Bootcamp · 9:47pm Jul 12th, 2019
So here I am, doing my first ever short blog series on a subject that has been the most significant part of my life for more than a decade. The subject in question is what I do with my life when I’m not writing pony stories, drooling over the latest Steam sale, cooking with the wife, or blanketing my garage with sawdust from my most recent woodworking project.
Now, I’m not going to lie to y’all by going the route of most every Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook “celebrity” and claim that “many people have been asking me” questions. No one has asked me anything. The reason I’m doing this is simple. My career is almost old enough to drive, and I feel like I could use a bit of a backward perspective and maybe a minor course correction. This whole series is for me, first and foremost, like all of my writing. Plus, it’s been fun putting it together over the course of many evenings and plane rides.
I talk enough about my job with my family daily because it’s more of a lifestyle than a career by this point, but I’ve never written anything about it, and that’s more my thing these days. I’ve always been someone who has followed the rules and sought out organization and security. My wife can tell stories about how I orient myself in restaurants so that my back is not to any large windows or doors, where I have a clean route to exits and can watch people. Or about my cleaning habits that often make a room look more like a showpiece than someplace a person would live. This career choice has been a pretty good fit so far. That makes me want to make it the topic of some of my writings. Another reason I got it in my head to do this is that I tend to see a lot of misconceptions and assumptions, and I want to put out some information straight from the horse’s mouth. Yeah, I just went there.
I may also have been inspired by a few deliriously long blogs here at FimFiction. Those have been delightful reads.
Here’s the lineup of upcoming segments:
1. Reveille - What exactly does the US Navy do? How do you manage all that? So what do you do, or what have you done? What do people think we do, but don’t?
2. Morning Colors - What’s it like on onboard a surface ship? What is it like on a deployment or surge deployment? What does it mean when you talk about an operational exercise?
3. 8 Bells - What are the things about your job that are enjoyable? Okay then, what are the not-so-goods? What’s the realistic balance between the two?
4. Evening Colors - What in the world made you settle on this career path? So, what’s up with being in the military and being a MLP fan?
5. Taps - Looking forward to the future and final thoughts.
Before we start this journey, I want to first say "welcome" to my world outside of this one here. It's the world that's the most real for me because it charts the course of my daily life. It's alternates between being swelteringly hot and numbingly cold. It's awash in the color hazy gray. Sometimes it's metaphorically cannibalistic, more-often-than-not unsympathetic, and unquestionably confusing. Most of the time. Charming, right? It actually kind of is just that; captivating.
I'm about finished with the first section, and I finally have enough photos gathered to make "Morning Colors" a worthwhile visual trip while I compile images for the remaining segments. Because what's a lesson without visual aids? An excuse for a nap. The rest of the sections will continue to get bulked up between job-related travels.
In the meantime, as I'm churning away on these, there are more projects which are gaining traction as I transition from finishing up the final chapters of "The Great Parent Rescue" and into my next set of writing. That feels so good to type and to say out loud. I have a list of writing projects! Less than a year I was in my sixth year of having written nothing, and now I have a surplus of ideas that requires prioritizing. It's enough to make a guy giddy.
Furthermore, this blog comes with synopsis! Because once I put my ideas out into the wild, the irritating little voices in my head will nag me constantly about making daily progress towards their completion. So here they are, the upcoming projects that are already gloriously responsible for hand cramps and headaches.
Working Title: “Grooming the Sun”
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-Life
Short Synopsis: After a hard season’s work, far be it for Celestia to turn her nose up at an opportunity for an afternoon at the spa, even if it turns out that her royal appointer made a mistake and sent her reservation request to a location that serves an entirely different clientele.
Comments: After the unexpected, positive reception of “Ludicrous Scene, Go!” I wanted to try my hand at comedy of my own design. The basic idea came out of a scene from the recent episode with our two beloved royal sisters off on vacation, and at some point joined up with a random piece of artwork that I had seen which depicted Celestia as a swan. Things took off from there.
Working Title: “Leviathan Rising”
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe
Short Synopsis: An archeological dig site, one whose discoveries are hoped to be the key to easing tensions across Equestria, abruptly goes silent on the five-year anniversary of Starlight Glimmer's failed attempt to rescue the Princesses from the Changeling Hive. Under the prevailing assumption that a natural disaster has befallen the unfortunate researchers and scientists, a vessel from the Royal Equestrian Navy is dispatched to investigate and render assistance. When the crew arrives, they discover that their assumption was horribly, and fatally, incorrect.
Comments: This idea started almost seven years ago. It was, in fact, a point of contention that drove a short-lived wedge between a couple of friends and myself when we tried the coop author thing for a combined project. The story itself started life in a well-known AU and was later reconfigured to try and fit into a very different setting at the insistence of another author. Then it hopped back into the first intended setting, languished in story purgatory for years, and was finally resurrected by me earlier this year within a newly designed timeline that breaks at the Season 6 finale. Of all my projects, this one holds a special place because it introduces characters that I built during my initial foray into the fandom. These are characters that have stuck with me just as strongly, if not more so, as show characters over the last eight years.
Working Title: “Morphogenesis”
Genre: Horror, Adventure, Alternate Universe
Short Synopsis: Every fear and every terror has an origin. Every story of things that hide in the darkness has a beginning that is grounded in truth and fact. Amate, a noted scholar in the field of ancient Equestrian history, forms a team to embark upon a grand expedition to uncover the legendary birthplace of ponykind: Dream Valley. When they arrive at what they assume to be the correct location what she and her team finds is beyond belief, and beyond escape.
Comments: An amalgamation of thoughts that came together after watching a couple of horror films and rereading a comic arc about the origin of a particular species. The story itself started off as a standalone tale of suspicion and fear but later changed into something more significant that lent itself to being linked to another project. I've never done horror before. I’m quite excited to see where my outlining process takes me once I close the loop on its conclusion.
Alright y’all. That’s all for now. Muster up, stow for sea, and, above all:
Underway!
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! You're gonna take a stab at Leviathan again! Sweet!! Also those blogs sound fascinating! Can't wait for instalment 2!
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Yep, it's finally happening. There has to be a word that combines nervous, scared, excited, and happy all together in a confusing jumble. Nervicited? Maybe, but not quite. Because that's how I feel when I look at that outline and where I want it to go.
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well, go for it! I'm a little sad that you, Light, and I weren't able to get things off the ground with it, but I'm sure it'll be awesome! :D