State of the Author: FiMFiction Writing Hiatus · 8:48pm Dec 21st, 2018
After I finished Paging Doctor Sparkle, I set out to do a lot of things on here. Update If You Have a Little Hope more, write some oneshots, even do a Paging Christmas special. I’d like to apologize in advance for not being able to do some of those things.
People in the real world tend to tell me that I apologize too much, but I don’t see any other way to say it. I thought I could do it, and I couldn’t. I thought I could continue my real world stuff and FiMFiction, but it turns out there are a lot more bumps in the road than I thought there would be.
The holidays have proven that more than anything. Holidays are already stressful enough for many people, but this year, I set out on impossible goals. I wanted to deliver a Christmas special while also tinkering with a plotline I had no clue how to get myself out of. One that was so tricky, I began to focus all my efforts onto it and forgot about the special until too late. One that, if IYHALH was written entirely from Coco’s point of view like IYGALL, I would’ve had no problem with.
That’s the real truth about the IYHALH delays. I felt Babs didn’t receive enough attention in the original, so I made the sequel switch between Coco and Babs’ POVs. The only problem was that, once a Coco-centered conflict emerged, I had no clue how Babs would react. It seems deceptively simple, but trust me when I say I’ve been spending all six months puzzling through it.
This month in particular has been a low point, one in which I became determined to release this part at the cost of my own IRL material. Every time I wanted to write Imperfect Storm, I told myself I needed to finish the IYHALH part first. And I don’t think it takes a genius to piece together that this just lead to me A) not writing and B) coming to associate my FiMFiction stuff with my stress.
So, with that, I believe I’ve come up with a way to solve all my problems—for me to get back out of this FiMFiction funk, start working on my novel again, and finally piece together that IYHALH plotline. Unfortunately, that way happens to be a temporary hiatus. I don’t expect it to last any longer than 1-2 months, and if I come up with a New Year’s Paging idea, I might write it. There aren’t any guarantees right now, though. I’ll still be around, reading stuff and responding to comments, but I won’t put out any new content for the time being.
I know this may disappoint some of you after the Paging finale, but with any hope, I’ll be back to writing in full force. I’ve prided myself on not having to take a hiatus in almost five years, but now I know that might have taken a greater toll on me than I realize. So, for now, please continue to support me, and I hope to be back to fanfiction very soon.
You take your time and write when you're up to doing so. And don't worry, we'll be here for you!
I've found it's usually better to take a break than to force things to happen. Take all the time you need.