#Doesn't help that I haven't drawn for a couple days either so The Energy is building meanwhile I'm trying to wall up against the flood

[sysig]

Goal: Be normal

Obstacle: Watching literally any interpretation of Treasure Island, apparently

[altraviolet]

Thank you @spicedrobot for the template! (template HERE)

My stats are kinda wonky because Echo Garden took 4 years to write but since it ended in 2024, all its stats go towards 2024's totals.

Other than TEG, I only wrote 2* other fics and I love them all equally tbh so I chose Nucleus Memory simply because it isn't TEG and was a really fun big bang with Sync :)

The numbers for the fics at the bottom are total comments and total bookmarks (AO3 distinguishes between comment threads vs total comments and public bookmarks vs total (public + private) bookmarks so I went with total for both).

*I also wrote my secret solenoid fic but it won't be published until tomorrow which means it'll count towards 2025's stats!

Long post!

This was a challenging year for many people, for sure! Personally, there were a lot of things that took away the energy/time I need to write. Family things (2 funerals and a wedding) and my day job (which is killing me, sometimes fast, sometimes slow). TEG ate my brain completely and so even though it ended in February, I haven't written very much since then. But I've decided to try to take a healthy view of this and not be mad that it's taking so long to recover xD but I do hope it hurries up! I had an initial goal to move on to original writing after TEG, but I think I'll try one more Really Big Fic as practice before doing so.

Since I only wrote 3 fics in 2024, I'll do a lil list of my thoughts:

The Echo Garden: massive fic! thanks so much to all the new readers and to everyone who's drawn art or left comments or rec'd it to new folks. it's astonishing to me that it's still drawing new readers :u I'm very happy overall with the fic. it was hard to write, sometimes, but I'll keep it positive here! there are so so so SO SO many posts about this fic, and comments, and the whole last chapter of it is a giant author's note with even more info. honestly I don't know what else to say about it that wouldn't either be a repeat of information or extremely long. it's very probable that if you're reading this post, it's because of TEG, so thank you for reading! :)

Nucleus Memory: reverse mini bang project with sync! they drew a pic and had a pitch, and I and another writer each wrote a fic about it! sync had some awesome ideas, I'm really happy I was selected to do their prompt. they did some beautiful art!! be sure to check it out if you haven't!

Bismuth: this fic was done for a Soundwave-centric zine! in Jan 2024 I read The Locked Tomb series and it had a big effect on my brain. this fic was an attempt to write something in an inspired style: disjointed, parallel timelines. scenes out of order. purposeful confusion to make the ending reveal rewarding. plus I got to jam another rarepair into the TF mire

In 2025 I hope to plan and post another big Rodimus/Soundwave fic, as well as any little idea that comes along, and also maybe participate in the TF big bang and secret solenoid events again! I'll probably abstain from zine events, but, I say that every time and then apply anyway xD

2020-2024 will always be the TEG years for me, and it's honestly strange to leave it behind. the 5 year anniversary of posting chapter 1 is in a couple months (holy moly :u) and that's wonderful and humbling. I don't think anything else I ever do will resonate so much with people, which is good in that I'm glad it gained such a happy audience and helped so many people. But it does make the idea of working on future fics to less reception a little less appealing.

There's nothing to do but keep going, though. I mean, the alternative is to not do anything? Nah. I do think unless another TF One style canon production drags a bunch more young people into the fandom, there probably will be a slow decline of new readers throughout 2025. Eventually it'll become less of a daily reminder for me, and it'll become more of a Past Thing and less of a Now Thing. If that doesn't make any sense, don't worry. It's like... idk. I get a lot of reminders of its existence every day. Which is fine! I think it'll peter off, though. And I'll work very hard again to make something to share, and I hope people will love it just as much =)

Anyway!!!!

Thanks for reading! I hope 2025 will be a very fun and productive year for all writers! 🎉✍️✨ That will mean so much good stuff for readers! Be sure to encourage your favs with comments!

Wishing you all the best in 2025!