My Journey

NOW

December 23, 2025

What I'm doing now

Watching & Writing About MLP
I'm rewatching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic from the very beginning, episode by episode, writing recaps and reviews as I go. I'm also working through the G4 comics with the same detailed approach; documenting my thoughts on both the show that shaped so much of my creative thinking and the expanded universe that grew around it.

Writing Fiction
I'm working on a deeply personal writing project called "Through The Lens Of..." that I don't plan to publish. It's therapeutic work. Writing that's more about processing and understanding than sharing. Sometimes the most important stories are the ones we write just for ourselves.

Meanwhile, I'm preparing to publish Under Rolling Stars II, the continuation of the original Under Rolling Stars. The story follows Josh and Twilight during a single December day when she stops between trains. It's a story about connection, creative work, and the space between what we say and what we mean, told through conversations, letters, and quiet moments that reshape everything. The manuscript is ready; I'm just waiting for the cover artwork to arrive.

Planning My First Novel
I'm in the early stages of planning out my first original novel, building the world, sketching character arcs, and figuring out the story I want to tell beyond the worlds I've already created.

Learning to Draw
I've started learning how to draw with the goal of creating digital art. The plan is to eventually host my artwork here on JayCal.net alongside my writing, combining visual and written storytelling in one space.

Welcoming Cisco
On January 15th, I'll be bringing home Cisco, a friendly sun conure who's already become my new best friend. I'm excited to share my space with this vibrant little companion.

2020s

Jun. 1, 2025

I published “Under Rolling Stars”

After months of rewrites on top of years of planning, I finally completed "Under Rolling Stars."

Under Rolling Stars

A quiet young man and a nervous unicorn share a long train ride through a post-Meld world, where silence, stories, and the slow unraveling of assumptions form the beginnings of an unlikely friendship.

David M. ColemanFimfiction

Image unavailable

This story is very personal and took a heck of a lot of time.

The image portrayed in the artwork has been on my mind for ten years. It wasn't until I was put on furlough at the height of the pandemic that I began forming early plans for a story.

Originally the story would just be a simple exchange program where there's a single portal between Earth and Equus. Something others have done. However, I wasn't motivated to do much for quite a while.

After five years of picking this up, and putting it back down, and nearly shelving it entirely, I finally got the idea for the Meld. The event that took place from 1928 to 1937. A metaphysical event that 'stitched together' Earth and Equus like 'a patchwork quilt.'

That was the thing that boosted my motivation to write this. However, I kept rewriting it for over two months before finally completing it.

Nailing the characters was hard. I kept struggling with making Josh likeable and someone people could empathize with. Then Twilight was too open. This story takes place before she would've gone to Ponyville, so writing her as she would've been then, combined with this different universe, was very, very tough.

But I did it. I pulled through, and managed to finish it. And I'm happy I did. The response has been amazing, and I'm glad people like it.