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enchantedsleeperOne of my favourite prompts for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge is always setting fandom (and fandom-adjacent) goals for the year ahead: it feels like a really nice way to set out what I'd like my year to consist of. Since fandom has positive connotations for me, it's essentially a list of "some cool things I want to do in 202X!"
(They're also the only new year's resolutions I bother to set, these days xD)
Since last year I've also taken to reviewing my goals for the previous year before I set new ones, just to see how I did. It doesn't matter if I missed any (I never make all of them) - often thinking about how my year was different to what I anticipated is just as interesting.
In 2024 I was really ambitious and set eight(!) goals, so I'm going to split this into two parts, otherwise it would be like... 3,000 words long xD You can check out my goals for 2024 here if you're curious.
Okay, so right off the bat, I didn't manage this one 😅 I have made a fanvid – but it was forfestivids, so, that doesn't count as “not for a challenge/event”. I set this caveat because so far, all of my fanvids have been for an event (The Ineffable Con in Good Omens fandom) or a challenge (Festivids) and I wanted to make one just based on my own whim. I have so many ideas I love! And I really thought I'd do it this year, but the hurdle for getting started on a fanvid is higher than starting a fic (where I can just open up the Notes app on my phone) and it requires much more time investment. I lamented this on Mastodon when I sat down to start my Festivid:
“I have a number of different vids I really want to make, and this past year I made a fannish goal of creating at least one fanvid outside of challenges/events, but it didn't happen. I feel as though starting a fanvid is a much bigger commitment compared to starting a new fic, and so it's hard to get myself over that hurdle unless I'm doing it for a challenge. Otherwise, it's easy to say "I'll get to it soon" (and then never get to it).”
Making my Festivid was challenging enough this time around that I felt justified in not managing to casually knock out a fanvid in my free time; and yet, I also feel like I'm totally going to do it this year. I'll write more about my Festivid when reveals have happened, but I was really pleased with the result and I feel like I've levelled up my vidding. Now, I want to see what I can do with a personal project!
I DID THIS! I totally managed to serialise and COMPLETE a fanfic of more than two chapters!! (It had a whole six chapters!)
This is a big deal because, believe it or not, until last November I hadn't achieved this the entire time I'd been in fandom. Oh, I'd started plenty of multichapter fics, but I hadn't seen any of them to conclusion even when I had the plot figured out. I'd managed some two-shots, but anything beyond that seemed to be fatal to my momentum.
Or that's what I thought! In 2023, I posted a slightly-cracky canon divergence scenario for the comic FENCE to Tumblr and wrote about 800 words of fic to accompany it. I had ideas for where it might go if I continued it, but I also wasn't that bothered if it just stayed as an excerpt that let people imagine the rest. I didn't ultimately pick it back up for the rest of the year.
Then in August 2024, I don't know - I was struck by the desire to continue it For Real(TM) and I wrote some more. And then some more after that. I was hesitant to formalise the fic too much in case I broke the 'spell', but by chapter 3, I'd finally given my work a name, and shortly afterwards I started publishing it to AO3 (though it was always posted to Tumblr first until the final chapter). I even had readers following along.
I can't really say what mystical alignment of stars led me to actually keep my momentum going with a chaptered fic for the first time ever and see it to its conclusion, but it was probably a combination of a) really honestly enjoying the writing of it; b) having encouraging readers who posted appreciation; and c) wanting to create a fix-it of sorts for certain things in canon that bothered me. It also helped that the chapters were quite short (~2k each) and so I could finish one relatively easily and get that hit of satisfaction. Though I made sure that I'd already started writing the next one before I posted the latest chapter, and that helped me come back and pick things up each time.
It's fair to say I'm pleased with how I did on this one! :D
I totally managed this one as well, yay, go me! I actually hosted an entire small web event in September over in thesmallweb community, which was really great for motivating me to do stuff on my personal fanworks archive, and I loved seeing what other people were doing with their own small web projects. I also did March Meta Matters in March and archived some meta to enchantedsleeper.space, and followed that up with 'Archive April' (my own personal archiving challenge) to keep the archiving train going.
During Small Web September, I managed to tick off some important to-do items for the archive that included getting my fanworks pages into a more reader-friendly shape, and so I feel comfortable sharing enchantedsleeper's space around now. I'd like to do more with non-fic archiving, though, and of course I still have loads of works still to add! I'll definitely be making another archive-related goal for 2025.
