Though, to be perfectly honest, it's a zombie-like state of living. I haven't been writing, only reading, and my oh my have I found some sub-par stuff.

That's not to say it's bad. I've just been cynical about it all. "Oh, that doesn't flow well. Oh, that could have been worded to make more sense. Wow, that's a lot of telling. Man, can't this guy figure out how to use a comma? Would it kill the guy to put some description in his story? This is all dialogue! Jeez, this dialogue is bland."

And you know what I've been doing with all this? Nothing! See, if I was being critical, I would leave comments on what they can do or how to improve, but I don't want to talk. I just want to stare at a screen, occasionally reading words, maybe thinking at some point about those words, and generally be somewhat entertained so I don't have to worry about my lack of funds that I'm going to need in two weeks to pay my student loan that I can no longer put off because it's been in 3 years of forbearance. Yay!

But hey, you don't want to hear me talk; you want stories! Well, I can't promise anything, because every time I think of something I realize it's a stupid idea, or just can't think of something... Here, let me show you!

A: Sweetie Belle and/or Spike fic: I don't see too many on here that I have enjoyed and that's a shame. I want to write something with one of them, or maybe both of them if I'm feeling extra insane, but I can't think of any good plot. All I know is I want a Sweetie-awesome story or a Spike-isn't-an-idiot story.

B: Pascal's Twiangle: I was thinking up this one for a bit and thought, "Oh man, what a pun!" Then I realized I couldn't possibly pull it off because Twilight would find out any number within the triangle using the formula and I don't see her as one to write it out as a mental exercise. I mean, she knows the square root of 546 of the top of her head! I don't think she'd have difficulty computing the triangle until she hit, oh I don't know, row 1552345?

C: Equestrian Knight: You remember that trilogy I wrote? I've been thinking of rewriting it. I really have. I mean, I've learned a lot about writing since then, and I think I can definitely fix up some of the issues. Lord knows the opening of Equestrian Life was a crawl! But at the same time, do I even have the drive to go through all that again? If I did, it would get over 100k words, because I'd be combining them and including some slice of life moments (you know, like a proper novel). If I did have the drive, could I really be sure I was improving it and not just readjusting it to some random standards I have created? If I was to do this, it would have to be a complete overhaul that, when done, will make me smile like I did when I first made it and go, "Yeah, that'll do pig. That'll do," and then break into a dance and song with how happy I am.

D: Count the Shadows: Man, I don't know what to do with this thing! I know, but it's crap. I mean, I WANT to at some later date do something with it, but I know that it's a stupid idea. There's about four ideas I have for it and every one of them just seems flat. I mean, what am I going to say about what was in the basement of Sugar Cube Corner? I can't do blood, because it doesn't fit with what I want to do later on. What could she have done down there that would scare the Cakes into calling for the orderlies? I just don't know.

See? Lost. It's a mix of writer's block and self-critic that's holding me back. But hey, I'll give you something I wrote up on a whim! Would that be okay? Cool, here:

The library was silent, save for the occasional shuffling of a page being turned, as lone man sat next to a window, using the sun to illuminate the literature in his hands. With the evening rays, the town had begun turning in, so he knew there would be no patrons arriving to disturb him or the books resting on the shelves.

He sighed when a particular passage wore at his patience in the author. Didn't he know how to let the words flow on a page? How did this even get published? the man thought. Shaking his head, he snapped the story closed and threw it on his ever-growing pile of discarded literature.

"Just once I'd like to find a story with some decent writing," he said to the empty room. Of the fifteen thousand, two hundred and thirty six books gracing the library, only twelve of the four thousand and three novels held any merit in his mind so far. To say he had memorized them would be an understatement.

Glancing out the window, his gaze followed men and women rushing home in the small town, as if their lives were so important they couldn't idle and enjoy life blooming before them. The tree's budding leaves had begun bringing green back into the world after a harsh winter and the clouds had decided not to block the oranges and reds of the setting sun on the atmosphere for once.

A melancholy sigh escaped him as he vented the window to let the dry air out. "Maybe I should follow my own advice and go out there myself." He wouldn't, of course. For the past few months he had said similar things, and never once did he act on them, too afraid to leave the building and get chatted up.

The occasional customer would attempt conversation when they checked out a book, but would only be answered with simple 'yes' and 'no's. It was not that he had nothing to say, but that he felt no one would listen to him in sincerity. So on he went, day after day, having conversations with himself, if only so he wouldn't forget how to speak.

"H-hello?" came a meek voice from the library's door. He hadn't heard the hinges creek."Are you still open?"

"Yeah, but not for much longer," he replied, getting up from his chair and shuffling around the bookshelf hiding him. "Are you lo--" He voice cut off when his eyes beheld the visitor.

