The State of the Ficcery: May 2024

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Wow. It's been a month, hasn't it?

Word Count: 41,514

I know, right? I triple checked it because it seems too high but it comes from the dick_or_treat fills + my soap opera updates. So I'm, like, 20k (so a month) from the Year end goal of 150k. What?!

Writing: I did 4 fills for dick_or_treat total (for April and May) and 3 in May itself. There's a WIP I won't finish (may never finish) which I started for it, set in my BTS A/B/O tarot 'verse.

10 fills for sweetandshort 10 out of 20 and 2 for the photo prompts.
1 fill for emotions100
4 fills for vocab_drabbles including 3 poems for GYWO Yahtzee. I am 1 and 1/4 poems from finishing the Yahtzee set but it's a toss up if I will before the end of things in June.
4 updates on the soap opera
5 poems

So next up, I told myself I am not doing ANYTHING but 1. unconventional courtship (due 13 June) and then Intoabar (which I'm not doing again ever because I got...Sherlock Holmes...meets Raymond West (Miss Marple's nephew). This is why I don't do exchanges either. Other people picking my prompts always rubs my fur the wrong way.

To do unconventional courtship properly, I need to steep myself in hardboiled voice (not a hardship, I love it) but it's like doing a Bertie fic. You have to go Method Actress for a bit. So expect a lot of slumming angels to appear across the board. And my soap opera is reaching a boiling point. I want my big shock to go up on ARMY day (9 July).

Reading: I am loving Margery Allingham. I think listening to the audiobooks is part of it. I never thought of myself as a Campion fan but I am! I just finished The China Governess, I also listened to The Mind-Readers and I am impressed. So maybe I will do her oeuvre from start to finish, too, one day.

3 Bingo squares done.

I have 8 squares on the bingo left and the goal is blackout by the time school starts back at the end of August. I think I can do it. I have a great selection of books. I just need to make more time to read.

I met my goal of catching up on Fannish 50 (one post a week, I'm on 22). I won't be on Monday but I am going to celebrate until then :)

Personal: I finished the 5k relay. Not a PR but I also didn't injure myself like in November. AND I signed up for the bridge 10k in November (solo) and will start training for that in the morning!

The diet didn't happen. And I gained some weight back BUT tomorrow is another day.

13 spreads! And 7 cards! That's a lot of collage. And I haven't even done June one yet!

2 jigsaw puzzles. I have a lovely supply to keep me going until the end of the year.

Another odd monthly goal which I met was not getting a sunburn. In March, I got cooked to a crisp, shoulders, neck, and chest and it lingered, itching badly all day and night and sometimes stinging, too, for weeks and weeks, long after it peeled and healed on the surface. So I decided not to put myself through all that again. And I did it! Yay. Given how much time I spend on sidelines watching little boys play sports it's impressive.

Also, it's morbid but my mom died when she was 48 (and I was 18) and so having my 49th birthday means I've lived longer than she did. And it makes me Think.

Minor's track and soccer seasons are done. Minisculus still has soccer and swimming lessons. Last day of school is 14 June.

so, June is Pride. I'll be focusing on my 3 fics (unconventional courtship, intoabar, and soap opera) and reading and starting the 10k training. I also want to finish my other OM cross stitch but I am setting that as an end-of-summer goal.

On y va.

Comments

[debriswoman]

Impressive word count and interesting goals. I will have to have a look at Margaret Allingham :-)
And yes, passing the age of a parent is an odd goal to reach.

[kitarella_imagines]

That's an awesome amount of words!

Congrats on not getting sunburnt! My skin is white as paper and I have freckles. I just have to be in the sun for 5+ minutes and I start to burn 😕

Oh yes...I know what you mean about parents dying...My dad died when he was 56, and I am now 55. I'm kind of expecting to drop dead when I'm 56 tbh.

[smallhobbit]

That's an awesome word count. I trust you will finish your IntoABar fic with 'Of course, you could always have simply asked your Aunt Jane.' A brilliant amount of collages - glad they're going so well!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

Yes, Aunt Jane will play a prominent role, I'm sure. But maybe you know that in the short stories, Dame Agatha pulled an ACD and changed the name of Raymond's wife (or girlfriend/fiancé). Not unlike a certain soldier-doctor who may or may not have had six wives and an alter ego named James and a mother-in-law who may or may not have been dead. So I am going to plumb that bit of parallel too.

I really couldn't believe the number of collages either. But I am using them a lot with Fannish 50 and I did at least 4 on my birthday and then thank you cards so...it adds up!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

I bought two large golf umbrellas and actually used one today as a parasol when watching my youngest's soccer game. I am trying to be much smarter about protecting my skin. Maybe it's a little late in life, but better late than never, I suppose.

I'm kind of expecting to drop dead when I'm 56 tbh. I do understand. My mother died of a rare brain disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease aka mad cow) and so this past year I have been expecting something quick, rare, and fatal...and nothing happened!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

It is a funny mix of goals. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Traitor's Purse and the couple of other ones I listened to are also very good. I don't know if I would have a different opinion if I read them in book form (I suspect yes). But the Youtube channel I was listening to got struck down for copyright (I was listening to Edmund Crispin ones) and so I was flailing around for something to listen to when I make dinner and I got sucked in. And I think the other ones are decent, too. She's very good at plotting, imo.

Yes, I am not having a crisis or anything, but it has been in the back of my mind. My mother never celebrated a 50th birthday. She never got to menopause or retirment or grandparenthood. And the way she died, suddenly and from a rare disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob diease), she never expected it. It wasn't like she had cancer for years or another long term condition. Or died in a road accident or anything like that. So I suppose I've been thinking 'what's going to happen?' and then nothing did so I'm just...still here...

[kitarella_imagines]

Great idea about the umbrella! I hate putting on sticky suncream. I try and wear a sunhat but often forget.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother, I have heard of that disease, it sounds very nasty. I'm glad you're still with us!

My dad died of Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which is basically leukaemia but they don't know what type it is and don't have any treatment for it (as opposed to Hodgkin's Lymphoma). They said it wasn't inheritable. I've had poor health for decades with ups and downs, I'll see how I get on.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I use the spray sunscreen but I have to hold my breath because of the fumes.

I'm sorry about your father. That sounds rough, too.

[kitarella_imagines]

Ugh yes, those fumes are horrible. Like all sprays.

Thanks. He was an older dad so I was only 13. It's awful to lose a parent as young as we did, isn't it. That was basically when my health started to go downhill.

[spiralicious]

You are making such excellent progress! Especially with writing. Holy cow!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! I think deciding to do this 'updates every Friday' fic is the reason for it and challenges I care about.