Snowflake Challenge: Day 1 (or; if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands)
Hello! If you're reading this than you it's either because we know each other in rl to the extent you know about my fic life, and / or once upon a time we used to hang out in a shared space called fandom. Either way, hello, it's nice to be back and see you again. Look how we've all grown!
For reasons that will shortly become clear, I have decided to belatedly participate in this year's Snowflake Challenge. If you're not familiar with it, this challenge is fandom centric, and takes place in the first few weeks of January each year. Each day, participants are given a fandom related topic to respond to, through writing, through fanart, through recs, etc. I may be seeing out the year with this challenge, rather than welcoming it in, but from now until 2017 I'll be following the original 2016 list. Starting with:
Day 1 - Talk about why you're participating in Snowflake.
First, a little backstory.
If you have been around on LiveJournal this year, and let's face it, most of us (uncluding largely me) haven't, you'll know that as is the case for so many others, I've had a fairly rubbish year. Having made it through 35 years unscathed for someone who spent much of her childhood outside, up trees and on bikes, I spectacularly broke my upper arm in February in a classic "falling on my bum while ice skating" incident.
Looking back now, I have spent much of the past ten months feeling tired and fed up, and at times actually depressed. Mostly, what I have felt is inert. The deaths of one creative person after another, has not helped any, nor did the horrifying Brexit and American election results.
2016 has been filled with hospital appointments, where we tried to decide for six months whether or not there was any improvement, until in August we determined, no there really wasn't and it needed operating on. A few false starts, wherein I was put on the wrong (non-urgent) surgical list, and one horrible (on the day) cancellation, I finally got put back together again at the beginning of October. I am delighted to report that as of now, my arm is rapidly approaching the point where it could be described as "healed".
I am back at work full time, I am not in constant pain, I can play with my nephews, cook, bake, knit, play the guitar, play the violin (though I have slid back down the ladder a bit!), write longhand sentences longer than eight words, type for long periods, drive and live a normal life without feeling like I constantly need a nap. I am attending regular physiotherapy to strengthen all the muscles in my arm and shoulder that have withered away, but that too is improving immensely.
In short, I am reclaiming my life in as many spheres as possible. This includes writing again, both fic and attending a monthly screenwriting course on adaptation. I write better in my long-form original work when I'm also doing short bursts of creative writing elsewhere, including fic and other fannish activities. And I miss fandom. I miss you. Many of us are friends on other social media, but LiveJournal is where it started and fandom, the act of sharing creatively, is what made us start to share personally. For that reason, I'm also unlocking my journal for this challenge.
As akamine_chan, the creator and mod of the Snowflake Challenge writes in her introductory post,
"Part of this challenge is about fandom and the awesome the people in it. The other part of this challenge, just as important, is about getting us to interact with each other. Fandom is what weaves us together, friendship and love and laughter and life. It's the fabric of our lives. Come share it with us.
And share it with others."
After a year spent in hibernation, I want to share again. The snowflake challenge seemed the perfect place to start.I'll be continuing tomorrow with:
Day 2 - Create a fannish wish list.
I hope to see you there.