I know we've got quite a few writers here at the Arena, so I was hoping someone might have some advice

I've been writing a fantasy series for the past 10 years or so, and it's now up to 11 manuscripts long (split into two corresponding storylines).  My husband finally got the fire lit under my tush to start editing the first novel in earnest so that hopefully by the end of the year, I can start actually thinking about publication.  The problem is, editing is *hard* for me and I've been trying to come up with ways to keep my motivation going strong.  I'm a member of a writing group on FB and know that there are a lot of people with author pages and have been thinking about starting one up for myself.

My conundrum now is that I'm pretty stuck in the fantasy world I've been writing for a good chunk of my life and, at least for now, I have no desire to ever actually write outside of it.  I've already dubbed the entire collection of manuscripts with a broad title, dividing the two storylines into proper series, and so I started toying with the idea of making a series group as opposed to an author page.  (So, instead of having my social media avenue be "Katika - author", it would be "The Afflicted Saga") 

What I'm wanting to know is, would you prefer to follow an author's page, or the page of the only series that author plans on putting out?  I do realize that I may end up changing my mind and branching out, but that's a bridge I can cross if/when I reach it.  I get that a lot of people like the personal feeling of being "friends" with an author, but at the same time, my stories are about my world and my characters, not myself.  Any opinions on this matter would be super helpful and very much so appreciated

(Also, if any of you do have author pages, please share them!  I love supporting fellow writers )

Hoping this is okay to post, but I've seen a lot of people (myself included ) that were anxious about Diamond Mint and the new brushables of Skywishes, Sunset Shimmer and Sweetie Drops being sold out on Hasbro's website.  They seem to have restocked today, so if you were aiming to order them, now's your chance!

(Not sure if this belongs in WYP, but since I'm looking for management advice, rather than actual support, I figured I'd try it here first.  So sorry if I posted in the wrong spot!)

Long story short, my 11.5 year old Belgian Malinois developed a super mysterious upper respiratory issue when she was around 4 years old.  It involves a deep, rattling and sometimes productive cough/choke/heaving and a lot of thick, yellowish nasal discharge.  PLEASE NOTE!!! Telling me to take her to the vet is not helpful at all at this point - she's been seen by 8 different clinics since this began, from normal vets, to military vets, to University vets, to specialist and referral clinics; at least 10 different doctors across 4 different states have tried to figure out what is actually wrong with her to the tune of a small fortune, and the best we've been able to figure out is that she's allergic to a LOT of things and seems a little less affected when we're super diligent about keeping the house clean and not a lot is growing outside.  She has had bronchoscopies and radiographs and cultures run from her lungs and nasal passages and nobody can figure out what is actually the cause of what's going on.

That said, the past few weeks, she has seemed significantly worse at night, usually between the hours of about 1 and 4am.  Her cough/congestion will wake her up during the night and it'll take her about an hour to settle down again, only to have it wake her again thirty minutes later.  During the daytime, she can sleep through full naps just fine without issues, but at night, it's rough on both her and me because I wake up and worry over her until she can settle down again.  My question is, can anyone think of anything that could be happening exclusively at night that could cause this?  I don't know enough about weather/whatever to be able to tell if it could be a humidity thing or a pressure thing or what, but it's just a really, really strange coincidence to me that she can be fine during the day but probably 5 nights a week is when she's at her worst.  Our treatments for her condition so far have been primarily high-maintenance management for her, and I would be willing to try anything to fix this part, too, but I just don't know where to start on tweaking the environment this time.  Thoughts?  Experience?  Advice? 

Thank you, if anyone has any suggestions   I know it may be a long shot.

Has anybody tried to condition/style/use water on the three new G4 babies from Target?  I collect loose and typically condition/style hair when I first open ponies, but haven't gotten up the nerve to do these girls yet because it looks like the ink in their hair will wash right out if I try (heck, the print on my Apple Bloom barely shows up in her purple streak to start with).  I'd really like to get them conditioned but am reluctant to try in case it "ruins" their hair.  I'd much prefer less-than-stylish hair over washing out one of their unique features.  Anyone have any experience with this yet?

