The Candid 2025 Update

[This update's a lot more candid than normal, so here we go]

First off, Happy New Year! ^^ Let's get that out the way. It's 2025 and there's a lot I have planned this year. And second, a lot happened in the last half of 2024, and I feel like I haven't been transparent enough when it comes to updates and whatnot. Especially when it comes to my well-being.

So to start with the elephant in the room…

What's happening with Toon Wars?

Basically, around the time of me writing Heroes of Power, I got drained. I had completely lost the energy to keep working on it. I was able to complete Dust and the Sweeper and give it a pretty satisfying conclusion with a hint that Heroes of Power ends with Max succeeding and Black Hat's ultimate defeat. But nothing was written beyond Part 5 or 6 of the actual story. I tried going back to it on some occasions, tried a narration-style approach with the paragraphs, and I even got input on some scenes through Grammarly and friends in the know. But my heart just wasn't in it anymore. There was an attempt to try and return to the story by merging it with an anthology series I had in mind that I wanted to release this New Year. But again, I didn't have the stamina like I used to. And it was pretty clear that what I was uploading wasn't nearly as sharp as how it started.

At first, I thought it was cause of my job schedule being very inconsistent, which actually did have a pretty big effect on my mental health. Even the job hunt I've been on for something better than where I currently work hadn't gone well, though it helped me get my act together for reasons I'll explain later. But nope. Even after I got that worked out, I still had trouble coming up with the words to put down. However, what I DID do was a completely new fanfic that was disconnected from the Toon Wars, along with two more I had in mind for a while now. Crossover Fallen was a breath of fresh air for me to work on for Halloween, and Samurai Hali was pretty wholesome to write. And we're only on part 1. Now, I wanna wrap up CF and continue with Hali while working on my original projects. I guess in a sense, this was a sign that it wasn't me losing my creative drive but rather it was time for me to put a bow on the fan series that started it all That said, I have no desire to return to the Toon Wars for now. I think it's time I work on other projects, whether they're fan made or original. That's not to say I won't ever come back to it, but that I'm just giving it a rest. It earned it.

Toon Wars was the project that got me out there as a writer, helping me learn so many things that got me to where I am now. So, after 9 years of working on this fan-based crossover, I'd like to say, "Thanks for the support!" Someday I'll return to provide a proper conclusion to the story in some form or another. But for now, it's been a fun journey, and I'm happy to be working on far better things to look forward to now ^^

(P.S. For those who kept up with the lore btw, you may have noticed Dust and the Sweeper already confirmed that Max and Kitra succeed at the end of Heroes of Power. We just don't see HOW they managed to do it. Eventually I'll work on that. But in the meantime, we'll take a well-earned break).

What's Been Going on With Me?

Long story short: Retail. Inconsistent schedule, people coming and going, lacking staff, nearly abusive management, etc. The list goes on, but perhaps the worst that happened to me was when I nearly passed out on the road one night from working one too many night shifts. Which, itself, was enough of an indication for me to get my availability reworked as well as getting checked out at a doctor's office for a physical. Thankfully, there wasn't anything wrong besides my diet and my sleep cycle. But these changes to them were so very helpful that now I've got more energy to do things than I did before. Unfortunately, for the reasons I explained above, I've been applying for a multitude of new jobs left and right and got nowhere. Each one was either a scam, left a lot to be desired (like they had low pay or no benefits), or outright rejected me. This left me desperate in November, trying to find anyone who would take me in without actually thinking of WHAT I was applying for. And the thing that took the cake on that front was when a shady insurance company was about to hire me had I not read the fine print of an email for the final interview telling me to have my credit/debit card ready to purchase this that or the other. That alone was enough to snap me out of my mental funk, because I realized, I could've easily walked right into a trap out of desperation to get out of where I currently was. And I failed to appreciate the good things I have and continued to dwell on the negatives. I almost did exactly like what those who left my job ages ago had done and quit with barely any plan for the aftermath, or fallen into the hands of a job I would've hated even more. And needless to say, I had a LOT to reflect on after the fact. This is why I've been so tired or not as transparent as I am now.

I want to apologize, for one. It's subtle, but I didn't want people to hear about the negatives going on from my end. But as a consequence, I wasn't being as open and honest about anything to anyone. And second, I wanted to thank everyone for still supporting me in spite of how quiet I've been. I'm not one to post about my personal life or unpopular opinions on current happenings. But everyone's been through stuff like this before, and I wanted to express it instead of keeping it all balled up the way I've been doing. Working on Anthroshock: Otto, Star Heart, the fanfics, and just speaking to great friends I met online and in reality were what kept me going throughout all of this. So now that I've explained what's been going on with me, I'm honestly relieved. So yeah. That's where I've been as far as offline matters go.

The Adventures of Otto and Star Heart

Two things this time around: The original beta for Anthroshock has now been reworked into a sequel for The Adventures of Otto called, Anthroshock Rebellion. The name "Anthroshock" by itself is now used as the duology title . What was once slated to be three long volumes has been worked into 10-15 chapters for AS Rebellion, while the first story, Otto, is only 6 chapters. Which, I might add, are actually finished…mostly. See, originally, I planned on saying it was 100% revised. All the paragraphs are done. No more run-ons and stilted narration. But none of that actually accounted for DIALOGUE. And Grammarly doesn't exactly do a good job at updating that to sound natural. So while I work on the illustrations, I'm also going to re-read what I've got scripted to make sure everything checks out. Same for Star Heart. Some may say the dialogue fixes don't matter so long as the story is good. But if ya ask me, it's better I refine it to the best of my ability instead of leaving it the way it is, lest it sounds like the early George Lucas dialogue for A New Hope. If you don't know what I mean by that, there's an interview with Mark Hamill from around that time where he begged George to take out a line he didn't like. And honestly, I can't blame him ONE BIT. Imagine reading that for 6 whole chapters. DEFINITELY gonna make sure it's all tweaked before I throw out slop.

As for Star Heart, and this applies to both it and Otto, the Detective Red sample was a success, and it even got much needed critique through my dms. But I almost made it sound like this was what was gonna be put out in the actual book when its finished. In short, it isn't. I still wanna look over it again before publishing ANYTHING. So when I post a sample of something, it's not to say its gonna be exactly like this in the final version. This is just a public beta of what's to come. If there's ever any issues like a grammar error, dialogue that feels clunky (which there was, but that was patched quickly), or a paragraph not flowing well, go ahead and contact me. You can either use dms if you know me, Deviantart/Furaffinity Notes, Archive of Our Own comments, or Deviantart comments. Whichever you prefer.

I estimate that The Adventures of Otto will be published around Spring time or early Summer if outside factors slow me down. Following that, the rest of Star Heart Book 1 will be finished and ready to revise. I'm still trying to work out whether or not I wanna post on itch.io, gumroad, Google Play Books, or Amazon. So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Closing Thoughts on the New Years

I think this pretty much sums up everything for me. It hasn't been easy, but against all odds, I managed to get this far and I don't plan on stopping. ^^ I know this update was far more candid than I usually write. But I wanted to be as open and honest as possible, especially when starting the new year. I've been drained, frustrated, and even depressed these past months. But with all the encouragement I've been getting from friends, family watchers, and visitors, I have confidence that things will get better. I just have to believe it and keep doing my best. There's a saying that God has a plan for us and things happen for a reason. Maybe the roughness of 2024 was a wakeup call for me to get out of my comfort zone. So instead of sulking or dwelling on the negatives, embrace the positives that got you this far and continue moving forward to something better.

See you around!