Blogpost 2/13/17 - 3 Years of WEcon · 3:52pm Feb 13th, 2017
Holy shit, 3 years already. It's kind of amazing to me that I've managed to stick with this for as long as I have, and I have y'all to thank for it. Writing this story and seeing people actually enjoy it enough to talk about it in my comments section has been such an emotional rollercoaster, and I know it sounds cliche, but I really, truly cannot thank you guys enough for the joy you've given me over the last three years.
I've mentioned before that the anniversary of WEcon's first chapters being published is an odd milestone for me, since everything had been in the works for so long prior. Heck, it was almost 4 years ago that I concocted Alloy for the PnP campaign that gave her life and spurred me to write her story. It's amazing to think back on how much has changed in those years of my life, and how many different interests have come and gone. I made an exit from my local Warhammer 40k community, and picked up X-Wing instead, I was hired as a full-time employee as opposed to being a contractor, I bought a house (a fact that still terrifies me!) and this year I turn 30 years old. And through it all, Alloy Shaper, Grit, Kyra, Malice, all of them have been present in my mind, bouncing around even when I wasn't writing.
I'm sure I've also said before that I have had nearly every major plot point mapped from the beginning. Some have changed slightly along the way, while most survived to be written in completed forms. Heck, the last few sentences of the entire story are already on paper, and have been for some time. And really, while I find it to be a great help, it also fuels some anxiety. Having known these plot points for years now, with every scene I write, every chapter I publish, I worry that "this'll be it, this will be the point everyone turns and hates it." There's one significant exception, but I'll save stuff like that for a post-epilogue "behind-the-scenes" post. Still, in the last year of WEcon, the biggest and most stressful example of that was the scene I put down as "the Unfinished Painting." The oldest document of the entire story (excluding the background I wrote up for Alloy as a PnP character), I think I had more anxiety about releasing that chapter than I did for any other scene in the the story to date (and anyone who's read my blog to date will see that this is the scene I referenced in my 2-year blog).
So I know I'm rambling at this point, but with everything going on, with the huge dry spell that I hit last year, I just wanted to express to y'all how much the story means to me, and thus maybe find a new way to thank you guys for your kind words through the years. It was definitely not lost on me that on WEcon's third birthday, the story has hit the milestones of 300+ upvotes, 300+ comments, and 3000+ views, and amusing number parallels aside, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have gotten this far in the story without y'all. Every kind word said, every cheerful comment, and every time someone mentioned the story in passing somewhere (that I saw) has given me the drive to push past my anxiety and keep going.
I'm more determined now than ever, and I've spent this long before telling y'all the status of Chapter 16. Originally I had hoped to conclude the draft and even have the chapter live in time for this anniversary, but planning and writing for my DnD campaign ended up taking over that time (a campaign that reaches its conclusion on 2/25!). So the chapter currently sits at about 2/3 drafted, with 2-3 major scenes left to write. It's technically two scenes, but one of them will likely end up broken up. My goal is now to have the draft finished before this Saturday, and bounce it to the editors for a look over the weekend, then have it live before my campaign concludes on the 25th. Editing is far and away the easy part, and I can do that while planning out the details of my DnD game. I know I have also missed the last two blogposts, and I do apologize for that, but we got things moving again!
I really don't know how else to say this, except to once again thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Y'all are the reason that I keep doing this, truly, and I have big plans for WEcon in 2017. I hope you'll join me for them!
WOOT
Congrats! And with you all the way.
And it's funny you should single out the unfinished painting chapter for highest anxiety.
To me, that was so far the strongest scene in the entire story. One of the best 'breakdown scenes' I've come across in fact.
Anyway, keep going. This story has a special place in my favourites list.
Cheers to that man. Here's looking forward to it,
Yeeeee boy