I've been entertaining the idea of getting myself a couple of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats (my husband and I don't drink enough milk to make a full sized dairy goat or miniature cow practical at this time) for a couple of years.  I've done a decent amount of research, have a degree in Animal Science and a pretty solid background in dairy *cattle*, but not so much with goats. 

I do understand that goats are a lot of work.  I know that they are escape artists.  I know that having a dairy animal is a huge commitment.  I'm not looking for that sort of information.  I'm looking more for practical, day to day stuff that might not be as commonly thought of as the big points.  I'm also trying to figure out how far away you need to keep a buck from the does to discourage the strong "goaty" flavor that can pop up in cheese.  I know that you need to keep them away, but are we talking yards, or miles?

Pictures are totally welcome, too, because goats are pretty amazing critters  

I'm leaning towards the "no hope" option for both of these conditions, but somehow *just* found out about whitening dingy ponies with hydrogen peroxide so know that there are things that I still don't know and thought I'd ask 

Anyway, is there any hope of I guess fading out the "rust halos" that the second set of G1 Rainbow ponies are prone to getting?  I've half-heartedly tried tooth paste (since it gets rid of tail rust) and a product called Basic H (since it cleans pretty much anything) with no luck.  I'd give CLR a go but don't really like using it for much of anything, anyway, and have a feeling it'd do bad, bad things to a pony.  Any suggestions?

My other question is, is there any way to re-soften G1s after their bodies have hardened?  It seems like only my HTF G1s that have hair cuts (and thus need rehairing...) are the only ones that have this happen to them.  I'm assuming it's something that broke down with the plastic and that this is pretty hopeless, but might have found something about fixing hardened plastic in antique dolls with sewing machine oil?  I'm not sure if it was answering the same question that I was after because they were using a LOT of doll-world jargon that I don't know.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure both of these are "Sorry, your pony's going to have to stay sad" answers, but I do know that there are some people in this community that are much more adventurous than I am in finding cures for such ailments   Thanks for any light any of you can shine on these questions!!

Hey everyone!

This is my first time ever needing to manage my farm critters when true temperatures are going to be below zero (-10 tonight, -2 tomorrow night) and even though I keep thinking I have everything that I need to done for them, I'm still freaking out about their well being

I've got three horses; a Friesian cross that typically hates being blanketed, an OTTB that gets the shivers at 40 degrees and an aged Arab that spent most of his life living outside in Missouri weather (but I've been blanketing him when it's 20 or below, due to his age).  I also have a small, mixed flock of chickens and three barn cats.  All of the critters are in my barn right now, with the barn closed up, and it's currently maintaining about 10 degrees warmer than the true temperature.  I'm planning on not sleeping much over the next couple of days to keep warm water flowing to them (I don't believe in using electric heat sources of any sort - including for buckets - inside the barn), and I have enough horse blankets to get my two lightweights doubled up and my Friesian cross covered up if it gets to that point. 

Pretty much, I'm wanting to know if anyone else here has any experience with this sort of cold weather while managing critters that don't go inside the house (the barn cats and chickens *do* have room in my house, if it comes to that, but I've also been warned that doing so might mess up their ability to thermo-regulate for the remainder of winter).  I'm a worrier by nature and my critters mean the world to me...  any advice would be MUCH appreciated

Didn't see a post about this yet this year, so I'll start!

Who's up to NaNoWriMo this year?  For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a 30 day challenge through the month of November to write a 50k word novel.  Winners get a certificate unique to that year and crazy bragging rights for writing a novel in a month!  Tons of fun!

This will be my seventh (I think?) year participating and I'm super excited!  I'm writing the sequel to last year's novel this year, but was a little worried about it since I only really knew where I had to end with it.  Went back and trudged my way through last year's novel (haven't been around to editing it yet and MAN!  It is rough!  LOL!) and the plot for this year's hit me full force.  I now cannot WAIT for November to come because this story wants to be told NOW!

So, pony friends, how many of you are participating this year?