"Fair use is not civil disobedience"

Copyright is the place where my interests as a fan and as a librarian are most likely to collide, so it's no surprise that I came out of the two talks on the subject I attended this afternoon energized and excited.

The first was a presentation by the founders of http://readersbillofrights.info/ on the subject of ebooks and the danger they present, in their current form, to the rights of readers. It was more of an affirmation to me than a learning opportunity, but sometimes it's useful to know that I'm not alone in my opinions. I do not have and will not purchase an ereader, especially not a Kindle, because of DRM, and they articulate all my reasons beautifully: the fact that I can't sell or lend the book, proprietary software that limits what computer or device I can use to read the book, draconian user agreements that criminalize fair use, etc. I came out with a cool button (see icon), a renewed commitment to my decision not to buy ebooks for personal use, and an extensive list of articles to read (see website).

The second was the presentation from which the post takes this title, a call to action from librarian James Neal in which he asked academic librarians not to abandon our fair use rights. Fair use is not an act of defiance, nor is it a way to skirt copyright law. Fair us is built in to American copyright law, and it's the cornerstone upon which many academic, artistic, and even business pursuits are built. The more we let the fear of lawsuits scare us into not exercising fair use, the more we let restrictive licensing agreements and DRM ignore fair use, the more we enter into international copyright treaties that don't make room for fair use, the more at risk we are of losing it. But if enough librarians band together to fight, he is convinced that we can make a difference, and I believe him. (Much like the OTW provides a platform for fans to stand together on the same issue -- I wish I felt more comfortable combining my personal and professional life score, because how awesome would Fannish Librarians for Fair Use be?)

Food for thought; motivation to continue and extend my efforts as a copyright activist. If I care this much, I should do more.

EX Mode fic!

The collection has been revealed, and so now it can be told.

Title: The Serpentry
Fandom: FFX-2
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 3,743
Characters: Isaaru, Baralai, Pacce. Shades of Baralai/Isaaru.
Spoilers: For New Yevon's backstory.
Notes: Written for the newgameplus remix challenge, based on The Inland Taipan by swordofrebecca, which is, in turn, a metafic of a story by rabbitprint. All part of the circle of fannish life. Many thanks to renay for betaing!

I enjoyed writing this. Interestingly, this is the second story I've written featuring Isaaru this year, when he was a character I'd never really worked with before this. Coincidence or trend? Only time will tell.


"It took some hours of walking -- out of the temple, out of Bevelle, and well into the Calm Lands -- before Isaaru had enough distance to think clearly again."

March update; April goals

Days written: 20/31
Words written: 9,411
Words of fic written: 3,733
Percentage of fic words written on the last day of the month: 27
Stories worked on: 4
Stories posted: 2 (One Chocobo Down, one EX Mode)

( Graph behind the cut )

Well, that pretty much sucked. As I observed on Twitter, this is the third March in a row that I have been utterly unable to keep to a writing schedule. Not sure whether it's coincidence or otherwise -- March is a busy month, what with birthday festivities and the end of the quarter, and it seems like I often have my annual work conference event in or near March, and this year and last I had the videogame time suck problem. But I have to wonder if it's something else going on too, with rhythms of life and seasons and fandom. Fortunately, FFEX is this month, and that always helps my productivity.

Anyway, on to specific goals, where I did a little better:

1. Write at least five days per week. On a week by week basis, not even close. On average... no, still not even close. Closer to four days a week, I'd say.

2. Finish and post EX Mode fic. Done!

3. Make significant progress on Alice/Pirates fic. I worked on it, but I wouldn't say the progress was significant. That's okay, though, because...

4. Aftermath draft! ...is sent to beta! And, as of yesterday, I have a complete draft of the epilogue. I might actually finish this story. I can hardly believe it.

5. Wrap up some niggling WIPs. Finished and posted the CD story but that was all.

Except for the writing schedule, and especially given that, I did pretty well with this. And now, we put March behind us and move on to the promise of a new day in April...

1. Write an average of six days per week. Back to the higher goal, because I have no excuse not to, really.

2. FFEX assignment(s)!

3. Depending on beta, finish and post Aftermath.

Keeping it light on specifics, since I don't have my Doink! assignment yet and so it's hard to say how much time that will take up. I'm sure that will give me more than enough to do.