Her rich auburn hair fluttered about beneath her shoulders as she turned to and fro, viewing the array of knowledge before her. The grey jacket she wore bore an emblem of the Librarian's Order on the left breast and the matching dress pants had a simple red stripe running along the vertical seams.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know I'd be visited by a member of the Order today," the librarian said when he found his voice again, moving into the foyer. "What are you here for?"

The girl jumped at his voice and turned toward him. "S-sorry if I'm disturbing you," she began, pulling a letter out of her jacket. "T-the Order wanted me to give you this."

He glared at the envelope for a moment before ripping it from her grasp. What do those idiots want this time? he wondered. Upon ripping the edge and unfolding the letter within, he soon found his answer, buried beneath legal jargon and useless fluff.

"They want me to apprentice you? What gave them any idea I would accept this?"

"I-I don't know. They sent me here with the letter, saying I should pack up for an extended stay. P-please don't be mad," she replied, a small tremble running through short body.

"Why would I be mad? If anything, I'm irritated at the lack of communication. I have no accommodations or plans for an apprentice, and I certainly don't have the time." The last part was a lie. He had more time on his hands than any other citizen of the town.

"W-well, I... um..." her voice trailed off as she turned away, unsure of what to do. Once again, the library was silent. The visitor could only stare at the floor or shelves of books as a contemplating look took over the librarian. His thoughts bounced between accepting, denying, and outright refusing the request with a few choice words.

A heavy, almost defeated, sigh broke the quietude. "Fine, I'll figure something out." He turned and started for the stairs opposite the entrance. "There goes whatever reading time I had left," he muttered. "Come on."

Wasn't that nice? I'm thinking I could do something with that! Maybe I can ponify it and make the librarian Twilight, or maybe I can go back in time and make Twilight the apprentice so she can learn how to library? But I can't do that second one, because she isn't old enough and I was kinda going for a romance (it would also completely destroy canon).

So, in the end, I have no idea what I'm doing and I hope you haven't forgotten about me (not that I can blame you if you did). I just figured you'd like an update on what I've been doing. Heh... yeah, sure... let me keep thinking that you were curious about that.

Not that I'm being depressive, or that I'm insinuating you don't care! I just have no idea what I'm doing (how many times have I said that now?) and it's wearing on me a bit.

If any of y'all enjoy playing chess, I've made an account on Chess.com under the same name: StapleCactus. Come one and all, let us battle in a game of wits (and possibly force me into writing CoSh or some other story you want (maybe)).

No, this is not a thinly veiled attempt at getting the motivation to write through losing at one of my favorite games; this is a blatant attempt.

Yes, I know it sounds silly. Don't worry, the story is still in my head. I just need to figure out how to start the next chapter...

So, as some of you are aware (because you most likely showed up because of Enfan), I lost my internet connection since Monday. Well, I'm live again and I just wanted to share with you a bit of insight I just had.

I've been gone since Monday and do you know how many chapters I missed for editing? One.

One chapter, since Monday.

Oh yeah, I'm so SUPER busy, aren't I? With a work schedule like that, there's no WAY I could possibly have ANY time to write Count the Shadows, is there? I mean, ONE chapter in 4 days?! What a brutal pace!

Blah, blah, blah, I'm really lazy and I just realized it, bladity blah blah.

I should probably make true my statements of getting back into this, shouldn't I? Hmm, Raven has a bunch of readers (and a prereader/editor, I'm sure) constantly hounding him for the next chapter of something and Enfan is... Enfan. I have no idea how that guy does it, either of them. But, I have to wonder what that would be like for me. Would I be motivated to work more if I had people commenting and messaging me every few days?

This is a complete generalization. I have no idea if they actually get messages like that at all.

I think I'm getting a bit rambly now, so I'll just hit that "Post Blog Entry" but

Hey.

Hey.

How you do?

What the heck happened to me, huh?

This is horrible. Just look at this: an editor for two guys who are up to their eyeballs in stories, and I can't even do one?

What happened?

I'm sorry.

I'm so so so sorry.

I just...

There are no words...

I'll get back into this; I mean it.

Sorry.

Thank you for submitting to Equestria Daily! Unfortunately, I am unable to recommend your story for posting. You will find my notes detailing why below. Please note that the technical issues are only a selection.

For starters, while your work’s punctuation is mostly pretty strong, there are some issues around missing words, awkward/unclear phrasing, and general sentence pacing.

For example, here is a comprehensive list of the issues I found in the first ‘scene’ alone:

>It just felt right, considering her skills far outweighed even the princesses in finding details beneath the mediocre.//

‘Princesses’ needs a possessive apostrophe.

>She was a simple beige earth pony, a relatively-unknown detective who didn't get much business in Canterlot. It wasn't until she solved the case of the Mad Polisher that things started turning around. Her reputation took off as time and again, she solved mysteries other detectives thought impossible.//

If her fame had already started to take off, then why does the description in the first line say she is ‘relatively unknown’?

