been made quite clear. :)

Dear Sens,

OH MY GODS.

I WILL BILL YOU FOR THE HEART MEDICATION I NOW REQUIRE.

And I will never, never, never, never lose faith in you guys ever again. Because seriously? After tonight, that would be utterly foolhardy.

Eternal optimism LIVES!

Fuck, I love you so much. Even though you ended up losing.

Adoringly,
Me

*goes to work on the ottawa_senators recap*

I couldn't fit this into my profile, so here is a post with all the other credits for the graphics I use! If I've missed anything, just write me a comment, and I'll add it posthaste. :)

LAYOUT
Original stylesheet by reversescollide with modifications by amidala_thrace and help from xkatie_kittenx, trialia and s2flexisquares.

HEADERS
Blue Obi-Wan/Padmé & Kara ----> trialia
Anakin/Obi-Wan ----> so_out_of_ideas
Kara/Lee & Kara/Sam ----> taru_croft @ creative_muse
To Ignite the Stars Obi-Wan/Padmé ----> erikssiren
Anakin/Padmé ----> mrbnatural @ iconzicons

MOOD THEMES
Anakin/Padmé ----> miss_kallahan
Kara Thrace ----> wisteria_
BSG Animated ----> schmiss
True Blood Animated ----> btiful_graphics

NOTES
- The blue Obi-Wan/Padmé header and the Kara header (by trialia) are NOT stealable, as they were made especially for me. Please do not take either of those two headers.
- Please do not take the icons marked as "not stealable" on my icons page.

Last updated: October 29, 2009

Well, hello there, Star Wars muse! Long time no see. I mean, really. Loooooooooooong time no see! Where have you been? What's that? On vacation in Hawaii?!?!?! How dare you go to Hawaii and leave the rest of us stranded here all crappy summer! Oh. That's right. I'd better be nice to you or else you'll just leave again.

*rolls out red carpet* *hands drink and orders pizza* *props muse's feet on pillows and gets huge fan thing and stands there fanning muse*

Oh, Star Wars muse, we are so glad you've decided to come back from vacation! *muttergrumble* stupid little creepy muse Please present us with a To Ignite the Stars update!

*ahem* Yes. Sorry, guys. I've recovered a bit of my ability to write SW, specifically TIS, and so I bring you a TIS chapter. I'm starting out slow here, hoping the muse doesn't decide it would rather be somewhere else again. I apologize for taking so long with this! Please enjoy.

Title: An Unexpected Friend
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Obi-Wan/Padmé, Luke, Leia, others
Word Count: 4,736
Rating: PG-13
Summary: “I can’t believe this,” Obi-Wan muttered. “Of all the places to run into you —”
Author's Notes: Guys, I am so, so sorry for leaving you all with that terrible cliffhanger for so long. It was in no way part of my plan to do so, and I am almost sure that there won't be such a long gap between chapters this time. As I told my BSG readers, July and August were really rough months for me personally and my writing suffered as a result. For those of you who know me, I think you will understand why this particular chapter and those to come were so difficult to write. However, I would never abandon this fic, and it's a credit to the hold that it has on me that I don't think I could ever abandon it, even despite the real life factors. And yes, I have a new username and a new TIS icon, but it's still me, and the fic is still the same. :) I'm really pleased with some of the things I was able to do in this chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy.

Read it here @ jedionpaper

Well. You're not. ;)

I emerged from a haze induced by working frantically, with barely a break (and that one break was used to put up the next challenge at karastillness), plus toiling away on improvements to my various communities, to find out Patrick Swayze died. Um, wow. This will sound incredibly insensitive, but I hadn't even known he was ill. :( May he rest in peace.

In other news, I continue to fail at updating LJ, getting my stillness comms back onto anything resembling a sensible schedule, posting fic, writing, answering comments and ... well, basically everything. I'll get back on track someday.

I hope.

On the plus side, I have new icons! :D

So, finally updating again, kind of! Falling off the LJ wagon sucks, but I suppose I've sort of had reason to in the last few days/weeks. My life does seem to be settling down at least somewhat now, though, so I hope that will continue. I think I've earned a bit of quiet, heh.

To address something that's come up in a few PMs and comments from various folks, yes, I have heard about starwarsland, and in all probability I will not be applying or seeking to join. The fact of the matter is, I simply do not need or want another commitment right now, and since the comm is team-based, the chances are high that I would have to produce some kind of fanwork in order to stay a member. I have NO idea when I would find the time for that, since I am just barely keeping up with my regular stuff as it is. (Mind you, a TON of that is catch-up and resetting of schedules from the horrible summer I had, made harder by the fact that I'm working full-time, but even once that's done I'm still not too crazy about taking on something else.)

There are three other issues as well, ones that I need to consider. First is that I will not give up any of the commitments in which I'm currently engaged. I love all of them, and I really want to continue working on my stillness comms, the newsletters, my fics, etc. Ordinarily I have a certain schedule that allows me to accomplish all the tasks I need to for those, and I'm concerned about something else just tipping the load to a point where I can't handle it and it's not fun anymore. DO NOT WANT.

