The Casserole of Blog Posts · 7:12am Jan 1st, 2015
If you're just here for Demesne, rather than for me, then you can skip over the middle of this, but there are a few things here that concern you.
Casserole. Unquestionably delicious.
But what it's best used for is when you have a whole heap of leftover ingredients that can't really stand by themselves, so you throw them all into one big pot and hopefully it all comes together to make something not terrible.
Thus, we come to The Casserole Blog Post to bring in the New Year. A whole new clean slate for us to stain with our various questionable activities!
There are lots of things I want to say, or point out, or lament, or celebrate, that just aren't enough by themselves, but with their powers combined...
First and foremost, thanks to Blue_Paladin42 for commissioning this wonderful piece of Golden Retriever fanart, and to Fluffomaru for drawing it;
Of course, this is as seen from Twilight's perspective. How else could Golden Retriever be so... leggy?
That's for all the Demesne fans among you, anyway.
Speaking of fans; Oh, you guys, you now total over eight hundred. Eight hundred.
That's eight hundreds! 1440 in base eight, or ODAw in base64! Or 1100100000 in binary! Or 294.3e!
Look, the name's MrNumbers and I'm on a literature site. It's not very often I get to enjoy the overlap. I'm making the most of it while I can.
One of the last seven followers I woke up to this morning was none other than Cold In Gardez himself. I mean... Jesus Christ. That's like waking up to find out that your puppy really was just on a farm upstate until he got better, but he's home now!
It adds a certain amount of legitimacy to those wild and brazen claims I make like "I'm not terrible at this writing thing" that someone so insurmountably talented would deem me worthy of their time. But then I looked back over the rest of the list and...
Do you know how big 800 is? On such a niche site? Every single one of you, some of whom are incredibly spectacular in their own right, adds up to the sum of a whole so insurmountably large that it boggles my mind, and for that, I am constantly grateful. Except for the part where I'm pretty ungrateful right now.
On the fic front, the thing you should be most interested in -- the thing most relevant to your interests, at least -- is that I plan on having two more finished fics up by the end of the month. One by the end of this week.
Unfortunately one of them, Disco Fever, hopefully a wonderful little romp about magic and terrible dancing, isn't doing so well. Hasn't even managed to break 200 total views at the time of writing this.
That's just painful. Not since my first ever fic has a story I've written bomb so hard, and that include my Dark fic where the entire premise of the story was a pun on the tags.
So I'm going to perform a little bit of, well, what I'll refer to as 'nepotism' and plug it away here.
The next story is going to be my first foray into genuine tragedy. At the very least, it should be Not Safe For GhostofHeraclitus, who is a useful thermometer of such things.
It attempts to explore the palpable effect fate has in a universe where your destiny is visible to the naked eye, and what happens when fate gets tangled or, worse, conflicts.
Expect The Twin Destinies of Rainbow Dash to be appearing on a FiMFic feed near you sometime this month.
I should probably write some more Pinkie Pie for March, come to think of it, just to balance it out...
Also, I'd like to point out that Demesne has massively had some huge military, political and philisophical posturing and debating going on in the comments, some of which take up pages.
I'm just going to say it here; I don't mind. Honestly, I'm flattered that my story is provoking so much thought and care that you feel inspired enough to think so hard about it, and care enough to actually put it into words. It's one of the best compliments I could receive, even if you don't mention me once in the body of your posturing.
Remember this though:
Keep it civil. If it gets out of hand, if someone goes too far, or if personal insults or attacks start occurring, I am going to have to step in. Contact me if someone goes out of line and I miss it, immediately.
My story is meant to be fun. The second someone is attacking you for your interpretation of it, it stops being so. That's unbelievably not cool. The best thing I get to do is make people smile and laugh, and even if you have no respect for the person you are debating. It shows an incredible amount of disrespect for me when you undermine my attempts to make people happy on the place those attempts culminate.
But I shouldn't need to say that, because my readers are obviously wonderful, respectful people, aren't they? Honestly, you guys are, I absolutely, positively glow whenever I check out those pages. Even if I don't respond to you, believe me, I read every single one.
Here's a secret: I post Demesne updates just before I go to sleep just so I can wake up to hundreds of notifications, because the rest of the day I'll be walking on rainbows. Not on Rainbow, though, she wouldn't like it much.
Alright, that about wraps things up, I feel. If there's anything I'm missing, well, it's obviously not important enough for me to remember.
Rainbow needs her back walked on. Just not by an Earth Pony, or something might go 'pop'.
Oh dear...
I'm totally not trying to buy your friendship with this commision..
..no siree.... 
Just an FYI for your disco fever I have it in my read later and as much as I enjoy your work it will take me a while to get to it, so I wouldn't count it as a bomb right away as I can't be the only person on this site that does read new stories instantly. Beyond that keep up the good work
Well, don't be too disappointed about Disco Fever. It's still New Years Eve, at least here in California - people may be out hitting the dance floor. Or something. Whatever it is people who have a life outside work do, these days.
