A Rough Guide to Signing Up For Yuletide

[beckyh2112]

• Sign-ups are still open. You don't need to have nominated fandoms for Yuletide in order to sign up. This is my fourth year participating and only my second year nominating fandoms. The deadline to sign up is sometime on November 19th.
  
  
• Follow the comms. You'll want to be following both yuletide and yuletide_admin if you're new. They're both full of helpful information and updates.
  
  
• Yes, the sign-up is a mess. This is the first year we've used AO3 as an integral part of the sign-up process. It shows. (I also hate the AO3 interface at the best of times. This is not the best of times.) It's getting hammered by people signing up, so you'll likely have to be patient. They think they've fixed the browser-crashing problems, though.
  
  They are keeping track of known issues and do have a tutorial for the new process. Video, yes, but there are transcriptions. Special attention to the this one if you want to write for more than ten fandoms.
  
  
• You will be matched on ONE fandom. You sign up to receive three-four different fandoms with whatever character set you want. You also sign up to write four-many fandoms with whatever character sets you want. The only guarantee you get for matching in this exchange is that the person you are assigned to write for wants one of the fandom/character combos you agreed to write for.
  
  Given that there are over forty-two hundred fandoms up for Yuletide eligibility, this is the only way to make it work.
  
  (As a word of advice, don't throw in fandoms you grudgingly go "I can write this, I guess". 'Cause that's inevitably the one you'll get matched on. >_>)
  
  
• Write a 'Dear Yuletide Writer' letter. There's a lot more detail here on what those are and why they're very helpful. Yuletide is collecting them for sharing. Some people like to write more than one Yuletide story! ^_^ (I am planning to try that this year.) Please post your AO3 handle in the comment title and list your fandoms in the body of the comment.
  
  
• Do you like to beta-read? Check this out.
  
  
• There are many communication mediums for Yuletide. I know there's an IRC chat every year, Twitter has the #yuletide hashtag, I am sure there are many other ways to ensconce yourself with people and squee over Yuletide. Check it out!
  
  
• Have fun! However you decide to have fun, too. If flailing over the impossibility is part of the fun, be free! If hiding in a dark cave with your prompts, talking to no one and just petting them until you spring into action on the keyboard is part of the fun, do that!
  
  Have I missed anything important?