Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Episode 6 - Slow Down

So me planning to get these done weekly is going super well so far.  I do average out to one a week, except I do two in one week after doing none. Well, at least I'm consistent? (I just jinxed myself and won't get the next one done later this week will I?)



01:02  DW and I have mentioned our time as Willow/Tara shippers and where we met, a forum called The Kitten Board.  So this is your gentle reminder, yes that is where we know Laragh from. And to also remind you from Episode 1, she is the reason we finally succumbed to reading Wayhaught Fic! Because she wrote one.

01:31  I already feel so ridiculously eloquent in this episode...

02:35  Hopefully you still like us?

03:02  Me defining Slow Burn Fic. OMG. Seriously WTF. I really need to take better notes, or script myself or something. Shit.... this is terrible.

04:39  See me choose fics that are not DW's ideal of Slow Burn.

09:07  Yes, I did not experience any one night stands during college.

10:16  I'm wrong.

14:06  Yes! Thank you Laragh for reading and being on the podcast. Disclaimer: I did not get the chance to read this massive fic, I did not have the time. I am glad DW had someone to talk to about it!

15:14  See, that is a genuinely surprised noise I am making right there

16:43  SHOUT OUT TO THE FAN FIC AUTHORS!

23:30  I don't think I could ever be as cool as @BotanyIsBest, I'm not that great of a shit talker.

So yeah.... I just kind of stopped. Let me make another disclaimer: prior episodes I happened to give a listen post-production, pre-airing of the episodes at least once. This episode was my first listen through so I was enjoying listening to it and stopped making notes to share with you, especially once we got to the interview portion, since I wasn't there to hear it in person.  Hopefully you were enjoying listening to it too.

Okay cool so it is past my bedtime... Goodnight everybody

Monday, February 19, 2018

Episode 5 - Ranch Life

So to deviate from the regularly scheduled program, I wanted to take a moment to discuss a thing before I get into Episode 5.

You may have seen something about that incident of hate on various social media. As a producer of content, and as a person who abhors conflict in general, I tend to default to "stay the fuck out of it." It makes me sad, especially in a fandom that is super supportive, when non-supportive things happen. But my other default is I feel inadequate in expressing my feelings properly and more, the fear of expressing them incorrectly and being misinterpreted.  This incident seems to show what can happen when things are misinterpreted.

I don't deal well at all when I feel attacked.

And I don't want to be seen attacking others when I disagree with them, so I generally just don't disagree. If it is something I disagree with, I try not to agree either, which I understand is dumb because silence is often taken as agreement.

I know by typing this, I am opening myself up to some of that vitriol being directed towards me. But there comes a point when you do have to stand up for yourself and what you believe in.

If you personally attacked Ray Galletti about his #RayHaught comment, or support those that did, you can just leave. I don't need you to read my stuff, listen to the podcast, or support me. I'm okay with that. And don't call yourself an #Earper. GTFO.

I don't want to hear "everyone is entitled to their opinions." You are, and I'm entitled to think you are an asshole because of them. I doubt you will be reading past this (if you even made it here in the first place), but if you are please don't forget that what you are doing is going to ruin what is the most supportive cast I have ever seen. And frankly, we already have too many stupid rules and things ruined by some asshole that didn't have common decency. Honestly, a big part of my current employment is because people can't be trusted to do the right fucking thing.

I mean I could keep going, there are plenty terrible things in this world to rant about, but let us return to our regularly scheduled programming and talk about wonderful things.



01:02  Will we ever stop being in awe of our episode count when we record?  Actually, I think we didn't "wow" as much when we recorded earlier... But still paused when DW said the episode number.

03:12  Frankly, I never know what I'm saying.

05:31  Photographic Evidence (and yes this is from the scene mentioned at ~26:17 that inspired the fic)



10:25  I realize how it sounds when I ask questions like this. It really sounds like I have not read the fic at all. But I promise I have terrible memory so unless something sticks out like things that I connect with very personally, or DW reminds me (because frankly I had not remembered the "Haught-stuff / Boss" thing until she talked about it), then it just doesn't stick in my brain.

