~Theo_Winters

Well this coming Monday will be my 6th annual 42nd birthday. Not really sure how to handle it as it's not really been a good year for me, still trying to get by, but things have been better.

Oh, and a reminder I do post on a few other sites, you can find all my links here: https://theowinters.carrd.co/

While I do have a large collection of charters and alts (and seen here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/55707184/ ), most all of them have there own back story and details that have never really come up in any art or stories. This also goes for almost all of Theo's alts, as they do exist in their own universe as well. So because of that I thought it would be interesting to offer the chance to ask almost any of my characters nearly everything.

Sometimes I think about getting some actually merchandise of my characters. I would love to get a standee of Felicia, and I'm sure there are other of my characters that would also look good like that, or as a body pillow.

It's one of those things I have no idea about how to go about doing it, or if anyone other then me would even want any of it. Don't even know where to start.

Took four years, by finally managed to catch Covid... would not recommend.

Shorts are quick stories that run between 1000 to 3000 words, and have a flat cost. Can be clean or adult.

My commission rules and tracking information can be found here: https://trello.com/b/Lm3WkOen/theo-.....ry-commissions

Commission from is here: https://forms.gle/AsTnNiKaWPzN5nb76

The form will be open until the end of the month (earlier if I get a lot of submissions).

I will select which commissions to take once the form is closed.

Some themes I'm kind of in the mood for:
* Vore (All kinds, I'm okay with digestion)
* Hyper
* Weird TFs
* Corruption

So, on Wednesday I'm going to be opening up three slots for short stories. Shorts run between 1-4k words and fairly focused, so not a hugely complicated story. They are charged at a flat cost of $30, +10$ if the story in NSFW. More information can be found here: https://trello.com/b/Lm3WkOen/theo-.....y-commissions/

While there are three slots, it won't be first come first serve. You can do multiple submissions for different ideas, but please only have one idea per a submission. Don't give me a list of ideas, give me one you want me to do.

When it comes to what I will do, if you can find find it in my gallery, I'm all for it. Anything else you can ask, but I can't promise anything until I get your idea. While I do a lot of TF stuff, but I'm not limited to that and do like doing other themes. I also do fan stuff on some fandoms, once again if you see art of it I'm all for it, otherwise please ask.

I also have a couple of ideas of YCH stories where I have a fun plot, just looking for someone to feature in it, though I have no idea if anyone would be interested in that.

Well, if you can’t tell from my posting, I’ve been ramping back up on my writing of late. I feel like I’m finally past the burnout and can actually create new stuff. So that’s a big win for me for the time being. I have a few more stories already done, but I do need to edit them for posting.

As such I’m going back and reviewing my ongoing stories, starting with The Misadventures of an Unexpected Dragon. I’ll probably doing some tweaks to some of the currently posted chapters as well, but nothing major. After that I’ll be looking towards some of the ponyfics, including Growing up With Scales and The 8th Rank, both of which have been on hiatus far longer then I ever meant it to be. There are a couple of other ponyfics tucked in there as well, but those might be surprises.

I have no plans of trying to revive my patreon. At this point I’m just satisfied to write it off as a failure and move on. On the commission front, I don’t know why those might be open again. I have been asking for the occasional volunteer on a couple of the discord servers I’m on, but those don’t really involve pay. Just an excuse to write.

I've seen a lot of stuff going around about new social media sites to replace twitter (or whatever the hell it's call today). Frankly, Twitter always sucked for art, and from what I've seen all the replaces are the same, so I feel like nothing of value has been lost, but still. There has been some talk about Threads, but as that one is owned and run by Facebook I think it's safe to dismiss it completely as it will always be about selling your information and not about giving you any kind of service. Anyways, I don't think the company will be around in a decade, at least as anything other then a shell of what it once was.

The two main ones I've seen thrown about are Mastodon and Bluesky. Now for me Mastodon is that place where all the alt-right guys went when they got kicked off of every other site, and Bluesky, we'll any social media site that won't let you even look at it without an account is 100% useless for social media. And I don't trust any site that relies on FOMO as a reason to get an account, it means either they don't think their product is worthwhile, or scared what people will actually see on it. Either way it's a huge red flag in my eyes.

