2019 Resolution #3

I don't think Tumblr is dying or anything, but the site's bungled implementation of its adult content ban scared the hell out of me. I write most of my posts in Word documents before I cut and paste the text onto Tumblr, but I've done all of the subsequent editing on the Tumblr posts, not the original documents, and I'd prefer not to lose my work. The online harassment I've experienced has dimmed my enthusiasm for writing longposts and answering asks, so I haven't really written anything more than a shitpost since 2017, but I'd like to archive all my old meta on AO3.

I'm not sure how this will work. Like, should I have a "story" be a meta topic, and then each "chapter" be a single post? If so, do I post these "chapters" in chronological order, or should I try to edit them into a more cohesive argument? What should I do if I'm responding to a chain of other people's posts, or if the most interesting thing about my post is someone else's response to it? Should I include images; and, if so, where will I host them?

Anyway, I'll figure this out over the summer. I'm planning a trip to London in May that isn't so much a vacation as it is a writing retreat, and I'll probably get started then.

2019 Resolution #4

I want to express appreciation to more writers through Kofi!

I understand why AO3 doesn't allow mentions of commissions or links to donation websites...

( Elizabeth Minkel, who is an interesting person and a boss writer, has a great piece about this on The Verge, by the way.)

...but I also think the double standard regarding money and fandom labor is stupid. This Tumblr post puts it nicely:

That’s why I write. That’s why, even if I got paid, I would still write with the same inspiration and dedication. Because a) it’s me paying it forward in the universe to bring someone else a second of joy and b) I can’t function without writing.

But I also can’t live on giving away my work for free. A lot of writers are forced to give up fandom entirely if they want to publish anything they’ve written, or they just stop entirely because they become too busy working a real job (or jobs, given the economy) and there’s no time left for the things they enjoy doing.

Erasing the stigma of fanwriters being paid is more important than some notion of “hm, did the writer really enjoy writing this or are they just trying to make some quick cash.”

At the moment I have complicated feelings regarding reading and writing fanfic, and I've always had reservations about giving money to people I'm friends with or share a fandom with. Still, if someone is posting writing that I enjoy, and they seem to be doing it professionally, and I don't know them personally, and I've read, like, their entire blog, then it doesn't feel weird to send some appreciation their way. A good example of what I'm talking about is Livvy Plays Final Fantasy on Tumblr, whose FFXII Zodiac Age playthrough has been making me very happy for the past month or so. I also enjoy POMEmag, and I don't mind occasionally sending love their way either.

I fucking hate Patreon, and that hatred is deep and multifaceted, so a part of this resolution is to try to figure out a chill and easy way of supporting people that doesn't make me uncomfortable. This resolution is partially about supporting fandom writers, but it's also about wading through my own stupid bullshit to figure out why certain types of interactions within fandom feel so weird to me.

2019 Resolution #5

I am going to start and finish reading House of Leaves.

This will be the third time I've attempted to read the damn book, but now I have a game plan:

First, I will read the main text, ignoring everything else.

Second, I will read the footnotes, ignoring everything else.

Third, I won't even look at the appendices until I finish reading everything else, and then I'll only read them if I decide that I want to.

I actually admire the structural concept of House of Leaves. One of the main reasons (tbh probably the only reason) I went to grad school and got a PhD is because I genuinely enjoy reading academic writing, and I wish more people structured their fiction like academic writing - or rather, wrote academic books and articles that are entirely fiction.

(One day I will do this myself. I think about it all the time when I'm writing articles and book chapters. Like, what if I just started making things up and went from there? Also, when someone drags me to a museum, I always get an irrational urge to give a "guided tour" based on facts that I invent on the spot, and one of these days I will find a museum friend who doesn't immediately stop me after they figure out what I'm doing.)

(People don't appreciate this about professors, by the way. I could make up literally any garbage I wanted to, put it on a PowerPoint slideshow, give a lecture about it, and then write an actual exam testing students on it. Now that I'm on the other side of the desk, I'm beginning to suspect that a lot of professors do this without thinking, and no one catches them partially because they're considered to be "experts" but mostly because there's very little oversight in most American universities. I don't teach things things that I make up because I have a healthy sense of professional ethics, but sometimes the temptation is strong.)

Anyway, the problem with House of Leaves is that it takes an interesting concept and runs it into the ground in the most obnoxious way possible. I therefore want to finish the book not just because I want to see how it ends but also because I want to study a cautionary example so I won't fuck up the sort of story I want to write.