Patreon Update: Changes to Wordcount Goal (Patreon)

As you all know the last year has been incredibly devastating and tough for me. I'm improving and definitely better off than I was last year, but I'm still finding it hard to keep my energy up, and I'm still going through a cycle of burnouts about once a month. So I decided to make a change I probably should have made months ago to save myself from stress. Starting next month in March I'm no longer going to be releasing a story for all patrons every month, and instead will just be focusing on the 10,000 words worth of stories I'll be releasing for all $5+ patrons.

While sadly it means everyone will be getting one less story a month, it's a move that's really necessary to help me keep recovering and try to get ahead. The last few months I've mostly managed to meet the 15K words a month goal, but it's always been a real struggle with stories coming in at the very end of the month, like what happened this month. I believe that with one less story to worry about it'll make it easier for me to get the stories I need done on time, as well as write ahead so that I can have a buffer of stories again. Every story I've written so far these last few months has been thrown up as soon as it was finished, and I've really just been flying by the seat of my pants. Burnouts have kept me from being as productive as I know I can be, and it's been painful feeling as though I'm letting everyone down when stories come in late, or I miss a deadline for the month.

So by focusing on just the 10K words a month it will make my life easier, and make it easier for me to build a buffer again. Having stories done in advance will lead to more regular updates, and give me more freedom to work on series again. I know a lot of you are waiting for updates on It Runs in the Family and other series from the past, but those stories consume a lot more time and attention since I have to make sure it matches the tone of previous chapters and doesn't contradict things. In comparison when I need a story done in a under a week to make the monthly goal it's easier to focus on a brand new short story instead. While I love the one off stories I know many of you pledge to follow my series. By giving myself less of a workload it'll free me up to focus on these projects again.

I'm hoping this change won't upset all of you, and I hope I've explained why this will be a better move for me and my patreon going forward. It should lead to better quality stories, and certainly make my life less stressful and easier to enjoy myself as I work. I also think $5 for 10k words split up into two or three stories is still more than fair for your pledge. I'm definitely open to hearing your thoughts below, and I'm sorry that this is coming so suddenly. I was honestly considering pausing my patreon again for March because I desperately want to get ahead and have stories prepared, but I think this will be a better change going forward. It should lead to more regular updates and better quality stories and series. I honestly can't wait to have stories prepared in advance so that I can do patron polls again and let you vote on which stories you want to see each month. 

All of your support means the world to me, and I want to meet your expectations. Part of me was hoping that with time I'd just naturally improve and get back to normal, but that really seems naive in hindsight. I should have recognized how I was struggling and made a change to make my work easier for me, because being able to enjoy my work and avoid burnouts makes for a better experience for all of you as well. So feel free to let me know your thoughts on this change, and I'll be updating the $1 pledge tier to reflect that there will no longer be a story released to all patrons each month. I'm hoping that I can still put out small bits of flash fiction or works in progress as I go, but that will be a bonus for all patrons instead of a guaranteed story. I've also got to make more of a push to release my exclusive stories here out to the public, though that's a process taking a lot of energy that I don't have built up yet, but I promise I'll be working on that. I'll keep you all updated on my progress and I hope you all can understand the need for this change. Stay safe everyone and hope you enjoy the stories to come.