To start with, this has been the longest pause in my writing since then late 90s, and it’s more frustrating than anything else. I feel like I can’t make any forward progress on any ideas, even though I’ve been starting to get more of them of late. I need to do something to change that, but it’s not as easy as just wanting to do something. Motivation and Action turns out to be quite different things to muster.

There has also been the problem of my health, as I’ve been dealing with some ongoing problems since the start of the year, leaving me dealing with chronic pain (and even worse, irregular chronic pain, as it comes and goes). After a number of tests and other such probing the results was an GI problem, made worse because of scarring from some past surgery. That doesn’t feel like a good explanation, but it’s the only one that I have, and it doesn’t change just how much it can hurt and it makes it very hard to focus on anything.

I’ve been trying dietary changes, but so far things haven’t really improved much, but for the moment it’s an ongoing process, but one without a clear end in sight, or even a proper end goal other then just feeling better. I never really understood just how tiring chronic pain really is, I had been told about it in the past, but being told about something and dealing with it are very different things. Tiring is the best way to describe it, it’s just constantly draining, and some days I just want to sit and do nothing for as long as possible. I am trying to stay physically active, with some different levels of successes, but it’s something I’m trying to keep doing.

So, as I’ve been dealing with this for so long, why did I want until now to say anything about it? The thing is, I know that I’m not the only one dealing with this sort of thing, and that some of my friends are fighting through much worse shit then this. I also know that this doesn’t invalidate the way I feel; unfortunately, that part of my brain that hates me and wants me to die keeps telling me that it does, and that no one wants to know about or hear my problems, or worse, talking about them would alienate those who I enjoy being around and talking with. I know this is wrong, but it’s sometimes hard to believe that.

That’s not to say things have been all bad this last year, I did manage to pay off my house (so yay for that!) though that is balanced my having my car drop dead, so I had to get a new one. I also got a new cat after a few years of not having one, which has been a really nice improvement in my overall quality of life. So, there have been some good moments over all.

I do have a few half-finished stories in the queue from before my writing pause, and I do want to try to get one or two things posted before the end of the year (what little that is left of it) but I can’t promise anything there. I’ve been tempted to ask for random ideas for quick stories, something I could as a single session in order to challenge myself and get my drive going. Nothing to complicated, just a simple basic idea without a lot of plot to go with it. Who knows, we’ll have to see what will happen. I’m also debating the future of my patreon, and if it’s worth keeping it running in any way other then as a tip jar, and there are better choices for that. So news for that will be pending.

Lastly, thank you for sticking with me after all this time. I have no way I can express how much it means to me that there are people out there that car about me and how I’ve been doing. I probably wouldn’t even be bothering to say anything at all if it wasn’t for all of you.

I've not managed to put down a single word in the last two months, which might not seem all that bad, that but was after after four and a half years of daily writing. I managed to write something every day even when dealing with illness, loss, and the international dateline. Not that things were doing all the well in the months before, as I've been dealing with being just completely emotionally and psychologically drained. I don't have any good reason for why I've been feeling like this, but it was something that had been growing for months.

Because of this, I've been skipping months on my (lets be honest, failed) patreon, and not been taking any commissions like I said I was going to. I just don't have the energy to actually put anything down. I have at least been getting some better ideas, or at least ideas that only mostly suck. I have been trying a few things, and I think they have been helping, but I'm not sure how much. It's no secret that my mental health is crap to start with, and there is only so much that can be done to improve it.

Still, I'm going to have to find a way to work through it, though that might take getting out of town for a few days, or possibly longer. I don't know just yet. So, that where things are sitting for the moment. Hardly great to say the least, but at least I have something like a plan. For now I'm going to leave you something to ponder on.

