It's Still January, So it Counts, Right?
I would being better about procrastination would be one of my resolutions for the new year but considering that it's January 7th and I'm just now sharing my resolutions I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed. (I am reminded of that wonderful Douglas Adams line that went something like this, "I love deadlines. I love the wooshing sound they make as they fly by").
Fandom:
This year I will write more fanfic. Of course, since I haven't written anything publicly since what, 2010? Anything would technically be more. But I love the Sherlock fandom and I'd like to contribute something besides the occasional bit of feedback.
I already have two people willing to beta and a friends willing to Britpick so the only thing left is to actually write something.
I have two things I started working on around Christmas but then got pulled away from. One is what will probably be a pair of 221Bs based around Skyfall, thanks to a conversation I had with earlgreytea68. The other is an ABCs of Sherlock thing, although I'll probably try to do one for Sherlock, John, and maybe Mycroft. It's 100 words for each letter but I'm concerned the format will be too repetitive and it's definitely telling rather than showing, which is generally a bad thing. Not to mention some of the letters are extremely tricky to find words for while others have an overabundance of options.
Both pieces have more telling than showing and neither has any dialog, which was generally my strong point. So I'm not really sure what to think about that. I don't think it'll be too bad for the 221B fics, but 2600 words without dialog is more problematic.
I want to do something with John/Sherlock (which the Skyfall thing kind of is), the ABCs is probably going to be gen or pre-slash. I've also been thinking a lot more about Mycroft because I think there's a lot of interesting things that could be explored. I've read several fics lately where Mycroft is power hungry and evil and I don't think that's right. I don't think he's benign, but I do think he's much more complex than a power hungry man. I think he cultivates power with a purpose rather than just because he enjoys having power. (Though there's probably some of that). I could go off on a whole long tangent but I won't yet. I'm not sure what to do with those thoughts though. Maybe some of it could be expressed in an ABC of Mycroft but I'm not sure. I don't think a pure essay would be all that entertaining to read (or write) but I don't have any ideas about how to explore it in a creative way, at last not at the moment. Something to think about on the back burner maybe.
I do have one other idea but it requires the help of someone else and I haven't even mentioned it to her yet.
I'd really like to make an effort to do a steady stream of recommendations and maybe, eventually, get my bookmarks all cleared out and organized, at least for completed fic. I'd like to do at least one post of week of recs, but hopefully I'll be able to do even more than that. I plan to continue the format of one post with all my records for that day and then copying the relevant recs onto the appropriate fandom specific page.
I'll have to do some thinking about how to deal with the longer series. I suspect in most cases I'll just end up reccing the entire series rather than individual stories. I don't know if people have a preference about that sort of thing but when you have 20+ stories or something and they're all in one area on AO3 it just seems like it would make more sense unless I don't want to rec the whole series but like individual stories within it.
I would like to get at least one Sherlock/John, or Sherlock or John soundtrack put together for my own listening entertainment if nothing else. If I ever manage it I might at least make a post listening the songs. I don't really have the skill to put together an awesome album cover.
I'd like to become more involved in the Sherlock fandom. I try to drop a note to an author/artist if there's a story/vid/art that I particularly like but I don't always manage it, especially if I find it on Tumblr rather than on LJ. I'd like to think that just because a fandom is huge it doesn't mean you can't make connections with individuals.
I'd also like to finally do those reaction posts to each episode and the commentary.
Despite this particular post, when I got back on LJ I tried to be better about not saying I'm going to try and make posts/accomplish x y and z. Partly because it often didn't happen but mostly because I feel like if I want to post about something I should just do that rather than talking about how I want to do it. And if I do promise someone I'm going to write about something (publicly or privately) I want to make the effort to do it. Confidential to nicelyobsessed: my goal is to do the harem post by the end of the week.
Finally, nicelyobsessed once offered to make me an LJ header and I'd like to find the pictures to make that happen. Does anyone know of a good place for stills from the show?
Books & Reading
I had goal to read 125 books last year and finished with 88. Oops. I am somewhat amused that goodreads apparently hides reading goals if you fail them. They're still there but they don't get the big graphic for when you complete a goal you've set.
This year my goal is 100 books. Since I started tracking in 2007 I'm 4 for 6 in reaching 100. I did go through and prune my currently following series list, finally ditching some series I've lost interest in and making a few painful cuts where it looks like the author and/or publisher has determined that there won't be a further continuation of the series.
I've already started my end/beginning of the year attempt to figure out when the next book in a given series will be (or in some cases, was) released. So now I have about 23 books on hold at the library, of which half are already in.
