Eternal Refuge

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Thank you Fandom

Without you I would not have the hobbies I have, I would not have the friends that I have and I would never have dared to push my own personal boundaries.

At school I was told that I should never bother writing down anything, as I was no good at written English. Then I saw BtVS .... and as I watched the finale I wanted to give it a different ending. So, I wrote my first fan-fiction. I have since written other stories, and added a finale to Stargate Atlantis!

In looking for an outlet, I found fan-fiction, and LiveJournal ... and found I needed an icon to decorate the pages. I started by cropping images ... and gradually learned about Photoshop. Now I am colourblind ... and again was always told that colour etc in art would be impossible. But, again, I have Fandom to thank for the multiple icons I have produced, and continue to produce.

I have met some of the people off LJ ... good friends.

Thank you Fandom

However my LJ is not just dedicated to fandom - but through the links I have seen and shared phots, I have learned a lot about history etc, and when I have had some bad days I have had somewhere to let off steam.

All thanks to Fandom.

Thank you

Challenge #4

Since this is the start of a new year, this challenge will be e to set your own goals! Of course we can all make large or ambitious goals, remember that small and/or short goals are also good! Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


The trouble is that all my personal wishes are the same as I have typed over the last couple of years.

For fandom -
I so want to really work on making better banners
With icons I want to work on combining different fonts in the same image.
I have a WIP (over a few years) that I want to finish
I do want to get back to writing, again.

For RL -
Spring cleaning ... in fact, any cleaning!!
My shed needs re-organising

Sadly most of those are similar to previous years ... maybe this year will be better!!


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Challenge #2

In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.



Most people who know me know how I got into fandom via the internet .... and that's through having my friend's teenage girls stay with me, and getting mesmerised by an actor's voice ... a season 7 episode of BtVS ... and the actor being James Marsters ... and,the rest is history.



However back in 1982 when a TV series finished I managed to spot a magazine advert for a fan club.

The TV show was called Blake's 7, and ran for 4 years, and has actually never been repeated (to my knowledge). It was a Sci Fi show, and the last episode saw most of the crew killed off, so no come-back.

Anyway, I sent away for details of "Horizon" and joined. About every 6 - 8 months we got a magazine with letters, articles, questions etc - it was written by fans for fans. About every 6 months we were also offered a short story book - so the first time of seeing fan-fics, although unlike AO3, you couldn't put a filter on the ones you wanted to see!

On a side note, I did actually write a letter to one of the magazines in the mid 90's and ended up meeting someone from the next town (I have an unusual surname) ... and Sharon & I are still friends.

And, yes, I still enjoy Blake's 7 ... occasionally making icons, and if there is a Cally/Avon fic on AO3, then I will read it.

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Snowflake Challenge #5

Search in your current space, whether brick-and-mortar or digital. Post a picture (a link to a picture will be fine!) or description of something that is or represents:


1. Something your favorite character would like
2. Something that makes you laugh
3. A fandom place you would like to visit
4. A fandom creator (pro or not) you'd like to meet
5. Something you find comforting
6. Something from a favorite TV series or movie from your childhood
7. A piece of clothing you love
8. A book or song with a color in the title
9. Something only someone in your fandom would understand




1. Something your favorite character would like



2. Something that makes you laugh
Sorry, it's an old, and well known limerick, but it still makes me chuckle
   There once was a man of Bengal
      Who was asked to a Fancy Dress Ball;
      He murmured: "I'll risk it
      And go as a biscuit!'
      But the dog ate him up in the hall.


3. A fandom place you would like to visit
Atlantis ... the floating city from SGA ... that would be fascinating to see a city that could sink, or react to some of it's inhabitant's DNA


4. A fandom creator (pro or not) you'd like to meet
Jim Butcher - would love to know what is next for Harry; but also if the story to this point was organised in his mind when he first started writing the series.
slaymesoftly ... so I can say thank you for all the grea Spuffy fanfics.


5. Something you find comforting
My faith
I also love AO3 ... where my fandom couple will end up together ... yes, I check the tags first!


6. Something from a favorite TV series or movie from your childhood



7. A piece of clothing you love
IActually I love most of the things in my wardrobe (I am not someone who goes shopping for the sake of shopping).  As I type this I have red jeans and a baggy jumpre, but there again I love the formal styly of dresses that I wear to Church on a Sunday ... so nothing special to share (sorry)


8. A book or song with a color in the title



9. Something only someone in your fandom would understand
After seven years - why seven?  We are home now.  (Kathryn's thoughts)



Right, I think that is this set of questions done ... great selection, thank you.

I am actually at work this afternoon, and as it's a Saturday things are fairly OK. I am working on the main reception/enquiry desk of the hospital in the city where I live. So, thought I would be productive, between answering random questions ....

Challenge #14

In your own space, do the Fandom Wrap Challenge. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


What were your top 5 fandoms for 2022 based on the amount of time you interacted with them?
1. Star Trek Voyager - Janeway/Chakotay
2. Stargate Atlantis - Sheppard/Weir
3. BtVS - Spike/Buffy
4. Dresden Files - (Dresden/Murphy)
5.

What were your top 5 fandom spaces (Discord, Twitter, etc.) you experienced fandom in terms of time spent?
1. LiveJournal
2. AO3
3. Dreamwidth
4.
5.

