coaltide | Don't Stop Coal Now!

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2021

Don't Stop Coal Now!

Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real coal time
I feel alive
And the exchange I'll turn it inside out, yeah
I'm floating around in agony
So, (don't stop me now)
(Don't stop me)
'Cause I'm having a coal time, having a coal time~

Main Collection Reveals: Sat 25 Dec
Madness Collection Opens: Sun 26 Dec
Author Reveals: Sat 1 Jan

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Anybody besides me got anything they feel guilty for this Yuletide?

Guilty because it’s self-indulgent or because you’re no longer interested in the fandom?

I'll start: It's officially 9 AM UTC and I am officially done editing this fic.

This Yuletide was hard for me, coalies. It was my first Yuletide in 8 years. I haven't written fic in nearly as long. I was drowning in plot bunnies and could not write a fucking conversation between two characters to save my life. I slept 0 hours last night trying to make the damn thing work, and FINALLY I got it to a point where I don't hate it. It's my shortest Yuletide fic ever and I feel guilty for that. I feel guilty because canon review made me love these characters 100x more and they deserve a better story than this. And I feel guilty because I'm going to be a zombie on Christmas. But at least I'm done fucking with it.

Oh, and I feel guilty because I really wanted to do the Never Gonna Give You Up title thing but I couldn't manage to write the scene that would have made it make sense.

I'm sorry it was so rough for you, but you wrote your story and shouldn't feel guilty. Though I get it. Maybe a shorter minimum exchange not at a super busy time of year, like Chocolate Box, is worth a try? Don't let this be your last experience for a while, if you can. Get back on that horse!

Coalies, don't fall for this catholic pick up line

I only wrote just over a thousand words. :(

That's ok, coalie. You do what you can. My gift is just over 1k and I think it's great!

I defaulted, I got a lovely story, my recip got coal

What sort of coal?

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2021-12-25 13:41 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2021-12-25 16:53 (UTC) - Expand

+1. At least the coal they got was better than the coal I would have managed to write?

God, yeah. I wanted to do more and this entire season has turned into a nightmare for me instead between Covid and work deadlines.

I usually do a fair bit of treating, but this year I just didn’t have it in me. And while I think the fic I wrote for my recip is good, it’s still not everything I wanted it to be. :-(

I posted a treat and then deleted it because I decided it sucked. =( I regret having posted it and hope my not-recip didn't notice

If you did notice:
dear not-recip: you are wonderful and I'm sorry. I really, really wish I could have gotten it up to snuff in time.

I restarted both of the fics I gave yesterday. As in scrapped the fics I had been working on the whole writing period entirely and started completely new with both of them. I finished the second one about half an hour before reveals.

I think it paid off! My recips already left happy comments and both of them mentioned the thing that I restarted to emphasize (different types of things for each, one tonal and one a plot point). The previous attempts were definitely going into the anon collection if they had gone live, whereas these will probably go onto my main account. I don't think my recips will have been able to realize how extensively I replaced the original gifts, since the new ones are both longer than the originals and I never add additional tags until the day before reveals just in case I get a better idea.

I still feel guilty for giving fics I wrote in a rush the literal last day and barely had time to spag check, though. I wish I got these ideas a week ago and had time to do them properly.

Please dont sweat it, what matters is the finished product, everyone's process is different and if you worked to do the best fic you could it's all good

I defaulted to play Endwalker instead, but karma got me and my gift is in second person so I don't feel too guilty now

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2021-12-27 08:52 (UTC) - Expand

I got two fics up for my recipient, but couldn't manage to get the treats I was working on finished in time, one is for my recipient from last year, and I've a suspicion they wrote for me this year, so I really wanted to get that one up. I'll post it to the NYR collection later on, once I get past the current crop of family medical emergencies.

I defaulted :( guilty for my recip and guilty for this new shiny fandom that got no fic this year :((

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2022-01-04 14:15 (UTC) - Expand

Some irl bad news came and fked me up, i haven't read my fic yet bc i have no mood to gush about anything :( i will but I usually do it first thing

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2021-12-25 21:59 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2022-01-04 14:15 (UTC) - Expand

I had to have A LOT of wine in order to write comments on my gift(s). My author(s) obviously tried! And they really like the fandom(s)! And they did write and post a thing for me! That's awesome. I want to encourage that.

Just...the quality really, really wasn't there. so cue the alcohol and a REALLY EFFUSIVE comment because yay! you did a thing.

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2021-12-26 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Yuletide guilt

(Anonymous) - 2022-01-04 14:17 (UTC) - Expand

I didn't put in as much effort as I hoped to, through no one's fault but mine. I made some major improvements to my bus pass, but I was hoping to squeeze in one more round of edits, and to find a natural way to fit in a couple of sentences which I'd been thinking the recip would really enjoy but which stopped making sense for the scene they were supposed to be in.

I was really depressed this year but wanted to still do Yuletide and I feel like I shouldn't have. I wrote my assignment and treats at the last minute and I did my absolute best, but my best rn isn't great and I think my recips would've been better off with someone else. Sorry recips.

Also I didn't have time to find a beta or sensitivity reader who's more familiar with the culture of one fandom and I strongly suspect the fic is full of inaccuracies and I feel really bad about that.