This year brought with it a big location change and move for me. Between all the move prep and the move itself, my free time and energy available for creative endeavors was greatly reduced.
In Other Personal News, my boy Jack (DSH, Gray Tux, Neutered Male) crossed the Rainbow Bridge near the beginning of August. While I hated to see him go, I am also glad he did not have to suffer through the stress of moving on top of his failing kidney issues. He is sorely missed.
In mid September I adopted a pair of 3 and 4 year-old cats. Smudge is approximately 4 years old spayed female and is a Calico-Siamese mix. All her ‘Black’ Spots are the color of Siamese markings in those locations and makes for a very interesting coat pattern. She is a bit on the shy side and likes burrowing under blankets. Vanyel is approximately 3 years old neutered male Siamese who is all lean muscle and has feather obsession. And yes, he is named after Vanyel Ashkevron, from The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. Pictures of both are available in my Instagram feed.
Creative Accomplishments in 2024
- Finished and posted Recovery Hope, a Star Wars story focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi that fits in after the Obi-Wan TV Series but before A New Hope.
- Posted Transitions for EAD 2024. I do still hope to go back and finish this one, just not yet.
- Participated in QuantumBang 2024 as an Artist. I was paired with Meyari McFarland and had a lot of fun learning and playing with watercolor effects in Photoshop for these pieces. You can see them here and read Twin Patriarchs of Yiling by Meyari McFarland on the QuantumBang site.
- I submitted three pieces to the Every Fandom Reverse Bang project. One of the three I submitted was selected and matched with MykkiTno. You can see the art here and read The Guardian & The Sword on Ao3.
- Started a new big pencil/colored pencil drawing now that I have a good work space.
Reading in 2024
I started off 2024 with the creation of a Reading Log. I’ve never really bothered to track what I’ve read and when before so I thought it would be neat to do so. I did a good job of logging stories and books as I finished them, but as with most things this year the actual move kind of upended my process mid-august. I plan to restart logging in 2025.
My Reading Log let me collect some interesting (and not-so interesting) data points. I also used it as a great opportunity to practice formulas in excel and play with some graphs. As such you can clearly see at what point in the year I gave up on logging. My Reading values for September thru December were also way lower than average as new house settling in took priority.
| Stories Read | 276 |
| Original (Published) Books Read | 11 |
| Fanfics Read | 247 |
| Words Read | 13,394,451 |
| Pages Read | 54,593 |
| Fandoms Read | 26 |
| Genres Read | 20 |
| Avg Words Read per Month | 1,397,111 |
| Avg Stories Read per Month | 34 |
an average of 250 words per page was used.
Again, nothing extraordinary, but I found it interesting and kind of fun to do.
Goals for 2025
- More Creative project(s) completed
- Complete new drawing project
- Complete at least one new painting project
- Complete at least one fan-fiction project
- Categorize and Tag my Digital Photograph Library (learn to use Adobe Lightroom Classic)
