My sincerest apologies for missing 2019. I have things going on in my personal life that overwhelmed me and there were days that I barely got through work and needs, but this is not the place for that. However, at this time, I am hoping to set up the exchange for both now and Christmas. We can call them 2020 Gatch Gift Exchange (Spring/Easter) & 2020 Gatch Gift Exchange II (Christmas). I'd do a 2020 Gatch Gift Exchange F, but I think that would overwhelm everyone. For now they will be part of one post, but I will eventually split them into two. The Idea A fandom Secret Easter Bunny -- we give each other stories, artwork, essays. Very simple -- Email (gatchgift.ame@gmail.com) or PM me with what you want and what you can give. After I have everything, I'll match up what people want and what they can give, and give you your prompt and medium. Once you are done with your gift, send them to me. I'll post all submissions here for the receiver and everyone else to enjoy. After all gifts have been posted and enjoyed, and we've guessed who gave what, Givers will be allowed to reveal themselves. After they have had a few days to reveal, I'll post the master list of prompts and who did what. The Specifics 1. Anytime between now and February 14, 2020 email or PM me with the following. -- Choose two or three prompts+ -- a Medium or two* -- if choosing an fanfic or an essay, choose a team* -- What you can give** 2. By February 18, 2020, you will receive from me a gift request 3. Send me the completed gift by April 5, 2020 (For those giving artwork, I have created a photobucket account for the Exchange. Email me and I will send you the user name and password and you can upload directly to the account any time and I can post it to the exchange.) 4. I'll post the gifts between April 5 and April 12. 5. People can reveal themselves to the recipients on April 17. 6. I'll post the master list April 19, 2020; at that time givers can post their work elsewhere, such as Gatchfanfic or DeviantArt, etc. 7. 1200 word minimum for essays and stories (serial drabbles are okay, unless otherwise specified) No maximum, but please keep in mind that gifts should be complete. If a prompt inspires more, sequels would be enjoyed by all. The Rules If you want something, you have to give something. Please don't post or share^ the gifts with others or other sites until after the master list has been revealed on April 19, 2020 to give the recipients time to enjoy the work first. If you don't want smut or slash, or won't write/draw smut or slash, please say so. Also if you prefer this, just put it in your prompt. If you want to give multiple gifts, you can ask for multiple gifts. Send requests separately, otherwise they will look like additional prompt choices. Finally, a quick note about warnings and formatting. Please, if the gift you are giving needs to be in the Rubber Room, please let me know. Sometimes I have time to read through the gifts before posting, but not always. It is better to be safe than sorry. Also, please make sure your gift is formatted for gatchamania.net. This could be as simple as adding basic html tags for centering, bold, italic, etc, but also paragraph formatting. You must use double hard returns at the end of each paragraph so that the text does not look like one long block. Just because the text looks right in your program does not mean it will look write in the forum. This is especially true if you use docx with paragraph formatting or similar. If you are uncertain about whether your formatting is right, there are a few ways to test: take another text that you have written in the same format and post it in the test forum; you can also use a small block of the gift and test in the same way, but please delete when done. I know that formatting will take some of you a bit more time with your gifts, but it will save time for me when I am posting the gifts (on average, over the last few years I've had to reformat about 1/3 to 1/2 of the gifts so they are readable) and it will ensure that your formatting is correct. Thank you. * ** ^ + # * If you want an essay or choose Eagle Riders or GoS (for fanfic or essay), please select one prompt from another and/or for a second team. I will make every attempt to match people with their first choices, but will be limited by what people are able to give. **Prefered Medium -- Art, Fanfiction, Essay, Teams that you are most familiar with for Fanfictions or Essays ^Check with me before you send something to beta. I'd really like to try and post a beta list for those who need/want a beta, so if you want to participate, but don't really have the time to give, send me an email to volunteer to beta. Please note that if you want to beta, you must also respect the timeline and secrecy. If you know for a fact that your Beta does not participate, that is okay to just send to them. Two or three prompts are requested to give the author/artist a choice in case nothing sparks to mind. It does not mean that you will get all prompts or that the author/artist has to do all prompts. However, it has happened in the past that the prompts were so inspiring that some have responded to them all, and posted the others after the exchange. Some have even combined prompts, but again that is at the choice of the author/artist. Please, if something happens that prevents you from fulfilling this obligation, let me know as soon as possible. I won't be asking for a gift, but will be a back-up if anyone has something that interferes with this obligation. If anyone else wishes to help out in this manner, I'd be happy to accept that help, too. So please, if you have time to fill for missing gifts please let me know. Hope everyone has a much fun as we did in years past! Happy Spring! Special Preview: 2020 Gatch Gift Exchange II Special Note: I work retail and Christmas is our busy time of year; I have adjusted the dates to accommodate that and still give everyone time to write The Idea A fandom Secret Santa -- we give each other stories, artwork, essays. Very simple -- Email (gatchgift.ame@gmail.com) or PM me with what you want and what you can give. After I have everything, I'll match up what people want and what they can give, and give you your prompt and medium. Once you are done with your gift, send them to me. I'll post all submissions here for the receiver and everyone else to enjoy. After all gifts have been posted and enjoyed, and we've guessed who gave what, Givers will be allowed to reveal themselves. After they have had a few days to reveal, I'll post the master list of prompts and who did what. The Specifics 1. Anytime between now and September 27, 2020 email or PM me with the following. -- Choose two or three prompts+ -- a Medium or two* -- if choosing an fanfic or an essay, choose a team* -- What you can give** 2. By October 4, you will receive from me a gift request 3. Send me the completed gift by December 15.# (For those giving artwork, I have created a photobucket account for the Exchange. Email me and I will send you the user name and password and you can upload directly to the account any time and I can post it to the exchange.) 4. I'll post the gifts between December 15 and December 20. 5. People can reveal themselves to the recipients on December 27. 6. I'll post the master list between January 1 and 3, 2018; at that time givers can post their work elsewhere, such as Gatchfanfic or DeviantArt, etc. 7. 1200 word minimum for essays and stories (serial drabbles are okay, unless otherwise specified) No maximum, but please keep in mind that gifts should be complete. If a prompt inspires more, sequels would be enjoyed by all. The Rules If you want something, you have to give something. Please don't post or share^ the gifts with others or other sites until after the master list has been revealed to give the recipients time to enjoy the work first. If you don't want smut or slash, or won't write/draw smut or slash, please say so. Also if you prefer this, just put it in your prompt. If you want to give multiple gifts, you can ask for multiple gifts. Send requests separately, otherwise they will look like additional prompt choices. Finally, a quick note about warnings and formatting. Please, if the gift you are giving needs to be in the Rubber Room, please let me know. Sometimes I have time to read through the gifts before posting, but not always. It is better to be safe than sorry. Also, please make sure your gift is formatted for gatchamania.net. This could be as simple as adding basic html tags for centering, bold, italic, etc, but also paragraph formatting. You must use double hard returns at the end of each paragraph so that the text does not look like one long block. Just because the text looks right in your program does not mean it will look write in the forum. This is especially true if you use docx with paragraph formatting or similar. If you are uncertain about whether your formatting is right, there are a few ways to test: take another text that you have written in the same format and post it in the test forum; you can also use a small block of the gift and test in the same way, but please delete when done. I know that formatting will take some of you a bit more time with your gifts, but it will save time for me when I am posting the gifts (on average, over the last few years I've had to reformat about 1/3 to 1/2 of the gifts so they are readable) and it will ensure that your formatting is correct. Thank you. * ** ^ + # * If you want an essay or choose Eagle Riders or GoS (for fanfic or essay), please select one prompt from another and/or for a second team. I will make every attempt to match people with their first choices, but w

