Thoughts on the Journey

I've been meaning to do an update but work and the weather plus allergies have been draining me of a lot of energy. In good news, thanks to the Rogue One fandom on Tumblr, I'm now in a chat with other rebelcaptain writers and its wonderful to have people to connect with on writing. And also its a nice reminder that oh yes, I can meet new people and it works. Its lovely to have people who send prompts and go I like your work, also for times of let's all write together.

Job stuff has been a mix of good and tiring where it seems like lately all my substituting jobs have left me feeling worn out and slightly doubting. There are good moments mixed in but its the end of the year and I'm usually in on odd days like half days or this week when some of the teachers are away. So kids are more likely to push and some of them, I feel like I have the same conversation every time I sub and they never listen. I know that the teachers do appreciate what I do and I'm probably doing better than I think.

Also last month one of my fact checking checks was late which was annoying but they fixed it as quickly as they could. I'm now in the midst of a big fact checking job that required negotiating more time. Its a length of book that I've done before but I really feel like when I started out, I had longer for these books. And its been a while since I did one this long, so I'm readjusting. I think it will be okay, the start is always hard until I really get going. Now I'm at that point of finding the best resources and feeling like the deadline is too close. Once I get into my day-to-day schedule for it instead of the past few days where I taught two days, had an interview with a staffing agency alongside starting out, it should go better.

One thing I really wanted to write up was how I've been getting into watching The Expanse and The Terror which has sent me to reading books. I read the first book that The Expanse is based on and then watched the first season which I missed. I liked the way the Roci crew worked better in the book as in the show, a choice was made that adds an element of harshness and cruelty to the world that doesn't fully make sense. A major part of the first book is a whole Noir story that has a mystery that connects a lot of threads but I didn't like the PoV character. He was such a stock character who gets unhealthily obsessed with the character who actually is in the prologue and one of the best pieces of writing. In the show, there's an entire episode that tells her story from her point of view but that also kind of showed up how weak the other side of the story actually was. I know that its useful for setting some things up but there was an entire point of view character that was ignored. I'd say that the first season and first book aren't the strongest of the series, I started watching in the second season and didn't feel lost. Though an odd benefit of that was it had me craving good playing with Noir tropes so I'm rereading the Vimes' books.

For The Terror, I've been reading nonfiction books, one that's very much a brief survey of the searches and then an in depth relating of an investigation of remains from the ships. That's called Frozen in Time and kind of interesting about what does it take to search out there. The other which I'm really liking is called Ice Ghosts and goes much more in depth in terms of how the searches were sent out and also deeply into the First Nations in the area, who have a personal history. At some point, I might go read the book as I do like Simmons' books but at times he can go on too long.

My last couple of days have been busy as I substituted for middle school drama on Friday then spent yesterday at Arisia then back to fact-checking today. Sadly my energy level hasn't been great as shark week hit and on Friday, my cold decided to go, nope, not gone yet.

Arisia was amazing and reminded me of how much cool stuff there is in the Boston area that I want to try and get involved in along with fascinating people that I know. I went into the con with a lot of holiday money and happily spent it on jewelry, books, a cool antique satchel that made me think of Cassian and delicious chocolates. There was a huge amount of gorgeous cosplay but I ended up not taking a lot of pictures as I was having some shy moments. Though I found it all really inspiring, next year, I want to try and get more involved and spend a longer time there.

Day 11

Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life.

I'm going to choose two musicals because one of the best parts of yesterday was going to dinner and talking Sondheim with cool people. There was a point where PBS was showing Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George on television and I was caught. In Sunday in the Park, there are a few songs about making art from Putting it Together to Finishing the Hat and they still feel to me so true about how creativity works.

Into the Woods has become one of my favorite soundtracks, I connect listening to the music to starting at Milliways as someone shared it with me. No More and No One is Alone are songs that they always get me. Its oddly hard to describe why, because this music clicks and I think that's how it is. There's that moment of oh yes, you've said it and I always feel better when I hear it again. I just put on the last song of the first act of Sunday in the Park when the painting comes together and my breathing has matched it.

Day 12

In your own space, create a fanwork.

I wrote a Jyn/Cassian fic that I've had in mind since the first cold snap, when it seemed that everyone was writing them snuggling for warmth. I saw a post on Tumblr about men wanting to be little spoons and it gave me the push I needed to write this as Cassian wants to be held by Jyn.

