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starfishstarYesterday, I took my mom to see Greta Gerwig's new adaptation of Little Women. It is absolutely as good as you've heard! Highly recommended! Greta Gerwig is so brilliant. I almost never see films (it's nothing against them – they're just somehow not what ever occurs to me? what occurs to me generally seems to be books and plays) but this one, I might have to see again. It's such a rich retelling.
Also, the theater (at a local indie cinema) was packed. Which was awesome to see! (This is a little cinema where it's often easy to be one of the only people at a given screening.) I'd brought my mom, and I ran into a friend who'd brought her daughter, and there were lots of other mother-daughter sets there, too. Very sweet. (Though I also continue to be mad that even though Little Women is one of the most classic American books, almost no men seem to bother to read it...because it's about girls. For crying out loud, guys. Get it together. We read all the books about American boyhood, don't we? But I'm trying not to dwell on that.)
~
The last few years (as I've read more and more, and kept track of my reading more and more) I've found it fun to make note of when I hit my 100th book of the year. Since I started recording what I read (five years ago) I've had a higher total count each year (38...76...107...114...then 128 books last year!) and of course that means I also hit the 100th book earlier each year (Dec. 21... then Nov. 24... then Oct. 20 last year).
This year, though, has been really hard and chaotic, so I only just hit book #100 two days ago, on Dec. 27. But that's okay! I'm glad/surprised/impressed I made it to 100 books this year at all. #100 was a book of Langston Hughes poems, in audiobook form, read by the author himself. (It was short enough that I'm not even sure I should count it as a "book," but it was a very good listen.)
~
For the same reasons (life these last few months has been especially hard and chaotic) I haven't participated nearly as much in fest/fandom stuff as I usually would. I didn't participate in Holmestice at all (which feels weird) and I haven't even read a single thing from it (also feels weird). I literally have the fest's master list open in another window, but haven't had time to look at it, at all, still.
I got excited about rediscovering the Remus/Sirius Small Gifts fest this year, and wrote a couple of things for it...but then didn't have time to read a single other person's fic from the fest. Which I feel bad about. I'm not usually a person to participate in something but not comment on everyone else! (Which is part of the problem, I have to admit. I'm such a completist/worrying-about-fairness person that I feel like I have to read and comment on everyone. So if I know I probably won't have time to do everyone then I don't dare to start at all.)
The one thing I did manage to do this year was Yuletide. I don't know why that worked when other things didn't; maybe because there's so much scope, with so many different fandoms, that it's easy to pick which small corners to get involved in, without having to do Everything. I didn't sign up for Yuletide either, but I wrote a couple of treats, and I've been reading my way through some selected fandoms. (With a bit of an idea that I'll try to do a recs post...but...don't hold your breath for that either, I guess.)
I suppose the upshot is that I've been writing, because I need to write, because it feels like the thing that saves me when things are hard. But – atypically – I haven't been able to also participate in the community stuff that happens around the fic-writing, which is usually so important to me. So that feels weird, not to be the Super Good Overeager fandom participator I usually am! (I'm literally sitting here with a writing-friend-but-not-fandom-friend, and was just telling her all about how fests work and how cool it all is and how great the community of fandom is!)
Next year, hopefully, things will be easier. (HA, HA, I was recently looking back at some old posts and saw I said almost exactly the same thing at the end of last year!)
.
Also, the theater (at a local indie cinema) was packed. Which was awesome to see! (This is a little cinema where it's often easy to be one of the only people at a given screening.) I'd brought my mom, and I ran into a friend who'd brought her daughter, and there were lots of other mother-daughter sets there, too. Very sweet. (Though I also continue to be mad that even though Little Women is one of the most classic American books, almost no men seem to bother to read it...because it's about girls. For crying out loud, guys. Get it together. We read all the books about American boyhood, don't we? But I'm trying not to dwell on that.)
~
The last few years (as I've read more and more, and kept track of my reading more and more) I've found it fun to make note of when I hit my 100th book of the year. Since I started recording what I read (five years ago) I've had a higher total count each year (38...76...107...114...then 128 books last year!) and of course that means I also hit the 100th book earlier each year (Dec. 21... then Nov. 24... then Oct. 20 last year).
