Year in Review - 2013
Well well. 2014 is well underway. I hope it’s going smashingly for all of you. I can’t say I’m sorry to see the back of 2013. It had its moments, that’s for sure. Like the Snicklet’s first birthday party (and probably a lot of first everythings). It was also the year I went back to work after being off on mat leave. That went well for a few months until all the new projects they were giving me finally piled up enough to tip the scales into more than is manageable in a day. That hasn’t let up since, but about half the projects are closing now so I’m hopeful that by April it will. It’s even odds as to whether my sanity lasts til then.
A number of other crazy shenanigans happened in Snickville this fall. October (Canadian Thanksgiving) was also the time when our drains decided to back up. So we had to move out of the house for a few days while they tore up our driveway and replaced all the old clay piping with new PVC stuff - to the tune of $16k (also Canadian - not that that matters much these days). In November, they put most of the driveway back, just not the interlocking bricks that go on top, or the steps to our back door. Mr Snick was handy enough to build some wooden ones out of decking lumber and now we can still use the door. Although there’s not much of anywhere to go with all the bricks piled up back there! They make taking out the garbage bins a real pain, so we’ll be glad in the spring when the ground has settled and we’re allowed to put them back. (Ourselves. *sarcastic yay*)
In December, the holidays saw us booted out of the house again, with the great Ice Storm of 2013. 700,000 homes lost their electricity for 4-8 days - and for most of us, that’s also our source of heat. We had to get the Snicklet somewhere warm, and ended up imposing a few days early on family for Christmas, but we were luckier than a lot of others, and did have an oven to put a turkey in. While we were having this holly jolly time crammed into a 2 bedroom dwelling with a toddler that makes sure all 7 inhabitants start their day at 5:30 am, Mr Snick broke his wrist, and the ice storm brought down two adult trees in our front yard - mostly on top of the house. That was another 3k to have removed, but luckily when it was finally done, there was no damage to speak of - to the house that is. The trees are goners. Insurance will cover this one, so we get to tack on the $500 of food that went bad in the freezer while the lights were out too. We also came home to no internet, the ice had taken the cable down too.
2014 is off to a bumpy but hopeful start. Mr Snick is starting to be able to do more around the house, and pick up the Snicklet and whatnot (although I think I let the not changing of diapers go on longer than it probably needed to!) although our washer and dryer decided to pack it in this week, and the internet decided to crap out a second time! But now I’m back and jacked in, and we’re happy and safe, and what’s dropping another couple thousand on a new washer-dryer? At this point it feels like a drop in the old bucket - besides. They stack. Which means extra space in the laundry room. I mean sure they’re really fancy and have a digital display and steam-iron your clothes for you these days - but what we’re really jazzed about is the $30 set tub we are now going to have room for! No more washing toxic paintbrushes in the sink were we scrub our veggies for the Snicks! Mark my words my friends, 2014 is the year we hit the BIG TIME.
Writing-wise, it was another slow year for me. The story count is lower, but the word count is up. I wrote… 7 things. *faceplam*
They are all Die Hard.
Part of my slow writing year was due to all the whining I’ve just done above, but part of it was for something good, too (at least I hope it’s good). I’ve started work on my first original novel. I haven’t started MUCH work, mind. But I’ve started.
A slow year is still a year that can be reviewed, so let’s have a looksee at my annual year-in-review meme shall we? Stories are below, questions are below the cut.
February
Next Stop:Disneyland (PG-13)
John and Matt watch the Super Bowl (Oh, and Matt gets hypothermia)
April
Coming Clean (NC-17)
They say it all comes out in the wash.
Covert Ops (PG)
For a minute Jack thinks she's going to pretend he doesn't know what he's talking about. Like it hasn't been completely obvious all afternoon.
June
It's About Time (PG-13)
They say time waits for no man. And John McClane never figured on ending up spending half his life doing it either.
August
Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (R)
And there he is, sweet young Matthew. Still lithe and whip-thin in jeans and sneakers, still with all the audacity of a fucking tom-cat. The blazing sun is playing over that head of dark, lustrous hair… and the muzzle of the weapon pointed right at John’s chest.
September
Some Assembly Required (R)
There are boxes. Big ones, stacked up outside Matt's bedroom door.
December
Your Mission (Should You Choose to Accept It) (PG-13)
"You might have to try, I don't know, hitting him in the face with a Mack truck. While it's on fire."
