No matter how I look at it, you guys are awesome!

_{Yes, it's Watamote time. Every time of the year is Watamote time.}

I'm not going to say that attempting to resurrect Jinglemas was something I thought of half-assedly, because it wasn't. I remember having a lot of fun with it back in 2015 - writing felt great, even if it necessitated a 3:00 AM rush, and reading the fic written for me by a Thoroughly Awesome Dude turned the holiday season from good to excellent. I was sad when things didn't totally work out the year after that, and wanted to make sure that it wouldn't go 0-2 in 2017. I want Jinglemas to succeed, from the bottom of my heart.

And ergo, I'm thrilled that so many people seem really excited by this. Like, way more people than I was honestly expecting. I've gotten more names in the last 24 hours than i was expecting for the entire event, and it seems like people keep being as excited for this Jinglemas as I was for the Jinglemas two years ago!

Technically speaking, the purpose of this post is to give you guys some updates and pointers, but it'd be utterly remiss of me to not thank a couple of people in particular for helping me out:

First and foremost is Flutterpriest. Flutterpriest, Flutterpriest, Flutterpriest. There isn't any possible way I could overstate how useful his help has been for structuring, organizing, formatting and promoting Jinglemas. At this point, he's provided at least half of the infrastructure needed to get Jinglemas up and running properly, if not more, and should certainly be considered a co-leader for the whole thing. Follow him, read his fics, listen in to his barcasts, paste money onto his doggo - again, I can't thank him enough for everything he's done for me at this point, and absolutely want you guys to give him the credit that he's due.

Second, of course, is Themaskedferret. She, too, has been useful for helping me figure out some of the nitty-gritty on the rules and getting everything organized neatly and ironed out. And she's helped spread the word about Jinglemas, too, which is amazingly nice of her. If you haven't already, check out her stuff - I promise that you won't regret it.

Finally, there's virtually everyone over at Seattle's Angels. They've been feeding me advice and suggestions whenever I need it, which is to say relatively often. They've also shared their own experiences, helped me figure out what to expect and encouraged me to get the ball rolling. They've got a podcast; listen to it, shoot them questions when they stream, let them know they're appreciated.

Once again, everyone mentioned above is utterly, totally awesome. My sincerest thanks to all of them for helping make Jinglemas 2017 something more than a concept.

_{I'm not sure how else to properly express my thanks, so hopefully a holiday ponk will get across how happy this all makes me.}

As for the news and updates:

1. There is now an official account for Fimfiction Collaborative works. This is going to be an account in which anthology stories are published, with the account serving as the "author" for these anthology stories. When December 22 rolls around, this is one of the places in which the anthology "story" will go - and is designed to hold things both from now and in the future, so that they can be referenced and enjoyed by everyone.

This does not mean that you are not allowed to post your own stories on your own pages! You worked hard on them, and you deserve to get credited for them. The FimficCollabs account is simply a way of showing all the stories everyone wrote for one particular event or another - it doesn't require forfeiting your literary soul in order to get horse words hosted on it.

Do keep in mind, though, that stories contributed to the Jinglemas anthology will not be posted until the aforementioned December 22. Also, please remember to send me a PM with a link to your story when you are finished, so that they can be catalogued and published in an orderly manner on the 22nd. Please don't publish them to your own account until after they've been released in the collab. Again - that'd ruin the surprise for whoever your recipient is.

2. Jinglemas now has its own group! Stories will be published on the 22nd as well, here. And again - please don't publish your works on here, either. Just send the story links in my direction, so that i can post them here on the publication date. Currently, the group has a thread for the rules; eventually, there are going to be more threads for questions, comments and suggestions, and eventually folders to sort all of the different anthology stories into for easier reference. We'll also be sending out notices here about due dates and such, so I highly recommend joining if you want to keep on top of things.

That's all for now! Major updates will both be posted in future blogs and written back in here, for ease of reference. Until then, I preemptively wish you good luck on your writing and a happy holiday season!