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I figured it's about time I explain why I haven't been so active around here lately. I'll admit this post has been a long time coming. But I guess we're not getting any younger so I decided to bite the bullet, explain what's been going on, and we'll see where it goes from there.
There are a number of reasons why I haven't posted anything. One of those has been my mood. I have been feeling depressed for some time now. I 'd rather not give an actual time frame, but it's been more than a few months. This has come from issues regarding those whom I considered close friends, problems arising at work, car troubles, and some minor financial problems. While I do understand that this is all stuff that everyone deals with in their lives and is nothing new, it's just all seem to hit me all at once.
And then there is my writing.
When the WWOEC Forum went down, I was in the middle of releasing New Years Game Night 3, a story with various Simpsons characters coming together for a not-so-innocent game of Truth or Dare on New Year's Eve. The story was originally going to be three chapters long, like the pervious two. I decided to introduce Lisa's friend Janey into this series and felt that squeezing that into the first chapter would be a bit too much, so I wrote a prologue to introduce her properly and explore the various reactions, most notably Lisa's. I decided that I wanted Janey's character to be different. In the show, she is someone who strikes me as following along with whatever trend is popular at the time. She has shown to be both a friend and a bully to Lisa depending on the situation. I wanted to write someone who wouldn't ever feel comfortable in a story such as this, but would reluctantly go along with everything and succumb to the peer pressure of those around her. With this in mind I thought that an epilogue to explore her reaction to the disturbing change in her friends would be a good way to finish the story off, so there was that too. By the time I reached chapter 3, I realised there was still more I wanted to include so I planed a fourth chapter. And when I was offered the services of an editor, I decided to write a 'spin-off' chapter to say thank you (with said editor having almost complete and creative control over the chapter). So just like that, a three-chapter story became seven chapters in the space of a week. It became almost overwhelming and I quickly realised that the time I had planned to write all this (the entire month of December) was simply not enough. Given I was planning for Christmas at the time whilst still working, the story just seemed to slip away. New Years Game Night 3 was delayed and I didn't starting to upload them until the end of January, a while month later than I had planned. I posted the first couple of chapters to a response I had expected (more on that in a bit) and then WWOEC died before the remaining chapters were released.
When I moved over to TJA and Palcomix, I wanted to upload my stories again, starting with NYGN 3. I decided to wait until all the chapters had been edited and were ready to go so I would have a more reliable update schedule. While I waited, I worked on other stories so I would have something ready to go when it was finished. For reasons that I can only assume are life and work related, my editor just never got back to me. I know he's probably reading this, and I'm sure that he has his reasons, but I just heard nothing from him. The occasional forum messages have been sent back and forth, but as far as I'm aware there has been no further progress. Real life stuff happens to all of us, I get that. I'm not mad or angry about his lack of response. A little irritated, sure. But I'm not pissed at him (if that's what he or anyone else was wondering). It's just that this was something that he and I had planned out, along with the ideas of a couple of others, it was something that I worked on so hard and so long. Even though the story is technically finished, it still seems incomplete without that second pair of eyes going over it.
While I was waiting for the edited copies, I started thinking about uploading all my old stuff again. The option to just post in this new online home was always there. But I had been doing that for years. After seeing one of Cheetah's first posts inviting us over I decided to pursue a gallery option on the main page. Even though I don't draw, I was assured that one could be set up to showcase my stories. It would be more accessible to others and easier to advertise without people having to sign up to a new forum. I also considered other sites like Pixiv and AFF.net where I could upload simultaneously. But much like the NYGN3 edits, nothing came from that either.
Eventually, I just gave up. My mindset was that if it happened, then it happened. I decided to take a break. At one point I even considered quitting writing stories all together. I started this hobby with WWOEC, maybe it be best that it die with WWOEC too. Writing had begun to feel more like a chore than a hobby. I would pursue an idea and evolve it to something that could work, but I would promptly lose interest after typing the first page or so. After that, I would almost dread going back to it as I knew that I'd be bored with it and it would only be finished if I forced myself to do it. I had convinced myself that the low response compared to the high view count I got on WWOEC simply wasn't worth my time and effort. It was a strong influence on my decision.
