Season 2 Ends, Act 2 Begins · 6:24am May 29th, 2012
Before I touch on any subjects at all, I wish to express my gratitude towards every single one of you. In just under two years I recently and officially accumulated 10,000 views on DeviantArt, and over 100 followers on both DA and Fimfiction. That's a pretty big thing for someone who doesn't do fanart, keeps most of their written material light and fluffy, and is absolutely terrible at networking! All I have is the quality of my output to stand on, and I am both honored and humbled that those of you reading this and/or have me on watch consider it to be up to snuff. Thank you all. 
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Now, then, since it's been so long (zomg a month!), and so much has happened since my previous post, I think it's time I gave you all an update. It's all good news, really!
It turns out that waking up an hour earlier every morning to get a chunk of writing done is the absolute best decision I've ever made in my entire lifetime as a writer. After all, if you don't constantly get something on paper, you'll never get practice in. As an added bonus, my inner critic is rarely awake at 5 in the morning, and even if it were, my drive to get something done before I officially have to face the world at 6 in the morning is stronger than any second-guessing it can muster. ^_^
With this new method, I always get something done, and have the entire rest of the day to make changes, tweaks, reflect on what's been written, and make plans for my next morning session. It's the greatest feedback loop ever!
I've also been looking into expanding my reading repertoire and hunting down books and podcasts which deal in giving tips on the myriad facets of story structure. A great many lessons have been learned here as well and I can't wait to work with the new tools I've been given, one by one. (Actually, I already have; more on that a little further below, though.)
In other words, for the first time in ten years I've gotten serious about improving my writing style and technique on a fundamental level. Mechanics, structure, everything. It's going to take time to come together (for example I know that descriptions aren't my strongest suit, but I'm tapping away here and there, adding and subtracting words in prose in genuine efforts to improve, as well as doing dedicated writing exercises in the field), but I'm finally enjoying doing so while acknowledging the mistakes I make in my quest to make my already quite decent abilities even better!
All of the above helps to ensure that I write the stories I wish to tell first and foremost, recording unfettered ideas before then editing and polishing for you, my lovely readers. I've learned in the past month that, really, it's just not worth it to write for e-success or to emulate anyone else's; while I can (and will) steal from the greats like any author worth their salt, in the end, I can only write like Bookish writes, and that's what you folks come to see anyways. Write for more than one person, and your stories become diluted, watered down to the point of blandness. However, I still have enough pride in myself and love of my craft that every project I undertake will be completed to the best of my abilities and beyond!
I think all of these developments have come to pass, however, because I've recently finally made peace with the notion of no longer wanting to expressly write professional fiction. I've turned my dreams into reality and my hobby into my job at least three times now over the course of my life (with varying results), and once you've done that, you realize you really do need at least one personal outlet that is pure recreation, or you'll go crazy. That used to be video games. Due to the aforementioned, it's not anymore. 
If I get lucky down the road then perhaps I'll throw caution to the wind but right now I think I'm finally willing to be happy writing both fan-based and amateur original works, while still continuing to get better at it.
All right, personal reflection time over. :) SHORT VERSION: things are really looking up, and expect things to both stay the same and change greatly! Case in point, the next story to be released...
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Coming within a month's time:
After the events of the Royal Wedding, Twilight Sparkle is beset by visions questioning the purpose of her very existence. She fortunately has friends in high places who may be able to provide some real-world perspective...
...but heaven help her if they prove to not be enough.
The True Form of Royal Resolutions, the untold story behind Twilight Switch, and the Dramatic Finale to Season 2 of Bookish Delight Stories Goes Forth!
"Polaris" (tentative title)
Theme: Beyond ambition and sadness... lie power and joy.
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Until next!
~Bookish Delight
... wut
This is one of the few times I can't express my excitement in words and absolutely need to resort to an image macro:
s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/186/315/71563%20-%20my_body_is_ready%20out_of_context%20rarity.jpg?1318695971
140777
Summation: things are great. Smile, smile!
140803
Oooh, inviting Rarity! That only makes me work harder, you know.
*le long blog post from Bookish Delight*
-sees that its really fucking long-
-Ctrl+F "fireball"-
-no results found-
Me: fuck that then lol
jk lol im glad to see everything is going well!
140854
Thanks.
Fireball! returns this summer. Promise!
Would you share with us what you have learned about writing? I've looked but I cannot seem to find anything that I actually manage to retain.
Great to hear that it's going so well with you! Looking forward to reading more from you.
140969
Thanks!
And I wish I had magical bullet solutions, but I don't. Keep reading proven authors and keep writing. I've been writing amateur fiction and professional nonfiction since the late '90s, and I'm still learning a lot lot lot of things.
However, the cool thing about constantly writing, as well as seeking out things that will help you learn about the craft (seriously, I typed "writing podcasts" into Google last year and was off to the races) is that as long as you stay consistent, you will learn lessons and grow. It will be work, but fulfilling and rewarding work that is a total rush when you know you've cracked one of the keys to either creating or dissecting a compelling story. Making sure your fundamentals (spelling, grammar, paragraph structure) are sound goes a long way as well, but are also the easiest things to change.
Just hang in.
141239
I am most certainly going to try.