Takka Takka Takka - April 2017 Word Counts, Novel’s Discord Server, BABSCon & EFNW Appearances! · 4:59am May 1st, 2017
Good day fillies and colts!
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve actually just chatted with you all. I know I said a lot of things were going to happen at certain times and didn’t end up happening at those times. Well, if you folks remember, I did a blog post called [Halt] a while back and in truth, I’m still working through those things.
Also, you know, there was BABSCon, meeting Monochromatic (something I never saw coming… nor did I see how it would end up changing a lot of things for me), my own stories, a really critical job thing I can’t technically talk about, finally posting the follow-up for The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon and a dozen other things I can’t think of because I’m actually writing the first draft of this at 1 AM on Sunday, April 30 when I still have a little under 3,000 words to clear 50K for the month which needs to be done by the end of the day andddddd….
WAGH!
(Edit: I actually pulled off both the finale of the Follow-Up for The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon and cleared my monthly writing goal before 1PM today!)
But first, let’s talk writing!
I’m thrilled to announce that, despite everything that’s happened during this month, I achieved my highest wordcount of 2017 in April…
Word Count: 50,223
Not only that, but I did Camp NaNoWriMo (the only difference in Camp is that you set your own goal instead of having it pre-set at 50K) for the month of April. To push myself, I set a "standard" NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000, so I have officially won my first Camp NaNoWriMo!
And because it was fun last time… here’s a line from my latest story, again with no contest whatsoever!
That would be the first time Astra Princess Twilight Sparkle actually lit the carpet on fire as a direct result of her embarrassment.
Okay. Focus for a minute.
I actually have a pretty big announcement for you all. Something totally new. Something totally awesome. Something I’ve been working on all week for and haven’t breathed a word about. You see, just last week, I actually passed 500 followers! 
Thank you Darkmaster7987 for being #500! And I wanted to celebrate!
After some deliberation (and seeing how The Enchanted Library server works), I’ve decided to open my own Discord Server!
Now, you know my motto is “Do it right and do it with style.” Well, I did my best to do just that.
Novel’s Nook has already been configured with all sorts of goodies. Here’s just some of the things you’ll find!
-Announcements about my current story initiatives and where I’m at on those stories including daily updates as to my progress on them!
-Dedicated channel for people to talk about their theories on The Wavelengths Timeline and my other stories!
-Channel for talking about Episode Spoilers (48-hour spoiler ban in the main chat channel)
-Channel for the “Leaked” Early Canadian Episodes (Keep discussions about them in here pleasE)
-Fully-configured SweetieBot who accepts all sorts of commands to get epic artwork of your favorite MLP characters and some of my favorite ships (don’t expect everything in there folks. 
)
-Channel specifically for requesting music through our liaison to DJ-PON3, Raven!
-An art channel where you can post links to awesome fanarts and more!
There’s still some dust on the floor and I’m still working on some of the bot commands. And several commands are designed specifically to work with BPM (Better PonyMotes - you can find it right here), so I strongly encourage you to install that into your Discord Clients (also cause it’s freaking fun).
Now, even though I’m launching this now, I’m still going to be super-busy tonight, but I’ll try and be on to greet you all! But the good news is, you’ll always get up-to-date info on all my stories! I’m hoping to invite some special authors in as well so you can chat with them there too.
A couple other quick announcements before we get to the month’s Writing Bookshelves!
First of all, Seraphem did an awesome review of my Imposing Sovereigns contest entry And a Sky Full of Stars that you can check out! He actually thought it should have taken the entire category for the Warriors section of FoME’s contest a while back. Can’t say I disagree… but I haven’t had a chance to read the rest and anyway that’s not how the story worked 
You should go read it! I will eventually come back to this universe and you can blame him for it.
Shockingly, I’m actually been listed as a freaking Community Guest for Everfree Northwest 2017! I have no idea why I rate this freaking honor, but I have to say, part of me is psyched (and the other 90% is freaked out). I will say that I’m going to be hosting a very special Gardens of Equestria: This Coming Storm panel on Saturday morning!
Not only that, but I’ll also be a speaker at the official Fallout: Equestria panel on Saturday afternoon! There will also be a few other writing panels where I’ll be a panelist, though a few of those are up in the air.
...now I have to actually pretend I know what I’m doing or that I’m not totally freaking out. 
...though I might be freaking out a little bit more about meeting Rebecca Shoichet for the first time. Yes, I can fangirl over people too.
Let’s see… just a reminder that Monochromatic’s Interwoven Colours contest is still going on and you’ve got just a little less than a full month to get cracking on it! So, get to work on it, fillies!
April’s Writing Bookshelf:
The Fallen Tower - Complete at 37,000 words
Easily one of the most brutal stories I’ve written in my entire life, all the personal issues I’ve been dealing with got poured into this single tale. It was so raw, that when I handed a Google Docs copy to Ebon Quill, I told him explicitly that I didn’t want corrections or any comments besides good ones. This wasn’t to give him something to edit… I just needed someone else to read the story.
