Author's Notes On Crisis Of Confidence · 4:00pm Mar 14th, 2019
As I type this, Crisis Of Confidence has managed to claw its way into sixth on the Uncensored Feature box and fifth on the "no-M" Featured box. Thank you so much for giving it (and me) a chance! Before the jump, here's what I was listening to while editing last night:
As I wrote in the Author box after the story, COC was based on a thing that really happened to me a couple of months ago. It probably shouldn't surprise any of you who've read my other works that I was in Twilight's position. Obviously the details are different, but the base is still the same -- I felt extremely worried about talking to my old friend about her doctoral dissertation since all I have is a Bachelor's, even though it's in the same field.
I ended up going to see my friend, and it turned out to be incredibly invigorating to be able to actually have the academic bits of my brain firing on all synapses for once. For a brief moment, I felt inspired. I decided if she could do this research, I could at least attempt to hack it as a writer.
At the same time, I was becoming more and more frustrated at my inability to write a story that made Twilight Sparkle a likeable and sympathetic character. I've made no secret she's not my favourite character, and she's often either an irritation or outright antagonist in my stories. So, I wanted to show her more vulnerable side. I also wanted to show, for possible future stories, that she and Sunset are indeed friends even though there's still a little friction between them.
Combining those two threads, the story almost wrote itself. Thanks to M.A. Larson for giving us a fleshed-out Moondancer.
Once again, thank you so much for your support on this little vignette and my other stories over the years. It means more to me than you'll ever know. 
Peace out!
It was a really good ride, and I'm glad things worked out well. :)