Jan
12th
2022
already failed my 2022 new year's resolution · 11:27pm Jan 12th, 2022
"stop doing the thing where you think of a cool idea for a contest, don't do any writing until the very end, then get halfway through while staying up way too late and then still fail to finish the fic in time"
which i did for:
- GaPJaxie's Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest + Nailah's Nailah's Shipping Contest
- The Red Parade's Pillars Shipping Contest
- FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns III: SOUL of Equestria
- Reactception's Sunset Shimmer x Adagio Dazzle Contest (November 3rd 2021 to November 29th 2021)
and to this esteemed list i can now add:
i hope that in the next two months i can take these half-finished drafts and turn them into complete stories to then publish. it's been a while since i've done any of that, huh? whoops!
Report
Bicyclette · 254 views
·
big fucking oof lets write another dumb fucking collab eh?
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Now you must link all these stories together with cameos/crossovers/references that make clear they're all in the same subverse.
I've done this plenty myself. I have a cancelled Imposing Sovereigns II entry, and stalled entries for several of my own Bingo contests. I'm most likely going to do the same with your crackship contest.
These things happen. Goodness knows I've watched more than a few deadlines speed past me. Here's looking forward to the finished products.
(Also, reminder that the "Second-Born" folder in the Imposing Sovereigns group is always open!)
See, I'm the opposite, I'm always like the first entrant, and then everybody else enters later with more polished stories.
Not enough time in the world to do all things!
As long as you focus on prioritizing whatever activities you think are best, you'll (hopefully) be happy 
OOF, I FEEL that, Sister! Last year, when I started catching up on the show (am now fully caught up, BTW; now I gotta get to the IDW comics!), there were several contests I wanted to enter. The one I got the closest to without finishing was the one for the Starlight x Trixie x Maud Pie contest; I got like 4,500 words in, and then just...stopped. I realized it was going to be much bigger than I'd initially thought, so I try to comfort myself, saying that it wouldn't have made the cut, anyway.
I still fully intend to finish that, BTW. It's, uh...on the backburner. With all the OTHER fire. You understand.
Hey, no shame in it. The Bingo cards are tough anyway - I failed mine this year too.
Good luck!
5626823
Oh yeah, they are hard. I gave out more than 100 bingo cards this year and got 30 stories back, which is a pretty good rate.
5626695
sry ST, i always get stressed at those kinds of collabs since writing live with someone else present feels weird
5626696
i'm not but i see how it sounds like i am, thanks!
5626708
but i already do that with all my stories! it's probably a bad idea that limits me as a writer greatly!
5626713
thanks for reminding me FOME, i will proudly place my IS3 entry in there once it's complete
5626719
well my personal style is to be the last entrant with a far less polished story than people before me, so you've got me beat there!
5626724
oh yeah but writing is the best! i really love it but for some reason my brain doesn't do it unless i'm right at a deadline, and then i'm stressed about it? idk i gotta figure that out
5626797
dangit i should probably read the comics, too, thanks for reminding me! and absolutely no pressure but wow i am excited for that StarTrixMaud. i totally understand tho, i've had my Wallflower x Skystar on that backburner since last April, where i also just stopped writing because to tell the story properly i needed more time and wordcount. or at least that's what i told myself too haha
5626823
they are, which is why i was so excited that an idea stitched itself together from mine! i had everything planned out, too, but then, you know.
5626839
thanks!
5626841
yeah that's really not bad! a better ratio than most contests, i'd wager
5627193
That's valid.
If you're anything like me (in which case the large amounts of ADHD medication you took as a kid because you were a squirrelly motherfucker who wasn't also diagnosed with anxiety and depression until your mid-20s and thus was just continuously treated with ever increasing amounts of stimulants raised the threshold at which your brain would recognize changes in dopamine levels and also have gifted child syndrome), it's because as you grew up you didn't develop very strong internal structure and subconscious/automatic neurochemical delayed reward feedback loops, instead largely relying on external structures and stress. Furthermore if you are like me in that way, you probably easily get addicted to activities that generate constant small instant hits of dopamine like Wikipedia hopping or a private activity that rhymes with exacerbating, especially if you're already on stimulants that boost the dopamine thus creating a positive feedback cycle, but on the plus side you can't actually get (at least easily) addicted to very addictive drugs, because while you might intellectually recognize that they make you feel good, your brain's non-instant/recurrently strengthened sense of cause and effect is broken if it's not instantaneous, thus meaning that while you can get physical withdrawals, you don't get cravings.
Wow I should probably just make this is separate blog post it's something I've explained to several people that haven't written down I don't think anyway even if none of this applies to you at all hopefully it's still at least interesting and also explains why I write so many fucking shitfics
5626719
Within reason, the least polished story is better than the unpublished one.