I only go to AO3 for SW fic if someone posts an AO3 link in the fills post. I am also far more likely to read a fill for a prompt that's not one I'm following if it's an AO3 post than posted in the meme itself because it's easier to read on my phone.
I check the meme and discussion post during my commute to and from work, leave comments, haven't done too many proper actual fills yet, but when work slows down in the summer some I'll have more writing time. Meanwhile I'm saving links to prompts that interest me and poking at them to see which ones might take off.
Re: participating in the kink-meme dropping, after ao3 fic updates are high?
I check the meme and discussion post during my commute to and from work, leave comments, haven't done too many proper actual fills yet, but when work slows down in the summer some I'll have more writing time. Meanwhile I'm saving links to prompts that interest me and poking at them to see which ones might take off.