How the hell are you all? It's been awhile, yeah? I've been very, very busy. My ten-day stay in Duluth turned out to be a rather permenant thing. I'm going to be going back to Moorhead and geting my stuff shipped up here as soon as I find an apartment. It'll probably be July before I can do this, but I am not going to be returning to Moorhead for good.
In the three months that I've been away, I've become so much more independent than I ever was before. I can literally get around Duluth all by myself using the bus system. I know how to find addresses just by knowing which way the streets run, and I'm having so much fun just being on my own again.

Now, the reason I haven't been updating or reading my journal lately is complex. I've been taking seven straight hours of blindness adjustment and technical specialist instructional classes during the day. For five days a week, I do this. Needless to say, I am exhausted at the end of the day. I take two Mobility classes, and in each one, I walk an average of one mile each hour. I've been doing so much thinking and practical work that I have been lax with my fandom obligations. I'm going to change that, though. I've missed you guys horribly. I can't do anything about it at the hotel because I don't have my personal computer and don't feel right doing anything on the one that I'm borrowing from the school. That one is meant for me to have basic internet access, and since I'm not sure that someone won't be checking on where I've been on it, I'd rather not risk it. The only reason I am able to write to you all now is because I brought my pac mate and was able to connect it to the school's network. I just have to remember to bring it and use it during the day. The internet connection at the hotel isn't compatible with this old pac mate. I wish it was. I would be able to use it instead.

So, how've you all been? Tell me what's going on with you! I've missed you all!

The challenge for this month is "signs of spring". Write a ficlet telling of a hobbit dealing with a harbinger of spring-- is it the first flower? the return of birds from the south? is it planting time? or the birth of animals?

You may post your story to the community at any time this month. As we are very informal, the only rules are to make sure you post your rating, and put your story behind a cut. And tag your story "signs of spring".

Authors: dreamflower02 and labourslamp
Rating: PG (for one use of mildly salty language)
Summary: Sometimes a writer just can't please everyone, as Frodo discovers...
A/N: This collaborative story is the result of a rather silly late night IM conversation in which Dreamflower and Celeritas came to the conclusion that the reason that so many of the exciting things that happened in Rivendell and Hollin were left out of the Red Book is because it would have made the story far too long. (Readers may spot a number of familiar references...perhaps you will even see yourself...)

As Frodo discovers... ( Read more... )

Rating: G

A/N: This is set in my "Sandbox," a limbo-of-the-fathers type place where I have more liberty to play around with the characters than I would in a strict canon setting.  Fits the January and the February challenges.

 ( Read more... )

Going back to ideas from the poll I took, this month's challenge was from grey_wonderer:

Write a ficlet featuring a conversation between any two canon hobbits. (They can be "major" or "minor".)

As usual, you can post the story at this community at any time this month. Just make sure to post the rating and put the story behind a cut!

This is for the "new beginnings" challenge!


Rating: G
Summary: Pippin tries to fit in at the Great Smials.
Author’s Notes: In my Shire-universe, Thain Ferumbras III abdicated the Thainship to Paladin the year that Pippin was 15. Concerned about the unpleasant atmosphere at the Great Smials that had prevailed in the years that Ferumbras’ mother Lalia was the Took, Paladin and Eglantine sent their children to live with relatives while they settled into the Great Smials and began making some changes there. One year later, they brought the children there to live. In this story, Pippin is 16, which is the equivalent of a 10 year-old among Men. Also, there are references here to some of my other stories, particularly "Consequences of a Fall", “The Dwarf Dagger”, “Moving Day”, and ”A Sight to Remember”.

Making the Best of It ( Read more... )

The Challenge for January is: "new beginnings"! As in, this is a new beginning for this comm-- I hope to get back to posting the monthly challenges MONTHLY!

Has your hobbit recently moved? gotten born? married? started a journey? finished something and is looking for something new? made resolutions?

C'mon and tell us all about them!

We are very informal here. Just post your story to the community at any time this month-- any length. Make sure to give the rating and to put the story behind a cut.

 A/N: This challenge looked lonely, so I thought it could use a friend.  Oneshot.

Rating: G

( Planning Ahead... )

The challenge for this month is to write a ficlet in which a gift or gifts play a part.

Here's another story from the Hobbit Ficathon Archive:

Introductions by auntiemeesh, posted in October of 2004.

A lovely little first meeting tale, featuring little Pippin.

I hope to have another challenge up in a day or two.