#failure happens

[the-blind-assassin-12]

2021 rewind // 2022 outlook

Before I get started I want to wish everyone here a happy and healthy new year. No matter how the last 365 days went for you, I hope this year is kind and gives you plenty of reasons to smile, things to learn and chances to grow. <3 

everything else below the cut, because it is long and mostly here just for me to refer back to but you are more than welcome to take a peek. 

my 2021 rewind: 

So. You know how everyone always says not to trust what you see people post on social media because “instagram is a highlight reel”? That is generally true. People typically don’t showcase their less than proud moments. But the point of goal setting isn’t to punish yourself for falling short, it is to push yourself to work harder or differently. Pretending that I met all my writing goals for 2021 when in fact I actually met none of them is just lying to myself and I’m not looking to do that. Deciding never to set goals for myself again because I failed so extravagantly this time would be dramatic, and despite the fact that I have an imagination that gets me in trouble, I am not looking for drastic, dramatic decision making either. 

Am I upset that I came up empty handed in terms of my pre-set goals this year? Yes. Absolutely. Does that mean I’m not proud of some of the things I ended up accomplishing this past year? Not at all. I’m disappointed in the fact that I let myself get swallowed by days of inactivity in my writing, and in the way that I poorly prioritized projects this year. But I also put out some of my favorite pieces and started writing some new, challenging characters. I completed Point of No Return, an entire 13 part series with accompanying side stories- and if you have been following me for any length of time, you know how BIG that is for me. I also made a lot of progress/ put in a lot of work behind the scenes so to speak on some stories that haven’t made their debut yet- Oracle and Survivor Blues. So did I accomplish my goals? No, I did not. But I did accomplish some worthwhile things as a door prize. 

my 2022 outlook: 

Even though last year’s goals went kaput like a collapsed casserole, I’m still going to shoot big this year. My largescale writing goals include...

Finish 2 current Ben Barnes character series (I See You & TBD- Any preferences?) 

Finish 2 current Pedro Pascal character series (Petrichor & Recall) 

Revive Resol’nare (this, to me, means an update a month at least) 

Be on time for holiday related events/ fics (I’m looking at you, Thanksgiving)

Write 300,000 words (I have never set a yearly word goal before so this is a brand new thing that I’m giving a whirl) 

NEW things that I hope to start posting this year: 

Survivor Blues - Joel Miller x Female Reader 

Oracle - Ezra x Female Reader 

The Last Thing You Need - Frankie Morales x Female Reader 

Things you can expect to see right away (January/February): 

The remaining 5 prompts from my smooch request event: 2 Oberyn, 1 Javi, 1 Din & 1 Logan.  

The end of ISY. PERIOD. 

The start of Survivor Blues 

More Aphelion

If there is anything else that you would like to see from me this year, or if you have any questions about any of my stories, please feel free to let me know! Here’s hoping I meet at least a few of these goals by this time next year! 

[le-jardin-inculte]

For the aging user base ask: 2, 5, 20, 24!

2) do you have a collection of anything?

aside from crafts supplies? 🤣

but yeah, I do, I collect euro coins. got one of those folders that sort them by country plus a few extra inserts for the special ones. super casual about it though, mostly just checking my loose change and asking family members if they got any interesting coins now and then.

I also make a point of getting a physical memento for every long term obsession. like I have a few Star Wars pins, an oryx figurine (and a necklace with an oryx skull shaped pendant and a book about ungulate behaviour), a bunch of 18th century related academic nonfiction, the TMA necklace with the tapes and eyes I made (plus I'm working on turning transcripts into books), that sort of thing.

5) what's your favourite piece of furniture and where did you get it?

full disclosure, I haven't moved out of my childhood home and nothing has needed replacing so I haven't had much opportunity to get like...any furniture 😅

like I bought a fancy desktop pc last year and got lucky with a second-hand desk chair to replace the piece of junk I had before, but that's about the extent of it. everything else has been there forever.

20) what's your favourite beverage?

hmm. as a certified Beverage Enjoyer this is like asking me to pick a favourite child lmao

I guess green tea as a subcategory based on the sheer quantity I consume, and to get more specific, a particular brand of bagged jasmine tea as a favourite flavour I guess? but on any weekday, I drink black tea, coffee, AND green tea, so I guess the real answer is "unsweetened and caffeinated" 😂

24) what's your most recent degree and has it been useful to you?

hah. fun and perhaps unexpected bit of lore: I'm, of all things, a compsci dropout. quit in my final year, never going back.

completely useless, too. never even tried finding a job in the field because due to overwork, I burned out so bad I haven't been able to write code at all since. it's been years and the thought still makes me wanna throw up. can't. maybe forever. and like yeah, it's a nightmare being a disabled high school grad in this economy, but I have never regretted quitting. took a few years to recover and sort my shit out but! I'm a bookbinder now! which is really cool! and definitely a thousand times happier than I would have been as a programmer even pre-burnout. it's the difference between doing something you don't mind and doing something you genuinely enjoy - I liked compsci fine, but it was never my passion. low-level archive work or bookbinding though? love.

(just need to graduate from trainee to full time and life will be perfect, really. please please please)

I might try to get an archivist degree in a year or two if I manage to save up for tuition and if my health issues allow it though. I liked working in an archive and even if I never get the chance again, having any degree at all would still be useful.