Fic Archive -- it already exists! (laughing)

I would have sworn my dissatisfaction with AO3's lack of desired features (and inclusion of unwanted features) led me to create a fiction archive on DW and.... turns out that I did all the way back on 24 June 2011!

trant_book_n_curio 

Aka, http://trant-book-n-curio.dreamwidth.org/   --   this set up allows anyone to subscribe and track updates as if it were any old fiction archive, anywhere (like on AO3, fanfic.net, etc.)

There is nothing there right now but I will start adding and organizing this week.

Plans are to:

1.  Transfer my entire LJ archive of old fanfic (currently under friendslock and/or private lock) and transfer fanfic from various LJ+IJ communities (publicly available, but only if you know where to search).

2.  Set up my old FFXII timelines for various canons.

3.  Move ahistoryoflies.tumblr.com to trant_book_n_curio 

4.  Set up a timeline for my main Thedas. Distinguish it from my one-offs.

5.  Start filling in trant_book_n_curio with fiction that hasn't yet been posted or fiction pulled during my electronic move in late 2010.

Fic writing break, semi-unplanned vacation ending tomorrow

A few times a year I take breaks from fiction writing. Sometimes a week. Sometimes a month. Usually coinciding with vacations and holidays.

Over recent years I have come to think of writing as work and even though it is enjoyable work (...usually...), it *is* work. Vacations are necessary for staying fresh. This is also why I do not subscribe to the "write every day" mantra unless I am doing a limited-time challenge. Writing 4 to 6 days per week, each week, except holidays is better for me in the long run.

This recent break from writing was a little longer than prior breaks over the past four or five years but having extra time off felt good for perspective, especially given what I have jettisoned and how I'm focusing entirely this year on the creative side of my career.


As of tomorrow I am on my new full time artist schedule and writing time is scheduled for most days of the week.

During the past month I have thought about how to switch my fanfic writing fully over to "process mode" and away from "product mode."  I have enough product and production I need to worry about in my 9-5 and more product-oriented writing is not what I need nor is it really what I find most interesting about fanfic. The more fanfic becomes Product, the less it appeals (at least, for me, especially as a writer but, often, also as a reader).

Just as I posted over here on my 2015 Writing Goals, I have a lot of fanfic and some original fic I want to post but I'm not going to attack it as a product: as stories put into the production line and churned out for readers to consume. Instead, I'm writing for the sake of process -- my process of writing. Stories-in-process will be posted with regularity to trant_book_n_curio.

When I am fully done, finished, and will never again touch a story I ... dunno. Might continue archiving stories on fanfiction.net (for stories that do not blatantly break ff.net's rules). Might selectively archive a few stories on AO3. Or might not. No plans one way or the other atm.


Edited to add:

• Found my old fic index pages from 2007 and 2009 with all of the story meta info. Phew....This will make my life much easier. I will only copy stories one at a time after a light editing, with no more than a single entry per day and often not even a day when a story requires work for light editing or requires me to look up missing bits to finish it. Except drabbles. Might do a few per day when stories are only 100 or 200 words each.
• Dreamwidth's internal search feature has been pretty good at finding old stories when I enter the title into the search box. Another moment of relief
• Slight change of plans: I will *not* be going through things chronologically from Feb 2007 to present.  I want to take advantage of the new next and previous links on tags (the new "<--  -->" UI) so, instead, I'll go through old fiction by series so the pieces and parts end up mostly in order. Obviously, there will be exceptions which is why I'm re-rigging my old index and creating new indexes for fiction written in 2012-2015.