20th Anniversary Celebration #9

Card 5 in the TOS’s major arcanas was comics. So here are a few of my favorites that made it to my LJ but never made it to TOS:

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #10

Though I didn’t go through and count (and, therefore, have no quantitative data to back me up), I suspect that the majority of my stories end with one or more characters falling asleep. Ever since I realized this, years ago, I’ve made a concerted effort to end my stories differently. And, yet, sometimes that’s just how a story ends. For one, it’s an inevitable part of being sick; often, you just can’t beat resting to help you get better. For another, it’s pretty final; it’s hard to carry on the plot of a story when your characters are all unconscious.

If someone wants to count the more than 1,000 stories on my realm and let me know how many end with characters falling asleep, you’re more than welcome to. Meanwhile, I’ll be asleep for the night. Sweet dreams, everyone! See you in the morning for more fun! I've really appreciated all the nice emails and notes you've sent me thus far.

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #11

Good morning! Are you feeling lucky today? Here’s a photo of the copy of the book I’m giving away later today at 20:00 (eastern). Enter the drawing now and you’ve got a great chance to win this free copy. Bet you can’t guess what pen I’m going to use to when signing!

20th Anniversary Celebration #12

The title of my collection comes from a comment people keep making when they run into me online. “You’re still around?” they ask. It confuses me, because I never left! I’ve been right here, posting challenges, updating my website, and sharing my writing this whole time. So I decided to own the comment and use it as a title.

It’s been more than twenty years since I posted my very first sneezing story to a Usenet group online, back before there were any websites. I posted “The Honeymoon” anonymously because I was terrified and nervous. Once I powered through those emotions, I discovered it was fun to share the stories I liked to write, because there were other people who liked them as much as I did! It didn’t take me long to decide I had to put together my own website. It took a few weeks of designing, collecting, and coding, then I launched The Tarot of Sneezing, and the rest is history. But I’m still around. And I’m still writing. And I still love appreciating sneezing as much as I always have. Thanks for stopping by to appreciate it with me!

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #13

Did you know more than 85 different people contributed content to The Tarot of Sneezing? The number is probably much higher, considering a many people contributed anonymously. Anon or not, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who sent in photos, videos, wavs, stories, and more! And thank you to everyone who, back in the day, took the time to drop me an email telling me how much the site meant to them. I’m glad it could be there for you and help you figure yourself out a little more. It definitely did the same for me.

It was a hoot going through the TOS archive this week, looking at all the familiar contributor names. Some people I remember from just the contribution. Others I knew from email conversations or that good ol’ chat on SNEEZING GIRLS in the days before the forum.

It’s really been incredible watching the community grow over the years. It’s had plenty of drama, as all communities do, and the members have certainly changed as well. But it’s a pleasure to see it still going strong after all this time.

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #14

Card 2 in the TOS’s redesigned major arcana was fanfiction. Did you know I have more than 890 stories on my realm’s fanfiction page? Did you know I run a comment meme on my journal every year in April? I’m definitely a multi-fandom fangirl at heart.

I wasn’t able to put any fanfiction into the collection because of the legalities. But I can certainly share some with you now! Unfortunately, I don’t have any finished. But here are parts of my latest two projects:

( Supernatural )

---

( BBC Sherlock )

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #15

TOS went through a few changes over the years. Which is the first one you remember? Find out more about the site’s changes over time on the History of Tarot of Sneezing page.

 

 

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #16

Some stories I start never see the light of day. This is one I found in my unfinished stories folder that was last accessed on 11/2/1998. I checked my realm, but I don’t think I ever posted it, even in pieces. Please don’t ask where this story was supposed to be going (your guess is as good as mine right now), but it’s packed full of collegiate drama and both male and female characters sneezing. Its name for the past 19 years has been STORY3.TXT

( STORY3.TXT )

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #17

Were you around for the short-lived appearance of the Tarot of Tissues? Organized like TOS and created due to popular demand, TOT focused instead on tissues, handkerchiefs, and nose blowing. The site was only updated from January 8, 2000 through April 8, 2000 (a short lifetime even for a website).

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #18

One of the TOS’s minor arcanas was male stories. Here’s something that just popped into my head on Friday. It can be read as a standalone, but it involves Lucas and David from ”That One Regret”, which I wrote in 2016. A slightly edited version of that story is available in the collection as is its exclusive sequel, “That One Day.” But here’s a little bit more with them, coincidentally. I love writing about David and his care-giving fetish. He’s just so… hands-on about it.

( Steam )

---

Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.

Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.

Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!

20th Anniversary Celebration #19

Time for the drawing! For a while there, I was nervous because no one was entering. What was I going to do with this extra copy I already bought? But then the entries came rolling in and I could relax a little.

Good luck to everyone who threw their name in. Entries have been assigned a number, and I’m using random.org to generate one.

Drum roll please! *bah-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da*

And the winner is…

Masking

Congratulations!

Oh, but then, I thought: that was awfully quick. Just one press of a button and a number popped up and it was over and decided in an instant. Why not do it again and give away a second signed copy for free? I can't afford to mail out 20 copies, but 2 (one for each decade) seemed more appropriate and twice the fun!

So here’s another drum roll *bah-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da* and another press of the random number generator button.

The second winner is…

smokeycat_430

Congratulations to you as well!

As a Hufflepuff, I’m sorry not everyone could win, but I whole-heartedly appreciate you ALL stopping by and entering. I hope you’ve enjoyed all the posts this weekend.


UPDATE: Winners, I've sent you emails. But please contact me at tarotgal@tarotgal.net if you didn't get my message.

20th Anniversary Celebration #20

Thanks for joining me this weekend for the celebration! I hope you had fun! It’s been great getting your messages, comments, and emails about your TOS memories. Everything from the site being your first exposure to the sneezie fetish (I’m honored) to enjoying my wavs (I almost always used the pointed tissue method to induce, FYI) to helping you figure yourself out (you and me both!) to reading Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon fanfic (my first slash pairing). I’m thrilled the site could be that place to go to indulge or reaffirm for so many of you. And I’m happy it was a place so many felt comfortable contributing to as well. It wouldn’t have been so great without the community’s support.

I hope to see you on my blog in the future or you can drop me an email at tarotgal@tarotgal.net. And, if you’re into stories, check out tarotgal’s Realm if you haven’t done so lately; there’s a lot up there.

Also, thank you to those of you who have already purchased a copy of Still Around and Still Writing. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together over the past year.

Here’s one last thing I just found when I was digging through my folders. It’s an animation I made to celebrate the TOS’s very first anniversary! Ha! It’s pretty terrible, but graphics programs in 1998 weren’t what they are today.