Normal . . . Is Just The Crazy Of The Majority

Oh my, 2015 was a weird fic year....

Apparently, I only posted new words between January and May, and, except for 2 coda ficlets, all stories formed a single series for Sons of Anarchy: ...Made You King.

That said, it doesn't mean I didn't write anything between May and today; I worked on a bunch of (neverending, *sigh*) SoA novels (if not as much as I'd have liked to do). Hopefully, 2016 will allow me to actually post some of the damned things....

In any case, here are this year's numbers:

Made You King series:
Made You King - 588 words
Broken Wings - 1,140 words
The Crow Still Sings - 1049
These Angels - 7,996
Grace Denied - 3,129
All My Sins - 1,498
On A Raven's Glide - 4,029
Black Bird Calling - 9,461
Hand Of God - 2,733
Always Know, Ever Learn - 2,359
The Lost King - 18,542
Children Of Their Fathers - 1,382

Coda ficlets
Changing Tack - 354
Probable Cause - 1,254

Total words for 2015: 55,514

Previous years:
2014: 144,984
2013: 90,840
2012: 12,737
2011: 64,066
2010: 81,487
2009: 186,541 (!)
2008: 73,811
2007: 60,512
2006: 128,653
2005: 10,370

Uh, oops? First post of the year on the last day of the year?

Anyway, fic round-up time!

As always, we're talking published fic, not written fic. The latter word count would be sadly lacking for 2014. Links go to scribbler

Haven
A Bride For Duke 5,860

Jericho
Through The Ashes 137,567*

Sons of Anarchy
Hard Shoes To Fill 1,557

*Written over the span of the last five years...!

Total word count for 2014: 144,984
Word count for last year: 90,840

2013: 90,840
2012: 12,737
2011: 64,066
2010: 81,487
2009: 186,541 (!)
2008: 73,811
2007: 60,512
2006: 128,653
2005: 10,370

Doing laundry, Sam's "helping"...

I really, really should get back in the habit of posting more here. But between DW having gone quiet(er) and chatting a LOT with tanaqui, I've usually said all I wanted to say and it feels redundant to put stuff up on DW as well.

And time seems to slip through my fingers like water. How did it get to be September 2013 already?

That said:

Work is its usual craziness. We're on the eve of a major (and I mean major) reorganization. Lucky me already knows where she's supposedly gonna be placed (I was among one of the first), and while I think I'm quite suited for the position, it also means I have to give up a few things, mostly facilitating all kinds of workshops and scrum events. Which will be a shame. At least this is part of my personal toolkit, so I'll try to keep my skills honed sharp on my own projects.

It's also very stressful for everyone, and eating up a lot of energy with very little result to show for it. Plus the gossip mill is running overtime as management seems to think putting an X number of posts (that basically say "we've all been working hard and you'll hear more later") on the intranet is a proper measure of good communicating (don't get me started...)!

In my downtime, I'm still puttering along writing fanfic novels, and melancholically looking back on the days when I was writing short fic. Cause that is soooo much easier. I'm mostly a "character-focused pants-er" by nature, but of course that simply doesn't work for novel-sized fics with complicated interweaving plotlines.

So I'm still stumbling my way through various outlining methods and tricks. One thing I have found out for sure: I can't for the life of me work from a set framework like "three acts, midpoint, crisis point" etc. Just looking at that makes my brain shrivel up and any thought I might've had die before its time.

What does seem to work (somewhat) is using a whiteboard, sticky posts, and erasable markers. Mostly by throwing stuff at the whiteboard (nicknamed Whiteboard of Doom, because geez, it is a scary thing when it's all blank and white and staring back at me...) and then see if something workable emerges.

50K words in, I did have to redo the whole third installment of the Sons of Anarchy trilogy that's been eating my life the last... year? Or so. After coming through a screeching halt, it turned out I was telling the wrong story from the wrong point of view, and it got more and more complicated (and dull to write -- that should've been a sign much earlier on I was on the wrong track). Anyway, slowly but steadily I seem to be designing something simpler and better (I hope! Proof, pudding, eating, etc.)

Some day, it might even get put out on line....

On the plus side: I just got my Jericho AU novel back from my beta! Squee! (I haven't dared look at it yet, but this means it's just one step closer to actually being done. I'm hoping before the end of the year....

So, that's a rough outline of the state of me. How about you?

How to keep your Hooman from using their iPad...

Yesterday, I got home from a two week cruise in the Baltic. We visited 7 cities in four countries over three timezones. And I managed to walk at least 80kms just wandering around in our destination cities...! :o

Some photos (if unedited and straight from the camera; I just made them smaller so they wouldn't eat too much bandwidth while on a limited data plan).

How did three months since my last post go by so fast?

The last day of the year means it's time for my (usually twice) yearly "Fic Posted" round-up. This year, I didn't even bother with a six month round-up in July. The reason? The number of words posted is pathetically small.

That does not mean these are all the words that were written over the course of 2012. It's quite a bit harder to keep track of written words than it is of posted words, but all in all, I reckon I managed to churn out at least 186,000 words (!) on the first two installments of a Sons of Anarchy trilogy, which is what I spent most of the year on.

Aside from the SoA novel, there was a bit of work on a now sadly abandoned Chibs/Fiona backstory novel(lette) (I quickly realized that between Northern Ireland's complicated history and a much-younger-than-in-Show Scotsman living in Belfast, I bit off a bit more than I should've), and odds and ends here and there, as well as edits to the two Jericho AU novels I've been talking about for years now--they really do exist!

Anyway, on to this year's published fic:

Few Options
Reality Check 976
Full Circle 100

Jericho
A Second Chance For A First Impression 1,157
When Two Rights Make A Wrong 2,208

Miracles
Mother’s Day 930

Sons of Anarchy
Visiting Hours 300
The Big Picture 830
Love In An Elevator 1,548
Freeze-Out 3,500
Too Close To Call 1,188

Total word count: 12,737 words

Links go to my private archives, but everything's also listed at scribbler

For comparison's sake, word count of fic posted* in the last few years:

2011: 64,066
2010: 81,487
2009: 186,541 (!)
2008: 73,811
2007: 60,512
2006: 128,653
2005: 10,370

* Since I can only be certain of when fic got posted, and stuff gets written all the time, then put on ice, sometimes for months or even a year or more, the numbers do not accurately reflect actual writing.

First snow of the season....

( Snowy bikes )

( Sunrise )

So, since I seem to be on a "catch up with everything Kenny Johnson"-spree (including watching the three most recent eps of Burn Notice, alternating between cringing and laughing at the OMG!this!is!bad of it), I thought I should perhaps at some point also get my hands on The Shield.

Imagine my pleasant surprise to find out that the full seven season box set sells for about 45 pounds at Amazon.UK and 65 dollars at Amazon.US (we won't mention the 190 euro Bol.com thinks it can get for it...).

Except.

The UK version, according to the reviews, has been mangled by overzealous European editors, cutting out enough material from the original aired versions it's cause for some confusion.

The US version, so amazon warns me, might have "RCE", which means it may not play on my (region-free) DVD player.



In other words, piracy is a service problem.

* KJ's only in the first five seasons, anyway