We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far

I got my booster shot yesterday, which has knocked me out like all the others. My immune system would like to know wtf I'm playing at.

Current pandemic obsession is embroidery, and at the moment specifically needlelace (modern explanation, Victorian explanation), which is something like embroidery without the cloth. It's also much more manageable than bobbin lace; if I tried to set up a lace pillow covered in pins and things hanging from strings around Pepper terrible things would happen.

I have been throwing myself into that with all the enthusiasm of someone who is avoiding preparing for the new semester and also has a bunch of Agatha Christie audiobooks on Libby, but in the interests of avoiding eyestrain, and also because I just had a shower and am now utterly out of energy, have a meme.

( AO3 Averages Meme )

I have enjoyed reading other people's, so here we are.

( Read more... )

Top Fics by Kudos by Year Meme

Last year AO3 announced that they were going to be importing FictionAlley's archives, but that doesn't seem to have happened yet, so I don't have to decide if I want to publicly claim my juvenilia or not.

2012: The Adventure of the Resourceful Widow, ACD: My first fic on AO3. I remember exactly where I was when I came up with the idea for this.

2013: Possible, ACD: For the ACD kinkmeme.

2014: Let Me, ACD: Overwhelmingly my most popular fic of all time.

Also this year I put a couple Omegaverse fics on AO3 which were written and posted on the BBC Sherlock kinkmeme in the two prior years and are technically much higher in kudos count than the ones linked above.

I think 2013-14 is when AO3 norms kind of settled on their current state, and of course the site's userbase has been steadily increasing over time.

2015: Witness and Testimony, ACD: My second most popular fic of all time.

2016: In Confidence, BBC Sherlock: I did not write much longfic in 2016.

2017: One Turf Shall Serve, ACD: For ACD Holmesfest.

2018: I've only just met an old, old friend, MCU: As a demonstration of my writing/conceptualization speed, this fic was a direct response to the 2016 American election.

2019 (so far): Tinsel Show, MCU-ish

From thefridayfive:

1. Did you enjoy your senior year of high school?

Certainly more than the other ones.

2. Did you have a senior trip (high school) and were you able to go on it?

A what now?

3. Was graduating (from either high school or college/university) a big thing with your family or just another day?

Well, I and my parents actually went to my high school graduation, so there's that. I did not attend my university graduation ceremony, mostly because the default was that you could have two guests and apply for a limited number of extra invitations, and there were at least four people I really wanted there and a couple others who would expect to be invited, so it was easier to just avoid the issue.

4. What were you looking forward to the most after graduating from either high school or college/university?

After high school I was looking forward to university. After university I ... wasn't really.

5. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your graduating self?

For god's sake go see a fucking psychiatrist. And the campus employment centre.

I want to do something with words, I don't know. So here's the first lines from a whole bunch of things I am working on, or have on hold, or have floating around. I don't know the titles for any of them.

[rarewomen]
The riverbank was overhung with flowers, stems drooping low to skim the surface.
[Deadline: May 4th]


The sounds of bubbling chemicals and small explosions are not entirely unfamiliar in our rooms at Baker Street, and I have learned to take them in my stride, or at least not to jump too much.
[This one is mistyzeo's fault. Nearly 7000 words in two months and I don't know why. Lots of fun.]


[probably titled Go On Take Everything, or something like that]
The first I heard of it was when Headmistress Martin asked me to cover some of Miss Cameron’s mathematics classes for the last week of the winter term.


"Ah, there you are, Holmes! It’s good to see you again."


He hadn’t expected the University to be quite as it was.


Of course I knew Toronto was a stupid idea.
[This is Xu-lai and Jane's Study in Scarlet. 4000 words and no plot until I start properly researching Mormon missionary work.]


It was a chill day in the long tail-end of winter, the sort that makes one doubt that spring will be any different.


Holmes found us a small house in Paris with rent that was not atrocious and space for a small medical practice. “If you do not mind, Watson,” he asked, after pointing out our lack of income.
[the sequel to The Form of My Intent, which is not a priority but gave me a few scenes anyway]


A boy had to depend on his instincts in the world, Betty had told him, lips caked in scarlet and cigarette smoke following the words.
[this one actually just needs a beta to tell me if it makes any sense for people who aren't me, but I've only just started having the nerve to talk to fandom people so it's never had one. Except a very underslept knumpify a few drafts ago, who was not much help.]


Remus yawned and stretched back in his chair.
[This is purely for my own fun.]


“My dear,” said Jane, sitting calmly at her writing desk, “I think I’m going to have to kill you off.”
[sequel to The Landlady]


“You wonderful madman. How did you survive to adulthood without me to look after you?”
[from Mrs. Hudson's PoV, no plot]

It's international book week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence. Don't mention the title. Copy the rules as part of your post.

Je suggère que tu prennes une chambre ici, au Chaudron baveur et...

I need a better shelving system than "stacks on the floor." But there are Reasons for this one.