Six Months, Three Jobs, Three Apartments, Two Purple Girlfriends, A Roommate, And A Convention · 5:21pm Jul 18th, 2017
I've been a little inactive on Fimfic for a while, so I figured I should probably update everyone on what's been going on in my life so far.
In December, I got a job in the Hollywood film industry, doing visuals and editing for TV/film/gaming awards shows (plus some other stuff I'm not allowed to talk about), and I've been at that for about half a year now. It's the first big change I've had in my career in over 3 years, so I've been very excited about it. That being said, I work 12 hours a day, which doesn't leave me a lot of time for my hobbies. Because of my job, I ended up moving to Los Angeles this last April so I wouldn't have to suffer a 2-hour commute every morning.
I Can't Believe My Little Tokyo Is This Cute
I'm currently living in the super-adorable Little Tokyo area in downtown LA with my roommate Monochromatic, a fellow writer on Fimfic that I met last year. She moved up from Mexico in April to also pursue a career in the industry, and much of my free time since then has been getting to know her and helping her get situated in the States. Needless to say, Fimfic's resident RariTwi Empress is one of the coolest people I've ever met, now one of my closest friends, a blast to hang out with, and a super awesome roommate (and not just because she puts up with the fact that I apparently talk a lot in my sleep o_o).
An accurate visual of day-to-day life with the Monoducky
Most people here probably also know that I run a Discord server with a ton of my friends from across the fandom — be them fanfic authors, fan artists, musicians, YouTubers, and more. A while back, a dozen of us or so all decided to do something a little crazy: attend a convention together. And thus, the first SwanCon took place at BABS in April. It was the first con I had been to in nearly a year, and some of the most fun I've had in ages.
I've been around the block when it comes to the brony fandom—as far back as that magical time in 2012 when everything was still new and novel and we were still coming to terms with who we were as a community—and there are moments when I feel like the magic has long gone. But every now and then, things like this happen that remind me why I'm still here and why I love this fandom so much: the people.
Since then, I’ve gotten another job on top of the Hollywood one, become a moderator for more Discord chatrooms than I can count on one hand, I have two more SwanCons lined up (BronyCon and EQLA — be there! yes, you!), and… incredibly enough, I’ve even found love. 
Altogether, the last several months have led to me being more satisfied with my direction in life than I have in what honestly feels like years. After aimlessly wandering about for so long, I feel like I'm finally moving forward. And even if I’m stressed out and busy and constantly having to make tough decisions and trying to juggle a dozen things at once and pretty much always teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown at any second... at least I’m no longer sitting around and squandering away my future.
But between moving twice, constant networking, working two jobs at any given moment, and trying to balance all of that with my social life, both online and offline… well, let’s just say my writing has had to take a really serious backseat for a while now. Thankfully, the Hollywood awards season has come and gone, and while I do have the other few jobs to worry about, they aren't nearly as demanding as my Hollywood one. This finally gives me some breathing room to maybe focus on myself... and, in time, maybe pursue writing once more.
Art by talonsoficeandfire
I’m still adamant about picking up TGOM again and finishing it. I just don’t know exactly when I'll be able to do it. I do have a general idea of where the story is going and how it’ll end. But if for some reason I can’t finish it, I’ll be posting a full outline of the story. And if something happens to me — I become homeless, lose access to the internet, or, yanno… die — I’ve made sure that multiple trusted individuals have access to my TGOM notebook, which includes the full outline, and they’ll do what needs to be done so that everyone gets their closure.
I don’t know what the future holds, but right now I’m just taking things one day at a time. And hopefully I’ll find time soon for my writing, and TGOM in particular. It’s a very dear part of me, and I don’t want to let it to simply fade away.
Until then...
Prosperity, by Zaid ValRoa
—Swan
It's really great to hear see something like this from you; I know you've been really busy and you have a lot going on in your life, but it makes me happy that you're still around~
If there isn't grilled cheese at SwanCon, I don't even know what life is anymore.
Congrats! Glad to hear things are going well.
I hope to see you at BronyCon!
You deserve to be happy :D
Everything else can wait.
A Hollywood career. Affa high-flying.
Have lots of fun with that, and glad to hear lots of other things are going well as well.
If I learn that I met you at Babscon and I had no idea it was you, I'll kick myself ;n;
Back up. I came here to read about two purple girlfriends. You mention only one girlfriend, who is not demonstrably purple. Pics or it didn't happen.
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Rarity and Twilight, doofus!
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HE IS STILL ALIVE!!!!!! Funny thing, TGOM is actually my oldest fic in my tracking library now that Trials of a Royal Guard is done. And don't worry about only updating once in a while, because All American Girl does the same. Just keep going at it. The fandom is a patient bunch. Sort of.
4605391
Spoiler alert: you did.
Spoiler alert 2: I was not anywhere near as exciting as you probably were hoping I would be.
4605467
Hmmmm. I thought everyone I met at Babscon was pretty darn cool. So I'm going to have to disagree on the second point :)
4605451
That single pic sums up things nicely.
Glad to see things are settling down and maybe you'll actually have a chance to breathe. More or less.
I'm pretending that you did a thing there so I can I see what you did there.
I will be able to go to a Swancon someday! And I will makest thou gasp!
Looking forward to hanging out at BC with both you and the Ducky n_n Glad things have improved so much.
Congrats Swan! Glad to hear you are doing well
*polite applause*
4605454 You are failing to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Twilight is not your girlfriend. She is your waifu. She is my girlfriend.
4605756 She's not yours either. She's Rarity's.
4605973 Well, then, we should set aside our competition for Twilight for now, and focus on splitting them up.
4606337
I don't understand what makes you think I want to
Good to see that you are still kicking around.
With regards to your writing, dont worry about it too much, just you do you.
- Phantom
4606653
Sorry. Sometimes I forget not everyone is evil.
4606803 also i dig Rarity like a bajillion times more anyways she is ultimate senpai waifu
4608393 Oh, of course not. I'm just surrounded by evil people. Like people who cut you off in traffic. Or checkout clerks who are too slow. Or babies that cry too much. Or people who make laws telling me what I can and can't do. There's just so much evil in the world.
swancon was a lot of fun, and I'm really sad that it seems like I won't be able to make it to EQLA. I hope that there'll be more chances next year for us to hang. be it a con, or just if I can make it down there to spend time. If'n you'd like to that is~
I remember that I binge-read the entirety of TGOM in a span of a couple days non-stop. I'm glad to hear that it will continue and that you're doing well.
Also, I love how you wrote Silver Spoon, so methodical and demented.
Also, 1001.
Awesome! Nice to hear so much good stuff is happening for you.