It's been too long.

266 days, to be precise. But who's counting?

I've been staring at this blank blog post for a good long while now, and simultaneously feeling pretty silly about that fact, since I don't expect too many people to read it. I'm having somewhat more of a response to stepping back into this space than I thought I would.

So, in an attempt to rein in as much of the excess self-indulgence in this blog post as is possible, I'll try to keep it brief.

First and foremost, I must express how touched I am to see that people have continued to read and recommend Ordem during my extended absence. I poured weeks' worth of dawn-to-dusk labor into that fewer than 10K-word piece, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been somewhat disheartened by the relative lack of interest—with full recognition of the selfishness inherent in that sentiment. It's as humbling as it is fulfilling to see that it received something of a second wind just over a month ago. I would like to thank anyone and everyone who has ever read, commented, favorited, rated, promoted, or criticized my work. It does not go unnoticed.

Second off, I have to apologize to the readers of my significantly less-polished The Equestrian Spring series, for abandoning it without posting so much as a brief notice to that effect. It was unfair to those of you who had devoted your time and energy to following the story.

Lastly, I'd like to explain my current position. I have been completely removed from all aspects of the MLP fandom for the past 3/4 of a year, barring the occasional check-in on this account every few months or so. And truthfully, I don't have too much interest in following the show at the moment.

But I don't feel that way about the MLP fanfiction community. Strange as it may seem (though I suspect this will resonate with some), I love the themes, concepts, and universe that this fandom have derived from MLP, independently of the show itself. I don't know how sustainable this stance is with respect to my trying to contribute to the community again, but it is my plan to begin doing so at a snail's pace. I have yet to determine whether that will be through editing and proofreading others' stories as I began doing 13 months ago (possible), writing some sort of sequel or parallel story to Ordem (very unlikely), or rewriting and continuing The Equestrian Spring (likely).

In brief: Thanks for the love, I'm sorry for disappearing, and it's good to be back.

—CM