just keep going till you get to the end

[melannen]

I spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday backpacking on the Appalachian Trail! We did Pen Mar to Route 40, which is about 20 miles, and I have now officially walked all of Maryland on the AT! I have over 40 mosquito bites on my right arm alone, which is a record even for me.

I was really, really ready to come home and have a hot shower and sleep in a real bed by Sunday night, and not go backpacking again for two years (which is how long it's been since last time) but I already want to go out again, and my calf muscles haven't even unknotted yet. And I don't know why! The Appalachian Trail does weird things to the mind.


In other news, I am seriously considering signing up for polybigbang. I have over 10,000 words of that Bruce/Tony poly story already written, so I wouldn't have to stress over wordcount, and current plan is that it only needs four or five more scenes to reach the end, so I really just need a push to finish it. But it also needs a *ton* of revision, and if I used it for a big bang I would have to get a beta reader. Which is probably a good idea anyway, but I almost never use beta readers and have no idea what I'm doing with them.

So... um... before I make up my mind, is there anyone out there who would be willing to beta for a projected <20000 word Avengers movieverse story about Bruce and Tony being geniuses who are bad at life, and also about Betty and Pepper and Jane and Eric being geniuses who are slightly better at life for various reasons, and also about SCIENCE! and ethics and the Other Guy and polyamory and frequent nods to other Avengers fics in this universe that I have not written, and consists almost entirely of telephone conversations? Given that I am really not used to having a beta, am probably really bad at having one, and would want to be able to follow your lead on most of the process?

Anybody?

Comments

[sophia_sol]

I'll volunteer to beta if you want me? Because that fic sounds excellent!

So that you know how I roll and thus whether you would want me, this is what my betaing would look like: you send me fic; I read it and write down both my reactions as I go and my thoughts overall at the end, good and bad and confused; I send the annotated version back so that you know what bits are and are not working for someone who isn't you.

I also, when needed, do SPAG, but I don't think that's something you particularly need in a beta. :D

So if this is something you think would be compatible with what you might want, let me know!


ALSO, go you with the Appalachian trail hiking! I can't personally imagine doing backpacking, because I've done enough canoe tripping that the thought of paring back the essentials EVEN MORE and then CARRYING THEM ALL ON YOUR BACK LIKE ONE EXTENDED PORTAGE sounds kind of awful. But I know what you mean about doing weird things to the mind, because that is me and canoe tripping. Objectively it is not fun, AND YET.

[cyprinella]

Woohoo AT! I actually can finally say that I did a bit of it down in the Shenandoah over the weekend. It was mostly unintentional, but it was an easier, if longer, hike than going back the way we came. (oh god I am so out of shape for hills)

[starfish]

I am also happy to beta; I can give you whatever type and level of crit/feedback you're looking for. Have seen movie twice, comics canon only through osmosis.

The Trail runs right through the Berkshires, we see a lot of hikers this time of year. I have never been inspired to try it myself, but go you!

eta: The telephone conversation format sounds like it could be fun. Kind of like epistolary-fic, but synchronous. Hmm.

[seekingferret]

I'd be happy to beta team science project!

I made a joke this weekend about "hiking the Appalachian Trail" and people looked at me blankly. Have people forgotten Mark Sanford already?

[isis]

Twas the weekend to go backpacking! \o/ I admit that Maryland's trails hold less allure for me these days, after having lived in New England for four years and then Colorado. But I still have fond memories of the mid-Atlantic section of the AT, where I first went backpacking ever.