My favorite story of mine this year:
I always have trouble with this question. I’m so insecure about my writing it makes it very hard for me to actually *like* any of it. But oddly enough (because people tend to feel most closely attached to more recent things they can still remember and connect with) I think it’s the first one, Next Stop:Disneyland . The one where Matt gets hypothermia on his way over to John’s on Superbowl Sunday and John oh-so-believably uses body heat instead of a hot shower to thaw him out. :D
There’s a few reasons. I guess the most obvious is because it’s a big ol’ cuddlefest, and it’s schmoopy and first-timey and full of fluff and UST and all that good stuff I enjoy so much about slash. But it’s also one of the stories that rings the most true to me. I’ve been writing these characters a long time now (3 and a half years, omg). I’ve gotten the comment that I somehow still manage to keep the characters fresh, and I think part of that is because I tried to avoid getting too comfortable. It’s one thing to feel like you’ve figured the character out, but another to sort of rest on your laurels and assume you know everything there is to know about them already. Just like with real people, that never happens. There’s always something new to learn. But I got busy this year. Really busy. ‘Back to work full time with a baby at home and all that other stuff I mentioned above’ busy. And I think this story was written when I still had the most time available. I wasn’t back to work yet, and all hell hadn’t broken loose on the homeowner front, and my kid was still crawling instead of running everywhere and using exciting new words to go around constantly demanding things like milk, and movies, and a season’s package of tickets to the symphony. Ok, I’ve got some time for that one. Probably less time until he demands an iPad mini.
So at some point after getting ‘milk, movies and opera tickets’ busy, I think I probably did start to rely on my years of experience with these characters a little, and ease up on how much time I spent agonizing over each line and each movement. So this was probably the last story I really engaged with. I was pretty deep into Matt’s POV, not just in terms of his character, but also in terms of what he was experiencing - and always taking pains to filter that experience through Matt’s individual character and the way he (as opposed to me) would perceive it. You know, the kind of self-indulgent, introspective thing that makes writing *fun*. :) As writers, we hope the extra care also makes it good.
My best story:
There are problems with it, but given what I said above about feeling like I slacked off a little with the characterization this year, I think the best one is probably Coming Clean , my small fandom big bang story. Maybe in part because it’s the longest, so can inherently feel more satisfying to read, but because of the way the big bang was scheduled, this was actually written before Next Stop: Disneyland, even though it was posted later. I was still in that phase where I had a bit of time to pour into it. Although I do feel that these characters are a little less spot on than the ones in the superbowl fic. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written and it came out pretty well in terms of the romantic plot I think. I like the emotion and satisfaction in it. I’m not sure I like the parts with John sitting at the bar. Not because they’re flashbacks, just because some of the language is too…too. If ya knowwhutImean. (if you don’t, I mean cheesy)
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Oh I don’t know. Fandom has gotten very very small and it’s hard to say when there are so few reactions to gauge by. Also, like I said, I was sort of less…invested in the next three stories I wrote, so I think I wasn’t too hugely offended by a dim reaction. It’s hard to remember but I feel like the one to get the coolest reception might have been It's About Time. It’s the one about John waiting for Matt to come to bed. The first part, before Matt does, stretched out longer than I expected with a lot of thinky thoughts I didn’t expect John to have about marriage - and his failed one with Holly, and anxiety about the same thing happening with Matt, etc etc - so that I think people just found it depressing. The end was cute, but I think the introspection kind of took over the story and didn’t leave the reader with as fluffy a feeling as I (and they) might have wanted.
Most fun story:
Ooh, tough call. I think the reader would say the most fun read is Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also known as waterfight-fic, where John and Matt retire to the suburbs. But I think I had the most fun *writing* Next Stop: Disneyland (aka hypothermia fic). But again, that might have been the time-to-write factor letting me feel more engaged. Covert Ops, in which Jack and Lucy observe John and Matt washing dishes together, is also a pretty fun, or at least light-hearted, story, and definitely was the most well received by fandom at large. But then I think that’s just down to the mysterious love of outside POV people seem to have. I’d say ‘write an outside POV and you’re guaranteed an audience success’, but then the sequel to that, Your Mission (Should You Choose to Accept It), didn’t do nearly as door-crashingly well. Go figure.
