*victory dance*

Finished the first draft of my yuletide!

Now I've got tomorrow to polish it to death, and then the only Christmassy writing left is set in one of my original universes (it's actually last year's Christmas piece which I never finished).

I'm so glad I did yuletide, depsite the last minute scramble. I love the books I've been writing about, but it would have never occurred to me to write fanfic of them if it wasn't for the challenge. The whole writing process has sent me back to the books with a new appreciation of just how good they are, and given me a new pairing who make perfect sense, given their canonical friendship, but whom I'd never considered in a slashy way before I got the request. It's also the only piece of any significant length I've ever written which isn't a genre piece (drabble length bits during writing group sessions are different). It's satisfying, if slightly unnerving, to know I can write something without spells or spaceships.

Out of curiosity, does anyone else find that they end up pushing their boundaries as a writer in response to formal challenges? I find it interesting that the more precise the criteria, the more I challenge myself.