2019, The Year in Review · 10:43pm Jan 1st, 2020
For the last year of the 2010's, 2019 was certainly an... interesting year to say the least. As always, with the start of a new year I feel the need to look back on the year before it and what I did for each month. I've been doing this for years now, and will probably continue to do it for as long as this site and the fandom continue to remain active (and as long as I still find time to come back to it). Now, buckle up and let's take a look at how I spent 2019 from start to finish.
January
I start off the new year by publishing "Sassy Meets Coco" and then quickly plunge into both "Scholarly Hope" and another volume of my rewrite series, while I go back to EMU for yet another semester. As time goes by and my rewrite volume progresses quite fast, I publish my first padded pony fic of the year with "The Biggest, Sassiest Foal Around". Otherwise, the month come and goes with little fanfare, and my rewrite volume is finished by the end of the month.
February
I start to do episode ranking lists for different categories when word gets out that the show is coming back for its ninth and final season. Meanwhile, I write and publish "Sticks and Stones". From there I mostly throw myself into my academic pursuits, though I do crank out a sequel to "Dizzy's Special Pampering" in the form of "Dizzy's Foalish Problem" and get contacted by Latecomer for the first collab between us.
March
The collab with Latecomer becomes "Hippotty Training" and is the first of four fics to be published by me in March. Others included one inspired by early promotional material for Season 9. During this month I hit 700 followers, and at the end of the month I present my research paper at the undergraduate symposium and review the first of what will be three Equestria Girls specials in the form of "Spring Breakdown".
April
As another semester draws to a close at EMU, I review the first of the Season 9 episodes as they come out. I celebrate my FiMFictionversary with another Q&A session, and publish a few more fanfics including a Spider Mare sequel that manages to wrap up shortly before "Avengers Endgame" and the knowledge that it will contain the last Stan Lee cameo.
May
Episodes of the show begin to get leaked early in other countries, and starting with Going to Seed I start watching them early and posting early reviews of them. Episodes of the show also draw inspiration, resulting in "The Pony and The Yak" and the establishment of the YonaBar group to support a new ship. I also work on what will become another collab with Latecomer, a still ongoing of as now, though it takes a few more months before it can be launched. In addition, work begins on my big padded pony work of the year, this time the proofreader being Foal Star. While some of my fics don't get published until June or July, at one point I have four different fanfics waiting to be published, and two more planned ahead of time. My most active month on the site, even as I start searching for a possible internship or part-time work to build credentials for a career in history.
June
Two of my four stories finished in May get published here, "Pinkie Pie's Crinkle Chronicles" and "Family Secrets" with the latter marking the official putting to bed of my headcanon stories involving Dizzy Twister as a Scootamom. Work with Latecomer continues towards what becomes "Potty Training Tales" though it is not finished in time to be published this month. I do start work on some student six fics, but am unable to review "Rainbow Roadtrip" when it first comes out since I go out of town for a weekend to visit my faternal grandmother.
July
"Rainbow Roadtrip" is reviewed by me as soon as I come back from being out of town, and it isn't long after that that I publish "A Flash of Silver". A few days later "Potty Training Tales" is finally launched and slowly starts to take off. As the early episode leaks return with a vengance I start to watch them again even as I vow not to see the finale if it should air early. In addition to two other fics that I work on, I also publish the ninth volume of my rewrite series, the last to be released before the show ends.
August
At the suggestion of another writer I write a Sunset Shimmer fic covering the end of Equestria Girls following "Sunset's Backstage Pass" (which I review in July). More of my fics get published and the collab with Latecomer continues to stick around even as those working on stories for it start to diminish. Shortly after my birthday, I leave with my family for a trip to the Wisconsin Dells, the Mall of America, and even Milwuakee over the course of about six days. After I come back the early reviews have slowed down after Daring Doubt due to a lack of English sources, though the finale gets leaked early overseas while I'm on vacation and some spoilers start to come out.
September
I go back to school at EMU for another semester, though I later learn I will need one more due to accidentally retaking a course I had already cleared once before. Meanwhile I keep the potty training collab around and review two more episodes early before stopping before the finale due it to being three parts. I start making countdown and ranking lists beginning at the end of the month as the U.S. airdate for the finale becomes fixed. "Star Studded Romance" and "Scootaloo and the Potty Monster" get published as brainstorming commences for more stories in the coming months.
October
I publish one story before the finale "A Tale of Two Suns" and then release two more after it as the potty training collab starts to fall by the wayside. My review of the finale comes out when it airs in early October in the U.S., and throughout the month I have "My Little Pony Month" going on my DeviantArt account. The stream of lists and journals continues as I learn that the IDW comics plan to keep the spirit of the show alive with a planned Season 10 set to launch in April of 2020, ultimately resulting in a wishlist for it being the last one in a continuous chain started the month prior.
November
"Little Spoiley, Big Potty" is published, but it isn't until later in the month that Latecomer and I decide to change up the rules for "Potty Training Tales" a little and let it be more open. And I review "Equestria Girls: Holiday Unwrapped", the only journal of mine to be released for the entire month. My least active month on the site.
December
Even as a final in a crucial class draws my attention, I publish my final fanfic for the year in the form of "Meeting The Riches". Later in the month I start laying the foundation for two stories to come out in January of 2020, while devoting some free time to the potty training collab. I end the year with 155 stories published and 782 followers total.
Well, there you have it.
You did great work! And I am sure 2020 won't be different
You had a productive year. 2019 wasn't too shabby for me.