Patreon Update 12-8-25

Hey Sentars!

Time for that monthly update. Nov was a bit of a bumpy month. I got a little overwhelmed with getting stuck in O’hare on the way home so bad that we ended up renting a car and making that 12 hour trek with a 2 year old. I do not recommend it.

I happens, normally I have some buffer to hide behind and recover. But that wasn’t in the cards as well as a few other things and it looks like I’m going to be getting the next book out the evening of the 10th or the morning of the 11th.

We are also pushing back AO 8 to Feb 9th. Then I’m fairly certain I’m ready for something new and going to pull the #Spaceseries up then to March.

I really hate doing more months off but sometimes it is hard to write.

Since so many of you seem interested in how the sausage is made, I guess I could go into a little of some of the writers struggles, burnout, writers block ect actually are.

Personally, I don’t get too deep. There’s a thing call ‘the pit’ of burnout which I happily dance around, at least thus far.

So, what is the act of writing anyway? Well, it’s really making decisions. A LOT of decisions. Take even starting a scene, where is it? Who’s in it? What are they doing? What are they wearing? What are they… ect.

I could go on, but I’ll spare you. The act of creative writing is all of these decisions, but as I’ve come to learn the energy for making them doesn’t just go into writing. I goes into so much more.

When I walk past a cookie and decide NOT to eat it because I’m on a diet. That’s actually the very same energy as writing.

That goes for being stuck in an airport and having to decide what we should do to entertain two toddlers for eight hours or making the call to cancel the flight or even to rent a car because we were out of other options.

Now, we can all see that this energy is limited. You might have more, you might recharge better. But one thing we can all actually do is go into debt.

That’s where things get a little scary. Because when you take a deep breath and push through past where you’re already exhausted you end up having less the next day and the next day. In fact, I’d so far as to say you even reduce how well it recharges.

This leads many writers to trying to force it and continuing to borrow forward without actually getting much traction, because let’s be honest if you’re at that point, you are far from your best.

If you do force it and then accomplish nothing you fall into ‘the pit’ and that’s major burnout-ville. In there guilt for not being able to utilize your time compounds with trying to force it and well… it’s a vicious cycle. I’ve seen indies who have hit the NYT Bestseller list spiral into this and it can take years to dig yourself out.

Though, it is a little more common in those who get big successes out of the gates for whatever reason. Perhaps the pressure and the greater business portion of being an author is something that is better eased into.

So, how does Bruce keep away from the pit and burnout/writers block in general? My first technique is time boxing. That means I have a limited amount of time to do certain tasks. It forces me to make decisions on a number of things that I could admittedly waffle with all day.

Second, layering decisions when I’m stuck on writing. If I can make all the easy decisions separately oftentimes the ones I struggle with are easier to tackle when they are all alone.

Third, breaks. I get to have them!

Fourth, don’t reinvent the wheel. There’s already soooo many stories out there if you’re stuck you are actually allowed to look at other works in similar positions. Don’t steal their stuff, but you can absolutely take their same direction and make it your own.

Anyway, that’s enough of that. I’m going to take a few days off and get back to Ard’s Oath probably on Saturday. We have the final book in that series to wrap up before I get to play with a new series.

I realize it’ll be a whole 2 years since I started a new series by the time I get to space series. Which is a long time for me. New series are sort of creative playgrounds and I very much enjoy them.

There have been a few thoughts in the back of my mind about this Amazon review thing. I don’t necessarily want to launch a new series that looks like a flop because reviews aren’t going through. So, I was thinking about putting them out on Scribblehub/Royal Road just to engage that audience if Amazon hasn’t fixed their shit.

Anywho, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and enjoys their upcoming holidays.