Second is the fact that for many months now, I have had a major fic project on the go in each of my two fandoms, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything but those fics when I write. I don't make graphics regularly (i.e. I have to be in the mood, which doesn't happen often) and I don't vid (although it's my ambition this winter to learn, finally). That means that any fanwork-type contribution from me would have to be in the form of fic, and my muses are firmly pointed in the direction of To Ignite the Stars and Insanity Underrated right now. I doubt that chapters of an established fic would be acceptable for the team games. And yet, I can't write anything else. When I try, my mind invariably wanders back to TIS and IU. If I forced myself to write something else, it would turn out crap, and I would not be comfortable sharing it publicly. Again, not exactly a recipe for me to be a good team member! It's for this same reason that I won't be participating in the fall edition of bsgficexchange. Not to give, and not to receive. I had such trouble with my fic submission last time, even though it turned out basically okay, that it took all of the fun out of it for me and I just didn't want to do it anymore. Maybe I'll get back into fic exchanges after I finish Insanity Underrated, and maybe I'll join the Star Wars comm when TIS is done. But until then, nope.

Third and last, I have to think about the future. Obviously my fall will not end up looking like how I thought or hoped it might, which is something that I am still coming to terms with right now. (That's a whole 'nother post on its own, heh.) But there will be certain commitments, like doing the prediction posts and blogging games for ottawa_senators, that will come into play again this fall. There is also NaNoWriMo, in which I'm now hoping to participate. (With a few caveats - see above re me potentially not being able to write anything other than TIS or IU ...) Those things will also take time, time that I need to plan to expend. The good thing is that I won't have school to think about, for the first time in a long LONG time, and so once I arrive home after work, my time will - mostly - be my own to do with as I please, free of essays and papers and reading and such. That's why I can contemplate doing NaNo, where before I would almost certainly not have been able to seeing as many major assignments are due late October-early November. I've made plans for taking on NaNo and devoting more time to the Sens comm, and at the moment, yet another commitment does not fit in. I'm busy enough - just check out my profile for proof! ;)

Unless - and this is absolutely the only situation in which I would consider taking on something else - a certain stillness community focusing on a certain Girlfriend needed a new mod. But I seriously doubt that will happen.

It might seem silly to make a whole new post explaining why I won't be joining a comm, but as I said, it's just something I wanted to address since I've had several folks ask me about it. It's definitely a good thought, and I really appreciate you guys linking me to it and pimping it and so forth. :) But, at this point in time, it's just not for me. I hope those of you who join it have fun, though!

And, alas, I have now run out of time on my lunch break, and must head back to work. So, another friends-locked real life post to come this evening.

This post brought to you by LIZ NEEDS TO DISTRACT HERSELF RFN. Because you don't expect to find triggers on hockey of all places, and when you do ... it messes you the fuck up. Oyyyyyyyy.

So! A meme.

This one swiped from albumsontheside.

Pick a character, any character, from one of my fandoms [SW and BSG], and I will give you ten things from my own personal canon about them.

(I'll put up a real life-related post tonight - hell, it's even right here on my to-do list: "POST TO LJ!!!!!" As I said, just had to get this up now.)

Okay, I give. Heh.

Stolen from goodness only knows how many folks on my f-list.

Ask me my top 5 of absolutely anything, and I will discuss them in a separate post.

(Something resembling an actual post coming soon. ;))

Arlene: "Please quit being so much more peculiar than you usually are!"

Terry: "Okay ... I'll try to be normally peculiar."

Liz: *... cracks the FUCK up* *spits copious amounts of coffee directly at her laptop because she is laughing so hard*

I just ... yeah, seriously, THIS NEEDS TO BE IMMORTALIZED HERE even if I have to be Spammy McSpamerson to do it. :D Gods but I do love True Blood. Tonight's episode, without being spoilery, was made of EPIC AWESOME WIN, and that show gets more terrific every time I watch it!!!

*cracks up again*

So, wondering who this yahoo is suddenly showing up on your f-list? ;) Well, that would be me, Liz, the LJ user now formerly known as senatorsfan_ink. Renaming my journal was actually something I'd been planning to do for a little while, but events of recent months have made me even more certain that this is a change I need.

Originally, this account was for my writing, and since the journal that I first joined LJ with was called senatorsfan, senatorsfan_ink seemed a natural progression of my primary account. The "ink" part played up the writing thing, and the "senatorsfan" allowed me to keep the connection to the other username.

However, as many of you will know, this past December I transitioned fully to using this journal as both a personal and a fandom journal, because I'd started to post all my writing to jedionpaper. The "ink" suddenly seemed a little strange tacked on to the end, especially as its original purpose no longer applied. So I started to think at that point about a rename, and began batting around various ideas in my head.

