May the muffins be forever in your favour.It looks like 2020 isn't the "I'm back to full form!" year, after all, but rather the "I'm very slowly getting back to full form." year..... · 10:32pm Sep 13th, 2020
This year was supposed to be a big comeback year for me as a pony author, after the last two thirds of 2017 were mostly a disaster and 2018 and 2019 were overall very disorganized messes for my writing, because of the event from the beginning of 2017 (which I still can't tell you details about, sorry for being vague) and the huge aftermath of that event that left me in a mentally compromised state of existing, all of which affected my writing output and also my writing skill. Now, as the year has progressed and as it approaches the end of its third quarter, it looks like 2020 probably won't be that big comeback year, after all, when I look at what I have accomplished this year, so far. I suppose this blog entry will be a vent to let out a good amount of frustration about how this year went writing-wise. I try to make this short, though, because I have to move on and do more things.
It started out great. After releasing "Pinkie Pie's Hearth's Warming Vacation" as the last story of 2019, which followed up on four months of nearly no writing except for one new story (that I treasure greatly, Hyper Sonic is one of the most impressive and badass fillies I've come across), I had a rather consistent output of new chapters for "Letters to Cozy Glow" and "Dreamwalker Dash". Then the coronavirus hit me with full force, in an unexpected way.
I did not become infected with it, but staying up-to-date with worldwide news about the virus for the sake of being vigilant (that's how zombie viruses start, foals) and also because of a morbid, post-apocalyptic interest in that virus, which turned out as a mistake, it severely affected my progress with my big project of the year (and many coming years) "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth" and I suddenly had to double down on that which left no time for updating "Letters to Cozy Glow" anymore.
A few days prior, "Dreamwalker Dash" had come to a halt, as well, because of a case of very bad writer's block of which I'm still not fully sure why it happened.
Then, despite my increased efforts, "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth" failed spectacularly, when I had to realize that I wasn't as well prepared for a project of that magnitude as I thought. Which led to the unavoidable cancellation of my first release attempt of it, something that kicked me into a depressed phase that lasted two months, during which I haven't written a single sentence, save for occasional updates of a still unreleased multi-chapter story, my first Patreon commission that I'm working on since March.
And, of course, I have to talk about releases of new stories, as well.... Of which none have happened yet this year, least, no lasting ones..... My first new release of 2020 was "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth", but it shouldn't have been the first release of 2020.
My first release of 2020 was originally planned to be a very special request story that I have written for my friend, followed by my first Patreon commission after I wrote the first chapter for it in March as the second release and then another story inspired by the Season 9 Finale that I haven't talked about so far as the third release of 2020. All of which should have happened before the release of "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth", but thanks to the aforementioned virus chaos, none have happened until now. And "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth" had to be unpublished as a result of my cancellation of its first release, so now it looks like I still haven't written anything new this year except for its first six episodes and a few updates for "Letters to Cozy Glow" and "Dreamwalker Dash", most of which happened in the first two months of 2020.
And even with continuing "Letters to Cozy Glow" again, after these two months of depression ended, updates of it still happened rather sporadically, so far, and it just came out of another three weeks of delay, because that depression period is responsible for piling up some other things that I had to work through, which successfully distracted me from updating the story.
A very disappointing outcome for a year that I thought would be my big comeback as a pony author and the return to my old form that I had in 2016..... Now, with the year almost over, I can hardly claim that for 2020 anymore, no matter what will still happen in the last three and a half months of it.
Of course I'm not stopping to write..... The releases I mentioned are going to happen (my second story for the Season 9 Finale might still be a while, though), I want to pick up "Dreamwalker Dash" again soon (even though I have serious anxieties whether anyone still cares for this story, since its release history has mostly been months of delay, so far), I already picked "Letters to Cozy Glow" back up, I plan to write a story for "Frostpony" and I have ideas for a horror story for Nightmare Night that I want to release in October.
But with how the year has went so far, for the most part, I feel very hesitant about even mentioning any of these plans, because of fear that something unexpected will bring them out of reach again..... All I hope right now is that, at the very least, the last three months of 2020 will be as successful as the first two months of it have been.
Stay easy as a filly!
~ Fluttercheer
We can't control the future, but I am with you, no matter the wait. And look forward to see your planned storires
Huh, do I know the feeling.
The last time I felt on top form writing-wise was mid-2018, and that was a cruel year in too many respects. My only target is to ease myself back to that level of output without the accompanying miseries that made it so rotten.
5356160
And my target is getting back to 2016, when no cruel fates or mental issues I didn't ask for disturbed my writing. I have now little faith that I'll manage that before 2021 comes, though.