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I don't have plans to try to archive a lot of my AO3 works here on Dreamwidth - I have SquidgeWorld Archive for that - but I did want to keep track of this comment on Chapter 23: Placeholder Chapter from "Ophiuchus":
Honestly, 2020 did a bit of a number on my focus and ability to stick with a writing project. Due to needing to fit a very particular list of prerequisites in order for a test to be ordered in my county at the time, I never got an official diagnosis of Covid-19 during the summer, so I've been met with varying levels of pushback and denial that it happened, and this means that I have no 'legitimate' foundation for figuring out what's long-ish term side effects versus Covid-19 setting off symptoms in other conditions.
So far, I don't seem to have anything too severe, but related to writing, I've had some occasions where I couldn't think of the correct word for what I was trying to say, or I forgot something relatively simple, which adds extra time to the writing process. (It might be like brainfog sometimes?) I clearly haven't been left in a state where I'm unable to write anything at all, but I had to take a bit of a break from current projects after getting Covid-19. I know this story means a lot to readers, and I know that some people have been coping with 2020 by reading fanfic, but it was a bit stressful to face well-intentioned comments about when the fic was going to update, like I'm miraculously on a pandemic free island having a months long vacation.
(I don't want any commenters - or readers who thought something along the lines of wanting an update but never commented - to feel guilty, or anything. I think I only ever admitted to having Covid-19 in two places online (and the Pillowfort posts were view-locked), and neither included anything on ao3. It was embarrassing (trying to re-read that Placeholder Chapter after I lived...), and awkward (it took a bit before I stopped misspelling the character names, let alone remembered anything new introduced in this fic), and shameful (new trauma dropped with some free survivor's guilt thrown in). This has clearly done wonders for my pre-existing mental issues.)
I still very much would like to continue this fic. I thought that doing some light editing and Brit-picking in February [2021] would help me ease back into it, but I, uh, forgot I was in the middle of that and stopped at Chapter 14, the last I knew. I have my fingers crossed that I'll get a chapter up before 2021 ends, but I honestly can't make any promises or guarantees about when there will be an update. I also don't want to push my beta, who is an offline friend, who has had her own pandemic worries over the past year or so as well.
too long; didn't read version: I lived, but I didn't exactly make it through Covid-19 (and 2020) unscathed. I still have plans to finish this fic.
Honestly, 2020 did a bit of a number on my focus and ability to stick with a writing project. Due to needing to fit a very particular list of prerequisites in order for a test to be ordered in my county at the time, I never got an official diagnosis of Covid-19 during the summer, so I've been met with varying levels of pushback and denial that it happened, and this means that I have no 'legitimate' foundation for figuring out what's long-ish term side effects versus Covid-19 setting off symptoms in other conditions.
So far, I don't seem to have anything too severe, but related to writing, I've had some occasions where I couldn't think of the correct word for what I was trying to say, or I forgot something relatively simple, which adds extra time to the writing process. (It might be like brainfog sometimes?) I clearly haven't been left in a state where I'm unable to write anything at all, but I had to take a bit of a break from current projects after getting Covid-19. I know this story means a lot to readers, and I know that some people have been coping with 2020 by reading fanfic, but it was a bit stressful to face well-intentioned comments about when the fic was going to update, like I'm miraculously on a pandemic free island having a months long vacation.
(I don't want any commenters - or readers who thought something along the lines of wanting an update but never commented - to feel guilty, or anything. I think I only ever admitted to having Covid-19 in two places online (and the Pillowfort posts were view-locked), and neither included anything on ao3. It was embarrassing (trying to re-read that Placeholder Chapter after I lived...), and awkward (it took a bit before I stopped misspelling the character names, let alone remembered anything new introduced in this fic), and shameful (new trauma dropped with some free survivor's guilt thrown in). This has clearly done wonders for my pre-existing mental issues.)
I still very much would like to continue this fic. I thought that doing some light editing and Brit-picking in February [2021] would help me ease back into it, but I, uh, forgot I was in the middle of that and stopped at Chapter 14, the last I knew. I have my fingers crossed that I'll get a chapter up before 2021 ends, but I honestly can't make any promises or guarantees about when there will be an update. I also don't want to push my beta, who is an offline friend, who has had her own pandemic worries over the past year or so as well.
too long; didn't read version: I lived, but I didn't exactly make it through Covid-19 (and 2020) unscathed. I still have plans to finish this fic.