I started typing again after a few weeks of doing nothing. But it was more to explore a couple of ideas that had come to me, or stories based of pictures that I had seen. I wrote simply for the hell of it, just to pass the time I guess. I didn't write with the intent to upload (at least not straight away). And at the same time, I was helping OVI with a Lois Griffin comic over on his patreon (which is starting to get really good, by the way). So far I've got two Family Guy stories I wrote and never released before WWOEC went down, a new Lilo and Stitch series, along with Sonic and PPG stories. At the moment I'm slowly typing out two stories from Futurama and The Simpsons, plus I've got plans for a couple of crossover stories (one based off a pic by Incognitymous). As well as the several unfinished ones that I started while waiting for NYGN3 edits.
So my hiatus didn't last very long, and my lack of uploading and general contribution to this forum has been a result of how shitty my mood has been and how little response I knew I was going to get. But despite my silence, I still received messages from a few people asking me about my stories and when/where I'll upload them again. Those were nice to read. It showed me that there were some people who actually cared (or were worried) enough to reach out and ask. There was only one name that I recognized from WWOEC. So to those people, thank you. I really did appreciate it.
As for what's next, who knows? I would like to finish the stories that I had started but I don't consider myself in any hurry to do so. I have no deadlines for them, no time constraints, no rush. I guess the whole point of this was just to explain my absence to those from WWOEC. I don't know where I expect this to lead. Right now I'm just sitting back here, quietly lurking while I ponder my options. I log in occasionally to poke around, every few days or so. As for future contributions, I don't know. Maybe soon, maybe never. Should I come back? Would people want to see new stuff? Would it be worth my time and effort? Should I upload the old stuff? I must admit, there is a part of me that would like to see where this leads, but there's another part of me that thinks that this could be interpreted as a cry for attention. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, I don't know.
I guess I'll just see what happens.
There are a number of reasons why I haven't posted anything. One of those has been my mood. I have been feeling depressed for some time now. I 'd rather not give an actual time frame, but it's been more than a few months. This has come from issues regarding those whom I considered close friends, problems arising at work, car troubles, and some minor financial problems. While I do understand that this is all stuff that everyone deals with in their lives and is nothing new, it's just all seem to hit me all at once.
And then there is my writing.
When the WWOEC Forum went down, I was in the middle of releasing New Years Game Night 3, a story with various Simpsons characters coming together for a not-so-innocent game of Truth or Dare on New Year's Eve. The story was originally going to be three chapters long, like the pervious two. I decided to introduce Lisa's friend Janey into this series and felt that squeezing that into the first chapter would be a bit too much, so I wrote a prologue to introduce her properly and explore the various reactions, most notably Lisa's. I decided that I wanted Janey's character to be different. In the show, she is someone who strikes me as following along with whatever trend is popular at the time. She has shown to be both a friend and a bully to Lisa depending on the situation. I wanted to write someone who wouldn't ever feel comfortable in a story such as this, but would reluctantly go along with everything and succumb to the peer pressure of those around her. With this in mind I thought that an epilogue to explore her reaction to the disturbing change in her friends would be a good way to finish the story off, so there was that too. By the time I reached chapter 3, I realised there was still more I wanted to include so I planed a fourth chapter. And when I was offered the services of an editor, I decided to write a 'spin-off' chapter to say thank you (with said editor having almost complete and creative control over the chapter). So just like that, a three-chapter story became seven chapters in the space of a week. It became almost overwhelming and I quickly realised that the time I had planned to write all this (the entire month of December) was simply not enough. Given I was planning for Christmas at the time whilst still working, the story just seemed to slip away. New Years Game Night 3 was delayed and I didn't starting to upload them until the end of January, a while month later than I had planned. I posted the first couple of chapters to a response I had expected (more on that in a bit) and then WWOEC died before the remaining chapters were released.
