The obligatory introduction blog post

Well, I've been on here and had stories posted since late February, but have yet to make a blog post to introduce myself. Gotta remedy that, so well, here we go. First I would like to say thank you to all of the readers who have read or commented on my stories. It makes me feel like doing this has been worthwhile, even if none of them have been huge smashes and gotten featured. Not that I ever really expected any of them to get featured, my writing isn't the best in the world (more on this later). So I'm male, age undisclosed (hey a guy's gotta keep some secrets), and I live the the American Mid West. I have a full time, all year, job so if you're curious why there are update gaps, thats why. Blizzard also owns a timeshare on my soul so when the new expansions or games release, there may be update gaps (see Diablo 3 release).

Now about the fan fiction and such. While these aren't my first forays into fan fiction, these are the first I've posted onto any fan fiction site. I had trepidation in posting "The Holy Covenant of the Triumvirate" here. I was worried that it wouldn't go over well or would just be outright ignored like so many other stories that get posted onto the web. Thankfully that didn't happen and I got some comments, which helped me to keep developing the story. This bolstered my confidence and I started two additional stories; "The Day Life Spiked my Punch" and "Idle Hand Does the Discord's Work", both of which got their own set of followers and comments. Some of the comments I've gotten overall, I hope, will make me a better writer and let the stories tell themselves. Now after 15 weeks I have; three stories, 15 chapters, and almost 40,000 words posted. Most of this is thanks to the comments letting me know I'm at least doing something right.

This brings me to the author notes. I know many writers will put the notes in the stories, but I thought I'd post them as blog entries. This way, one can read them if they want, but its not cluttering the story's text.

The Holy Covenant of the Triumvirate
- This was originally intended as a semi-biblical story and while it has deviated slightly from the original intent as I've found my voice, I hope it still comes off like that.
- It was originally intended to be 6 chapters. Now I have 11 chapters posted and another 6 framed out.
- The story is designed to be flexible to allow new information from the source show, so the story has changed and will most likely continue to evolve.
- The planned ending, however won't change.
- I have a flesh-space friend working on editing the story, but at 31 typed pages (times new Roman font 10) there a lot for him to go through. I plan on posting the edited chapters once he provides them to me. I will send out notification via a blog entry when these are posted.

The Day Life Spiked my Punch
- This was originally intended to be a one-shot, but the entire story looked to be grander and unless I made a 20k+ word chapter, wouldn't have worked well as a one-shot.
- My first and only humanization story and first foray into using an actual character from the show in a direct role. It is my hope that the characterization is working well.
- The idea for the story stemmed from the large number of Ponyfall stories that were in the featured box at the time. It is, however, completely unrelated to that collaboration.
- I have the next few chapters and the ending planned. Things should be fun.
- I based the location on my home town. If you can figure out the source city, you get a mustache.
- Unlike the above story, I do not have an editor for this one and would be willing to get one if someone out there is willing (and can do it).
- Would love some cover art for this story. Can't really come up with anything for it.

Idle Hand Does the Discord's Work
- As stated in my comment, this was intended as a One-shot. The main reason for this is I didn't know how people would react to it. While rocky at the start, it looks like its decently well received so thats why its getting continued.
- Yes there was a little FlutterMac inferred, yes I support that ship and one can expect to see a little more of it in the background.
- Poor Poor Thunderlane, he got a bad rap. Expect to see more of him.
- As with "Spike" I would love some cover art if one can provide it.
- As with "Spike" I'd be willing to have an editor if theres someone out there who is willing and can do it.
- I know for some of you the portrayal of Lyra's and Bon Bon's relationship was a little much, but rest assured it was mostly there for setting up the story.
- As with any story containing Pinkie Pie (even in passing), expect the 4th wall to be a suggestion, not an absolute.
- iHand X42 is best pony.

Lastly I want to cover updates, since I have 3 active stories now. Normally I try and update them in a sequential order: work on one chapter for story A, post it; work on chapter for story B, post it; work on chapter for story C, post it; work on chapter for story A, post it. Rinse and repeat. This is not an absolute, but can be used as a good gauge for when an update can be expected. Sometimes when I get bitten with the inspiration bug for a certain story I will write and post a chapter or chapters of that instead of the next one in sequence. As for writing a chapter, it can take hours, days, or weeks. It really depends on how inspiration hits me and how much I have to work. In the past, each chapter is written over the course of a day or two once I get the inspiration to let the words start to flow.

TL;DR version - Author notes; thanks to the people who've read my stories or commented; I'll try and update when I can.

In closing, please let me know if you'd prefer author notes in the chapters instead of via a blog entry notification.

Until next time

- Rathgood