cjmarlowe

How is it the fourth already? I didn't actually forget about this, I just kept telling myself I'd do it later. The past few days have been a little hectic, but today I've got some more breathing room. In February I wrote 11,100 words and posted four stories in one fandom. All of which are currently anonymous in a kink meme, but I've been thinking about posting them to AO3. I also got a lot of writing done in non-fiction arenas, so February feels like it was more successful than it looks on paper.

( Movies and books, February 2011 )

So 2010 was basically pure crap for me. The whole year. All of it. It had its bright spots, but basically when I'm old and talking about my life I'm going to pretend 2010 never happened. I'm looking forward to 2011 because things have to change, and that's not just wishful thinking. Things cannot continue the way they were in 2010, and even though that means they can get worse, I'm still relieved by the knowledge that something will be different.

However, I did do a fuckload of writing (my one shining bright spot of the year). I didn't break it down by fandom this year, but here's a general breakdown of all fanfic I posted in 2010:

» 0-500 words: 0
» 500-1000 words: 10
» 1000-2000 words: 72 (until I added my Yuletide stories in, this was 69. Just sayin.)
» 2000-5000 words: 39
» 5000-10000 words: 6
» 10000-20000 words: 1
» 20000-50000 words: 4

Shortest story: 691 words
Longest story: 35,100 words

Most were slash, but many were also het or gen or some combination of the three, including poly. Ratings, too, were all over; I feel like I wrote a lot more explicit stories that I do in the average year, but I participated very enthusiastically in kink bingo which definitely ups those numbers. I didn't write a lot of straight-up gen in AI and KAB fandom--most of it focused on a vast variety of pairings--but I did in the rest of the fandoms I wrote in. All in all an eclectic and satisfying year in fic.

TOTAL POSTED STORIES: 132
TOTAL WORD COUNT 2010 (both posted and unposted): 532,162

This is shy of my goal of 600,000, but slightly more than last year's total (which was 514,605).

I also made my first professional sale, and have a lot of other projects at various stages of completion right now, many of which I'm really excited about.

So welcome, 2011. I think we're going to have a good time.

In November I wrote 27,701 words, but I didn't post anything.

I definitely have mixed feelings about November. On the one hand, it was supposed to be Nanowrimo month, so on that front it wasn't exactly a success. I decided fairly early on that I really wasn't digging the story I was writing, not in a "this is hard and I'm going to give up" way, but "this is kind of boring and I'm not enjoying these characters or this story." I've finished Nanowrimo a few times now, so I think I just didn't have the drive to finish at all costs. I did flirt briefly with starting over but ultimately I decided to work on the stories I was motivated to work on even though they were shorter. And on that level, November was much more successful. I finished the first draft of a story that I started over four years ago (I can't even remember exactly when, but I know I've moved twice since then), and successfully reworked the plots of two stories that've been plaguing me for a while so I think I can finally finish them too.

After dropping nano I was still aiming for an overall word count of 50,000, so 28,000 falls pretty short of that, but I did finish that draft--which I am extremely psyched about--and over 10,000 of those words were on the last day so I feel like I'm poised pretty well going into December. Especially with Yuletide coming up soon!

Anyway. Moving on.

( Movies and books, November 2010 )

P.S. Since drafting the first part of this round-up, I finished up another story draft, so that's two in two days. This one is a lot shorter than the last, but still. I tend to be optimistic on the first of every month, but I think maybe I was right to be optimistic about December.

Well, this month's round-up is embarassingly easy to do. I wrote 15,199 words and posted nothing. Ta-da! Fannishly, I didn't do much of anything in September; most of that word count was on original fic (and most of it written in bed because I finally gave up the dinosaur and was very excited to finally have a phone that did things, like let me write in bed). But now I'm all moved into the new place and relatively settled in and I'm determined that October will be an amazing month. I'm going to clean out my inbox and reply to comments and RP and write tons of things and just generally feel like myself again.

( Movies and books, September 2010: )

That probably wasn't long enough to need a cut tag this month, but habit is habit. And now, I have my blinds open and the sun is shining for the first time in a while and I'm looking out at the pear tree in the back yard. I think it's time to write.

