I have 17 DW invite codes languishing here. Anyone want one? Comments are screened, leave me your email.

In other news -- as often happens when I've written something quite lengthy, I seem to have had about 12,000 extra words still pent up inside my head, so I've written two short(ish) coda fics that will be a fic-cy afterbirth. Ew, that image even grossed *me* out. Sorry about that. Meh, accurate analogy nonetheless.

It doesn't need saying at this point, especially as I've recently switched to DW-only commenting and I don't think I have more than 3 people crossing over from flist to Facebook, but please don't link comments to Facebook or Twitter.  I have disabled the option on my end so I promise I will offer the same courtesy.

Fic continues in beta's capable hands.  I hope to have something posted perhaps by the second week of September.

As you can probably tell from reading some of my earlier fic, I have not always been a beta-compliant writer.  Part of this is impatience; when I've finished something, I want to share it right away!  Another part of this is anxiety; it's difficult to hand something over, particularly something you've really worked long and hard on, and subject it to criticism right away.  I used to excuse my non-beta-ing ways by saying I was my own worst critic (which may still be true) but the truth is that a different set of eyes can always find something I may have missed, be it a plot point, a logical inconsistency, an out-of-character bit of dialogue.  And, heck, I've been lucky enough to find some betas who are the perfect balance of squee and critique.  While I do still tend to just hit the "post" button for shorter fic that I've thrown together in a matter of an hour or so, I am starting to quite like the feeling of confidence I get when I put a longer story through a proper editing and reviewing process: this really is the best it could be, take it or leave it.

That being said, though I've been called upon very occasionally to beta someone else's work, I don't think I have the specific skill set it takes.  I'm a truly myopic writer -- if someone's process doesn't match up with my process, I am often unable to work through the ways I would improve upon a given story.  (sparktastic could tell you all about my uselessness here, though I still try!)  So yes, betas FTW.  Lo, you are mighty and I am in awe of you, and owe you much homage, etc.

In conclusion, as a fandom oldtimer -- okay, seven years, I guess that's probably more like a fandom middle-ager at best -- I really encourage newer writers to seek out beta help.  It seems intimidating as hell for many of us, but I promise you that seven years from now, you'll be much happier when you look back at certain older stories.