Cammie Update, Contest Story, and MYM Chapter 2 · 1:45pm Sep 25th, 2022
Hey, everyone, I just wanted to provide some transparency about Cammie. As stated in this blog post, the third draft has been underway for a few weeks now, and I'm happy to say that progress continues steadily. It also means, however, that the story will not be ready for publication for a little while longer.
This is particularly interesting, if somewhat problematic, because tomorrow, Chapter 2 to the Make Your Mark series drops on Netflix. I fully anticipate that the events of the first batch of episodes will contradict what I've put into my story - that's just how writing between content drops goes, unfortunately.
However, I'm not terribly put-off by this. While I began writing Cammie before the special had aired, and only a little while after Tell Your Tale, I anticipated that the events of the series would drastically depart from whatever I depicted in my story, so I wrote with the desire to keep Cammie as separate from MYM as much as possible.
I am hopeful that no matter how much the series departs from the context of the story, that prospective readers will still find some enjoyment with what I've created. At the very least, I hope any contradictions are not too jarring, and that the story can stand on its own.
Quick EDIT: If you're still interested or if you're not sure what to expect from this story, aside from the above link, this blog has a short teaser from the story's first chapter.
In the meantime, I've recently finished the first draft of a new short story for the Ancestral Contest that FanOfMostEverything announced on Sept. 7. It's nothing too special or ornate, but it was a fun thing to tie me over. It should be published in a couple of days if not a few weeks after editing.
Obviously no spoilers, but I will say that I've chosen to write about this particular pony, who hasn't really gotten a lot of love (and one whom I didn't quite expect to write about, but, hey, that's how stories go):
Make Your Mark: Chapter 2 drops tomorrow, and reportedly we'll get the first 8 episodes all together. Some may find that offputting. I don't mind, since I'm not good at keeping a scheduled watch of things and prefer to view content at my own leisure. I may binge the whole set or loaf around.
I bring this up, though, because I have to admit something: outside of a few groups I'm involved in, I probably won't offer a lot of thoughts about it. I've come to the unfortunately conclusion that engaging in discourse about G5 is a frightfully exhausting endeavor, whether I like it or not (or whether other people like it or not). I can handle the academic takedowns of notable critics just fine, but when it comes to stuff that I don't particularly feel a need to expend as much energy on as others do, it's a tiresome exchange of words that leads more often to discomfort if not outright dislike of the fandom.
I've spoken before about my distaste for how expectant elements of the fandom can get and how it's not really the fandom that I joined way back when. This is my way of, in some ways, preserving for myself some image or feeling about the fandom and the shows without sacrificing my integrity as a person. This is also my way of keeping separate the need to always analyze and criticize and the desire to just enjoy and experience things for what they are.
While I'm fully capable of deconstruction and criticism, if I simply do not find it enjoyable due to how quickly it can devolve into toxicity and hostility no matter what I try, then there's really no point in me engaging with it. All things must be tempered with measured rhetoric, but passion has a habit of blinding such a thing, and measured rhetoric cannot bring back to earth that which has already entered orbit and is falling.
It's bad for my health and a frustrating thing to admit, but, well, sometimes you just have to disengage with the spheres in which you yourself orbit, if only to retain a sense of sanity, calm, and joy. My blogs will likely not talk a lot about any reactions I have towards what airs tomorrow.
I hope you all can understand that. Thanks for sticking by regardless. 
I've kinda just stopped watching G5 content at this point. I'll be sure to read any stories you publish, though!