While I never did define exactly what counts as “consistently” here, I was much more active on both Pillowfort and Dreamwidth in 2024, particularly Pillowfort. (Well, actually, I only started posting to Pillowfort on 1st January 2024, so I guess the bar there is low xD) After a bit of faffing around, unsure what to post, I got into the swing of things with leaving comments, figuring out topics of interest to post about and generally finding my feet in the community. I filled in some blanket boxes and even made two of my own (I shared them to DW too for Three Weeks For Dreamwidth), published some hitching posts (round-ups of interesting posts or discussions) and made a Fort Brochure.
To my surprise and pleasure, Pillowfort really felt like a welcoming community where I could make a home. (It helps that the main draw for many longtime users is the culture of in-depth discussions, which is exactly what appeals to me most about any given social space).
I haven't necessarily figured out how or whether to post about fandom there (the question of fandom on Pillowfort is one that's been discussed quite a bit, since it can be hard to find fellow fans of a specific thing in what's still a pretty small community), but I share a fair bit of stuff about the web, technology, anti-AI, updates on SquidgeWorld/other non-AO3 archives, and interesting things I encounter generally.
I did find myself quite stretched trying to keep up with both Pillowfort and DW, though. Posting frequently to one is fine and totally doable; posting to two (plus Mastodon where I still have an active presence) really takes up more time and energy than I have to spare (and I don't want to just copy-paste posts across both because that feels less like I'm writing something cool for my followers and more like activity for activity's sake).
But I love both places! I'm really happy to be a community member on both DW and PF, and over on DW I found and took part in some fantastic events and comms last year includingsmall_fandoms' Drabblethon and Surprise Scramble, marchmetamatters, smallfandomfest, tinyfandomflash and of course smallweb where I ran Small Web September. I've loved discovering new spaces on DW where I can chat, create things and find kindred spirits.
I averaged 1-2 posts per month on DW (though I did more in January-April) up until October when exchange season really started to hit, and I think that's fine. I don't want to force myself to blog more than I have inspiration/energy for, but I'm looking forward to continuing to take part in various events and blog about my progress here while also staying active on Pillowfort.
snowflake_challenge is always setting fandom (and fandom-adjacent) goals for the year ahead: it feels like a really nice way to set out what I'd like my year to consist of. Since fandom has positive connotations for me, it's essentially a list of "some cool things I want to do in 202X!"(They're also the only new year's resolutions I bother to set, these days xD)
Since last year I've also taken to reviewing my goals for the previous year before I set new ones, just to see how I did. It doesn't matter if I missed any (I never make all of them) - often thinking about how my year was different to what I anticipated is just as interesting.
In 2024 I was really ambitious and set eight(!) goals, so I'm going to split this into two parts, otherwise it would be like... 3,000 words long xD You can check out my goals for 2024 here if you're curious.
1) Make a fanvid (not for a challenge/event)
Okay, so right off the bat, I didn't manage this one 😅 I have made a fanvid – but it was for
festivids, so, that doesn't count as “not for a challenge/event”. I set this caveat because so far, all of my fanvids have been for an event (The Ineffable Con in Good Omens fandom) or a challenge (Festivids) and I wanted to make one just based on my own whim. I have so many ideas I love! And I really thought I'd do it this year, but the hurdle for getting started on a fanvid is higher than starting a fic (where I can just open up the Notes app on my phone) and it requires much more time investment. I lamented this on Mastodon when I sat down to start my Festivid:“I have a number of different vids I really want to make, and this past year I made a fannish goal of creating at least one fanvid outside of challenges/events, but it didn't happen. I feel as though starting a fanvid is a much bigger commitment compared to starting a new fic, and so it's hard to get myself over that hurdle unless I'm doing it for a challenge. Otherwise, it's easy to say "I'll get to it soon" (and then never get to it).”
Making my Festivid was challenging enough this time around that I felt justified in not managing to casually knock out a fanvid in my free time; and yet, I also feel like I'm totally going to do it this year. I'll write more about my Festivid when reveals have happened, but I was really pleased with the result and I feel like I've levelled up my vidding. Now, I want to see what I can do with a personal project!
2) Finish and publish any multichapter fanfic (of more than 2 chapters) OR finish a WIP that's at least a year old
I DID THIS! I totally managed to serialise and COMPLETE a fanfic of more than two chapters!! (It had a whole six chapters!)
This is a big deal because, believe it or not, until last November I hadn't achieved this the entire time I'd been in fandom. Oh, I'd started plenty of multichapter fics, but I hadn't seen any of them to conclusion even when I had the plot figured out. I'd managed some two-shots, but anything beyond that seemed to be fatal to my momentum.
Or that's what I thought! In 2023, I posted a slightly-cracky canon divergence scenario for the comic FENCE to Tumblr and wrote about 800 words of fic to accompany it. I had ideas for where it might go if I continued it, but I also wasn't that bothered if it just stayed as an excerpt that let people imagine the rest. I didn't ultimately pick it back up for the rest of the year.
