I posted a Harry Potter logic puzzle, "Weasley Travels", over at fan_flashworks for their prompt "Anywhere but Here". (Because all the people in the puzzle are anywhere but where Mrs. Weasley—for whom they left the puzzle as a note—is.) It was a lot of fun to write, and I sure hope I didn't mess up any of the clues. I tested it over and over again as I removed and rearranged clues. Makes me have even more respect for the people who write the crazy hard puzzles in the magazines I get sometimes. They probably have an algorithm, though, or maybe even a computer program.

I'm also going through and responding to all the wonderful comments I got on my Casablanca Triangle shawl that I posted for the last challenge. I feel weird responding so late, but I got sick the evening that I posted the shawl and I've been out of it ever since, so it's not the only communication I've sent out today with a week's lag. I just keep telling myself it's better than not replying at all.

This pattern was written for a challenge on fan_flashworks; the prompt was "triangle", so I designed and knit a triangular shawlette inspired by the famous love triangle in my favorite movie: Casablanca. Yes, I went from first conception to charting to knitting frantically to trying not to bind off too tight all in a week. (You actually get ten days for each challenge, but I didn't hear of the comm until the 13th.) Probably not my sanest idea ever, but it was a really great experience and I enjoyed it a lot.

The pattern and photos were originally posted here on the fan_flashworks comm, but I'm now mirroring it to my personal journal. Everything below the cut is the same as it was in the original post except for minor wording tweaks. (If I discover errata later, I will note that both here and on the original post.)

Title: Casablanca Triangle
Fandom: Casablanca
Rating: G
Content notes: no warnings apply

( Casablanca Triangle: pattern and photos )

I don't know if anybody outside my family reads this, but in case they do I'll put the Yuletide stuff first and the probably-only-interesting-to-me stuff under the cut. (Although anyone reading this who likes Scarlet Pimpernel really ought to scroll down and read what my sister Katarina gave me, because it was pretty phenomenal.)

So, I participated in my first Yuletide and it was really awesome, and it continues to be awesome as I'm reading all the stories out there. I've gotten a couple lovely comments on my fic (which I'm not going to say what it is yet, of course), and I'm doing my best to fulfill the promise I made to myself last year of commenting on every single Yuletide fic I read this year (with a few exceptions). I'm at 24 comments and counting, according to my spreadsheet. Yes, I made a spreadsheet, so that I can make sure I actually read all the stories that I want to read without having to take all the fandoms in alphabetical order like I did last year. After I finish reading things, I may go through and bookmark/rec some of my favorites using AO3's bookmarking feature; if so, I'll post the link here.

The story I received was absolutely lovely and I think it's going to be part of my personal head-canon now.
Ten Years After (1048 words)
Fandom: Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
Rating: General Audiences
Summary: It is a different France in 1804. But the more things change, the more they remain the same...
My comments: Percy faithfully brings Chauvelin news from Fleurette. Chauvelin has survived the revolution! He and Percy manage to be in the same room with each other! Lady Blakeney and Armand St. Just have started a school! And more, just a really lovely story where every single character fit with the way I picture them.

And now on to family things...


( Presents given )


( Presents received )

( Scarlet Pimpernel awesomeness courtesy of Katarina )


I had a very wonderful Christmas this year, and I look forward to many more with my beloved family.

SQUUUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! :D :D FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS AND I WROTE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM THIS MONTH, YES I DID!!!! :D YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahem. So for some reason today was going slower than almost any day before had gone, and I didn't even need to write a whole two thousand today. But there was never any question whether I would finish. Finally, when I had 50,056 words according to Scrivener's word count, I exported to Microsoft Word (it just wraps onto page 200 when double-spaced in 12 pt Palatino Linotype) and inserted a space after all 125 em dashes and 25 ellipses, so those wouldn't mess up the word counter. Then I pasted it into the official validator...and it said 49,988! So close...I decided not to try to figure out what was causing the shortage and just wrote one more sentence, which turned out to be twelve words long, so according to the NaNoWriMo word count machine, I have EXACTLY 50,000 words. (Don't ask me what happened to the other 68, because I have no idea.) Now the only thing I have to do is not lose interest in this story and finish it without getting too distracted by Yuletide...

