An eventful week

So! I'm still here, and reporting on a week of Things Happening! Oh, yeah, apparently there was some news in America, or something, but... this is about Fimfiction and me.

First of all, last Wednesday, Logan of (the splendid offsite pony blog) Louder Yay reviewed Away, my sort-of-but-not-really COVID story. It's always good to get a review there (indeed, they were one of the very first reviewers ever to look at my work, back when I was brand new and I'd only written one E- or T-rated story); if you aren't already a regular reader, I highly recommend you become one, their short reviews are always perceptive, insightful and fun to read. Or maybe it just feels that way because I'm heavily biased, since they've liked everything of mine they've reviewed so far!

Anyway, the review was really good, and off the back of it I ended up passing the 150 follower mark, and Away nudged past 450 readers and 30 upvotes. That was kind of gratifying, because while I know I shouldn't be too bothered by popularity if I happen to like what I wrote, and while a rational part of my brain knows it's probably impossible now (as a relatively new author who came into the fandom long after the show's heyday was over) to party like it's 2013 and have a "smash hit" story, it's still really good to see people read and enjoy something I wrote, especially something where I put a lot of myself in it.

As I lamented on the comments over at Louder Yay, Away has never a popular story despite being both one of my personal favourites, and 'critically acclaimed' in the sense that it won the contest it was written for and has been mentioned twice on Equestria Daily, slowly crawling towards those 450 views. If ever one of my old pieces was going to get rediscovered by a new audience, I'm glad it was this one.

Then, the following night, I made my first ever appearance in PaulAsaran's Thursday Reviews, where my gentle Rainbow Roadtrip story You Betcha! got a very nice review and a rating of "Pretty Good" (which sounds kind of average, but is actually the second-highest tier of his recommendation system). Another one of the stories I'm always extremely glad to see people discover, because in many ways I feel like it represents the best of me, or the most typical at any rate.

Paul's comment there about wanting to read more of my work if it was in a similar style -

- (spoiler alert, it all is - even my clop pieces tend towards "slow-paced character-driven slice of life", and the only times I've tried to break away from that mould and construct a detailed plot (my two multi-chapter stories, Errors and Diplodocus) are my two least popular efforts. Indeed, even during this exceptional week I've been having, Diplodocus picked up a downvote and a comment simply reading "WTF?", so I haven't entirely lost it, it seems. But I digress) -

- his comment made me think about my stupid username. I do wonder sometimes if I'd get a few more readers, or at least put off a few less, if I was called Blue Apple or something. Too late now, anyway, the Royal Canterlot Library induction for Dragon Lord Ember Skips Work was a definitive point of no return there. Anyway, if Paul or his readers are encouraged to check out more of my work off the back of You Betcha!, I hope they enjoy it!

And then I went to bed, and I woke up to 40 notifications, and they haven't stopped coming since.

One of Logan's regular readers and commenters (the erudite comment crew over at Louder Yay being yet another reason to follow the blog!) is iisaw, who read and enjoyed Away so much they posted their own blog recommending the story to their thousands of followers, a lot of whom then checked it out and added it to their favourites, whereupon their followers followed suit... As of the time of me writing this, the chain reaction is still going on: Away has now passed not only 500 but 600 700! views, more than doubled its number of likes, and last night, a mere nine months after publication, this happened:

Better late than never!

I've thanked Logan and iisaw already for kickstarting this and I hope they don't mind me doing so again here, but I really am just blown away by all these unexpected developments. All I can offer are grateful weepy thanks - to them and to everyone who has read, liked, commented or favourited Away over the past few days - and a promise to try and write more.

(On a personal note, slipping this in at the end for anyone who's interested... I'm still not completely better, I'm tired and wheezy and sleep a lot - the doctors aren't sure I didn't have COVID after all, despite the negative test back in November, but at least I'm back at work. My two-year anniversary on Fimfiction is coming up, and despite more than half of that time having passed with no new "real" work being published in two separate six-month mini-hiatuses, I'm hoping to mark it by finally publishing another story. To all my new followers and regular readers, thank you for sticking with me or thinking my stuff was worth checking out; I hope you like what I've got in store for you.)

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Oh yay, congrats! :D

and now I want to review one of your stories so I can be a kool kid, too :C

[The Cloptimist]

5441249
Aw, you'll always be one of the cool kids! As for reviewing me, you were, with Logan, the first person ever to do so (I forget the exact order, but it was within days of each other. Indeed, you both gave me some helpful advice as a newbie just starting out for which I'll always be grateful!), I always proudly list reviews on each story's front page and you've given me some really nice ones, so thank you!

[Impossible Numbers]

Congratulations.

[The Cloptimist]

5441266
Thank you! It's all slightly surreal but extremely welcome!

[iisaw]

I'm glad the story is getting the attention it deserves! Hopefully, people will read more of them. (I know I will. )