As I was looking through my most recent posts, I found I last completed this fanfic review meme in 2019 and decided, why not? I might as well recap the last 3 years of fanfic.

Stats
How many fics did you post?
2020: 12
2021: 4
2022: 4
Total: 20

How many words did you post?
2020: 65,903
2021: 17,668
2022: 16,082
Total: 99,653

Fandom Breakdown:
Star Wars 1 fic; 4,125 words
Marvel (MCU) 19 fics; 95,528 words

Story Breakdown:
Slash: 20
Gen? I don't know her.

Rating Breakdown:
General: 1
Teen: 12
Mature: 5
Explicit: 2

Challenges, Recs, and Awards:
In April 2020, I signed up for Not Another Stucky Big Bang, which pushed me in a new direction socially, solidified a new fandom, and returned some writing confidence I'd started to lose.
In May & June 2020, I participated in the 2020 round of getyourwordsout Yahtzee.
In February 2021, I ran Cupid's Stupids, a low-pressure Valentine's Day prompt-fest.
In May 2021, I participated in the 2021 round of getyourwordsout Yahtzee.
In October 2021, I joined the first round of Steve Rogers Bingo.
In April 2022, totally on a last-minute whim, I signed up for the Cap Reverse Big Bang and wound up with my first pick artist.

It's a lot harder to track recs these days, but I know epicstuckyficrecs spread love to several of my stories, and I got a LOT of independent boosting for Do Not Meddle through word of mouth.

Stories written in:
Stories listed by the month in which they were posted.
💙 author's recommendation

2020
February: 1
💙 Finally (Star Wars; Finn/Poe; Teen) Canon five times Poe and Finn very nearly kissed and one time they finally got to.

April: 2
Home Is Never Where You Left It (MCU/SG-1 Fusion; Steve/Bucky, Natasha, Tony; Teen) SG AU an end of mission escaping fic at the far end of this nonlinear AU series
💙 Few and Far Between (MCU/SG-1 Fusion; Steve/Bucky; Teen) SG AU "A Hundred Days" retelling

May: 5
Five Kisses Across Time series
What Does Bravery Taste Like (MCU; pre-Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon angsty, too scared to kiss him fic
Just Once (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon angsty, just gonna kiss him one time fic
Losing You Has Never Felt Like Hope (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Mature) Canon that time the Winter Soldier snuck into Steve's shower to be maudlin and make out
Grounded (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon fluffy, a little peace in Wakanda
Grand Declarations (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon Divergent returning the Infinity Stones together and accidentally proposing

June: 2
When He Sleeps At All (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Explicit) Canon angsty and smutty World War II masturbation fic
Ever Ever Coming Home (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon Divergent angsty post-Winter Soldier Bucky haunts Steve's apartment fic

July: 1
💙 You Gave Me Your Pants, I Gave You My Heart (MCU/SG-1 Fusion; Steve/Bucky, Tony, Natasha; Explicit) SG AU the time Bucky was sort of dosed by sex pollen and jerked off to Steve in the shower (comedic!)

November-December: 1
💙 Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out) (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Becca Barnes, Natasha, Peggy; Mature) Modern AU the Tolkien obsessed college roommates rom-com AU no one expected and everyone wanted (art!)


2021
April: 1
💙 I Can Carry You (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Becca Barnes, Natasha, Clint, Sam; Mature) Modern AU the Tolkien obsessed series continues! (art!)

May: 1
Riding the Pine (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Natasha; Teen) Modern AU Avengers Beer League hockey

September: 1
The Buck Stops Here (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon Divergent Steve's running for president

October: 1
💙 Fly Commercial (MCU; Steve/Bucky; Teen) Canon Divergent Steve on the campaign trail (part 2!)


2022
July: 2
If Only Ikea Was Their Biggest Problem (MCU; Steve/Bucky; General) Canon Divergent domestic fluff in which Hydra interrupts Ikea shopping
💙 Nothing Said (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Abigail Brand, Peter Corbeau; Mature) Canon angsty stranded on the moon with Steve (art!)

August: 2
💙 Open Mouth, Insert Foot-long (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Natasha; Teen) Shrunkyclunks (Modern AU) Captain America loves Bucky's hot dog (and other innuendos)
Not Thinking About That (MCU; Steve/Bucky, Tony, Bruce, Natasha; Teen) SG AU "Solitudes" retelling


Thank You Betas, Looking Back, and Favorites
Who do you have to thank?
sopdetly for so many betas, alphas, and encouragement, and for talking me into signing up for NASBB in the first place.