Date: November 30
Today's goal: 1,000 words
Today's word count: 1,732 words (173.2%)
Cumulative goal: 50,000 words
Cumulative word count: 50,068 words (100.1%)

What I wrote today: Perry, Jimmy, Nella, Kevin, & Pam's trip down to San Diego to interview Ernest Morey, a random extra blackmail victim who got added into the outline recently; then up to San Marcos to interview restaurant investor Doris Landry.

Excerpt:

San Marcos was a rapidly growing city fifteen miles east of their starting location of Carlsbad. Before going to find Leitner’s aunt, Mason took the children to lunch. They found a little Chinese restaurant hidden away in one of the older neighborhoods and sat down to reconnoiter over egg rolls.

“So what do we know about the lady we’re going to see?” asked Jimmy.

“Her name is Doris Landry, and she is the widow of Leitner’s mother’s brother. He doesn’t have very many close relatives, and all except for Mrs. Landry are deceased. She lives by herself somewhere near here. She has been saving up and making as many connections as she can in the food world, in preparation for this restaurant that she’s investing in for her son-in-law.” He reached over and grabbed the last paper-wrapped chicken, putting an abrupt halt to Jimmy and Nella’s quiet squabble over it. “From everything I’ve been able to find out, she isn’t involved in anything criminal. But one never knows.”

Bonus excerpt (the last bit I wrote in November, which is obviously not the end of the book by any means...we haven't even gotten into court yet):

Oh, dear,” said Mrs. Landry. “I suppose I’d better give the money back. How does one go about giving blackmail money back, anyway? I’ll have to ask Gilbert who he got it from. Was he arrested for blackmail? Is that why I haven’t heard from him?”

Perry Mason shook his head gravely. “I’m afraid not. You see, Mrs. Landry, blackmail is a very dangerous business. The blackmailer finds people who have secrets that are important enough that they would pay good money to keep them secret, then asks those people for money to stay silent. But some of those people might eventually realize that there are more permanent ways of keeping a blackmailer silent. It would appear that one of those caught up with your nephew. He was murdered on Monday.”

Mrs. Landry burst into tears and put her head in her hands.

Still highly confident of finishing, and with more reason for said confidence: I only have 1,664 words remaining! When I updated for the last time today, it even said "At This Rate You Will Finish On November 29, 2011", which I found very hard to believe as it was 11:59:15 PM at that time. I'm glad they believe in me though. :-) I have to officially verify everybody's word counts tomorrow; the other two are using old Windows 98 machines that can't access the internet, so we use diskettes to transfer everything. I haven't had time to do that recently what with writing frantically, so theirs haven't been backed up in a while or verified.

Date: November 29
Today's goal: 2,000 words
Today's word count: 2,775 words (138.8%)
Cumulative goal: 49,000 words
Cumulative word count: 48,336 words (98.6%)

What I wrote today: Jimmy's phone call with Perry, and their interview of Ernest Morey, who is another of L's blackmail victims. i definitely just flipped the phone book open randomly to come up with the last name, while his first name is an oblique nod to the codenames in Blackout/All Clear.

Excerpt:

“So, since you took us with you, does that mean you don’t expect the interview to be very dangerous?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, does Mom know you let us come?” asked Nella.

“Nella, do you really think I could drive all the way down here without your mother finding out?” Mason said. “Yes, Mrs. Mason knows that I was coming down here, and knows that I was letting you four tag along, and I don’t expect any of these interviews to be at all dangerous.”

“But what if Mr. Morey turns out to be the murderer?” Nella said, grinning.

Mason sighed and consulted the map again. “Even murderers are unlikely to kill anyone they meet, because the more people they kill, the more dangerous life becomes for them.” His voice became more stern. “If this man turns out to be the murderer, don’t let on that you recognized him, but let me know as soon as possible. I don’t believe the police have publicized the fact that anyone was present when Leitner was killed—in fact, they’ve barely publicized the murder at all—so you should be safe. Worst case scenario, if he draws a gun and starts shooting, run away as fast as you can while staying behind cover as much as possible, and call the police. The chances of that happening are about nil, though, or I would not have brought you four along.”