12:10  I have a story about "bodice ripper paperbacks" and why I know about them. It certainly wasn't because I read them. Actually, I was an asshole and would make fun of the girls who would read these things. I realize now what a dick move that was since I do read and write lesbian smut, but that is the thing about growing up, having these realizations. I had a few friends that would read these things. One friend (actually a friend of a friend who I hadn't known very well), had stayed with me a few nights at Uni waiting for our mutual friend to arrive. I had just arrived in Scotland at the time for grad school and she purchased so many souvenirs  that she had to leave behind a rather sizable stack of these paperbacks.  They stayed on my bookshelf for an entire year because who throws away books!  Then I had another friend visit towards the end of my schooling, and she was one I used to tease relentlessly about her paperback consumption, so I was able to pawn them off on her. I'm fairly certain I was so embarrassed by them that even though I kept them on my bookshelf, the spines were not facing out.

14:44  Only 25 acres. The thing about the cow farm I grew up on, is the land was not well suited for growing much of anything. I've picked a lot of rocks actually, so we grow rocks really well. And cheatgrass. But alfalfa or pasture grass? Nope. Especially not without an adequate irrigation system, which was expensive and we did not have. I also dug a lot of ditch growing up.

15:54  I think when my siblings and I were younger, naming cows was fun. My eldest brother went for the more absurd, like Space Cowboy. I apparently had a thing for TV even back then, as I named one after Blossom, and then her first calf was named Six (of course).  We did eventually start naming them after people.  Actually, the very first bull was named George after my grandfather, so it had always been that way I guess. But my favorite story to tell is we named a cow after Grandma and then proceeded to name her calves after my Aunts and Uncles in order.  Calf number 3, being named after my father, was a female. So we weren't picky about gendered names.

19:26  Chrissy gets mentioned a lot as being a great side character.  I guess a way to win hearts is put Chrissy in your fic and make her a likeable character?

23:02  DW mentioned I was traveling. My wife and I were making our way to California where I now live and work. I had hoped we would be stopped at the right time of day to get in on the recording session but we had not. Again thanks Laragh for stepping in and asking my questions for me.

28:15  Speaking of questions. Cuffs did a great job answering them. And I really like how what DW and I had assumed was personal experience on a ranch was actually just a good job at research.  Granted, she did have what sounds like good experience growing up in a rural area and having worked with horses. I can see how that influenced the writing.

As a side note, for those of you wondering about branding. My family did not brand and I have no personal experience with it. We were too small of an operation to do so. We did ear tag because they did have to be identified in some way. Actually to go back to naming cows, my mother knew them by their names, my father knew them by their numbers.  If people are wondering why do such horrible things in the first place, let me tell you about a story when Lucado of the Livestock Board investigated my parents for stealing cows. I'm joking about Lucado of course, but I'm serious about the investigation.  My parents had taken a couple of cows to the sale. It was a new sale yard, as the usual (and closer) one in our county had closed down.  Someone at the sale yard had presented the cows out of order so what was listed as our cow was a branded cow that was not ours. Having a brand (that is not yours) on a cow that is not supposed to be branded is a big fucking deal. The error was finally realised and my parents are cleared but it was stressful.  So I don't know if that makes anyone feel better about ranch life and marking animals, but it helps to have things clearly identified when you are selling things in the quality of hundreds for thousands of dollars. And you might not think "cattle rustling" is still a thing like it was in the old west, but it still occurs. Just think about stolen pure-bred puppies resold on craigslist, only on a much larger scale.

30:24  I'm glad Cuffs thought I had a good question, and again I appreciate Laragh asking it for me. And I'm glad there was a story there!

33:58  Beyond happy that the door is not closed on more fics from this AU.