I think I read more non-fiction last year than in previous years. I still have a lot of interest in the financial crisis (how it happened and how we responded to it) and in the growing income inequality in America so I'd like to read more books on those subjects. I'd also like to read a few books on things likes living alone or being an introvert. There was at least one prominent book on each of those topics last year.
I'd also like to read the ACD canon this year and take a look at some of the myriad Sherlock pastiches.
I should probably be better about writing reviews on goodreads. Occasionally I make an effort to write something like a real review rather than a few lines about what I did or didn't like. That helps later if I have to go back to try and refresh my memory about something. Too often the reviews are basically, yeah, that was fun. If I really like or dislike something I'll write something longer and more involved.
Finally, I'd like to cull my TBR pile on goodreads. I haven't looked at it in ages and I'm quite sure it needs to be pruned. I know I had at least one book on there that didn't belong because I'd read the book (though a different version, which is why I didn't realize it). And then I'd like to actually request some of those books from the library and read them. But not until after I finish the giant pile of books that are the most recent books in series I'm following. I'm already maxed out on my holds and there's no way I'll finish them all by the time they're due back.
Video Games:
I have a goal of 70,000 GS and a completion percentage of 70% (including DLC) on TrueAchievements. It's probably optimistic. I had the same GS score last year and I went from somewhere in the mid 30's to the mid 50's, I think.
I'm really looking forward to a few games coming out there year, Tomb Raider and Bioshock:Infinite. And State of Decay, of course. Once that baby drops I may disappear for a little while.
I'm taking part in the Great TrueAchievement Score Challenge and I'd like to make it at least a third of the way through. ojotango and I made it about halfway through the first time.
I also have goals for various badges on 360voice.
I would like to actually play those games I keep buying on the Steam sale. I'm an xbox girl at heart but some games are only available (or better) on the PC and it's silly to purchase them and not play.
I'm starting to really get into the Sims again (or at least the idea of it) but I feel like I can't get started actually playing that while my team is still in the GTASC. Hopefully after that the interest will still be there. I have plans for the Baker Street boys, of course.
I've already played The Testament of Sherlock Holmes but I want to play it again and then write a review/post about it. Again, GTASC makes that a bit difficult but I'll see if I can't find a way around it.
Miscellaneous
I'd like to be better about noting what movies I've seen and music I've listened to, if only to do a better job on the end of the year memes that aren't focused on Sherlock.
Get back into digital photography. Organize my photos and master editing software.
Then there's the usual be better about keeping the apartment clean, develop a sleep schedule like a normal person, be better about correspondence etc. Be better about being social with my friends who live around here.
Fandom:
This year I will write more fanfic. Of course, since I haven't written anything publicly since what, 2010? Anything would technically be more. But I love the Sherlock fandom and I'd like to contribute something besides the occasional bit of feedback.
I already have two people willing to beta and a friends willing to Britpick so the only thing left is to actually write something.
I have two things I started working on around Christmas but then got pulled away from. One is what will probably be a pair of 221Bs based around Skyfall, thanks to a conversation I had with earlgreytea68. The other is an ABCs of Sherlock thing, although I'll probably try to do one for Sherlock, John, and maybe Mycroft. It's 100 words for each letter but I'm concerned the format will be too repetitive and it's definitely telling rather than showing, which is generally a bad thing. Not to mention some of the letters are extremely tricky to find words for while others have an overabundance of options.
Both pieces have more telling than showing and neither has any dialog, which was generally my strong point. So I'm not really sure what to think about that. I don't think it'll be too bad for the 221B fics, but 2600 words without dialog is more problematic.
I want to do something with John/Sherlock (which the Skyfall thing kind of is), the ABCs is probably going to be gen or pre-slash. I've also been thinking a lot more about Mycroft because I think there's a lot of interesting things that could be explored. I've read several fics lately where Mycroft is power hungry and evil and I don't think that's right. I don't think he's benign, but I do think he's much more complex than a power hungry man. I think he cultivates power with a purpose rather than just because he enjoys having power. (Though there's probably some of that). I could go off on a whole long tangent but I won't yet. I'm not sure what to do with those thoughts though. Maybe some of it could be expressed in an ABC of Mycroft but I'm not sure. I don't think a pure essay would be all that entertaining to read (or write) but I don't have any ideas about how to explore it in a creative way, at last not at the moment. Something to think about on the back burner maybe.
I do have one other idea but it requires the help of someone else and I haven't even mentioned it to her yet.
I'd really like to make an effort to do a steady stream of recommendations and maybe, eventually, get my bookmarks all cleared out and organized, at least for completed fic. I'd like to do at least one post of week of recs, but hopefully I'll be able to do even more than that. I plan to continue the format of one post with all my records for that day and then copying the relevant recs onto the appropriate fandom specific page.
