Working Notes 08: Coming Soon
Everything for the past three months has been an ongoing evaluation of what my capabilities are. I hope that I’ve made that clear. My current output has felt prolific because a) I wanted to push my limits a bit to see where my boundaries of energy and cognitive function are, and b) to have enough of a body of work on Patreon and Substack to attract subscribers.
The second movement of this symphony is finding the balance between what I want to write, and what the audience wants. Ideally, they’d be the same thing; you subscribe because you enjoy what I choose to write and find it useful. I do have survey results, though, so I am going to be tweaking releases a bit to meet you at least part-way.
Through all of this is the point that I’m not fighting the attention economy, where if I don’t constantly release something I won’t hit the front page and people will forget that I exist. The way things are set up on the fast-food metaphor site.
Here’s what the schedule is going to look like going forward:
Three posts per week, instead of five. I think we’re all best served by this. If I can create five posts per week, that’s two posts for the future. Then on weeks where I’m struggling, I have a cushion.
One scenario per week. I don’t think anyone realizes the work involved in writing a five-page scenario, complete with characters and factions. I’m not whining, just pointing out that all media talks longer to create than it does to consume. Novels that takes years to write and weeks to read. Movies that take months to film, months in post-production, and a couple of hours to watch.
One refreshed book per week. I will be updating one older book from the catalogue per week. As much as I’d like to fix everything all at once, a level of care in re-editing books, doing small rewrites, and creating the best version of the work is worth the time.
And now, the new stuff:
The Magpie: Journal of the Owensport Historical Society (name not final). This is the quirky New England small town setting that I’ve been orbiting for a long time. It’s going to allow for family drama, romance, mystery, crime, and because there’s a college, non-supernatural dark academia. This will be a twice-monthly PDF/EPUB zine that will slowly built out the setting over time. More on that in future posts.
The Antiquarian: Journal of the Seven Valleys Antiquarian Society (name not final). This is the cozy fantasy setting, which will also have elements of cozy mystery, romantasy, and folk horror. Also a twice-monthly PDF/EPUB zine, alternating weeks with The Magpie. Also building the setting over time. Also covered in more detail in future posts.
When will these start? When I have a couple of issues under my belt and am happy with them. Until then, next week the step-down from 3 to five releases will begin, so I can have the extra time to ramp these up.
Your feedback is always appreciated. Tell me in the comments what you want to see, and what you’re looking forward to the most.
