Wastin' Time · 9:48pm May 7th, 2015
As Luna demonstrates, sometimes I am my own worst enemybest gaming buddy.
With the completion of Audience of One, my original intention was to jump right into my planned projects. Apparently, my brain had other things in mind. Realizing I'd burnt myself out, I decided to chill on the writing for a bit and have been devoting the past couple days to playing Dominion 4. I'm probably gonna waste a lot more days doing so, and with this in mind I may push my schedule back by, say, a week, just to make sure I don't end up killing myself when I realize how behind I am on my deadlines.
But a writer never goes on vacation, not really. If he isn't writing, he's thinking about writing, and that is most certainly true for me. No worries, folks; this is only a temporary reprieve while I recharge my mental batteries. That usually doesn't take long.
This describes my situation over the last two days almost perfectly, in one way or another.
In the meantime, an update. After much beggingdemonstrating my evocative charisma, I've managed to convince Cerulean Voice to be my editor for Shadow Pony. This came with a caveat: Cerulean wants to read the entire story in one go rather than chapter by chapter. As a personal rule, I don't perform any major editing jobs on a story once it has been published. This means that instead of releasing Shadow Pony one chapter at a time, I'm going to have to get it all out in one go in order to appease my own OCD and Cerulean's request. I don't mind this all that much as it gives me a lot more leeway in when to work on it and publish, but it does mean that I can't be certain exactly when said publication will occur.
So yeah, consider Shadow Pony to be in a quasi developer's hell, release date TBD.
Last but most certainly not least, I wanted to offer a big thanks to everyone who sent me commentary on Audience of One once it finished! I'm overwhelmed by the positive response to the story and its ending. There were so many that I figured it would take forever to respond to each one individually, so instead I'm doing it here. Also, a big thanks to the 30-odd people who abruptly decided that I'm someone worth watching. Every last one of you people are incredible.
After much consideration, I've decided to go ahead and at least inform everyone that I am planning a sequel. Now, that's nothing new for those of you who have been paying attention; I always plan sequels, I just don't always have time for them. I aim to squeeze one in for AoO at some point, but that's not the big thing I wanted to mention. What I really wanted to mention was what I plan for the sequel to be about.
The answer is simple: Octavia and Luna will take the next big step in their relationship. I'm not talking about marriage – that part will have already happened, or at least will be where the sequel opens. No, the next step is kids. Don't go jumping to conclusions, you gutterheads, I'm not gonna whip out some magical solution to make Octavia preggers or anything. They're going to be looking to adopt... or, to be more accurate, somepony else is going to look to be adopted. I already know exactly which pony it will be, too. Care to take a guess? Check the spoiler below if you really wanna know.
Silver Spoon
I'll leave you folks to contemplate that. Feel free to drop me some theories, opinions, flaming PMs of hatred, so on and so forth.
Becoming Them: Thursday, May 23
Order of Shadows Book I – Chapter 1: Thursday, May 30
Stats
Total Word Count: 1,246,000 (+17,000) over 26 stories
Average Words Written Per Week: 10,000
Follower Rank: 360th (+23)
Overall Ratings Average: 95.13% (-0.03%)
Highest-Rated Story (Not Counting Stories at 100%): The Gentle Nights @ 98.43% (+0.06%, 3 Weeks)
Story with the Most Votes: Tyrant @ 1954/53 (23 Weeks)
Story with the Fewest Votes: Paul's Persistently Protacted Practice Pieces (21/0)
Longest Story: Trixie vs. Equestria @ 144,000
Ha, if anybody could pull that plot twist off, it'd be you. Still, I'm glad to see that whenever this does go to the writing presses, it won't be a wedding story. Sometimes it feels like folks write the wedding and then just stop writing any more stories about a pair.
I was happy you finished it, since I try to only read finished stories. My review-ish thingy will be a week or so down the line though. Liked it.
Nothing new until the end of the month. . . well, I do need to re-read one of your stories and read several others, so I suppose I should be pleased. But I still really want to read OoS!
By the way, how goes the job hunt?
3053031
Well of course they do. Once the wedding ends, then comes 'real life,' and most people write romances for escapism rather than reality.
3053202
Oh, review! I'll be looking forward to it.
3053217
Actually, those dates are the current, 'original' ones, i.e. before I push them back a week should I decide to do so (which right now is looking likely).
Job hunting's going slow. Had a few interviews, nothing's come from them yet.
romance happens. It's just not my thing.
Anyway, after this week, we officially begin work on OoS?
Ok few things.
#1 Dominion 4 looks like a lower Quality Heroes of Might and Magic 4
#2 that picture is civilization so I believe that's a 4X trifecta
#3 best be joking with that spoiler :P
#4 eh burn outs happen best of rest on your time off.
3053413
I've already made number of updates to the Timeline and glossary and also added an outline of the first book. I don't know if I'll start writing on it next week or not, but it's going to be very soon.
3053712
#1) Dominion 4: NES graphics, deep gameplay. I don't care what a game looks like as long as the content is good, and the content of this one is great. It's far deeper than M&M.
#2) Actually it's Civilization IV, and I have to wonder who or at what difficulty they're playing to all be trounced like that.
#3) Not even remotely joking.
#4) Thanks!
3053780
#1 it's NES of course it's deeper :D
#2 would not be surprised if it was a mod fixing the ai quirks that make them easy. with a few fun mods like Vicevirtuoso's metal gear solid mod (which include magical madoka and saints row as well ) as factions.
#3 WELP no but seriously look forward to it.
> Sequel to Audience of One
> Luna and Tavi wanting to adopt
> Couple shenaningans + family fluff implied
So, how about some flaming PM's of love? Or should I propose right here?
3056387
Have you read my story Lightning's Bolt? You might want to before you go getting excited, as it'll show you a bit more about how I interpret the whole family and raising a kid scheme.
3056821 Well, I assume it will stay on about the same drama level as Audience of One. Or at least not much worse?
And I am a bit sad that we won't get to see the wedding/announcing the relationship.
3057059
Eh, the details need to be ironed out, so I couldn't say just how dramatic it will be. I imagine it'll be around the same level, yes.