New Year, Same Old Me · 4:27pm Jan 1st, 2023
I figure it's about time I checked in here after several months of silence. What better to spur the hands to action than the arbitrary flipping of a number on a calendar? The more you look at the rituals that govern so much of our lives, the sillier they sound. Oh hey, the planet just passed a point in its orbit around the sun that doesn't really correspond to the changing of the seasons or anything like that? Cool, let's party!
My personal life remains an odd blur between frenzied action and complete inaction. Routines, rituals, banality. Staying inordinately busy doing the same things day in and day out, over and over, ad nauseum. I get up at ungodly hours of the morning and go to work, try to stay active and exercise once that's over, and then the time that's left over is usually me chilling while exhausted and trying not to completely destroy my sleep schedule by taking a nap that I so desperately need. Some days I'm content, others I'm in the midst of an existential crisis and wondering if this is all there is to life, even though I already know the answer to that question is no.
Some upheaval is coming. I'm getting ready to move to a new city to take a new job, so that's going to provide some breaths of fresh air and simultaneously make me even more exhausted as I make preparations.
So, writing news? There isn't a ton. I rode some momentum after the last release for Set Sail and got fairly deep into the next chapter, about 5000 words or so, but that petered out around the end of October. Since then it's only been done in fits and starts. I promised someone that I wouldn't take so long to get the next installment out last time, and once again it looks like I've fallen through on that promise. I guess that's the nature of things when this is just something I sometimes do with my leftover time at the end of the day.
Has anyone else felt less connected to this site recently? Things have slowed dramatically around here since the show ended, and G5 hasn't led to the resurgence of activity that I had hoped it would. I've felt a lot less compelled by the fandom recently. I still love the friends I've made here and enjoy the art and writing that we still produce as a community, but I guess I'm not quite as hungry for it now as I used to be. I guess it would also help if I didn't spend so much time endlessly scrolling Twitter without interacting with people. It's like I'm watching the goings on through a window from the outside. I'd still love to learn to draw and break into the art scene, but finding the time and energy to do that remains difficult.
Will I leave the site? Maybe eventually. I'm not really one to make a big deal out of it and set myself an out date where I log off forever. I'm not that pretentious. For now, I'm still here, reading occasionally and writing even more occasionally. At a bare minimum, I still want to finish Set Sail. That is the main tether keeping me bound to this place. I've spent too much time and energy on that to see it fade away without completing it. Even if there's only 5 people who actually stick it through to the end with me on that, it will happen. Eventually.
Here's to 2023! May it be what you wish it will be. See you soon.
Really sorry to hear that life has been a real grind lately.
I know what you mean about a slowdown in general but Jinglemas at least showed there's still a lot of people invested.
I hope the move goes well. I for one really enjoy Set Sail and it would be nice to see it concluded, especially after the curve ball of the last chapter.
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I guess I didn't think about Jinglemas since I didn't participate this year. It does prove that there's still some life here, though it's more akin to embers than an active fire. I was thinking more about the average days where someone can post a new fic and it doesn't get bumped off the front page for two days, or stories that make the top of the box struggling to break 100 upvotes when in years past they'd get 300-500 easily if they made it that high. Or looking at the rush of new users coming in only to see that easily 95% of them are just spambot accounts.
I guess I'm just getting sad that this site I've loved for so long is in decline. There are still reasons to stay, and those should be what gets the focus.
Thanks for sticking around with me for Set Sail. Having consistent commenters like you is such a huge part of what keeps me going. I really do appreciate you :)
Hopefully, your new job will be less stressing and give you much more free time. The important thing now is not letting your current situation overweight you and to keep your focus on the future you want for yourself.
About Set Sail, I'm pretty sure at least 300 people will stick it through to the end with you. Right, the statistics show that the horsewords production is decreasing year after year, but there's still a good number of horsewords readers and writers out there, and there are constantly new members joining the herd. I dare to say we won't live to see the death of this fandom. Rather, there will probably be a small(?) and barely variable number of members creating stories, drawings, music and videos through the years. And even if you decide to leave the fandom immediatly after you have finished Set Sail, be sure that your stories, just like the rest of the good stories in this site, will continue to be read by future readers after we are gone (in both senses).
Yeah bud, real life can be a hella big drain. But I guarantee you got at least 5 HUNDRED THOUSAND folks excited to see how you finish your birb masterpiece!
I hope the move goes well; I went through a big move a few months ago, which put me on hiatus. Honestly, I'm grateful I found Set Sail and joined this website because it got me into writing stories for the first time since English classes in secondary school.
That being said, I get what you mean about this site; the few other stories I followed have either finished or been abandoned, G5 doesn't have the same appeal FiM did, and I don't even feel part of the pony fandom.
If it wasn't for Jinglemas, Set Sail, and the fun I have while writing my own long Gallus fic I would've left this site ages ago.
Well have a Happy New Year anyway!
I feel you sister. I still come here and read fanfics but I don’t interact with the community that much anymore. I’ve moved on to the furry fandom but I very much miss the writing and creativity that we had here.
I know how you feel, I was also saddened by the decline in activity on this site. I hope that fans will keep writing stories here.
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I'm glad to be one of the things keeping you around here, man! Glad to have you <3