Snowflake Challenge 9: Brag About Yourself

I still don't really understand what hits mean on AO3? I'm assuming it means the amount of times my fic was clicked on, but for that reason I avoid looking at the hit count - it's always way higher than kudos. Oof, I guess people had to click away from it.

ANYWAY, this post is supposed to be about good things! So, I'm quite proud of the fic I've written with the most kudos on AO3. My top two stories are Merlin/Arthur stories, but even though they're in a huge fandom I'm proud of the way they turned out. Waiting is Such Misery has 792 kudos and Whatever You Want to Be has 673 kudos. They were written in 2019 and 2020, and both deal with a canon divergence scenario. Third place is a Stony fic I wrote for Marvel Trumps Hate. Interestingly for me, the top three are all rated T. Waiting is Such Misery also has the highest number of hits, but the rest of the list sorted by hits is significantly different from my highest kudos list. My first, second, and third highest kudos fics are also the three highest bookmarked fics, although in a slightly different order.

Snowflake Challenge 10: Love Letter to Canon

I watch The Voice mostly because it's fun and easy and relaxes me. But Bailey Rae and John Legend teaming up during Season 19 really felt special to me. Bailey Rae was 18 at the time, hailing from Roberta, Oklahoma. By the time it was her turn to audition, Blake Shelton's team was completely full. He is stereotypically the "country" coach, so I didn't expect her to be picked by anyone. She really crushed it with an older song, and John Legend was the only one to turn for her.

She became the very first country singer on John's team - he's stereotypically the R&B and soul coach. It was a totally flipped script, and I was surprised. But then as the season went on, John proved it wasn't just a move to break tradition. He was always so genuine with her and encouraged her classic country sound, and they seemed to genuinely warm up to each other. I respected the hell out of John Legend after, for reaching out to someone he did not have to pick. And then Bailey Rae made it all the way to the top 9! I'm probably reading too much into it, but with the state of the country right now, the metaphor seemed clear to me. A Midwestern woman from an ultra-conservative state forming a truly accepting and mutually beneficial relationship with a hollywood/famous liberal on live TV? I loved everything about it. Also, I totally loved her voice. These are my two favorite performances of hers:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

She's releasing her own music now!