Happy New Year!

It's been quite a year, hasn't it? I got a good amount of writing done and uploaded many things to my gallery. Overall, it felt very productive. I hope it went well for all of you too, though it's been tough for many out there. My total view count surpassed 10,000 a few weeks ago! Thank you all so much for reading my stories and faving my uploads. To my watchers who take the time to read this journal: Thank you very much. Your support keeps me going and every little comment emboldens me to keep going.

Here's the tl;dr:
-I'd like to start an AO3 (Archive of our Own) account, but it's going to take a bit.
-I'm going to go over the stories I've released since the last journal and give some commentary about them/mention any cute references I may have made.

AO3 Archive
Archive of our Own is a fanfiction site that has also been used to archive original works of writing. I like its layout and tag system much more than other sites I frequently use. One of the reasons I made the Sofurry backup was so that people without an account could view my work. Unfortunately, that only works if they have a direct link to the mature work in question. When uploading to places like /trash/ it makes it difficult for people to find my work when it's not in the OP post.

I'm going to get an AO3 account and start uploading my work there. The only problem is: the process takes a while. I need to wait almost a month for them to give me an account. (Unless someone has an invite they want to throw at me, though I'm willing to wait.) As soon as I get it and start uploading, I'll write another journal to alert people. This and sofurry are the only alternatives for writing I'm currently aware of. Pastebin automatically bans nsfw content now, and I don't really do vore so Eka's is not ideal. Plus, FA is the most popular furry art website for better or worse.

Reflecting on this year's work

Layabout
A short story I was inspired to write based on a fun scenario some friends tossed around. I really should write more short stuff like this since people seem to like it and I enjoy spending an afternoon on it. I'll always remember this one for a few reasons. The greatest of all is that a kind fellow on Sofurry wrote a comment almost half as long as the story itself giving me suggestions, criticisms, and praise. It really warmed my heart.

Be My Moon
PRAISE THE MOONS! And praise Boni! Joxiris is a character that got really popular in our dnd campaigns thanks to her simple design and award-winning personality. She's been a mainstay for any dnd group I'm in and I'm glad to see people enjoy her. She's also the first character I uploaded to this site, so that's cool.

Front Page Bingo
Ah, the classic "Shitpost gets more views than anything I put effort into" moment. Gotta love it. I think the popularity came down to the many many tags I used which drew in people who liked them. Sometimes I still look at the front page and try to find a bingo.

She Shook Me Cold
A gift for Martini and a fun story to write. I wanted to capture the essence of a couple who had fallen into a rhythm; They frequently get intimate and they know each other in and out but they're still figuring out what they're really into. Maybe Will doesn't know he's into that stuff, and May is just rolling with it? This was also a test to see if I could do something close to commissions by satisfying a person's requests. I think it went well all things considered. As I pointed out in the description, the name came from a David Bowie song. I've been listening to his work on and off while writing and I consider myself the second coming of Hirohiko Araki, so I must reference my favorite bands and artists from now on.

Tempted to write a sequel with that strapon...

Macro Chad Kiva
Your waifu vs. My Waifu

Photo Op
Oh boy, this is the big one. Boni offered to draw me a series of images (Thank you!) and I couldn't say no. This is honestly the work I'm most proud of. It's a great series of images by a good friend, my brain was firing off on all cylinders for the writing, and it's just adorable. Kiva is my favorite character out of the ones I have created so far. Here's to more of her in the future!

Saahira Concept
I've had this one on my hard drive for a while now. The holes in the hood are silly, but I imagine that her robes are meant for decoration instead of utility. Plus, she's a wizard. She probably has twenty different spells to stop rain from touching her. It's funny, but in all my outlines for part one of the story I refer to her as "The Witch" or "The Cat." Coming up with names for the characters was torturous until someone suggested that I use a baby name site to come up with it. Saahira means "Magic One" in Arabic. Kramer means "Merchant" in German, and Banyan is the same for English. Thanks, baby name sites.

Rat doesn't like this one as much as the next one, but I love it. It's simple enough to make a great profile image.

Saahira Interpretation
A significant improvement! Ratafari once again growing as an artist. Look at that fur, those scales, and how they blend together! Wonderful! I want to write more about Saahira and Banyan someday.

