#and my beloved eva ibbotson as ever

[cowardlydragon]

LMK if U want to see my Trainline Wrapped

[luthienebonyx]

First Lines Meme

Tagged by @nightreaderenigma - thanks!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

Note: I’ve noted the fandom for stories other than JB.

1.   "How much is he paying you?" Sansa asks bluntly, pouring herself a cup of coffee. (Doubt Truth to be a Liar, Jaime/Brienne)

2. The small, knowing smile that young Melbury sends Ferdy one night at Limmer's is almost nothing, but Gil notices. (Phthonos, Friday’s Child - Georgette Heyer, Gil/Ferdy)

3. Hero did not mean to intrude on Gil's and Ferdy's privacy. (Euclidean Geometry, Friday’s Child - Georgette Heyer, Gil/Ferdy, Sherry/Hero)

4. The marriage of George, Lord Wrotham, and Miss Isabella Milborne was widely regarded as the wedding of the Season, though it was not nearly so illustrious a match as might have been expected for a young lady known far and wide—in the gentleman's clubs at least—as the Incomparable. (That Greek Thing, Friday’s Child - Georgette Heyer, Gil/Ferdy, Sherry/Hero, George/Isabella)

5. It is said that the storyteller shapes the story, but I have found it equally true that the story is shaped by its intended audience. (Twelve Days, The Queen’s Thief - Megan Whalen Turner, Kamet/Costis)

6. It takes Brienne less than thirty seconds to decide that she doesn't like Jaime Lannister. (History Never Repeats, Jaime/Brienne)

7. Brienne hesitated before pressing the intercom button. (The Personal Touch, Jaime/Brienne)

8. Rodney shivers as the puddlejumper draws near the surface. (Siberia, Stargate Atlantis, John/Rodney)

9. Brienne was quiet as the plane took off, looking out the window as the Gold Coast fell away below them, and they climbed steadily until they'd reached cruising altitude. (The Last Day of Christmas, Jaime/Brienne)

10. They probably wouldn't have noticed the tent if Addam hadn't staggered out of the Gravitron and been noisily sick all over Jaime's trainers. (A Doom Unescaped, Jaime/Brienne)

11. The London Season has been the focus of all well-connected and ambitious British Mamas—as well as rather less well-connected but even more ambitious British Mamas—of hopeful daughters since the Eighteenth Century. (An Ever-fixed Mark, A Countess Below Stairs aka The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson, Ollie/Peter)

12. It surprised Brienne how quickly she'd become used to the idea of summer in December. (On the first day of Christmas (my true love gave to me), Jaime/Brienne)

13. Sansa doesn’t understand. (Life’s Not a Song, Jaime/Brienne)

14. Brienne awakes with a shiver, not sure where she is or what's going on, but instantly awake like the soldier she still feels herself to be. (Beloved, Jaime/Brienne)

15. The spring that follows the winter-that-might-have-lasted-forever is fleeting, and all too soon they're in the midst of an almost unlooked for summer that feels not quite real. (Is this the way love’s supposed to be?, Jaime/Brienne)

16. They arrive on Tarth after one of the shortest and most violent spring storms in living memory. (Walking in the Sun Once More, Jaime/Brienne)

17. Brienne didn't even wait until Jaime had finished closing the bedroom door behind them. (After Party, Jaime/Brienne)

18. Jaime awoke to the familiar sensation of a head pillowed against his chest. (Interlude, in Sunshine, Jaime/Brienne) 

19. "Coffee, coffee, coffee," Brienne said, scanning the shelves with a look in her eye that was getting wilder by the second. (The Night Before the Night Before Christmas (aka the Long Night), Jaime/Brienne)

20. Brienne awoke slowly, disoriented, and yet not. (Knights and Knaves, Jaime/Brienne)

Patterns: Well, the main one is that I like to open with a statement, rather than more general description or dialogue, which is something I was already aware of. Two out of twenty start with dialogue, which feels about the right ratio for my fic more generally.

