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January 2025 and 2024 in review
11 months ago
General
Another year has passed us by, and jeez, what a year. It's not like I can claim it was a super bad year for me, as none of my problems are like, truly huge ones; I still have a warm house to live in and a stable life, and outside of the possibilities that screw over basically everyone in the whole world, it's not likely for my personal life to get much worse either. In fact in some ways, my year has been great. If I were to look at video games in a vacuum, then it's been an awesome year. Additionally, I've gotten to spend more time with my close friends as of late. (Which has also contributed to my lower writing output.) However, in the context of everything? This year has felt like a horrible year. A few weeks before my birthday, I lost my beloved cat whom had been with me for around 15 years at that point. Throughout the latter half of the year, I got a lot of anxiety and stress from fighting to get my insurance to cover a couple of blood tests which were supposed to be covered according to my plan; eventually the mental turmoil was too much and I threw in the towel, just eating a ~850 dollar bill- again, this is in no way asking or expecting any charity for it. Thanks to budgeting, that was an expense that I could handle without it being a problem. I'm instead just hoping for... If not sympathy, at least a bit of understanding as to the frustration it put me through. On Christmas Eve, my parents' ~14 year old dog had an abrupt and sharp decline in health, and after it didn't seem any better overnight, they called a vet for a home visit to put her down on Christmas day. The vet said it seemed like she had probably suffered a stroke.
Then of course, in November I got hit with the political news that makes my outlook on the future extremely bleak. The possibility that the incoming administration might try to make this hobby of mine illegal for me to do is among the least of my worries in regards to it. After that it just gets much worse, very quickly.
So as for this last month in particular, well I spent the first part of the month mostly between family with my visiting grandma, or work. After that, I was stressed to the point of emotional breakdown from fighting with my insurance. Then just as I was starting to feel better with Christmas going on, as I mentioned my parents' dog had to be put down. I don't think I can blame myself for not getting a lot of work done on the current fic in progress.
I am as of now starting to feel more back to normal- the ever looming dread of what the next 4+ years will bring notwithstanding. Rehabilitating myself with good Netflix content and lots of Deep Rock Galactic with one of my close friends has helped a lot. So outside of when I'm busy with my job, I think I'll be able to get more done than I have this last month.
Okay, as is my yearly tradition, I'd like to take a look at how the entire last year was for me here on FA.
I uploaded 12 stories this year. (Not counting my eulogy for my cat.) An average of a story a month certainly feels slow compared to the 17 I did last year, and the ~27 I did the year before that. (Though that also includes some I wrote at the tail end of the year before, which is when I first started.) However, with how things currently are for me, it feels alright. There is certainly an inclination to feel disappointed or at least disheartened with myself, but since I'm treating it more as a hobby than a life path, I'm trying not to worry about it.
For some other stats for this last year, I went from 177 comments to 227, (50 more, just barely less than the previous year,) 557 favorites to 766, (209 more, again a bit less than the previous year,) and 76 watchers to 99. (23 more, also a little less than the previous year.)
I think it's not too surprising, given that I had fewer stories done in 2024 than in 2023. However, with a difference of 12 stories to 17, the other numbers are not proportionally smaller; if I were to count based on a ratio of comments/favorites/watchers per story, then 2024 got more than 2023. That actually makes me feel good, suggesting that perhaps while my output has gotten slower, my quality has gone up? Well, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I'm trying to have a more positive outlook.
This year I don't have any grand plans for what to do with my writing. Admittedly it's a little hard to think about big things I want to do when I know I may end up having to drop this hobby this year. I did have some thoughts of maybe doing something related to NNN, but I have yet to come up with a concrete idea that I'm sure I want to do there. Part of me wants to do a writing trade again; something that's been sounding at least interesting enough to try is the two of us writing a story from an outline that the other person creates, though I can foresee ways that could end up more difficult than it sounds initially. Plus of course, it relies on there being another furry erotica writer who wants to do that, and I can't force anyone else to go along with my idea, so I'm probably not going to worry about it.
