I’m back! I’ve known enough online projects that have gone on hiatus and never returned that I was a little uncomfortable about putting up a hiatus notice at all, however; as promised, it’s March and I’m back. In my last post I hinted at some upcoming changes, so here’s a little info on what those were.
There are two changes, really. The smaller of these is that at Christmas a bunch of my close friends and family got together to give me a sizable chunk of money to put towards my writing career. This went towards a tablet and the various accessories to go along with it. This means that I can use my sometimes-limited time more efficiently: it’s easy to carry with me at all times and pull out to work on whenever I have a few minutes (right now I’m writing on the tablet in the café at work using the time before my shift starts).
This obviously makes one of my Patreon goals redundant, so I’ll be changing the one that said I would be using the money to save up for such a piece of technology. Instead, I’ll be using the Patreon money at that level to save up to be able to go to conferences and conventions around the country. Here’s the text for the new goal:
“A huge part of getting your work out there is networking. At this level, I’ll be putting money aside to save for trips to writers’ conferences and conventions around the country. These are places where I’ll be able to get advice from people in the industry and also have a chance to meet prospective agents, publishers, and industry contacts. In general, it will help to get my name out in the publishing world.”
The larger change pertains to my employment. Working two part-time jobs (often totaling around 60 hours a week and working 10+ days without a day off), working on a novel, and completing a monthly short story all at the same time became untenable. It resulted in both my writing and my personal life suffering: the burnout from working so much so consistently was the primary reason for the aforementioned hiatus. Consequently, I have left one of my part time jobs. The remaining job is enough for me to scrape by on for the time being and the extra time will allow me to focus that much more on my writing.
This leads to another goal change. The ambitious top goal will now read thusly:
“Full-time writer! If I reach this lofty goal, I will be able to quit my job. That will mean that my one and only professional focus will be my writing, and should speed up the whole novel-producing process!”
With all the changes to my Patreon goals, I’ll also be making an edit to the $5 reward tier, and adding in a $50 tier:
$5 Tier: As well as the rewards for the $1 tier, when I have a question you’ll get access to my polls to help answer it. Sometimes this will be about my writing, but I also post a monthly poll for you to have input on what album I get with the monthly music money, which I then talk about on my blog that month. Finally, you’ll be listed as a supporter in the acknowledgements on my monthly short stories!
$50 Tier: All of the previous rewards, and when I get my next novel published, I’ll thank you in the acknowledgement section! See your name in print!
I’m setting myself an ambitious goal (as usual) of getting to 10 patrons on my Patreon by April 1st. To help me in this endeavor, please share my Patreon, Facebook, and blog with as many people as possible. Even a $1 pledge is thoroughly appreciated!
My usual posting schedule should now resume, and I look forward to providing more updates on my writing soon!