December Update 2022 (Patreon)

Hello folks!

I delayed this month's big update because it felt right - today is my birthday, and the first one since I've come back to Erotica and started pushing for my writing to be my primary source of income.

STORYTIME WITH BREAK

So let's talk about my journey with Erotica. I started writing Erotica on Literotica back in 2015 (technically late 2014, but nothing was published until 2015). At the time I had been hired into a career across Canada from where I had grown up and gone to school - it was a great opportunity, and a well-paying job that suited many of my skills; the problem was I didn't enjoy it at all and it didn't challenge me. I was unhappy and never felt settled in my new city, and I spent more and more time doing two things; TTRPGs and writing. After a couple of years working in that career, and an economic downturn, I was the 'last in, first out' layoff and needed to find a new course for my life, which was when I stopped writing and publishing. Within the year I found a new job that brought me back close to where I grew up and close to family, and it was a job that I loved and challenged me and that I was very good at. But it paid like shit, and no matter how 'valued' I and my team were often told we were, at some point a man can't keep eating shit no matter how much he loves the farm.

I've mentioned a few times over those years between 2016 and 2022 that I was thinking of making a return to erotica. I've always been writing, always been a storyteller. But I wanted to write Mainstream fiction. I wanted to be 'legit'. I even finished a novel (which, looking back at it, is god-awful). I attended a writer's conference and got to meet a couple of my storytelling idols (Brandon Sanderson was a bit of a letdown, but Kevin J Anderson was awesome). But I was never happy with what I was producing, and I was always thinking of new ideas for maintream AND erotica.

It was during this time that I started writing the Afterparty: Pool Games thread, along with the abandoned Dungeon Builder: Bugber thread. They were small and tight things that I could chip away at - well, for a bit, but then I pivoted back into mainstreamy hopes and dreams.

Late in 2021 I helped a friend who was involved with a Comics project and did some editing for him, and helped with some of the backend on a Kickstarter, and that got me thinking about my own creative endeavours again. I had known about Patreon for a long time, and had even seen some erotica authors I was reading were using it, but I was seriously concerned about whether it could work for me or not. But I took some time in January of 2022 to set this very Patreon page up, and did some editing of old stuff and transferred it over. And I made the mistake of updating my Literotica profile to say I was coming back. I feel bad about that choice because almost as soon as February of this year hit, shit hit the fan for me personally and I stopped thinking about it.

To make a long story short, my Job that I loved but paid like crap was (in my teams humble opinion) not being managed well and came out of Covid much worse than it needed to. Raises I'd been promised weren't happening. There was direct back and forth with my Boss's Boss, and my Boss's Boss's Boss, and promises were broken, or denied they were even made. Two out of six of us on the team (which was supposed to be nine people to begin with) decided to leave, and they still haven't replaced us half a year later. ANYWAYS, after looking around and seeing that other employers in the industry were treating my type of position in a similar manner, I decided I likely wasn't going to find something worthwhile and needed to make another change.

So I took July to try and decompress, and I decided this was the last opportunity I was likely going to have to try and make a career out of my love of writing. So I kicked off a Freelance Copyediting career at the end of July, and came back to Patreon for August.

And I am SO happy I did.

Don't get me wrong, I've been pulling LONG hours to make both of these things work and to pay the bills. Longer hours than I needed to in either of my previous careers where I was salaried. But the successes are mine, and the failures are mine, and I can take ownership of what works and what doesn't and make the changes I need instead of just needing to ride along under someone else.

We are now Five months into this journey, and Patreon has reached a monthly income that is on par with what I had been making in my previous career and I'm phasing out the Freelance Copyediting. I'm spending more and more time writing, and I'm still stressed like crazy since I don't exactly have a guarantee that things won't come crashing down around me, but with the support of you all here and over on Literotica, and CHYOA, and MCStories, I am looking ahead to my next year a lot more hopeful than I have in the past.

I think I'll leave future Goals for my New Year update, but for now let me just end this little storytelling sesh by saying I am so thankful to ALL of the folks who have supported me this year, and in years past. I'm spending this birthday writing (other than this update) Font of Fertility. Next year, if the world hasn't collapsed and the global economy hasn't imploded and we're all hunting our fellow man for the cookfires, I'm hoping I'll have time to celebrate with more than a quick steak dinner with my family. But for now, spending it with Jerry and the girls and knowing how many people are as in love with them as I am? That's a pretty good birthday in my book.

