What has Derek been up to? · 1:43am Oct 2nd, 2015
School, mostly. Graduate school, to be exact. And due to my field being Journalism, my writing time is spent on a horrendous number of papers and projects.
Is it enjoyable? Oh yes.
Does it leave lots of time for pony pony pony? Not so much.
Yet, I have not been unproductive. Currently, I'm on chapter 7 of a yet to be published story I've been thinking about for a while. It's something of a writing break from Asylum, which is at a point where I need to reevaluate just how to handle a few key issues before I can finish that story. That, and a chance to refine my craft. I don't want to disappoint people by providing a sub-par experience.
Sadly, real life has been intruding more, and as much as I wish to write more often, I find that my obligations to school and work are more pressing, making me slower than molasses in January.
However! My writing schedule, as it were, has some holes that have opened. In between essays and editing for a school magazine, I've found an effective way to squirrel away some more time for, how we say, "pony pony pony". Beginning this month I have a pretty ambitious goal of doing 500 words a day for the whole month.
That's write* - 15,500 words to be completed at a minimum. Isn't that just amazing? It's like, so many words! I totally can't go wrong! And importantly, I'll be doing my best to keep a running tally for y'all online, right here, so you can see just how much progress is being made - and harass me if I start slacking. Isn't that a great idea? I think so! Heh! Heh heh...
... and yes, I'm big on promises. But I find that as I get more drawn into the dry, more practical writing I focus on professionally, I find myself pining for the less serious, more free-form prose of pony pony pony. Maybe I am slowly convincing myself to love writing?
Part of the delay is that nothing I'm writing now is being published, and that's mostly by design. My new story is not going to be posted until I have the whole thing written and edited to avoid any delays and other chaos. The same is going for the new chapters of Asylum - I want to make sure the whole last section of the story is clear, polished, and with a minimum of plot holes and glaring mistakes before I give it to y'all. You deserve as much.
Anyway, let me just add that your comments and messages have really been AMAZING, and I can't stress enough how much you all have helped to pull me back into writing fan-fiction. I have a terrible history of abandoning things before they're finished, and with Asylum I promised long ago this would not be the case - and that is because you have been so awesome and positive and enjoyable that I can't help but want to give a little something back to all of you.
So thank you from the bottom of my shriveled, calloused heart, and be watching this space... eh, not closely, but maybe bi-weekly?
With much thanks,
-Derek (aka DoD)
*Yes, that was deliberate, before one of you smartasses lovely people points it out in the comments.
Being a smartass is better than a dumbass.
AS much as i want my crazy ponies, i do appreciate you taking making it the besyt you can do seriously.
Totally unrelated to this blog post, but here's a neat little something for you.
Thank you for letting us know whats been goin on in your life. There are those of us who do take interest in how our favorite writers are doing.
However long it takes, I am willing to wait, because I feel the quality will make the wait worthwhile.
All work and no pony make Derek a something something...
It's understandable. Life has a tendency to get in the way of the really important stuff (the pony pony pony). That being said: Can't wait for new Asylum chapters! Woop Wooop!
cant wait to read this new story and more on asylum
Good luck!
your name is Derek?
Thanks for the update D. Now hopefully we can all wait a little more patiently for the next chapter. Keep up the good work!
I wait, heart in my hands.