2, 3 and 4 (which are a short series starting with the story I wrote for Yuletide last year) and also 5 and 11 are for book fandoms, so I was trying to capture the canon style with them. This means that they’re less obviously ‘me’ than the others. I seem to tend more naturally towards shorter opening lines than the sort of wordiness that you see in 4 and 11.

Three of these describe people waking up and... yeah, guilty as charged. I know they’re not the only stories I’ve started with that particular gambit.

Apart from that, the only other thing of note is that 9, 12, 18, 19 & 20 are all from my Aussie coffee ‘verse, and 13, 14, 15 & 16 are all from my After Everything canon divergence AU series - so they’re not ‘real’ beginnings in the way the stand alones are.

Oh, and one more thing: I’ve included 8 because it’s among the 20 most recent stories I’ve posted on AO3, but I actually wrote it back in 2005. It’s interesting to note how easily it fits in with the more recent stuff. I think it’s pretty clear that while my writing may have changed in some ways over the years, my thought processes haven’t changed much at all.

Favourite:  While 10 makes me grin (it’s a prologue in which Jaime and Addam are aged 13, in case you’re wondering!) I think my favourites are 4 and 5, because I loved writing both of those stories so much and part of that was capturing the style and feel of the canon. I think that comes through clearly in both of those opening lines.

My favourite opening line of mine remains a story from long, long (about 20 years) ago though, which begins: There were people on the ceiling. I don’t think I will ever top that one.

Tagging: I think everyone I can think of has already been tagged, but if you haven’t been tagged and would like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged by me!

[brightbeautifulthings]

Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville

"'I like fixing things,' he said as he worked. 'The world is always breaking, here and there, this way and that. Fix a bit of it, and I feel like I'm helping.'"

Year Read: before 2006, 2019

Rating: 4/5

Context: Before there was Harry Potter, the cornerstones of my childhood fantasy worlds were Bruce Coville, Eva Ibbotson, and Diane Duane. I loved Coville's Magic Shop books, but it's possible I loved The Unicorn Chronicles even more. A book-loving, redheaded heroine who falls into a world of unicorns was almost guaranteed to find a place among my favorites. My library only ever had the first two books (despite how often I checked), and it wasn't until I was an adult that I realized the series ended at four. Tracking them all down merits a reread from the beginning, and I'm so excited to finally see how this story ends.

About: When Cara and her grandmother are chased into a church by a dangerous stranger, Cara takes a leap of faith that lands her in Luster, the world of the unicorns. There, she meets Lightfoot, a young unicorn, and a handful of strange and wonderful friends that will help her find the Old One and deliver a message from her grandmother. However, they're pursued by a number of foes, one in particular who would see the end of all unicorns forever.

Thoughts: My younger self didn't always get it right (nor does the older version), but Into the Land of the Unicorns is an exquisite start to a very promising series. The first chapter takes off immediately with a threat, a chase scene, and a breathtaking jump, and it nicely balances action with character and world-building throughout the novel. Coville's Luster is imaginative and beautifully described without being overwhelming, and it’s full of fairytale creatures that are at once familiar and unique. The unicorn lore is particularly well-developed and pulled from older mythology, which gives the story a timeless and realistic quality. While everything is magical, its limits are also clearly defined, and I'm excited to see more of this world as the series unfolds.

The characters are excellent, beginning with Cara. Book lovers will find it easy to identify with her, but she's also brave and kind. If she starts off a little too eager to please (as many female characters are prone to), I feel like the novel sets that right by the end; she's not as compliant as she first appears, and like all great heroes, she can be counted on to do the right thing. The rest of the characters are equally well-drawn. Making Lightfoot a teenager (in unicorn years) is a clever choice because he's more willful and rebellious than wise or all-knowing, which makes him an effective complement to Cara. The Dimblethum is fierce and protective, the Squijim clever and comic, and Thomas capable and philosophical. Together, they make for a wonderful ensemble cast with their own distinct, original voices. I can hear them so clearly in my head that at times I wanted to read out loud, and I suspect it would make a very good book for that.

