sga_santa | Update and Adminny Type Things

Matching is complete and we are hoping to start sending out the assignments tonight. There are a couple of things, however, I need to alert you to or remind you of before we start :-)

Matching

It's never going to be possible to have a perfect match for everyone, or in fact anyone, especially as we encourage people to make a list in the spirit of 'shy bairns get nowt'. However, just like people who put everything up to and including the kitchen sink, and a pony to put in it, on their Christmas lists, no one expects you to give them everything. Except, possibly, a pony.

So please don't panic if you get your assignment and it includes things that you didn't offer or in fact said you couldn't write. You have not been matched on those. You've only been matched on the things that you did offer and no one expects you to write anything other than that (unless, of course, you want to :-)). I know it seems a bit counterintuitive that you'd be matched with somebody who requested something that you specifically said you didn't want to write, but sometimes you're the best match for them even in spite of that.

If we have genuinely screwed up and given you an assignment that you simply can't write, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can rejig when necessary. On the other hand, if you said that you'll write anything, we've taken you at your word and it's too late to back out now. [insert evil laughter here]

Writing

Please pay attention not only to your recipient's wants but also their do not wants. It's very easy to overlook that they said they didn't want this marvellous thing that you suddenly had a brilliant idea for, but it's also fairly quick way to turn someone's smile upside down.

If you're in any doubt as to whether your idea is going to work or not, please feel free to run it past Claire or me. We'll give you our honest opinion on whether or not we think it will work and, if necessary, we'll contact the recipient on your behalf to clarify it.

I know that it can be a bit gutting if you have a brilliant idea sparked by your recipient's request and then realise you can't write it for them, but don't forget that we will be running SGA Santa Madness again this year and someone else may love it if you write it as an additional story, or failing that, you can always try stuffing someone's

fandom_stocking (that's not snark by the way – I love

fandom_stocking and you should all write me Abigail/King!).

Submissions and Deadlines

You might notice something a little different about your assignment email this year. Like the fact it's coming from a different email address. Yes, in our normal spirit of extreme organisation, Claire and I did actually set up an SGA Santa email address. Two years ago, when it finally dawned on us that it would be quite a good idea. Needless to say, we promptly forgot about it when it came time to send out last year's assignments.

So we have an email address – sgasanta at gmail dot com. Please whitelist it or do what ever clever voodoo you do to make sure it doesn't hit your spam folder. Also, please remember to send your assignment into this address rather than any addresses you have for Claire or I individually. Your assignment will come from this address, so hitting reply to your assignment mail should work.

Now we come to the deadlines question. The timetable is exactly the same as it's been since the very first SGA Santa, which means that stories should be with us by 10 December at the very, very latest. I know Claire and I are generally easy-going and if you request an extension we tend to be fairly flexible in granting one. However, that flexibility was tested to its very limits when 10 December last year rolled around and we had fewer than half the stories.

Consequently, this year requests for extensions should be in to us by 5 December at the very latest and be accompanied by a substantial bribe of chocolate and/or Ryan Reynolds. (I'm joking about the chocolate.)

That's not to say that we won't still be reasonable where we can if you request an extension later than that, because we know that things unexpectedly crop up at the last minute, but it will help our blood pressure significantly if you mentally designate 10 December as 'the end of the road is here' instead of pencilling in something like the 15th into your fannish commitment calendar (you know who you are :D). Otherwise, there may be crying and flailing and taking your name in vain involved :D There may even be Paddington Bear stares, and you wouldn't want that.

Final note about submissions – I'm still crippled, so your assistance in making sure that when you submit something it's formatted as well as you can would still be very appreciated. There'll be a formatting post at some point explaining all of that, but I fully expect mocking about all of the Dragon caused misheard words in any admin posts or emails I make or send :D Have at it.