Getting Ahead of Myself (Or: It Actually is Possible to be Too Ahead) · 8:43pm May 9th
I have been ridiculously ahead of schedule these last few months. The intention was to build a large enough lead that I could safely add a collection of longer stories for a single long story-only blog. But the more I do this, the more I feel it’s not a good thing. Anyone who requests anything of me today would have to wait until at least November. That feels like a nonsensically long time to wait, especially for those people who just want a comment.
So I’ve decided to stop doing that. No longer will I intentionally try to limit my blog’s wordcounts in order to build a lead, but instead I will just let the numbers fall where they may. Now, in my experience this usually leads to me building a lead anyway, so I may add a few vacation weeks in there for myself. Which sounds self-rewarding, but if I time it properly I can make it so that my blogs are never that far ahead of schedule again, thereby preventing me from needing six months just to get someone’s request up. It'll still take a while before I can eat up that lead though.
Does this mean the long story-only blog is not happening? Actually, no. I’ve simply decided to read the content for that blog on top of the regularly scheduled content. The date of release is scheduled and everything. So some time within the next six months – probably after everyone reading this has forgotten all about it – that blog will be coming out. Yes, this does mean that I’m reading an extra 10k/day on top of my regular reading schedule and the non-pony stuff I’m reading. But you know, I don’t care? I’m on a roll right now and I want to milk it for all it’s worth. Makes those vacation weeks all the more important though.
I’m thinking that I may start including some new information with these blogs (both review and non-). Current reading progress for longer stories, what non-pony stuff I’m reading, and (in relation to the above) what is the closest blog date that hasn’t been scheduled yet. That last one is meant to say “if you request from me now, this is the earliest I can get to it assuming there aren’t others on the waiting list before you.” I’m also considering sharing links with other reviewers’ blogs, such as Louder Yay, Ghost Mike, or PresentPerfect on the regular. Feel free to make recommendations in the reviewer’s spectrum.
I’m also thinking about expanding my reviews to video games. I’ve already tried it once, although that was mostly because I couldn’t get the game out of my head and had to talk about it to someone. I’m happy with how it turned out though. I wouldn’t post a lot of these, because I’d only do it as I finished with them and there’s no schedule for that. Heck, it could be months between game reviews thanks to my achievement-hunting ways. But still, I’d like to give it a go again, and Steam’s review system is too limited in character count for me to say everything I want to. I dunno, we’ll see; right now it’s little more than a passing thought.
That’s it for today, folks. Come here next week to see the criminal element hidden in plain sight at Fluttershy’s cottage, the not-so-epic antics of a red and black alicorn, and the return of East Horse.
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No matter how many it comes up in your blogs, and that you have other blogs explaining it and have been doing this for nearly nine years now, since all the way back in 2015, I remaining consistently flabbergasted at your organisation and how substantial a backlog that lets you built up, despite publishing, on average 200K+ of reviewed words every fortnight. And now you're so far ahead you're gonna do this…! I need Applejack's hat to take off to you, my friend.
Hm…! I like the sound of that. Might even consider that myself too. Reviews are always subjective, so it'd be very honest to show if others have given it a different (better or worse) rating.
When we got married, I tended to view it as doubling the size of my library, with the understanding that I had to share. Over the last 40 years, we've put on a few expansion projects, but still growing.
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Glad to hear it! Although a recent conversation on the topic made me realize I'm not happy with the current costs; they feel too high to me. I may go in and revise them someday soon.
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Honestly, I've been doing this so long that it would feel unnatural not to. The days where I don't have to read anything, or at least don't have to read much, leave me wondering what the heck I'm supposed to be doing with myself.
Actually, what I was thinking was general links to the latest blogs of other reviewers, rather than other reviews of a given story. For example, linking to your most recent Monday review. Although this does make me wonder if that Master Review List is still being maintained by Singularity Dream. (checks) Ah, no, looks like it's not been updated in a very long time. A pity, I'd love to see how I compare against other reviewers of the past and present. The list still exists, at least.
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This reminds me that one of my neighbors has a "book sharing" niche in their front yard. It's basically this small cabinet with books in it, the idea being that you can trade books from it at your leisure. I love the idea, but I've never used or perused it though, mostly because I don't want to give away the books in my own library. I'm like a dragon protecting his hoard.
Then again, I do have that extra copy of AoO...
As for Mike, this is something I might have to consider as well. I do try to mention when I come across a new reviewer (as with abrony-mouse just recently) but I don't tend to mention them much after that. It's a shame that wonderful Big Master Review List you mention that Singularity Dream managed didn't continue, since it was a really useful resource. It must have been a huge amount of work to maintain, though.
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I love those informal book-sharing spots. In this country, old red telephone boxes have quite often been repurposed to serve that purpose. Sadly there isn't one within walking distance of me, otherwise I'd use it a lot, especially to donate to.
5780056 I have to wonder who might have wound up with those last four copies of The Traveling Tutor that were leftover after Bronycon and Aquaman distributed to the surplus store. I have to picture some mother saying "Hey, this looks educational" and buying it for 1$ for their kid.
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The city where most of my family still lives in has one of those free book nooks things on literally every other block it feels like. Whenever I'm out with my Dad he checks them religiously. If I ever found ponyfic in one of those I would lose my mind. I'm tempted to say do it just to see what happens.
Also 666th Paul blog. Praise Discord.