Late August 2021 Update: Looking Ahead

There's some reflections on the future, but first, updates (and some top-bill shilling for my Buy Me a Coffee page for tips and/or subscriptions).

Story-wise, I am still making progress on the Crystal War story. With just over thirty chapters done in an almost-sixty-chapter story, I am halfway done through the second editing pass.

The Equestria Girls short story is... well, it's rough draft is over 10,000 words which is way too long for a short story. It will take me some time to tweak this to a more manageable length with a second rough draft before I can really get to editing.

Reading-wise, here's the stuff I've finished reading/am reading since the last update:

• Change: Queen of the Hive by tom117z, a long story about Chrysalis Queen Twilight Sparkle and disappearing changeling hives—which I finished shortly in the middle of August.

  TChange: Queen of The Hive

  • MLP: FiM
  • Dark
  • Adventure

  Changeling hives are vanishing with no trace left behind, who, or what is hunting the changeling race? And what fate awaits Queen Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her hive?

  • Violence
  • Death
  • Alt. Universe
  • Twilight
  • Celestia
  • Luna
  • Main 6
  • Changelings

  tom117z · 185k words  ·  1,053  36 · 16k views

• Fear Is Temporary, Regret Is Forever by GTthe4th, a short and interestingly different take on the fall of Luna into Nightmare Moon (though saying how it's different is a spoiler).

  TSolar Prominence

  • MLP: FiM
  • Dark
  • Sad
  • Tragedy

  There are things about the Mare in the Moon story that not even Twilight knows about; things that even make Celestia afraid. It was not Luna's nightmare that was unleashed that day... (Spiral of Fate Book 1)

  • Violence
  • Alt. Universe
  • Celestia
  • Luna
  • Nightmare Moon
  • Bat Pony

  GTthe4th · 7.8k words  ·  108  1 · 2.9k views

• Administrative Angel by horizon, the way to handle a situation where someone realizes there's a parallel universe where she has another version of herself—and much more.

  TAdministrative Angel

  • MLP: FiM
  • Equestria Girls
  • Drama

  Principal Celestia always has wings in her dreams. So when a magical clash in front of her school sets her phantom wings to itching, her life turns upside down. And she hasn't even heard about Equestria yet.

  • Sunset Shimmer
  • Principal Celestia
  • Vice-Principal Luna

  horizon · 6.7k words  ·  1,231  14 · 12k views

• Three Letters by horizon, a good standard on how to do short stories well... as well as a magnifying glass into human nature versus(?) equine nature.

  TThree Letters

  • MLP: FiM
  • Drama

  Troubled. Disturbed. Stabbed. Entombed. Sometimes, when you're playing a word game with a magical princess from another world, the words you choose aren't just words.

  • Human
  • Twilight
  • OC

  horizon · 2.4k words  ·  633  16 · 7.6k views

• Fluttershy Digs Deep by MagicS, a long fic I've been reading from time to time for some time already; to paraphrase the author, it's like Alice in Wonderland if Fluttershy took Alice's role.

  EFluttershy Digs Deep

  • MLP: FiM
  • Adventure
  • Comedy
  • Random

  Angel Bunny disappears down a rabbit hole one morning and Fluttershy follows in search of him.

  • Fluttershy
  • Angel
  • Other
  • Maud Pie

  MagicS · 85k words  ·  29  3 · 474 views
• The Last Days by Joel C. Rosenberg, the sequel to The Last Jihad, following up on the Middle East-set Christian political thriller.
  

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My current writing schedule can last up to summer of 2022 which is when, if God is willing, I graduate from university. After that, I'll be applying for a job and hopefully get to work as soon as possible. How this will affect my writing, I am not exactly sure, but I am ready to cut down on my writing. Work-life balance, really.

I can reasonably get the Crystal War story out... if not in December of this year, then early next year. Beyond that story, I really do not know. Ideally, I'll get a job that will also give me ample time to work on this cherished hobby/world I've created with a precious few close friends, but I am also prepared for the worst (which is closing shop entirely—though a long-spanning story on the Crystal War isn't a bad way to go out). Also know that I am part of the Church, and I have to take up more time to be in the ministry in some capacity (such as cell groups) for the Kingdom of God.

I am not saying goodbye in advance. But this is an important heads-up I should've given earlier. Here's hoping that there will be much understanding here.

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That will be all for now. May God give you a good day or night ahead!