It might look like I was trying to avoid admitting how much I sucked in July, but the truth is that I plain forgot to post this yesterday. Well, I might as well just out with it. In July I wrote 25,598 words and posted 8 stories in 2 fandoms, ranging from 1200 to 3400 words. This obviously is not exactly what I had planned in July, and it means that I have to write like a madwoman in August to make all my deadlines. I've started the month out right so far, though, so maybe I can keep it up. Fingers crossed.

( Movies and books, July 2010: )

And now, because I probably should've said this a while ago: yeah, I know this journal is about 90% fic now. I always did struggle to put together complete entries from random thoughts, so now I just let the random thoughts fly free on twitter - fannish twitter @ofthenorth and non-fannish @blinkstained (though really the main difference between the two is that I don't talk about fan fiction or RP on the so-called non-fannish one; after all, my life is pretty fannish). I know some people think twitter is the devil but it's just right for me, simultaneously giving me a constant and comfortable awareness of what's going on with my friends/peers/persons of interest and the world, and allowing me to choose whether to engage or not in a completely no-pressure way. I also still have my actualfax blog, strangelysocialised.com, which is mostly book and television reviews and the occasional splash of real life.

This doesn't mean I don't ever post other stuff, or don't want to post other stuff. I have a couple of long meta things that have been rumbling around in my brain, and some life stuff. It's just that I do recognise what this place looks like right now.

I know I don't tend to comment a lot on LJ, but I do read everyone I have friended.

I'm almost embarrassed write this one up. In May I wrote 36,706 words and posted 8 stories in one fandom, ranging between 1000 and 35,000 words. That would probably sound better if it wasn't half of what I feel like I should, and could, be doing. Still, I got a big project posted that I've been sitting on for a while and I managed to submit a big bang draft, so that's all of the good. And I got more involved again in a few other things that consumed some time, so at least I know where the time went.

And of course, ( movies and books, May 2010 )

I'm not super impressed with myself right now but I'm determined to start June off right, so as soon as this post is up it's back to hammering things out on my to-do list. And showering. Maybe showering first. I also keep meaning to do a post about Scully and Reyes and Janeway and Torres and why don't we see relationships like that on TV anymore, so maybe I'll get around to that this month too.

So, March happened. I wrote 75,652 words, and posted 17 ficlets and stories in 3 fandoms, ranging between roughly 700 and 26,000 words. Three of the stories were 15,000 words+, and I finally finished a lot of things that had been on my plate for a while.

In spite of saying I wouldn't increase my daily goal, I did end up upping it to 2500 words, and other than the weekend I was extremely sick I didn't have any trouble making that until I kind of fell apart during the last three days of the month. I didn't feel entirely great about it though, and I think at least part of that is because of how those words were actually distributed. So in April that's where I'm putting more of my focus.

And, as always, ( movies and books, March 2010 )

Also, ontd_ai_gives is holding a dollar drive for TOMS shoes right now, and I'm offering AI/CRACK ficlets-for-donations once again. I know a couple of people wanted to know when I would be doing that, so if you're interested, my thread is here. (Post is locked but membership is open.)

Hoo-boy. Well, I think I started the year out right, as far as writing goes. I wrote 66,058 words this month, and posted 26 ficlets and stories in 4 fandoms, ranging between 900 and 6,000 words, most falling between 1500 and 2500. My two long stories for the Donors Choose auction are in their final stages (finally!) and I've got a CW RPF story almost ready to post on the 15th for j2_everafter. Plus progress on assorted other projects, including apocabigbang if I miraculously finish my first draft on time.

In a weird way, this fandom has brought me back to my fannish roots this year, too, because I'm now working on an AI8-Star Trek:Voyager fusion for orihara_kaoru, and an AI8-Highlander fusion for blackdress_adam. What next? Sentinel? X-Files?

And also, ( movies and books, January 2010 )

I have a lot to write yet today. It's possible I'm procrastinating right now.