Nostolgia · 5:06am Sep 12th, 2014
I think everyone looks back into their respective pasts from time to time. As of late I've had more than enough time to reflect on days long gone. Before I had moved on. I remember countless waking hours sitting at my computer to naught but the sound of my keys clacking away into the empty space of my room. I remember messages, comments, and long sessions spent talking with either fans or other addicts of this drug called "writing". I remember seemingly endless days at work. Days that, for me, never truly began until I sat down to write. Mistakes were made. Friends came and went. Memories were made. Overall, I'd say that by and large I owe a great deal to this show and fandom for inspiring me to do what I did.
My world has moved on. Since those seemingly long departed days, I've done and experienced much. College classes are a thing of the past. I've moved on to a far better job. The way that I think, speak, and behave is no longer what it once was. It has been two years and some change since I put this part of my life behind me. In truth, I crammed it into a reinforced lock box and moved it so far into the recesses of my mind that God forbid it should ever see the light of day again. It has taken nearly all of these two years for there to be a change of heart. Perhaps a change of outlook would due it better justice.
I invested about 9 months of my life to writing. When I moved on, I became bitter towards that time of my life. In part it was due to the story itself, but the majority of it was due to how much I gave up in that time to my "work". The regret turned into resentment which grew into a deep seeded bitterness that overshadowed the good that has come from my time here. I needed to forgive myself for the mistakes that were made, and make peace with what was ultimately my last youthful obsession.
I met a young man through this site, because of the story that I wrote. We became friends. Not the best of friends, but friends all the same. Later down the road, through him I met the woman who will be my wife. She has given me the drive to work the job that I do now, so that I may support us. Despite how nasty it can be (oilfield), it has done much to strengthen my work ethic, and new appreciation for what hard work can achieve.
How much has life changed for all of the people who used to be my readers, I wonder.
Now I can look back on those days with some fondness. It was, after-all, one heck of a ride.
you know i never thought i would see you again.... good to see you are still alive and kicking. best of luck in your future choices and life goals
Did a double take when I saw you posted a blog post.
~Have a good life.
You are still alive.... you just made my week :-)
I started reading your story when it was... what? 20-25 chapters long? those where the days... when Nokia was it's own company and the world wasn't on brink to WWIII... good old days...
It's good to see that you are doing well, and I'm really happy for you that you found yourself someone who you'd consider your future wife.
But I'm curious. After everything that happened at the end, how do you see MLP in general now?
Sheesh man, I about chocked when I saw this. I can't tell you how nice it is to hear you've gone and made things better for yourself. I'm doing fine, and to be honest not much has changed for me. Goodness though, that seriously made my stomach flip. Well man, thanks for coming back and talking to us, trust me, we appreciate it. If this is goodbye once again though, I have to say just one more time, thanks for that all. I can only agree with you on that last part.
Wow... well, see ya around.
They say hindsight is 20/20, but in truth, it's so much more. When we look back on our lives, we notice thing that can only be seen as we continue on our journey.
Life is like a hike up a great mountain. As we climb, though the way may be difficult, the world reveals itself to us. We don't just see what we didn't see before, but what couldn't be seen.
Though the point in your life when you decided to leave was hard, now that you've climbed higher you can see the beauty that was hidden from you.
Congratulations on your life, and I hope in the end, when you stand at the roof of the world, you look fondly back on us...
And those six crazy ponies that made it happen
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When I left, I was avidly against ponies. I have not seen a single episode of seasons 3 or 4, and I've taken myself so far out of the loop that I don't know if there will be any more seasons now that 4 is done. Is it done? I honestly don't know.
I'm no longer against ponies per se, I've come to the conclusion that such feelings are silly. I don't have any desire to submerge myself back into the world of MLP, but I'm not going to grimace whenever it comes up.
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I'm not going to avoid FIM like I've done, but the only reason I'd ever use it these days is to keep in contact with those who want to chat. Which I'm all for.
Coal, we all have regrets about the time that we lost toward certain things, and wonder what we would have done during that time, had we not done what we did in the first place.
Where would we be?
What would we be doing now?
Would we be happier?
Would we be sad or even dead?
Who knows?!
All we can do is keep moving forward, and hope for the best.
You were the biggest inspiration for getting me motivated in writing my current stories on this site. One of my stories are ranked in the top 20 longest ones on this site, and it is all thanks to you.
During all of these past few years, I have kept writing, but have slowly lost the will to continue after around almost a million words written.
I have burned through two keyboards as well from all the typing, and I must say, it has been an utter blast.
I still plan on finishing my stories, and then rewriting them and editing them from the beginning, before finally calling it quits as well.
I have recently found a better job that will give me a regular paycheck and doesn't involve the family business. I'll have insurance that can fully pay for my wife's fertility treatments so that we can finally have a kid. And then, life will move on.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this...
Life throws things at us at random. Sometimes its good and sometimes its bad. Whatever it is may or may not influence us to head down a different path that we may or may not have normally taken before.
But in the end, we always ask ourselves the 'what if' question.
But you know what?
The only thing you should ask yourself now is....
Where do I want to go from here?
We are led down different paths to this point in our lives when we realize what you have realized just now. It is at this point where you say, 'do I let random chance continue to guide me in an unknown direction?' Or 'do I forge my own destiny now, and guide myself to what I want from life?'