>Nopony knows what is happening, other than the bearers going ‘not sane’,//

I think I know what you intended with this sentence, but I would suggest putting in ‘‘are’ going ‘not sane’’, to greatly improve readability.

>The princess had a personal stake in this matter after one Twilight Sparkle was instituted, so she sent us.//

I understand what you were trying to say with this line, but the way it is worded makes it seem like the princess doesn’t care about the other elements who are also suffering.

>We had gotten a well-made, yet non-luxurious, cabin to ourselves.//

Sentences like this can almost certainly be re-worded to make them more interesting and a little less clumsy. This is especially true when the very next sentence does a much better job at providing the reader with a good mental image of the cabin.

> Near every corner, a wall-mounted candelabra shown wavering light//

That should be ‘shone’.

>I felt the need to memorize every detail in the reports the princess had sent along with us and I was growing weary.//

Comma after ‘us’.

>Twelve, forty.//

When writing the time of day, this is one of the few places where it’s general practice to write numbers out in full, especially when you are emphasising a particular time.

While not technically errors, there were also a couple of instances I would suggest adding words to help increase the readability/clarity of certain sentences.

>I’d been staring at the array of paperwork in front of me so long the letters were blurring together.//

I would suggest making that ‘for so long’ to help increase readability.

>At first, officials just wrote off the owners snapping under stress//

I would suggest writing it as ‘wrote off the owners ‘as’ snapping’, again to improve readability.

At the risk of making this a full blown review, I will stop pointing out specific examples there. However, I ask that you go through the entire story with a fine tooth comb checking for these types of issues.

As for more general issues, which I would say are definitely more significant, there were a few.

Don’t be afraid to use pronouns! There is currently a bit of an issue of LUS* with the repetition of the name ‘my superior’ or ‘my employer’.

Also, I think it’s worth pointing out that the first officer’s reaction to the two main characters is coming across as very cliché. His response does not feel justified at all, even despite the context you provided. I can understand being short and showing a little animosity, but the anger and downright hostility he shows instead is way over the top.

Finally, I think the biggest problem you face is with pacing. You have a tendency to spend far too long describing events that are ultimately meaningless to the plot. You don’t need a paragraph to describe the character standing up to go to bed, or putting on their saddlebags. It really bogs the fic down, and it dulls down what is otherwise a story that seems like it could have potential.

It is for these reasons that I am unable to recommend your story for posting.

This is your first strike out of three, and I wish you the best of luck with your revisions!

- Pre-reader who likes the law

* "Lavender Unicorn Syndrome." Be on the lookout for phrases like "the cyan blob" or "the chromatic pegasus" that only serve as empty replacements for a character's name. Use character names or pronouns instead, as these tell us nothing we don’t already know, are severely overused in the fandom, and can be confusing depending on the context.

Only edited to cut down on space and quote where he mentioned parts of the story to increases readability (lol).

I can see where he's getting at for most of these. The things I wish to point out is these:

1.

>She was a simple beige earth pony, a relatively-unknown detective who didn't get much business in Canterlot. It wasn't until she solved the case of the Mad Polisher that things started turning around. Her reputation took off as time and again, she solved mysteries other detectives thought impossible.//

If her fame had already started to take off, then why does the description in the first line say she is ‘relatively unknown’?

He must not have read it correctly, because it states quite plainly that she WAS a relatively-unknown detective. "She was a simple beige earth pony. She was a relatively-unknown...."

2. Pacing issues: this was clear from the beginning, since this was supposed to be my "let's see if I can actually put emotion into the story" test. I don't really think it bogs it down, considering this is a mystery novel and everything I mention is important.

3. As for the LUS, I didn't want to mention Keen Eye's name until it was pointed out from another character.

4. The reason why that first officer was so angry and such? That will be explained.

5. Readability: I completely understand where he's coming from with this, even though I specifically wanted that sort of style in the story. I'm sure making adjustments such as he's mentioned won't be a problem at all, though a bit of my... me-ness... will be lost.

All in all, I actually like this response. It was insightful and shows that I might have a chance getting in there. Now, for the fun part:

Because those pacing issues and readability problems exist, I will need someone who can point them out to me. Is there anyone available for that? You don't have to worry about me hounding you for anything, since it takes me so long to get around to writing (between editing and lazy gonna laze). I figure every 2 weeks, if I get my butt in gear... maybe once a week? I'm not really sure how this will work... I've never actually asked someone for editing (felt too proud of my own ability to do so...).

Right! I'm rambling. Video quando videbo vos.

Four weeks? I didn't write for 4 weeks? My, where DID the time go? I must apologize profusely for such an extended absence. Really, there's no excuse for that. Sorry.

