anarfea

Promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them.

Okay, so first one is the Three Patch Podcast. I love this podcast, I admit I don't listen to every episode, but all the ones I've listened to have been great, and I've participated in round tables for a couple.If you're looking for a place to start, I'd recommend the annual Sexpisodes, which are always a riot. Also the round ups from 221b Con are a great way to reminisce, or for those unable to go to see what con is all about. They also just started a community here on DW, which is in its infancy and needs support.

The second one I'm going to promote is Fandom Trumps Hate, This is a great organization which has been raising money for LGBTQ groups, immigrants, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and other wonderful charities. I participated in 2917 and 2018 and found it really rewarding, and I plan on participating again. How it works is that creators will donate fanworks (fic, art, podfic, gifsets, whatever) which will be auctioned off in March. People who win the auctions will donate the amounts of their winning bids directly to charity. In the last 2 years, FTH has raised more than 50K! It's flattering when people bid real money for your fanworks, and also it feels great to be helping to contribute via art. And I donated and got some great stuff including fic from pennypaperbrain and indybaggins .

Last one I'm going to rec is the Antidiogenes Club. I'm linking the tumblr page, but it's actually an IRC chatroom. I know discord is what's in vogue with the kiddies these days, but IRC is really not that intimidating and I'd really recommend the AD. It started out as a chatroom for BBC Sherlock fic writers, but we have people from a variety of fandoms and who are writing original work. It's a great place to come, hang out, participate in word wars, share sentences, and cheer on your fellow writers. Also, I hang out in there almost every night. My output has been nonexistent of late, but they haven't kicked me out yet. Anyway, it's a really supportive bunch of writers and I recommend it for people who are looking for a writing group. Bonus: it's a great place to meet betas.

 Rec 3 Fanworks You Did Not Create

Well, I went trawling through my bookmarks looking for something good.

My first rec is out_there 's fic The Habits of a Lifetime. I really got into Mystrade in 2018 and this fic is probably my favorite Mystrade fic. I guess the whole reason I got into Mystrade post S4 is that I really wanted to see someone comfort Mycroft after he got put through the wringer in TFP. And this fic delivers on that. We see Greg gradually earning Mycroft's trust as Mycroft recovers from the trauma of Sherrinford. I re-read this fic before writing this review and my one small critique is that it's a 50K fic formatted in one chapter, so it sort of demands to be read in one sitting which is hard for a fic of this length. So carve out a big chunk of time to plow through it.

My second rec is nothing to declare by saraht . This is another post S4 Mycroft-centric fic. Mycroft goes to NY after Sherrinford to lick his wounds, angry that Sherlock is seeing Eurus. He works for the CIA by day and drinks alone at night, and it isn't pretty. It's a melancholy fic overall, but with a hopeful ending. Really nice, understated Holmes Brothers story.

Final rec is After the Season of Storms by Mice. I guess the theme to these is Mycroft POV post Sherrinford fics. I just want him to be happy! This one was a little bit of a self-indulgence. Everything I ever wanted for Mycroft, Greg is, in this fic. I really needed it after TFP.

 Well, I'm getting started on this late because I just decided to do it since a number of people in my circle are doing it. So, here I am with day 1.

What's my happy place? Right now, it's my living room. I have a beautiful Christmas tree with all the trimmings that I really have been fighting with my husband to let me keep up. And we have icicle lights in the dining room and regular lights framing our doors, and it's just very peaceful and beautiful and makes me feel at home. I'm all cozy up under a blanket and it's nice to read or write in here. I will miss it when the decorations come down.