Most sexy story:
Heh. I was looking at my list, and in addition to being my slowest year, it was also a little out of character for me. First time or how-we-got-together fic is always my favourite. It has lots of longing and UST and slashy gay-freakout introspection. Reading over what I did this year, I have: 2 established relationship fics, 2 are preslash (and outside POV to boot), and 1 is we’ve-done-this-before-but-aren’t-in-a-relationship-yet (also unusual for me), so when there’s only 7 stories to choose from (*facepalm*) it doesn’t leave lot of room for sexy shenanigans. John and Matt managed to roll around on top of each other in 3 of them, which I guess is pretty impressive stats given their opportunity count, lol. But the only story with any actual sex in it is Coming Clean. So I guess that’s got to be the one. (and the sex in that one is half the fic. so.)
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Oh, ha. I feel like I have the same answer every year; “I don’t write things I think are wrong blah blah snickety-blah”. And in such a lean year I definitely didn’t do much pushing my boundaries. Some of the sex scene in Coming Clean made me blush, if that counts. The rimming and John’s dirty talk, definitely. That felt a little out of my comfort zone - although I’m pretty sure there’s not anything *wrong* with it, if it’s your thing. ;)
Story with single sexiest moment:
UGH are we still stuck on this story? BORING. lol
Then again, given that Coming Clean represents more than half of my word count for the entire year, maybe it makes sense for it to have more than half the answers. We’ll see how it works out…
Oh right. The question. Being the only story with sex, I guess I’d have to say this one. And the moment? Oh probably John talking dirty. As much as it made me uncomfortable/wasn’t exactly my thing. :)
Story with single sweetest moment:
Oh man. Um. They have their first kiss in Next Stop:Disneyland and they freakin’ say I LOVE YOU in Coming Clean, so I don’t know why I’m picking It's About Time, the fic that came out all lonely and depressing. Probably because when Matt finally comes to bed, the thought of them all smooshy with tired, over-worked woozy Matt all mussed-up and tunnel-visiony, nuzzling and snuggling into sleepy, muzzy, growly-bear John and being all cuddly and impish and reassuringly gropy and demanding sex…I dunno, they’re cute.
Most unintentionally *telling* story:
Nah, none of these are particularly telling. If I had to pick something, I might say It's About Time maybe offers a bit of insight into some of my thoughts on marriage - I mean I guess anything an author ever writes is technically a thought they personally have had. But again, I work really hard to filter everything through the character in question, so that’s never a foolproof way to learn anything about an author. There could indeed be some stuff John thinks that I don’t agree with, but I write it out anyway for the sake of truth to the character (or sometimes the plot). :)
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Oh I know these guys way too well now for this. ;) Besides, I already admitted I slacked off in this department this year. However, Die Hard 5 did bring us a new canon Jack and I wrote Covert Ops from his POV, and a sequel Your Mission (Should You Choose to Accept It). The sequel is actually longer and I think covered more of an exploration of my head-canon Jack and his issues with his father.
My pre-DH5 Jack headcanon was pretty influenced by the knowledge that Matt’s character was originally supposed to be Jack. So for a long while there, he was a hacker in my head. I did have a few bunnies floating around based on that - that maybe he and Matt knew each other online - maybe even dated! I sort of threw that one out when I realized the generally accepted fanon is Matt has also dated Lucy, and he would have dated everyone in the McClane family who wasn’t Holly at that point. Kinda gross. But I did have a couple half-written conversations about them meeting in person and then figuring out they’d already met online under a bunch of different net handles. I guess the new Jack killed a few bunnies that way.
My other main thought about Jack pre-DH5 was that since Lucy is made out to be so like John in DH4, that Jack would be more like Holly, but they sort of went with trying to make him a John-clone I think. Or something. Jack also was younger in my head, based on what I could piece together from the hints in past movies, than he was made to be in DH5 - either that or becoming a spy early in life really prematurely ages a guy! So although he isn’t part of the main pairing, there have been changes in how I view Jack, for sure. Although I’m not sure how much of that is my writing shifting my thoughts, and not simply the effect of new canon. I do tend to get the comment on my Jack-fics that he is much more relatable in my stories than he was in the movies. I think I probably agree with that. Sorry DH5 writers.
Biggest disappointment:
Bah, I think I was too disengaged to be disappointed too much by anything. *Maybe* It's About Time? It came out a little more depressing than I planned.
Biggest surprise:
I’m always surprised what people like. Covert Ops really seemed to tickle people, especially on A03. Even though it wasn’t the story that took the longest to write, or even the most thought. It’s not new to me that people seem to love outside POV, but it still seems to surprise me. I just don’t GET it. I always expect them to be reading fanfic (instead of reading something original, or watching a movie, or giving a sponge bath to a narwhal) because they love the characters. And in my head, giving the POV to someone else means you get less of your character fix. But then I guess some people are reading fanfic because they love reading.