Now for some brighter news! The Institute for Not Sane Ponies feels a bit... lacking... I would say, when it comes to patients. Now certainly, there's no trouble at all for me to come up with some, but I thought maybe this would be a good chance give something extra to you, in apologies for that absence. So, would any of you like your ponysona or OC to make a cameo appearance in Count the Shadows?

I have to apologize for my extended absense. You guys have been waiting patiently for me to put out the next chapter of Count the Shadows, and I have to say I'm finished with the rough draft. I would have been done with it a lot sooner if I had only been less the person I am, but what's done is done.

So, though this certainly doesn't do much for the wait, I'd like to leave you with one of our (N64Fan and I) philosophical debates. I hope that you will read it and come to your own conclusions.

64: "But you still write, and for what? To please some foolish dopes who want more words?"

SC: "Because every time I decide to open up a document and type, I remember the joy and some of it comes back. Because I want to tell stories that noone else has thought of, to describe worlds so amazing that people think, 'I want to go there. I want to be that guy.' "

64: "Yea, that's why people still play boring videogames, too. Because it was fun the first time they played it and they want to feel that again. You want the feeling you had when everything was new, but it isn't new. But you can't bear to imagine you'll never feel it again... so you keep going."

SC: "And when you exhaust all the little nuances you can apply to make it feel new, then what?"

64: "You still do, hoping something new will come up. People replay the games over and over, hoping to find some neat little thing they missed on the first playthrough

SC: "Or the fourth."

64: "Or the tenth. And occasionally you do find something, and you get a jolt of the feeling you had before, but it's quickly swept away before you can fully enjoy it."

SC: "We want instant feedback. We've been raised on it and desire it is such a way that we can never have lasting joy. Soon, everything becomes routine, and nothing is new. So, we move on, and repeat that process ad infinitum."

64: "Exactly."

SC: "We are so addicted to dopamine, that we forget what we want."

64: "Yup. It's a sad place to live."

SC: "No. It isn't sad. It's human."

64: "It wasn't always human."

SC: "Wasn't it?

"A painter from the 1400s. He just finished his 10th work, and it's been shown around the country as his greatest painting. So, he goes to the parties, knowing he doesn't want to be there, but he has to keep up appearances. Then, after everything, he returns to his domicile. He puts a new canvas on the stand. He stares at it. He can't get the parties out of his head, the people he met and the things he saw.

"So he can't think of anything but the parties, and he paints that. But he's not painting because he's a painter, anymore. He's painting because he wants to remember.

"It's why so many authors and painters live in seclusion. They live in their own world, where only their craft exists. No internet, no tv, no societal whims. Just them and the page in front of them.

"Why do you think so many people say to take a break from writing? It's not to do something else; it's to forget everything they experienced during their writing period. All the people they met and all the things they learned as the 'right way'."

Him and I have a lot of debates like this. If any of you are interested in them, I'll see about saving them more often and letting you guys in on it.

Music. Those rhythmic sounds that inspire us to write. I need it, and I need your help in finding it.

Count the Shadows became an idea after watching a few PMVs of the main six darker sides, but I've heard the same 4 songs way too much now. Here's a list of what I have now:

Skillet - Monster,,, Evanescence - Haunted and My Last Breath,,, Miku Hatsune and Kaito ((From Vocaloid)) - iNsAnITy,,, WoodenToaster and H8_Seed - Awoken,,, JefftheStrider - Want it, Need it (Though I'm trying to figure out which one I like)

And that's it. As you can see, I need more (yes, I said 4 earlier, but I just grabbed Awoken and Want it, Need it). Do you guys have any other dark songs that I can use as inspiration? Brony musicians or otherwise, it doesn't matter to me (A bit of a steampunk flare like Awoken would be nice, though, but definitely not necessary).

So I uploaded the wrong cover image for CoSh. How about that, eh? Anyway, it's fixed now. Can't believe I forgot the fog...

As for the progress report, I finally got around to finishing Of Journals chapter 4. Inky Swirl helped me out with a few niggling thoughts and I'm preparing to get to work on the second chapter of CoSh (Count the Shadows, if you didn't get it yet). FoE:Vagabonds is halfway done (since N64Fan wrote the chapter) and it just needs me to actually feel like it's good enough before I post it.

I think that's everything... I can't remember anything else I'm supposed to be working on... Oh well, I'm sure someone will remind me.

Count the Shadows

Ponyville is experiencing a rash of insanity. The stranger thing is: only the bearers of the Elements of Harmony seem to be affected. After learning of her faithful student's willing incarceration within the Institute for Not Sane Ponies, Princess Celestia hires the best detective duo Equestria has seen in over five hundred years.

I've finally decided to release it, guys. Hope you enjoy it.