Additional thanks go to...
Betas, Alphas, & Fact Checkers: Brokenwords, HaniTrash, jedimara77, velvetjinx, melayneseahawk, Michael, nospheratt, and ScrambledScript
Artists: deisderium, softestbuck, and Alby_Mangroves (I am seriously so lucky for getting the chance to work with these amazing artists.)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Way more in 2020. Especially seeing as how I joined a big bang on a whim. But that decision lead me into the fandom and got me writing more. I wrote less in 2021 and 2022, but honestly there's a lot that I started then that is being released in 2023.

Story that surprised you:
Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out): WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? Contemporary fiction? Romcom? Who knew I was obsessed enough with LotR to make this many LotR jokes???
Quite honestly, that's the biggest writing surprise I've had in the last 4 years.

Story that was most assuredly inspired by insanity:
Open Mouth, Insert Foot-long: Hello, I enjoy innuendos and bad jokes.

Hottest story:
You Gave Me Your Pants, I Gave You My Heart: masturbatory semi-public exhibitionist fic that is 75% comedy and 25% smut

Most difficult story to write:
2020: Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out): received a HUGE revision that took a long time to iron out (also just the general length of the thing meant I was living in that world most of the year.)

2021: I Can Carry You: because I wasn't sure if I'd run out of LotR jokes!! (I hadn't.)

Actually, another difficult thing about both of those fics? Elvish.

2022: Nothing Said: gave me some struggle as I figured out the logistics of Steve living on the moon. I also wrote in a panic attack that was difficult to edit. (Though the panic attack in I Can Carry You was much more difficult to read/revise multiple times.)

Story you'd write differently now:
I'm going to be honest, when I reread my fics it's rare that I don't tweak a few lines. But I like the way things lay out in all of these.

Oh wait, I might actually have described the city in Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out) since I just chickened out of doing any research on NYC. 🤣

Favorite story:
Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out): is straight up one of the best things I have ever written (even without locating the story in a specific part of NYC, 😅). I discovered a lot of why I struggled writing contemporary fiction in the past and fell in love with writing rom-coms. I also got better at incorporating descriptions! (Except for the aforementioned city—but I knew I was doing that!)

Also, 100 jokes about LotR didn't hurt.

Favorite character to write:
As much as I love Steve, my fave POV to write is Modern AU or Recovered Bucky, who is usually just a liiittle insecure and self-conscious, even when he's feeling confident. I like playing with those complexities and seeing how Steve can always grow to be what Bucky needs.

That said, one of my strongest POVs is Steve in Nothing Said. But that was really me writing about my own PTSD, if we want to get horribly honest here.

Favorite opening line:
What Does Bravery Taste Like: The fist connecting with his jaw feels like a sledgehammer, but Steve stays upright, leading with his shoulders as he hurls his whole arm into the bully’s gut.

Favorite closing line:
Few and Far Between: This time Steve waited for Bucky to kiss him, and when he did, Steve sighed, sinking into Bucky, already feeling like he’d arrived home.

Special Mention for quality word play:
You Gave Me Your Pants, I Gave You My Heart: Wouldn’t be too bad, lying mostly naked in the open jungle air, if his hands and feet weren’t restrained. Would be even better if Steve would fucking show up with a rescue, but Buckys can’t be choosers, apparently.

Best LotR Jokes/References:
I limited myself to 2 per story, but I was crying laughing looking for these.
Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Grad Students (for They Are Caffeinated and Quick to Nerd Out):

Bucky’s right in Steve’s face, closer than he thinks they’ve ever been, hands in Steve’s firm grip, and his breath catches in his throat, any hope of getting over this crush so far gone it’s sailed into the undying lands.

The weight of Steve’s laugh hits Natasha’s smirk, and her lips twitch open in a smile that looks more like the river Anduin than a knife in the dark.

I Can Carry You:

There’s a thin line in Elvish between words that mean “difficult” and ones that mean “stiff” and only one of those is appropriate for the bedroom.

“I love him, but I’d receive more [text] messages if Steve lit the beacons of Minas Tirith.”