Hardest story to write:
Oh I think it had to be Coming Clean. Just because it was the longest, and the way I write isn’t linear. I always come up with my beginning, then my ending, and then there’s a bunch of things I want to happen in the middle, and once I get those down I’m left with holes to plug. When you’re writing a big bang (or anything long) the holes are that much bigger, and that much more plentiful. And the holes are always the hardest part. That’s why they get left for last. :) (I’m definitely having the same trouble with my original novel.)
There's always the deadline issue with a big bang too. And that always psychs me out.
Easiest story to write:
It’s funny, I went up to check my list of stories, just curious to see if I had used each of them as an answer to something, and now I swear I’m not just doing this to use all of them, but I think it might have been Some Assembly Required. Because I barely remember writing it! I was going to choose Next Stop: Disneyland, and comment that in a way it was the easiest and the hardest to write, because I remember just going full-tilt on it. So I was writing fast, getting it done, the words were coming - which I guess falls under ‘easy’ for writers. But I was working so hard on it, pushing myself to finish, thinking about it even when I was away from the screen for a few hours having dinner at my fathers…whereas the one I barely remember doing, has to be the easiest one, right? I went back and checked the comments to see if I could find anything chatty I’d said about writing this one and I found this:
“This one was a free-range animal. It was totally off the leash, and just barely contained within the parameters of a story that made sense. This was the first time I stopped worrying about each line and each word and whether I repeated anything I hadn't meant to - because I HAD to. Time was limited and so was my ability to write; I was so, so tired, I don't know how I got it posted without major errors like forgetting the whole title or something. As a result, it's lacking not only some of the extra words and flowery language and interminable delving into and dwelling on what the character is thinking of my usual fare, but also the little hints I usually put in as to the background of how they got here - no mention of how long Matt's been living there, or how long it's been since that 'first time this happened'. That worried me, but I let it go (again, I HAD to, or it wouldn't get written) and trusted that it had what it needed to tell the story (and hoped that would come off as subtlety, or something more or less deliberate), and trusted the reader to fill in their own blanks. Which are probably better than anything I could have prescribed for them.”
Interesting. I should go back and read it, and compare the quality of it with the hypothermia fic I worked really really hard on and see if the quality really seems different. Because if it’s just as good…maybe I need to do more speed writing.
This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most:
This question always kills me lol. And I always rack my brain to make up some BS answer, but this year I’m tapping out. There isn’t one, m’kay? I try really hard to make my fic have variety. That includes in the themes. Sorry, question.
Amount of fic that lurks, unposted, on your hard drive and why:
Oh this one is simple. Not sure if original fiction counts as ‘fic’ or if the idea of this meme is for fandom only, but the answer is one big one. The obvious reason for not posting is most publishers these days specify that a work they accept must never have been published before. And posting online counts as online publishing.
Usually for this question I do a bunny count though, and I think since I published that last sequel a couple weeks back, everything that was kicking around the back of my brain as a story idea has now been flushed out of the ol’ noggin. I still have my old bunny document full of notes, but anything that was a fully fleshed out plot idea and not, just, like an expression Warlock would use or something, has been written. It’s not unheard of for me to make an entire fic out of a line of dialogue, in fact that basically sums up my entire first year of fic-writing back in 2010. I don’t know what that says for this year. I do know 2013 hasn’t been the best year for writing. I also, as much as I hate excuses, have to acknowledge the Snicklet’s toddler days are going to be the busiest time of my life. All too soon he’ll have friends’ houses to run off to and school to be at and video games and girl(/boy)friends that are far more important than conversing with his parents. Maybe then I’ll get some time to myself! It doesn’t mean I’m giving up right now, not in the least, but this *is* when it’s going to be the most challenging.
That said, I have two more writing commitments this month - a resolutions-themed story for sexy_right, and one more prompt to fill at smallfandomfest. When (if omg) I get those done, I’ll have three stories done this year already, which will be pretty much half my turnout of 2013, so maybe things are looking up.
I have also set a word count goal for getting my original work finished this year. I plan to write 6,000 words a month. This month I’ve gotten 5,000 done so far! So goodbye 2013, you had your ups and downs, but it looks like 2014 is off to not a bad start… :D
Totals
Last year:
-9 stories (ok maybe 2013 wasn’t as bad as I thought!)
-22,321 words
This year:
-7 stories
-39,025 (23,118 on Coming Clean - 14,907 on everything else)
Happy Belated New Year, y’all!
<3 ‘Snick
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