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Reflections on 2018 - Statistics!
Jan. 2nd, 2019 10:21 amI suppose this a little obligatory, but overall, a worthwhile task.
Fannish!
Fanworks Created: 0. As usual, I lurk much more than I write.
Comments Left: Who knows! But I have at least 80 replies in my AO3 inbox from the last year, and those are uniformly replies to comments I have left on other people'e work, so at least 80 and probably a good bit more than that. (Does anyone know of a way I can see comments I left to other people in one location on AO3? That would be very useful.)
Fanfic Read: Approximately 1,340 works, based on my AO3 history page. (The math: 20 entries per page in my History tab on AO3, had to go back to page 67 to hit Jan 2018) That's assuming I didn't read anything that was hosted outside AO3, that none of those are re-reads (oho, a mistake that would be!) and that I actually read everything I clicked on. I have a number of open tabs that would put the lie to that last assertion, so let's just say it all comes out in the wash.
Bookmarks Created: 200-ish, again based on that entries-per-page-AO3 math. Which is a pretty good ratio of good fic! One thing I like about reading on AO3, the fact that my History saves things I have looked at frees me up to use my Bookmarks to save the things I really want to rec or read again - I don't bookmark things that I just felt okay about. By far the largest fandom of growth was Venom - that tag went from being a desert to a gooey alien oasis.
Non-Fannish!
Knitting: According to my Ravelry, I have completed at least 11 Knitted Objects in 2018! My most common project were socks - at least four pairs that I have documented, and I am skeptical if I didn't do more this year. But it's hard to remember when I started things and when I finished them. The second most common project, and by far the largest, were two shawls, both in a pattern called Rosetta Tharpe, which I liked so much when I made one for a friend, I had to make one for myself! I also made my first sweater, so for good or for ill, I appear to have crossed the line into being a real knitter.
(This review has made me realize that my Ravelry projects history has some fairly major gaps in it - there was a large project from 2017, a piecework blanket, that took months but never actually got onto my Ravelry page at all.)
What I Have Been Reading:
Pro-Fic : CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold - a wonderful book in the post-Memory half of the Vorkosigan Saga. An excellent example of "point Miles at something and watch what happens." While the Vorkosigan Saga's books are each episodic with character development that links the books thematically and make them wonderful, I think that this book should be read only after you've read Shards of Honor, Barrayar, (maybe also The Vor Game), and then Memory, if not also Komarr and a Civil Campaign. It's not necessary to understand the main plot at all, and you can absolutely read this book in any order you like, but there are some elements of character dynamics that mean so much more now that I have the full context for them, that I really suggest just letting this series run your life for a little bit.
Fanfic
Classic: Early Returns by rageprufrock - Inception - Reporter AU - Author Summary: Thinking that a reporter genuinely likes you is pretty much on par with feeling like you really are special to that stripper.
Why I love it: This features honestly one of the most deeply humiliating scenes that I have ever even imagined in a fic - having a one-night-stand who shows up at your job the next day as the new hire, and he does not recognize you or notice that you're the person he slept with the night before. For MONTHS. aaaaaaaaaaarg it's good writing.
New: Xenoethnography by Therrae (Dasha_mte) - Transformers - Outsider POV - Author Summary: It also didn’t help that the average glyph message was only three characters long, used no articles or prepositions, and usually had no verbs. What was the proper response to:: Curiosity; Sensation of great speed? Was it a question? A comparison? Why, after a brief visit by National Security Director Mearing, did four different ‘Bots send:: Emphasis; overlapping? Why was a particularly bad joke by Bulkhead derided as ::Undercharged when there were actual glyphs for Not funny and Humor fail? How did any of that work?
Why I love it: OPTIMUS PRIME HIRES AN ANTHROPOLOGIST TO HELP THE AUTOBOTS DO CULTURAL EXCHANGE WITH THE HUMANS. The aliens are alien! The humans are well intentioned and aware of their own biases and still are influenced by them. Incomplete series, but it's 150K so far, so you're good for a while.
