#and i hopefully wont be constantly frustrated at existence and filled with as much internal dread lol

[undistortedworld]

GUESS WHOS GETTING A NEW JOB WOOOO \^o^/ can leave this awful place lol B)

[redroomroaving]

2024 Writing Retrospective

Thank you for the tag @tavyliasin, I'll try!

What's been your biggest learning point this past year?

I learnt a lesson in over filling my plate. I've always had eyes bigger than my belly, quote my mother, and that apparently applies to my creative output too. I overstretch myself in many ways in life because I get frustrated by my limitations, but you'd think that after so very many opportunities to learn this lesson I actually would?

All of which is to say; it's ok for some stuff to just be ideas. My desperate need to make things exist is a good thing, but in moderation. I ended the year with way too many WIPS, and that was a problem.

How has your writing developed this past year?

I've learnt a lot about myself; the things I'm excited about writing, and the things I'm not. I learnt how to write smut! Then I practiced and got more confident in it. I've practised character voices and how to reflect alternative POVs not just in the way a character speaks but how they think; how I structure sentences, how I alternate observations and internal monologues. I've also come to take more risks and lean harder into following the stories as they go, and letting myself roll with the consequences. Now I just need to learn how to be like, organised - to plot and outline - that sort of thing.

Bad writing habits?

A zillion. Writing out of order; skipping to the good part. Not ending sentences when I should. Repetition. Starting things and then not finishing them.

Constantly going on about lilts in peoples chests.

Oh, and all the untitled documents and the general disaster that is my creative process. I called myself a bunch of monkeys with minaiture cymbals in a washing machine back in like March and I'm sorry to say that's NOT GOTTEN BETTER.

Favorite thing you wrote?

'Sufferer, I shall', which probably will remain the best thing I write. All downhill from there, baby.

'Conductor, Ringmaster' is shortly behind, because it's been so much fun to write and lets me stretch my legs a lot, creatively.

(More recently, I'm also really fond of my Bor x Geraldus one shot Stoke the Fire, which I found a very comforting thing to write.)

Biggest win?

Finishing my longfic 'The Harper & The Tower', my Rolan x Geraldus fic that is, to be honest, really an 150k monument to Harper Geraldus because I adore him and wanted to write him a big happy love story that explored his character, his history, his relationships. I'm proud that I achieved a lot of what I set out to with that story, and hope people enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Goals for the new year?

Finish some darn WIPS, especially 'Conductor, Ringmaster' and 'The Red Harp'. Write more Lae'zel. Write more women, full stop.

Get Bor at least 10 fics on Ao3.

Go outside more, be happier and healthier. Worry less about expectations and meeting them. Remember I write things, selfishly, because I want to write them, and it's ok that I don't always feel I fit in with what it feels like the fandom wants.

I pride myself in my love for the characters, and my belief in their love, as being what I pour into my work. It's a strength, not a weakness; and if I don't love it, I don't need to write it, because that feeling wont be there either. That's ok.

Your favorite words of the year, aka the words you check each chapter for, making sure you didn't repeat them 788 times?

Oooh so many. Lilt. Blush. Bright. Now. Stop saying 'now' so much, damn, people get that it's happening presently.

What are you excited for in the new year?

Working on some collaborations I've been plotting! Finishing some things! Spending more time on The Red Harp and Boraldus.

Getting married; living a bit. Hopefully having better health than 2024.

That sort of thing.

No pressure tags for @librivore42 @lizziemajestic @lemonsrosesandlavender and @ankhegs-in-my-salad