One more year hurtling through the solar system on this big blue marble... · 6:09am Nov 22nd, 2012

That's right, folks. 'Ol Tofu's hit the ripe old age of 23 today.

It's been one hell of a year for me, I have to admit. A lot's happened and it's been a pretty crazy ride. After job hunting for years I finally managed to land a position at a little local grocery store last summer, and even got a promotion from grocery clerk to reciever. It's not the most glamorous of jobs, but it puts bread on the table until I can land something better. It's allowed me to save up enough money to buy my first car, one I've had my eye on for quite a long time now, and she's just as old as I am and still going strong.

What's probably one of the most important things to come out of the past year was my start on Outlaw. I first read FoE over the winter after the holidays, and since I was still a new hire and didn't have many hours yet, it gave me plenty of time to devote myself to it. Banged the whole thing out in about three days. It was right around that time when I discovered the Project Horizons post on EqD. I was skeptical of it at first, but my need for more FoE drew me inexorably to it, and I was hooked. From there I found out about the plethora of other sidefics and the idea started to manifest in my head.

"Do I pick up the pen again?" I asked myself. "I haven't written anything since high school, I don't know if my mediocre writing ability from those days has improved any."

Well, as you can see, Outlaw does indeed exist. I eventually decided that yes, this was something I wanted to do. I wanted to improve myself as a writer, but more importantly, I wanted to tell a story. I wanted to do for other people what Kkat did for me, and while I could never hope to aspire to craft the masterpiece she so elegantly did, I'm sure as hell going to do my best. So I set a goal for myself and I fully intend on reaching it. Has my writing improved any? Never will anything I ever wrote in high school see the light of day, so those criteria aren't even on the table for readers to judge. I do think, however, that I have improved substantially since Outlaw's first chapter. I held on to the original draft, and just skimming through it I can see what a tragedy it was. If you'd seen chapter 2 before I revised it (and those of you that have been here from the beginning have, I sincerely apologize for that travesty), you would have seen what a mess it was. Revised with several chapters worth of experience however, I feel it's one of the best-written chapters Outlaw has to offer. I suppose that's the curse of the author/artist, though. We neurotically pick out every little imperfection in our work even if outsiders suggest that nothing is wrong.

Hey out there. Still awake? Okay, good; listen up, 'cause this concerns you. If there was one thing I wasn't expecting from the inception of Outlaw, it was gathering viewers. I expected a few here and there, and while I don't have as many as the bigger fics do, I got a whole lot more than I ever thought I would and I cherish each and every one. It's you guys that make all of this worthwhile for me. Simply knowing that there are people enjoying the story does me a world of good, and makes the story that much more of a joy to work on. Thinking about where I'm going to take the story next and how I can make it the most entertaining for you guys gets me through the boring, monotonous chore that is retail work each and every day of my life.

So basically, on this Thanksgiving day (for those of you who aren't from the US, feel free to ignore that. Shut up, Canada, I'm not excluding you- yours was last month.), I just want to say... well, thanks. Thank you guys for reading Outlaw, and I hope you'll stick around to see the end. I've got some pretty big things planned for it and after it's over, so while that's still a long way off, you won't want to miss it.

In closing I leave you with this. If you don't see it here, it'll definitely be popping up on the FoE DA page. On my birthday I instead give to you a gift of vector art. I wanted to wait until today to release chapter 17, but I couldn't bear to make you wait longer than I needed to, so this will have to suffice.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, and to those who don't, well, just have a good day!

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