What are the top 5 things you did to contribute to fandom in terms of time? Did you write? Comment? Send positive energy into the universe? Create art?
1. Make icons
2. Read fan-fic
3. Leave love/kudos/comments on fan-fic
4. Write fan-fic
5.

What were your top 5 most appreciated fandom contributions? (i.e. in terms of likes, kudos, reblogs, comments, etc.)
1. Star Trek Voyager Banner - here
2. Spike (season 7) drabble - here
3. Spike (season 7) banner - here
4. Some of my assorted icon posts - here's the tag
5.

Have a Top 5 List you'd like to share?? By all means!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.


Well, didn't manage to even answer the last section at all ... and didn't manage 5 answers on any of the questions. Maybe that shows I am very focussed on what I do ... or maybe I am just very boring!

In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

• I want to get my 2 x W.I.P.s finished.
• Again I am looking at doing more work on banners etc
• I want to compltely re-vamp my garden. It had been an aim last year, but I had to have work done and it got completly ignored ... so that's a plan (again) this year.
• I aim to get back into playing my clarinet & saxophone.

Well, I do wonder how many of those will get done!

Challenge #1

In your own space, update your fandom information! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Well weirdly (for most of you) my fandom doesn't need updating ... sorry folks, but I a, one "boring" person!

I like :-

• BtVS (but not Angel, or the comics)
• Star Trek, Voyager (... although also like Discovery)
• Stargate SG1 (... and am just starting Atlantis for the first time)
• Blakes 7

These I read, and will write and do icons for

However I also enjoy watching the DVDs of :-

• M*A*S*H, the series
• Hercules
• Dr Quinn
• Vampire Diaries

There are a few TV series I watch as they come out, or if I bump into the re-runs, such as Dr Who and Downton Abbey

Yes, I make icons for 4 or 5 different LJ, and DW comms.  I will write Spuffy fan-fic, and am a mod for photo_scavenger  ... however I basically blog over at LiveJournal ... only here for a few things, like this, and a couple of icon challenges.

Challenge #5

In your own space, promote a canon/talk about a part of canon that you love. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

As I commented on the #3 challenge I am a huge fan of Janeway/Chakotay in Star Trek Voyager.

Ironically I almost didn't watch the series, as I am not a great fan of "women leaders", but a friend asked me to video a couple of episodes, in the days when you had to either watch what was on video, or no TV!! So I saw a couple of episodes and was hooked.

Yes, we have a female boss, but as you explore the story you realise she is totally by herself. No help, no family, no one to ask advice from ... and as boss no one she could really ask for help from. In some ways, although certainly not a boss I have always been a real loner. I have increased my love of this fandom in the last year or so, since I lost my parents ... andcertainly with lockdown. That isolation that Katheryn Janeway has really seems to ring bells!

Chakotay was the great "bad boy" who had accepted what had happened, and was doing his best to try to help everyone. Again something I can link myself to ... not the bad boy bit, but I do like to help people, and like him still tend to feel a bit isolated. However he fell for his boss, and really spent time trying to help her ... but she only accepted help to a certain point.

However the theory was that they wouldn't get home for 50+ years ... so maybe if they had both had time to actually accept the bad things that were happening, maybe they could accept each other.  One argument she used was that she wouldn't want to get close to anyone that she would then have to "order" into a risky situation, as if she already had feelings then she would still have been injured by they pain.

So, yes, good fan-fic between the 2 of them is fun to read.


For many, I know you would be expecting me to write about Spike ... as yes, I could write about him for ages.  I am still a fan of his character, but thought i would do something different!

In your own space, make a list — anything between one and ten things is a sweet spot, but don't feel constrained by that! - of things that you wish existed in fandom, or that you'd like someone to make for you. Are you dying for podfic of your writing? Do you need icons for a character that doesn't get much fanart? Is there a story you want to read? Are you looking for new canons to get into? Would you like a collaborator for a project?

Maybe you want more people to talk about a certain fandom with, or you'd love to trade ficlets with somebody over email. Maybe you're new to a fandom and would like some recs to start reading, or communities to join. This is the time to ask!

What a great callenge - this will take some thinking about ... but, here goes:

1. I would lke some more moving icons.  I have a few that I have snagged at various time ... mostly Spuffy one.  I have one Janeway-Chakotay, and would love another.  I would also like a couple of Jack & Sam from Stargate SG1.  At some point I will learn to make them, but that is a test for a later date.
2. I love SeasonalSpuffy but wonder if there are any similar comms for my Janeway/Chakotay and Jack/Sam loves.
3. I love PhotoScavenger (and am one of the Mods!), but wonder if there are any Comms that work on other challenges.  Or is there someone who would like to work with me to slowly challenge my/our photography skills.

I am sure there are other things that I will wish I added, but that's about all I can think of!

In your own space, introduce yourself! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Hi 

My name is Debris4spike - and as you can guess I love the character Spike, from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.  I have done some fan-fic writing in thepast, as well as making icons.

My other fandoms that I have done icons for are Blakes 7, Star Trek Voyager, Stargate SG1, Dr Who

I tend to be very old-fashioned.  And very rarely find a TV series that I can get behind.

I am hoping this month will re-challenge me as I have been missing a bit from fandom.