So....

Yeah, it's been a while since I last checked in. Is anyone out there still checking here? Anyway, to let you know what's going on. Despite appearances, I have not given up on the story. Have I hit a major road block? Yes. Honestly, the idea I had for chapter 9 sounded great as an idea, but I just couldn't write it. The concept worked better in my head than it did on paper. In other words, it just came across as boring. So, I stepped back and took some time to work on a short story for a contest (it may or may not make its way onto the Internet) and clear my head. Then, a few weeks ago, I was struck by a vehicle while crossing the road to go into work. In addition to striking me, the driver also crushed my laptop. Now, the hard drive is okay, but I haven't managed to get the files off of it yet, meaning that what I had written of chapter 9 is now temporarily unavailable. I've taken this opportunity to start from scratch on the chapter and try a whole new approach. So far I'm finding it more enjoyable to write, but the catch is that I had the original idea fleshed out in my head. I'm sort of winging this new idea. So... yeah, that's where I'm at. Sorry to be such a let down, but I'm still hanging in there with it.

HE'S ALIVE!!!

Yeah, I'm alive. Sorry, but you guys aren't getting rid of me that easily. :P

Anyway, Chapter 10... yes, it's being worked on. No, I'm not happy with how it's going. I've worked it, re-worked it, and re-re-worked it, and I'm still not completely happy. At this point, I'm running with what I have, because I honestly don't think I can please myself with it. It's frustrating, but sometimes it happens. Other than that... there's not much else to say. I just wanted everyone to know that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, and that I haven't stopped writing.

Chapter 9 Submitted + End of Chapter Notes

Chapter 9 has been submitted to Fanfiction.net and Equestria Daily. I recorded a sound bit for a section of this chapter. I hyperlinked it into the appropriate section, but if you read the chapter on FFNet then you won't be able to hear it in the context of the story. If you're curious about the music, it can be heard here:

http://soundcloud.com/robert-miller-1/iron-fist-cover


Anyway, onto my notes. A lot of the content in this chapter had been decided on a long time ago, so I thought it would make it faster to write. The problem is that it was written based on old ideas, and I have made a lot of changes as I've written this story, so some of the events I originally wanted in this chapter just wouldn't work. I originally had no intention of making Spike trigger Twilight's abilities, but when I decided that it would make a much better ending for chapter 8 than what I had first planned. Plus, it served as a better precursor for the events that happened later in chapter 9. So what did I keep? Basically everything from the track meet onward followed my original template. Everything before that was essentially new. Personally, I think the chapter was better off this way.

You can all probably tell that this story is drawing closer to a conclusion. Initially, I didn't think it would even last this long, but as ideas were changed and added the story grew. I don't think that will be the case anymore. From here I only have three other chapters planned. It feels weird thinking that it's almost over--especially when I've been working on it for the better part of a year--but everything must end eventually, right? Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed (or will enjoy) chapter 9, and I hope you come back for the rest.

Brave New World Chapter 9 Complete!

Another chapter down. I have emailed it to my pre-readers for review. Thank you to everyone for always being patient with me.

Another Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I only have one scene left to write in chapter 9. I had hoped to have it completed by this point in the week, but my grandfather fell down again on Monday night, so I've been sort of preoccupied with that. He's okay as far as injuries go--nothing internally, and externally there's not as much damage as last time--but they're running a bunch of tests to see if something is causing him to fall so much. Apparently he's fallen quite a bit in between the last time and this time, but he didn't say anything because he didn't injure himself. Tonight was the first night this week where I was able to sit down and write with a clear head. I just sat down and hammered out the second-to-last scene. I'm hoping to get that final scene done within the next couple of days, but I think that will depend on how much New Year's celebrating I do. This chapter is shaping up to be longer than the last one.

An Update

Okay, I realize I've been fairly quiet for a while now, so I thought I should pop in and let everyone know that I'm still alive. Chapter 9 is also coming along. I had hoped to have it finished by now, but I underestimated the interference of the holiday season, as well as the volume of students I would have to deal with during finals' week. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that A)I'm still alive and B)I'm still writing.

Chapter 8 Sumitted + Delay Explanation

I just submitted Chapter 8 to Equestria Daily and Fanfiction.net.

Now, in the post-chapter comments I promised an explanation for the delay in chapter 8, so here it is. The quick explanation is that life simply got in the way. The long explanation follows.