Time to get my thinking cap on

If anyone is on other forums, please feel free to post this or the link on my be half.

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Thank you Ame!!! I will send you prompts.

Prompts are due in 9 days!

Email sent, Ame

Prompts sent! I forgot to add in the email, same prompts for both exchanges. Keeping it simple!

OMG! Only four more days! It is shaping up to be a real small exchange. A few more participants would be very nice.

I sent you a PM!

I'm not up for the spring one but Christmas should work.

EW: got it! I'll respond in PM when I start organizing the prompts. Becky: no worries! Not every time of year works for everyone, I just laid the ground work for Christmas while I had time. If this works, I might try it again next year, with some tweaking. I'll be gone all day tomorrow. I finally get my scan and treatment. I won't be answering emails most likely, so don't panic if you don't hear from me right away. The Call for Prompts officially closes Friday at 11:59 PM; however, I won't turn away any prompt that I receive before I start matching them up. If life happens, as it is prone to do, just let me know you need a few extra hours with a specific timeline. Thank you, everyone!

Hola Ame, I already sent my prompts by PM. Please let me know if you got them. Thank you!

Today is the last day to send on prompts. Look to get your prompt Sunday or Monday.

The call for prompts is now officially closed. Look for your gift prompts in your email or PM soon.

At this point, I have acknowledged all prompts received; if you have not heard from my in email or PM, please let me know ASAP!

I've had a request for a beta reader. If you want to be involved, but don't have time to write, this gig might be for you. Let me know, and I'll put you in touch with the author.

My work here is done until April! Prompts have been sent. Look in your inboxes. Contact me if you have any questions .

