Review of 2008 and a resolution for 2009

[girlyswot]

Review of 2007



January
The Kingscote Term: AF fic written as a NYR for ankaret.
Eleven chapters of There Are Always Dragons: Charlie/Hermione fluff.
Anat the Girl Chapter 1 part 3: original story set in ancient Ugarit.

February
TDU's Big Mistake: HP time-travelling AU birthday fic featuring Dumbledore/Grindelwald; TDU/Weasley ancestor and other unlikely characters including the late, lamented Nora Batty.
The Grand Tour: Charlie and Draco genfic set post-DH; epilogue compliant.

March
The Vampire's Kiss: Original fic for rhetoretician's birthday. Various later versions of this story exist but not online.

April/May
No fic written. No real surprise given everything else that was happening. Though we did have a fabulous birthday party on Ros's Island where I got to write Fluffy!Moonette in flipflops, which was very satisfying.

June
A birthday fic for Moonette": Charlie gets a very special scar.
The Shortest Branch: An unfinished interview-canon-compliant Charlie fic. Five chapters are now up. Don't hold your breath for the rest.
Charlie's Blue Eyes: A defence fic.

July
A series of drabbles from unlikely prompts: Two AF; nine HP.

August
Always Dragons: Charlie-fic, set in the same world as The Shortest Branch. Written for helmet_fest.
The Perils Of Opening Presents: Ron/Hermione prize-fic for bookish327.

September
When You Need To Feed A Weasley: Ron/Hermione for dogstar101's birthday. Includes recipes for sausage plait, rhubarb crumble, custard (Hermione's way) and custard (Ron's way).

October
Judith Oeschli: AF fic for the trennels ficathon.

November
Choose Your Own Story: An experiment that was supposed to inspire my creative energy. It fizzled after three chapters so I think we can safely say that it didn't work.
Never Having To Ask: H/G for the hpgw_ficafest.
Better Keep Practising: Birthday fic (featuring non-domestic-goddess!Molly Weasley) for grandma_kate.

December
Father Christmas: Charlie/Luna gift-fic for ladywhizbee.
Lord Barham Contrives: Yuletide story. Heyer fic from The Masqueraders. Long.
The Posh Nosh Cook Book: Yuletide fic. Posh Nosh.
It Could Have All Ended Differently: Yuletide fic. Mansfield Park AU.
Lily/James: Prize-fic for tdu000
Charlie's eyes: Prize-fic for tdu000

Also at various times, six chapters of the Regency Romance.

I can't be bothered to check the actual word counts but I shall estimate that it was around 90,000 words. Which is more than I had expected, all things considered. I notice that a large number of the stories I have written, especially in the latter half of the year, are in response to other people's prompts and challenges. I think that says a lot about the lack of creative energy I am feeling at the moment.

Favourite fic: Posh Nosh Cook Book. Just so much fun in every way. Though I am also very fond of TDU's Big Mistake.
Least favourite fic: Never Having To Ask. I don't know why I signed up for this. I really don't like writing H/G and I don't think I'm very good at it.
Hardest to write: The one that I worked hardest at was The Vampire's Kiss in its later revisions. But Lord Barham Contrives definitely ranks up there with all its complicated twists and turns of plot. Arrgh, plot!
Easiest to write: There Are Always Dragons. I wrote most of this in my winter term class. I did get my worst mark by far for that class. *shrugs*
Greatest risk taken: Going up against stmargarets in the Charlie's Eye Colour Challenge.
Greatest risk not taken: I'm not sure. I feel like lots of the experiences of the past year may make me a better writer in the future, but I'm just not ready to deal with all the raw emotion yet.
Writing Challenge for 2009: No challenges this year. I just want to have fun.

My resolution for 2009 (though it may become redundant after today's news) is to go back and tag my LJ entries properly. The fic is all more or less accessible through roswrites and the tags/masterlist there. But everything is disappearing in a morass of frivolity and I would like to be able . to find things more easily. I shall begin with this post. ;)

Comments

[stmargarets.livejournal.com]

Going up against stmargarets in the Charlie's Eye Colour Challenge.

*snort* You had lagoon-eyed Charlie to hold you in his manly arms.

Never Having To Ask. I don't know why I signed up for this. I really don't like writing H/G and I don't think I'm very good at it.

I totally missed this. November was kind of a blur for me. *makes not to read later*


I just want to have fun.

What about the brilliant things you wrote for our writing group? You were quite prolific! I'm further impressed since you had so many big happenings in your life.

You know, I've never tagged anything on my journal. *ponders*

I'm going to copy that one.

[stmargarets.livejournal.com]

That would be a "note" to read later! Doh!

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I even linked to the H/G fic actually, so that may be why you missed it.

I'd love it if your journal was tagged. Even just tagging the fic would make a big difference.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

(though it may become redundant after today's news)

Have I missed something of great importance?

I'm rather fond of TDU's Big Mistake too.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

LJ are laying off staff. Some people are panicking that this is the beginning of the end for the site.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

Damn! Does this mean I have to bother with Facebook? (I have a Facebook account, I just ignore it.)

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Nah. Facebook doesn't do the same thing as LJ at all. And actually I don't think there's any need to panic about LJ suddenly disappearing either.

[dogstar101.livejournal.com]

A very impressive list - especially that you've written fic for other fandoms and original fiction as well. That's my resolution for 2009, to branch out a bit.

Happy new year!

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Yuletide is an excellent way of starting to write in other fandoms. The unfulfilled request list is here (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/get_unfilled_requests.cgi) and a browse of that might inspire you. I like trying different fandoms because it forces me to try different genres and styles. There's been less original fiction in 2008 than in 2007, I think. I don't seem to have any inspiration for it at the moment at all.

Happy 2009 to you, too!

[amamama.livejournal.com]

I'm awed. Impressive list. Now I must check which I've missed... Have I read all six chapters of the regency fic, for instance?

[brownfach.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all the happy reading. When I say "happy" I am, of course, excluding the Mansfield Park fiction: I had just started re-reading JA's version the previous day, and cannot muster any enthusiasm for it until I forget yours!

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry about that. I love Mansfield Park so much and I would hate to think that I've spoiled your enjoyment of it.

[brownfach.livejournal.com]

Don't apologise - it wasn't meant to be critical. It exposed the same ambivalence in me as the film did, when I found myself cheering Henry on for wanting Fanny so much more than Edmund seemed to!

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Yes, Edmund is painfully slow and oblivious through much of the book. But he will make her much happier in the end than Henry ever could.

[moonette1.livejournal.com]

Wow. 90K? Very prolific! Are you sending The Vampire's Kiss out to any markets? You should, you know. It's definitely publishable.

And I hope you continue with Daniel's story. (I can't think of the girl's name, I'm sorry.) That was very well-written.

I have no idea how to tag entries.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

No. In fact I have just edited the post to make it publicly available on LJ. I just don't have the time or the emotional energy to invest in sending out stories at the moment.

One day I do definitely plan to carry on with Anat. It's a long term project though.

At the bottom of the posting form is a box labelled 'Tags'. Just fill in whatever tags you want, separated by commas.