Author's Notes for "Pretty Ribbons to Say"

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Written for the 2011 TS Secret Santa "Drabble Days"; the prompt was "ribbon". I don't know where this idea came from. Over 40 years ago, I actually made ribbon roses for awhile; I'd completely forgotten until this fic awakened the memory. While researching origami + ribbon, I found all of the designs listed, except for the angel... and I'm sure that's possible, if I look a little further. But when I saw the little black cat-face, it was obvious that would be Blair's present to Jim.

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Author's Notes for "Necessity is the Mother..."

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Written for the 2011 TS Secret Santa "Drabble Days Extravaganza"; the prompt was "sleigh or sled". (Extravaganza is for entries that are past the target date and/or over the 500-word limit.) I never had a sled as a child – snow too irregular and inadequate where we lived. I searched the 'Net to find wheels-conversion kits for kids' sleds; someone must have had that bright idea, right? Wrong; as Blair said, "conversion" plus "sled" showed only kits for snowmobiles. So a story that I had planned to show Blair making his own because he couldn't afford the real thing, became a story about Blair inventing something that really should exist. Maybe there's a little frustrated sledder in all of us.

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