Inner Strength I.5 HD ReMix Final Announcement+ · 6:10pm Mar 31st, 2019
Note: may or may not actually be the final announcement. But it does include new artwork so if for nothing else, click on that there read more button!
So I’ve mentioned this Inner Strength update before a bit, but I don’t think I’ve formally announced it and I’m too busy procrastinating on writing Playing House to go back and check now 
Even if I have, I’m gonna go a little more in-depth on what’s happening and why. But first, let’s have that artwork so y’all can check it out and not have to deal with my rambling anymore 
This was done by the ever amazing Char-Char-Chan, who has been an editor of mine since “Looking Glass” and is a huge influence on me as a writer. It was a surprise commission by Wendy Gowak, my other biggest influence and partner in horsewording. This is the third artwork Char’s done for my stories, the first being the Sunshyne picture from “Looking Glass” and the second being the cover of “Each Small Step”.
The occasion for this picture is the Inner Strength rework that I’ve been messing around with. The main point is to get a version of the story I’m (more or less) fully happy with for the print edition. As a major Kingdom Hearts fan, I’ve been jokingly calling it the I.5 HD ReMix, which is an incredibly fitting title to the project. So here’s what that’s about:
- A new act. I left a sizable gap between acts 1 and 2 of the original story, and I’m filling that now. What was act 2 will now be 3 and what was 3 will be 4. This new act is planned to be eight chapters long, four of which are written (although not fully edited).
- A new chapter in between what is currently 16 and 17. This is because I’ve always been unhappy with how I addressed the after effects of Twilight learning the truth about what happened to Shy, so I’ll expand more on that from Shy’s POV (currently I only have Twi’s POV on the situation, which is part of my problem). So all in all, there will be 9 new chapters, bringing the total to 26.
- I’ll be cleaning up all existing chapters, including doing plausibly big updates to them. The end goal is to have the story completely to my liking.
- I’ll be doing the same to By Blood or Choice, since that’s in dire need of it and will be included in the print book for Inner Strength, being a sort of side story to it.
- None of these changes will affect the overall story, just fill in gaps and clean up the text to be nicer and more appealing. Essentially, this is the HD adaption of a Final Mix version of the story
- I’ll do audio versions of both stories. I have a friend with dyslexia that has difficulty reading my work due to the large volume of words, so I want to get audio versions of everything eventually. It also helps with editing, since hearing the words back gives me a better idea for how they sound.
- I’ll also be getting some artwork where I can, such as this picture here. Basically I’m getting a color version of the printing for myself either way, so I want a good reason to spend extra to get it in color.
- Speaking of artwork, it’ll need a new cover. I’ll get Pasu-Chan to do it, of course. Inner Strength predates our partnership and I’ve never been fully happy with the cover it has, so it’s a good time to replace it. Besides, the current cover is not print-friendly, being a horizontal cover.
My plan is to finish act 3 of Playing House, which as of writing this, only needs one and a half more chapters and editing anyway. From there, I’m going to finish the half-done new act of Inner Strength. That will be finished and edited while Playing House is updating, then will be posted afterwards (during the posting time for that I’ll work on act 4 of PH). The print version of Inner Strength won’t be out for a while; while I’ll finish the new act soonish, I won’t edit the existing stuff until I have time, likely after Playing House is completely finished. Additionally, I live in Florida without air conditioning, and doing audio versions requires I turn off my fans and close my windows to filter out unwanted sounds. Which is, of course, insanely hot. I’m not doing that in the fucking summer, and I wanna do that concurrently with editing. So you’ll see new chapters of Inner Strength soon, but the print version and final edits won’t be done until at least fall, if not winter (unless I wind up moving to Virgina, which is a possibility. But that’s neither here nor there right now).
oh god that's cute :D
Very much looking forward to giving Inner Strengh another read. Your EQG stories are still on my to read list but alas… On day, I promise.
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I can’t believe how blessed I am to have friends who would surprise me with something like this 
It absolutely is
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I gotta say, it’s been really cool writing horses again. I missed it a lot while focusing on filling in the EqG side of things, which has taken so much longer than I ever thought it would. If I recall correctly (and it has been a while so I can’t be sure I do), when In Pieces finished, you said you weren’t very fond of EqG stories. I’m flattered that you’re considering reading the stories anyway, and I hope you’ll like all the updates Inner Strength is getting!
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You have a good memory. Didn’t think you’d remember me.
Btw. What I wanted to say but kicked the can too far down the road about the interview you gave a while back. Very inspiational stuff. And I hope that your openness to talk about stuff indicates that you are better or at least more comfotabe.
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I’ll admit I probably wouldn’t have been able to put your name to the comment without the mention of my EqG stuff as a context clue though lol
I do try to remember readers when I can
And thank you, being more open about things has been a very conscious decision that I’m glad to say has been paying off. It’s very freeing to openly talk about struggles with depression or poverty or gender identity or any of the other things I’ve struggled with. Makes it all feel a lot less like something to be ashamed of. Plus I like the idea that I can maybe help other people by talking about it openly, both in showing others that they’re not alone and in doing what little I can to destigmatize the topic itself. As for it meaning I’m doing better, I do think I am, although it’s been a mixed bag there. My highs are higher than they used to be, and my general mood is better too, although the lows still hit pretty damn hard and come far too often. Still, progress is progress, and I am for sure more comfortable.