Podfic End-of-year Meme

[luzula]

Long due South podfic (over one hour):
The Train Goes Slow, by atrata (Fraser/Kowalski, NC-17, 1h 11m)
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, by omphale (Fraser, Kowalski, Vecchio, pre-F/K, PG-13, 2h 27m) Co-read with crinklysolution, izzady, and helens78.
Death-Defying, by keerawa (F/K, R, 1h 34m)

Shorter due South podfic (under an hour):
Eat Dessert First, by brigantine (Elaine Besbriss/Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, NC-17, 29m)
A Fine and Private Place, by resonant8 (Fraser/Kowalski, NC-17, 27m)
Live A Little, Die A Little by me (Victoria Metcalf/Maggie MacKenzie, R, 9m)
Night is the Colour of a Self by troyswann (Fraser, Kowalski, Dief (gen), G, 7m)
Voices in the Wind, by me (Caroline and Benton gen, PG-13, 8m, re-recording)

Other long podfic:
Unsent, by nos (Wilby Wonderful, Duck/Dan, NC-17, 3h 16m)
Bakcheios, by amo (Euripides' "The Bacchae", Actaeon/Pentheus, Dionysus/Pentheus, R, 59m)
The Buried Treasure Racket, by dorinda (The Sting, Henry Gondorff/Johnny Hooker, R, 2h 48m)
The End and the Way, by me (Left Hand of Darkness, original characters, mostly gen, R, 1h 13m)
Intemperance, by basingstoke (Sherlock Holmes gen, R, 1h 55m)
What to Do After Firing, by dira (Generation Kill/A Companion To Wolves, Brad/Ray, NC-17, 1h 25m)
Baghdad Ain't Shit, by buffyaddict13 (Generation Kill, Ray Person + ensemble, R, 1h 18m)
Just a Kiss, by emmagrant01 (Sherlock BBC, John/Sherlock, 2h 8m). Co-read with helens78, analise010, andeincascade, knight_tracer, rhea314, and kalakirya.

Other:
As the Starling Said, by mctabby(Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford/Maria Rushworth, R, 46m)
As Tennyson Wrote, by earlwyn (Polar explorer RPF, Apsley Cherry-Garrard/Henry Robertson "Birdie" Bowers, PG, 54m)
The Hills of Iowa, by me (femslash for Dar Williams' song "Iowa", PG, 28m)
Ordinary Life, by toft (Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler/Mary Watson + other implied pairings, R, 10m)

Non-podfic:
Volume II of Peter Kropotkin's autobiography Memoirs of a Revolutionist (9h 9m).

Recs and meta:
I wrote some recs for Amplirecathon, and participated in the Podaware podcast on acting with fleurrochard and catestarks.
I was also one of the guests on helens78 and bessyboo's Podaware podcast about collaboration.

First off, some statistics:

• Total podfic output: 22 hours (20 podfics). This is less than last year's 27 hours (34 podfics), but counting the Librivox stuff I actually recorded about 27 hours this year (or 32 including unposted WIPs), and 39 hours last year. This is still much less than 2011's 42 hours and 73 podfics, wow.
• 11 different fandoms are represented (as opposed to 16 last year and 44 the year before that).
• 11 out of 20 podfics are longer than one hour (as opposed to 14 out of 34 last year, and nine out of 73 the year before that).
• Mean podfic length is 1h 10m.
• 9h 20m (39%) of the podfic recording time is in my core fandoms due South and C6D (compared to 37% last year).
• The recording time is 59% slash, 33% gen, 7% femslash, and 0% het. Counted in podfics, 9.5 are slash, 6 are gen, 4 are femslash, and 0.5 are het.
• 15% of the recording time is from a female POV (as opposed to 31% last year).

Last year's trend of recording fewer short podfics continues. This is because I find administration a pain, and longer podfics means less of it. I'm not surprised at the shorter overall recording time--I was out traveling a month in the spring, and I had a fair amount of teaching in the fall, so I had to save my voice for that. This year I basically ignored Amplificathon. No more craziness and no more placing among the top three! This year's trend for me is collaboration--there are only two in the list, but more are in progress, and that's also the reason why I have so many WIP:s.