I'll have to do some thinking about how to deal with the longer series. I suspect in most cases I'll just end up reccing the entire series rather than individual stories. I don't know if people have a preference about that sort of thing but when you have 20+ stories or something and they're all in one area on AO3 it just seems like it would make more sense unless I don't want to rec the whole series but like individual stories within it.
I would like to get at least one Sherlock/John, or Sherlock or John soundtrack put together for my own listening entertainment if nothing else. If I ever manage it I might at least make a post listening the songs. I don't really have the skill to put together an awesome album cover.
I'd like to become more involved in the Sherlock fandom. I try to drop a note to an author/artist if there's a story/vid/art that I particularly like but I don't always manage it, especially if I find it on Tumblr rather than on LJ. I'd like to think that just because a fandom is huge it doesn't mean you can't make connections with individuals.
I'd also like to finally do those reaction posts to each episode and the commentary.
Despite this particular post, when I got back on LJ I tried to be better about not saying I'm going to try and make posts/accomplish x y and z. Partly because it often didn't happen but mostly because I feel like if I want to post about something I should just do that rather than talking about how I want to do it. And if I do promise someone I'm going to write about something (publicly or privately) I want to make the effort to do it. Confidential to nicelyobsessed: my goal is to do the harem post by the end of the week.
Finally, nicelyobsessed once offered to make me an LJ header and I'd like to find the pictures to make that happen. Does anyone know of a good place for stills from the show?
Books & Reading
I had goal to read 125 books last year and finished with 88. Oops. I am somewhat amused that goodreads apparently hides reading goals if you fail them. They're still there but they don't get the big graphic for when you complete a goal you've set.
This year my goal is 100 books. Since I started tracking in 2007 I'm 4 for 6 in reaching 100. I did go through and prune my currently following series list, finally ditching some series I've lost interest in and making a few painful cuts where it looks like the author and/or publisher has determined that there won't be a further continuation of the series.
I've already started my end/beginning of the year attempt to figure out when the next book in a given series will be (or in some cases, was) released. So now I have about 23 books on hold at the library, of which half are already in.
I think I read more non-fiction last year than in previous years. I still have a lot of interest in the financial crisis (how it happened and how we responded to it) and in the growing income inequality in America so I'd like to read more books on those subjects. I'd also like to read a few books on things likes living alone or being an introvert. There was at least one prominent book on each of those topics last year.
I'd also like to read the ACD canon this year and take a look at some of the myriad Sherlock pastiches.
I should probably be better about writing reviews on goodreads. Occasionally I make an effort to write something like a real review rather than a few lines about what I did or didn't like. That helps later if I have to go back to try and refresh my memory about something. Too often the reviews are basically, yeah, that was fun. If I really like or dislike something I'll write something longer and more involved.
Finally, I'd like to cull my TBR pile on goodreads. I haven't looked at it in ages and I'm quite sure it needs to be pruned. I know I had at least one book on there that didn't belong because I'd read the book (though a different version, which is why I didn't realize it). And then I'd like to actually request some of those books from the library and read them. But not until after I finish the giant pile of books that are the most recent books in series I'm following. I'm already maxed out on my holds and there's no way I'll finish them all by the time they're due back.
Video Games:
I have a goal of 70,000 GS and a completion percentage of 70% (including DLC) on TrueAchievements. It's probably optimistic. I had the same GS score last year and I went from somewhere in the mid 30's to the mid 50's, I think.
I'm really looking forward to a few games coming out there year, Tomb Raider and Bioshock:Infinite. And State of Decay, of course. Once that baby drops I may disappear for a little while.
I'm taking part in the Great TrueAchievement Score Challenge and I'd like to make it at least a third of the way through. ojotango and I made it about halfway through the first time.
I also have goals for various badges on 360voice.
I would like to actually play those games I keep buying on the Steam sale. I'm an xbox girl at heart but some games are only available (or better) on the PC and it's silly to purchase them and not play.
I'm starting to really get into the Sims again (or at least the idea of it) but I feel like I can't get started actually playing that while my team is still in the GTASC. Hopefully after that the interest will still be there. I have plans for the Baker Street boys, of course.
I've already played The Testament of Sherlock Holmes but I want to play it again and then write a review/post about it. Again, GTASC makes that a bit difficult but I'll see if I can't find a way around it.
Miscellaneous
I'd like to be better about noting what movies I've seen and music I've listened to, if only to do a better job on the end of the year memes that aren't focused on Sherlock.
Get back into digital photography. Organize my photos and master editing software.
Then there's the usual be better about keeping the apartment clean, develop a sleep schedule like a normal person, be better about correspondence etc. Be better about being social with my friends who live around here.