jocundasykes: (Default)
 In 2023, I posted 13 podfics, totalling 13 hours. Not a lot, really (for me).

 

 

 

 

This does not include Endgame, which was 90% recorded in 2023 but technically finished in 2024, and a lot of Can’t Take the Sky was done in the final days of 2023, but will have to go into my 2024 roundup.

 

A couple that stand out to me are: 

  • Routines by Phantomato, the only pairing that’s not Snarry that I would say I adore, which is Tom RiddlexEdmund Pevensie. I think I did a good job of Tom, who is hard to act. When he’s Voldemort in a podfic I make him sound like a shrill Ralph Fiennes, nicht gut.
  • On the Deficiencies of Translation Spells by LilaDiurne. I’d been putting it off for years, removing and adding it back onto my to-pod list, because I wasn’t sure I could do a good job of speaking French, speaking English in a French accent whilst also acting, and all the music, and the film references. I sat down and just DID IT, and yes it was hard, but I did a good job. I’m glad I waited because I’m better at this now, and I think it’s a much better pod. Like when you use a slow cooker.

 

 

Miscellaneous 2022/3 stats

  • In my 2021 roundup, I said I was thrilled at the end of 2020 to have 1k kudos on a fic, and then to find 1500 kudos at the end of 2021. And now I am kinda shocked to see 2402 kudos on it, as of 15Jan24. Who are these people?? I love you. Thank you for reading my stuff.
  • At the end of 2020, I had 366 kudos in a fortnight, and now it’s got 1624. I’m blown away as I didn’t think people would get into my epistolary format. It’s very rewarding to see people are enjoying it as it was such hard work rewriting DH. Occasionally I still get comments ”Why didn’t Hedwig die?” uhh the same reason Snape did not die, the entire plot is different, it is a rewrite. Makes me laugh!
  • 7 people in the past 2 years have kudos’d Of Love Notes and Bottle Caps! YAAAS. 
  • I no longer use Audacity to record, after some horrific errors, and OneDrive syncing nightmares, and now use Reaper. I am now much calmer.
  • Cadbury Caramel multipacks have shrunk! The bars are much shorter! Wtf people! Someone needs to fix the economy.
  • I finished listening to The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. I am slowly, like a snail, making my way through book 3.
  • I was devastated to lose a dear friend at the end of 2021, and stunned when she recently removed co-authorship from our fic. AO3 threatened to remove me when I added her name into the author’s note. I don’t want to take all credit for it - I only wrote 40-60% of it. Although I get all kudos and comments emails, this one from AO3 ”Abuse” team went to my junk folder. Just so awful.
  • In 2022, I lost another two friends. One is on, I HOPE a fandom break, I am pretty sure she isn’t dead, missing her loads. I miss her encouragement, art, and our chats. I want to finish my translation so when she’s back, she’ll have another great TreggiDi fic to read. I just lost another friend, when Scarlet passed away on Boxing Day. Horrific!

 

I’m trying to be grateful for what I have. Faelyee is an excellent friend, and is my AO3 next-of-kin for JocundaSykes and JocundaSykesEncore. I have had lots of fun lately with Serena and Pea. My laptop works. I have a recording booth. I still have half of this minuscule Caramel bar left.

 

Next year (or… this year) I would like to: 

  • Reach out to Rindle, an all-round fabulous human being, and return to helping with fpslist.org! 
  • Finish and post the Choose Your Own Adventure! It’s so nearly finished it’s just RIDICULOUS that I haven’t finished and posted it!
  • Finish plotting with Faelyee. *Rubs hands together in glee*
  • Finish listening to The Return of the King
  • Edit LotR to rebalance the audio. It’s this version, which sometimes has music so loud I have no idea what’s happening any more. Despite that, I still highly recommend it
jocundasykes: (Default)
 Towards the end of 2021, I received some bad news, and it’s taken me a long time to pick myself up and come back to fandom properly. I skipped a 2022 review post, so I’ll write two posts for each year.

 

No pie chart, sadly, as I haven’t been tracking word counts, but I can tell you that my writing was 100% Snarry.

 

I posted the Somnambulist, a charming 15k Snarry, which I translated. I adapted Light’s So Quite New a Thing into a memefic, which is harder than it looks. Does this count as "writing"? Well, it's certainly not a podfic. I also posted 15k (and have a few more thousand up my sleeve) of Glass Heart, a lovely and dark slavery AU.

 

I posted 20 podfics, totalling 28 hours. My goal was to ”record 20 podfic hours”, whoops.

 

I am particularly proud of:

Lush Life and Home Again, Home Again, both by pir8fancier, because they were long multivoices, which is a ridiculous amount of work, and it completes the series. I’d podficced the first story in the trilogy near the beginning of my podfic journey and never considered carrying on with the series. I’m a completionist!

The Politician’s Wife. ALSO by pir8fancier. I’m picking this one because I think I did a really good job of Hermione, and the cover is my favourite to date.