Some of you may recall from previous opening and/or closing comments that I am engaged, and that I also finished my Graduate program earlier this year. Well, it's getting to the point in my engagement where we are seriously starting to plan our wedding, and October managed to turn into a huge planning month. I never realized how much work goes into planning a wedding, and if I never have to plan one again I will be content. Between securing a venue, hiring musical entertainment, hiring photographers, picking out decorations (oh, and a color schemed for those decorations), making guest lists, sending out invitations, doing wedding registries, etc. it can get really hectic. Let's not forget the most important thing, either: all of this crap costs money, which is where my point about graduating comes in.

Since I graduated, all I've heard from everyone around me is that I need to find a better job than the two part-time jobs I work now. I have no problem with that idea, and I fully agree with these people. The problem is that I can't simply snap my fingers and make a job appear out of nowhere, and the employers in my area seem to be getting more and more picky. What's really holding me up is my lack of a "professional" background. My Master's degree more than qualifies me for most of the jobs I'm looking at, from an educational standpoint, but these jobs also want several years of professional experience, which I don't have. During college, I basically worked for whoever would accommodate my school schedule, and it seems that this decision is coming back to bite me. At any rate, I started hitting the application trail a lot harder, given the fact that we are now getting more serious with the wedding planning.

Of course, the fact that we're getting married also means that we need to get our own place to live, as well. So house hunting has figured into the equation. If you're wondering why we're looking at houses as opposed to apartments, it's because the going rates for the crappy apartments around here are outrageous. After some research, we've determined that it would actually be more cost-effective to get a loan, buy a house, and make monthly payments on the loan. Of course, this requires more money than we're collectively making right now (read: she has a good job, and I'm still stuck at these crappy part-time jobs) so we return to the point about the job.

On top of all this (yes, there's more) is that my future brother-in-law--a high school dropout with no job--has managed to get his girlfriend pregnant. Now before I proceed, I want to make it clear that I am not being demeaning towards high school dropouts. I know several of them who live excellent lives. My brother-in-law (to be), however, has done nothing with his life since dropping out. He's 22, in case you were wondering. He basically lives off of my fiancee's mother and father, and now he's bringing a child into the equation. Needless to say, this has caused a good deal of tension, and since I'm marrying into this family I (unfortunately) got caught up in the whole situation. The most noteworthy event was the night he assaulted my future mother-in-law. To make a long story short, the keys to his car were taken from him (the car is in his father's name, his father pays the insurance on it, and more often than not I think his parents pay for the gas). I can't remember why they were taken from him, as I came into the situation after that happened, but at some point he basically took the keys back and drove away. He came back, and of course this lead to an argument, where he ultimately assaulted his mother. So yeah, police involvement and all that. There were other incidents throughout the month, but this was the biggest and most noteworthy.

And of course my old friend Mr. Writer's Block paid me a visit a few times.

Anyway, that about sums up the events surrounding chapter 8's delay. I'm usually not this open about my personal life, but this actually feels a bit therapeutic.

Brave New World Chapter 8: COMPLETE!

No, you are not dreaming. Yes, that does say complete! It's been quite a while since chapter 7, and I apologize, but hopefully the extra long chapter 8 will make up for it. I just finished sending it off to my pre-readers, so after I hear from them and edit the chapter it will be available on Equestria Daily and Fanfiction.net. Thank you everyone for being so patient with me!

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation

Don't worry, no one's assuming control of anything. So I've been plugging away at chapter 8 now that things have settled down in my personal life, and I'm into the final few scenes of the chapter. It shouldn't take me much longer to have it finished. This will be, without a doubt, the longest chapter in this story thus far, so hopefully the extra content will make up for the extra wait.

Chapter 8 Update

I wish I could say that Chapter 8 was going well, but unfortunately I can't. I know what I want to happen later in the chapter, but I'm having a hard time getting to that point for some reason. It's just been a struggle between my writer's block and some personal issues that I won't bother you guys with. Thank you guys for reading my work, and I promise to try and get the next chapter to you as soon as possible.

Chapter 7 Posted/Submitted

Just a heads up: I posted chapter 7 to FFnet and submitted it to EqD!

Chapter 7 COMPLETE!!!

