Alas, LJ's recent changes have made posting or commenting an exercise in frustration, so I'm not able to insert a nifty picture of my challenge prompt.

Purple acorns, however, serve as an excellent visual metaphor for my one completed project for the Discovered in the Christmas Tree challenge - Pros story lists.

Squirrels gather acorns of course, and the project did - at times - make me squirrely. *g* Like a squirrel hunting buried acorns, I stumbled upon forgotten treasures. And lastly, purple is a color often associated with LGB communities, and so appropriate for a (primarily) slash story list.

Coincidentally, for years I've had a drawing on my desk of a squirrel atop a huge pile of acorns smiling maniacally, upon which my mother had written: "Mine, all mine!" She'd sent it as a comment on my passion for reading and collecting books.

By nature and nurture I'm an inveterate information collector and list maker. It's something I do in all aspects of my life, not just fandom - though fandom has provide me with incredible opportunities to indulge myself.

For me, one of the great joys of Pros fandom is that it has included some truly incredible - and I don't use the word lightly - women who have a shared passion for information collection and organization. My gratitude is both personal (being in like-minded company is a joy *BG*) and practical (these women have provided the foundation for numerous fannish institutions upon which we fellow fen rely).

Far too many Pros fen take these organizational efforts for granted, but believe me, thirty-plus years of Pros fannish output would be impossible to navigate without the work of these women. Mind you, it's still not easy in every case *g*, but without their efforts it would be truly impossible.

There are far too many fen who don't maintain a Master List of their fan works (be it fiction, non-fiction, vids, fan art, or other forms). I would strongly encourage each of us to do so. Not only because it makes it easier for fellow fen to find your work, but because as time passes, it is all too easy for us to lose track of our own fan works.

However, while we're waiting on those Fan Works Master Lists, I'd like to encourage other Pros fen to compile story lists for Pros authors and share them. It's fun, it's useful, and for most authors, it is much, much simpler than the example here! *g* Oh, and that applies to other forms of fan works as well!

( Onto the story lists! )