State of the Author · 6:05pm Feb 11th, 2015
I see people post these things from time to time, and I always wonder who's really interested in reading them. However, I always do read them and find them interesting, so this is where we find ourselves. It's actually just a way for me to get organized.
I've decided that I need to get past my roadblocks this year. My old writing environment doesn't seem to be reappearing, so changes must be made. It's actually gotten a lot more hopeful, though. My officemate finally got his laptop, so he's been working from home a lot more. This was immediately offset by getting a lot more work to do here on the job. I was very underworked, so I can't really complain about it, but I was really looking forward to having that time to write again. So much for that.
So what I decided was that I need to have more structure. I work best when I have goals to reach for, so finding those new mental markers to pass will do me some good, I believe. As such, I've decided that I need to get something done that's substantive each month. Substantive is defined by some application of the following:
1) Ten thousand words across any number of stories.
2) One completed rough of a story.
3) A completed, detailed outline of a large story.
4) Four Cheerilee chapters.
5) Some sort of collaborative project.
So it could be any one of those things, or a sizable fractional percentage of several of them. For example, In January, I released two Cheerilee chapters and Steel and I finished up roughly eight thousand words of a new chapter for First Steps. I also wrote fifteen hundred words on a new Twilight Sparkle comedy, four thousand words on a story about Big Mac as a pro wrestler, and fifteen hundred words on a Vinyl and Octavia comedy.
See? I write things. I really do. You guys just don't see them.
The goal for this month is to put out at least one more Cheerilee chapter. I'm four hundred words into it, but I feel like it's going to be on the long side. It's been a challenge to write. Not because of the material or lack of ideas, but it seems to have this curse on it. I open it up to write, and it goes like this:
Cheerilee skidded to a—
"xjuggernaughtx, can you run the numbers for Stuffy Corporate Account 19758?"
I run the report.
Cheerilee skidded to a stop just before—
"Hey, could you fax these ten thousand pages even though we have it in PDF and could just email it?"
I fax for eight hours.
Cheerilee skidded to a stop just before falling into—
"xjuggernaughtx! A cargo container ship is sinking in the San Francisco Bay! Here's a rowboat! Save all the packages!"
So, with a heavy sigh, I shut down my Gdoc. Then nothing happens for three hours, so I open it up again.
Cheerilee skidded to a stop just before falling into Ponyville's—
"Hey, I need a report that details..."
Cue screaming. That's been my relationship with Cheerilee this month, which is fitting somehow. Perhaps I deserve some suffering.
Additionally, February's goal is to finish up a rough of the entire rest of Taking a Job for Granite. I have next week off, and I'm going to try my damnedest to finish it up. However, even if I don't get through it all, I should be able to get at least the next chapter done. They are averaging about four thousand words, and that's like three hours of work for me if I'm in a good zone. The issue is where I'm at in the story. I really like where the story has gone, and I'm worried I'm going to screw it up. Can't help that, though. I have a pretty good outline of the next chapter, and a very clear view of the one after that, so I'm just going to push through and see what comes out. I'm also going through the early chapters and cleaning them up. I've fixed lots of things in chapter one and half of chapter two thus far in my Gdocs mirror I keep. Before I release the new chapter, I want to have it in the best shape I can for new eyeballs. It'll be a completely new story to a large portion of the fandom now. Been a long time since I updated that bad boy, after all.
Haha, Karma's a bitch! That's what you get for tormenting poor Cheerilee so much. Promise me we'll do a drunk Collab at BABSCon, k?
2787907 Depends on the environment. I need quiet to work, so a room full of people doesn't work all that well for me. We'll see, though. Depends on how serious I'm being about it.
I too read state of the author type thingies.
I look forward to any and all future writings you get the chance to make. And would love to continue helping you with prereading stuff if your still good with that.
Glad to know that someone else is writing about Cheerilee.
2787945 Yup. I've had lot of things that I've started, but there are all a ways away from being ready to present. There's probably a lot I'll show you in the coming months.
2787992 I'm pretty much always writing about Cheerilee. It never stops.
Wow, you wrote a lot in the last month!
And I already excepted that you say that you will stop writing entirely when I read the first few lines of this blog entry! Good to see that you're still in the business!
I still haven't read any of your stories, but it would be sad to see a pony author go, especially when it's such a good and popular one like you!
2788550 Well, I'm not sure how popular I am. I'm still relatively unknown, comparatively. I'm pretty sure that most readers on this site have never heard of me, but I'm just going to keep putting out stories and hope people like them.
And you haven't read my stuff? I'm pretty sure you read Awaken, Scootaloo at the very least. Did you also comment on Cheerilee's Thousand, too? Maybe I'm just mis-remembering.
But, yeah. I write a lot. Just nine-tenths of it never sees the light of day because I end up not liking it, or get bored with writing that particular thing, or I figure out that the story has a fatal flaw or something like that.
I always read every blog post from the people I follow, even if I don't always comment on them. When I follow someone, I don't just follow for their new stories. I follow them for who they are in their entirety, from stories to blog posts to the random silliness that they throw out to the world.
For me, reading about the personal going-ons of the life of someone I follow means a lot. It helps me appreciate what they do in a more personal way.
Damn, you must be committed as hell to pumping some words out if the universe tries that hard to keep you from writing and your reaction is just "well, that's what my vacation is for".
2788599
You're not as popular as the author of "Past Sins" or "Fallout: Equestria" or as Pascoite, but you were featured numerous times on Equestria Daily, especially with "Cheerilee's Thousand", and thus, a lot of people know you.
You still belong to the more famous authors here in the fandom.
And yeah, I derped. I have read "The Carrot Dog Fight" and "Awaken, Scootaloo" but I forgot about it for a moment.
Blame Season 5 Trailer hype.
I'm sure a lot of people would like to read that anyway. Ever thought of making a Patreon?
Those unreleased stories/chapters would make for good rewards there.
2790895 I'm probably going to put out compilation of unpublished stuff at some point. I often end up recycling good bits of some thing I've discarded into a new story, so I'm hesitant to publish them as unfinished scraps. I figure that when I'm feeling like I'm done writing here, I can just bundle all the odds and ends together and let people look at them. Then readers can stand in awe of my terrible, terrible, really terrible attempts to write several shipfics.
2790900
Shipfics? Hmm..... Is there anything Scootabloom related that never saw the light of day?
2790958 Nope. There's some AppleDash and RariPie, though. Horrible, terrible AppleDash and not all that developed, but actually not too bad RariPie.
2790174 I get mad if a day goes by when I didn't do something creative, so I'm generally salivating to write when I'm on vacation. It doesn't always happen. Sometimes I'm lazy or going out all the time, but I try. My goal it to be in a creative mental space at least a few times a week. When that doesn't happen is generally when you see me bitching about stuff on my blog. It's a release valve for my frustrations.
2790026 I'm kind of the same way. I actually rarely follow anyone because of their stories. I follow because I like the interactions we have.
2790900
I endorse this. I love shorts 'n scraps collections.