Still Alive

Today, you might be surprised to note, I'm not writing a letter to any princesses in a blog post. Why? Well, the news I have doesn't really classify as a "writing lesson" and so doesn't really belong in that style; you'll be seeing more posts like this in the upcoming months, I'd imagine.

So I've been a little absent from posting for a little while, but the good news is that this won't be lasting much longer. For the last few weeks I've been on a strict(ish) regimen of writing nine to five, working as if I had a proper job over the course of this Summer, and generally trying to get at least one non-pony short story published before I head back to uni. The upside of this is that my writing will be improving with all the care and attention it's getting. The downside is that I have to write things that aren't ponyfic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still writing ponyfic. The next two chapters of Plans Change are fully drafted (and have suffered from chapter inflation just a tad) and need a bit of editing before this Saturday's double-post to make up for not releasing much lately. I'm also really pleased with the characterisation, especially in chapter six where I feel I've made a significant improvement in my ability to write dialogue, one of the aspects of writing I've always struggled a little with. I've already made some headway on chapter eight, too, and by the end of the week hope to have chapter nine drafted as well. We may be seeing weekly updates on this fic in the near future (but don't count on it!)

But there are also a few other things on the horizon! Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll also have finished the first draft of an upcoming OctaScratch one-shot which should be making its way to you guys in the upcoming weeks. It's a bit of an experimental piece, because writing one-shots is, for me, an excuse to play around with language and see what I can do that I might not be able to get away with in a longer fic. Likewise, I'm hoping to edit and release properly The Price of Harmony, a one-shot that I wrote for Obselescence's The Most Dangerous Game Contest a little while ago. It's a combination of pretty much everything I hate in fanfiction. Hopefully you guys will like that, when it's finished (and it does have a long way to go!)

And for those of you in the UK, I'm going to BUCK! If, and I suffer absolutely no delusions that this might actually be the case, anyone wants to meet up (and is also going), drop me a PM or something. Or comment on this post. Or something. I don't really mind, in all honesty. Either way, you'll be able to recognise me because I'll be one of those obnoxious people with a Celestia ticket who'll just be super-excited about the fancy meal they had the day before the convention with all the VIP guests. Sorry in advance for that one.

So, to summarise:
-Still writing ponyfic, double-release this Saturday for Plans Change to make up for being an irregular updater.
-Also writing a few one-shots which should see the light of day near the end of this month.
-I'm going to BUCK and it would be cool to see you guys there, if any of you are going.

~Quill Scratch