On the topic of the Lab Horse series

There's so much I want to do, but so little time I have these days to actually pull it off.

Lab Horse originally started off as part of my plan to begin branching out past writing comedic one-shots, and into something that would have more depth to it. Originally, taking into account how Gadget was, and still is, based off of the mindset that I personally had back when I was around 10 or 11, Gadget was planned to be a colt. Though, after I noticed how at the time most stories had male OCs, I decided to go against the flow and write out Gadget as a tomboyish filly, so that I'd still be able to draw off of personal qualities while retaining character traits.

Eventually, Lab Horse became Space Horse, which became Equestrian Human, which created Shattered Rainbow. The core trilogy and the extended storyline of Shattered Rainbow have collectively become the closest thing I have to a passion project outside of my usual computer teardowns and restorations that I'd been doing for years at that point.

I still have so many plans for the series, but as of late, I haven't had much time anymore to write daily updates like I used to, which, while in one way is preventing the onslaught of writers' block, also forces me to hold back out of fear that I might forget what I want to write next. Because of that, starting about two months ago, I began to heavily plan ahead instead of writing as it came, which, ironically, resulted in me putting more effort into the series than I ever did before. This has been going on up until now.

One of the biggest concerns I have is of how the series itself was originally written. Originally, due to the somewhat sporadic chapters without a clear focus early on in the series, I often ended up writing something in and leaving it there without looking back. At the time, with me having freshly exited from writing comedy based on sheer randomness, it was one of the only writing styles that I had. Over time though, and especially with the beginning of Equestrian Human, as I said earlier on, I began to plan ahead instead of working as it came. This allowed for me to tweak certain things before writing them down, and patch up plotholes before they grew too big.

However, this was also what caused me to begin looking back upon what was already written. Looking back, I can now clearly point out weak plot points of Lab Horse and Space Horse, the latter of which I've since realized was more of a 9k-word filler story than anything of actual significance. As such, I've lately felt the urge to rewrite the entire series from the ground up, or even transition over to writing original fiction, disconnecting the series with the MLP universe to allow for a greater sense of creative freedom. But once again, it all comes back to the main point: I just don't have time for writing much anymore.

Most of the time now, I typically spend less than an hour writing, and if I have more time, it's usually late at night, when I'm already nearing a burnt-out state of mind for the day. And even if I did have the time, I'd likely quickly burn through my ideas and run into writers' block yet again.

Finally, the last point I need to get across. At the moment, I've essentially hit a brick wall in my planning. I have enough down at the moment to last a few more months worth of updating as per the schedule I've been following, but only if I return to shorter, detached chapters reminiscent of Lab Horse and Space Horse. Once I reach the point of which the timeline I have ends, I no longer know what to do. That final point in the plans I have for the series essentially acts as multiple entities:

It could either be the end of the series in and of itself, in which Gadget may either face "normal life" from then on, with nothing of much importance, leading to the stagnation of any possible continuation.

Another thing it could possibly turn out to be is a bridge between the "original" Lab Horse series, and an entirely new series that disassociates itself with the plot of prior stories and opts instead to start completely anew.

Or, it could possibly mark nothing more than simply the final closure for everything in and of itself, in which all events are resolved in a similar fashion to the first option above, but rather than attempting to continue with a stagnating story universe, simply marks the end of the series forever, and may serve as my indication to possibly begin rewriting it in a more optimal light.

All I know is that, as one of the most heavily worked on series I've ever written, this is by far the closest thing to a true passion project that I've ever done, and while I hope that I wouldn't ever have to stop writing in this series, I know that it will eventually end, whether by the stagnation of plot elements or otherwise. I've recently begun to bounce ideas off of my friends in hopes that they could possibly help me continue building the story universe, but so far, the closest thing to a viable idea is a grimdark alternate universe where Celestia's fried-chicken eating somehow starts the apocalypse.

In the end, all I know is that everything eventually comes to an end, whether it's good or bad. There's no distinguishing between the two when it comes to what needs to happen to everything. Not even the universe will last forever, and while it'll be hard to move on, especially considering how Gadget is practically the literary embodiment of kid-me, I know that I eventually will move on from the series, whether I like it or not.

Sorry if this blog is a bit on the negative side, it's just that it's something that's been building up inside me that I've wanted to let out into the open. This comes across more as sort of a rant in a somewhat-essay format than my typical crazed blogging habits, but once again, it's also a much more serious matter than what I normally talk about. I just hope that even if I one day do find myself setting the keyboard aside, I'll by then have other aspirations, even bigger than I could dream about now.