 

Not counted in my total, obviously, but I also released two audiobooks in 2022 which were 6.5hr and 9.5hrs long. So I haven’t really dropped in terms of audio productivity. It was nerve wracking putting myself out there to be reviewed not only by the public, but by the paying public, customers! Was everyone on AO3 just being nice??? I had nothing to be worried about as audiobook reviewers are very kind. I was shortlisted for an award for one of them, and they have absolutely pushed me into learning new accents. I am certain these new skills will improve my future pods!

I find my rating pie chart amusing:


 
A review of my 2022 goals


- I have signed up for another 200k Get Your Words Out challenge I was too blindsided to do this, and to be honest I completely forgot that I signed up and must’ve missed every check in

- Translate at least 1 story. Thanks to Bailou I have a shortlist, in order of preference I posted one translation in 2022, I’m so glad Bailou got to read it before she left fandom

- Spend most of my year working on my time travel Snarry Sadly not. I had 0 mojo for this but have been making little notes on my phone for years now.

- Write at least 1 podfic guide YES! I did this. It has 43 kudos!

- Record 20 podfic hours (much less than this year) LOLno

- Sign up for ZERO fests. Except perhaps Voiceteam and Voiceteam Mystery Box. How else is this time travel ever gonna get done?? I have continued to not sign up to fests. Sadly I did not get to do one Voiceteam because I forgot about signups, but I have done all the other Voiceteams. 0 regrets because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them, made new friends, and learnt new skills/got out of a rut.

- I am only going to podfic authors with blanket permission statements going forwards An interesting goal! In 2022, I did this! Except for perhaps rexluscus? In 2023, I podficced 1 by dracofiend who is super podfic friendly but doesn’t have a statement, and Phantomato, who doesn’t have BP, but TomxEdmund is like a barge-sized ship, so I don’t have the luxury of excluding non-BP authors. No regrets cos it’s a fantastic listen.

I did not make any goals for 2023, which you can probably gather from the fact I wrote this blog post a whole year too late.

jocundasykes: (Default)
 Fear not, I’m not gonna rehash my monthly reviews. I joined AO3 on 3rd January 2020. So to this day, I’ve got 2 years to look back on.

 

Here is a pie chart of my Harry Potter words! YAY SPREADSHEETS:

 I wanted to do 20k translation and ended up doing 85k. A lot of these words aren’t on AO3 and I plan to post the bulk of them in 2022.

  

Onto podfic stats!:

I recorded 34 hours last year and 36 hours this year (6 more than my goal). What surprises me most is the similarity of my pie charts in comparison with 2020. My tastes haven’t changed at all. I am significantly faster (unsurprisingly, since I’m less of a n00b and refined my editing and recording) but I had lots of dry spells.


Last year I podficced 91% Snarry, and this year a significant Drarry chunk was my 90k fic.:


Miscellaneous 2021 stats

- I broke 0 Kindles! :sunglasses:

- I haven’t totally mastered Scrivener, but I am getting the hang of it, and I love it. I haven’t looked back.

- I still felt as though I was jumping from fest to fest, without time to read any fanworks. However, I was glad I hadn’t read Avioleta’s AUctoberfest she wrote based on my prompt til I’d finished my Swap fic. We’d trod over the same paths. And it meant I couldn’t subconsciously copy elements of her work.

- Last year I thought it amazing I got 1000 kudos on my Snarry soulmate fic, and now it’s doubly amazing to see 1.5k!!! Thanks all! And 366 on Endgame, after less than a fortnight - blimey people!! I truly appreciate your support.

- I am up to 12 kudos on Of Love Notes and Bottle Caps! YAAAS. MUST finish that in 2022 LOL. For the 15th year, it is still on my to do list. Bad Joc.

- I beta read about 5 things, not good. 

- I read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers for the 3rd time. 

- I listened to EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of KM Weiland’s Helping Writers Become Authors podcast. This is gold. Everyone should listen to her. I have learnt so much and I’m sure I’m a better writer thanks to her. It’s been weekly for 10 years! All her posts are on her blog, too.

- Decided not to be in contact with ~30 Drarry fandom people after some nasty group bullying

- A goal from last year was to have a sound dampening podfic frame, and my husband built one. I am no longer recording under a blanket, or crouched in a den.

- Editing podfics takes about 1/3 of the time now I use punch and roll. I’m surprised more podficcers don’t do this, as it’s industry standard amongst audiobook narrators. I utilise a number of macros and believe my quality is much higher nowadays

- I aimed to co-write a Snarry, and we succeeded

- I took part in Voiceteam, Voiceteam Mystery Box, Snarry AUctoberfest, Secret Snarry Swap, Snarry-a-Thon, and HP Podfic Mini Fest.

- I added 200 authors with blanket podfic permission statements to the FPSlist. This will turn their names green on the Chrome extension. I encourage all creators to consider writing a statement -  a ”yes”, ”ask first”, or a ”no”.


My goals for 2022

- I have signed up for another 200k Get Your Words Out challenge

- Translate at least 1 story. Thanks to Bailou I have a shortlist, in order of preference

- Spend most of my year working on my time travel Snarry

- Write at least 1 podfic guide

- Record 20 podfic hours (much less than this year)

- Sign up for ZERO fests. Except perhaps Voiceteam and Voiceteam Mystery Box. How else is this time travel ever gonna get done??

