An Honor · 8:14pm Oct 6th, 2023
Hiya, lovely peeps!
And wow. Wow.
When I first published Ladybugs Awake, I made a corresponding Behind-the-page. In it, I said that I was so genuinely surprised by the reception and expressed my gratefulness to all of you.
And then you proceeded to shatter my expectations.
100 upvotes? 100 upvotes? It baffles me how well this story is doing.
Itʼs my first story to break 1000 views since How to Host a Party three years ago, my first story ever to get 100 upvotes (136 at the time of this blog), is the longest of my stories to stay in the Featured box (4 days) and is the story that got me to a 100 followers.
Seriously, my follower count went from 92 to 103. Never before have I gained 11 followers with a single story.
On top of that, it also dethroned How to Host a Party as my best-rated story. For context, my first story was sitting comfortablly in that spot for the last three years.
I thought that was it. The steam had run out.
And then I got up this morning.
Featured on Equestria Daily, yaʼll. Featured on Equestria Daily.
How?!
I may or may not have shed a tear or two when I saw the site. It was posted there 4 days ago, but it was only today that I scrolled through the site and proceeded to find it.
I canʼt thank you all enough. Ladybugs Awake has become my pride and joy and itʼs all thanks to all of you.
Thank you.
More horsewords coming soon (I did promise a story this October, after all). In the meantime, feel free to check out my brand new Patreon page!
See ya soon!
Congrats on getting featured on EqD!
CONGRATS! My most upvoted story hasn't even reached 1k yet.
I'm glad your story is so well loved!
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Thanks, yaʼll!
This is coming a little late—forgive my wandering attention—but gosh! Congrats, Naimat! A story has to be more than popular to make it onto EQD, it has to be truly special. A phenomenal work of prose that speaks to something intrinsic or gratifying within the fandom, and your story certainly qualifies.
It's more than an attention-grabbing venture of deconstructing difficult emotions in the wake of tragedy, it's also a story of family and love. The concepts themselves are two halves of a greater whole; as in every story, real or fictional, a tragedy is only thus when measured against the weight of loss. In this case, what came so close to being lost. What was then celebrated.
Speaking from my obsession with the macabre, it's all too easy to forget that a downward slope must again rise. Judging by my most recent story, I'm a little too interested in the unrealistic example of when a slope hits rock bottom and stays there. Not as many people enjoy that kind of stuff.
In your most recent story, you showed a more mature understanding of trauma, and in that, I must admit you have surpassed me. Bravo.
you'd better watch out, I'm comin' up on 100 followers, too!
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Thank you for your kind words, Jinx. And forgive my tardiness to reply to your comment.
I read your recent story and I liked it (obviously, since I put it in my Best of Dark shelf), but I can see why itʼs not everybodyʼs cup of black tea. It is very dark and very graphic and very gory. Elements I donʼt usually enjoy, but you did them really well.
That said, donʼt get discouraged. Iʼve hit low points as well, as does everyone. As you said, a downward slope must always rise.
Keep that chin up and keep writing. Your 100th follower is just around the corner.