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STORY UPDATES

The OnlyFans Girl: We're still progressing at our weekly(ish) rate. To be honest, the 7 Chapter releases feel a little daunting sometimes, but I think they are better than the 5 Chapter ones and are worth it. I'm really happy with the way the relationship between the Trio is developing, and the challenge of writing the Law Office stuff is really interesting to balance out. I recently took the time to write out a bunch of the future ideas I have for the story and it ended up being about a page and a half of bullet points, and that was just major development things. I can't say for sure how long this story will go, but it's definitely got legs. Shoutout to Aurelian14 for continuing as the Patron Saint of OFG, too!

AMA: The Boyfriend: Our other weekly rate story, every time I come back to Robbie I surprise myself. I think writing this story with the Polls is making things REALLY interesting for me. Coming into the story, and developing the cast, I had some ideas about who Robbie might get sexual with and when. Some of those plans have been delayed, and others have gone right out the window! It's also been really interesting seeing the debates going on, especially over on CHYOA, about Cassidy and the nature of their relationship, and the nature of the App and the impacts on the different characters. Suffice to say, there is still a LOT of story left for AMA and I'll definitely keep using the Polls. Looking forward, I think what will likely happen is we'll get through the Trip (all 7 days), and then take a small hiatus to work on something else before we pick back up with the aftermath of the trip (which I DO have plans for, though we'll see how well those plans hold up to the story developing).

That being said, our Day 3 Girls are pretty set, and watching the voting happen was really interesting. One of the big outliers, and someone I need to figure out, is Cattie! How things develop with her is going to be a major subplot moving forward I think. I'm also really interested in seeing how people are reacting to Cassidy, who has had some WILD differences in how people read her.

Font of Fertility: I love this series. But, and I say this with all that love in my heart, I kind of hate it too. George RR Martin has talked about writing A Song of Ice and Fire as him tending a garden - he planted seeds, and helped the shoots grow, and as the books went on the garden got crazier and crazier and harder to manage. That's how I feel about FoF. There is SO MUCH going on that when I'm writing it I feel like I want to push things forward quickly, but I also don't want to skip over the little things that really make the story and the characters feel alive.

It's funny - when I came back to the story I did a bunch of plot development and layouts, and I mapped what I thought the next series of chapters would look like. Planning vs Reality - we've reached the end of 'Chapter 9' in that plan and I'm in the middle of Chapter 14.

At the end of the day, the story will take as long as it takes. Now that I'm clearing more erotica writing time in my schedule, I want to get back to that bi-weekly release schedule that I'd been trying for before as I think that's a better release schedule for a story like FoF.

Quaranteam: North West: Another series I love, and honestly one I'm a little scared of. CorruptingPower's original series is so great, but the timeline of events in the world very much fits HIS story and I need to fit within it. Which means things are going to be happening fast and furious for Harrison and the House of Black. I'm really looking forward to getting to work on the next chapter, and the help you guys provided in offering some more ideas for the future House members has sparked some interesting internal debates about who, how and when some new characters will start showing up.

The Afterparty: Both of the threads (Pool Games and The Bully) are complete! I know some folks are interested in a follow up for them. I think what I may end up doing is including that as an option as a one-off story when I do my next poll. I just want to make sure I'm fulfilling the regularly scheduled programming before I do that again (finishing Pool Games took way too long). 

As a side note, one of my commissioners from August has mentioned being interested in me writing some more chapters for one of the stub threads. They want things to 'move to the action quickly', so I don't know if it'll be a thread I want to bring over to Patreon releases. If it's worthwhile (and actually goes ahead) I will let you folks know.

Masseuse and the MILF: So far you folks have seen two drafts for this one-off story. Finishing this commission story is my priority once I get the next FoF and QT:NW chapters out. Multiple folks mentioned being disappointed that Marissa is likely going to get cut from the story. I get it! So am I. Rather than folding her into one of the other series, I think she's going to end up getting a story of her own at some point in the future. I like her character and her little oddities too much.

Alright, I've rambled enough for now, and that steak dinner I mentioned is looming. Cheers to you all, and thank you again for being supporters of these stories. It means the world to me that folks are rallying behind my work, and the characters that come spilling out of my head. 

~Break