Squeee!

[machshefa]

 The sshg_exchange  reveals are up!  Woot!  Thank heavens for the reveal because let me tell you, I'm terrible at identifying authors by style and am totally impressed with those of you who can read a story and say, "oh, that sounds just like so and so..."

I want to thank irishredlass69  once again for the fantastic Second Hand Wand.  It was a total coincidence and so fun that it had animagi in the story just like my story did!  Plus, the wandlore was extremely cool.


At long last, I can thank the long suffering team of alpha and beta readers who shepherded my offering for lipasnape , Tree of Life, into being (pdf file for graphics-heavy version found here and for text only, here.)
An ocean of thanks to annietalbot , without whom the story would be a pile of drafts on her floor (or possibly a pile of ash in her hearth). Hugs to juniperus  who sharpened up the journal excerpts (and narrative, too) and to syndicated  who is a magical teacher and generously taught me how to format and upload the image files (which were her idea, too). Thanks to dickgloucester  who first said, "what about using journal excerpts?" and in doing so, opened the door at long last to writing rather than wibbling, to somigliana  who did a last minute beta read for a second pair of eyes, and to ferporcel  who turned the story into pdf format when I heard that some people were having trouble loading the pages because of the image files.  

Thanks to the readers and reviewers for your enthusiasm (which absolutely blew me away) and to the mods for all your support in posting this dragon of a story.  You were a pleasure to work with from beginning to end!

I'm looking forward to catching up on the several stories that I somehow missed along the way -- this was such a rich exchange and such a pleasure!

Comments

[annietalbot.livejournal.com]

There was no way that this story was going to end up unwritten. I know you struggled to birth it, but it was special from the minute you started writing it.

It was a pleasure to cheer you on!

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*hugs... thank you. "Keep Writing" was the simplest and most helpful advice in the midst of the worst of it. ;)

[bluestocking79.livejournal.com]

~twirls you~

You already know how much I love this story and how thrilled I am to see the attention it got, but I just wanted to say it again. I know this was a difficult journey for you, but I have to tell you that the result is glorious.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *hugs... I was pretty blown away by the response to the story and so excited that all the angst to get there resulted in something worth reading! I'm thrilled that you love it--I count on the opinions of the writers I admire (like you). *hugs

[melusin-79.livejournal.com]

It's a fabulous story - one of my favourites if not my favourite favourites of the exchange.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*hugs you

Your response after the story posted was one of the first that I saw when I logged back on on Saturday night, more than a day after the story posted. I was absolutely overwhelmed and excited. I adore your writing and so a reaction like that from *you* made my day (ok, my month). *grins. Given the wealth of fantastic fic that this exchange produced, I'm honoured to have mine amongst your favourites.

[melusin-79.livejournal.com]

Really, it pushed all the right buttons for me - I love anything to do with earth magic, the world being a living thing - the 'people' magic, the complementary transfigurations... there were so many levels, it took me longer to read than normal because i kept wanting to re-read sections of it. I don't think i could ever come up with anything a tenth as inventive as this.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

t sounds like you and I have the same sorts of buttons. The whole story concept started with the idea of complementary transfigurations. I was fascinated with the concept that just as a Patronus form could change b/c of interpersonal influence, so too should the animagus form. But then it had to be *meaningful* and so then I went down that merry road :D

Just so you know, the comment you wrote in your LJ after reading it pushed me right over that border with regard to writing original fiction... from "nah, no way...wibble" to "really? maybe... me?" :D

*glomps you

So you see, your feedback means a whole lot.

[lifeasanamazon.livejournal.com]

I loved this so much that I had tears in my eyes when I found out it was you! Consider yourself adored and hugged tightly.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*hugs tightly

I'm thrilled! Thank you for letting me know. There's so much squee and so much excitement in the reveal that it's all such a blur... *hugs and adores you back

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Would it be okay to add you to my FL? Tree of Life completely blew me away when I read it, and I would hate to miss any more of your wonderful fic.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Yes! Done! :)

I so appreciated your response to the story when it posted -- I'm glad to have you on my flist!

*hugs you

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Hugs you right back!

I was really lucky to be one of the first non-beta people to get to read 'Tree of Life' and I wanted to jump up and down because I was so annoyed you hadn't had more feedback. For me, this was the jewel in the crown of a wonderful exchange, and I knew if it had posted in the first few weeks of the exchange you would have been inundated with people telling you exactly that, but because by the time it posted quite a few people were slipping behind and/or skipping over the chaptered fics, you hadn't had anything like the feedback I thought it deserved. I know I told a few people to go read it... though as it turned out several of them might have been involved in one way or another.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*blushes... Thank you...

It was because you were one of the first non-betas to read and comment that your enthusiasm hit home so much. I had so many people helping in one way or another, I wondered what a fresh reader response would be!

