Bear Station Postmortem Analysis and Future

Some of you may have noticed that I changed the Enhancer tier benefits from "5 Chapter Headstart" to "Backlog Access." I'm doing this so that I can write on a less strict schedule. I know that my previous output wasn't incredible by any means. Many authors on Royal Road and elsewhere crush my two chapters a week. But I'm basically a brand new author.

Bear Station is the first writing I have ever published in any official capacity and I started writing it about 3 months ago now. My initial success had me very optimistic, and maybe if I had kept up my pace of a chapter a day, I would see even more success now.

I am struggling to write on a stringent schedule even if it is only a few thousand words here and there. It was easier when I had a properly planned out story arc and could simply write from one story beat to the next. Now, however, I am struggling to plan out the next section of the story and I think I need time to decide where I want to take things.

I've sort of been keeping you guys up with my struggles in real life. California is experiencing a housing crisis, and it caught me up in finding a place to live. I have moved every three weeks since December. The constant anxiety of having such an ambiguous living situation has really done a number on my mental health.

I have now found a room to rent in a nice little house south of my campus and things are looking up. But I am also focusing on my school as this is my last semester in the computer science program. Besides school, I am building out my web development/software development portfolio and that has eaten up much of my time.

In short, I have little time to approach Bear Station and give it the care it deserves. I am not proud of my recently written chapters and I feel I am writing the story in a circle because I haven't appropriately planned for the next steps.

What does all of this mean, though?

I will slow down in my releases and they will no longer be scheduled. I know that two chapters a week was already pretty slow, but I need extra time to figure out what I'm doing with the story. This will also give me time to revisit old chapters and edit them.

What does this mean for Patreon, specifically?

I am so incredibly privileged that any of you would consider spending money to support me or to read even more of Bear Station. Many authors in this space never have the opportunity to be paid for their work.

That being said, my current backers will keep access to all backlog chapters I release. Whether that number is less than or greater than five (It will be less than five for the foreseeable future and may even dip to zero for some time). If this is a deal breaker for you, Patreon has a refund system and I will honor any refund request.

My greatest regret is that some of you were looking forward to my weekly releases and now things will be much more volatile and unscheduled. I want to apologize for my new approach. I appreciate your support and if you leave; I hope you return to the story in the future.

If you have questions, feel free to ask down below.