My brother "Nerf Commando" reached his 5,000-word goal today! He had been really close for a while, but had to set it aside while he was sick. I'm glad he's reached his goal; now I'm the only one who has to keep writing frantically over the next two days.



Date: November 28
Today's goal: 2,000 words
Today's word count: 2,371 words (118.6%)
Cumulative goal: 47,000 words
Cumulative word count: 45,561 words (96.9%)

What I wrote today: Jimmy's interview with Mike Jefferson at Holiday Park (which I hope was still called that back in 1975).

Excerpt:

The kids nodded in sympathy. “Is your mom nice?” asked Pam. “It sounds like you like her a lot.”

“Yeah, she’s really nice. When I came to California to go to school, my first thought was to get as far away from my family as I could, but I don’t know what I was thinking. I really miss them now, but it’s kind of too late to do anything about it.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Leitner left me alone for a couple months, then he showed up and asked for another thirty dollars. He’s gotten thirty bucks off me every month since then. We used to go meet at the pizza place by the gas station, although I usually couldn’t afford to buy more than a breadstick. Sometimes Leitner would treat, the dirty showoff.

“So, yeah, that’s about it. I saw him last sometime this weekend. I think it was Saturday. I haven’t seen him since, or heard from him or heard about him or anything. Um…what do you suggest I do?”

Today was a good day. (Except for the only-getting-around-three-hours-of-sleep-and-I-woke-up-coughing-in-the-middle-of-that bit.) I had a part-time job opportunity arise for December, and the timing of when I was offered the job (right when I finally didn't have any other upcoming jobs lined up) along with a couple other details combined to really make me feel that God was giving me a sign that I'm on the right track with my life right now, and in light of some of the unorthodox decisions I've made lately (e.g. not getting a full time job immediately out of college), I really needed that. Still feeling really thankful about the whole situation (and a little bemused over the fact that I, as a Protestant pianist, am going to be subbing as cantor in a Catholic church...)

Date: November 27
Today's goal: 0 words
Today's word count: 811 words (∞%)
Cumulative goal: 45,000 words
Cumulative word count: 43,190 words (96.0%)

What I wrote today: Nella's phonecall with Mike Jefferson

Excerpt:

“Oh good. Mr. Snyder gave me your number. My name is Nella Mason. Some friends of mine and I are investigating a crime that was committed recently. In the course of our investigation, we happened to talk to Mr. Snyder, and he mentioned your financial difficulties. I believe that some of the information that we have picked up in our investigation may possibly be of use to you, and a way out of your money problems. I was wondering if we could meet with you briefly to discuss this.”

Mike made some comment on the other end of the phone that caused her to look slightly surprised. “Umm…maybe. I think that name does sound a tad familiar. How do you know this Leitner person?”

“I see. Do you happen to recall when the last time you saw him was?”

“That’s interesting. So may we meet with you? We are outside Snyder’s right now, but we would be willing to go anywhere in Carlsbad that’s convenient to you. We have our bikes right here.”

“Holiday Park would be perfect. Just a second.” She put her hand over the mouthpiece and turned to Joey. “That’s the park right across the street from your house, right?”

Joey nodded. “Yeah. That’s not very far at all to bike.”

Still sick, but at least my voice is coming back. Mass went well tonight. Apparently, today (which is the first Sunday of the church year) was the introduction of a new English text for the mass, for the first time in forty years, and the hymnal won't come out until December, so we got to just make up some chord sequences for a couple of the mass parts. Yay, music theory...you never know when it's going to come in handy.

I didn't manage to get caught up as much as I would have liked today, due to sleeping in and the above-mentioned mass, but at least I met my goal and I still have high hopes of finishing on time. My sister "Katarina Grace" reached her 10,000-word goal today: exciting!

