DatMudkipProductions

Proof I'm Doing Something - Draft Paragraph from"Little Mountain Engines", Chapter 2:
          	
          	"Well well well," cackled Stanley as he backed alongside Duke, "I heard a rumor that Ol' Dukie had himself a spill."
          	Duke rolled his eyes.
          	"But of course our Dukie doesn't just jump off the tracks willy-nilly. That'd be improper."
          	"It was an accident, Number Two."
          	"Oh, so the rumors are true?"
          	"If I derailed, you most certainly would have also derailed as well."
          	This soured Stanley's mood. "Ya make it sound like I do it as a joyful lil' hobby."
          	"Well I for one most certainly do not enjoy it," snorted Duke, "and I assure you the passengers don't like it any more than I do. Such behavior would–"
          	"Would never suit His Grace." finished an annoyed Stanley.
          	"You should take this more seriously Number Two. Passengers can be easily upset if you treat them poorly."
          	"And how would you know?", snapped Stanley, "Passengers love ya! And for what reason!?"
          	"What are you on about?"
          	"Face it Dukie, everybody loves ya! And they love ya for one reason and one reason only – ya name."
          	"There's other reasons than th–"
          	"Save it!", interrupted Stanley, "The biggest accomplishment ya've achieved off the top of my smokebox is preventin an engine from tryin to become a bird, and that was nearly twenty years ago! Meanwhile, I don't even get so much as an official name! I get no thanks, I get no respect, and I most certainly don't get the attention you do. And whatever attention I DO get is just garbage about what I'm doing wrong, even if it's outside my own control!"
          	Duke didn't know what to say. He had never really thought about why Number Two was referred to by the manager as 'Number Two', especially since many workers were already calling him by the nickname of 'Stanley'. It did seem rather odd, but try as he might he couldn’t come up with an answer. 
          	"Nothin to say to that, huh?", grumbled Stanley, “You're just like the rest of 'em, Dukie."
          	And with that, Stanley backed into the sheds and went to sleep.

DatMudkipProductions

Proof I'm Doing Something - Draft Paragraph from"Little Mountain Engines", Chapter 2:
          
          "Well well well," cackled Stanley as he backed alongside Duke, "I heard a rumor that Ol' Dukie had himself a spill."
          Duke rolled his eyes.
          "But of course our Dukie doesn't just jump off the tracks willy-nilly. That'd be improper."
          "It was an accident, Number Two."
          "Oh, so the rumors are true?"
          "If I derailed, you most certainly would have also derailed as well."
          This soured Stanley's mood. "Ya make it sound like I do it as a joyful lil' hobby."
          "Well I for one most certainly do not enjoy it," snorted Duke, "and I assure you the passengers don't like it any more than I do. Such behavior would–"
          "Would never suit His Grace." finished an annoyed Stanley.
          "You should take this more seriously Number Two. Passengers can be easily upset if you treat them poorly."
          "And how would you know?", snapped Stanley, "Passengers love ya! And for what reason!?"
          "What are you on about?"
          "Face it Dukie, everybody loves ya! And they love ya for one reason and one reason only – ya name."
          "There's other reasons than th–"
          "Save it!", interrupted Stanley, "The biggest accomplishment ya've achieved off the top of my smokebox is preventin an engine from tryin to become a bird, and that was nearly twenty years ago! Meanwhile, I don't even get so much as an official name! I get no thanks, I get no respect, and I most certainly don't get the attention you do. And whatever attention I DO get is just garbage about what I'm doing wrong, even if it's outside my own control!"
          Duke didn't know what to say. He had never really thought about why Number Two was referred to by the manager as 'Number Two', especially since many workers were already calling him by the nickname of 'Stanley'. It did seem rather odd, but try as he might he couldn’t come up with an answer. 
          "Nothin to say to that, huh?", grumbled Stanley, “You're just like the rest of 'em, Dukie."
          And with that, Stanley backed into the sheds and went to sleep.

DatMudkipProductions

I have good news and bad news.
          
          The bad news is that the story I mentioned previously (...back in 2022, yikes!) has been canceled for a variety of reasons, a few beyond my control. It just became an overcomplicated mess with a storyline that I feel was not up to my standards. Some of the stories will be salvaged for a later date, but aside that it likely will not see the light of day.
          
          The good news is, after a LOT of playing around with ideas, I have decided to write a new book. Progress on it has been very slow  but steady. It will be covering the lives of the Mid-Sodor Railway engines, a topic I feel is extremely underused by the TTTE fandom. I have a few plot points I know that I want to cover, but I don't really know how long the book will be. (This is partly due to my writing style - I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when writing, which is probably not the best way to handle such a task.) I will try to update my progress a little bit more frequently, but for now I shall leave it at that.
          
          
          TL;DR: My original project has been axed, but a new one is slowly taking its place.