• Member Since 1st Apr, 2015
  • offline last seen October 27th

rillegas08


MLP helped me find my muse in Oct. 2014 after 6 years without it. I have a Psychology B.S. Sunset Shimmer is best pony.

More Blog Posts50

  • 52 weeks
    November 2023 update

    Well it's about darn time, wouldn't you agree? Feels good to be writing again.

    So why haven't I been writing? A multitude of reasons, but I'll talk about the big ones.

    Read More

    2 comments · 125 views
  • 226 weeks
    "Always Had" is Officially COMPLETED

    It's been almost two years since the last chapter of Always Had was published. This whole time it's been marked as "Incomplete", but tonight I finally decided to move forward with the next stage of the story in a separate fic and mark this one as "Complete", as Twilight's adventure of being Clover the Clever is ended and her slice of life as Clover has only just begun.

    Read More

    4 comments · 397 views
  • 284 weeks
    Gusty the Great

    1. Has a horn
    2. Has wavy hair that seems to flow even when there's no wind
    3. Apparently flew away from Mt. Everhoof before teleporting away

    I'm calling it now: Gusty's an alicorn.

    2 comments · 493 views
  • 308 weeks
    Christmas Fic

    Writing a musical is difficult.

    Hopefully I'll have it done in the next couple weeks, because I want to publish it before Christmas.

    7 comments · 314 views
  • 316 weeks
    Happy Anniversary

    On this day eight years ago, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic premiered on the Hub Network. A bunch of grown men decided to watch it as a joke, and then realized that it was actually a pretty good show. Very quickly, bronies came into the forefront of media for defying societal expectation that grown men aren't supposed to enjoy things marketed to young girls.

    Read More

    0 comments · 418 views
Nov
3rd
2023

November 2023 update · 7:53pm Nov 3rd, 2023

Well it's about darn time, wouldn't you agree? Feels good to be writing again.

So why haven't I been writing? A multitude of reasons, but I'll talk about the big ones.

First, I have ADD. I'm not officially diagnosed, but majored in psychology in college, so I do know the diagnostic criteria and they fit me. Since it's not official I can't (legally) get medication for it, but I have found ways to get around the executive dysfunction for a while. The biggest one lately has been to start a small project that's easily finishable, and then use the momentum from that to do something bigger. Not always effective, but when it comes to cleaning the house it works wonders. Until I take a break, that is.

But mental conditions are never the full story. A bigger part is that I run out of ideas or can't figure out how a plot point is supposed to work. Devils is like that: I couldn't figure out how to introduce the Mascubi without affecting the story's flow too much until I decided that the whole story will be limited to Hellfire's and Midnight's points of view. That also allows me to sprinkle in clues for lore and plot questions you may be asking without giving the answers away outright. I've got a ton of ideas I'm working towards but I need the connective tissue. Similarly, for Ragazze Equestri, I've got the whole story plus its twists and turns outlined. Would you believe that one of my earliest pony fic ideas was a grand mystery? Now, probably. Back then when I barely had any mystery writing experience? Not so much.

Then, of course, there are the ideas that don't have anything to do with writing. Cosplay is one of my favorite things to do in this fandom, and while I don't have the quantity that Crackle's Cousin or Rico Starlight have, I'd say I'm pretty good at it. I've been wearing the same Sunset Shimmer-inspired outfit for the Friday night gala since WCPC 2022, which I commissioned from Madame Euphoria Huffen-Bustle. If you're in there market for Victorian or steampunk gowns and have several hundred dollars to spare, check her out. She's worth every cent.

Another recent cosplay was for PVCF 2023: Fall Festival. I made a dress and leaf cape for the cosplay contest, and won first place in the intermediate category! That boosted my cosplay confidence, which got another boost when Crackle's Cousin decided to feature me (!) in a presentation on some of the fandom's best cosplayers at another con later that year, which is a huge honor. Personally I'm not sure if I truly belong side by side with more regular cosplayers, but hey, my attention to detail certainly pays off from time to time. It also inspired me to take a more professional approach to my cosplays. And oh yeah, it made me want to do more drag!

Back in April I was listening to the podcast Friendship is Content on Spotify (check them out, they're great) and something they said inspired me to make a cosplay fair PVCF 2023 of a character I never thought I would cosplay: Rarity. It's a complicated garment, however, so between my procrastinating (the leaf dress may have caused me to overestimate the efficiency of my ability to procrastinate) and the complexity, on Halloween night I had to put it on hold for a future convention so I could get it right. I knew that even if I'd spent every waking moment to finish it in time, the stress would've affected my attitude at the con. Spending $750 on a gala dress was a lot of money, but worth it. Starting my leaf dress two weeks before the convention and sewing the last stitch at 2am the day I was leaving was worth it even before I'd won my category. Putting that cosplay on hold allowed me to focus on participating in NaNoWriMo, which I had initially written off (hehe).

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I'm not officially participating this year, but I do have some goals for the month regardless. 2021 was the first year since 2006 that I'd actually reached the 50k goal, which was a real relief. Ragazze Equestri is definitely my longest fic so far when you include the chapters I have to wait to publish until I write more that happens before those chapters. Instead, I decided to try writing each day on my many WIPs; that's actually why I finally uploaded chapter 4 of Devils after five years of nothing. I also plan on adding to Ragazze Equestri this month, as well as writing the backstory of a friend's OC that I started a long time ago, which may start to come out this month as well.

How do I even conclude a blog post like this?

Comments ( 2 )

Ah yes, cosplay and writing! Two things I’m frightfully out of practice with, myself. I’m trying to make a go of NaNo though. Best of fortune!

5753742
I haven't been writing every day, so that goal's shot, but on the other hand I've finally finished the next chapter of Ragazze Equestri and am uploading as I speak. Yay progress!

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