Final Report for September 2020 · 10:07pm Sep 30th, 2020
Blog Number 103: Quietude Edition
Goodness me, it's weird to think we've been in lockdown here for over half a year. It just seems like a new normal by now.
Anyway, I'm just taking a break from writing right now, as per plenty of people's good advice from their comments to my previous blog posts.
Writing this month hasn't been great, except very recently, and you can't build a rule on an exception. The Dinky fic I released today was more to give this month a sense of closure, (and because I really, really wanted to give a sleeping story idea a chance).
On that note, I'd love to delve more deeply into some behind-the-scenes stuff for this fic, because I surprised myself and loved writing it so much. Still, it was also tiring and time-consuming, so maybe that can wait for another day. It's not like it'll be the last time I take an interest in Dinky and Twilight, for example. There'll be another chance.
Overall, I managed to write 13,851 words this month, all of them in the second half. I doubt I'll keep recording word counts in the future, though, at least in public (unless I change my mind again later down the road, in which case I hope I will remember why I changed it in the first place).
The trouble with counting numbers is that they make a complicated task like writing seem way easier than it really is. Besides, having lots of words doesn't count for much if you don't feel they really matter. It's the content that matters. So I'll have to change my focus to that, I think.
(This is one of those obvious rules that's somehow less obvious when you're in the thick of it, or at least less obvious to me when I'm in the thick of it; I seem to be generally very bad at using numbers to make the world seem simpler than it really is).
For the time being, I'm going to rewatch the first two seasons of the show on DVD. I haven't seen some of these episodes in a while, so it'll be a pleasure to reconnect with them. And there's other stuff I haven't done in a while that I'd like to. It always seems like there's more out there than you think...
Anyway, that's it for September. We'll see what the month of horror has in store for us when we get there.
Also, I notice I passed my 100th blog entry without doing anything particularly anniversary-worthy for it. Then again, the day I first watched the show will be coming up in early November, so maybe I can do something for that? Some kind of retrospective, perhaps?
We'll see.
Until next time, Impossible Numbers out.
I am strongly hoping that you will write a horror story for Nightmare Night. I am not sure if that is your genre, but I am sure you could produce something more than decent if you attempted one. I am writing one myself at the moment.
I noticed Dinky's story and my pleasant surprise was an overwhelmingly joyful feeling.^^ Dinky doesn't get many stories anymore these days, so that's more than welcome.^^ I also know someone else who will love this a lot.^^
Nice work putting out that Dinky fic! Hope your break works out for you.
5367990
No promises vis-a-vis the horror fic: I'm on indefinite break. Although it's not for lack of experience: horror's a genre I've written for a few times.
I know, right? I looked up the stats recently, and frankly I'm astonished she's had so few fics this year. I thought I'd be posting in a saturated marketplace, but apparently not.
5368105
Thanks! And gosh, me too. I'm just hoping I don't cave in and try forcing myself to write too soon. Knowing me, it could very easily happen.
5369029
That is what I wondered about, if you can tackle such a story genre-wise. Scrolling through your impressive writing credit to find them is a little difficult at the moment because of own duties, though, can you point me to a few examples of pony horror you have written?
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Dinky used to be one of those background ponies who got almost as much attention as the show's mane characters, across all types and genres of art, but this has waned a lot today. People really need to pick up their slack for her, it's eerie how that attention for Dinky of all ponies can just die like that.
I am hoping that I can finally bring out my long since talked about sequel to "Aunt Millie" next year. I also did write a story Dinky appears in a major role in this year, which I want to release on Monday.
5369033
Er, sure. Here. I've written six horror-tagged stories overall, but I'd recommend avoiding the Flower Trio ones (one's not finished, one's honestly barely a scene). The Dazzlings one proved unpopular for quite a few people, too. I'm happy with the other three, though.
I do wonder if the slump for Dinky and other background characters is just a byproduct of a more general slump? I even looked at Twilight Sparkle's tag page just now - she's always been popular, for obvious reasons - and that's taken quite a dip over the years too. Fandom's generally shrunk. Plus the fact that background characters got a lot more attention in the early seasons; it was sort of our most famous "thing".
5369042
Thanks. I should have just used the filter to find them, it was so easy, too. My brain is very slow lately.
I'll try to read some of them this month.
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I hope not. That would be far harder to fix.
I want to find a solution to this problem, not just carrying together the causes. Problems exist to be fixed. Especially if they affect what you love.
5369067
We've all had those days.
I personally don't think there's much we can do, apart from keep going. On the plus side, I do think this fandom has a strong core that won't be going away anytime soon. As some have pointed out, there's still a fandom even for the original 80's pony show.
Mm, I'd put myself on the pessimistic end of the scale here. Problems exist. They don't always guarantee a solution is forthcoming. In my experience, the universe just isn't that tidy.
Of course, it helps if one has actually looked for any solutions, but I'd be wary about assuming one must exist. It depends on the problem in question.