Fannish!
Fanworks Created: 0. As usual, I lurk much more than I write.
Comments Left: Who knows! But I have at least 80 replies in my AO3 inbox from the last year, and those are uniformly replies to comments I have left on other people'e work, so at least 80 and probably a good bit more than that. (Does anyone know of a way I can see comments I left to other people in one location on AO3? That would be very useful.)
Fanfic Read: Approximately 1,340 works, based on my AO3 history page. (The math: 20 entries per page in my History tab on AO3, had to go back to page 67 to hit Jan 2018) That's assuming I didn't read anything that was hosted outside AO3, that none of those are re-reads (oho, a mistake that would be!) and that I actually read everything I clicked on. I have a number of open tabs that would put the lie to that last assertion, so let's just say it all comes out in the wash.
Bookmarks Created: 200-ish, again based on that entries-per-page-AO3 math. Which is a pretty good ratio of good fic! One thing I like about reading on AO3, the fact that my History saves things I have looked at frees me up to use my Bookmarks to save the things I really want to rec or read again - I don't bookmark things that I just felt okay about. By far the largest fandom of growth was Venom - that tag went from being a desert to a gooey alien oasis.
Non-Fannish!
Knitting: According to my Ravelry, I have completed at least 11 Knitted Objects in 2018! My most common project were socks - at least four pairs that I have documented, and I am skeptical if I didn't do more this year. But it's hard to remember when I started things and when I finished them. The second most common project, and by far the largest, were two shawls, both in a pattern called Rosetta Tharpe, which I liked so much when I made one for a friend, I had to make one for myself! I also made my first sweater, so for good or for ill, I appear to have crossed the line into being a real knitter.
(This review has made me realize that my Ravelry projects history has some fairly major gaps in it - there was a large project from 2017, a piecework blanket, that took months but never actually got onto my Ravelry page at all.)
What I Have Been Reading:
Pro-Fic : CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold - a wonderful book in the post-Memory half of the Vorkosigan Saga. An excellent example of "point Miles at something and watch what happens." While the Vorkosigan Saga's books are each episodic with character development that links the books thematically and make them wonderful, I think that this book should be read only after you've read Shards of Honor, Barrayar, (maybe also The Vor Game), and then Memory, if not also Komarr and a Civil Campaign. It's not necessary to understand the main plot at all, and you can absolutely read this book in any order you like, but there are some elements of character dynamics that mean so much more now that I have the full context for them, that I really suggest just letting this series run your life for a little bit.
Fanfic
Classic: Early Returns by rageprufrock - Inception - Reporter AU - Author Summary: Thinking that a reporter genuinely likes you is pretty much on par with feeling like you really are special to that stripper.
Why I love it: This features honestly one of the most deeply humiliating scenes that I have ever even imagined in a fic - having a one-night-stand who shows up at your job the next day as the new hire, and he does not recognize you or notice that you're the person he slept with the night before. For MONTHS. aaaaaaaaaaarg it's good writing.
New: Xenoethnography by Therrae (Dasha_mte) - Transformers - Outsider POV - Author Summary: It also didn’t help that the average glyph message was only three characters long, used no articles or prepositions, and usually had no verbs. What was the proper response to:: Curiosity; Sensation of great speed? Was it a question? A comparison? Why, after a brief visit by National Security Director Mearing, did four different ‘Bots send:: Emphasis; overlapping? Why was a particularly bad joke by Bulkhead derided as ::Undercharged when there were actual glyphs for Not funny and Humor fail? How did any of that work?
Why I love it: OPTIMUS PRIME HIRES AN ANTHROPOLOGIST TO HELP THE AUTOBOTS DO CULTURAL EXCHANGE WITH THE HUMANS. The aliens are alien! The humans are well intentioned and aware of their own biases and still are influenced by them. Incomplete series, but it's 150K so far, so you're good for a while.
