Something awful has happened! · 9:38am Feb 23rd, 2016
I'm tardy! Tardy! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaactually this could be a lot worse.
This is how I tend to be with deadlines. I feel like the whole world depends on me meeting them right up to the point where I've missed all of my opportunities to do so, then suddenly stop caring and look on the bright side. It is, of course, pretty much unequivocally better to not miss deadlines whenever possible, but there's no point in crying over spilled milk.
Heck, I can't get worked up over this. Look Apple of Discord's chapter listing. Chapter 1: March 23rd. Chapter 2: December 4th. The story had, like, 120 trackers or something during that time, which is about half of you. I don't know exactly how long I'm going to need to get this chapter done, but it will be nothing compared to that—an extra week at the very most—and the fact that I have as much as I do right now instead of zero words demonstrates that I've come a long way. Not only can I not feel like this is a big deal, I can't even feel like a failure.
I'm sorry that I said I would post chapter 5 today and didn't. I can't stand breaking promises, but after you make the same promise a few times, it starts to feel more like a plain old schedule. There are a couple more hours during which I could post it and say that it was technically still Monday somewhere in the world, and I could probably finish the chapter during that time if I really tried, but I don't want to because I want the rest of the chapter to be good. I want it to be kind of long, too. I can see a lot of potential here, and I'm not going to let my own abysmal time management skills bully me into wasting it. Two mistakes don't make a wise decision, you know.
Despite my nonchalance, you can probably see the larger concern lurking behind this mishap. If the update schedule is slipping, what will become of Apple of Discord? Will it enter another dark age? Will there be months between chapters again? Will it wither slowly and then die unceremoniously like you all probably thought it would as recently as November?
The answer is NO. NONE of that will happen. There will NEVER be another dark age. There will NEVER be more than ONE month between chapters again unless there's a really good reason, e.g. me getting hospitalized. This project means a lot more to me than you may expect. I want to spend my life making and publishing stuff, and in order to do that, I'm going to have to prove to myself that I can A. stop procrastinating on doing things I love to do (not just writing—even things like watching TV. it's baffling) and B. have a work ethic for the less interesting bits. This fanfiction is powered by hopes and dreams! You can't stop the hopes and dreams!
The update schedule alone was good for getting a couple of short chapters out, getting the ball rolling again, but I honestly feel pretty worthless every time I publish a chapter less than 5,000 words long, which you'll notice is all but one of them. I want to improve myself, and there's nothing that can stop me from doing so, because however small this one story is, it's practice for—even more, it symbolizes the much bigger things I have planned. You have nothing to worry about.
I promise. 
Yes, they often do that.
I was just wondering when another update might appear. I was seriously about to bug you. No worries.
Procrastination on watching TV shows. LE GASP. Sounds like me.
3774900 On the bright side, it's making Gravity Falls last a lot longer. As long as you're measuring by time passed rather than by life lived.
...Thaaaat's depressing...