Sneak Peeks, Plans and Updates for the Week of November 13 (Patreon)

Helloooo, Patrons! Thank you all for letting me take a little break over the past week. I spent the time wisely getting a bunch of ducks in a row, and I think (I think!) I've got everything mostly squared away for the next couple of months. So, let's talk plans.

This week's audio will be: Cute Girl Takes Care of You at Her Cozy Coffee Shop

It's four scripts, around twenty minutes in length and will be animated! The last animated audio I'll be doing for awhile, I think. (I'm shopping around for new art for some animated audios during Creature Comforts, but it's not going so hot!) If this audio does well, I'll get around to the rest of the series at some point. 

That will be out in early access tomorrow and on YouTube this Wednesday. 

The rest of November is a bit nebulous, but I did just put together a master script list to keep track of all the stuff I'm thinking about at any given time! You can take a look at that and see if there's anything you vibe with.

Re: November's remaining schedule, I'd like to try and fit some sci-fi in there, since that genre was second only to urban fantasy in the Patron-only genre poll this year; I haven't done nearly as much of it as I should. I also want to get both of November's audios out before Thanksgiving, so I can throw myself into production for December as soon as I'm done stuffing myself with, well, stuffing. ^^

Next, looking ahead to the Creature Comforts event! December is right around the corner (oh god) and there will be thirteen audios on the slate. Here's a shortlist of some possible scripts I'm eyeing. Scripts in bold are definite, and those with a * have not yet been approved for early access:

• Library Cat Girl Has a Crush on You
• Submissive Bunny Maid Sits on Master’s Lap
• Wolf Girl Therapist Helps You Build Confidence
• Cuddle Therapy at the Slime Spa
• Blind Date With a Gorgon (Gargoyle Listener)
• Caring for an Injured Orc Girl*
• Valkyrie Speaker / Viking Listener
• Your Delinquent Guardian Angel
• Plant Girlfriend Tries to Make You Dinner
• Helping Your Lamia Friend Warm Up During a Blizzard
• Your Succubus Girlfriend Devours Your Negative Emotions*
• Tomboy Caterpillar Girl Best Friend Becomes a Butterfly and Confesses*
• Tomboy Reindeer Girl Trains to Be in This Year’s Sleigh Run
• Your Girlfriend Gets Turned Into a Cat Girl

None of those audios are multiscripts, and maybe only one or two will end up animated, but I think that's okay. Time is short to get everything cooking for the event. If I can crank event audios out relatively quick, maybe I can actually have a real Christmas break. That'd be nice!

Finally, I think it's time to check in on this year's overall channel goals! I've been meaning to do that for a couple months, but time just keeps getting away from me. Let's see how we're doing in that regard.

Main Channel Goals:

One audio weekly for Vanilla Velvet Audio: I've missed a couple of weeks here and there, unfortunately! I took last week off, took a week off in June and in January, and of course COVID really knocked me off my groove. Even so, I've hit my goal of 48-52 audios for the year handily. Yay.

One themed audio event every quarter: Even though Here for the Boos! wound up happening in October rather than September as I initially planned, there's three down, just one to go! If December goes as planned, I'll have crushed this one.

At least one yandere and monster girl roleplay monthly: Haven't quite hit this one consistently. January had neither, while April and August only had yandere audios, no monster girls. But hey, pretty close! 

More long form roleplays and sequels: Totally crushed this one! Kind of killing myself in the process, but I'm having fun. I even made a little chart!

("Why am I feeling more burned out this year?" I asked myself before making this. Now it makes sense! I've made more minutes of audio in the first ten months of the year than all of 2022. Next year, I'm going to scale back a bit so I don't, y'know, die.)

Pay writers more often! Every writer who's wanted payment this year has received a little something! And anytime I paid a writer I've also worked with previously, I threw in some back pay for earlier script fills. The amount I've paid out this year works out to around 10% of my earnings before tax and expenses, I think.

Updated Channel Art: Done!

More original art for videos, more merch designs, more goodies for Patrons, etc.: Some done! Not as much as I wanted, but still did quite a bit! (Gotta get on those merch designs...and another sexy pin-up?)

Finish sound-treating and properly soundproof my recording studio! lol yeah no

The Ultimate Waifu Championship! Done! Yay!

Secondary Channel Goals:

Launch Red Velvet Audio: I think it's safe to say this is dead in the water, at least for now. I'm still giving thought to Ambient Waifu, but I just don't have the energy to devote to a whole second channel for vocal performance at this time. Maybe if I had a personal assistant, and an editor, and fewer real life responsibilities. Alas!

Write one original script per month: ...well, I've managed four this year! I think that's pretty impressive considering I didn't have any Brain Work Good pills for like five months. That's something! Maybe I can catch up and pull another eight out of a hat before the year is over?

One collab per month: I've done five this year (four audio collabs, one series collab) and I gotta tell ya, I kind of hate? the process?? I don't want to! I just do. It's nobody's fault, everyone I've worked with has been so incredibly nice and patient and talented! But it turns out I find the scheduling and coordinating and everything incredibly stressful behind the scenes.

This is one case where my mental illness has really gotten the better of me. Pour one out for my social anxiety. 😔

Channel Related/Adjacent Goals

A vtuber model for future Q&As and such: I've settled on getting a PNGtuber if I ever decide to do this sort of thing, and I have an artist already lined up.

Three or four [redacted] TOP SECRET side projects! Guess who forgot what half of these were? It's me! One was an RPG voice pack, I remember that; one was thumbnail bases, still working on that; and the other two were.....ummmmm....

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And finally...Goals I Technically Have No Control Over But Hope to Reach Anyway!

• 50,000 subs on youtube: REACHED!
• 75,000 subs on youtube: Not yet!
• 100 patrons: REACHED!
• 50 youtube members: Not yet!
• I'd like to see every (currently existing) audio reach 20k views, and all of those I produce in 2023 hit at least 10k each before the end of the year: NOPE! But most of 2023's audios have hit 10k!

Final Verdict: not bad! 2023 has been a tough year for me behind the scenes for many reasons, but I'm proud of myself for still plugging away through it all. I am going to make a concentrated effort to go a bit easier next year, because I'm feeling the threat of burnout bad.

Alright! This concludes your update for the week. I'll be back with early access tomorrow!

xoxo,

Vel