My best podfic(s) of this year: I think I've recorded a lot of good podfic this year! I feel like I am getting better every year. I like my Ray K-voice and poetry-reading in Death-Defying, my low-key reading of Dan in Unsent, and The Buried Treasure Racket feels like an overall solid podfic where I found a reading style that worked for the characters, and I am also fond of my Ray Person voice in Baghdad Ain't Shit. Er, I'm having to stop myself from listing more, here. Like, say, the next one:

My favourite podfic of this year: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades! I worked so hard on it, and I'm really proud of the collaborative effort. I actually cried when I listened to it before posting it, even after spending all that time editing it.

Podfic most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I don't feel underappreciated in general! Nope, can't think of any.

Most fun podfic to record: I had a lot of fun with the dialogue in Intemperance.

Sexiest podfic: Eat Dessert First, maybe? There is playful and companionable threesome porn.

Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" podfic: Nothing, I think.

Podfic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Baghdad Ain't Shit, I think. I don't know that it actually changed my perception of Ray Person, but it kind of solidified it, and I enjoyed reading his POV very much.

Hardest podfic to make: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, in the sense that it needed so very much more editing than I normally do, and so much time spent finding good external clips to use. But it wasn't difficult to record, at all. I don't think I had one that was very difficult to record this year.

Biggest Disappointment: I don't think I'm disappointed in any of these.

Biggest Surprise: None of these are particularly surprising, I think.

Most Unintentionally Telling Podfic: I don't know? The Kropotkin book probably reveals a lot about my political opinions.

Looking back, did you record more podfic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? About what I'd have predicted.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you record that you would never have predicted in January 2012? Sherlock BBC. I only recorded in that fandom because helens78 asked me to participate in a collaboration.

Did you take any risks this year? What did you learn from them? Collaboration! \o/ I've learned that it's fun and can give awesome results, and that it takes much longer time than doing something on your own, but that it's definitely worth it.

Do you have any podfic goals for the New Year? Yes! I want to clear out my WIP folder, and I have a long list of potential fics to record. I also want to do some more collaborations. Overall, I want to record in a variety in fandoms, styles and genres, to develop my reading further and to have fun getting to act many different kinds of characters.

I'd like to thank the academy... I'm very grateful to my beta listeners: podfic_lover, andeincascade, izzady, crinklysolution, sly_hostetter, helens78, cantarina, and malnpudl! Beta listeners are awesome. I also want to thank my collaborators izzady, crinklysolution, and helens78

Fic edition of this meme to follow.

Comments

[seascribble]

I am so bad about leaving feedback for podfic, and I've been listening to so much of yours lately! I put on Train Goes Slow when I was walking the dog the other day, and enjoyed it immensely. It was one of those fics that was much clearer to me having it read aloud than when I'd read it. You managed all of the tension in it perfectly.

[luzula]

Oh, thank you! Yeah, I enjoyed the tension in that one.

You're not alone in finding podfic feedback hard--it's because most people listen away from the computer, I think.

[hazelwho]

Wow, that's a hell of a list! Go you!!

[luzula]

Less than last year, but yes, still a lot! : )

[andeincascade]

You are so prolific, Luz, and still one of my favorite comfort voices. I was surprised that Buried Treasure Racket was this year; it seems so long ago.

I also did a lot of collaboration this year. It's so much fun!

[luzula]

I know, I was surprised at that, too! It's been less than a year since Bitching Party, too...

And we should collaborate together! : ) Some time this year, I'd love to do that epistolary one we talked about, but I've got some others in the queue first.

[crinklysolution]

This was a lovely recap! I loved H & H as well, it was a wonderful project that you were the inspiration and the power source! Hey, did you get the job you were looking at? I landed mine, I am very happy about it! However, it means I'll likely have very little time to podfic this year...

[luzula]

Thanks! I don't actually know yet about the job? They're taking forever to decide, and I don't know if it's academic bureaucracy or that they offered it to the other guy and he's dragging his feet. Anyway, I don't actually know if I want it? I mean, I should take it, because it's a permanent position, but...*shuts up about job anxieties*

Congratulations on yours, anyway!