An Update Regarding the Summer (and an apology~) (Patreon)

Hey everyone. I'm very sorry for leaving you all in the dark for a while here. This sort of message really should have been announced earlier, but as you'll read below, I've had my hands and head full recently, and that's taken me away from time I'd usually spend on the Patreon.

The most important take-away from this post is that my upload schedule will be on semi-hiatus for a few months. At least for the rest of this summer, there will only be one story upload per month, rather than the usual two. The past couple years, I've allowed myself one "cheat month" where I only upload a single story and allow myself some extra time to get caught up on other work. However, with the summer being as it is, I'm going to have to extend that out to a "cheat season" and get by with light additions to upload.

I'm very sorry to disappoint patrons once again. Two stories a month is already such low expectations, and going to a single upload a month is such a drag. I know if I was my own patron, I'd be annoyed that this creator can't keep up with a consistent schedule, and even more upset that very likely, that once-a-month story isn't even a story I'd want to read. I feel especially guilty for my most recent patrons... It's not cool to sign up for a Patreon, only to find out that the creator is immediately cutting back production. I completely understand, especially in this economy right now, that this might not be the best time to be pledging to a writer that's writing less and less.

The reason for me pulling back is due to overwhelming stress and depression. Summers have always been rough for me, the heat just boils everyone over and pushes anxiety over the top... but this summer in particular has been more cruel than usual. My irl job, which is usually quiet and allots me ample time to write, has become hectic and disorganized, due to a staffing issue that has resulted in inept employees that I constantly have to clean up after -- and during our busiest season, no less. This straightforwardly gets in the way of my time to write, but additionally, my mental health has been deteriorating so badly, that I rarely have the energy or creativity to write. I always feel like this gets reflected in the writing itself, and that the quality of my writing goes down during these low times, which only discourages me more from wanting to write, fearing it's just going to be subpar or worse. Furthermore, my personal relationships have been strained, my financial stability has been uncertain, and my health has been neglected. While I am on route to get some help with some of these issues, the stress has not lightened up; I'm constantly finding myself snapping out, having twitch fits, thinking the worst of people and circumstances, yelling at or hitting myself... It's very much not like how I want myself to be, and I don't predict this changing soon, not the way things are.

Ultimately this climate has beaten me down, but I will endure. I know that once summer is over, and the literal heat dies down, things will slowly return to normal, and I'll be much happier to be alive. In the meantime, I will continue to make as much progress in my writing as I can -- there's several stories I'm soooo looking forward to upload here soon, I'm sure many of you will love to see what I've got going. But I don't want to push writing out and sacrifice quality for quantity; I don't want to upload stories I feel passionate about but regret due to their poor quality. I hope most of you are on the same page as me here and also hope to see better writing more than an exact number of uploads per month.

Thank you all for your patience, whether you're just a reader or a commission-tier patron, I truly appreciate it.

Lastly, I want to mention here on the Patreon as well that I will no longer be posting uploads or updates on my Twitter. While I might still use Twitter for messages or... twittery things, I will no longer be using it to announce new uploads, as it's been usually used for. Instead, I highly recommend people follow me on my Tumblr! You can find that here. I don't intend on being any more sociable on Tumblr than I was on Twitter, but that will be my new go-to place for general social media purposes. I'm on the look-out for a better social media place to make a nest in, but I'm also not in a rush to sign up for these new sites that have many of their own issues. Tumblr isn't the best, but it's at least normal and I know how to use it; I don't really care though, because writing rarely gets attention on any social media site anyway, so it isn't a huge deal. A huge reason I could just drop Twitter and move on is because it was hardly getting me engagement in the first place, so, as usual, there's no where else but up~

Thanks again, and I look forward to having a new story for you all to enjoy in August!