State of Affairs · 6:29am Mar 7th, 2020
Hey all. It certainly has been a long time since I've checked in, but it wont be the last. This post will be to address where I've been for three years, the status of my stories, and my plans for the future regarding this site. As of now, I have posted the long-awaited chapter 19 of Well this is new... so if you haven't checked that out already please do.
It was never my intention to step away from writing for so long but life kind of has a way of throwing you curve-balls whether you want them or not. About six months before my last posted chapter on this site I graduated high school. I was so sure of myself back then. I had been accepted to my first choice university, I knew what I wanted to study, and I felt like nothing in the world could stop me. That all came crashing down six months later.
I had managed my first semester of college okay but not great and the toll it had taken on both my physical and mental health was immense. School was always a great struggle for me. My brain just works in a way that traditional schooling has a hard time translating to success. I refused my parents' offers to attend special academies for kids with learning issues cause I didn't want to look like an idiot. I still managed to graduate high school, but it was an uphill struggle to get there. College amplified the issue. Without my parents there to push and guide me, I fell into bad habits and after just a year dropped out entirely.
This lead me down a dark path of self-doubt and reflection. I spent a good 3 months traveling around and seeing what the world had to offer before looking for and finding my current job. All I can say is that a full-time job is the kick in the ass I needed to get my life in motion. Having a responsibility to go to work and the monetary incentive was all it took for me to find a rhythm in life that I still have to this day. I not only did my job well, I excelled beyond everyone's expectations and as result I have received multiple promotions in my two and half year tenure there.
I can gladly say that I have become a responsible, hard-working member of society that, had I continued through college, may not have ever come to be. But as with any large changes in life, many joys and pleasures we have can get pushed aside for other things. Such was the case of my writing on this site. My activity on here over the past three years has been nothing more than checking up on stories I follow for updates, or checking the featured section for anything interesting. I would occasionally write a few hundred words here and there but quickly lose interest and move on. That all changed about a month ago.
I was horribly bedridden with an illness that to this day my doctor is unsure of. I could barely sleep or eat for about a seven day period and was in constant discomfort. When I had nothing but misery to accompany me in bed, I turned back an old pastime of mine that I had barely touched in three years. I began reading story after story on this site enjoying each one more than the last. By the time that week of horrors was over I had read close to 5 million words and dozens of stories. It made me realize how much I love this site, this community and why I began writing my own stories to begin with. And so for the first time in a long time, I picked up to proverbial pen and decided it was time to share my ideas with the world again.
Now there are a few things to be expected from such a hiatus. I had to read and re-read my previous work to try to understood the storylines and the mindset of a very different person. As such there are some things that are simply un-salvageable. My second story, Soviet Equestria, Rise of Communism is a project that I feel absolutely no passion for anymore. As such I'll likely be putting it on official hiatus until there comes a time and place where I would want to return to it. I'm aware many people enjoyed the premise but it just isn't doing it for me anymore.
As for my third story Winter of Our Discontent, I'm not entirely sure where to go with it. I had a general synopsis and story plan for it, but I'm unsure if I would even want to follow it anymore or just set out on a new path. I enjoy the premise of the story and I can see great potential in it, but I'm unsure at this time whether I want to really commit to it. There is a mostly finished chapter for that story I began writing a good 4 years ago, so I may finish that and see where my feelings lie from there. But that's mainly on the back-burner right now so that story may end up on official hiatus too.
In regards to my first and honestly favorite story that I updated just a few hours ago, I think I do want to continue it. I've been mulling over the fate of it for a few days now and I decided that despite the sloppiness and time gaps between chapters that exist with that story, I feel a sort of pride for it being my first and by far most popular story to date. And I'm not willing to let it burn to ashes simply because I have a different mindset than when I first started. So for the time being, Well this is new... is still active and I will try to make regular updates on it again. I can't promise anything concrete just yet, but I am currently committed to continuing the story.
And for future plans outside of my old works, I have begun writing a fourth story that is still very much in its infancy, but I have a ton of ideas for and a great storyline in mind. I'm not making any plans to publish the new story anytime in the next month or two but it is something I'm working on and hoping to make a reality in the future. As it stands now it would be similar, but not by too much, to my first story and have a much more flushed out character and a more detailed and slower paced storyline. One of the biggest flaws of the my first story that I see is the pace of which events take place. It was originally written by an impatient teenager and it shows to a great extent. So I want to take my time to ensure this newest story comes out right.
That's about all I have and for those of you who took the time to read this I appreciate you. Let me know if you have any questions about the topics discussed in this post.
-CommunistTaco
Its good to hear that you're doing good at your job. And hopefully that illnesses doesn't cause more issues for you.