Oom papachucka maka nanu singow
Meling kapalana wani domo chingpow
Heddy kapalua cuma jenising tea
Oomama chucka pana one is now three

Not to but to fine a point on it, but my car died over the weekend. I've had in for near 18 years at this point (and had < 100k miles on it) and it just simply died. Something is messed up with the electrical system, and I can't started it, or even jump it. I had replaced the battery a few months ago, and everything was working just fine until it wasn't. Thankfully it died at home, so I didn't have to try to get back, but needless to say, I was had a pressing need to get a new car.

That part was dealt with today, and while I can afford it, It still throws my budget a bit sideways. I had been hoping to pay cash when I got a new car, but that was still a few years away. Now I just have to learn how to use the new smart features that have been added over the years.

To try and offset some of this, I will be opening for short commissions next week. I'll make an official post when things are open, but for now if you're interested, it's best to start planing out what you want to ask for. It's important to remember that shorts are meant to be fairly simple. One or two scenes focused on a specific plot. It's not meant to be anything big or complicated.

I also have a YCH story in mind, involving a dragon being turned into a kobold by a rival dragon. Honestly, I have no idea how to advertising that, or even take bids, but I'll work something out.

It's safe to say that 2021 was not a great year for anyone, and that includes myself. I spent quite a lot of it dealing with a bunch of ongoing physical and mental heath issues. None of them were as horrible as some of the things my friends had to deal with, but enough to make a mess of my plans.

Somehow, I managed to keep up writing every day, but there were a lot of days were that was more of a technical thing then anything else, with my very worst day being only 83 words, and my over all average was 572 words a day (yes, I do keep details records of my daily output), though I suspect it's only that high as I had a few weeks of high productivity here and there.

Even then, the majority of that was in a bunch of random fluff that never want past more then a scene or two, if even that. So the actual useful word count is even less then that. I have been working on my ongoing stories, even if it doesn't seem like that. I'm hoping to be able to start posting more. I've not given up on anything, I've just been slower then my usual slow pace.

I'm also hoping to get commissions open again soon.

And because I don't really talk about it as much as I should, I have a ko-fi, and a Pateron. I post my stories usually a week early on the Patreon, as well as posting work in process stories.

I did pick what commission I'm going to do, though unfortunately it was a private commission. Depending on how this goes, I might go back and pick a second short commission to do so you'll be able to see something.

As for why I picked that? It was the only one that wasn't a TF story. Instead it was a crack ship rule 34 story for a fandom that I'm not really a part of. So far I'm really enjoying doing some different then I usually do.

I'm looking to do a short (or possibly two) to help clear out some of the cobwebs. No promise that things will be finished before Halloween, but I can try if you want. I'll leave the form open for about a day, then pick which ones I'm interested in doing.

As a reminder a short is a story between 3,000-4,000 words, with a fixed price of $30 + $10 for NSFW content.

Rules: https://trello.com/b/Lm3WkOen/theo-.....ry-commissions
Form: https://forms.gle/wwqy42DqjzjsmbfG8

Currently closed and I've picked the story to go with. In this case it's a private one, but I may pick another one after that.

For those who might care, my birthday is two weeks away.

I thought I would put together a master post of all the other places I'm at, which would include more then what is on the contact section.

Itaku: https://itaku.ee/profile/theowinters
My main alternate account
DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/theowinters
Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~theowinters
Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/61603209
These accounts exist just so I can follow some artists (so any posts will be fore special reasons)

The Changing Mirror: https://thechangingmirror.com/
Owner and operator

Sofurry: https://theo-winters.sofurry.com/
While I'm a bit slow, I try to get the majority of my stories posted here
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheoWinters
Not much goes here, but I will be trying to get all my fanfic posted there
FimFiction: https://www.fimfiction.net/user/70710/Winter+Quill
Nearly all my PonyFics can be found here

PillowFort: https://www.pillowfort.social/TheoWinters
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/alioninwinter
Some story posting here, but no real art

I just noticed that my view count ticked over the 100,000 mark, and somewhere along the line I also broke 2k followers. It's kind of amazing to think I have so many people interested in my stuff, so thank you for all the following and views and everything that goes with it.