Either way, you are bound for adventure, and as your friends on here, we will be here to cheer you on and guide you when you need it.
2448629 Ah! Well that's nice. Might as well tell you a little bit about the show then. Season 3 was pretty meh (IMO), a movie came out (that was actually in theaters) that I also found pretty meh, but Season 4 was great. Season 5 was confirmed quite a while ago, and another movie is coming out fairly soon, and I think I might just avoid it considering it's the same sort of thing as the first movie. After the fiasco that season three was, I sorta fell out of the fandom too, just coming back here to chat with friends. It's weird though, it's never stopped, despite all the bumps it's hit. The whole community just keeps on chugging along, although I never got back fully into it.
But heck, a few people have made episode length fan animations, and a couple of them are pretty decent. There's actually a 30 minute long My Little Dashie fanfilm that a friend of mine helped with. The art and music and videos and fanfics (obviously) have all kept on going strong.
Just a random thought though, heh. I remember always pointing out the fact that MSL was one of the longest stories in the entire fandom. Well, I'm afraid one of your followers, V-Pony, has outdone ya by a good 180,000ish words. He'll probably be here at some point.
Hopefully all of us aren't too much for ya. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot more tomorrow. Again, nice to see you'll be here, look forward to chatting later, but I'm gonna be heading to bed.
2448634 Oh wow, I didn't even realize you were a fan of Coal as well. Well look at that then, another person who's written a ton after Coal! Gotta wonder how many more I don't know about. I wish you good luck in finishing that story someday, good sir! And to everything else you mentioned of course.
2448653 yep, coals story was one of the first few ive read to get me into writing pony fiction. I've turned from a terrible grammar poor writer into a very good writer in only a couple years. Thanks to coal and 4chan lol I've gotten way better than I ever hoped possible.
Thanks for the well wishes. I'll still be around for a while. I still have about 100 chapters to write before I'm done.
I remember the conversations we had, Coal. I mean, my first fic was a side-story to yours, although written so poorly that it could burn the eye to anyone looking at it now.
I wish you could at least regain contact to those who used to spend time speaking to you, such as myself. Sadly, such a feat is sometime simply a wish and shall stay that way.
I'm glad life is treating you well, and that the bitterness you felt has faded.
Sorry I didn't get to know you better, though. You seemed like (and it looks like you still are) a pretty cool dude.
When I read the title I thought someone hacked your account. Pleasant surprise.
2448649 Haha, I think you'd make a decent living as a fortune teller, my friend
Mr Coal Buck...the man. THE big reason I'm the writer I am today. (You followers and fans are a huge reason too, but this fella came first).
It's all cuz of you and your crazy story My Second Life.
It's cuz of you that I'll keep on trucking till Blue Angel is done.
And now it's cuz of you that I can, when I do, put down the pony writing pen, and be proud of what I've done as I ride into the sunset.
Hopefully this isn't goodbye for good, cuz I'd still love to get some perspective/critique from the guy that revolutionized HIE fiction here.
But if not, I'm proud of ya for carrying on and kicking ass in life!
Coal Buck lives! Long live Coal!!!!
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I have a very small window of time most days where I do a little web browsing. I see no reason I can't shoot back a message or reply to a comment. As long as people know I won't be able to reply anytime soon to most messages, I don't see any reason to fret about such a thing.
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Reading stuff like that still blows me away. I wish I could remember the fella's name, but someone who is a part of the MSL fan group here on the site credits me for inspiring him to write a story that's now... Roughly 950,000 words if memory serves. It's a dang fine feeling.
As for critiquing, while I do a lot of reading these days, I get about 30 minutes of computer time a day on average. My job keeps me out of the house 15 - 17 hours a day, so reading a story as large as yours would take me God knows how long.
There are a couple things that make a story exceptionally good in my eyes. Good is relative, though, so take what I say with a pinch of salt.
I love character development. Seeing a character grow from point A to point Z with all the little changes along the way is my bread and butter. It's the thought that made me want to write a story as long as I did in the first place.
The second is but a personal preference. I love it when the hero gets the girl. I eat that up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes please and thank you ma'am! You get the idea. I've read 12 books in just over a month now, and in only one of them does the hero get the girl. I'm starved for a happy ending.
I'm glad to see that you're well and that you survived collage, and that you've moved on to a better life. It sounds like the meaning to your life is no longer linked to the words you write but more linked to the actions you commit in the name of love for those you love. though it would be nice to see an ending to that story, I think this ending is better!
I'm glad to know that you are doing well. I was worried that you had dropped off the internet/fandom forever, and that I had lost a friend.
If you ever decide to come back to writing here, I'll be around.
Huh.
Almost surreal to see you post again after all this time. Thought I'd say more here, but all I can do is wish you well.
Wow, it is great to hear from you, even though we never talked when you were still writing.
Just to let you know, MSL was the first fanfic I've ever read regarding MLP and I still absolutely love it. I've actually read the whole thing twice. :D
Great to hear you're doing well and good luck with everything what life may bring.
A lofty and difficult goal to achieve, being a worker in the oil industry, but I know you can do it (if you haven't done it already). I'm getting a degree to get into the industry myself, so I know the pain it's taken for you to get to this point.