, but not today.Confirmed -- no chapter of FS this month · 6:46am Apr 16th, 2015
TL;DR: Confirmed, no chapter this month (it seems I forgot to story-tag the last blog post, so this may be an unwelcome surprise to many of you -- sorry).
I am still writing -- I imagine this is always a fear when following an 'incomplete' -- so here is a progress update:
CH16 -- preread, but I'm not happy with the characterisation and requires a lot more thought and rewriting (this is the main reason for the posting delay).
CH17 -- 1st draft finished, due to go out for editing/prereading in a day or three.
CH18 -- planning started (that is, I've thought of a few cool scenes -- which is as far as my 'planning' ever goes).
Real horses have stolen a lot of my time, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but I'm still aiming to release a chapter a month (this month was a bit exceptional, what with actually buying my first horse and all that comes with that). To that end, I'm going to try and keep a better grip on chapter length (my target is 6-8K, but I've not managed that very often in the last six months), which should help.
In the mean time, have a couple of semi-related videos:
Me discovering that Ruby really likes the water. She wouldn't budge (in the end I had to dismount and lead her out). Looks funny, but behaviour like that is generally a precursor to the horse rolling...
What a superconducting magnet quench actually looks like. This is our elderly nine Tesla NMR magnet getting a 'fast decommission'; the fog is the liquid helium boiling off (the alarm at the end is the oxygen depletion warning -- there's enough helium gas coming out to flood the whole room).
While i must say that I annlticipated this day with more emotion than i do my birthday，I do completely understand. Take all the time you need (as if you wouldnt if i had said the opposite)，i love your work too much to see it rushed.
However， I must warn you. There is a curse. It a curse I carry and have carried the moment i read my first fanfiction. It is very simple:
Bad things happen to stories I follow.
It has happened more times than i can track. Stories that have updated continuously for years (literally years) grind to a halt the moment i click that yellow star. Authors known for spiting ou hundreds of thousands of words per month find themselves muse-less. Some have sudden medical emergencies. Others have psychological ones. A few have dissappear not even weeks after i begun to follow them.
You will be tried and tested. Your resolve will be presses and buffeted. Yet，never in my days have I found an author as thourgoh as you. I believe you can conquer this beast. Perhaps you may even break the curse and all of the stories I have ruined with my eyes will spring back from hiatus.
Really though.75% of the times i find an incomplete story, the story will grind to a halt soon afterwords. Stories with 400000+words, strong followings，and regular updates will stop the moment i join. (no，this is not conformation bias. Dont tell ne this is conformation bias)
I got a little worried when I saw your last post. If anything bad happened，i would almost believe that it was actually my fault. Luckily，you really are one of the most professional，skilled writters i have seen on this site. It has been an absolute pleasure reading and re-reading you work. One day, when im rich and famous，i will have a bookshelf that opens to reveal my lair when i pull on a certain book. DoWaS will be finely bound in leather upon that shelf. It will not， however，be the boom that doubles as the lever，as i will be taking the book off the shelf to read too often for it to effectivly.hide the lever.
I honestly can pour enough praises over this stuff. I tried to red it all a second time commenting on each chapter as i read，but i got swept up in it all over again and could help but blitz through the whole 400000 words for a second time.
Thanks dude，you`ve really made something special here.
It happens. If the chapter isn't ready it isn't ready.
It's alright; real life does take precedence over fanfic!
Have fun horseying around.
Ooo it's fun when my horsey does that too ^_^
Have fun with Ruby, I understand totally. I can continue to wait for more chapters, maybe go ride my horse...haven't done enough of that recently
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You see what happens? I've never mentioned the curse before. Now I bring it up and Bang, the site is shut down for 24 for hours only a few hours later. Not a coincidence. Tell no one, for the sake of Fimfiction and the world.
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I think whoever it was must have been very upset I didn't post.
Ah, you are very kind. To know that this thing is worth re-reading always makes me happy; in the end I am writing this to have something I want to read, if others like it too, that's just perfect. I also want it bound and on the shelf (perhaps in synthetic dog skin...).
I certainly aim to finish it; after the best part of three years writing the story it has become habit forming. I'm really not sure what I'll do with half my evenings when it's done.
===
Thanks for the comments, folks!
Glad your real life horsey stuff is going well, and.. well... I did say it would be worth a delay if it meant fine tuning the next chapter to better deal with the growing tension issue and make sure things get evend out and it works well so.. can't complain... well depending on what the next chapter ends up being like of course.
But take your time, I know you are trying your best, and it does show and.. just always look forward to more of this amazing story.
besides, the wa the last few days have been, I don't really need MORE tension at the moment so at least there is some break
Thanks for the heads up, I will quit mashing the refresh button for awhile!
I'm so happy your real life horse stuff is coming along well. I miss my family's horses so bad being away for school!
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Please say you'll sell some of those copies if you get it printed! I'd love them on my shelf, also covered in burned, torn, preferably still smouldering fake dog skin.
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Bear in mind that I work a chapter or two in advance, so...
Had my first ride (since he had me off) on Mac yesterday; he was fine, if a bit keen -- cantering rather than trotting, until I figured out what I needed to do to remind him to follow instructions. He's never going to be a horse for a beginner rider, but that's fine.
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Vanity printing isn't as expensive as I thought -- although they won't do fake fur!
2997683 Soooo.. expect more "WHY WHY!? WHY IN THE NAME OF FAUST WHY!?" And wanting to reach through the intertubez to wring the next part out of you immediately and end the tension already?
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Oh, you know I can't tell the damage I'm doing!
I don't think so, but I've thought that before!
3000766 Well, we'll see. Here's hoping, either way... still so so damn good and can't wait for more.
I suspect that for the superconductors in the story, "hit the switch and run" is not so viable as a safety protocol.
2991765 Yeah... DoWaS and FS would BOTH look lovely next to my copies of Past Sins and Fallout: Equestria... And the FO: Pink Eyes that's on the way!
BOOKS!!! *squee*
I do hope a new chapter appears somewhat soon... I've been getting work done, and I wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea, you know... That I DO have free time I could otherwise have spent reading!
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I imagine that anything I produce will be a distinctly ugly item compared to those carefully made tomes. You'd probably want to put them at the back.
I hate to tempt fate by trying to predict the future, but I can say with some confidence that, your time zone and sleep cycle depending, you will wake up to a shiny new chapter tomorrow.
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<(yay!)
What is TL:DR
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Too long; didn't read.