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I'm collecting fic-writing prompts over at Tumblr (simply because it's easiest to keep the prompts sorted there). So far I've received three Sherlock Holmes prompts, two BBC and one Doyle, but would love some more and wouild really love some variety (especially Tolkien). So if you wanted me to write more Tolkien fic, now's your chance to nudge me in that direction. And Sherlock fans, I'm still more than willing to have more Sherlock prompts if that's what occurs to you.

The idea is I'll write a prompt a week, send it off to the beta, and hopefully get it posted the week after (though that will depend of course on the beta - I'm not going to hold them to my arbitrary timeline). I may take a week off occasionally, but I'm spending too much time between projects and think having a stock supply of things to write will help me build up good writerly habits again. Ideally I'd like things that can be handled in a vignette, maybe a longer one-shot. I'll only write what inspires me, so the more it dovetails with characters or themes I've seemed interested in in the past, the better

Logistics: Go to this Tumblr page and leave me a short note with your prompt. If you don't have a Tumblr account you can use the anonymous feature and just type your name at the end. Or if you prefer to be truly anonymous leave off the name and just give me the prompt. That's fine. If the Tumblr thing confuses you leave it as a comment for me here and I'll copy it over. (Though I'd prefer not to have to if you can manage the Tumblr thing, and it will spoil any surprise because other people may see your prompt.) I'm happy to have more than one prompt, but please put each in its own note.

So go on: tempt a girl.

Sherlock fic rec: The Good Old Days

This week I've been digitizing records, which because I'm working from home means taking lots of cell phone pictures, cropping them, and converting them into PDFs. It's fairly mind-numbing work but requires a good attention to detail to get the fiddly bits right, so to keep my brain sharp I've been breaking it up with fic every now and then. Today's mental stimulant was a real treat and I want to share it.

The Good Old Days, by cathedral_carver

This is essentially retirement!lock, that genre of Sherlock fic where John and Sherlock leave London and retire together, interspersed with brief scenes of their earlier lives. It's domesticity, but it's domesticity with a bite. Sherlock hunts for hallucinogenic mushrooms and smokes not long after suffering a stroke, from sheer boredom. John slams the door so hard it knocks a cup off the shelf. They're both a bit not-good, but they're not-good together (as opposed to not being good together), and it's a spot-on characterization of these men in their twilight years. No major angst, but there are some themes related to growing old that might put some people off, as well as implied sex and one explicit (but not at all graphic - it's maybe three paragraphs) sex scene. Very organic and "integral to the plot" as they say, but I know some of you prefer not to read explicit slash so I thouoght I'd mention it. There's also, as you would expect given the genre, references to canon character death, though nothing is shown onscreen. Also ... a case, of a sort. A very small case, but a case nonetheless.

What really makes this fic stand out to me is the characterization, particularly as John and Sherlock are so far removed from their canon point in time. It's also a really interesting and moving look at the stresses of aging, I thought - the everyday stresses, not that one moent when you find out soeone's terminal. Check it out.

Btw, does anyone know how to set up author alerts for an author at AO3? I ask because this is an author I want to keep an eye on...