estee

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

This one turned out to be a little weird.  I've been working my way up to the next big scene:  the press conference.  And after some consideration, I realized that said conference was going to wind up as its own chapter.  (The title for that one will be Miscreated, and it should hopefully be up before the end of the week.)  But there was prep work to be done before the conference, and once the pacing settled down, I had two relatively (for me...

New one-shot story: Everypony Writes About The Weather...

I'm not sure the Complete tag was accurate.  

This story came about because of the joke British stereotype for how to deal with anything:  you write a letter.  To the editor, the BBC, whatever government agency you feel is in charge of fixing your issue -- they are going to receive Words.  Things which are Strongly Lettered.  In a Strong Letter.  And if you hate the government enough, one which is Postage Due.

So I started thinking about the old Charl...

Second update: Anchor Foal

And this wraps Nightmare Night, along with sending the story into that next phase.  Some readers had felt that Fleur was doing too well in her sentence, was in need of a shakeup -- and guess what?  Social earthquake, right on schedule.  Go ahead:  deal with that.

This chapter wound up around 10,700 words.  (Unlike the previous posting, there was no natural break point.)  We've let them have their holiday, with cider season approaching and no other ...

Update: Anchor Foal

This is the first of what I'm hoping will be two chapters for the month, with both sharing the same calendar square and physical setting.  The last pairing was Fleur and Fluttershy out and about in Canterlot, getting some idea for that side of the equation.  Nightmare Night is for putting the mares among the populace in Ponyville and in both cases, it's about laying down some of the groundwork for the next stage of the story.  

After the second NN chapter is post...

New one-shot Mature story: Natural Ones

Okay:  now this is me being silly for the sake of silliness.  And also tentatively treading through the Mature waters again, because this is a sex-themed comedy.  Or at least, a comedy based around sexual roleplay.  While mocking a few RPG systems, which has got to be good for a few downvotes all by itself.  

(They're like religions, you know.  You always get the ones who can't stand to see their faith mocked.)

This idea was inspired by somet...

New one-shot story: Brand Loyalty

This is a case of clearing the queue:  I had been working on a new chapter for Anchor Foal and I -- got stuck.  Reached the 3500-word mark after two days, and just stalled out there.  I was going to continue this morning, but...  it's been a long month in many ways, I felt like I needed something light, and I'd had a rather silly idea...

So I worked on the silly idea, because that way, I was working on something.  And it didn't stall out.  ...

New one-shot story: Passing Størm Passing

This one is an example of how ideas can mutate when you're not looking.

It started two nights ago, and it started during the small hours because that was when my lower-apartment neighbors decided to throw a party.  After lying in a vibrating bed for a while, I began to experience dark thoughts about those with no consideration for when others were trying to sleep --

-- okay:  that's a story idea.  Unwelcome party.  And after I finally did rest (not much), I dec...

New one-shot story: Hoofticuffs Day

I wanted to do a holiday story.

I didn't write one this year, which meant I missed being part of the flood of Hearth's Warming tales which saturated the New column for days on end.  But I felt like I just didn't have much to say about the holiday.  This hasn't exactly been my personal year for Peace On Anything, and when it comes to talking about the darker side of such things...  well, I'm not in a good position to write a Homecoming/Thanksgiving story either. 2019-12-28 04:13:11 +0000 UTC View Post

New one-shot story: Tornado Of Helpfulness

This story's title has been hanging around for a while:  it's the name of a magical effort from the endless abomination that is Corn & Peg.  I knew on sight that it had to be a Rainbow story -- but I didn't have a concept for the story itself, and so everything went on hold.

A few days ago, I had a very strange encounter at a local supermarket.  Dealing with an employee who was not only Trying Too Hard, but acting as if he had to personally f...

New one-shot Mature story: Coin-Operated Mare

A few of you may recall this story idea arising from a blog post:  the concept of Twilight coming across a coin she couldn't recognize and tracking it to the source.  In this case, the Mature rating is present because while there's nothing directly explicit in the story itself, there's more than enough suggested to warrant a red tag.  

Regardless, I tried to keep it fairly light:  Slice Of Life was the central genre, and I added Comedy just before the end. &...

New one-shot story: Proof Of Concept

In a small way, this story is about building towards (what I'm still hoping will be) the next big project.  We've officially been at AU for a while for now -- and in that, we have a setting which has had a few mainline-extant pieces missing.  This story officially begins the process of filling in one of the largest gaps.  

