Good to keep folks updated · 9:46am Jan 28th, 2013
Dumb, rambly crap what I dumped out when I should've been sleeping because I need to catch up on sleep AND get up extra early tomorrow, and that nobody asked for, and that effectively says "haw haw still no new content just keep waiting folks"? Sure! I've got some of that!
In the interest of keeping people informed and illustrating that I am still not dead, here's a bit of a status update on what I'm working on:
1) The SECOND chapter of my stupid project. Why? Well, a number of reasons, but the biggest one is making sure that I'm capable of keeping it going. It took me a billion years to finally get the first chapter into the condition it's in now, and if EVERY chapter were to take that long this story wouldn't be worth much. So I'm seeing how difficult/time-consuming it is to get the next one rolling. I think I'm getting the hang of a few things, and I think regular-ish updates on a reasonable-ish timescale are probably going to be achievable. Ideally it would update weekly, but that seems unlikely. I'm going to try real dang hard to do at least one update a month. Maybe do some buffering if I can to be sure that folks aren't kept waiting more than X weeks or something.
2) Polishing the first chapter of that project. It's still not quite where I want it to be and requires a little more finessing, but gosh darn it's close. I would almost use the word "good" to describe it. I wouldn't, but I almost would. The secret draft hiding in that blog a while back isn't too far off. That's the foundation the current version is built from because I finally, finally, finally didn't just throw it out.
3) Another lil' CMC comedy oneshot that I mentioned a while back. This has been really low priority, though, but I'll poke at it every once in a while. I like the concept and have some fun jokes in mind, but still need to build up some way to get to from the concept to those jokes that isn't too forced. It'll probably materialize one night when nobody expects it.
4) A secret project that's still in the idea phase, but is very exciting. If all goes smoothly, this might show up in a month or two. No promises.
Now, I'm also gonna have to do that thing again. The one I do way too much.
I have to apologize.
This time, for being lazy. I've had lots of time (compared to the holiday period, anyway) that I could/should have been writing, and I haven't been taking advantage of enough of that. I think a part of it is that I'm a little scared to actually let my project launch, so I'm subconsciously giving myself ways to drag my heels with it. I've put SO much time and effort and heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears into this thing that it'd crush me... just, absolutely crush me to see it fail, so I'm stalling. That's not to say that a large component of it wasn't just everyday laziness. I tend to drag a little in the cold and dark of winter. Not that it's particularly cold/dark right now, but I like warmth and sunshine. Also? There's a chance (albeit slim) that the finale of season three could update canon in a way that wrecks some things in this. I guess I could just slap an AU tag on it if that happens, but still...
Anyway. I'm going to make a series of decreasingly trustworthy statements here about when you can finally expect to see this loooooooooong bet pay off.
I swear on everything I possibly can that the first chapter of my project will go live before May 15th.
I promise on my honor that it'll be up by April 15th.
I state firmly that it'll be up by March 15th.
I say that it should be up by March 1st.
Best case scenario, I finalize the first chapter and send it to EqD by February 4th and they ship it back with an all clear within a few days.
I'd like to nail it even closer, but given that it's possible for my job to suddenly suck a week out of my life (and that I'd also like Mr. EqD to give me a smiley-face sticker on my assignment so my mom can put it on the fridge, but he's been known to take a week or two to grade those things) and that I am still not actually done with it, I don't think I can.
[I know, and have been told again and again anyway, that EqD is not the be-all end-all arbiter of quality in the world of ponyfics. Their prereaders are human and fallible and variable and have good days and bad days and preferences and pet-peeves and a million other things. There are amazing stories here that aren't there, and there are bad stories there.
But as much as I've improved some of my problematic perceptions of worth, I still can't really judge the value of my own work. I rely on external factors to tell me if I did good or bad. Which is fine, because hey, I could just eschew sending it to them at all and judge it based on the opinions of folks I know and trust, right? Wrong. Because I ALREADY sent this concept (in a much earlier, less refined form) to EqD, and they rejected it. They gave me the frowny face sticker. And I agreed with all the things they said were wrong with it and felt awful about not noticing them myself. Until I can remove that cloud (which has been hanging over me for a good while now) I'm going to have a hard time feeling good about this one. So I've got this obsessive knot in my stomach that tells me this particular story is not good unless/until they accept it.]
If Twilight does become an alicorn... I won't write it into any of my stories