Yes, you read it right! Chapter 7 is done! I'm going to wait a day or two and then re-read the chapter myself to see if there are any changes I want to make (I also need to decide on a title), and then I will send it off to my trusty pre-readers. I will most likely have it sent off by Wednesday evening.

Chapter 7 Check-In

Just a quick update to let you all know that I am, in fact, working on chapter 7. I'm a good portion of the way through the actual writing, and I have all of the events for the remainder of the chapter mapped out. Now I just need to actually finish writing. I really wish I still had the patience/drive/stamina/whatever it is that I had in high school that allowed me to pump out page after page of material. This fic would probably be done by now if I did. C'est la vie, I suppose. At least writing is still fun--I'm glad for that much, at least.

Twitter

Now that I have a smart phone and the Twitter app, I have found more use for my Twitter account. Among other things, I can now use it as a medium to post quick updates on story progress instead of always having to wait until I can access the blog. I still intend to maintain the blog, of course. So anyway, if you'd be interested in seeing any progress updates via Twitter, or if you want to see what other kind of crazy stuff I get up to, feel free to follow me: FireLordPhoenix.

Brave New World Chapter 6 POSTED!!

After reading through all of the suggestions and corrections made by my pre-readers, I have finalized and posted chapter 6 to FanFiction.net and submitted it to Equestria Daily. Thank you again to all of my pre-readers for your valuable advice and feedback! You guys are awesome!

I usually make a separate post with my thoughts and inspirations for each chapter, but I think I covered most of that in the post-chapter note this time around. If I think of anything else worth saying, I will certainly make a post for it.

Chapter 6 COMPLETE!!!!

No, you are not dreaming. That does, in fact, say that chapter 6 is done. I know, it's hard to believe. I will be sending the chapter out to my pre-readers later today.

An Update

I just wanted to throw this up real quick to let you all know that I am still working on chapter 6. It's taking a while, I know, and the reason is 50% my slow writing process and 50% other sources. I haven't written much this week because my grandfather fell down the steps and busted his head open pretty bad early in the week, so I've been concerned with making sure he's okay (he's in the hospital) and with being around my family. I have not and will not abandon this story, so please don't let that thought bother you.

As always, I will update the blog when chapter 6 is completed.

Conventions and Ponies

Hello everyone! It's been quite the couple of weeks! Last week I was preparing for and attending Otakon, and this week I was busy playing catch-up at both of my jobs. Not to worry, though: chapter 6 is underway! In the mean time, allow me to share the photos I took of some pony cosplayers at Otakon:

http://s931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/FlameLordPhoenix/Ponies%20at%20Otakon/

Chapter 5 Posted!

Chapter 5 has finally been posted to Fanfiction.net, and emailed to EqD so that it can be updated there. This chapter took quite some time for me to write, but I am thoroughly pleased with how it turned out. Thank you again to Beige Monkfish for pre-reading for me.

JamesBob: if you're still interested in joining the pre-reading team, I would love to have you on board. Just let me know the best way to contact you. If you don't feel comfortable posting an e-mail address here, feel free to contact me at Zephariel2005(at)aol(dot)com. FoxOfWar and Ddude28, if you guys are still interested then I would love to welcome you both on board, as well. I know you guys had offered a while back, but like I said in one of my posts I didn't want to just bombard you guys with e-mails asking for pre-reads after so much time had passed.


Now, onto the chapter discussion. I wanted to use this chapter to bring some other elements in to deepen the mystery (the door, for example), and to also set the stage to introduce the one missing main character. Overall it was an interesting chapter to write. There were some points where I would start with a small idea and then just keep typing as the idea expanded on the spot, and then other points where I would have to wrack my brain just to get half a page written. I ended up changing dialogue, reworking some scenes, and even completely re-writing one scene throughout the course of the chapter's creation. All-in-all, though, I'm very pleased with how the chapter turned out, and I hope you are too. Until next time!

To My Volunteer Pre-Readers

I wanted to check with you guys and/or gals to make sure you were still up for the idea of pre-reading for me. It's been a while since you offered your services, so I wanted to make sure that you were still okay with it. If so, just comment on this post, or shoot me an e-mail at Zephariel2005(at)aol(dot)com. I'm doing some self-editing on chapter 5 right now, but I'll hold off on submitting to to FFNet and EqD for another day or so just in case.