#berena gift exchange 2021

[lilolilyr]

Hello, Santa here!

I just wanted to let you know that the creation of your berena-shaped Christmas present is going okay (well, it looks like it might be running a tiny bit out of control, if I’m honest!)

There will be Christmas cheer and, who knows, maybe a sprig or two of mistletoe?

🧑‍🎄🎄🧑‍🎄

Aww hi! Out of control sounds great xD tho well, I hope it doesn't take over your life quite too much, then!

Love the sound of that already <3 thanks so much for checking in with me!

💓⛄🎄❄

[lilolilyr]

I absolutely love it!!! Thank you so much Sarah ♡ you worked in my prompt really well even in the first chapter!

Merry Christmas @lilolilyr! I hope you enjoy this little Christmassy fic.

[lilolilyr]

Low-key hate that I have to destroy this tomorrow... had it for over a week now xD

Jkjk @berenasecretsanta is much more important than weed numbers xD

[lilolilyr]

It’s your Secret Santa here! I just wanted to let you know I’m already turning over an idea or two.

So, are you a fan of Christmas, or do you lean more toward Bah Humbug?

Hii! Omg, which secret Santa (yeh I signed up for like. Too many. But most have low wordcount minimums so I should be fine)? Milippa? I'm not sure any others have already sent out assignments apart from discord signups? Well, whoever you are, thx for the ask <3

Anyhow to answer your question

I'm not religious so I'd appreciate not putting too much of a focus on that, but I am from a culture that's largely Christian and I do like Christmas markets (during non-pandemic times that is - oh and apropos, I'd also appreciate no pandemic content, if this is for a more modern timey fandom after all, Berena or Mirandy or sth? Getting enough of that irl, totally forgot to mention that on all of the signup sheets), and as I'm not religious at all, taking Christmas as the time of gift giving is what I do for lack of a better alternative, basically? XD also, free days! Yay!

I do like getting together with everyone (again, during non-pandemic times *cries*), playing in the snow, drinking mulled wine and exchanging gifts, thinking about what someone would like, and writing wish lists of things you do want to have but that are a bit too indulgent to just get for yourself... not a fan of running yourself ragged buying shit for absolutely every friend or relative, also not a fan of kitschy colourful decorations coverinf entire walls with eyesore blinking lights, or santa figurines.

For a fic tho, if it would be in character for sb to be into that, I wouldn't rly mind... hope that answers your question!

Thanks again for you ask, and I hope you're having a nice day :)

[lilolilyr]

Whoops! I didn’t realise I’d completely failed to specify the fandom, sorry.

It’s the Berena Secret Santa that I’ll be squeezing words out of my imagination for.

I’m 100% onboard with zero pandemic. It’s bad enough existing in it, without bringing it into the happy little fantasyland that is non-canon Bernie and Serena.

Nothing religious - also not a problem. And I’ll make it a tastefully decorated fic, never fear ☺️

No worries! <3

I know most ppl just sign up to one gift exchange anyway, I just figured with me having a lot of extra time on my hands this year (between study courses, and with the pandemic there just isn't much I can... do...) I signed up to nearly everything I came across xD

Just checked my email and I must've gotten the assignment shortly after your first ask! so now I'll be getting busy too :D

Sounds great, I'm sure I'll like whatever you'll come up with :)

Thx for the ask, have a nice day!

[lilolilyr]

Just 200 words this time, but I got more editing done :) thanks for organizing!

Upcoming Sprint

Hi everyone,

Secret Santa day is fast approaching - how about joining in on our next sprint? We’ll meet at 8 pm GMT today and post a zoom link a few minutes before we start.

How does this work?

We get ready to write, either with or without Zoom.

We start to write for 25 minutes at the full hour.

We count our words after the time is up.

We post our word count as a comment and see how far the sprint got us.

Everyone can join in, don’t be shy!

[lilolilyr]

✨ao3 wrapped 2022✨

Felt tagged by cinematicnomad, thx for that!

Works published: 77, and I'm just 4 fics shy of a total amount of 500 works on Ao3, taking prompts atm to crack that nice number before the end of the year!

Word count: 158,133 which means I surpassed my goal of 150k for the year! I knew I'd never make it to the record breaking 500 of last year, what with studying and working cutting into the fandom time, but I did set myself that goal to try and keep up with my writing at least a bit, and I made it past the goal just this week! & It's actually a bit more than the current number because a gift fic is still in my draft until the 31st.

