Break’s Over! Updates & New Schedule Inside

Hey everyone! How have you all been?

I hope you got some good reading done. On my end, I did plenty of that. Finally read Skillgrinder in a Timeloop which made me dig up an old draft of a timeloop story that I might start on when I have some downtime... I've read Path To Transcendence and Lone Wanderer, started a couple of other stories I've been meaning to check out, and finally watched Severence (if you haven't, go check it!)

All in all, it's been a great and much, much needed break. It wasn't as productive as I wanted it to be, but I did recover a bit. Now that I've had a real break and taken a step back, I think I've gotten a bit too close to a mini-burnout, and it showed from the few late chapters. It had gotten a bit difficult to focus on writing and outlining, and while constantly having the pressure to write might have been good for productivity initially, it was becoming unsustainable.

So. From now, on, I'm hoping to find a new rhythm that's a bit less taxing to maintain, while lessening the pressure and improving quality. I might drop it after a couple of month of trial to go back to a more rigid timetable, but for now, I gotta give it a shot because the previous rhythm isn't great for me. So here's what I'm planning:

• A more relaxed and spread out schedule. The week will start with Undersea on Monday, then will finish with Scorching, and the chapters will go up when they're ready. My aim is 2-4 chapters/week for each story, but if I'm stuck on one, I'll move on to the other story and give myself time to come up with a satisfying resolution, and I'll catchup on the quota the week after. I get to focus on one story at a time with a more relaxed schedule, and I get to give the chapters their time. Sometimes I get stuck, or I'm unhappy with a chapter for one reason or another, and though the pressure is good for getting things done and published, I'm noticing that it's ending up with me rushing things then having to go back and fix them/edit them. Which is a pain. Small edits are fine. Character arc edits or system/magic edits are a much larger source of friction and stress, and time crunching isn't good for those (not for me, anyway). At this time, it feels like whatever time I save from the rush I'm losing twice-over later on dev edits. This doesn't meant there will never be dev edits... but I'm pretty sure they will be less frequent. Significantly so.

• Starting May, I'll be taking some updates off in the last week of the month. This doesn't mean no chapters, but it would be a week of no expectations. There might be a few chapters, especially if I'm in the zone, but there might also be nothing. Breaks are needed, preferably before my energy levels get in the red, and I could use that time to take it easy, outline, or maybe even edit. I don't want to find myself grinding non-stop until I'm mentally exhausted (like a month ago). It nearly took me the full-month to recover, and that's not sustainable in the long-term.

• If I notice that the output significantly decreases with the breaks... then I will lower the cost of the Patreon tier. For now I think I can maintain the monthly wordcount and maybe even increase it (especially if the chapters get larger), but if not, we'll adjust.

That's basically it. I'm looking forward to diving into the next chapters. Undersea book 3 is starting, and so is Book 2 of Scorching. And who knows... maaaaaybe something else will come soon. I'm not sure yet. I got two ideas jostling around in the back of my head but even if I start them, their output will be pretty damn low. At least until one of the other two project is finished.

Thank you all for your support, and talk to you soon!

PS: There will be Undersea today and tomorrow (2 or 3 chapters, we'll see). For Scorching, first release is tomorrow until the end of the week. Probably three chapters. The prologue/epilogue is almost done, just gotta clean up a few things. Then Monday we get into the new rhythm with Undersea.