A Year in Writing: 2024
Reviews for 2020 (222k), 2021 (205k), 2022 (95k), 2023 (20-30k?)
Total wordcount as of Dec. 31: 74.090, which is a monthly average of 6174 words. So 74k is nowhere near close to the 200+k that I used to do, right? But don't be fooled, it's AMAZING 74k, because after two years of utter struggle I am finally having fun again with writing! So 74k might be even a bigger win than the 200k I used to do. Big Win. Like, Big.
General review: Remember (you don't, neither did I, but my last review clearly states it) how I wrote in my yearly writing review last year:
The blorbos might even be knocking at my door again - quietly and very politely, but I can see them. So, here’s hoping.
And boy. Little did I know.
So, this has been a very good writing year. Don't ask me what was going on in march and april, I honestly have no idea. Zero. No memory. As opposed to former years it was not like some big scary thing going on, I guess I was just busy with work maybe? Not feeling it? Who knows? Even better: who cares? Because bitch, I came back strong!
First of all, I did start tracking again, which now gives us nice statistics. And I set a monthly "goal" of 5k, which is something I can do, but like not as an actual goal but more as a number for tracking. And despite these two blurry nonexistent months I did that great.
But it's not about numbers. It's about being back in my since-I-can-think-favourite-hobby and outlet, and I am having fun with it again. There has been plenty of days when I didn't write anything, and I only wrote when I felt like/inspiration hit. But more often than not, when it hit, it HIT.
And I have to give a big shoutout to @kyratittyfish for this. (Which was already mentioned as a highlight in my 2022 review! Love ya, friend. <3) A lot of these words would not have happened if we didn't have that amazing Berlin trip in May with all the ideas that it sparked and if she wasn't such an amazing encouraging friend who always supported my late night "listen, what if..."-messages. Who always went all in "do tell me more about it" and "I like how you think" and I don't think I have to tell you, but that is fuel for writers. So the biggest part of these words would not have happened if dear Kyra wouldn't have supported all those small and huge what if's I have encountered this year. You know who you are, girl. (And then we met again and went on a fabulous winter island trip which has been another highlight of this year for me. <3)
So yeah, very good year, after two very hard years. Here's hoping for 2025.
Things posted: Plenty! Which includes two oneshots finished and posted on AO3 (a James/Steve ME3 banter and a James/Shepard post war scene) as well as a couple of WIPS from the post Akuze fic that has basically been my main focus this year (with a side of post war angst and some ME3 smut, mind me), which was tense knees, about cake, TBI, sleeping in the Kodiak, jello, two aces in disguise, post akuze promotion, sign language, James wrecks his knee, Corporal Giles, being stuck.
Things I would like to do next year: Write? Ehehehehe. Well, I would like to bring those MANY many many words of post Akuze notes into something I can start to post on AO3. That would be cool. As much as I love the fic, it's giving me a little trouble in terms of putting all those notes and ideas into one form to publish a fic with it. I would like to do that soon. Also, most recently the blorbo sleeper agents from 20 years ago woke up again, so maybe we will also see some King Arthur (2004) fic next year? Who knows?
Most important: take it easy and have fun. That's what I wanna do writing wise next year.
Since the Corporal Giles mini WIP was my most popular things this year, have it here once more.
“How’s Giles doing?” It’s a macabre question to ask, but it cuts to the chase. Shepard shrugs. The answer is as simple as fucked up. “Better.” Well, obviously Giles isn’t better. There’s no way he can get better, because he’s dead. He’s rotting in the dirt of Akuze, eaten alive by thresher maw acid, cowering behind a rock right next to Reda. He’s taken most of the hit, and she hasn’t (still got enough damage to need a trachea transplant and eighteen percent third degree burns on her skin, but she’s alive and he’s not, so that’s that). Corporal Giles won’t get better. But he stopped haunting her every single night, and every single minute of the day, and every single art therapy session. Because he’s the only thing of Akuze she remembers and while she’s bad at drawing, she’s apparently gifted in the horror genre, and she’s gotta draw something. Maybe she’ll draw something else tomorrow. Or maybe she won’t. Because Giles is better, but he’s still dead.
