Against All Odds Submitted

As of about a minute ago, I submitted Derpy's final "Misadventure" story.

I'm not entirely pleased with the way it turned out. I had wanted it to be more grandiose, somehow, but in writing it I became more and more aware that it really was just time for me to be done writing ponies. I simply cannot "give it my all," anymore when it comes to writing fanfic. I had meant to write something that was longer, more dramatic, and more detailed; as fine a sendoff as I could manufacture for the little, gray pegasus. In the end, though, it almost reads like an "abridged version" of what I had in mind.

I just can't do this, anymore. I have my own stories full of characters and ideas that are more intriguing to me, now, and I need to write them. I can't put my energy into fanfic, and the time I had allotted myself to work on this last one is up. It suffers a little bit from that restriction, and most readers will feel it to some extent or another. The trouble is I have one book out there on Amazon selling copies, and given that it was labeled a first volume and therefore promised a series, I now have paying customers waiting to read the next iteration of the story.

I have to get to work on that and make it happen. After that, I already have another original story in mind to start writing, so this is me signing off as a FiMFiction writer. I'm not saying I'll never get a wild hair to write a short, goofy crackfic or something, but I just don't have the hours and hours of effort to pour into lengthy, well-developed fanfic anymore. Frankly, even what I put my best into here was still always weakened and worsened by the inherent limitations of fanfic, and I think it's somewhat damaging to my technique as a writer to write very much of it.

I'm very grateful to all of you who have followed me, read my stories, left comments, etc. Thank you for helping me gain the confidence to see that I had ability as a writer. I'm moving on, now, but I'll still check in from time to time to see how long people continue reading my stories. Just don't expect any new content from me. Barring some absurd crackfic idea that I just have to get out, there's probably not any more coming.

Thanks again,

Mannulus
(Which, by the way, is just Latin for "little pony.")

finem, yo