A Milestone

I kinda forgot Tumblr existed for a few weeks, so I forgot to post here to celebrate, but on January 16th, I hit a milestone. Two years of writing.

In that two years, I wrote over half a million words. In 73 chapters across three series. It's been a wild ride. My first story is still going, I haven't finished "Princess Tells Her Story" yet. (I probably will with Book 3, I can't think of anything I can really throw at the duo to challenge them after they've defeated a broken, insane god.)

I've had a pretty small following, but a loyal and supportive one, and I am eternally grateful for that. I can't wait to see where I'll be next year, or the year after that, or the year after that, and so on. ^_^

After Princess Book 3 is done, my next project is probably going to be rewriting Princess Book 1 to be better. It's a little bit of a mess, since each chapter, I didn't know if it would be the last thing I ever posted. So I tried to end it in a way that didn't leave active hanging threads, sort of a "We'll be okay" vibe, in case I couldn't continue. That made it very episodic in nature, since I didn't want to end on a cliffhanger, just in case. I also started a lot of threads that I never properly followed up on (looking at you, Brotherhood of Shadows) because I got distracted. I was very much winging it without any plan. Well, a little bit of a plan, there was quite a bit of "laying groundwork for things planned in Book 2" going on... ^_~ But still, I want to do it better, make it more cohesive, strip the "recap" bits, etc. Handle Princess's backstory better, too. Without properly planning it, it just sorta feels rough around the edges. But it'll be a while yet, I'm barely a third of the way through Book 3.

One of those readers sent me a gift for my anniversary. A box of oranges, from an orchard in Florida. They are absolutely delicious and wonderful and I love them. That reader is none other than my own mother, so of course she knows I love oranges. (You just can't get oranges that good elsewhere.) I just wanted to gush because I'm still giddy about it.

I do still kind of want to publish my work some day. It'd be nice to be able to bring in some extra income, but it'd also just be amazing to see my books on store shelves. To know someone is gonna wander those aisles like I did, look through all the covers, and a stack of paper printed with words is gonna be one filled with words I put together. Of course, anyone who picks up my stuff is probably gonna be doing the same thing I did: grabbing anything with a non-human protagonist on the cover, hoping desperately someone can put words to the feeling of "This human body is Not Me" so they feel less like they're going insane. Even if they aren't conscious of it, like I wasn't. While internet publishing like an e-book via Amazon lacks that feeling of awe, I might still do it anyway. (Would have to get together money to commission cover art, though. I'd love to get "Cover Art" stuff for each book anyway, even if I don't publish, because it'd be cool. ^_^ )

Really, I'm happy with anyone who enjoys my stuff, regardless of their reason. It's just the scenario I come up with in my head, Kid Me surrounded by endless books and trying to find one that lets me see someone else Being Different, and lets me feel it. ^_^;;

I should probably try to post on sites other than FurAffinity. I started to post to Royal Road, but I dunno, something about it just kinda grates on me, I guess. Don't know what. If people have suggestions for sites I should post to, I'd love to hear it. It's been a while since I posted a link to my stuff, so in case anyone reading this hasn't taken a look, here you go.

It's always interesting to see how some people will only follow one story, and some people will follow all three. Vayryn gets the most attention, people love yinglets. Princess gets almost as much as Vayryn, people love dragons but there's so many dragons that it's easy to get lost in the flood. Flopsy doesn't get much attention, she doesn't have people that go looking specifically for hoofbuns. I love writing all three, though. (In the latest Vayryn chapter, she attends a convention and runs into Valsalia himself. The real-life Valsalia said I did "a pretty spot-on impression", which I think is awesome. I tried to capture his friendly, approachable vibe, and I'm glad it came across. ^_^ )

Anyway, I'm going to end this here, because it's already insanely long. Love you all, I'm going to bed! (It's 5:19 AM now...)

Exodimensional Hoofbun Flopsy - Art by CatmonkShiro ( FurAffinity Profile )

What happens when a mage on Terra decides to create an entirely new class of golem? Meet Flopsy, the first ever “Living Construct”, something that can think rationally and solve problems in order to carry out orders much more reliably! No longer will your Construct walk through a crate because you forgot to tell it to walk around! No longer will you send it to the store with the command, “Pick up a cured ham, and if they have eggs, get twelve” and have it come back with twelve hams because they had eggs! A new revolution, and it comes in this wonderfully soft rabbit/horse hybrid form, or any combination of creatures the customer wants! …If only the wizard Adraykon could actually get a second prototype to successfully awaken. When the problem of the Storms is getting worse, and the funding for Living Construct research is drying up, he turns his attention to understanding the Storms and finding a way to protect people. But his “Living Construct” got the attention of the Sightless Third Eye, a cult that believes magic shouldn’t be in the hands of mortals, and is willing to murder mages because of it. When Flopsy’s Master is murdered right as he managed to stabilize a Storm into a portal between Terra and an unknown place, the experiment implodes and sends poor Flopsy through the window of an office building in Lapine Falls, Colorado. By day, she takes on a (mostly) human form, working at a crystal shop in the mall, but by night, she fights crime as the local cryptid/superhero the internet calls “The Superbunny”! Now she must grapple with questions like “What do I do now, without orders from my Master?” and “What is the purpose of life if I can’t Serve?” and “Why is this world strangely familiar? Why do I know what a ‘car’ is? Why do people call that playful tune I hum when I stack boxes ‘Tetris Music’?” and “Friends are telling me to be an independent person. How do I be a ‘person’? Or ‘independent’?”

Explores themes of learning how to be yourself, while being a double reverse isekai exploration of Earth through the eyes of a hoofbun capable of lifting 1600 pounds over her head, and also making peace with a strongly-imprinted core belief of “I have to be useful to be liked/tolerated/allowed to exist” and finding a way to live life regardless. Superhero comic book in the form of a novel series, inspired more by Spider-Man than Superman, with a touch of “not taking itself too seriously” (The title is meant to evoke that sort of wild “anime character intro splash screen” feeling), but can still be pretty heavy on the feelings. Violence is usually minimal, as Flopsy has been raised on the law that "A Construct Cannot Kill a Human”, but when she’s forced to in order to save the life of her best friend… It shatters everything she’s ever known about herself and her life, and even months later, she’s still struggling to cope with things. Though the therapy is helping.

Book 2 (just starting up) just had her evil twin show up and wreck a convention center! What will she do against a foe who has not just her appearance, but also her strength and speed and toughness?