New Year's Resolutions

This is the part where I act all cocky because "new year, new me". I just kind of want to lay out my planned schedule for you all—it's not a mandatory read, but it might help you understand my plans going forward: My rate of chapter production, the flashfics' fate, my miscellaneous projects, and, well, my time off.

Also, speaking of time off, I had to take today off editing. I swear, the chapter I promised is done, I'm just so tired and it won't be good if I edit it today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow everything is good. Today is rest day.

1. Five Chapters a Month

So, yeah. This is still the goal. Last year, we completed 40 charged stories in total (that's about five novels' worth, for what it's worth). Considering I meant to take summer off entirely, we actually got really close! But I can definitely do better, and I owe you all better.

My time management has gotten way, way better the last couple months. It doesn't show, because it got better around the time November and December hit and destroyed all order in my life, but I am far more productive on a daily basis than I used to be. I have a steady pace. I can get a lot done if my goals are managed a bit more responsibly.

We're always improving, always growing. When we're not, we're dead. The goal this year is 55 charged stories in total. So let's see how we do. ;)

2. One Flashfic Update a Week

Yes, this is the goal. The actual length of each update will be around 2k-3k words (so about half the size of a standard chapter). They will continue to be uncharged. Some will be exclusive to here, while others will be posted for free on my social media.

Existing flashfics will be uploaded here all at once when I have time. Some will be made free once more, while others might actually be combined and rewritten into full chapters, like some of the multipart storylines.

I think I'm gonna say Friday is the day for flashfics to go up. Don't quote me on that, though. >:P

3. Goals

So, what do I actually want to get done in 2019?

In January, I'll be writing about coil fiends, the Enchantress vs. Ranger Bonus Pairing, a two-part story about a rakshasi and a doppelganger, and continuing Intrepid Pawns. It's a pretty commission-heavy month, honestly! I'll also be posting the alt-ends sometime soon, and more flashfics are on their way!

Bigger picture, though?

I want this pesky Gamebook finished and out of my hair before it becomes a problem. I plan to have it done by the end of July—if I miss that deadline, I'll make it up to you all in some way.

We also hit some really cool pledge goals the last couple months! We hit the goal for me to compile and organize my flashfics—that's something I plan to have done by April. It's easy enough that I want a chance to do it right, and that means actually making the PDF/s remotely navigable. I want them to double as research documents for my lore! I'll also be drawing up a map of the Cloistered Lands to go with the PDF.

The "Creature Compendium" is something I think can be really cool, but I don't expect to be able to start on it until the Gamebook is done. If people would be alright being charged for it, I might be able to start on it sooner, since it could take the place of a normal chapter in my work schedule. We can decide on that later. As-is, I plan to have it done sometime in September, but it may be sooner. A lot of it depends on how ambitious we want to be with it! It's still just an idea, really. But I'm really excited to play with it. We can have polls to decide if we want a small number of detailed monster entries or tons of smaller entries, if we want to try to do some illustrations, D&D stats, the framing device, etc... this is one I'm hyped for.

Finally, we haven't actually hit the "D&D sessions" goal, but we're getting close enough to talk about it and its follow-up, the novel. I am so excited for both of them.

If we hit the goals, D&D sessions will largely begin a month or two later, taking the place of a week's flashfics. They'll be monthly, giving me time to design a new session each month (maybe if people want they can pay for an in-between session that just re-uses an older scenario). They will be text-based—I can do more fun prose stuff if it's written, anyways. High lifetime pledgers will get a free one-time slot in the queue (if there is a queue), while the $6.50 pledgers will get a renewing slot in the queue. Adventures will explore the world and history of the Cloistered Lands, as well as, well, the scenarios, with some input on kinks and stuff provided in advance by whoever's going to be playing that month. An edited summary or transcript will be provided after the game to the Goblin Vault.

As for the novel, this is something I'm hyped for. Exquisite Garden is one of my favorite unfinished projects, and I'm positive my readers will enjoy it, but I'm also hoping to make it available to a much wider audience, to introduce even more people to the Cloistered Lands. Some of it may be posted as charged Patreon content, but probably not all of it, since I'll want people to buy the ebook. I'll be sure to give patrons a discount!

Okay, aside from the pledge goal stuff, the actual stories I hope to complete this year:

• Intrepid Pawns
• Lounging in Ecstasy
• The currently unnamed story about Alrek's and Larya's first visit to the Standing Stones
• Another story about Alrek and Larya (possibly about a vampire harem, possibly about a mad succubus, possibly about something else entirely).

4. Days Off and Breaks

So, New Year's Day was a day off for me. I didn't plan it to be, but it was, which I know must have been annoying with that empty charged post in the air. I was just too tired. I do want it on the record that I worked Christmas morning, and planned to work for my birthday, too (though I ended up waffling). My sleep schedule's been all wonked up of late. Where's a fleece sprite where you need one?

For 2019, I want to try for some better transparency about when I will and won't be working. We all need days off, and sometimes we can't plan them. Sometimes a day just goes wrong, or we get sick, or we just can't bring ourselves to go to work. I'm the same way, but being self-employed and paid on a commission model makes it harder to justify. Still, it's going to happen.

Like I said, I'm striving to stick to "five chapters a month, one flashfic package a week". That said, I have a few exceptions in mind, encompassed in the image above with blue and pink outlines.

In the month of February, there will be no flashfics. This is because of how short February is. I may try to do some Twitter "blinkfics" instead, but no promises!

In the months of May, November and December, there will be only four chapters written—possibly three. I will try to keep up with flashfics, but as happened the last couple weeks, I can't make promises. These are very hectic months for me (November is particularly calamitous), so these are months where I am deliberately lowering expectations.

In "off months", AltEnds will likely be delayed substantially, and I won't be working on the Gamebook, since those are both very time-consuming projects, just like flashfics can be.

Aside from these breaks, while it's possible other months will fall short, those will be events I apologize for and try to find ways to make up to all of you.

In Conclusion

The last two things I want to say are: Thank you all so much, and Happy New Year. It's been such a wild time, and you've all been wonderful throughout it in keeping me going and keeping me actually wanting to write these stories—even when, like with the Gamebook, they got difficult for me to finish.

I also really appreciate you reading through this whole thing! I'm so verbose sometimes, honestly, it's a nightmare, I try to write a basic summary and it turns into a novel. If you want to do me one more awesome favor, I'd love to know: What would you like to see from this Patreon in the future? What would you like me to write about? What do you want to have more input on? Oh, and how did you find my Patreon, anyways? Was it MC Stories? Tumblr? Literotica? The one thing I can't get enough of is reader feedback.

And money. But that's only 'cause goblins eat the stuff.