Weekly Check-In - (LATE, 5/29/24) (Patreon)

First of all, I want to apologize for the lateness of this week's check-in. I'm getting close to the end of book four of Path of Dragons, so I was a bit distracted. I hope you'll all understand!

This past week was pretty awesome. Not only has Path of Dragons remained on the front page of the Popular This Week list on Royal Road for far longer than I expected (it's starting to drop now that book 3 is done over there, and I'm only posting a chapter a day, rather than two), but we're also on the verge of reaching ONE THOUSAND Patreon subscribers. That is a huge number that I never expected to reach, especially not before expanding the audience with Amazon readers. So, thank you so much for all of your support. I hope the story continues to be entertaining for you.

In addition, Death: Genesis experienced a brief surge of popularity (not sure why), with three books hitting the top 5000 on Audible. So, that was pretty cool, too.

So, a fun week filled with success, which helps with the motivation for sure.

That said, with increased visibility comes increased trolling (more 0.5 ratings on RR, usually on the first or second chapter). So, if you haven't rated/reviewed Path of Dragons yet, head on over to Royal Road HERE and toss one my way. It'll help to counteract the bad actors.

In more specific Path of Dragons news, as I said - we're on the verge of book five, which I think is going to be the best one yet. I've been working hard on the outline, so I think it'll end up fitting together really well. I've also been setting things up for books 6 and 7, which is really fun, too. So, I'm having a blast with planning everything, and I hope it'll all pay off for readers like you all.

Regarding Death: Genesis, I'm at a bit of a crossroads, I think. I've been considering putting it on hiatus for a month or so while I push content with Path of Dragons. The reasoning is that the workload is getting pretty heavy, and as a result, I'm losing some of my enthusiasm for my longest-running series. In that hiatus, I wouldn't necessarily stop working on the story. I'd spend that time planning the final 4-5 books so that when I went back to it, it would all flow easily.

I'm not a hundred percent certain if I want to do that, and I'm worried about losing momentum if I do. Still, it's not something that would happen until the end of book 9, so I've still got some time to consider how it would impact my process as well as readers who are looking forward to seeing Zeke's story unfold.

If you have opinions about it, let me know. Because the last thing I want to do is abandon the fans of the story.

In any case, for now (and probably for the next 30-45 days at least), it's full steam ahead with my current schedule.

So, that's what's going on in my world. Thanks again for all your support, and if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know via the comment section, on Discord, or through Patreon's direct messaging function.