Random Ramblings CDXXII · 7:00am Nov 18th, 2022
IN WHICH I LIVE… SORT OF
Hi. Been awhile. Not sure who's left to read this. I just now realized I accidentally added an "L" on my last 3 posts. Oops. Well, enjoy Sir Elton.
So, after fixing my screw-up, let's get to the meat of why I'm writing, if you'll pass the jump with me.
I wish I could say I've been too busy to write, but that's a damned lie. Mostly I've just been too lazy to write stories. More importantly, I've been having to oversee project after project in my house. Currently my kitchen is being remodeled and as of this evening progress has ground to a halt because necessary parts are late in arriving. I've had no stove or oven for a month because my range broke just two weeks before work was set to begin. Still have a fridge though, fingers crossed it keeps running until the new one arrives. Countertops may come beginning of next week. At that point they can finally put in the faucet for the sink. Good thing my mother, who is still living with me in my house, isn't in charge of a Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Last week, I took my cat (now 14) to the vet to run a blood test -- I do it once a year -- and he's lost over a pound in just six months. That's partly due to the stress of being evicted from his area, having rooms torn up, repainted, and put back together (he handles stress only slightly less well than I do, and I can barely take it at all), but also because of his hyperthyroidism -- common problem in older cats -- and some gum issues that means I'm probably gonna have to have more of his teeth pulled next month. Obviously if I could brush his teeth this could have been prevented. Have you ever tried to brush a cat's teeth? If you don't start them as a kitten, they won't get used to it and will claw you for your trouble. By the time I got my cat, he was already an adult. So, well, it is what it is. Due to his age, he's very high risk to anaesthetize. It went fine last year. I hope it will go as well this year. It's gonna really suck for him to have to lose some (or all) of his back molars, but it turns out cats don't really chew 80% of what they eat. I already lost my dog to a freak accident (snake bite). I don't want to lose my cat so soon even if he is an asshole some of the time (he's part-Siamese so it comes with the territory).
I think I mentioned last time I have several Pony-themed stories sitting here on my laptop in various stages of completion, including one I just started tonight. That one's a one-shot I hope to finish tomorrow.
A Sunset Shimmer + Rarity short story (what a shocker 
) that sort of parallels my life at the moment.
After dithering for over a year, I finally took the plunge late last month and signed up to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) with the ultimate goal of taking over my late father's business in about four to five years if all goes well. I'm set to take the test in mid-January. BUT, I will have one week after that to write my annual Mayor Mare story, so that will continue to be a thing just as it has for the past seven years(!).
Assuming I get into law school, obviously I really won't have time to write -- I didn't write any pony fanfic until after I finished undergrad a decade ago. It was only the year after that (2013) when I got the ideas for Pinkamena and Antonovka. At least the latter got a proper story that I was happy with even if it took years. Please read that if you haven't. I'm genuinely proud of it, mostly due to the amount of world-building I was able to accomplish. I'm linking it to this blog.
More concerning to me is that legal writing is a very different discipline than creative writing. Granted, I feel my writing already leans that way as a general rule (for example, avoiding the passive voice in narration), as my two longtime readers know how much of a stickler I am for finding the exact right word and trying not to waste words …unless it's to satisfy my OCD desire for even word-counts. Anyway, I worry my creative abilities will deteriorate further as I focus on legalese.
Antonovka is 9 chapters (originally planned as 3, then 7 on the rewrite, then 9 in the final draft) but it really isn't a long story compared to the monster works this site has. But it's as long as it needs to be. If I added any more, it could have felt bloated or ruined the pacing.
I really don't expect my upcoming story to be much beyond the required minimum because it doesn't need to be. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy what I put out in the near future. Thank you for following me and reading my works.
Peace out.
Good luck with your cat's health. I know how it feels to lose loved ones special to you for dumb, sometimes extremely traumatic, reasons.