Missed my FIVE year blogiversary that is. For some reason, I thought the day was March 23squeeing ad…until I got an email from Tumblr
Which thoroughly confused me until I remembered that I had actually started a Tumblr account first before I realized that I was FAR too wordy for that format 🙂
So here I am, 5 years from my original blog post on March 28, 2013. Five years…there’s a lot of water that goes under the bridge in five years isn’t there? I’ve spent more than a few keystrokes in the past five years just plain “squeeing” over a shared OOA, but I’ve also spent a good bit of time finding ripples of that OOA in the art and literature of the classical tradition.
Despite the fact that I’ve been teaching at the college level in my field for nearly 20 years, some part of me had begun to believe that I’d lost my scholarly edge. These forays delving into classical art history and literary works reminded me that no matter that I’ve never sought or held a tenured position (the holy grail to many in my field), I am indeed an academic, and I could get back in the thick of the research game if I chose to.
Another huge confidence boost that came to me by an extension of the Armitage universe and this blog, was the inspiration to write fan fiction. Long time readers might remember a regular blog series, “So you want to write RAcy fanfiction…” in which I talked about some of the challenges and successes of my writing process. Most of these posts were inspired by my Strikeback fan fic titled Recovery, but that isn’t the only Armitage related story I’ve written.
This is one of my favorites…
Five years in I think it’s time to divulge my little secret…I’m not even sure how much of a secret it is anymore, but in addition to Recovery, I’ve also written a series of RAcy stories under the pen name of RAllatrix…RAcy RPF stories (If you’re interested, you can find them at Archive of Our Own by searching for RAllatrix).
You see, once upon a time, RPF was pretty controversial in the fandom and while the stories just would not stay inside my head, as a neophyte blogger, I couldn’t summon up the energy to argue with all comers about the right or wrong of writing RPF here, so RAllatrix was born. Truthfully, I still have no interest in this kind of argument – about RPF or any of the sundry “morality” topics that come and go in the fandom. I’ve stated many times, in many places that my personal opinion is that this is a wide, wide fandom with many, many points of view – none more important or more valid than another. Over the years, I have encountered a fair bit of stuff that I just don’t like or agree with for one reason or another, so I mostly just give it a wide berth – basically, “Don’t like? Then don’t read.”
While this has been my main approach, I have to admit, as long as I’m in “true confession” mode, that once in a while, my snarky side gets the better of me…and seeking an outlet, the RAsnarktastic Tumblr emerged…a place to post some tongue in cheek snippets reflecting what was going on in the fandom at points in time. All in good fun I hope.
Looking back at my “body of work,” it occurs to me that I’ve really been slacking lately, so I shall endeavor to add to my various oeuvre in my 5th year!
As ever, thanks for hanging around to read!
Ancient Armitage 