I don't really plug it much, but I do have a Patreon, and I currently have a new Skyrim themed TF story in Early Access, along with some art to go with it. It will be posted here in a couple more weeks, so you won't be missing out in the long run.

If you're interested in the story, or just want to support me, you can find the story here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/54952781

I'm already seeing some April Fools "Jokes" showing up, and it's pretty much always the usually idiocy. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so overly routine and corporate.

And no, that person isn't leaving the fandom, deleting their account, or whatever crazy thing they are claiming.

The last few months have been a hectic one for me, with a lot of ups and downs and some things just going sideways in the most unexpected ways. To start with the worst part of it all, my father passed away at the start of December, natural causes, not Covid or anything. There was some warning in this case, but it still went fast, and even knowing it was coming it was still sudden.

The good news is that it looks like I’ve landed a new job. It will take a few weeks until I officially start, once all the paperwork and checks get done, but they are eager to have me, so that’s good. It comes at a good time as things were starting to get a bit tighter then I would have liked.

As for my writing, it’s been alright over all. My official word count for 2020 was 285,938 words. Which is kind of low for me. I managed to hit my weekly writing goals only 8 out of 53 weeks (I use the ISO week calendar for tracking my writing, makes it easier to manage). On my best day I wrote 2,350 words, the worst was 35 and I averaged 771 words every day. A bit more than half of that was generic fluff work, trying to hash out plots, or just play around with unformed ideas. I also hit 1,000 unbroken days of writing on September 25th.

As for this year, I should be having some more stuff showing up both here and on FimFiction, so keep your eyes open for that. Plus hoping to finally be able to proper reopen commissions. I’ve also been doing the usual new year’s resolutions, and have been sticking to them so far (so that’s a surprise). Hopefully things will keep improving as time goes on.

One of my over all plans for this year is getting rid a lot of stuff that has been cluttering up the other room for years, but never get used and will probably never be used. That includesPokemon cards, most from around 2009-2015. The MTG cards have been sold.

I'm probably going to be selling them in bulk by the set, but I thought I would bring it up here in-case anyone might be interested, or willing to trade for a commission. I have priced out the rarest of the cards, so I know how much they are worth (mostly just alright, but a few are pretty high).

In addition, I also have a lot of MLP cards, as well as some older and long forgotten CCGs including: Dune, L5R, X-Files, Doctor Who (pre new series) and Babylon 5.

Feel free to ask what I have in general, I don't have an exact list of cards (there are a LOT of them, so that will likely not happen). But I can give you a rough idea of how many I have in a given set.

Well, today is my birthday again. I was kind of planing on making a cake, but just not feeling it this year. Being out of work, stuck at home, ongoing medical stuff (mostly over thankfully) and feeling as lonely as ever, it just doesn't feel much like there's anything worth celebrating.

I mentioned a few weeks back that my current job was coming to an end. Well today was the last day, and there were no last minutes changes. So I'm back out looking for a new job. I've gotten a few leads already, and quite a few phone calls, but this sort of thing takes time.

Things should be okay for the time being as I knew this was coming so was able to prepare a little bit. It's not as much as I would like, but enough I should be okay.

I am hoping this will give me some time to run some writing streams during the week (and who knows, maybe even a game stream or two). Hopefully it will allow me to fully open up for commissions, and be a boost for my patreon.

I have two new stories that just went up on my Patreon, one is the final followed up to Mare's Tails and Dragon Scales Part 1 and Part 2.

The other is the first chapter is a new ongoing story featuring Theo and Felicia, and while it's got some TFs, it's more plot centric then what I usually do with Theo. There are a couple more chapters available on the patreon as well, but they haven't been edited just yet.

Both stories will also be posted on my FA in a weeks or two.

Anyone interested in doing an editing pass over the 3rd part of Mare's Tails and Dragon Scales it's heavy on the adult content, and with male, female and herm as well as feral fun.

If you're interested, drop me a note and I can get you a link to a doc you can updated.

EDIT: Found someone, yay!