UPD8S! (will all come in three) (or some other both literally and thematically relevant subtitle)

Hey! Hope you're all doing well! Things are good in alaoeland. There's been about 2.5 new fics uploaded here since the last upd8s, so we've got a bit to get through!

First of all, if you follow me I imagine you've already seen the Q&A / interview with It Is All Hell but here's another mention just in case. If you want to see me talk pretentiously about myself and my writing, it's perfect for you! On that note, I've also kept up my promise of updating the cover art explanations with my newer fics.

Since the last upd8, I've published this little outcast of a fic: Little Pieces Of Paper With "No" Written On Them, a collection of rejects, odds and ends. At the moment it's mostly poems I've cut out of my collections, but there are a couple of shorter prose pieces as well. I plan to keep updating this as the place where the misfit pieces of my writing go. Basically, just for my clarity of mind that these pieces of writing aren't dissapearing somewhere.

And also this poetry collection: found object. This poetry collection is a bit longer and has more of a wider focus than Pony Poems (my last poetry collection), so hopefully there's poetry in there any reader can get something out of! While I'm here, I need to give a big thank you to SecondPrances for proofreading the poems and giving me some great advice on the fic - it would definitely be worse without their input.

And also an alternate ending for another fic: One last trip around, for you. A few months back, metronome wrote their story Blue and Gold for the same contest that I wrote "colts don't cry" for. It's a great fic that I really enjoyed at the time, so, a few months later, when I was stuck on a long train ride with no headpones, I decided to re-read it. I then started to feverishly write my own alternate ending for the fic on that same train ride. It was about 98% finished after another frenzied writing session that same day, but lay dormant and incomplete for another month or so - before I finally decided to finish it on a whim. I'm uploading it here with metronome's permission - even with the context of the original fic, it's definitely my oddest and most experimental piece of writing (at least, so far) so if you do want to read it, reading Blue and Gold first is an utter requirement.

Outside of my writing, I've also done some proofreading for Regidar with their fic Desire! It's an interesting, experimental poetic exploration of Discord, and is really worth a read. I wish I had more to say but it's really one where my descriptions won't really do it justice!

Unfortunately, outside of a little bit of proofreading I haven't had much chance to actually read other ponyfics. I'm stuck right in the middle of a thousand page novel, so my time is mostly going there when I have the chance to read... But give me time. I can't stay away forever.

I want to end this upd8 with a reminder, more for myself than anyone else. Be honest. Be open and honest, be sincere. Let yourself open up and get hurt. I've spent all too much of my life being ironic and sarcastic and cruel and cynical - it's not a way to live. To be afraid of yourself. I've spent all too much of my life refusing to let my heart speak for me. Somehow, somewhere, that changed: I learnt to speak with my heart. And sometimes when I open up, I get trodden on or hurt, but sometimes I open up and sunlight shines right back inside instead. I don't want to get hurt again, but more than that I don't want to forget what it feels like to be filled with sunshine. I want to be sincere.