I left the character tag off on purpose.

So there you go.  9400 words, and now she's here.  She's always been here.  We j...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

Because we can't just leave Cerea hanging, can we?  In fact, after this chapter, there's no way to leave her in one place any more...

7400 words close out the month, and the one-year anniversary on Triptych passes quietly because...  because things have been too chaotic to try and launch anything.  Right now, all I can say is that there's going to be a blog tomorrow.  This was the last day of No-Sanity November, and that means I can finally make some...

New one-shot story: The Waiting Doom II: PinkieCare

I’m not completely sure this one qualifies as a comedy.

As mentioned in the ending Author’s Note, this one was written entirely in the hospital, over the course of two days.  The first one was spent waiting to speak with a doctor, and that failed to produce a personal meeting because apparently my mobile network hates me or I need a new phone.  Possibly both.  And today, I was informed of a surprise discharge:  something completely sprung on me because I’d been...

Second update: Anchor Foal

Well, now you know why I stopped the last chapter at a natural break point:  this one wound up being a bit over 9700 words.  

(Also, I have been working on this part for the last ten hours.  On and off.  No appointments on Saturday, but -- it's still been a rough week.  Possible blog to come.)

As promised, this was a two-chapter trip:  they're on their way back now, and returning to Ponyville with a few things arranged.  Others have simply been s...

Update: Anchor Foal

(I have tried to write this post three times, and that is why the final result is so short.  When I put a link into this part of the window, it blanks the page while deleting anything accessed by the Back button.  I have stopped putting links into this section.)

With Duet wrapped up, the other continuing stories have a little more freedom to move -- and so we're starting on the Canterlot trip.  I'm expecting this to take two chapters (because this one rea...

New one-shot story: (In)Convenience

It's been a rough month.

Put it this way:  with this week included, I am averaging slightly over four medical appointments for every five weekdays.  (And that's hard to do.)  I've thought about blogging the details, but...  after a while, the madness becomes wearying to me, and I suspect it's just about the same for everyone else.  Let's just say that on the writing side, there hasn't been a lot of time available.  As in pretty much none.

But I upende...

A Duet For Land And Sky: Complete.

And so other things begin.

(I really wish I'd found cover art.)

In the end, this was both a bridge and a fracture story.  It's starting the process of carrying us towards the next major work, and it's also a series of break points for the status quo.  As much as the end of Triptych constituted a shattering, Duet shows how some of the pieces began to land. &n...

Next-to-final update: A Duet For Land And Sky

This is, in fact, the push -- and as stated in the post title, the next chapter will be the final one.  I'm going to try and finish in October, because I have faint thoughts/hopes/soon-to-be-dashed dreams of starting the next big project on the anniversary of having wrapped up the original.  

But we still have to reach the finish line on this story.  (Feel free to mentally bring back all the 'stick the landing' bits from the last time around.  They still apply.) &nbs...

Third update: A Duet For Land And Sky

This is starting to feel like the final push on Triptych, at least in the sense that part of me wants to try and get it done before the end of the month.  It means the other two continuing stories have to wait for a little while, along with postponing a few one-shot ideas -- I've been thinking about showing a day at work for the Doctors Bear -- but I'm feeling a need to wrap this one up in October.  

After all, once this story is over, we can start to...

Second update: A Duet For Land And Sky

With Triptych, there were chapters which I was afraid to write, because I thought they would produce an adverse response.

For Duet, there are chapters which I needed to write, because I knew they would bring a bad reaction.

Go figure.

I can safely say that this particular story is now approaching its close:  we crossed the 100k mark on word count with the 7800 in this chapter, and there isn't that much further to go.  And ...

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

This wasn't originally meant to be two chapters.  However, it was meant to represent one post charge, and that's the way it's coming out:  the composition emerged in such a way that there was a natural break point, and I didn't want to ruin the flow by going into a mere {hr}.  So two chapters, totaling out to roughly 7200 words, as a single update.

After this, we're going to swing back to Snowflake:  AJ's been in the spotlight for a while, and it's time to s...

Second update: Anchor Foal

I really was planning to revisit Cerea today, but...  Fleur's been on my mind, and it reached the point where the brief focus walk I just barely managed to get in found itself proceeding through the 'wrong' story, step by step.   But it's still progress, and two chapters in a month is more of a recommitment for something which hadn't been updated in a while.

(As a Patreon exclusive:  the title of the next Anchor Foal chapter will be ...