To my utter shock, he told me that after some work and editing… it could very well be the finest piece of fiction he’s ever seen from me.
It’ll take me awhile to get to a point where I’m ready to edit this story. I don’t really even have words for this one.
Diamonds Amidst the Stars - First Draft Complete at 23,000 words
My “entry” into Mono’s Interwoven Colours contest, this is my first RariTwi story I’ve ever written. I ended up going with something that combines the new universe fantasy of Sky with the comedy of History (I hope). And as usual, tons of new ideas came to me that will make the story so much brighter at the end of the story… which means I need to foreshadow them properly. Oi.
Whisper of a Song - On Pause at 3,000 words
My original “entry” into Mono’s Interwoven Colours contest, I eventually realized I wasn’t that interested in the story that I was telling. There are a bunch of reasons why, pretty much all of them in my inital setup. While I could have played it out, it would have taken far longer than the 10K limit (which I shot by anyway). I just got bored with it… so I ended up taking a completely different route and went with Diamonds.
BABSCon 2017
I survived! Met new friends! Yay! (More on that below)
EFNW Scribblefest 2017 - The Cycle of Flame wins the Rainbow Dash award!
I’m still so psyched that both Ebon Quill and I placed in this. I even placed with a complete sweep of all judges! So much squee!
SunLight Sliders - Published!
Seriously, wasn’t SciSetDaily’s Cover for SLS freaking epic? So epic! I also did a massive Retrospective on this grand adventure. Again, I want to thank everyone who participated in this crazy project and I look forward to adding even more talent the next time around!
Let’s Talk about The Mare Who Once Lived In The Moon - Published
Just finished it today actually. Ended up striking up a good conversation with MrNumbers about it too. Apparently, it was one of those times when something like this was exactly what the author needed. I’m glad I ended up waiting!
May’s Writing Docket:
Everfree Northwest
This is going to be my big focus for this month. GoE has a big presence there and I’m a freaking Community Guest for some crazy reason. I want to make sure I do things right (and then I read a blog by bookplayer and once again realize just how much smarter other authors in this place are than me)! So, if you’re going to EFNW, please let me know or drop by one of my panels!
...fair warning, if you try to introduce yourself while I’m in line to see Rebecca, you may not get anything coherent. Just sayin’.
How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative - This thing is getting done this month!
I know, I know. This story has been “in editing phase” for forever at this point. It’s gotten so messed up I’ve actually brought in extra pre-readers and editors for recommendations on just what to so. The whole thing’s a mess and I simply don’t know how I’m going to handle it yet. But this is to be my next story. This is going to be done… one way or another!
On the Brewing of Saddle Arabian Teas - Slated as the next Wavelengths story
This is still on the docket! I think I even have a plan for it. Right now, the term I’m going with is “dominio disaster.”
Just a Couple of Ponies Finale Rewrite - Slated for this Month
With Tchernobog's permission, I'm going to be rewriting the end of his hysterical Just a Couple of Ponies. It'll finally have an ending. Now, I'll be honest. It won't be nearly the same scope as his original idea. But it'll be fun. I hope. This is a huge challenge... because I need to emulate his style. My goal is for readers to actually think he wrote it. I know, I know. I'm crazy. Deal with it.
So, let’s talk a little bit about BABSCon and just how freaking crazy it was!
First of all, I confess being a little freaked out going up there. I was pretty much sponsored up there by two of my friends I met with a group within Equestria Daily, ramm and ajnrules. However, I didn’t know anyone up there in real life, so it was a little freaky. Despite this, I met up with the EqD folks and ended up bunking in another online friend’s room (Cobellanez).
More than anything, the point that stands out before any other was meeting Monochromatic for the first time. You see, Beltorn is one of the main editors for both Mono’s The Enchanted Library and The Wavelengths Timeline. So while I’ve never read The Enchanted Library, I was very familiar with it, namely the gorgeous cover art.
So, while in the Autograph line for Tara Strong for my first phase of getting way too much SunLight artwork signed by both Tara and Rebecca, I happened to spy a girl with a familiar-looking hardcover book. I don’t think I even saw the full title. I just recognized the artwork. She was standing Tabitha St. Germain’s autograph line, freaking out just a little bit. I hesitated for a little bit and then decided to throw caution to the wind and go up and ask if she was actually Monochromatic.
This was about the time she was going into fangirl overload about meeting Tabitha for the very first time. So, as usual, my timing was perfect. She still shook my hand after mentioning Beltorn’s name (I had no idea he had talked so much about me to her) and then confessed that she wasn’t being rude, just kinda freaking out about meeting Tabitha (read: completely freaking out to the point of trying to let people cut in front of her) and she’d be happy to talk to me later. I told her that Tabitha was completely chill (or something along those lines) and headed back to my own line.
It was still as funny as hell. I mentioned it in my private little writer’s channel on GoE’s Discord and didn’t think much of it.