What really sets this book apart is that its villains are just as well-rounded as its heroes. I remember being terrified by Beloved, a character who stayed with me for well over a decade, and her origin story is still quite effective. Coville balances a number of themes--loyalty to family, freedom v. slavery, and the impending genocide of unicorns--without any trouble, but he also doesn't delve too deeply into any of them in this first novel. Mostly, the issues are resolved because good characters are in place to make those choices and doing bad doesn't even occur to them. The ending is tense and satisfying, though the epilogue-like chapter feels a little rushed. It's wide-open for the next book, and I doubt I'll be able to wait long before picking it up. Highly recommended for young and old readers alike.

[list-of-literature]

25/03/2016

The Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe The Jolly Postman or Other Peoples Letters, Janet & Allan Ahlberg The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken The Wanderer, Alain-Fournier Commedia, Dante Alighieri Skellig, David Almond The President, Miguel Angel Asturias Alcools, Guillaume Apollinaire It's Not About The Bike - My Journey Back to Life, Lance Armstrong Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin The Ghost Road, Pat Barker Carrie's War, Nina Bawden Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable, Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow G, John Berger Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman Mister Magnolia, Quentin Blake Forever, Judy Blume The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton Five On A Treasure Island, Enid Blyton The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne The Snowman, Raymond Briggs Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown Gorilla, Anthony Browne The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Junk, Melvin Burgess Would You Rather?, John Burningham The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler Possession, A.S. Byatt The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino The Stranger, Albert Camus Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter Looking For JJ, Anne Cassidy Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang Papillon, Henri Charriere The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer "Clarice Bean, That's Me", Lauren Child I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, Lauren Child Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M Coetzee Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole Nostromo, Joseph Conrad The Public Burning, Robert Coover Millions, Frank Cottrell Boyce The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown, Cressida Cowell House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski The Black Sheep, Honoré de Balzac Old Man Goriot, Honoré de Balzac The Second Sex, Simone de Beavoir The Story of Babar, Jean De Brunhoff The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery White Noise, Don DeLillo Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, Lynley Dodd The 42nd Parallel, John Dos Passos The Brothers Karamzov, Fyodor Dostoevsky An American Tragedy, Theodore Drieser The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco My Naughty Little Sister, Dorothy Edwards Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G Farrell The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner "Absalom, Absalom!", William Faulkner Light in August, William Faulkner Take it or Leave It, Raymond Federman Magician, Raymond E. Feist Flour Babies, Anne Fine Madam Bovary, Gustav Flaubert A Passage to India, E. M. Forster The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank Cross Stitch,  Diana Gabaldon That Awful Mess on the Via Merulala, Carlo Emilio Gadda JR, William Gaddis The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner The Owl Service, Alan Garner In the Heart of the Heart of the Country & Other Stories, William H. Gass Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin Once, Morris Gleitzman The Conservationist, Nadine Gordimer Asterix The Gaul, Rene Goscinny The Tin Drum, Günter Grass Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Emily Gravett Lanark, Alasdair Gray The Quiet American, Graham Greene Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mark Haddon Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway The Blue Lotus, Hergé The Adventures Of Tintin, Hergé The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse Where's Spot?, Eric Hill The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett The Odyssey, Homer High Fidelity, Nick Hornby Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz Dogger, Shirley Hughes Journey To The River Sea, Eva Ibbotson Little House In The Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James The Ambassadors, Henry James Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Judith Kerr One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey In Praise of Hatred, Khaled Khalifa Gate