100 days

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A while back, I realized that I had been on a streak of posting every day, and decided to set the goal of posting every day for 100 days straight. Today is the 100th day of my streak, for a grand total of 147 posts! Yay me!

It was easy at first, since I was doing the 30 Days of TV meme, so I knew I'd have something to post every day. After that, it got a bit more difficult, but it was interesting to challenge myself in this way, seeing as how I'm no longer really using the journal for the purpose it was created (writing fic), and I have at times angsted over what to do with this space, what sort of things to post that people might actually be interested in reading. (If you're curious, male feminists and fandom monopoly were by far the two most popular posts.) There were a few times when I was like, "Crap! I haven't posted yet today! I need a meme!" but most of the time there was enough going on to make legitimate posts.

I have agonized a lot over the lack of fanfic in the past year or so, both in what it says about me as a writer and what it means for my contribution (or lack thereof) to fandom. I have a pretty high threshold for writing fic - it takes a magic combination of characters and universe and interesting "what ifs" to make it happen, and only a few shows have ever inspired me to write - and so as much as I miss writing, it becomes nearly impossible when I'm not as interested in the show as I used to be and when I'm very frustrated with fandom. It's still hard, though, not to see it as personal failure, not to compare myself to other people and come up short (yes, I am a neurotic perfectionist, nice to meet you).

Part of my quest to watch as many new TV shows as possible is to see if I can find other things that inspire me in that way, but it's so rare that I don't expect much. I have watched many brilliant shows (Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter) that didn't inspire fic. At the very least, it gives me things to talk about as I post reactions to each new show.

Anyway, I'm curious what you, as readers, thought of the posting experiment. Did I drive anyone crazy by posting so much, lol? Are there things you want me to keep talking about? Things you wish I'd shut up about? Things I haven't mentioned, but you want to see discussed?

Comments

[rahirah]

I just look at my long stretches of non-posting and gaze at you in awe. *g*

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LOL! Well, there's also probably something to be said for only posting when you have anything to say...

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I am so impressed with all the posts! I'm kind of in Buffy fandom for the meta and philosophical discussions, so I'll cop to liking that best. I'm surprisingly not big on Buffy fic unless it's about a secondary character or a really strange pairing, but the discussion is awesome. So, in conclusion, yay posting!

[next_to_normal]

You know what I realized a while ago? I write less BtVS meta than I thought I did. I sure do think about a lot of stuff, so I had this sense that I was writing a ton, but most of it seems to be in comments rather than my own posts. At one point, I thought about collecting some of them to put together a meta post or two, but that'd probably be a lot of effort.

Alas, I've also found that my BtVS ennui extends to meta as well as fic. I can still chime in when other people start the thinky thoughts rolling, but I don't generally do a lot of thinking about it anymore.

[dragonflylady77.livejournal.com]

I think you're amazing for posting every day for 100 days straight!!

*srs nod*

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Hee, thanks! :)

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

Ah, you've beat me in posting. I've been busy with the summer class from hell and stuff. Meh!

I like when my friends post a lot. :) I don't comment much, but I pretty much always read (unless they're posting about a TV show I don't watch...which is often).

I think you should do more feminist posts that go splode-y. Those are fun.

[next_to_normal]

Then my work here is done.

*crosses "beat Gabs" off checklist*

LOL, more splode-y feminist posts. That would probably require me to think more feminist thoughts rather than nodding along with all of yours. :)

[silverusagi]

I didn't think you were posting too much. Or not enough. LOL. Post whenever you have something to say?

[next_to_normal]

LOL! Works for me.

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

BtVS is the only show for which I will read fanfic. I think that it is pretty mined out at this point and naturally people have moved on. It still intrigues me that so many viewers had such an intense reaction to the show.

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I wouldn't say it's mined out. I find that there is an ebb and flow to fandom. People definitely lose interest and move on, but there are plenty of people who are still very active, many of whom have only recently discovered the show and/or fandom.

For me it's not about, "Oh, there aren't any good authors left," or "There's no good fic to read," it's just that I'm not interested in it anymore. And I feel silly when I compare myself to people who've been in fandom 10 years or something, but I can't help seeing myself as someone who's burned out and no longer has a place here, like the kid who graduates high school but still hangs around because he doesn't have anything better to do, and all the students think he's a weirdo for not getting a life.

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

In my case, I have lost interest in reading BtVS fanfic. I still read some, but I don't actively look for it. If rahirah, enigmaticblues, etc. write some new fanfic, then I read it, otherwise probably not.

[urania-calliope.livejournal.com]

I like it! You're like a delightful reading treat I can count on. :P

[next_to_normal]

Aww, thanks!