Cold as Home (421 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Characters: Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, K-2SO (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Sharing a Bed, Hoth, Domestic Fluff
Summary:

After returning late from a mission, Jyn searches out Cassian for warmth and he shares some truth. My version of Jyn and Cassian together on a cold night.

Day 13:

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year.

These goals are very much inspired by this weekend. No deadlines as I get enough of those with fact checking.
-Invite friends over to my place
-Finish and post more fics
-Investigate and attend meetups and fannish groups
-Figure out how to follow up with friends of friends that I had good conversations with at other events
-See about auditioning or volunteering, something with a theater group
-Spend more time with my relative in the area
-Apply for more jobs, get a reference from where I'm teaching

Today since the weather was nice, I went out exploring. I had gotten a discount for a coffee shop that turned out to not actually be what I was hoping for. It was in a store, didn't have anything for lunch and hand uncomfortable seats. Instead I ended up having lunch in a local sandwich/hoagie kind of place which was just right. I was reminded how its actually not that hard to get in between the various neighborhoods in my area. I live in a part of Boston with hills and twisty streets so sometimes things are closer than expected and other times farther.

Day 8

In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

So my first instinct on this was to go Rogue One as its been inspiring me and fueling me for over a year. Then I thought harder and want to talk about the Rogue One novelization, because it was what gave me inspiration. This novelization is amazing as it gets inside everyone's heads but especially Cassian's with all his pain. It also showed me places to expand and poke at canon.

Day 9

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created.

This challenge is always a little tricky but I've gotten better at recognizing that I'm a good writer and feeling comfortable promoting it. For this year, I'm going to focus on works that are firsts for me.

The Death Star Job, my first chaptered fic, my longest fic ever and also the most complex AU that I've ever written. This is a Leverage and Rogue One fusion built on the idea that Eliot and Cassian served together and are friends since to me they feel like the same kind of character. Its not finished yet but I have the next two chapters planned out and most of the next chapter drafted. Sometimes I've gotten in my head with this fic as it hasn't had a lot of kudos but there's at least one loyal reader and subscribers which means other people are interested. Also once I figured out that what mattered wasn't the plot but the relationships around the plot, it worked better. Leverage is good at using plot and tropes to give relationships depth and time while Rogue One had powerful interactions and not enough time. That helped me go, okay, I can do the plot in key scenes and really lean into conversations and moments.

It's you and me, a series of four fics set in an Everyone lives Rogue One AU. This actually started with the second fic and then the other ones kind of dropped into my head going, nope, story's not over yet.

Its really hard to pick a third one as I've been doing a lot of stretching in terms of writing this year with backstories, AUs, funny fics and other things. So I think I'll end with one that I really like.

Echoes is a fic about what kind of impression Cassian left behind. The heart of it is that I love history and wonder a lot what kind of marks Cassian left in his world. And I have this headcanon of Poe, who loves Rebellion history and is fascinated by this spy who was at the heart of Rogue One, but few records remain of.

My days have been full with a fact-checking job pretty much every week since I think the end of September. I do have one that I got just before this week but I was able to get more time for it. Since I really need a break and I do good enough work that I don't have to fret about it until closer to the new year. Also substituting has kept me busy with all sorts of jobs from receptionist to pre-K to middle school. I love being this busy but its nice to stop.

Yesterday I submitted my Yuletide and its a nice feeling to realize how Rogue One completely freed something in my creativity. This is one of my longer Yuletides and it didn't require a lot of pushing, the words flowed. The Rogue One fandom continues to make me smile and prompt more words.

I've seen The Last Jedi, which was a fun ride. I have thoughts on it and have been reading good meta but I'm going to hold off on all of them until after the holidays. Basically great moments, Rose was the best but I wanted more.

I'm so happy to be living in Boston, this was one of the best choices I've made in a while. When it gets closer to the new year, I'll do some thinking about it. Soon I'll be heading south to spend time with my family.

I just posted this on my Tumblr and I'm putting it here too. Though for here, instead of asks, suggestions for posts or anything you're curious would be great along with prompts.

I need help keeping my mind busy as my sister’s in the midst of a major surgery. Please send asks or prompts from any memes floating around or any ideas you have. At the moment, the easiest canon for me to write is Rogue One but try me with any others that I’ve mentioned. Thank you.

ETA: My sister is out of surgery and resting, it all seems to have gone well.