Real Life (and What to Do About It)

Real Life (and What to Do About It)
September 12, 2012 - Conchshellthegeek7

Ladies and gentlemen, I am Conchshellthegeek7. Recent developments in what has come to be called the "real world" have led me to believe that I owe you an update about the future of The RED Cataclysm. So I'm gonna do that now.

As previously reported, I placed Cataclysm on hiatus five days ago due to personal issues. I feel enough time has passed now for me to be able to keep the tones of the story separate. That should not be interpreted to mean, however, that I'm "over it." My father is dead. I'll be feeling the emotional effects of this for a very long time, quite possibly the rest of my life. All I meant by that was I believe I'm in a decent enough mood to write a comedy now. Everybody got that? Good. However, just because I have the capacity to write a comedy doesn't mean I can.

I don't believe I mentioned this earlier, but I happen to be in my freshman year of college right now, out-of-state. When my father took a turn for the worse, however, I was forced to go home to be with him. I stayed there for about a week, and then I went back to college. Shortly after that, his condition deteriorated again, and I was forced to go home again. Sadly, he died before I left, and I spent my time at home attending his memorial service. But the time I spent being with and mourning my father, unfortunately, is time I did not spend in class. My academics are appalling and shameful as a result of this. My family and I have gone over my options, and here's what we came up with.

At this point, it's looking like the most likely option for me to take is to completely withdraw for the semester. I will drop all the classes I'm taking, go home and come back to college in the spring. Now, your immediate reaction to this news might be "Oh good! That'll give you more time to work on Cataclysm!" This is true to an extent. My family has insisted that I will be getting a job if I come back home, and I have every intention of doing so. Really, all I'd be doing is temporarily switching out one set of real-world obligations for another. The other option, unlikely though it may be, is for me to only partially withdraw; to drop some of my classes and try to catch up in the rest. Unfortunately, if that were to happen, I would have to haul approximately nine different kinds of ass in order to catch up.

In either instance, I may not have a lot of spare time available to work on Cataclysm. In addition to everything mentioned above, I have other priorities. I have an original story I want to write, I have a non-crossover ponyfic floating around in here, and several other things that aren't My Little Pony-related. Or authorship-related, for that matter. Real life has happened, and it will likely continue to happen. Because of this, you can kiss those updates every two days goodbye. But if you thought everything going on in my life would force me to give up on Cataclysm, you are sorely mistaken. Why? I refer you to my father's eulogy. The stakes are too high for me to give up. I've worked out the histories of two fictional universes stretching back thousands of years. I've woven a web of backstories and histories so convoluted and intricate I can't even keep it all straight without a diagram. I've invented wars, alternate dimensions, secret societies, alien invasions, and lost gods that could all work as the basis of good, compelling stories, and I've forced them all into the same place. You think I'm just going to give up on a premise like that? No! I've been working on this goddamn crossover for over a year! I cannot let this story go untold now! I don't care how many people I have to force to do my evil bidding, I'M TELLING THIS GODDAMN STORY! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Regards,
Conchshellthegeek7