How things are going · 10:09pm Feb 27th, 2020
Looking at re-writing Spot of Tea again. Probably going to do it so it can be posted at the same time as the next chapter of A Deer Named John. Main goal will be to overhaul it to make it read like the other chapters of John. Then I will most likely be unpublishing Spot of Tea and attaching it to A Deer Named John as the prologue. Not entirely happy about it, but simply aiming for consistency. It will mean the loss of all comments on Spot of Tea which saddens me. Also the votes and views, but those are far less of my concern in this.
On the health front, it is currently the morning after my second dose of my new medication level. I am still having bouts of high anxiety, however, they feel like they are becoming shorter and less all consuming. Not so much a constantly running thing all day and all night, which is what it was doing before. I have another doctor's assessment in a week to see how things are going and to make a plan from then.
I have been doing things in the background for John in the past few days. Making adjustments to coming chapter notes and tweaking a few ideas from the early days of the story's expansion. Some things I am still struggling with, unfortunately it is a large part of the next chapter so it will still be a little while. I still have two side arc two chapters to come up with ideas for, but they are officially the only unknown chapters now. While the amount of planning varies from chapter to chapter in part to allow for unexpected story paths/growth, everything other than those two chapters has something in the works. I have joked about using them to perform two anime tropes, a hot spring/beach episode and a recap episode. Just know, these are only jokes and I have no intention on going through with them. Just wish Jackie would give me a little bit more.
On the shipping within the story, I have many things planned out for proper relationships relating to many characters. In the case of John's relationship specifically, it is not intended to be a ship tease. John just has to go through a bunch of things before she properly can address it.
So, yeah, that's the state of things. Think I'm getting a bit better, making notes and planning changes. Hopefully I can get back into the writing mindset soon, I'm struggling to even read stories and enjoy them because of it but still trying. But that's enough rambling for now.
Sorry to have worried you all. Never my intention.
Tired but slowly recovering,
Tael.
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You really don't need need to remove the prologue out of there, I have seen plenty of people doing the same and keeping it that way. As for reediting your previous chapters, I am afraid that it might make you go into an endless cycle of that stuff and wearing you out for nothing, I hope it works out for you still on the medication front, I hope.
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Thanks.
I am not looking at falling into the trap of endless editing. It is also only Spot of Tea as a chapter in itself I am going to edit. I know the whole story isn't perfect, but I can accept it, so long as the feeling of the story remains consistant from start to finish.
Got the notes back from failed submission to Equestria Daily for it yesterday. While the tone of it wasn't the kindest thing I have ever read, it made some points which I had missed in the original re-edit and I would like to fix them. An example of there being the feeling of a flashback I didn't intend. It was supposed to read as if events were happening chronologically. Mostly it means I need to reconstruct the very start of it which was part of the experimental side of things. I won't be making a final decision on it until I can read the whole chapter again with a fresh mind though.
Due to a frustrating thing with John's original rejection and Spot of Tea's rejection, if I want to try and submit them again, they would have a better chance of success if they were just one story. In short, they fall into a catch 22 scenario. The person who reviewed John recommended submitting Spot of Tea first but with some alterations. The person who reviewed Spot of Tea, while putting it in a tone which isn't great, basically stated that it would serve better as a prologue than a stand alone. If you want to know more, send me a DM. No guarantee I will submit them again to Equestria Daily, but the story consistency would be a nice thing.
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DM?
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PM. Message service on here. Some call it DM, others call it PM. Not sure what it is meant to be called myself.
This blog brings to me a sense of hope that I think I'm feeling from the writer of the blog. Still, some progress to go, but progress has been made both in terms of the story and progress on the medical front.
I live with an elderly roommate who also owns the place who struggled for about a year on balancing the medication for his system. One of the things that complicated that process was weaning off drugs that his system was physically addicted to. I'm wondering and worried that you might have similar symptoms.
In reading some of these comments, I have to say I have been trapped in the endless cycle of re-edits for "Sky Dancer" but, at the time, it was the only story I posted. I've written 12 novels before it but none of them pony-related so "Sky Dancer" was the only one that belonged on this site. It's also the first I ever published so I tried my best to make it better. I have never finished it without finding at least one embarrassing mistake. They are much rarer now. Reading other people's stories on this site and how even really good stories can still be littered with mistakes makes me feel a little better but I have also found hypercritical critics who brutally chew at every mistake. It makes me wonder what standards they are accustomed to.
I hope you get better, Teal, and it sounds like you are so my hopes are being fulfilled. I didn't expect your problems to be solved overnight realistically. Things like this are usually solved one step at a time.
You could leave "Spot of Tea" at its location but add in story description or authors note that a newer version is available elsewhere. That way you keep all the comments, views, votes data while also presenting the new version.
I look forward to what you have to say about the character's relationships and it's encouraging to me to hear that you're putting some careful thought into it. You used John in your example and why certain things have to be overcome first. That's good that you stay true to the character, but at the same time, you have an eye to the future. That is like looking ahead to the horizon to plot your course then looking at the local road around you to make sure you don't trip on any potholes. I appreciate that.
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With this many characters it is a bit of a juggling act and I am trying not to unintentionally ignore any of them. Probably why Jackie is dragging on me a bit.
I'm keeping such things raised with my doctor. I have similar concerns. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to it.
Unfortunately, some people don't realise the tone they put across, even in an email. They can also genuinely think they are offering it as constructive criticism when really what they are doing is breaking the person down. Have had first hand experience of it with a person in a writing group. Caused me to leave the group because his attitude and ego were more important to him than anything else. Is why I try to find suggestions of how to alter and improve something, not just point out this is wrong and here is the technical jargon which supports my side.