I hoped to run into her again at the FanFic Writer’s Meetup so we could have some sort of actual conversation. (Which, by the way, was totally awesome to meet a lot of authors in person) What I was expecting even less was for us to spend five to six hours talking about everything from famous stories to storytelling techniques, outline vs. discovery writing, the taste of some elements of the general fan fiction circuit and just writing in general! I’m happy to say that I’ve never connected so quickly with another writer before. I think I used the term “kindred spirits.”
...her friends wandered off, except for one. Poor guy fell asleep at the table where we were talking after hour two. We sent him to bed. Apparently, all of her friends kept peeking through the window overlooking the spot where we were talking going “Are they still talking?!” a few dozen times.
And somehow, I just ended up getting adopted by the Monochromatic group. I spent most of the weekend hanging out with them. Best part, though? We were laughed at a great deal for us geeking out about things. But every single one of these folks was good people. Jykinturah, Swan Song, fourths, AppleTank, Autumn Rush, Arcshod and several others I can’t remember because I got no sleep last night (don’t kill me!).
Hell, on the last night of Babs, after attending the awesome (and slightly surreal) Equestria Daily wrap dinner at Red Robin, I ended up staying up until 4:30 with Fourths, Mono, Autumn, Jykinturah and Swan. It started with just Mono, fourth and I doing some writing on our laptops. I ended up in Nick Confalone spot, while Mono (of course) got Tabitha and fourths stole Tara’s spot. Which then shifted into me doing a completely new cover design for Injuring Eternity and then just went into random stuff! I showed off GoE a little bit… Mono went through my entire library of EPUBs for reasons I can’t quite remember… honestly, most of the night is a blur.
It was there where Mono and I concocted the Interwoven Colours contest and actually released it into the wild. Ayep. We just threw ideas back and forth until she was happy with it!
I ended up having a fantastic BABSCon and it was thanks to this group of friends and their willingness to chat some random guy who writes way too much and is way too passionate about stories. And this was thanks to Beltorn first and then Monochromatic second. It was good times!
I have to say, it was one crazy awesome experience and I hope that EFNW is just as awesome! 
Let’s keep that story recommendation thing going! Today, I’m going to be recommending another fun story and probably one of the best portrayals of Pinkie internal narrative I’ve ever read. Seriously, this was awesome.
When Rarity accidentally breaks a mirror, Pinkie decides there's only way to save her crush from seven years of bad luck.
Obviously, the solution is becoming Rarity's personal anti-bad luck bodyguard.
Now, I should warn you. It’s fluffy. It’s cute. You may need to consult a doctor because it actually landed in my “Dangerously Adorable” folder. But you should totally read it because it’s as fluffy as a… really fluffy thing. 
Or something.
Oh just go read it to get some cute RariPie romance fluff. The good kind!
I think that’s all for today. This thing is long enough as it is! I hope to see you on Discord soon! Make sure to say hi if you drop on in.
Have a great night folks!
-NI
Awesome! I'm glad you had a great Babscon experience. I wish I'd been able to stick around the fanfic author gathering for longer, or say more during the time I did spend there, but oh well. Family obligations, quiet introvert, yadda yadda.
It was a pleasure to meet you and so many others face to face.
The discord link isn't working; apparently the invite has expired
I wish I could have gone to Babscons. I wish I could go to Everfree Northwest. Next year, 100% for sure though! Good job on reaching your word goal, you're blowing me out of the water now.
Man, I really need to get to a con one of these days. They sound like an absolute blast. I'm not as well known 'round here as you and Mono, but all the same. It'd be nice to be in a room full of people who think talking about ponies isn't totally bizarre.
4515469 Give it another shot! You must have snagged it just before I updated the link. If it's still not working, try this.
Yeah! It was indeed great to meet you as well, but don't worry, I understand the needs of the family all too well.
4515519 Would have been nice to have you there! In fact, I'll talk to the Writing Track folks about hosting you for next year because I think you could help a lot of folks out on some writing panels. As for the word count, consider it throwing down the gauntlet for May, good sir. I know you have it in you! The war resets every month, after all!
4515535 One thing I've learned about cons... no matter how bizarre you think you are... there's always someone more bizarre.
Well, unless you're THAT GUY, but we don't talk about him.
If you get a chance, do it! It's definitely something every pony fan should experience at least once!
I think writers is all I'd really enjoy at a con. Anything else I think i'd get into a 'are you people for real?' mode. Not that I can afford it in either case. Rasser frassing 800$ flights...
YAY! Thanks! Also mission accomplished! Also glad you liked it, again. Also also, thanks for the link!
Says, this then goes on to list all the stuff he's doing, both Fic and FoE, AND FoE Game related..... but grats, you do deserve it.
I love that feeling... it's pretty much what got me into doing reviews and commentary.
Glad you had a great time at the Con.. so freaking jealous, really hope I can get back to bronycon next year. But, nice update, thanks again for the mention, and can't wait for more stories and just all around, well ummmm [insert inspiring platitude here]
But seriously, thanks for these updates, all the above, and hope you have as great a time at your next con.
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Yee