Home Movies
Another big one. Did I say Photo Op was the big one? This is the big one writing-wise. This story is one the longest single chapter things I have ever written. DADW Part 4 barely beats it, but it felt longer while I was making it. I really struggled with this one compared to previous stories because I was worried that the joke of "amateur porno fails spectacularly" could only be stretched so far. Luckily for me, after a few edits and suggestions from friends, the final product came out wonderfully.

Somehow, I got the idea of Kiva in platform heels in my head. Kiva doesn't like footwear as a general rule because nobody makes them for her size. (Side Tangent: Isn't it strange that we get very customized health things fitted for us like braces and such, but shoes are incredibly important to our health and we just make them en-mass instead of making custom sizes for everyone? That seems unhealthy. Anyways...) Kiva doesn't like wearing footwear, but she hears Vinny likes a tall woman in heels and she grabs the largest "fuck me" platforms ever and ambushes him one night. This happens before she goes macro and gives them a taste of what it would be like if she were a little larger.

Kiva: Giant Furry Wall
I want a hug from a giant furry woman...

Druidic Figure Painting
Sweet lord look at the size of them! She's growing melons this time!

It took me an embarrassingly long time to start collecting seeds for my druid character. There are so many uses for them when your most basic power is "instantly grow any seed in your hand." And yes, the potential for jokes was infinite and I missed it.

Hell's Guard Dog
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I've had a lot of ideas in my head about Kiva doing stuff at the cabin because she's bored and doesn't have a lot to do. She moves to creative pursuits. (Hey, doesn't this sound familiar? Not like I got trapped doing nothing for a while and turned to writing.) Kiva writes up a list of things she wants to make, then a list of ingredients, then she spends all day at the craft/fabric store and buys way more than her list ever had. She'll make a day of it then head home and have enough stuff to spend the week making her next big costume. I could see her getting into cosplay culture and going to cons.
This one doesn't even have an outline. It was brain to paper in an instant with very minor edits and beta reading from friends. Sometimes it just hits you.

The Twin Moon Goddess
This is an interesting upload. Rat did literally everything for it including the writing. I helped touch it up, but it's all from him. A cool idea and a good example of why most dnd campaigns never go up to level 20.

Saahira's Guide to Safely Pondering an Orb
Ironically, the only story I wrote this year to jump on a trend didn't get many views! The orb pondering meme showed up and quickly became irrelevant. I'm trying not to get obsessed with numbers and just write what I like, but there is an addicting quality to seeing number go up. Still, this was a fun excuse to do a crossover gag or two and foreshadow a future series.

A Very Dire Holiday
My final story of the year! Seems like every series has a holiday special. Maybe next year, I'll write about them playing in the snow at home instead? Kiva could use her size to make a snow mountain and carve out a staircase and smooth hill, then shrink down and slide down it with Vinny. So much potential to work with.

Vinny's parents are named after the couple from "Attack of the 50' Woman." I had thought about making one of them anthro to fit in with the universe, but I decided to keep it simple. I also like implying a lot about the many cultures and how there would obviously be more tension between races if there were actual major physical differences between them. In the same sense, I enjoyed making Kiva's species one of the Native American equivalents in their world and implying that some of their culture was just gone. I imagine them as a tribe somewhere in the north near British Columbia, and one of the Bald Eagle tribes like the equivalent of the Seminole Tribe who stayed very independent compared to the many other tribes which were forced onto reservations.

I have decided that, in a funny role reversal, Vinny wears Kiva's oversized shirts like dresses around the house. They're all anthro band shirts.

When I wrote the scene in the bedroom, I was originally going to have Kiva go bra-less or still be wearing her trademark sports bra. However, the thought of Vinny holding a massive bra in his hands that is almost as tall as him and large enough to fall into was too good to pass up. My justification in-universe is that he made her wear more modest underwear so she wouldn't embarrass him in front of family. It's sort of like looking at a giant footprint. You can directly compare your own foot to the massive impression in the ground and get a feeling for how ridiculously large they are. Same here. Vinny can look at this bra that is larger than his head and think "the creature that wears this must be huge to support something like that!"

I've been told multiple times that I really captured the essence of an awkward family reunion, and that makes me happy. I've experienced a few and it makes me happy as a writer to know I can evoke those emotions.

Closing Thoughts

Once again, thank you so much for watching me and reading my work.