February Newsletter (2019)

This is cross-posted from Patreon.

Good news! I still don't have leukemia. Gonna be happy about that one for a while!! Patreon rewards are going up today and I'm so grateful to everyone for being patient with me. You are all the best, thank you. I want to talk about some changes I'd like to make regarding the Patreon structure here, and how I think these changes will spark more joy for us.

Change #1: First of Month Newsletter / End of Month Postings. When I began this patreon it made sense to me to post everything on the first of the month. You should get all your February rewards on February 1st, right? But since a big part of the patreon structure for me is this newsletter, I ended up writing newsletters which perpetually looked backwards. I was giving you a report card and apologizing for not doing more--which I don't think does anything but depress people and certainly didn't make me feel like a success.

What I'd like to try is a newsletter at the first of the month which tells you what I hope to work on that month, which seems like a much better way to build enthusiasm than rattling off how I failed once again to pack 90 days worth of ambition into the last 30 days of living. Will the postings at the end of the month accurately reflect what I stated I wanted to work on? I don't know! Maybe not! I'm going to try to embrace the flexibility you've all so generously extended to me and write what my heart and my fingers want to write.

Change #2: Earthside Goes Live. I've been dragging my feet on posting my Earthside WIP chapters because... like... I know a lot of the content will change between this first draft and the final published copy. It's scary for me to post something which isn't "final". Now I'm going to embrace that fear and post anyway. The same is true for my magical fire mage WIP, which I realized stalled because I was afraid of doing anything which would require a change to what had already been posted up on Patreon. I'm going to make strides in plowing ahead and making a literary mess and embracing that first drafts are supposed to change. Writing is rewriting and I think everyone here heartily accepts that!

Change #3: Content Diversification. I had a lot of time to think while I was sick this month and I realized I've been juggling all these content creation projects--writings (books, short stories, scribbles), blog posts (films, Prairie Fires, Narnia, Wrinkle in Time, Twilight), YouTube videos, and Twitter threads. The whole time I've been making all this content, I've been carrying around this complicated hierarchy like a cross on my shoulders: I "only" worked on a YouTube video today, I didn't do the "good" words for my book, I "wasted" time writing an educational Twitter thread, etc. NO MORE. This is guilt that I've been carrying around for no reason and you all made me realize that when I asked for more time to put up the "good" content. Thank you.

So: There will be content every month. I can't promise it will be books or stories or videos or blog posts or twitter threads all in the same month because that's a LOT of content while I'm working overtime at the day job, but there will be content and it will be produced with love and brought before you with all my gratitude that you're here to share this space with me.

Change #4: Giving Back. As much as possible, I am striving to make my spaces accessible and able to give back to the community which has given me so much. I'm working out a structure by which I can hire a transcriptionist to caption at least some of my YouTube videos (the eventual goal is *all* of them) and I'm commissioning character art again so that in future posts I can talk to you about some of the characters you'll be meeting in my posts. I tailed off on the fan art project (despite all the joy it brought me!) because of the silly headspace stuff above about which words "counted". They all count here, thanks to you all.

Change #5: Polls? Maybe? I would like to gauge interest about what you all value the most, in a sort of "ranked from top to bottom" sense. Some of you are here for the stories, some for the gaming videos, some for the cat pictures, some for the deconstructions, some for the twitter rants, and some because you just love and want to support me. ALL OF THESE ARE SUPER VALID, thank you! If I run any polls in the near future it will just be in order to guide me according to what sparks the most joy for you, my wonderful patrons.

In Closing

Thank you all so much. The income from this patreon feeds me in a very real physical sense, but the emotional support from you all being here feeds my soul as well. I appreciate more than I could ever say how you were all willing to stick with me through my illness this month. Not everyone would, but you did. Thank you. I have a good feeling about this year.