This year, though, has been really hard and chaotic, so I only just hit book #100 two days ago, on Dec. 27. But that's okay! I'm glad/surprised/impressed I made it to 100 books this year at all. #100 was a book of Langston Hughes poems, in audiobook form, read by the author himself. (It was short enough that I'm not even sure I should count it as a "book," but it was a very good listen.)
~
For the same reasons (life these last few months has been especially hard and chaotic) I haven't participated nearly as much in fest/fandom stuff as I usually would. I didn't participate in Holmestice at all (which feels weird) and I haven't even read a single thing from it (also feels weird). I literally have the fest's master list open in another window, but haven't had time to look at it, at all, still.
I got excited about rediscovering the Remus/Sirius Small Gifts fest this year, and wrote a couple of things for it...but then didn't have time to read a single other person's fic from the fest. Which I feel bad about. I'm not usually a person to participate in something but not comment on everyone else! (Which is part of the problem, I have to admit. I'm such a completist/worrying-about-fairness person that I feel like I have to read and comment on everyone. So if I know I probably won't have time to do everyone then I don't dare to start at all.)
The one thing I did manage to do this year was Yuletide. I don't know why that worked when other things didn't; maybe because there's so much scope, with so many different fandoms, that it's easy to pick which small corners to get involved in, without having to do Everything. I didn't sign up for Yuletide either, but I wrote a couple of treats, and I've been reading my way through some selected fandoms. (With a bit of an idea that I'll try to do a recs post...but...don't hold your breath for that either, I guess.)
I suppose the upshot is that I've been writing, because I need to write, because it feels like the thing that saves me when things are hard. But – atypically – I haven't been able to also participate in the community stuff that happens around the fic-writing, which is usually so important to me. So that feels weird, not to be the Super Good Overeager fandom participator I usually am! (I'm literally sitting here with a writing-friend-but-not-fandom-friend, and was just telling her all about how fests work and how cool it all is and how great the community of fandom is!)
Next year, hopefully, things will be easier. (HA, HA, I was recently looking back at some old posts and saw I said almost exactly the same thing at the end of last year!)
.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 02:20 pm (UTC)I also think that when I met you a few weeks ago, I started to understand that you are a completist. (I used to love someone and think she wanted to keep breaking my heart by not replying to my letters, until I realised she couldn’t do it before she had the time for a complete response to everything I’d said.)
Having finally made some contacts after my long absence from the fandom, I was looking forward to the pleasures of being Super Good Overeager fandom participator. I commented on everyone’s post on the Introductions thread at R/S Small Gifts, and had great hopes about actual fic discussion, too (particularly with you, because you showed some interest and I started to review). But it’s not so hard for me as it is for you to choose only some of the fics in a fest to comment on.
Anyway, here I am, a bit disappointed how the fest interaction is petering out. And I can’t resist confessing that after I’ve started wondering if there is something seriously wrong with my fics, it’s actually comforting to find out that you haven’t still had the time to even give them a try.
Here’s to a good year and to writing that’ll save us, no matter what!
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 09:22 pm (UTC)The irony is that I also am sad to see that there hasn't been a ton of interaction around Small Gifts, after that initial burst at the beginning. (Though obviously I can't complain, since I'm part of the problem!) I do miss the days when Livejournal was a hub of fannishness, and I felt surrounded by a circle of people eager to discuss HP things. I know I'm not even all that fandom-old (wasn't around for the days of listservs and such) but I do remember the heyday of LJ with great fondness. I'm not of the Tumblr generation, and I don't know that I'll ever manage to make that leap. ;-)
Anyway, this has definitely been a year of compromise in my life (by necessity not choice) and maybe if I'm very lucky it can also be the start of trying not to be such a perfectionist about everything – so that, for example, I can do some fandom stuff without feeling like I should only join in if I can Do It All. :D
Here’s to a good year and to writing that’ll save us, no matter what!
Yes! Cheers to that!
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 09:16 pm (UTC)And I really do hope that things are easier for you next year ^__^
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 09:24 pm (UTC)And thank you for the good wishes! Here's to a good 2020.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 04:38 pm (UTC)