For my part, I haven't had time yet today. Besides which, you published before I could apply my Red Pen of Death to it...
Anyway Sir Numbers, my sincere congrats on your achievements, and a very Happy New Year to you!
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Ah! Yes, sorry about that, the first chapter had a one-off edit session from Swan Song and it was already edited to smithereens. There was more red pen than story by the time he was done. Then, after that, he did the same thing to the rewrite.
And the second chapter, too.
On a purely selfish note, I got sick of those chapters as a result. Three and four remain untainted, and your assistance is always appreciated. It's just that I just wanted to be finished with those ones.
I nominate this as the tastiest blog post metaphor of the year so far. Nom nom!
Also, I'll have to check out Disco Fever now!
2692898 No need to apologize, at all. Actually I'm relieved that the job got done to your satisfaction, even if that meant a lot of red marks...
Christmas was basically the day of casseroles here. A sausage, apple, and biscuit one for breakfast and a layered melange of chicken, shrimp, potatoes, feta, and I don't know what else for dinner. Lunch consisted of a preparatory nap.
I didn't realize until now how much Golden Retriever resembles a unicorn Derpy Hooves. Well, it's possible I did, but if so, I'd forgotten. In either case, I highly approve of this design choice.
Congrats on the follower count, and here's hoping the debate doesn't spike to unacceptable levels.
To be perfectly honest I noticed your story just yesterday, haven't read it YET...but give me time....that's all I need....and some macadamia nut cookies.
Hmm. Twin Destinies of Dashie? I'm expecting prereading rights on that one, mate. I also hope you hear my suggestions of adding a giant talking boob. Milks the tragedy better than an experienced farmgirl in a barn full of redneck cousins. I'm sure people'll dig it.
Congrats on the followers! Also holy shit Cold in Gardez? That's like having the Pope weeding out your garden, dude. DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE.
Oh MrNumbers, your posts always brings joy to my life :)
Your "recipe" for casserole sounds delicious. Maybe we'll try it today with what's left of yesterday.
Meanwhile, Disco Fever is sitting on my Read Later list. Not for long I hope.
I really wish I hadn't seen that picture of Golden, because I've always pictured her as being more... golden? Like a paler shade of gold/brown (character description in-story be damned!)
Anyway, thanks for crushing my headcanon, I'll do my best to forget about that picture now.
Your work is always fantastic, man. Don't ever think otherwise. From me to you, on behalf of EqD, happy new year.
Oh, don't worry, as a big fan of Twilight's dancing, I fully intend to read Disco Fever. It's just that a bunch of the stories I follow updated recently (including Demense) and I want to finish those first
Re views: Eh, sometimes it happens. Hearth Swarming Eve, which won a medal in its writeoff round and has had a full week of catch-up time to compensate for its Christmas release, is still at less than 300 views itself, meaning less people have read it than my drunkwriting liveblogging.
Yeah, it's disappointing to have a story get shrugged off, but it has nothing to do with the story quality. Maybe it's the timing of the release, or a lackluster description, or some crazy jerk unspooling incoherent rants in the comments.
Actually I thought Disco Fever sounded hilarious! I just didn't read it because I didn't want to start yet another unfinished story.
Also, that picture of Golden looks more like a wolf than a pony.
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I kept mistaking her for Raven.
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You keep an eye out for him. Tell me if you spot him.
I suggest you go undercover, act like one yourself, so as to better lure him out.
This instruction is retroactive. I see you have already performed your duty admirably. Well done. Keep up the good work.
My dearest MrNumbers,
Firstly, may I wish you a very Happy New Year, here's hoping 2015 is full of apple crumble moments for you. (Apple crumble being the perfect accompaniment for a big dish of casserole.)
Secondly, I am most definitely here for you, for ALL the gorgeous horse words you write, for all the pithy blog posts you post, for all the semi naked photos and, most of all, for the hat and the god damn BOW TIE.
Please don't fret over Disco Fever, (I will comment on that in the appropriate place) most people are still recovering from excessive eggnog and mince pie consumption and the fact they received three pairs of slippers and a vast quantity of bath related products for Christmas, not to mention the fact that they have a fast approaching, significant birthday that they really do not wish to think about because in their head they're still young and pretty and funny...but maybe that's just me.
I know audience approval is important, of course it is, but please don't forget what's also important is the fact you put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and you created something. So what if it's not as successful as Sonnets or a juggernaut of a story like Demesne, many people 'talk the talk' but do not in any way 'walk the walk', you do both to an extremely high level and that in itself is something to be proud of. Never forget it's a continuous learning curve and there's always room for improvement, no matter how good you are.
I seemed to have rambled some what, so if you would please excuse me I have a breakfast date with the Dalai Lama, a lunch date with Ted Hughes and a dinner date with Seamus Heaney.
P.S. A wonderful piece of fan art by Fluffomaru, not how I myself envisaged Golden Retriever but none the less still very impressive.
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Actually, I did too. I had to go back and read her initial description, and then straight up ask the author about her hair, because Raven had so thoroughly imprinted herself in my mind's eye.