One thing I can say to expect from me this year, so long as I can continue this hobby, is more stories with witches. I'm getting more ideas that involve them, and I'm realizing that I think I have a thing for them. I'll also mention something for one story in particular, probably my next after the current one I'm working on. I've noticed looking back that most of my stories involve characters just starting their relationships, whether starting as strangers or as platonic friends. I think it's understandable though; there's an old piece of advice about fictional writing, "is the story you're writing about the most interesting time in the characters' lives? If not, why aren't you writing that?" For characters who go on to have healthy, functional relationships, (which is standard for my stories since I don't do unhappy endings,) typically the most interesting thing about their relationship is how it started. Well, recently I've finally had an idea for a story with a pair of characters who are already in a long-term, committed relationship with each other at the time the story takes place. I know it won't be the only story like that I've written, but it's still something I wanted to specifically try to do. (And yes, it involves a witch.)
Okay, I think that's enough from me this month. If you read through this whole thing, then thank you, and have a belated happy new year! If you didn't read through it, that's okay, I hope you have a belated happy new year anyway! Good luck to us all in 2025. =)
Then of course, in November I got hit with the political news that makes my outlook on the future extremely bleak. The possibility that the incoming administration might try to make this hobby of mine illegal for me to do is among the least of my worries in regards to it. After that it just gets much worse, very quickly.
So as for this last month in particular, well I spent the first part of the month mostly between family with my visiting grandma, or work. After that, I was stressed to the point of emotional breakdown from fighting with my insurance. Then just as I was starting to feel better with Christmas going on, as I mentioned my parents' dog had to be put down. I don't think I can blame myself for not getting a lot of work done on the current fic in progress.
I am as of now starting to feel more back to normal- the ever looming dread of what the next 4+ years will bring notwithstanding. Rehabilitating myself with good Netflix content and lots of Deep Rock Galactic with one of my close friends has helped a lot. So outside of when I'm busy with my job, I think I'll be able to get more done than I have this last month.
Okay, as is my yearly tradition, I'd like to take a look at how the entire last year was for me here on FA.
I uploaded 12 stories this year. (Not counting my eulogy for my cat.) An average of a story a month certainly feels slow compared to the 17 I did last year, and the ~27 I did the year before that. (Though that also includes some I wrote at the tail end of the year before, which is when I first started.) However, with how things currently are for me, it feels alright. There is certainly an inclination to feel disappointed or at least disheartened with myself, but since I'm treating it more as a hobby than a life path, I'm trying not to worry about it.
For some other stats for this last year, I went from 177 comments to 227, (50 more, just barely less than the previous year,) 557 favorites to 766, (209 more, again a bit less than the previous year,) and 76 watchers to 99. (23 more, also a little less than the previous year.)
I think it's not too surprising, given that I had fewer stories done in 2024 than in 2023. However, with a difference of 12 stories to 17, the other numbers are not proportionally smaller; if I were to count based on a ratio of comments/favorites/watchers per story, then 2024 got more than 2023. That actually makes me feel good, suggesting that perhaps while my output has gotten slower, my quality has gone up? Well, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I'm trying to have a more positive outlook.
This year I don't have any grand plans for what to do with my writing. Admittedly it's a little hard to think about big things I want to do when I know I may end up having to drop this hobby this year. I did have some thoughts of maybe doing something related to NNN, but I have yet to come up with a concrete idea that I'm sure I want to do there. Part of me wants to do a writing trade again; something that's been sounding at least interesting enough to try is the two of us writing a story from an outline that the other person creates, though I can foresee ways that could end up more difficult than it sounds initially. Plus of course, it relies on there being another furry erotica writer who wants to do that, and I can't force anyone else to go along with my idea, so I'm probably not going to worry about it.
One thing I can say to expect from me this year, so long as I can continue this hobby, is more stories with witches. I'm getting more ideas that involve them, and I'm realizing that I think I have a thing for them. I'll also mention something for one story in particular, probably my next after the current one I'm working on. I've noticed looking back that most of my stories involve characters just starting their relationships, whether starting as strangers or as platonic friends. I think it's understandable though; there's an old piece of advice about fictional writing, "is the story you're writing about the most interesting time in the characters' lives? If not, why aren't you writing that?" For characters who go on to have healthy, functional relationships, (which is standard for my stories since I don't do unhappy endings,) typically the most interesting thing about their relationship is how it started. Well, recently I've finally had an idea for a story with a pair of characters who are already in a long-term, committed relationship with each other at the time the story takes place. I know it won't be the only story like that I've written, but it's still something I wanted to specifically try to do. (And yes, it involves a witch.)
Okay, I think that's enough from me this month. If you read through this whole thing, then thank you, and have a belated happy new year! If you didn't read through it, that's okay, I hope you have a belated happy new year anyway! Good luck to us all in 2025. =)
and glad to hear you're doing better ^^