I really appreciate your insight about the feedback it got. I was overjoyed with the response to the story, but I know what you mean about the volume of reads and reviews at that point in the exchange. There are many, many readers who I don't think have got to it yet or maybe just skipped it entirely (or downloaded the pdf to read later -- there were lots of downloads). Maybe they'll get to it, maybe not. I imagine that most people will read the rec lists to get back to what they missed.

In any case, now I have to figure out how to get it posted on OWL! I'm going to put it there in its entirety before I start posting to other archives. Maybe there will be more readers that way! But it's this sort of feedback that makes it all worth it, honestly. So, thank you. *glomps you

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

I was really spoiled because my fic went up early on and I think I spent about two days literally morning to night after it went up answering comments.

Then, when Tree of Life went up even though I didn't get to it until six hours after it was uploaded, there was only a handful of people who had commented. It just didn't seem right.

I'm sure Annie will be more than willing to help out if you have any problems uploading it, but it shouldn't be too different from what you had to do to load it here. They managed to cope fine with all the graphics Bambu and I used on Leap of Faith.

I'm sure there will be at least a percentage of the archive readers who haven't even tried to keep up with the exchange. It is huge and just reading takes up a lot of time. I know when they see your name on a fic, they'll dive straight in.

Again, thank you!

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

I think that people got saturated before the halfway point despite the slower posting schedule. It's hard to avoid. I was excited enough by the response that it made up for volume, I think :)

I'm ready to post the first chapter to OWL and it looks like everything is in working order. *crosses all available appendages

I hope that there are more readers when it posts to the archives. I really enjoyed the comments and reflections from reviewers. It was fascinating and really energizing! I do hope that one way or another or for one reason or another they'll take the dive -- I'm still relatively new to the scene :) I will post both the graphics heavy and text only versions, so hopefully that won't be an issue moving forward.

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Tree of Life really is an amazing fic. As I said before, I was happy with what I wrote given the constraints of the exchange, but when I saw Tree of Life, I was just wishing that I could come up with something like that given all the time and freedom in the world. Seriously. And everyone I know who has read it was similarly impressed, and I'm talking about people I know fairly well and whose writing and opinions I respect.

I haven't made it to OWL yet. I did the restless thing last night and then zonked completely after hubby went to work, only to wake up after noon with a stinking headache. When I do, I should really go back through the postings to around/before the reveal, so I may/probably will end up a few days behind when it comes to reading, but I really want to re-read my friends' fics again, now that I can associate them with the authors and try to fix some of them a bit more firmly in my head... Not that anything I might read today would be likely to stick.

Off in search of more coffee and some co-codamol...

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*hugs you

*iz glad you found your way to gmail :)

I want to reread some stories again, too. I'm catching some going through the vQ on OWL and I'm starting to get mine up there, too. *wrestles with coding

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Well, the good news is not only have I found my way to gmail, but as of today, I finally got to OWL. I've picked JTBJAB's All the Love in the World as my starting point for catching up on the recent entries list, and I've actually managed to read multiple chapters.

I got all my coding done today. (Thank god!) Annie's passed the first chapter on to Jen to post (to get around the two WIPs rule) and I might even get some writing done tomorrow.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Yay! There's a ton of good stuff coming up on OWL. I have to catch up on your story and can't wait to finish BtVS and Angel so that i can finally start on the fanfic without worrying about spoilers! And yay for more writing! *bounces

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Well, so much for the reading myself to sleep idea. I was still awake at five this morning, but I did catch up on a couple of WIP's and I'm poised to start Elise Wanderer's Everyone Comes to Rick's when I pick up again. (I'm going to try to do something of a writing nature before I do, whether it's some Thorns drabbles or trying to get some o'fic ideas firmed up/researched. I wasn't too embarrassed by my 0% progress bar until Dressagergrrrl(sp?) signed up but now...) Anyway, I'm up and around if you have a break between clients and want to chat.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I hate when that happens. I haven't even put up a sidebar b/c it'd be at zero forever *sigh. I have to make a call earlyish but I'll look for you *peers over at contacts... and poke you :) But I don't want to interrupt writing!

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Chances of interrupting writing just became slim. Hubby has the day off and he's just emerged from his 'den'...

[ihkelele.livejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG - it was great. Huge. Incredible.
I'm so happy it was you who wrote this amazing piece!
There was EVERYTHING in it: the epic, a sound teoretical background, inventive magic, a love story larger than life and humour.
Of course you were wibbling, it must have been enormously hard to write.
Therefore, I'd like to thank you here also the team of wonderful ladies who have supported you in any way.

