Break Time

Before anybody panics, Neural Wraith 3 is done and will release on Friday as planned. The final version has been uploaded to Amazon and I'll upload the final chapters to Patreon tomorrow.

This is more a heads up about what comes afterward.

When I delayed Neural Wraith 3, I needed to take a break. The book's done, so that time is now. But the delay has also been a kick in the ass to fix some other issues that have been lurking for a while and that I've kept ignoring while trying to keep up with releases every 3 months to avoid Amazon's algorithmic rage and people claiming I'm a dead author or whatever nonsensical BS gets bandied around.

If you don't want to read the whole post, here's the short version: I'm taking April off. There might be some news updates for patrons or ramblings about how I'm approaching writing, plus the Neural Wraith 3 commentary post for Messengers. Don't expect any chapters or stories. If anything else is posted, consider it a bonus.

Here's some more details and ramblings.

Why I Need the Break

Neural Wraith 3 ended up being the straw that broke my back, rather than the actual cause. The problems go back way further, all the way to Spellblade 5.

I intended to write Spellblade 5 and 6 together as a way to build momentum. Of course, I should know better than to try to speed up my writing by now, as I always get started, run into stuff that doesn't work, and instead of just ignoring it and throwing shit at the wall like is popular in self-publishing, I grind to a halt while trying to fix it. So Spellblade 5 became a massive book, with pretty hefty outline and plot modifications, and I didn't really have the will to write Book 6. Also, it sold kind of eh, either because it was Book 5 or because people really disliked the slow start (I won't have good data on that until Book 6 is out for a while, due to how I analyze readthrough).

That burnout threw me off. I took a break and a holiday, which I did need. Then wrote Neural Wraith 2, which did pretty well by itself, I enjoyed writing, and people loved. But other cracks started showing.

One big crack was awkward timing. March was supposed to be a break month, and NW2 coming out at the start of Jan left me no time to write a new book. I was worried about taking longer breaks between books, especially with the increasing volume of releases from certain authors I won't name (no, not the Big Four). That didn't work.

At the same time, that stress simply added to the general frustrations I was feeling. A big one is that I'm not terribly happy with the genre as a whole (not going into that). I'm also unhappy with my own writing. I try to improve, try new things, and explore interesting ideas. I rely a lot on gut feel with some sanity testing, but I'm very wary of just circling the drain and spitting out repetitive shit. That need to improve and do interesting things always comes up against the almost over-commercialization of harem, which sometimes feels like I'm hearing people talk about mobile games with how cynical and repetitive it is.

So yeah, I'm burned out and frustrated. Neural Wraith 3 was supposed to be an easy book and wasn't, as I ended up rewriting the middle portion multiple times. I also anticipate that a bunch of people will get upset over a few things. Hell, my gut feeling is that some folks will just flat out stop reading due to the Altnet sections.

April

Right now, I intend to just take April off. No attempts to do other stuff, unless I really feel like it. I'm not that much of a workaholic. I can work hard when necessary, but I've also worked my fair share of long, grueling hours with no time off over weekends (both as an author and before), so, like, yeah. The whole "rise and grind" mentality can stay with others. I've barely touched video games for a couple of months and have some cool indie titles I want to check out.

I won't promise any posts or updates other than the public April update and the Neural Wraith 3 commentary. The latter might take a couple of weeks, as I probably need to chill a little before touching anything related to the Altnet.

While I'm taking time off, I will be thinking about how to resolve problems, though. So you might see some rambling posts about that. Any posts like that I make that aren't content related will be at the $1 tier.

Resuming Writing (May)

I have some ideas for how I'll come back to writing, but will think them over and flesh them out. A couple of hard decisions need to be made. One of those involves Emperor, which has been in the "I'll finish it" pile forever despite my complete lack of time and its horrific sales.

The big one I need to resolve is a book backlog, though. So I'll mention my idea for it now, even though it might change.

My mistake when trying to write Spellblades 5 and 6 together was to release them close together. This was partly because I was worried about algorithm stuff.

But the idea of writing multiple books for the same series together is still a great idea. My series are all big, complex, have tons of characters and plot threads, and as such take a ton of time to catch up on when I shift between each series. If I write them back to back, I don't need to waste that time again.

In general, my writing process hasn't been sustainable. Anyone who has beta read for me knows that.

This isn't really anything special, but it will lead to a potentially extended gap between Neural Wraith 3 and Heretic Spellblade 6. It will also mean I need to revisit how Patreon works, as I'll be writing books well before they're published. My thoughts right now are to try to sit down in May through September and just write the rest of Spellblade, for instance (or as much as I can).

Anyway, let me know your thoughts, opinions etc, if you have any.