Birthday letters

[jadesfire]

*sings* Happy Birthday To Me!
(yes, travels_in_time, I know it's your birthday too - I've got a whole other post for you here)

Well, it's not my actual birthday, the date of which is cunningly and subtly concealed in my username, but it is the birthday of my LiveJournal. One year and nearly 300 posts later, there's no getting rid of me, however much that might disappoint you. So I felt the need to do something to mark the occasion. Okay, so I may spam your friends pages a little with fic and posts, what with one thing and another, but as that's not new, I thought I'd do something else to mark it.



This year, in addition to modding (intermittently) on 3 comms, I have written:

Housefic
11 stories in ~20,500 words, including everything from 50 (yes, 50) word drabbles, to writing the same scene, three different ways in one story (that one nearly killed me but I'm damn proud of it).

Criminal Minds fic
Much neglected, sadly. Just 4 stories in ~8,300 words. But one of them includes the world's most random word list, so I'm quite pleased with that one.

Jack fic
My stories centre on Jack, so they're both Torchwood and Doctor Who - I've given up trying to separate them out. There are 13 stand-alone stories in ~21,000 words, not including the nursery rhymes. They include everything from the craziest crack to the gentlest fluff, and on top of them, there are 42 drabbles, mostly written in the month of madness. To date, The Sic Transit Tempus ficverse currently stands at 2 series (total 21 stories/~52,300 words) and 4 stand-alone stories (total ~12,000 words). And that doesn't count the ones I'm going to post today.

Crossovers
I love writing crossover fics, and have 3 crossover stories (I don't think 'meta-crack-crossover' is actually a genre...) in 22,400 words. There's another Discworld one in the planning, just because I can't help myself.


So that's a grand total of 98 stories (including drabbles) and about 140,700 words in 7 fandoms (including crossovers). And it doesn't include the 4 half-started Torchwood stories, the 9 I have in plan form, the next Sic Transit Tempus series which is also in the planning stages and the 1 Housefic that's still waiting for its ending.

*blink*

And during that time I worked full-time, planned a wedding, found a flat, got married, moved house and changed jobs, not to mention doing a part-time MA.

Ahhhhh, so that's where my life went. The other half, major_jim (yes, he has one too ;)), is a remarkably patient man...


I'm not given to gushing, as it makes my inner-Brit get all hot under the collar, so you might want to make a note of this post. It may well be another year til you see the next...

I can't go round my whole flist and say how awesome you are, as I only have one lifetime and plan to do other things with it as well. I'm just hoping that those people I can't mention by name will forgive me, and be reassured that you make me smile on a daily basis. It cheers up a dull and often lonely job to know you lot are out there.

And if you can't remember why you're seeing this... I know there are some of you who probably groan at seeing my name come up again and are wondering how I ended up on your f-list anyway. No hard feelings, not a problem - these things happen - and I'm not going to be offended by being defriended - hope you have fun out there :)



In the beginning...

I have to start with my House-friends, who gave me the confidence to keep writing and generally held my hand through my first few months on LJ. pwcorgigirl, nightdog_barks and perspi helped me prod my work into shape, shared my enthusiasm, and provided a constant supply of touching, funny and wonderful stories to keep me going. Together with fallen_arazil, karaokegal, topaz_eyes, bironic (whose sestinas should be compulsory reading), mer_duff and deelaundry, and so many others, they write fanfic how it should be - intelligent, fun and crafted. I arrived in the fandom already understanding the basics of how writing worked, but these guys showed me all the other things it could be.

Everything Changes

Then, soon after I got back from honeymoon last October, I started to fall for a new fandom that has subsequently eaten my life. I'm happy to say that I think I have the best Torchwood and Doctor Who writers in the fandom on my flist, because they wouldn't be there if I didn't think that. They write all genres and lengths and all characters, constantly finding new ways to make me go 'oh!'

entangled_now writes crack!fic with a flair that's hard to match, laurab1 makes fantastic graphics and icons when I ask for them and as wonderful surprises, szm, seti_drd, dark_aegis and becky_writing make me smile, laugh and cry in equal measure, while cyberducks, aeshna_uk, hellenebright, nnwest and fajrdrako write recs, commentary and fic that make me think and/or giggle.

As I said, there are too many others to mention by name, for which I trust I will be forgiven. Have a scroll through my friends page to appreciate how fantastic you all are.

Gone but not forgotten

I know there are a few Criminal Minds guys out there, hanging on desperately as we wait to see what's going to happen after the recent earthquakes. You keep me in touch with what's going on, and I need to see S2 before I can get back into it properly, but I can promise you that I will be back...

Is this the real life?

And it's not just fic that I love reading. I love reading what you've all been up to, all the stresses and joys and fun that you're having. I usually filter my friends list to 'journals only' so I can keep track of everyone properly. And I love that when I'm having a bad day, so many people stop by to cheer me up. It works, every time.

I've cried, laughed and bitten my nails along with rivers_bend over the last few months, and it's been so good to hear how things are going, and read an intelligent, honest account of what happens when you turn your life upside-down. Her courage and ability to just keep going, while never pretending it's easy, leave me waiting eagerly for the next installment. And I always grin when terrylj/travels_in_time's name comes up - good humour and determination under trying circumstances are not easy, but she always seems to manage it.

Credit where it's due

Finally, everyone who works with regular betas knows how precious they are. Finding someone whose style of working complements your own is hard to do, and I've been incredibly lucky to find two of them. I can honestly say that without crystalshard and miss_zedem, my writing wouldn't be half of what it is. They have all my best ideas, they don't let me get away with anything and they patiently hold my hand through redraft after redraft without ever losing their minds, cool or senses of humour.

crystalshard single-handedly betaed the whole of "The Waiting Years", which deserves a medal, a round of a applause and a stiff drink on its own. She makes sure I stay within the bounds of the engineeringly possible, not to mention driving trucks through my plot holes; she writes everything from crack to action with the same flair and eye for detail; and she writes fluff on demand when I need cheering up. And she still talks to me after I tell her to go rewrite her whole story. She's even brave enough to put up with me in person on 4th August, so you might want to wish her luck. For consistent good humour and sage advice, I can't thank her enough.

And finally, finally, miss_zedem, with whom I recently seem to be sharing a brain (I'm definitely getting the better half of that deal). She kicked me out of my comfort zone and locked the door behind me; she always knows the answer to a grammar or character question, usually in the same amount of detail; and she's quite content to while away time with me on Yahoo!Messenger, taking apart characters, plot-lines and fandom generally to see how they work. She's made me pay more attention to the emotional lives of my characters, and writes with a tenderness and character-insight that never ceases to touch me.

Good afternoon, good evening and good night

So, to all of you, named or not, thank you for a great year - it's been fun, and here's to another!

May the continuity monster not eat your canon,
May all your loose ends be resolved,
May all your slash be pretty,
May all your stories be correctly spelled,
And may you have good fic, good fandoms and good friends,
Now and forevermore.

~Jades x

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