of the Sun, Elias Khoury It, Stephen King The Queen's Nose, Dick King-Smith The Sheep-Pig, Dick King-Smith Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney Kim, Rudyard Kipling I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook, Joyce Lankerster Brisley Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E Lawrence A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing Tristes Tropiques, Claude Lévi-Strauss Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren The Call of the Wild, Jack London Nightmare Abbey, Thomas Love Peacock Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer Man's Fate, Andre Malraux The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel The Road, Cormac McCarthy The Kite Rider, Geraldine McCaughrean The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers "Not Now, Bernard", David McKee Tent Boxing: An Australian Journey, Wayne McLennan No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo Beloved, Toni Morrison Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami Under the Net, Iris Murdoch The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov A Bend in the River, V.S Naipaul Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness The Knife Of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness The Borrowers, Mary Norton Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian The Silent Cry, Kenzaburo Oe My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake Night Watch, Terry Pratchett The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett The Truth, Terry Pratchett Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett Truckers, Terry Pratchett Life: An Exploded Diagram, Mal Prett Paroles, Jacques Prévert The Shipping News, Annie Proulx In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust The Ruby In The Smoke, Philip Pullman Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon Live and Remember, Valentin Rasputin Witch Child, Celia Rees Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady, Samuel Richardson How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff I Want My Potty!, Tony Ross Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie Holes, Louis Sachar Blindness, Jose Saramango Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald Revolver, Marcus Sedgwick Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier Katherine, Anya Seton Come over to My House, Dr Seuss Daisy-Head Mayzie, Dr Seuss Great Day for Up!, Dr Seuss Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Dr Seuss Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, Dr Seuss Hunches in Bunches, Dr Seuss I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!, Dr Seuss I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, Dr Seuss I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, Dr Seuss My Book about ME, Dr Seuss My Many Colored Days, Dr Seuss "Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!", Dr Seuss On Beyond Zebra!, Dr Seuss The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories, Dr Seuss The Butter Battle Book, Dr Seuss The Cat's Quizzer, Dr Seuss The Pocket Book of Boners, Dr Seuss The Seven Lady Godivas, Dr Seuss The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, Dr Seuss What Pet Should I Get?, Dr Seuss You're Only Old Once!, Dr Seuss Dr Seuss's Book of Bedtime Stories, Dr Seuss Special shapes: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss Dizzy days: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation", Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Memento Mori, Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark Heidi, Johanna Spyri The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", Laurence Sterne Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia, Chris Stewart Goosebumps, R.L. Stine Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild The Home and the World, Rabindranath Tagore The Arrival, Shaun Tan The Secret History, Donna Tartt The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Froth on the Daydream, Boris Vian Creation, Gore Vidal Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut The Color Purple, Alice Walker Scoop, Evelyn Waugh The War Of The Worlds, H.G. Wells The Time Machine, H.G Wells The Once And Future King, T.H. White Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson The Code of the Woosters, P.G. Wodehouse Native Son, Richard Wright Going Native, Stephen Wright The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham The Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin Red Sorghum: A Novel of China, Mo Yan Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates We, Yevgeny Zamyatin Germinal, Emile Zola Amazing Grace, Mary Hoffman & Caroline Binch Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon & Tony Ross Meg And Mog, Helen Nicholls & Jan Pienkowski Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Mem Fox & Helen Oxenbury The Elephant And The Bad Baby, Elfrida Vipont & Raymond Briggs The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith

