Hot Cocoa is Illegal in Yakyakistan/Writers Block/Depression or Frustration - Which is it? · 6:41am Jan 9th, 2020
Hey guys, just posting a quick update of my happenings on this site. If you haven't seen it at the top of the Feature Box already, you should go read this story by Jack of a Few Trades that I did some editing for.
Basically, I made the suggestions for all of the jokes and added a few notes on the narrative, but Jack was the one who wrote all the great gut-busters.
In other news: writers block is a freakin' loser. Want to know how bad it is? I can barley write this blog without effort. Here's the biggest issue: I'll get a few words in, look back at the sentence I wrote, tell myself, "Eh, I can try something better than that." and calmly proceed to cry myself to sleep with the reminder that life is worthless and the definition of trying is useless.
This is sort of how it ties into the "depression" part of the title. I'm depressed I can't write, but it's more of a frustration. I don't think I'm a crappy writer, but the fact that I can't get a few paragraphs into a story without getting frustrated... obviously, time away from the site won't do me well because that will be time not writing.
Whether this is depression or frustration, I have yet to figure it out. I'm having this issue because I'm not producing content; there is a lot of content I want to produce; not producing this content isn't helping mentally. It has gotten to the point that I've considered retiring from writing. If this happens, don't fret if you think it means I'll leave the site, because I have other passions on here. Editing for Hot Cocoa is Illegal in Yakyakistan was really fun and has made me realize the enjoyment I get out of editing for people.
So basically I plan on doing more editing work. However, I am only keeping this between friends at the moment. If you PM me asking for help, I'll be very selective. It'll be this way probably until I decide to become a sellout.
As for everyone waiting for my fics to update: Yes, the Divine Epidemic is still in progress. Rather than update consistently, I'd much prefer to post an occasional update. Note that this isn't because I've lost interest in the story, but because I have too much passion put into it. I put a careful amount of time molding each chapter to fit a certain creative criteria I have, to the point that basically no chapter is written in the same style as the last. There is also a large amount of detail I like to focus on, so I need time to focus on that as well.
The long update periods can also be explained by the multitude of fics I'm working on. Right now, I am at the beginning of Act II for Dogs in the Attic with two more chapters written. One of them is almost ready for publishing with the first half needing to be rewritten.
I also have two Student Six fics on the way. One of them may or may not be for the Student Six Write-off. May not, because of my previous statement about writers block. If the contest is over when I'm still working on it, I'm very behind the concept of the story so I'll likely continue to work on it.
This other Student Six story is a fic idea I've had lingering on my mind since midway into 2019. Here's what I can say so far, and I can't say much because of the magnitude I'll be required to put into it: it's a one-shot, and I'll be absent from the site for at least a month or two too push it out. The idea for the story is so big that I'll be forced to follow a certain writing pattern every single paragraph. It may even get to the point where I'll have to draw an outline for the story. This is balanced on top of an essay about a subject matter we're all familiar with.
So I've given you all the Inside. To those reading and loving my stuff: I very much appreciate it. I'm trying the best I can to pump new content out, and I hope to do that very soon. In the meantime, I'm getting help from whoever I can.
Once again, go read Jack's new story. His stuff is better than mine.
Hope you are all having a great day! :)
Bro, you were such an important part of the equation for Hot Cocoa. Making things funny is a very delicate balancing act, and you took my mildly amusing rough draft, injected a lot of really great jokes into it, and helped streamline and improve the ones I already had. The funniest jokes in the story were your doing just as much if not more than mine. I couldn't have done it without you
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Mate, I suggested what you could do with the jokes. I told you where to put some, added a few of my own, and each time you took a step forward and made them better. Credit goes to you dawg.
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I will not STAND for this modesty. The one joke I've gotten the most comments on is when Sandbar got sand in his eyes, and you were the one that made that suggestion. My joke was simply that Yona is bad at giving good gifts. Then your suggestion enabled me to throw in a prequel meme. It was a team effort and I consider your help crucial to making the story work. Take some credit, you definitely deserve it
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A mere suggestion. I provided the foundation, you built upon it. I still have a long ways to go as an editor, but I really enjoyed making suggestions.
Muggonny, you write some good shit. As you already know, I'm fond of your work and humor, and the effort you put into stylizing pretty much everything you do. It's why I've gravitated towards you and your content (and somehow to conversations on my Discord account?), and why you have my patience and gratitude for every word you send my way.
I sincerely hope you find a way out of your rut, and as usual, my messages are always open to you... for more than just trying out new comedy routines. Seriously, I'm startin' to feel like the punching bag for your joke punchlines. You do this to everyone, or is it just me?
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I appreciate it, man. And I do it to everyone. You are only one of my victims.