Dear Ame, I emailed you my contribution to the Spring Gatch Gift Exchange, at the email address above. Let me know if you got it! Hugs, DT

Hola Ame, I already sent you my contribution. Please let me know if you got it. Thank you!

Gifts are due today. I know the world has been turned upside down, if you need a few extra days (or more), please give me a heads up.

Sent mine, Ame. it should be popping into your inbox right about now.

I'll start posting in a few days. The time I set aside for this has been taken up making masks. However, I'm a little worried, I have not heard from one of our regulars... I'm hoping she is okay!

I know there are much more important things happening out there right now, but I was wondering what was happening with the Gift Exchange. Has anyone heard from Amethyst since her last post here? I sent her a PM months ago, but I don't think she's been active on the sight at all since then. Has anyone had any contact with her through other channels? I hope Amethyst is okay.

She has recently posted on FB, so I suspect it's RL issues preoccupying her.

amethyst, please check your email. Thanks

Hey, does anybody know the status of the gift exchange?

I've been wondering too. I'm quite concerned for Amethyst. I hope she is okay.

I want to float an idea I've been sitting on for a while. I have been holding off and desperately hoping that Amethyst would pop in and tell us all she's okay. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, or overstep in any way. If everyone is agreeable I'd like to offer to distribute Gift Exchange gifts if I can. That would probably entail each participant sending me their prompt(s), and the gift they gave. Alternatively, we could all post our gifts without knowing who they are going to. We could then guess the recipient instead of the giver. Of course, I am also happy to wait for Amethyst's return. I'm continuing to hope and pray that Amethyst is safe and well.

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I like the idea of posting our gifts without knowing the recipient - makes an interesting change

Originally posted by Katblu42 I want to float an idea I've been sitting on for a while. I have been holding off and desperately hoping that Amethyst would pop in and tell us all she's okay. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, or overstep in any way. If everyone is agreeable I'd like to offer to distribute Gift Exchange gifts if I can. That would probably entail each participant sending me their prompt(s), and the gift they gave. Alternatively, we could all post our gifts without knowing who they are going to. We could then guess the recipient instead of the giver. Of course, I am also happy to wait for Amethyst's return. I'm continuing to hope and pray that Amethyst is safe and well.

Okay, I think we'd better act on this. Winter holidays (or summer, if you're in the southern hemisphere) are almost here, and I don't want our efforts in writing the stories to go to waste. I propose that we all post our gifts on November 27 in The Writer's Block and have "2020 Gift from _____" in the subject line. Do you agree?

I'm in. That date suits me. Thanks EW.

Bird Go!

My WiFi just went down. I'll post ASAP.

Are we posting? I'm heading over to the Writer's Block to post mine.

Posting mine now too.

Sorry I'm a day late, but posting mine now.

I hope to catch up with all the fics over the weekend!

FINALLY! My WiFi's back, and I've posted my gift.

Okay, Katblu42 had a couple of questions I hadn't thought of: 1) Do we need a date to reveal who each gift was for? 2) Do we know if all participants posted gifts? As far as #1 goes, I simply assumed people would say, "Hey, that's mine!" So, how does Friday, December 11 sound for claiming gifts?* And #2...well, as far as I know, Amethyst is the only one who has the list of all the participants. ** All I can think of doing is putting out one last call and hope that, if any gifts are still floating around in the ether, they will be posted before we start claiming gifts. * Assuming that everyone remembers the prompts they submitted, of course! ** I have to admit, though, that the number of gifts posted does seem a bit small to me. But I don't know how many signed up. So.... Are there any other suggestions?

Ok, I'll say here that mine HAS been posted, but I'll admit I had to find my email with the prompts to be able to identify it. As for other participants, I think I know of one other who hasn't yet posted, and I can message her over Facebook to ask if she'll be able to post. Edit: I suppose once all the fics have been claimed we could assume they've all been posted?

Originally posted by KT1972 Edit: I suppose once all the fics have been claimed we could assume they've all been posted?

That's what I was thinking.

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I look forward to reading what you've got, mylari! And, as for the offer to take the reigns if Amethyst can't next year, I gladly accept.* (I'm speaking for myself, though I'm sure the other Gatchamaniacs would feel the same.) * As soon as the pandemic hit the US, I've been worried about Amethyst -- she developed some serious health issues a few years back that put her in the high-risk category, and she's in an area that's been consistently clobbered by COVID.

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OK - work burnt me out this month and I've had no motivation/energy for anything else. I'm so behind on all the things I've been wanting to do... anyway, I finally managed to get myself to sit down at a non-work computer and find the story file. It's posted here: Magnetic Attraction