45:30  Actually I think this was one of the first fics I read in the fandom too, likely the first or second multi-chapter I read because it was complete.

48:25  Shout-out to Live Journal.  I learned about it and NaNoWriMo from that straight girl I was in love with. This was the around the same time I learned about fan fiction and became a Kitten so, it brings back lots of memories and feels (especially feels about coming out to myself).

Behind-the-scenes:  So despite the technical difficulties I had encountered in the first few episodes, the first segment on this episode was the first time we had to fully re-record because my computer crashed and the audio did not download. Not sure if DW would want me to tell you this but I like sharing these little secrets with you all.

I'm glad you all seem to be liking it, and are all still listening and following and tweeting at us.  Earpers really are THE BEST.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Episode 4 - Dynamic!


So I ended up writing a good portion of this on Sunday and then not posting it. Now it is late and I have Episode 5 still to get to....

But back to Episode 4 - Diverse Dynamics



I'm going to go with a different style here with this episode than I have with my previous. Because when I feel awkward I definitely beat around the bush...

So let us turn to science!  I learned recently, and randomly, from a youtube video about soy (and generally falling down a social media spiral of clicking on things that look interesting), that the original idea of Alpha Wolf is outdated by the scientist who coined the phrase. That original biologist, L. David Mech, who wrote the book "The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species," has learned more about wolves than he did when he studied and wrote that book in 1968. Alpha wolf is an outdated notion. One that has been grasped onto by those who wish to to perpetuate that toxic masculinity notion of strong males can do whatever in the hell they want.  And they can suck it because check out these lesbian wolves.  Seriously, I need to stay off of youtube sometimes.

So my wife and I have 3 dogs. I consider our family a pack. If ABO were a thing, here is how it would break down...  My wife is the Alpha. Our oldest (border collie/aussie shepard) is the Beta, and sometimes he will get mildly aggressive during play, especially if there are females in heat on neighboring farms, and will "challenge" my wife (or that is the way we understand it in this pack dynamic notion). The middle child, my baby girl, (similar mix to the oldest since he is, in fact, her father, and her mother was the same mix with some cardigan welsh corgi mixed in), I honestly don't know where she would fit. She is deaf and doesn't give two fucks about much other than food and sleep. She might think she is an Alpha because she can boss her father around. The baby boy (a dachshund), he loves everyone and sort of lives in two different packs (he stays in the house during the day with his friends a boxer and a papillon because his older "siblings" are assholes). And then there is me. The joke is, I'm just the human who feeds them... 

But back to ABO, because the idea does exist and it has become popular in werewolf fiction, and now this non-werewolf ABO specific genre of fiction.

Actually, just listen to the podcast with Jude and Kendrene and their explanations, they are both more eloquent that I.

I'll go back to talking about random things.

So there are some notes I made when I sat down with DW to chat that I didn't get into. Which is fine, the conversation flows how it flows. Also this was before I learned to give DW an idea of some things I wanted to note so she can lead me in properly.

The scent bonding idea struck a chord with me. And I might get TMI, but scent is one of those things that helped clue me into being gay, and also helped clue me into my wife being the one. Acutally, I'll just leave it at that because I will get to the oversharing point very quickly.

My other note that correlates to scent is, in this fic, specific plants are named as scents. As a botanist, which might have been mentioned a few times now, I use scent to aid me in plant identification on occasion.  Want to tell the difference between the rabbitbrushes, especially when you are in that stupid hybrid zone and it kind of looks like both? I would use smell to differentiate. Not that it would ultimately matter in an ecological context, as most often was the focus of the study, because they both occupy the same niche. It is just how some of us scientists operate. Just ask a geologist about licking rocks. But I digress...

So I ended up going on a huge botany spiral in my notes and researching all the plants, which was neat but not ultimately helpful in my chat with DW or when we interviewed Kendrene.

 I might do a special blog about some of the interesting plant factoids I've come across reading fic.  We can even go back to Episode 2 and talk about orange hawkweed...

