Who Knows about Your Fandom Habit?

I've been wondering about this for some time, having stumbled into conversations with fellow fanficcers about how much of their online life they are willing to admit to in their "real" life: To what extent do you share your fandom life with people off of the Internet? By "people," this could be friends, family, spouses, significant others, coworkers, the unassuming public at large...anyone. Does anyone with whom you associate exclusively in offline life know what you get up to online?

Some people, I know, share it with anyone who will listen. Others, their own spouses would know their usernames and have no idea why "Library of Moria" shows up so many times on wifey's Internet history.

So what's your story?

This question has been romping around in my brain for some months now. It is something that I always meant to ask but that quickly got lost in my other musings about fandom and online life. What inspired me to ask today is twofold.

First, my lovely friend and co-perv ann_arien posted a link to an article about the "slash subculture" called Frodo & Sam Get It On. Since I first stumbled into the slash community purely with a social psychological interest (I swear! but I'm not vouching for why I've stuck around >:^] ), these sorts of articles interest me.

Secondly, today is my one-year anniversary in the Tolkien fandom.

I read fanfic before this and even had a Pit of Voles account, exclusively to comment on other people's writing. But this day last year, I got my LiveJournal. I started planning SWG. I joined up a whole plethora of groups and archives to see what went on beneath the surface of this fandom, beneath the finished stories that I hungered to read. I even began to entertain the notion of publishing my own story, Another Man's Cage, at some point. And no one knew. Bobby knew, I believe, that his wife got up to reading fan fiction. But he certainly didn't know that I was becoming immersed in it, nor the sorts of things that I read, nor that I was writing a fanfic novel. Why? Was I ashamed? A little, yes. I still (foolishly) believed fan fiction to be a dirty habit, a bizarre addiction of sorts. It wasn't "real" writing and online friends weren't "real" friends.

( But today.... )

So I'm very interested to hear your answers. And I would like to thank all of you for a great year. It's been more than I could have hoped for!

I'm Finally Starting to Feel Better!

Well, I think I'm finally out of the woods with regard to my illness/injury. *touch wood* I'm finally getting my energy back. Although I still tire really easily, I've been getting things done again. And the leg is slowly healing. Sunday was the worst; there were few ways that I could move that did hurt excruciatingly. Now, it has subsided to a dull ache when I walk or move it in certain ways.

Needless to say, I missed skating again on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll be able to go tomorrow, if only to have a light practice. I also finally managed to get back into candy-making; on Sunday, I started chopping my colored confectionary coating and putting it in my mold painters, and after a half-hour of that, I got so tired that I had to sit down. Last night, Bobby helped me finish filling the mold painters and then I finally got to try them out, making some milk chocolate hearts for my coworker's wife. I also made a batch of caramels and some creme center base. After two-and-a-half hours on my feet in the hot kitchen, hunching over candy molds, I was exhausted, but it felt good to manage something productive again.

Oh, and the hearts turned out beautifully! Expect pictures. ;)

Also, I got tagged for a meme! pulsarkat tagged me to tell of five ways that I might be bribed. Now I like to think myself above bribes. But if you wanted to bribe me, you might start here.

( How to Bribe Dawn Felagund? Let Me Count the Ways.... )

Now a meme ain't a meme without tagging, so who do I think I might want to bribe? Hmmm....

greenknight33, digdigil, ann_arien, ssotknapsack, and linwe_ancalime, because I want to know how to get in good with the inlaws and you haven't updated in a while. ;)

Per usual, any of you who want to yoink this meme and tell me five ways that I can bribe you, consider yourself tagged.

On a completely unrelated note, Bobby surprised me with a gift yesterday. (No, he was not trying to bribe me.) He managed to find online a bumpersticker that says, "I Brake for Elves." And it has little Elfy guys on it *squees and jumps around* Granted, I object to their curly shoes, but they do have cute ears.

Actually, thinking about it, perhaps he bought this for me to bribe me to wash my car. I've never washed my car in the two years I've had it, but it's silver, so the dirt doesn't show up too badly. Still, I will have to wash it before affixing my "I Brake for Elves" bumpersticker. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

Happy Birthday, Isil! (at last....)

isil_elensar's birthday was 9 January, and I had all intents of having a story finished for her. Alas, this story proved elusive to me, and I'm still not sure it's what you wanted, Isil. It turned out kind of weird.

But nonetheless, more than two months later, Isil's birthday story is finally finished. She asked for Legolas, NC-17, and I did my best to oblige. Apologies, again, Isil, for taking so long. :^/

But at last, here is your weird smutty Legolas story entitled "Red Leaves." It is rated for adults only for reasons of heterosexual sex.

( Red Leaves )