Kudos: 2443

Hits: 26768

Bookmarks: 201

Subscriptions: 75 (& 138 user subscriptions which I think isn't this year's, but just the current amount? Also, Why does anyone subscribe on Ao3 instead of using bookmarks, it just cloggs the email adsfg)

most popular by kudos: Love me for me at 282

most hits: also love me for me 3195 (I think that's a Mirandy fic? Ao3 stats don't link to the actual work, just showing me the name and amount. I could go to my works & filter for it but I'm feeling lazy)(edit: had to anyway bc of another q later on and yes it's Mirandy! It's just the biggest fandom I'm in at the moment, other fics might just have gotten 30 kudos but then I know literally everyone in for example the Gunpowder Milkshake fandom read it xD so these stats really don't mean a lot without context)

longest: death can't part us, distance might 9k I know that one, TOG reverse bang! I didn't write very long stories this year, barely had the time to finish oneshots before forgetting about the plot, definitely didn't get around to writing any longfics!

shortest: jeesh now I did have to go to works & filter... There are a bunch of '0 words' visual works, but the shortest actual fics are a bunch of drabbles (exactly 100 words each), I wrote 17 of them this year

most comments: here to learn another Mirandy fic. Lovely how active that fandom is!

fics that made me cry: of my own fics?? Idk maybe this Milippa fic. By other people? Lots! Can't think of any atm though either, but if you filter my bookmarks for angst or h/c it's probably everything you find there

fics that made me smile: Goncharov :):):) just the fandom in general but Katfia and the fact that it's the main ship of the fandom & I wrote 15 ficlets already makes me smile a lot :)

gifts: I got a bunch of gift exchange gifts actually from 2021 exchanges, then some where I sent prompts for the fics, and one Mirandy fic where the idea for the fic was mine. I gave 13 gifts as well for various reasons

collaborations: two Andromaquynh reverse bang gift&art combos with @wrenaspun @unjapanologist , and a Mirandy collab discord writing challenge thingy with @guardianrock @stupidsexycopshows @scarlet-heels (does Alyssa have a tumblr?), it was fun!

events: reverse bang, gift exchanges, most recently the Berena winter songfic event by the amazing @batnbreakfast and @ktlsyrtis and the still ongoing Bering and Wells exchange by @purlturtle and Mirandy by @stupidsexycopshows <3

Tagging everyone I've already tagged above, @sterenheart @mako-and-tails-and-stuff @cookie-sheet-toboggan and any other writer mutuals who see this, only if you want to of course!

[lilolilyr]

11, 22, 26

11: fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this last year

Oh gosh, I'm honestly not sure, different ones for different reasons!

Both Andromaquynh and Milippa have grown so dear to me over 2020 and 2021, and while they might not have been my main obsession the entire last year, they were always around, I love writing the characters, and I love writing for the fandom friends I made..

Mirandy and Berena were nice not just as new fandoms to get into but also because they (especially Mirandy, but compared to others also Berena) are larger fandoms than I'm used to, and I got a lot more comments and all than in the other fandoms! I'm not sure whether they're really my fav fandoms to write for tho, I like reading more than writing in that case, same for Bering and Wells I think... tho I did still enjoy writing the fics I finished last year

Gunpowder Milkshake on the other hand is tiny, but the reception of my fics was so enthusiastic, idk? Also made lots of new fandom friends there, and it feels like such an interactive smoll fanbase, I got a lot of prompts to choose from and had fun writing the ones I had some idea how to fulfil the prompt, knowing someone would get a little gift fic! Also I just absolutely Adore Florence and Madeleine, and have grown to love Scarlet and Anna May as well even though they hadn't caught my attention quite as much at the beginning... yes, I think this one's my fav, if I have to pick just one!

22: events you participated in this year

Oh gosh, let's see whether I can remember them all! Just writing events here tho, let's not list all the others, chats/meetups, games and watchalongs and such xD

I believe I wrote at least a few fics for Femslash February?

Theen, there was the TOG Femslash Fortnight back in I think march where I managed to create something for every single day, tho not just fic but also manips and such

Also idk whether to quite count them as writing events at all, but I organized a lot of headcanon games where I both came up with lots of new ideas and also wrote fics to a number of prompts both by me and by others

Then of course the Discovery Femslash Fortnight I organized, that was intensely fun tho also a lot of work to pull off, but I think I also managed to write something for most daily prompts!

Now, there are gift exchanges... not counting B&W and GM cause while orga started last year they're mainly this January and February, I was in 4 exchanges, Mirandy, Berena, Andromaquynh and Milippa, the latter two I'm currently struggling to finish my fics for because I'm busy with university applications for my masters degree (yes, perhapppss I should be either writing fic or go back to my application stuff rn instead of clearing out my inbox, but I needed a break from the applications, and answering asks only requires a minimum of braincell activity, way less than fic writing xD), but I should manage to finish at least AQ by the deadline of the 7th, and my Milippa giftee has been warned that it might be a wee bit later than planned

26: number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year

354 bookmarks apparently! And also 84 fic recs, feel free to have a look, you can also filter for fandoms!

Thanks for the ask! ♡

[lilolilyr]

Ended up doing more editing than actual writing... and I managed to add 400 words Exactly, I am not kidding xD

Upcoming Sprint

Hi everyone,

our next sprint starts at 8 pm GMT today. I’ll post a zoom link as a comment a few minutes before we start.

How does this work?

We get ready to write, either with or without Zoom.

We start to write for 25 minutes at the full hour.

We count our words after the time is up.

We post our word count as a comment and see how far the sprint got us.

Everyone can join in, don’t be shy!