Thoughts on 2015 · 5:56pm Jan 3rd, 2016
2015 was a big year for me, considering the previous five years my accomplishments plateaued while expectations of me tended to increase. So though I don't usually post holiday-focused blog posts, I'mma jump on the bandwagon for this one because I'm proud of where I've come in the past year.
January involved a huge culmination of a bunch of steps I'd taken since September 2014. Long story short, in September I decided to take the first step towards going on a missions trip to Peru with my church. It was my first time flying in a plane. It was my first time out of the country (though years earlier I'd come close on another missions trip to International Falls, MN). It was my first time overseas. And it's one of the best experiences of my life.
The next big event I can think of was discovering fimfiction in late March. I joined on April 1st, and uploaded The Princess That Equestria Never Had, which by that time I'd finished posting on ao3. Even after uploading all 13 chapters at once, I got more views and more favorites in a single day than the entirety of its length of time on a03. I was proud, because this fic, while not the longest thing I'd written up to this point, was the first thing of this length that I'd ever completed. I was overjoyed, because people were liking what I was writing.
A few weeks later I finally decided on who my favorite ponies were. Of the Mane 6, I chose Applejack solely because she plays the bass in the Equestria Girls series. Overall, however, I chose Sunset Shimmer. After watching "My Past is Not Today" I'd decided to do a quick analysis of how her clothing in the Fall Formal portraits reflected her attitude as she grew. That quickly turned into a complete character analysis, and as I wrote I realized how well-written the character is, so much so that I currently believe no character has been written better. This is due in no small part to the fact that she's not limited by episode lengths like most ponies, and the films allowed the writers to develop her in more depth.
Around the time of the previous two events, I was coming up with several great idea. "Bit Bridleheart, P.I.", a nod to the film noir genre that I still have to fully flesh out the world. The Princess that Equestria Always Had, which I'm updating each Sunday and in only 5 chapters became my most viewed and most favorited story, and is on track to being even longer than its prequel. "The Cutie Cult", which I started writing after realizing a possible connection between the cutie pox and Starlight Glimmer's cutie unmarking spell. I don't think I've mentioned it previously, but I'm pretty sure that after watching "Appleloosa's Most Wanted" I got to thinking that Apple Bloom could have a greater understanding of cutie mark magic because of her experience with the cutie pox, and soon it blossomed into what it is today. I had to wait until the season 5 finale to figure out how Starlight would find herself in the desert. "Luna's Nightmare", which became "Lest the Nightmare Continue" as it grew from a one-shot to a short fic, and which is currently my favorite of my short fics. I loved writing it, and went through so many emotions as I relived the episodes and the fan animation "Lullaby for a Princess".
June 12-14. That weekend was huge for me. MLP-MSP 2015, not only my first pony convention, but my first convention ever. I met ACRacebest, Saberspark, PaleoSteno, and M.A. Larson. I cosplayed Dr. Wolf. Walking through the vendor hall, I realized I could make and sell laptop bags (saddlebags, if you will). Most memorable, however, was the episode. "Slice of Life", the 100th episode, making it the longest show that Hasbro has ever produced, passing 1980s Transformers which had 99. "Slice of Life" is still a matter of heated discussion among bronies, but regardless of its reception, it was special for everyone attending MLP-MSP 2015: after watching the episode (which was hard to hear the dialogue because the audience kept cheering every 30 seconds because of all the nods to the show and the fandom) M.A. Larson, ACRacebest, and Saberspark talked about it, and then because there was some extra time after they were done, we watched it again! The tech crew gave us a really nice light show with the stage lights when the bass dropped during Octavia and Vinyl's song, which made it extra special.
In November, I started writing The Personal Files of Dr. Mindwell, which is currently on hiatus until I figure out which character to write on next and go through my college textbooks again to brush up on symptoms, treatments, etc. It's currently the longest fic I've written on here, and will only grow as I continue going through seasons 4 and 5.
After Christmas, I created a group, the Monthly Writing Club. I'll post 3 writing prompts each month, and members can write a fic of any length based on one of them. January prompts are up, and I'll be posting the next month's prompts on the last day of each month. You'll have the whole month to write, although since I post the prompts I technically have a bit of a head start.
There isn't a specific time period for this next one, but it's been growing since August 2014: I've become more aware of social injustices in America. I've become more active on facebook and twitter in voicing my political and social opinions, which I've gotten a certain amount of flack and borderline hate from my family for. I've kept my political views off fimfiction, because I haven't had a reason to write those situations into fics yet. Hopefully I never do, although racism plays a significant part in Always Had due to the nature of the history of Hearth's Warming, so we'll see.
What a year.
I've got plans for 2016. I'll start making the laptop bags. My brother and I will make progress on our Flim Flam Brothers cosplay. I'll finish Always Had, which may end in June or July if I end up writing all the chapters I have planned. I'll keep on top of my monthly group, posting prompts and writing a new fic each month. My brother and I will be attending MLP-MSP 2016. In non-pony matters, I'll develop a daily devotional time and draw closer to God. I'll start and keep working on original story ideas. I'll move out of my parents' house. I'll continue roleplaying my wolf and my Na'vi characters on IMVU, but I'll stay away from the chatrooms that I shouldn't be in.
Happy New Year, everypony, and best of luck to all of you on your goals.