And last but not least. Some behind-the-scenes fun, shortly after DW pressed the stop recording button the words "I will eat pasta and think of you" were said. 

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Episode 3 - Poetry

Look at that, as soon as I hit publish, I'll all be caught up for Monday's Episode 4!

So have yourself a listen while I ramble on about it.



01:55  I'd like to see a show of hands of those who were not avid reads yet that now are...

02:07  Seriously, I have to search so many acronyms and online slang

04:54  I paused and never finished my thought. I was thinking Beta as in the 2nd letter of the alphabet.

06:09  Fanfiction.net, I know a few authors who've had issues over there, which is why I think AO3 has become the more significant fanfiction archive website. I believe they don't have an Explicit or equivalent rating and if they think it is beyond Mature, and someone reports it, it will be taken down. Just checked and it says this "Please note FanFiction does not accept explicit content, Fiction Rating: MA, and the rating is only presented for reference."

08:17  Proof I will read anything she writes. Even though I already have lots to read, the other day I went and checked out one of her Ghostbuster fics (rated Explicit).

09:09  IT IS POETRY

14:44  Being Nice = Flirting; I could write a whole blog post about how many dudes had crushes on me when I was younger because I was always so nice... No, I promise. I was not flirting

21:04  Oh the awkward pausing and squeaking voice when I'm talking about sex, even beautifully written sex.

23:13 CONSENT IS SEXY

24:26  Just realized the parallels of the world we currently live in and how it is coming to light, for many men, about why women don't speak out, get help, confront the badness they deal with on a regular basis.  This shit is deep.

26:30  Did anyone else's brain go there? "A lot of meat on this bone...."

29:55  I should clear this up, since y'all know that I've been a fic writer for a while now. I'm speaking specifically about writing Wynonna Earp Fan Fiction and shipping of Wayhaught. As I had resisted from reading Earp Fiction (finally getting sucked in by this Mature rated fic), I had resisted from getting even more involved by starting to write. I had enough shit to do already, plus unfinished Willow/Tara fics. I just didn't have time to get started with more ideas that would never come to fruition.  Then I had a terrible idea. I presented my idea to DW and she felt it was not something she could write. I had no intention of writing it ever and considered pawning the idea off on a writer who could pull it off.  Less than a week later Tigerlo wrote this (also rated E). And I was inspired. What had started as a terrible idea actually began to turn into something wonderful and beautiful. And maybe someday I'll finish it and post it.

36:20  I'm still doing my Tumblr wrong, and this month will be full of selfies

38:54  I'm glad I didn't discover fan fiction when I was in college. I did discover it during my postgrad at Uni, and I barely survived.

41:14  There is something about a 6 hour drive on a fairly empty highway, music blasted and singing along, that is conducive to sorting out fic ideas or getting unstuck. If I'm lucky I'll have it sorted enough that when I do open my notebook or document later I can start off of what I built during my drive. I'm not often lucky.

49:45 I am a terrible fic abandoner. Some I don't think I will ever get back to. Too much time has passed and the moment is gone. But I agree with Tigerlo, there is something about posting multichapters as they come and getting to the end and going "crap!" it would have worked better for the ending if I had made this small change. So you either change the earlier chapter and hope people don't get mad, ignore the difference in continuity and hope people don't get mad or you change your brilliant idea to stay within the groundwork you've already lain.

01:02:52 Is it awkward that I'm telling complete strangers I love them? Who cares. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Notes: This was one where I actually took my notes down on my cellphone note app. I checked to see if there was anything that I missed and I wanted to mention. It took me a while to find it.

Now we did talk about Tigerlo's Tumblr, and what I as squealing about is her posts when she provides previews of her work before it is published to AO3. In this case, I made a note about the bandage scene in Waverly's Season 1 piece "inside, an echo" I had seen on Tumblr.  I was tempted to go hunt it down and link it, but I am defnitely done for the night!

Good night everyone.