Date: November 26
Today's goal: 1,000 words
Today's word count: 1,457 words (145.7%)
Cumulative goal: 45,000 words
Cumulative word count: 42,379 words (94.2%)

What I wrote today: conversation at the Hammonds' and then back to Snyder's, which is based on a real place from my dad's stories but I found out on Tuesday is actually a conflation of two places next door to each other. (i.e. he got the comic books at the liquor store, but he got the huge gigantic pickles at the Big Bear next door)

Excerpt:

“Just as long as we aren’t on the list of suspects, I don’t particularly care who is,” she said, reaching over Bobby’s head and grabbing the platter of ham. “Listen to me, all of you. We got dragged into this through absolutely no fault of our own, and I want out. I don’t want to have any part in a murder investigation. He wasn’t murdered in our house, and we weren’t present when he was murdered, and I don’t see why we should have anything to do with any of this. So there will be no more investigating.” She walked over to Jimmy and poked him in chest. “I want you to take your band of juvenile amateur investigators and get out. You’re not helping matters, the only thing you’re going to do is cause trouble.”

“But Mom—” Bobby objected.

“No ‘but’s about it, Robert. We’re safely outside of this murder case now, and we aren’t going to do anything to risk getting dragged back in. I’m sorry, but the safety of our family has to be our first priority. You understand, don’t you?”

Still sick, and not looking forward to playing for four hours of mass this weekend, but at least it pays really really well. I've been managing to do at least a bit of writing while I've been sick, which is going to help a lot when it comes time to catch up at the beginning of next week (by which time hopefully I'll be feeling better). Hopefully, the stuff I wrote is actually coherent and it's not just my imagination.

Date: November 25
Today's goal: 3,000 words
Today's word count: 1,111 words (37.0%)
Cumulative goal: 44,000 words
Cumulative word count: 40,922 words (93.0%)

What I wrote today: the kids going back to the Grays' house and then to the Hammonds' again

Excerpt:

“Miss Gray?” Nella called hesitantly. They climbed up the stairs to the front porch, and Jimmy tapped on the door. “Anybody home?” Nella called again, and reached out to try the doorknob.

Jimmy grabbed her wrist before she could touch it. “Don’t touch anything that might have fingerprints on it, you’ll spoil the evidence. That’s why I knocked near the door hinge, where nobody ever touches the door, instead of near the side that opens.” He looked around, frowning. “I guess there’s nobody home. The cars are still in the same place they were when we were here last, I think. Does anybody notice any differences?”

“There’s something funny about that car,” said Kevin, indicating a dark green station wagon parked directly in front of the house. “It’s here now, and it was here when we left on Monday, but I don’t think it was here when we arrived on Monday. Do you suppose it’s Leitner’s car?”

I was definitely sick by the time I woke up today. I spent the day doing nothing (aka rereading all the fanfics on AO3 that I'd ever commented on, which includes some really awesome fics that I'd completely forgotten about; and then moved on from there to rereading all of Philomytha's Simon/Alys stories, which I hadn't forgotten about but which are just as awesome). At 11:45pm, I decided that I did not want today to be the first day in November that I didn't write anything at all, so I wrote at much as I could. Now I'm sitting down with another cup of Throat Coat tea, and a big bowl of delicious frozen raspberries, and the etext of Miles Errant. Definitely didn't have a big fancy Thanksgiving dinner, but I had pumpkin pie and plenty of homemade whipped cream and an amazingly good turkey sandwich with lots of mustard, so life still isn't too bad.

Date: November 24
Today's goal: 2,000 words
Today's word count: 540 words (27.0%)
Cumulative goal: 41,000 words
Cumulative word count: 39,811 words (97.1%)

What I wrote today: Deciding what to do next while keeping the operative in the dark.

Excerpt:

“Interesting,” Ford said. “I didn’t realize that, although it would make sense that the car would be from near the murder scene. I’d better check with Mr. Drake before I make contact with Stephen Gray, then.”

“You’d better,” said Jimmy. “Good luck at the registration office, and let us know whatever you find out!”

“I’ll be in contact with Mr. Drake, who will pass the information on to your father—I hope that’s sufficient?”

“Oh, sure, definitely.” Jimmy started walking toward the stairs, followed by the other kids. Randall Ford followed behind.

“Where next, Jimmy?” asked Nella.

Jimmy glanced at Ford, who was walking to his car, apparently completely uninterested in the conversation, but still definitely within earshot. “Let’s go get something to eat, and then we can go back to Bobby’s house.”