//------------------------------// // Progress Report Week 22 // Story: A Muffin For Muffins // by BatwingCandlewaxxe //------------------------------// Progress Report Week 22 Rose made Twilight promise to keep an eye on me, and not let me get so absorbed in my work anymore, so between the two of them and Spike, I'm back on a more reasonable routine. Spike is really sweet. I think I unnerved him at first, but now that I'm such a bookworm, I remind him of Twilight. He has been very helpful when his official duties don't keep him too busy. I don't think anypony but Twilight really appreciates just how much he does to keep her castle and court running smoothly. The new issue of Canterlot Showcase of Young Writers is out, and mine is the featured story! I already have editors from other periodicals asking when my next story will be available. I have about a dozen I think are almost in publishable shape, and have sent a few off for editing suggestions. The prestigious Fillydelphia University Journal of Fantasy has an editor that I'm quite impressed with, and I'm hoping she'll be interested in working with me on my submissions. I cannot believe how fast I am reading and writing these days. I think I must be nearly twice as fast as Twilight at this point, although she's not all that unusually quick, according to Spike, just intensely thorough, with a highly organized and methodical mind that enables her to marshal her thoughts and activities very efficiently. I could definitely stand to be more organized. Most of my days are barely controlled chaos. I've gotten through the basics of magical theory and the Princess has started to set aside a few days a week to tutor me on intermediate theory and history. I think I surprised her with just how fast, not to mention how deeply, I've been able to grasp it all despite my lack of practical experience. ————— Got another shipment of books from Princess Celestia. I'm running out of space in my rooms, and have requested a small additional nook from Twilight for storing them. She is having Spike look into instituting a private library space off the main library for my reference and educational volumes. That will be a fair distance from my rooms, but that would provide some much-needed exercise since I am no longer training with Rainbow Dash. RD wasn't able to really do much to help me learn any of the more abstruse forms of pegasus magic, but referred me to a martial arts training school that has been moderately helpful. The most annoying obstacle to studying these arts is that so many of their forms require a high degree of physical conditioning to practice, and almost nothing is written down. It's all treated with such furtive secrecy, passed down by word of mouth. Incredibly frustrating after a while. Fortunately, the master that RD suggested is quite willing to divulge as much of it as I am able to learn, and believes he may have a source for a written treatise on a few of the forms. I find it hard to fathom the princess failing to spend much time investigating similar avenues; given her propensity for magic of all sorts. I suppose that being the Princess of Friendship means she's focusing her efforts on that field. Still...