[luthienebonyx]

2019 Writing review

Gacked (because I’ve been posting on dreamwidth and I’m feeling fannishly old-fashioned) with a tweak or two, from @nire-the-mithridatist and @agirlnamedkeith

Total number of completed stories: 25 (not including various ficlets and prompt fills that have been collected together as one work)

Total number of WIPs started this year and still WIPs: 3

Total word count: 227,381 published words

Fandoms written in: The break-down of my writing fandoms for the year goes like this:

1. Frederica - Georgette Heyer: one 100 word drabble 2. A Countess Below Stairs - Eva Ibbotson: one 13,727 word Yuletide fic 3. Game of Thrones: 27 works totalling 214,004 words 

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? Let’s put it this way: in 2018 I posted NOTHING. Apart from a brief burst of activity from late 2016 to mid 2017, I had written NO fanfic in four years. I’d reached the point where I thought I might not ever write fanfic again. 

I expected this year to be the same as last year in terms of fic. I wrote a hundred word drabble last January, and I thought that would be it. And it was, until Game of Thrones finished at the end of May. I started writing the day after the finale aired, because I couldn’t NOT write, and I’ve barely stopped since. 

I’ve written ALMOST (hey, I’m a writer, not a mathematician) a quarter of a million words in seven months. This has never happened to me before in the 20 years since I first started writing fanfic. I’ve never been well enough to do that before. I’ve never written anything like that much in a year, let alone in seven months. But right about the time I started writing again, I also made a few small, but what turned out to be hugely significant changes to my treatment regime. It turns out that when I”m feeling really inspired AND health crashes don’t get in the way of my writing momentum... I just keep going.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? I don’t think I can pick just one. There’s a couple that are favourites for different reasons.  More Than a Memory is special because it was the story that broke my writing drought and wouldn’t let me stop until it was done. I’m also very fond of Beloved, because it’s a particular type of story similar to others that I’ve written in the past, and I was glad to find I hadn’t lost my touch with that sort of thing. And I’ll also include the Aussie Coffee ‘verse in this list, because right now it’s very close to being the longest thing I’ve ever written, and I’m just amazed that I’ve been able to write something like that at all. And there’s my Regency, You I Know, which is the story of my heart that I’ve been wanting to write, in whatever fandom, for YEARS... Am I allowed to have four favourites? Too bad. I do.

Did you take any writing risks this year? I’m never entirely sure what a writing risk is. I’ve written so many things over the years that could be seen as risky from some perspectives that I don’t really think like that. I just write. I suppose starting out in a new fandom writing a story where one half of the main pairing was dead was maybe a little risky. I was honestly surprised that anyone read More Than a Memory, given the premise. I’m not sure that I’d call the Aussie Coffee ‘verse a risk, exactly, but it certainly turned out to be a bit like my own personal accidental Everest. I thought I was writing a series of loosely connected ficlets, but they turned out to be an epic length modern AU instead. The risk with that one is that I did it without a firm outline - at least at first. Once I got a little way into it, I realised what it was and hammered out the shape of it in my head - guided by Writer’s Month prompts, since that’s what it had originally been intended for - but it still feels a little like I’m writing by the seat of my pants.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? 

Fanfic goals:

1. Finish the Aussie Coffee ‘verse (by the end of January if I can possibly manage it). 2. Finish Life’s Not a Song, my Sansa bystander POV fic. (Remember that one? Anyone? My health crashed for most of November and that fic was one of the casualties. I WILL finish it, though.) 3. Once those first two are out of the way, focus on my Regency AU, You I Know, which has been waiting for months now as the Aussie Coffee ‘verse accidentally turned into a behemoth.

Profic goals: Maaaaaaaybe adapt the Aussie Coffee ‘verse into an original novel. We’ll see. @undun-duz is keen to provide art to go with it, which would be fabulous.

Best story of the year? I... don’t know? Maybe Beloved. Yeah, probably Beloved.

Most popular story of the year? By hits, kudos and bookmarks, More Than a Memory. By comments and subscriptions, You I Know. But if you treat the Aussie Coffee ‘verse as one entity, then it has more hits, kudos and comments than anything else.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: My fic usually gets plenty of attention, so I don’t really feel like I should be saying that anything is under-appreciated. I feel that maybe some people have grown bored with the Aussie Coffee ‘verse - though, that said, there are also people who are incredibly enthusiastic about it. Readership dropping off as it goes along is the way it goes for most long stories, though, so it’s not anything unusual. I THINK all of it, including the pacing, will make more sense once the final instalments have been written. The plot is about to hit the home straight, so hopefully people will enjoy how the storyline unfolds from here on in.

Most fun story to write: I think the two that made me cackle the most while I was writing were Coffee on the Rocks, which was the very first Coffee ‘verse fic, and After Party, which was my story inspired by the dress that Gwen wore to the Emmys. Oh, and the first chapter of the most recent Coffee ‘verse fic, The Last Day of Christmas, which features the pole.

Most unintentionally telling story: The Aussie Coffee ‘verse, in the sense that it’s set a lot closer to home than anything else I’ve ever written - not just that it’s set in Australia, but that it’s set in the Australia that I know. And it also features bits and pieces of memories from when I was growing up, too. There’s very little of that sort of thing in any of the other fic I’ve written over the years.

Biggest disappointment: That I couldn’t finish Christmas Day in the Coffee ‘verse before actual Christmas Day! It ended up taking 33,000 words over three months to get through Christmas Day. At least I got it done before New Year.

Biggest surprise: That I wrote ALMOST A QUARTER OF A MILLION WORDS in seven months. That one will be very hard to beat ever again.