Weekly Update - 1/19/22 - "Jerry Is A Little Bit Late Tonight" (Patreon)

Glad to see everyone's enjoying the latest chapter of Phil's Tale that dropped yesterday. I knew when I started in on that commission that I was going to get a chance to flex a bunch of other writing genres that I'd not even touched for stuff that I'd written here previously, and the introduction of the Russians attempting to abduct Phil was something I'd had planned for a while. I saw a number of people saying they love the story and wish they could get it more often. If that's true, you're welcome to bump your subscription up to a Tier 4, and I could put out two chapters of Phil's Tale in a month guaranteed. (But don't feel like you have to, folks. I get that money is tight. I just feel obliged to remind you the option is there.) Otherwise, patience is a virtue, and just know that I try to make each chapter as great as possible, and there will be loads more coming in Phil's story. I think we're about five or six chapters away from getting to see Phil and Andy's first meeting during plague times from Phil's perspective, and I assure you, it's gonna be way different than you think it is. Andy's perspective on Phil and Phil's perspective on Andy are lightyears apart. (Narrator: Phil's the one who knows a lot more.)

As of this morning, the Patreon officially started to cover my monthly rent, which is a nice thing to wake up. It doesn't cover food, cell phone bills, power for the car, etc., so it's still not a full-time gig, but I think people have hopefully seen me putting more time into projects here as a way to say thank you for all of your support. We're also not that far from the 200-subscriber number, and much as we did for the 100-subscriber number, I have something planned for that as well. 

I started in work on Morgana's Gift Part 7 just a little bit ago, and it'll be interesting to see what I eventually put out on 1/21, because everything is still very much in flux. I'm trying to make sure I don't chew through all of my narrative runway while also not making it seem like things are spinning in place instead of moving things forward. I remember when I started in on that story that I was worried people would be upset that there were so many diversions, and that not every section had a sex scene in it, but I got a lot of positive feedback from people that it wasn't just okay that I would do chapters without sex, but that they actively enjoyed that I did that. Not everyone agreed with that, but enough people did that I felt comfortable stretching my writing legs a bit and delving more into plots, characterization and back stories. I suppose all of this is a way of saying I don't know that there will be sex in the next MG section. I don't know that there won't be either, though, and I'm sort of winging this a bit more than usual, as I'm juggling lots of different stories in my head right now. We'll see! It'll be a surprise to everyone!

The poll for Brewster's Brood seems overwhelmingly in favor of the direction I wanted to take it, so along with Brewster's Brood 8 on 1/28, I will also be posting the first incarnation of BB: Mrs. Churchill's Notes, which will serve as a cast of characters for everyone involved in that particular storyline, including all the women that have been mentioned in any way so far, as well as Mrs. Churchill's team. I will be breaking the fourth wall a little in that Mrs. Churchill will have a note about herself in the notes, which wouldn't be there if I was strictly writing it entirely from Mrs. Churchill's perspective, but I figure it's okay to allow myself the one unusual entry, considering how many characters will be in it. 

Mrs. Churchill's Notes will get updated when a new group of ten is added to the pool. That means there may be people who get referred to between those two points won't be added until the next group comes in. What this practically means is that you may hear about characters in groups down the line who aren't appearing yet, and they won't be added to the Cast notes until the next group comes along, even if they aren't part of that group. This will enable me to do some foreshadowing of characters in groups down the line, and they will show up in the cast before their group, but only when I do a group update, so I'm not updating the damn thing with every post. So, for example, if I give you detail about a character in, say, Echo Group, in two chapter's time, you won't see them added to the Notes file until Charlie Group joins the game, but at that time, you will see them in a mostly empty section saying Echo Group. That's probably way more explanation than I needed to give you, but I felt like it's important to set that expectation correctly.

 The votes from the Tier 3/4s looks like it's a squeaker but is going to come out in favor of the next Quaranteam chapter for 2/4, although it looked like Janus Coins put up a good fight, so maybe I'll make that the story for 2/18, although that's not set in stone yet. 2/11 will obviously be Brewster's Brood 9, as this time I'm going to remember to get the first part of BB in a month onto a Friday slot. (Less unforced errors seems wise.) The last Friday slot for February, 2/25, will be voted on by Tier 3s and 4s around the first week in February, so if you want to have a vote in that, you can always consider upgrading. 

For those of you who aren't subscribers but come here to keep tabs on what's coming to the public sites, If I'm Honest 7 dropped publicly last Saturday, and Quaranteam: Phil's Tale 2 will drop this upcoming Saturday. (Of course, if you were a patron, you'd already have read the explosive chapter 3 everyone's talking about!) 

Lastly, the track I mentioned in QTPT3, "London Can Take It" from Public Service Broadcasting is a real track from an amazing band that blends electronics, banjos and old public domain audio. I've had the great joy to see them live a few times, and if you aren't listening to them, I definitely suggest adding them to your Spotify library, because they're bangers.

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - London Can Take It - YouTube