When I moved over to TJA and Palcomix, I wanted to upload my stories again, starting with NYGN 3. I decided to wait until all the chapters had been edited and were ready to go so I would have a more reliable update schedule. While I waited, I worked on other stories so I would have something ready to go when it was finished. For reasons that I can only assume are life and work related, my editor just never got back to me. I know he's probably reading this, and I'm sure that he has his reasons, but I just heard nothing from him. The occasional forum messages have been sent back and forth, but as far as I'm aware there has been no further progress. Real life stuff happens to all of us, I get that. I'm not mad or angry about his lack of response. A little irritated, sure. But I'm not pissed at him (if that's what he or anyone else was wondering). It's just that this was something that he and I had planned out, along with the ideas of a couple of others, it was something that I worked on so hard and so long. Even though the story is technically finished, it still seems incomplete without that second pair of eyes going over it.
While I was waiting for the edited copies, I started thinking about uploading all my old stuff again. The option to just post in this new online home was always there. But I had been doing that for years. After seeing one of Cheetah's first posts inviting us over I decided to pursue a gallery option on the main page. Even though I don't draw, I was assured that one could be set up to showcase my stories. It would be more accessible to others and easier to advertise without people having to sign up to a new forum. I also considered other sites like Pixiv and AFF.net where I could upload simultaneously. But much like the NYGN3 edits, nothing came from that either.
Eventually, I just gave up. My mindset was that if it happened, then it happened. I decided to take a break. At one point I even considered quitting writing stories all together. I started this hobby with WWOEC, maybe it be best that it die with WWOEC too. Writing had begun to feel more like a chore than a hobby. I would pursue an idea and evolve it to something that could work, but I would promptly lose interest after typing the first page or so. After that, I would almost dread going back to it as I knew that I'd be bored with it and it would only be finished if I forced myself to do it. I had convinced myself that the low response compared to the high view count I got on WWOEC simply wasn't worth my time and effort. It was a strong influence on my decision.
I started typing again after a few weeks of doing nothing. But it was more to explore a couple of ideas that had come to me, or stories based of pictures that I had seen. I wrote simply for the hell of it, just to pass the time I guess. I didn't write with the intent to upload (at least not straight away). And at the same time, I was helping OVI with a Lois Griffin comic over on his patreon (which is starting to get really good, by the way). So far I've got two Family Guy stories I wrote and never released before WWOEC went down, a new Lilo and Stitch series, along with Sonic and PPG stories. At the moment I'm slowly typing out two stories from Futurama and The Simpsons, plus I've got plans for a couple of crossover stories (one based off a pic by Incognitymous). As well as the several unfinished ones that I started while waiting for NYGN3 edits.
So my hiatus didn't last very long, and my lack of uploading and general contribution to this forum has been a result of how shitty my mood has been and how little response I knew I was going to get. But despite my silence, I still received messages from a few people asking me about my stories and when/where I'll upload them again. Those were nice to read. It showed me that there were some people who actually cared (or were worried) enough to reach out and ask. There was only one name that I recognized from WWOEC. So to those people, thank you. I really did appreciate it.
As for what's next, who knows? I would like to finish the stories that I had started but I don't consider myself in any hurry to do so. I have no deadlines for them, no time constraints, no rush. I guess the whole point of this was just to explain my absence to those from WWOEC. I don't know where I expect this to lead. Right now I'm just sitting back here, quietly lurking while I ponder my options. I log in occasionally to poke around, every few days or so. As for future contributions, I don't know. Maybe soon, maybe never. Should I come back? Would people want to see new stuff? Would it be worth my time and effort? Should I upload the old stuff? I must admit, there is a part of me that would like to see where this leads, but there's another part of me that thinks that this could be interpreted as a cry for attention. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, I don't know.
I guess I'll just see what happens.
Then for me it's Powerpuff Girls and Simpsons.
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