Twat Talk 11: Year 1 Review (Patreon)

Welcum to Twat Talk! My pussy has googly eyes attached and I'm ready to squirt Truth!

Yep, still dabbling in AI art. The image I actually got wasn't that cohesive, had a scabbard coming out of her head and the hilt was backwards, so did a little 'shopping to clean it up, but I do love me some warrior Honoka.

2022! What a year!

In December of 2021, I didn't think I could write ever again. I've mentioned it before, but I have serious handicaps and they are degenerative. For a lot of 2021 I tried to write and it wouldn't happen. I was ready to give up and just accept that one more thing was taken from me. Then I helped someone write an explicit scene for their book. After that I made a complete outline for someone's novel. It wasn't like it was before, I have a lot of weird hang ups to write today that I didn't struggle with even 2 years ago. I know people who have broken their backs and had to relearn how to walk, back when I was dealing with my own (much less severe) injury and did PT. I went through that, but with writing, with creativity. Ultimately, this is why the story I started with was named Ai Love Therapy. I wasn't hiding anything, those chapters were my therapy.

Patreon wasn't an easy decision for me. I still don't feel capable of providing consistent content. It terrifies me that I'll stare at the screen and not have anything to write. Then when the month ends, all I'll have is this crushing disappointment from all you wonderful people, each and every one of you turning your backs on me because I missed a deadline.

Yes, I understand that isn't how you look at me. Can't help myself, I have nightmares about this. No joke, really happened, one night dreamed I was in Annabelle Hawthorne's kitchen, she was making french toast (because of course we are lovers), when I find out I forgot to write anything and everyone hated me on Discord. The rest of the dream wasn't important, especially the ninja vans (vans that practiced ninjutsu, not vans holding ninjas). So actual nightmares.

Didn't help that my expenses were greater than my income this year. Halfway through the year, thanks to rising costs and running out of saving buffers, suddenly Patreon wasn't just a fun side hobby I was planning on doing things with. It was paying bills and feeding me and Spouse. Suddenly I NEEDED to make this work.

It got to me. Last few months, I have been doing stuff - secret projects and such - because secret projects come with a price tag attached. I didn't just need you all, I needed everything I could possibly do. Which is when I had a bit of a burnout. I was really ready to just give up and hold out a collection cup, letting you all know I failed and cancelling payments for a few months. Because whatever else I may be, I am offering a service and I don't feel right taking money for nothing. It isn't who I am.

Some generous angels left us some food in November when I was at my lowest. There are some generous individuals supporting me right now on Patreon, going above and beyond. I debated calling them out, but they know who they are. Posting on Scribblehub has been an amazing blessing because I have seen such an incredible influx of patrons since then, and I can only imagine it is because I put in the effort on that site.

The question I wanted to ask myself is, what have I done this year and do I think it is worth it? Well, you know me: I like numbers. Let's crunch some.

• Becoming Monsters: 44 chapters published, 2 of them interlude chapters, 2 summary chapters. 40 chapters republished from Book 1, 4 from Book 2. A few pieces of AI art for the characters, the new Book 2 cover finished, 224k wordcount with 18.4k of that new content from Book 2. Book 1 either is or soon will be available on Literotica and Scribblehub and will update with a 2 month wait between them and Patreon releases.

• Ai Love Therapy: 8 chapters published, a cover, 97.2k wordcount, and it got me writing again. I hope to finish the arcs I have planned, some of them possibly this year.

• Monster Pirate Whores: 3 chapters published, fixed up the cover from the art I had commissioned years ago, 24.3k wordcount. I have their next arc outlined, just looking for time to write it.

• The Ai Love Social Showcase: 1 chapter, 10.4k wordcount. This was a bit of fun from my early Twit days, but I might return to do more microfiction in the future. In fact, I have an idea for some right now and am just trying to figure out where to put it.

• Necronowicum: 1 book, 6.4k wordcount, 21 text art pages. This was a project and a half, and I still haven't returned the favor to Editor-kun for doing all that hard work on it.

• Fantasy Farm Fantastic!: 2 chapters, I made the cover, 2 groups of commissioned art for the main characters, 22.9k wordcount. Believe me, I am going to come back here. This is a bit of fun passion project for me.

• Steambotica: 4 chapters, I also made this cover, 26.7k wordcount. Same as FFF, love this story and I want to see it finished. Both of these I hope to see at least the first book finished this year.

• Bethany Is Also Horny: 3 chapters, 54.4k wordcount, 10 insert images I formatted and edited. A much larger project than I intended it to be, I am immensely pleased with the final product. 

I also got my groove back as an art director and cover formatter. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I've put in hundreds of hours this year on some projects you know about - like the Dead And Horny cover and Master Class hard cover - and a few others that still haven't been released. Also have a few more Top Secret Projects that haven't been released. While the rough words for those are more than 50k and include over a dozen images and covers, I won't count them because I don't want to count what isn't finished. So I put in a lot of work for other things, but because they aren't finished, they'll be counted for this year.

So, what is the damage? This year I published 205.6k words of old content, specifically Becoming Monsters Book 1. New or repurposed content? 260.7k. I also formatted 8 covers and over a dozen chapter art inserts. I learned how to navigate and publish on Literotica, Patreon, Royal Road and Scribblehub. Adding up the view counts of Lit, Scrib and RR, the total views is 317k! Woo! So many people are reading my words!

secretly whispers: don't look at Annabelle's numbers, don't look at Annabelle's numbers, don't look at Annabelle's numbers...looks...

OK!! Going to do so much better this year and not compare myself to other authors AT ALL!!

Honestly, I'm very happy. I went from not thinking I could write anything to publishing across multiple platforms in multiple genres and styles. 260K isn't Brandon Sanderson levels of production, but then again, I'm not Brandon Sanderson. I'm working part time, juggling everything by myself and all with my own set of unique problems. All told, even with a bit of fumble the last few months, I powered through last week and ended the year as strong as I think I ever could have.

And I have (I'm choking up and this paragraph is taking a long time to write), I have you all to thank. You haven't just been fans, you've given me hope. IRL, I've published books. Not like these, but Becoming Monsters wasn't my first publication. And they flopped. I've wanted to be an author since I was 10 years old, and now when I thought I had given up, here you all are, reading my stories and getting excited when I write something new. Thank you. Your gift means more to me than I can express.

checks time, grimaces

Spouse will be home soon and I wanted to get this done today. For this year, I don't have a lot of defined goals. I want to get as much of Becoming Monsters Book 2 done as possible. Most of it is written, but there are some chapters that are bad enough it would be easier to just rewrite them. Top Secret Projects are going to keep happening, but I'll try and juggle better this time around and one of them is going to be a Big Deal. Want to definitely get the first book of Fantasy Farm Fantastic! and Steambotica done. The next thing I'll be working on is Portal Pussy, though, so I'll just keep typing along and see where I get. I know that isn't as resolute as y'all might've expected, but I've reached a point in my life where I will get done as much as I can and then see what gets done. I can't expect more of myself than that. 

I love you, and I hope you feel love in all your lives. God bless, and here's hoping 2023 is the bestest year ever!!

This has been another vigorous edition of Twat Talk. Queefing Out!