Then in August 2024, I don't know - I was struck by the desire to continue it For Real(TM) and I wrote some more. And then some more after that. I was hesitant to formalise the fic too much in case I broke the 'spell', but by chapter 3, I'd finally given my work a name, and shortly afterwards I started publishing it to AO3 (though it was always posted to Tumblr first until the final chapter). I even had readers following along.
I can't really say what mystical alignment of stars led me to actually keep my momentum going with a chaptered fic for the first time ever and see it to its conclusion, but it was probably a combination of a) really honestly enjoying the writing of it; b) having encouraging readers who posted appreciation; and c) wanting to create a fix-it of sorts for certain things in canon that bothered me. It also helped that the chapters were quite short (~2k each) and so I could finish one relatively easily and get that hit of satisfaction. Though I made sure that I'd already started writing the next one before I posted the latest chapter, and that helped me come back and pick things up each time.
It's fair to say I'm pleased with how I did on this one! :D
3) Archive more fanworks on enchantedsleeper.space
I totally managed this one as well, yay, go me! I actually hosted an entire small web event in September over in the
smallweb community, which was really great for motivating me to do stuff on my personal fanworks archive, and I loved seeing what other people were doing with their own small web projects. I also did March Meta Matters in March and archived some meta to enchantedsleeper.space, and followed that up with 'Archive April' (my own personal archiving challenge) to keep the archiving train going.During Small Web September, I managed to tick off some important to-do items for the archive that included getting my fanworks pages into a more reader-friendly shape, and so I feel comfortable sharing enchantedsleeper's space around now. I'd like to do more with non-fic archiving, though, and of course I still have loads of works still to add! I'll definitely be making another archive-related goal for 2025.
4) Post consistently to Pillowfort and Dreamwidth
While I never did define exactly what counts as “consistently” here, I was much more active on both Pillowfort and Dreamwidth in 2024, particularly Pillowfort. (Well, actually, I only started posting to Pillowfort on 1st January 2024, so I guess the bar there is low xD) After a bit of faffing around, unsure what to post, I got into the swing of things with leaving comments, figuring out topics of interest to post about and generally finding my feet in the community. I filled in some blanket boxes and even made two of my own (I shared them to DW too for Three Weeks For Dreamwidth), published some hitching posts (round-ups of interesting posts or discussions) and made a Fort Brochure.
To my surprise and pleasure, Pillowfort really felt like a welcoming community where I could make a home. (It helps that the main draw for many longtime users is the culture of in-depth discussions, which is exactly what appeals to me most about any given social space).
I haven't necessarily figured out how or whether to post about fandom there (the question of fandom on Pillowfort is one that's been discussed quite a bit, since it can be hard to find fellow fans of a specific thing in what's still a pretty small community), but I share a fair bit of stuff about the web, technology, anti-AI, updates on SquidgeWorld/other non-AO3 archives, and interesting things I encounter generally.
I did find myself quite stretched trying to keep up with both Pillowfort and DW, though. Posting frequently to one is fine and totally doable; posting to two (plus Mastodon where I still have an active presence) really takes up more time and energy than I have to spare (and I don't want to just copy-paste posts across both because that feels less like I'm writing something cool for my followers and more like activity for activity's sake).
But I love both places! I'm really happy to be a community member on both DW and PF, and over on DW I found and took part in some fantastic events and comms last year including
small_fandoms' Drabblethon and Surprise Scramble, marchmetamatters, smallfandomfest, tinyfandomflash and of course smallweb where I ran Small Web September. I've loved discovering new spaces on DW where I can chat, create things and find kindred spirits.I averaged 1-2 posts per month on DW (though I did more in January-April) up until October when exchange season really started to hit, and I think that's fine. I don't want to force myself to blog more than I have inspiration/energy for, but I'm looking forward to continuing to take part in various events and blog about my progress here while also staying active on Pillowfort.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-28 12:15 am (UTC)Fanvids são muito legais, nunca consegui fazer nenhum, meu pc não aguenta texto direito quem dirá vídeos (fazia edições de imagem estática a duras penas). Acho chique esse tipo de arte. AMVs também são legais. Foram uma onda parecida um com o outro não?
Olha escrever, em capítulos, postar em constância e ainda ter gente lendo ao mesmo tempo? Isso que foi um alinhamento planetário completo u.u
E mais uma vez disposição, eu tenho conta em diferentes sites (Mastodon, Pillowfort, Tumblr e etc) e mal uso minhas outras contas de tanto que estou focada quase que unicamente na DW. Não sei como você consegue gerir tantas coisas, ainda mais arquivando tudo também em seu próprio .space.