By the Numbers... · 2:23am Mar 22nd, 2018
I was mentioning to bats today that my pony productivity hasn't dropped off much over the years. Then I took a glance at my stories page and... my pony production has not dropped off. In fact, here are the totals for the years I've been in fandom (by calendar year):
2012: 145,470
2013: 78,518
2014: 14,127
2015: 64,483
2016: 78,587
2017: 125,749
...last year I wrote more horse words than I have since my first year in fandom.
Admittedly, this count doesn't include blogging, my contributions to The Mailbox and AppleDash group collabs, and accounts that I don't have, and those would give a boost to earlier years. And it's worth noting that I joined fandom in April of 2012, so obviously that year I was wildly productive. But my only serious drop off was the year I was growing and then gave birth to another human being.
So, let it not be said I'm not dedicated to my ponies.
I haven't published anything this year, but I have been working on finishing Sun and Hearth, which is going to add 30k to 40k. After that, who knows? I have some more Foundersverse stories to write, and Merc is steady bugging me to work with him on more in the Moonshine setting (and that boy writes like he gets paid by the word.) It sure looks like I'm not slowing down any time soon.
If you're interested in the word count breakdown by story or number of stories per year, here's that:
2012
A Very Long Day - 1347
The AppleDash Project - 32044
How to Do a Sonic Rainboom - 2416
The Importance of Being Earth Ponies - 2345
Three Little Apples - 3405
* Death: Greener Pastures - 4233
Best Young Flyer - 32833
Farce of Nature - 1471
Wisdom is Just Being Old - 2173
Daring Dos and Don’ts - 2182
* To Tell the Truth - 15156
Of Cottages and Cloud Houses - 4641
* The AppleDash Project: Wherever Life Takes Us - 4548
Somepony’s Daughter - 2450
A Fact for Twilight - 5173
* Gathering Rosebuds - 4181
* Foal’s Luck - 15019
Daring Do and a Place Called Home - 6554
The Only Applejack on Sweet Apple Acres - 2300
Total: 145,470
* Stories that are canceled or on hiatus indefinitely. A lot of wasted words.
2013*
Wet Feathers - 12375
** Losing New Years Eve - 7988
Maidens Day - 27026
Love Means Having to Say You’re Sorry - 7402
Love on the Acers of Sweet Aplles - 1009
The Homesteading - 22718
Total: 78,518
* This was also the year I contributed to The Mailbox, but I have no idea how many words.
** The lost bookplayer fic, it was part of a Collab Cage compilation.
2014 (Maternity Leave)
Good Ponies Don’t… Do They? - 8400
Tunnel of Love - 5727
Total: 14,127
2015:
Apple Potpourri - 8062
In The Service of the Princess of Friendship - 1762
Dubious Enchantment - 5852
Fit for a Princess - 4658
A Guide to Magic - 9411
Sleepless in St. Maretineque - 9007
Moonshine (w/Merc the Jerk) - 24161
What Did You Call Me? - 1570
Total: 64,483
2016
Lost Time - 59897
Christian Values (w/Merc the Jerk) - 5575
A Flim Flam Family Affair - 5309
You Can’t Always Get What You Want - 7806
Total: 78,587
2017
Sun and Hearth - 86454
Respect and Respectability - 12579
The Spirit of a Pegasus - 26716
Total: 125,749
And you nearly topped your word count by writing nearly the fewest number of stories in a year. c.c Damn.
returns to waiting in anticipation for Sun and Hearth
4822254
I expected Sun and Hearth to be shorter when I started it, but it turns out that writing a romance story and including as part of it a backstory that spans the entire history of Equestria racks up a damn wordcount.
4822261
who knew, amirite :V
Honestly I find it scary that people are being born in 2014, but that's mostly because it makes me feel old.
Glad to hear you're still plugging along.
4822268
Less scary than if they weren’t!
The data suggest that a baby is worth somewhere around 50,000 words.
In which case, bookplayer has a lot of children.
Meanwhile I've put in like maybe a quarter of what you do tops. Aw yee boy.
4822319
And if a picture is worth 1000 words, then a baby must be worth 50 pictures.
Neeeeeeeeerrrrrrrd.
Pure consistency, that's my game.