2015 in Review
2015 treated me better, mental health-wise, than 2014 did; probably because I was really busy and so my brain couldn't turn inward and try to eat itself like it was doing before. It was nowhere near as productive writing-wise, however, which is understandable but disappointing. Here's what I posted in 2015.
Posted Stats
Total words posted: 11,254
Production by Fandom:
The Floor Under Our Feet Whispers. Teen Wolf, Derek/Sheriff, 2,216 words. Romance/first time with home improvement.
sigh it into my mouth. Teen Wolf, Derek/Lydia/Stiles, 1,000 words. Podficced by thilia. Present-tense character study from wolf!Derek's POV.
With Your Warm Wet Mouth. Elementary, Joan/Marcus, 972 words. PWP, semi-public blowjob.
In the Shape of You. Warehouse 13, Helena/Myka, 2,350 words. Angst with a happy(ish) ending. Begun in 2014.
Control. Inception, Arthur/Saito, 1,837 words. Watersports with D/s.
Ficlets
Leather and Lace. MCU, Melinda/Pepper, 125 words. Clothes-sharing.
Perfume. Teen Wolf, Kira/Malia, 150 words. Scent kink.
Killers. Mad Max: Fury Road, Toast Gen, 150 words. Backstory.
Not Just a River in Egypt. Teen Wolf, Lydia/always-a-girl!Stiles, 200 words. Girl crush.
Electricity. Teen Wolf, Kira/Malia, 150 words. Electrical play.
Entirely Understandable. Teen Wolf, Cora/Malia, 200 words. One-night stand.
Office Sex. MCU, Natasha/Pepper, 250 words. See title.
The Cradle of Her Hands. How to Get Away with Murder, Annalise/Eve, 474 words. Breathplay.
A Whisper of Air. Warehouse 13, Leena/Myka, 475 words. Hair braiding.
One Last Bit of Beauty. MCU, Melinda/Natasha, 507 words. Scarification.
Ain't Nothing That I Need. Elementary, Joan/Marcus, 200 words. Mixed Orientation Relationship with Aro!Joan.
BUT! There was also that one thing, that November thing, where I wrote 28,240 words of Pepper/Rhodey/Tony AU (but not as AU as it looks) fic!
!!!!!
And there are a few moderately substantial fics that are still sitting in my WIP folder. So really my writing production in 2015 looks more like this.
Total Stats
Total words written: 41,408 words
Production by Fandom:
My favorite fic of the year kind of has to be the longfic -- hot damn, I can't believe I actually did that! Writing a long fic was going to be my goal for 2016, and I ended up doing it in 2015, practically on a whim! It's my favorite just because I can say I accomplished it, really. But beyond that. . . I don't think I can pick a favorite fic this year. Every fic did something different for me, and I was proud of every fic in a different way. All my kinky end-of-year fics were just delightful to me, tapping into my id in ways I don't normally. All my femslash100 ficlets were written straight from some inspiration and came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned. The Floor Under My Feet Whispers was the first traditionally romantic fic I completed and it's just so fluffy and warm that I'm not surprised people reacted so well to it. (It was definitely my most popular fic posted all year, and one of my most popular of all time.) sigh it into my mouth, while I doubt it counts as a success by any measure, was a really fun and interesting experience for me because I was working with someone else during the writing process, and I was writing specifically to be read aloud so I was hyper-focused on the sound and rhythm of the fic. And In the Shape of You, even though it was short, was a chaptered fic, so I had it living in my brain the longest, and there were two regular commenters responding to each update with such gracious, in-depth comments that just that fic would have made my year worth it.
In terms of how I felt in general. . . as evidenced by my overall liking for my fics, I actually felt pretty good this year! Even in the first 3/4 of the year, when I wasn't doing very much writing, what writing I was doing felt pretty good, pretty easy. I think it actually was good for me as a writer to be trying to fit it in around work instead of having whatever hours I wanted to write in -- it meant that I really buckled down when I was writing and focused, didn't let myself get distracted because I knew I had hours and hours ahead of me so I didn't need to rush.
And then in the last quarter, I blew my own mind with my NaNoWriMo. Every day I sat down thinking "Well, I'm probably not going to be able to do this, but hey, what's the harm in trying?" And then, way more often than I expected, I could in fact do it. And even when I couldn't quite make my goal, I still got a hell of a lot closer than I ever had before.
It helped, I think, that I wasn't working on projects that I was really seriously emotionally invested in. It felt like there was so much less at stake than it usually feels like there is. Or no. . . it's not that I wasn't invested in the projects. . . it's more than I wasn't as emotionally invested in writing itself as I was the previous two years. I was spending so much emotional investment on learning my new job that the writing was an afterthought in many respects, and I was freer in it that way.
So looking forward to 2016, I need to figure out how to keep that sense of freedom while actually upping my production, because while 40,000 words is miles better than the 11,000 words posted, it's still not the 72,000 words I wrote in 2013, and even that 72,000 words is nothing compared to what I'd like to be able to write.
