2011 Retrospective

[aadler]

 

Fanfic stuff this past year

The usual run of things since I joined the Army Reserve has been for me to maintain considerable fic output during a deployment, then fall off sharply on my return. I wanted to avoid repeating that, and managed to do it on both counts: first, on my last deployment I did more actual work and less fanfic (with a still-respectable showing, five stories), followed by continued writing after the deployment ended; in fact, I’ve done more since I returned than while I was away.

The deployment, however, was in 2009-10, and this post is about 2011. I made a good start during the year, with five fics in the first five months. Then … well, I got hung up on things. One of those was a project I started with sroni (my daughter), which went nicely right up to the part where it was her turn to do stuff. She let little things like international travel, job-hunting, and engagement to a visiting Irishman preoccupy her, with concomitant lack out output. And, like an idiot, I didn’t do anything else while waiting for her contribution, so that the last four months of the year passed without anything being finished.

Fics for the year:
“Hungry Like the Wolf”, Remix, April 2011
“How Wide the Gate”, April 2011
“An Eye to the Future”, April 2011
“Best Foot Forward”, Remix, October 2011
“In Words of Light and Flame”, April 2011 [the Book of Eli]
*Except for “In Words of Light and Flame”, all the stories were in the ’verse of Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel: the Series

Along with the stories themselves, I established and successfully carried off a limited remix of my own invention, the Circle of Friends Remix, which I intend to continue and which I hope to run twice a year. Still working out the details for that.

The result, then, was two additions to my Backstage Series, two to my Independent Stories (still in the Buffyverse), and one in Otherfandoms. And I notice that, of the four Buffy stories, three of them had Xander front and center.

I also truly intended to take part in Yuletide this year, but never got around to finding out the things I needed to know before it was time to make a commitment, so I let it pass. No promises for the future.

Personal stuff this past year

Not much in my own life. I failed to find a job, though I’ve been going at it with increasing seriousness. Maybe I’m just in the wrong place … because, a few states over, both my daughter and her Irish fiancé succeeded in being hired after a few interviews. Or maybe I went about it wrong. Either way, no result.

As I may have mentioned, the Afghanistan deployment for which my unit was scheduled got canceled, following the announced ‘victory’ in Iraq and the forcing of a precipitate (idiotic) withdrawal from that place. I followed out several avenues for trying to get my name on some other unit’s roster, before my time in the Army runs out, but am still waiting for results.

My son 1) graduated college, and 2) moved to China for a job. He called us this morning (New Year’s greetings, since in his time zone that point had already arrived), and among other things mentioned that most of the people he meets assume he’s Russian … because he speaks Mandarin and, in their experience, Americans don’t learn languages other than English.

My daughter is engaged again. In Ireland at the moment, actually, meeting her future in-laws.

Oh, and I copied my entire LiveJournal to Dreamwidth.

The year in general

Indeterminate. I did some things, stayed as busy as I could, but — to my mind — didn’t actually accomplish a lot, or change much in my own circumstances. I’m not unhappy, but I’ve been more satisfied and more optimistic.

Something to look forward to.