I believe it's time for some bad news.

By my estimate, I am currently reviewing/looking at/waiting for responses from 21 different stories. Beyond that, I also have at least 3 stories that are massively long, multi-chapter affairs that are constantly clamoring for my attention. Because of this, I've come to an unfortunate realization: proofreading isn't fun anymore. I'm doing it now mostly just so I can get it done. I'm sure my quality of reviewing as massively dropped, and I'm now starting to fear looking at stories, just because I know they're going to drain my attention, motivation, and energy.

So, I'm afraid I have to limit what stories I can look at. As of right now, I will not accept tasks longer than, say, 7000 words. What does this mean? I'll still look at one-shots, single chapters, or groups of chapters, so long as the total length of what you send me does not exceed 7000 words. I simply don't have the time to invest in your 100,000 word epic. (Although, if you sent it to me in bits and pieces, I'd be okay with it.)

I'm really, really sorry to all of you. I wish I could spend all day just looking over story after story. But I seem to remember a certain character named Sayaka who paid for being too giving... :/ And everyone who I've already promised to help, I'll still look at your stuff. Don't take this as an affront against you. I only have myself to blame for getting overwhelmed.

Ah, one last thing. Everyone who is waiting for my help, could you please post here: http://goo.gl/1QatZ? My Drive isn't as perfect as I'd like it to be, and I'm sure I've lost somepony's request amid the throng. (And if somebody I'm not currently helping fakes it, I'll know :trixieshiftright:)

Hey everyone! I'm glad that you asked me to try and help you!

Unfortunately, you're not the only one. I'm probably pushing close to a dozen stories I'm working with at any given time. So, unfortunately, I'm gonna make mistakes. I'm gonna confuse your story for someone else's, I'm gonna forget yours exists and only work on other people's, and I'm gonna forget you've updated and not know you're waiting for me.

So, in the spirit of teamwork, here are some guidelines so that we can work together efficiently and productively.

1. Promptness. I'm going to try as much as I can to give you prompt comments and criticism for your story. However, I have work all day, I have a family to interact with, and I have my own stories I kinda want to write. Amid all that other stuff, I may just totally forget, and for that, I'm sorry. Please send me a polite, clearly-worded PM reminding me about your story. I won't be too mad, as long as it's not flaming and belittling. Something like, "Hey, Alicorn Priest, could you check my story, Shifting Sands, again? I don't think you got all the way through chapter 6."

However, in return, I need something from you. Please try and correct my comments as soon as you see them. If you're on GDocs, I'll get emails telling me you're done. Otherwise, it might be helpful if you send me a PM saying you're done. If I give you a couple options as to what you can do, could you please not resolve that comment? Instead, leave it up and reply to it, saying which choice you took. I may need to check it to make sure it's still right. Sometimes my advice isn't as clear as I'd like it to be.

2. Politeness. I am a stickler for politeness. I want you to question my judgment, if you consider it questionable. However, please word your thoughts politely and clearly. This isn't texting, so u dont need 2 abbrev. liek this. I work hard to make sure my comments are legible and error-free; please do your best to follow suit. Also, don't back-sass me. If I say, "Change 'its' to 'it's,'" don't just say, "Nuh-uh, its definitely supposed to be its!" Ask me, "Are you sure? I thought [reason why you thought it was the other way.]" Hopefully I can explain why. And who knows? I might actually have goofed!

3. Rewrites. Sometimes, an entire sentence will be goofy. The order of actions will seem wrong, or your verbs won't line up, or your characters will be acting funny. In these cases, I will occasionally completely rewrite your sentence for you. This is not your cue to directly copy it! My ultimate goal in this is to put myself out of a job. I want you to look at my sentence as an example. I have my way of writing, as do you. Take my sentence, contrast it to yours, then decide how yours can be improved. If you ultimately decide my sentence is the best way to do it, that's fine. But please put some thought in it.

4. Lessons. It's always been my personal dream to be a teacher. However, I tried tutoring a kid once and discovered I'm not terribly good at it. In any case, one of my favorite ways to help people is to teach them what they're doing wrong. Please, please don't take this the wrong way. I'm trying to help you become a better writer, and that's just one of the ways I know how. I promise you, I'm not being condescending. I don't think any less of you for not using your punctuation correctly.

However, I do require this. If I teach you something, make sure that problem doesn't pop up anymore! That sort of thing is really frustrating. Sure, it can still happen; I know I mess up stuff I should definitely know now and than then. But if every sentence you use ends in a comma when it should end in a period, and I tell you so in Chapter 4, Chapter 5 should not have the exact same mistake! Like I said, my goal is to get you so good at writing that I don't have to help you anymore.

These are just a few things that, if you abide by these, will vastly improve our working relationship. Hopefully, none of you see this as directly antagonizing you. Again, not my intent in the slightest. :'(  I'm pretty chill and forgiving about people's foibles, so just take my advice to heart and work on improving yourself, and we'll be dandy!