Isolation · 3:38pm Jul 23rd, 2023
I won't deny that I'm writing this blog mostly in order to seek some kind of... engagement with those who follow me here. I don't want to use the word "followers", because that suggests a type of hierarchy I don't want there to be; I mean my friends, readers, or just whoever happens to stumble upon this random blog, which by the way may very well end up being quite... unstructured. I'm just sort of pouring my thoughts out, so to say.
I've been feeling a bit... alienated within the community lately. And that's understandable, it's the summer vacation, most of my friends are gone for the time being, which is only normal. It's also very much my own fault; I rarely write private messages to anyone on here anymore, simply due to how my mind works - I feel bad being what I perceive as a nuisance, and I fear screwing up, I fear it a lot. But nevertheless, the fact remains; I've been a bit isolated, my stories are either relatively old or have been waiting for an update for a while and thus receive little engagement, and nowadays when I open this site, I mostly just refresh it and check, like, five users I actively follow for new blog posts, and go back to whatever I had been doing beforehand. I do that several times a day, mind you, but that still only amounts to very little time in total, which may actually add to my feeling of isolation. Even my work for FimFic is mostly done outside of its confines.
...Which brings me to another thing I wanted to mention. The final part of the "Ancient History Timeline" for my lore group has been ready for quite a while now, but I've encountered a problem. You see, the app I used to write it for some reason doesn't allow me to copy text from it, meaning that I will have to manually rewrite everything, which I hardly have the energy or motivation for at the moment. It's just... boring, you know? Tedious. And while I realise that a writer's work includes such activities as well, I'm still not really eager to do them... especially now that I'm feeling a bit burnt out in that regard. Don't get me wrong, the final part should come soon regardless, and the next chapter of Deos ex Caellis should arrive before the end of summer. But oh well, that's about as much as I have to say on this topic for now.
Actually, one last thing... if you're reading this, please consider answering one question for me: what do you think I should do?
I've been considering adding a link to my OSaGA lore group at the end of that story, right after the brief "thank you" message that is already there, so that potential readers could know the group even exists, but I'm wondering if that won't be a bit too... brazen, so to say. What do you think?
Thank you all for being here, friends. Stay safe! 
I won't lie, I feel a bit bad for not responding to that PM you sent to me ages ago, and I've been putting it off because I feel bad about it and it's been getting into a long cycle of me not talking to you purely because of my own inner critic telling me it's somehow rude to respond to an old message after such a long time.
So, I'm really sorry about that. However, that doesn't make you a nuisance. You are not and never will be a nuisance or a burden. Remember that. :)
In regards to adding a link to your group in your story's author's notes or description, I say you should go for it. It's like with YouTubers wanting subscribers: most of the time, people subscribe simply because they're asked to. If you ask people who are showing interest in your stories to subscribe to your group, they're more likely to do so. Try it and see what happens.
Summer time I work a lot. I try to get time to read and reply on here, but I don't always get a chance. Just know we are here just may not have seen any post for a while.
In regard to the app that won't let you copy and paste stuff: if this is a phone app, what you can do is take screenshots and then install the Google app (if you don't have it already). The Google app has this feature called Google Lens that acts as an OCR. You can open the screenshot in Google Lens and copy the text with that. If this app that won't let you copy is a computer app, there are trustworthy free OCR converters online.
I wish you the best and hope that everything works out for you.
5739037
In the blog I didn't mean to refer to this situation specifically, please don't worry about that, Angel!
I fully understand that, though; I myself often wait a few days before responding to messages in order to think my reply through and process the very fact that I got a message, and I definitely get how it gets harder and harder to respond with every passing day. It's only natural, at least for me it is, and I could never be upset about that.
My message was also pretty long and rambly, so that likely made it even harder to reply in a way that seemed meaningful and complete. Don't worry, and please please please don't feel bad about it, it's the last thing I'd ever want.
Reply (or don't) when you feel ready and up to it. :)
Also, thanks for the advice. I think I will go on indeed and add the link, otherwise this group might remain too obscure to truly justify its existence, haha.
5739047
Thanks! I don't mean to suggest any of this is y'all's fault, as it very much isn't! If anything, it's much more my own, but the knowledge that you're still here helps a bit.
5739048
That's... really helpful. Thank you.
I'm gonna go ahead and try that, and post another blog soon-ish if it works. Thanks again!
5739074
Thanks, Alien. And sorry for dropping out of contact a bit... I'm really glad to hear from you again, though.
5739134
The only fault is mine lack of response time. I know how it feels when you can get time to text or chat with friends even online ones. I am in a internet dead zone. I am missing a lot of my friends that I talked to thru Xbox live. Being able to text them is the only way to talk, but like me they work long hours in the summer months. We normally only had an hour and half at night once a week on weekends to talk, game, and hang out. Gad I miss it.
5739136
It's good to hear from you too. I too am sorry for falling out of contact. Been a bit busy myself.
5739143
Good memories, am I right?
I only had one such friend, but it was still fun to play with them from time to time. Nowadays, even though I'm still in my relative youth, those times seem long gone... oh well, at least I have my hobbies and you guys. Nothing can ever beat that.
5739165
Hey, don't worry, it's more than alright. Stuff like that happens. I'm just glad you're still here and, hopefully, doing well enough.
5739575
Absolutely
Some ideas. If you want to make new contacts, you could read through new stories (featured or not), find an author you like, and offer to pre-read for them. Also, some authors like Damaged have regular get togethers on Discord. Also, some artists like Foxenawolf and Baron Engel have weekly live streams with lots of folks typing in their 2 cents in the can't stream.
5739840
Hmm, that's interesting. I didn't know about that, thank you!
I might try some of these solutions sometime, especially the livestream thing, since it sounds like something I might enjoy.
My problem is also that I often have a difficult time committing to things, so taking the initiative in most undertakings tends to be a futile endeavor. That's part of why this isolation is very much also my own fault, but oh well, I've already talked about that enough in the blog.