- I am only going to podfic authors with blanket permission statements going forwards

jocundasykes: (Default)

Things I did in 2020

I joined AO3 on 3rd January 2020. It’s satisfying that there’s an entire year to take stock on!

Here is a pie chart of my Harry Potter words! YAY SPREADSHEETS:


 

It's mental really to see it like that. A year ago I googled myself and saw that someone imported my fics to AO3 when an archive shut down. The punctuation was horrid, so I claimed them and fixed everything as soon as I could.

It started off a lot like this:

 

Reading Of Love Notes and Bottle Caps was a bit disturbing – beyond the premise, I remembered very little of the fic I abandoned in 2007. I changed the tense, got rid of lengthy internal monologues, stopped the head-hopping POV issues, made it Deathly Hallows compliant (no quick task), axed sections with no conflict, and gave my OCs names that were appropriate to 1977. I wrote this in defiance of Lily's representation in the books, annoyed that she was just a martyr and a mother (Yes I'm quoting Serving Penance here) with no specific friends. I hope some of her mates will crop up in some 2021 fics!

 

Aside from self-editing that fic, I edited Her Favourite Songs to be less cringe. Another 2007 oneshot, it had fewer errors but the character development wasn’t quite right. I'm now proud of this oneshot focussing on Blaise Zabini's mum.

 

I podficced Miles to Go Before I Sleep  after reading a ton of podficcing guides and thinking "This is achievable and sounds fun". Then Andrew 38,  Fall,  The Once and Future Headmaster (a timetravel Dumblepot), Capitulation (a Rodolphus character study), Soulmate Flowers, The Dreaming Spires and I podficced the 2nd half of the Boy Who Died a Lot.  I wrote a Drarry ficlet called Fuck You and podficced another couple for the Drarry Babble Challenge, which was good craic (Intent and She Was Like Me).

 

I wrote a Drarry PWP, A Question of Inevitability, which was kind of a big deal for me cos I'd not considered Drarry at all for the last....... many years of fic reading. 

 

I wrote my first finished fic, Serving Penance,  and recorded it. It's not a literary masterpiece but it said what I wanted it to, and (I believe) it was in character and best of all it was FINISHED! YAY

 

I wrote 31 AU Snarry Drabbles for AUgust, Thirty-One First Kisses.

 

I finished my second fic, The Space Between Failing and Falling and recorded it. It was my first time writing non-Harry POV and it was such fun! It was so nice to have some Snarry friends cheer me along (big up to Light!) and it was very well-received by the AO3 masses (mind-boggling, really).

 

I translated Something I’ll Never Have into English  and recorded it I LOVE THIS FIC! basically anything I podfic I'm reccing. In fact, have a meme:

 

I took part in Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology, Snarry a Thon, took a prompt from Kinkfest, wrote for AUgust, A Very Harry Birthday, the House of Snarry AUctoberfest, and H/D Erised. I have also babbled a ficlet on the Drarry discord. I’m doing a secret something for the Snape Birthday Swap in January. I'm having fun right now doing Voiceteams Mystery Box.

  

And finally, I spent 3 months writing my first proper Drarry, and it is unrevealed so I will edit this later. I’m very proud of this fic and hope to record it next year.

 

This is why I haven’t read a tremendous amount in the last 6 months!

 

I recorded 34 hours!!!!! WHAT! Here is a pie chart of the split in ratings. Heh. Not really surprised:





And the pairing split reveals my true colours. I REALLY like Snarry:


Miscellaneous 2020 stats

- I broke two Kindles
- I did not read as much fic as I'd like this year, it sometimes felt like jumping from one fest to another. And a big part of fests is the community atmosphere, commenting on each other's work, and I felt rotten not to do that properly
- I got 1000 Kudos on my Snarry soulmate fic!! WOW
- I got 7 Kudos on my Lily fic! YESSSS 

I beta read about 10-15 things 
- I read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers twice
- I've sort of worked out how to use Reddit, Discord and Dreamwidth. It's been so nice to come back to fandom after 13 years. Everyone has been so friendly (and generous with their time!)
- I recorded 7 or so songs for podfic purposes. Here is Loch Lomond


What are my goals for 2021? 

- I have signed up to Get Your Words Out (gulp) here on Dreamwidth. I have signed up to write 200k (less than this year) (I hope to be doing other hobbies in 2021, pandemic permitting! and uh... my PhD.... ideally) I'd like 20k of these words to be from translation
- I would like to improve my podficcing set up by building some sort of soundproofing frame thingamabob 
- I would like to record 30 podfic hours (less than this year)
- I would like to finish a dialogue project with Lee - we are compiling canon dialogue of each character, to help with writers on characterisation and voice/diction/contractions/vocabulary for that character
- I would like to co-write a Snarry
- I MUST finish Of Love Notes and Bottles Caps oh my gosh it's been on my to do list for 14 years
- I would like to finish my time travel Snarry
- I would like to take part in Snarry-a-Thon and Secret Snarry Swap as a minimum, but don't plan to sign up to many fests

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