cjmarlowe

In November I wrote 438 words. Total. So you can imagine Nanowrimo was a bit of a bust this year. Which is even sadder because I was teaching a creative writing course and I'd encouraged my students to give it a shot if they were interested, and one of them totally finished. But then in December I wrote 25,123 words and posted 15 stories (including 6 stories for Yuletide that haven't been revealed yet), so that is significantly better (and feels significantly better, which is even more important to me).

I'm going to do a 2012 writing roundup some time later today, probably after Yuletide reveals, but not too much of a life roundup. So, in brief: five years ago or so my life felt fairly perfect. Not perfect as in nothing was wrong with it, but perfect in that I really loved it, generally. I loved my job and I loved my home and I loved my friends and I loved my hobbies and I was in love. And then I pretty much lost all of it, in a fairly short period of time. A lot of 2012 was looking back at that life from where I am right now, back in my hometown and just kind of getting by, and wondering what the hell happened and how do I get it back? But here on the cusp of a new year, I feel like I'm coming to terms with the fact that I will not be getting that back, and looking ahead to what I might be able to have and do and be in the future.

Anyway. Moving on.

I'm not sure I'm going to continue these in the new year. Maybe just the writing part of it. My books I do on Goodreads fairly reliably now, and that just leaves a list of movies, which I suspect has always mostly been just for me. I'll have to think about it.

( Movies and Books, November/December 2012 )

This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/18480.html.

Wow, I apparently fail at life because I very carefully had this all ready to go for the first of the month and then just completely forgot to post it. For over two weeks. Best laid plans and all. And the reason I very proudly had it all ready to go on the first of the month was because for the first time in ages I actually made my writing goals again. Slightly more modest writing goals than I was working with 2-3 years ago but still. Goals.

In July I wrote 31,244 words and posted two stories in two fandoms (one of which is still anonymous) and finished and began submitting one more. And because I'm posting this late and can do this: as of yesterday, I've written more words in 2012 than in all of 2011. Words themselves are obviously in no way the only measure of success, or even necessarily a very good one in many cases, but they're something concrete that I can track and use to feel like I'm working and moving in the right direction. I know tracking them as closely as I do is a little bit obsessive, but collecting and organizing information like that is something that centres and motivates me, and I have enough data now to understand a little better what the numbers actually mean, and how to read my own trends, which I find really useful. I kind of can't wait to post August's roundup. It's a little bit beautiful to me.

( Movies and Books, July 2012 )

This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/12952.html.

Doing this now before yet another month gets away from me! (Though I have excellent excuses this time: this past weekend was Pride in Winnipeg, and then last night I had a big presentation for the town council). In May I wrote 4341 words and posted one story. And most of those words were written over three days, when I was on vacation. But at least I read a lot?

( Movies and Books, May 2012 )

This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/10282.html.

Actually on time this month! I wrote 11,048 words, completed one short original piece and finished editing on something else. I continue to make my minimum standard, but not my goal. I expect April will be more of the same, given everything I've got going on, but then I have some big deadlines at the end of April that might motivate me.

( Movies and Books, March 2012 )

So a lot more books than movies this month, largely because I was housesitting for the better part of a week and didn't have internet access. Clearly the internet has ruined my life. I've also finally actually started using my goodreads that I registered, oh, four years ago.

I signed up for spn_j2_bigbang this year despite not having written CW RPF or Supernatural for a while, firmly believing at the time that I both could and wanted to, but now I'm struggling to figure out what I'm going to do. Turns out I'm not sure I can write CW RPF anymore, my base knowledge is just too far out of date, and I worry that anything I write (and there are several options) would seem quaint. Maybe what I really want to write is old school Supernatural. First and second season era stuff. I have a few things started but I'm just not sure what I want to do.

This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/9345.html.

I started my year with more realistic goals, based on my time (scarce!) and my recent output (low!). I met one and made about half of the other, which is thumbs-up, I think. I wrote 12,861 words and didn't post or submit anything in January. February is porn battle, which I've never done before but am jumping into for this round, so I'll definitely have some actual posted things to report next month, and I've just finished this odd little fairy tale thing that I need to figure out what to do with.

Here's to continuing what I've started!

( Movies and Books, January 2012 )

The enthusiasm of several people on twitter/LJ/DW in recent times has convinced me I need to watch Lewis, so I'm about to get started.

This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/8839.html.