I'm simply bursting with happiness. Until now, I only used to read J.Food Proc., Food Prot. and Intl.J.of Food Microbiol. NOW I have a subscription to the Intl.J.of T.&T., and it is SO MUCH better *huge grin*

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*laughs and hugs you

Right after you reviewed Tree of Life, you also reviewed Between the Lines and PM'ed me... I was *so* confused and thought that maybe you had figured out it was me -- but it was complete coincidence and clearly fate that brought us into one another's orbits. :)

Besides, now we have another subscriber to the Intl. Journal of T&T! *grins

[ihkelele.livejournal.com]

Well, this is worth another round of OMG OMG OMG! *glomps*

What an absurd chain of coincidences! You must have taken me for some sort of stalker :D Had I been in your place, my reaction would have been the same :)))

*dances in glee and squishes poor unsuspecting Machshefa*
(no, usually I'm not this bouncy, it's just that I'm very, very happy now)

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

I know! I was so confused. I didn't think you were stalking, I thought you'd guessed that I wrote Tree of Life! LOL It was very disorienting for a minute, there :) But a good surprise once I figured out that you had coincidentally found an archive story at about the same time that you reviewed Tree of Life.

[ihkelele.livejournal.com]

I'm late and slow as usual, but it seems to me that you might like an explanation, so here it is: I had loved In Dreams but had not read your other stories, because OWL refused my membership - months later, reading the FAQ, I found out that it was just an issue with Yahoo, but at the moment, with little to no knowledge of the fandom, I was scared away and spent two days checking my laptop for malware, LOL.
I'm still having problems with OWL as, more often than not, the connection ends abruptly when I try to go to a new chapter or when I hit "Post", and this is a little discouraging.

Anyway, now that I'm more involved with the community I wanted to "do my fangirlish duty" and vote for the Awards, and with some more effort I was able (over a couple of months, mind you!) to scroll for fics fit for nominations, read some of those I hadn't read or didn't remember, nominate etc. That's how I read BtL.
After voting (or when the results were posted, I can't remember exactly) I felt so elated for the "homework done" and the connection being up that it seemed a good idea to leave as many comments as I could before being thrown off again. As a sort of belated thank you, you see. I think I managed 2 or 3 reviews before the usual connection timeout 'ate' the latter one, and that's it ^_^

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Ooh, cool! I'm so sorry that OWL has given you such trouble, but am thrilled that you've enjoyed my stories so much! It makes sense that because Awards season overlapped the exchange that you would have been exploring stories of the same authors without realizing!

Have you read Mercy of the Elements and the lamentably unfinished King of Swords? (is shamelessly pimping my other stories... *hangs head

[irishredlass69.livejournal.com]

Squee I am so glad the reveal has posted, because now I can friend you! I didn't dare before for fear your would put two and two together.

Again, I am so pleased you enjoyed your story!

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

*grins... I've friended you back :)

I did! It's so hard to wait when you have to keep the secret :D

And thank you for your lovely review on mine as well!

[irishredlass69.livejournal.com]

You are most welcome! Tree of Life was one of my favorites... now I can go back and reread once I have caught up from being out of town.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Oh, fun! And thank you! I'm looking forward to rereading stories as they post (more slowly) to OWL. I'm savouring them :)

[irishredlass69.livejournal.com]

I am hoping to post Second Hand Wand to OWL once they have fixed it so I can use my preferred penname of irishredlass. Currently, I am redchiapet there and I do not want to post under two names. Annie is helping me with that.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. I'll watch for it in the queue! Cool!

[kribu.livejournal.com]

I know I said on OWL (Mint Stick there) that I've only now got to reading Tree of Life, but I'm already loving it, and ... well, would you mind if I friended you?

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Hi! Ooh, that was you! Cool :)

I'm so happy that you're enjoying Tree of Life so far. Please do friend, yes, yes! :)

[duniazade.livejournal.com]

Dear Machshefa,

I loved "Tree of Life," and I have recced it here:

http://community.livejournal.com/crack_broom/972602.html

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

SQUEEE

*hugs you

Thank you *so* much for that! Especially for what you said about the story... that was so lovely... I'm overcome! And I'm taking over the SSHG broom for May, so how fun is that? *grins *hugs you again

[duniazade.livejournal.com]

It was a pleasure! Thank you for writing this marvelous story.

Ah, it's you in May? Incredible! *g*

I'll try to hand you the broom in pristine state. *inspects twigs*

Many, many hugs.

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

It's me in May! Lovely coincidence of timing *grins...

*eyes broom... Looks to be in fabulous shape, to me. This is my first time out. I'm readying my list -- it's a whole lot to do, isn't it? But what fun to peruse your favourites and share them!

*squishes you

[dreamy-dragon73.livejournal.com]

I adored Tree of Life! It was one of my favourites in this exchange round.

Also, I meant to ask for a while now, would you mind if I friended you?

[machshefa.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Please do friend :) I'm so happy that you enjoyed Tree of Life! *dances... Saying it's one of your favourites is such a compliment -- than you!