Posted Stats
Total words posted: 11,254
Production by Fandom:
- Elementary: 1,172 words
- Marvel Cinematic Universe: 882 words
- Teen Wolf: 3,916 words
- Warehouse 13: 2,825 words
- Other: 2,459 words
- F/F: 4,681 words
- F/M: 1,372 words
- M/M: 4,051 words
- Multi: 1,000 words
- Gen: 150 words
The Floor Under Our Feet Whispers. Teen Wolf, Derek/Sheriff, 2,216 words. Romance/first time with home improvement.
sigh it into my mouth. Teen Wolf, Derek/Lydia/Stiles, 1,000 words. Podficced by thilia. Present-tense character study from wolf!Derek's POV.
With Your Warm Wet Mouth. Elementary, Joan/Marcus, 972 words. PWP, semi-public blowjob.
In the Shape of You. Warehouse 13, Helena/Myka, 2,350 words. Angst with a happy(ish) ending. Begun in 2014.
Control. Inception, Arthur/Saito, 1,837 words. Watersports with D/s.
Ficlets
Leather and Lace. MCU, Melinda/Pepper, 125 words. Clothes-sharing.
Perfume. Teen Wolf, Kira/Malia, 150 words. Scent kink.
Killers. Mad Max: Fury Road, Toast Gen, 150 words. Backstory.
Not Just a River in Egypt. Teen Wolf, Lydia/always-a-girl!Stiles, 200 words. Girl crush.
Electricity. Teen Wolf, Kira/Malia, 150 words. Electrical play.
Entirely Understandable. Teen Wolf, Cora/Malia, 200 words. One-night stand.
Office Sex. MCU, Natasha/Pepper, 250 words. See title.
The Cradle of Her Hands. How to Get Away with Murder, Annalise/Eve, 474 words. Breathplay.
A Whisper of Air. Warehouse 13, Leena/Myka, 475 words. Hair braiding.
One Last Bit of Beauty. MCU, Melinda/Natasha, 507 words. Scarification.
Ain't Nothing That I Need. Elementary, Joan/Marcus, 200 words. Mixed Orientation Relationship with Aro!Joan.
BUT! There was also that one thing, that November thing, where I wrote 28,240 words of Pepper/Rhodey/Tony AU (but not as AU as it looks) fic!
!!!!!
And there are a few moderately substantial fics that are still sitting in my WIP folder. So really my writing production in 2015 looks more like this.
Total Stats
Total words written: 41,408 words
Production by Fandom:
- Elementary: 1,172 words
- Marvel Cinematic Universe: 30,388 words
- Teen Wolf: 4,551 words
- Warehouse 13: 2,825 words
- Other: 2,472 words
- F/F: 4,694 words
- F/M: 1,372 words
- M/M: 5,776 words
- Multi: 28,150 words
- Gen: 1,416 words
My favorite fic of the year kind of has to be the longfic -- hot damn, I can't believe I actually did that! Writing a long fic was going to be my goal for 2016, and I ended up doing it in 2015, practically on a whim! It's my favorite just because I can say I accomplished it, really. But beyond that. . . I don't think I can pick a favorite fic this year. Every fic did something different for me, and I was proud of every fic in a different way. All my kinky end-of-year fics were just delightful to me, tapping into my id in ways I don't normally. All my femslash100 ficlets were written straight from some inspiration and came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned. The Floor Under My Feet Whispers was the first traditionally romantic fic I completed and it's just so fluffy and warm that I'm not surprised people reacted so well to it. (It was definitely my most popular fic posted all year, and one of my most popular of all time.) sigh it into my mouth, while I doubt it counts as a success by any measure, was a really fun and interesting experience for me because I was working with someone else during the writing process, and I was writing specifically to be read aloud so I was hyper-focused on the sound and rhythm of the fic. And In the Shape of You, even though it was short, was a chaptered fic, so I had it living in my brain the longest, and there were two regular commenters responding to each update with such gracious, in-depth comments that just that fic would have made my year worth it.
In terms of how I felt in general. . . as evidenced by my overall liking for my fics, I actually felt pretty good this year! Even in the first 3/4 of the year, when I wasn't doing very much writing, what writing I was doing felt pretty good, pretty easy. I think it actually was good for me as a writer to be trying to fit it in around work instead of having whatever hours I wanted to write in -- it meant that I really buckled down when I was writing and focused, didn't let myself get distracted because I knew I had hours and hours ahead of me so I didn't need to rush.
And then in the last quarter, I blew my own mind with my NaNoWriMo. Every day I sat down thinking "Well, I'm probably not going to be able to do this, but hey, what's the harm in trying?" And then, way more often than I expected, I could in fact do it. And even when I couldn't quite make my goal, I still got a hell of a lot closer than I ever had before.
It helped, I think, that I wasn't working on projects that I was really seriously emotionally invested in. It felt like there was so much less at stake than it usually feels like there is. Or no. . . it's not that I wasn't invested in the projects. . . it's more than I wasn't as emotionally invested in writing itself as I was the previous two years. I was spending so much emotional investment on learning my new job that the writing was an afterthought in many respects, and I was freer in it that way.
So looking forward to 2016, I need to figure out how to keep that sense of freedom while actually upping my production, because while 40,000 words is miles better than the 11,000 words posted, it's still not the 72,000 words I wrote in 2013, and even that 72,000 words is nothing compared to what I'd like to be able to write.