Fandom Snowflake Challenge #2

[aadler]

Taking on the meme/challenge here.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #2

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment here saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Fanfic

My main fanfic goal for this year goes clear back to a previous Snowflake Challenge. In this post, back in 2016, I challenged myself to turn out an average of one fic per month for the calendar year, meaning a full dozen. I managed four, and one of the events didn’t take place that year, so the lack didn’t count against me; eight years later, however, three of those stories have yet to be done.

No, I didn’t spend the last eight years turning out only nine fics; there have been nearly two dozen between then and now (plus drabbles and drabble collections), I just didn’t finish all the fics listed THERE. Yet.

Of that original list, however, only one of the three fics that remain is really challenging, and I’ve been thinking on that and sketching notes for it since the end of 2005. All those years, there have always been other stories that wanted to be told first, but those other stories have pretty much all been done by now, and I only have that one big one left (plus two smaller). There’s no reason I can’t finish them in 2024, especially since I’ve already made a start on the Big One.

Other

I really wanted to spend a few years doing RV travel. My wife, though, is beginning to weary of it. She likes being new places, but the going itself is rough on her. (She also occasionally expresses frustration at the cramped quarters.) At the same time, she really wants to be in China so we can spend more time with our granddaughter. Our son has said he doesn’t want her to do that till she’s healthy enough to get around readily, so that’s basically a two-way goal for me: look further into getting a tow dolly and a personal car that can be flat-towed, so she doesn’t have to drive behind me on the days we travel, and work with her on increasing her fitness.

Plus, I really need to finally file for my military retirement. I’ve been in no hurry, and been doing fine without it so far, but I want it to be in place so my wife will have it in case anything unexpected happens to me.

That’s how it is, then. Other things as they arise.

Comments

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the patient ghosts of long term WiPs. :) I hope the writing flows easily for you.
And I'm wishing you luck in achieving all of your year's goals.

[aadler]

I can’t even really call these works in progress, because that would mean something unfinished. The stories I’m talking about (SaM, AtSR, and TPA) have been waiting for me to begin them. Still, as I noted in my 2023 year-end fanfic retrospective, there are a solid number of stories I dealt with the same way, keeping them in the background till I felt ready to get started. SaM has been on hold that way for a long time — my earliest notes on it are 17 years old, and I’d been thinking on the idea for a long time before that — but I’ve caught up on old projects before and I’m ready to go at this one now.

As for the other goals, we’ll see about those as we go.

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

I don't know, ideas that have been simmering away on the back burner o the brain do gain a liminal presence that's weightier than *just* ideas. 17 years is a long time to be bubbling away. At the very least it's been well-seasoned.

[svgurl.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the writing and I hope you're able to find a way to comfortably travel that works for both you and your wife! :D

[aadler]

The RV travel is a process. She came up with a new idea just today: when we’re on our way somewhere, instead of staying overnight at each stop on the way to the eventual destination, stay two days and spend the extra one just relaxing and seeing what’s there at that location.

As for the writing, I currently have 1,000 words on one story and nearly 1,400 on another. And a full year to do those three stories specifically. I’m feeling some optimism.