The other part of this story is, of course, that I need a change. For various reasons related to my personal life I've begun to jettison certain things that were unpleasant reminders of the past, such as many/most of my icons involving children and babies. The special gift icon made for me by jedisakora and featuring a pregnant, ROTS Padmé is one that I will continue to treasure and always keep, but I knew when I looked at it that the time had come for both it and my username to go.

Therefore, I am now amidala_thrace. To those of you who know me, this username will be an absolute no-brainer, hehe. ;D I played around with various names I'd been considering, such as creative_jedi, caprican_jedi, karapadme, jedi_thrace, and jedifromdelphi. At one point I even considered caprican_nubian. But in the end, I knew - in both BSG and Star Wars fandoms, it has always been first and foremost about my Girlfriends, and I needed to reflect that. karapadme is okay, but not exactly what I wanted, and I like amidala_thrace better. More melodious. And so much more representative of me, of both my fandoms, and of the women that I will always adore and admire.

Otherwise, I'm still the exact same slightly insane Liz that you have all (hopefully!) grown to know and love. ;) I'm keeping all of you on my f-list, I still mod all of my communities, and nothing has changed with regards to the fandom newsletters. My username icons, plus one of my banners, are now out-of-date, so maybe - maybe? - someone will consent to make me some new ones at some point. ;)

One thing I can say for sure is that this one's here to stay. :D

A couple of days ago, the BSG muse tiptoed up to me, grabbed me by the collar and yelled in my ear, "SURPRISE BSG INSPIRATION IS SURPRISING!" So ... I went with it. And here is a brand-new Insanity Underrated chapter for your reading pleasure. :)

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Characters/Pairings: Kara, Lee, Helo, Kara/Lee and Helo/Athena mentioned
Word Count: 3,045
Spoilers: Through S2's "Valley of Darkness"
Rating: PG
Summary: “You think any situation can be fixed by running. But have you thought that maybe sooner or later, somebody’s gonna run fast enough to catch up with you?”
Author's Notes: So, believe it or not, I'm still around, I'm still working on this fic, and I'm still just as into pilots as I was before. July and the first half of August have been rough months for me personally and my writing has really suffered. I've been hard-pressed to be online, and when I have logged on, I've had to focus on the various and sundry communities I moderate, which are priorities. So my writing schedule has been shot to hell. Over the past week I've been rereading Insanity Underrated - plus another longfic project in a different fandom - to try and get back into the swing of things, and I have finally churned out a chapter that I deem acceptable. I will also reply to all your awesome reviews as soon as I can, promise! We're into Season 2, as you can tell by the "Spoilers" section of the header, and I'm equal parts excited and equal parts nervous about what's to come. Hope you guys enjoy!

Read it here @ jedionpaper

the i-envy-this-about-you meme

Gods only know what anyone would envy about me right now, but why the hell not.

The "You Should Write..." Meme!
my thread here

I am nothing but a sheep, LOL. Oh well.

*goes back to editing Chapter 51 of To Ignite the Stars*

This is partly for jeebs83 and partly for xkatie_kittenx, since both have requested at various points over the last few days to see the Insanity Underrated playlist ever since I mentioned that I was making one. I did something similar for TIS, as readers of that longfic will know, and I'm beginning to think that a barometer of how serious I am about a fic is whether I make a playlist for it. Heh.

Basically, I as a writer cannot seem to produce anything worth reading unless I listen to music while I am doing it - preferably music that has a lot to do (in my own mind) with whichever characters I happen to be writing about and their story. It's another of my idiosyncratic kinks, just like the fact that I need to have an outline before I start writing any longfic. Since I do make those outlines in advance of a single word getting written, the task of putting together a playlist is made a lot easier.

So. Here be the Insanity Underrated playlist. It is culled partly from my Kara playlist - which in turn heavily influenced my writing of The Sound of One Hand Clapping - and partly from the songs I tend to naturally listen to while I'm working on the fic. In most cases I've included only partial lyrics, but each song title is a link to the full lyrics if you want them. Some songs are further explained by my notes, but I've left others purposefully vague due to spoilers. Those of you who want to figure out their meaning or the reason they're included, put on your thinking caps! ;)

Oh, and the icon? Very, very, VERY relevant. And that's all I'll say for now.

( The Insanity Underrated Playlist )

And if you got through all that, I think you deserve a medal! Hehe. ;)

Long live the BSG muse! At least for now. ;)

Title: Insanity Underrated
Author: amidala_thrace
Previous Chapters: Can be read here.
Characters/Pairings: Lee/Kara
Word Count: 2,722
Spoilers: Through S1's "Kobol's Last Gleaming" for this chapter
Rating: PG
Summary: Was this really what severing her ties with Lee Adama was going to be like?
Author's Notes: See icon. "Love hurts" is essentially (and unfortunately) kind of the theme for this chapter, and it refers to both physical and emotional hurt. We're nearing the end of Season 1 here, folks, and while I'm rather nervous about plunging into the S2 plotline, I am nonetheless prepared to jump in with both feet. Thanks for all your lovely reviews on the last chapters! :D

Read it here @ jedionpaper