XaiJu
OverXelous
OverXelous

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Weekly Update #5

My Week

Hey, everyone. I hope you're having a great Tuesday. I'm sorry the weekly update is coming out today instead of yesterday, but I've been doing a bunch to try and get the start of Volume 2 touched up and ready to post here!

I am trying to help draw some lines for myself regarding responding to and absorbing some of the negativity that comes with posting the story on the internet. Yesterday's chapter was not super well received on Royal Road. I think that I will gradually start interacting with Royal Road less and less and devote my attention to my Patrons and Discord. I'm finding that it's challenging to ignore the vocal critics and some of the negative comments despite all of the support and positive feedback.

I don't want to stick my head in the sand and ignore all criticism, as I think that even when it's phrased in a rude way, there's often something I can glean from it... but man it can ruin my day fast. So, for the sake of my sanity, staying motivated, and continuing to enjoy my story, I will start being a bit more particular about what I'm interacting with over there.

Just to be clear, I have not lost motivation to write this story and am still really enjoying this experience. But there have been a few days where I didn't write as much as I wanted because of a shitty comment or random 0.5 star rating that crushes the average. It just feels bad and makes me all anxious and bleh. I'm trying to figure out how to best handle all of that and keep improving as a writer. I'm shocked at how much it affects me, as before this experience, I would have believed that I had thick skin.

Break Reminder

This is just a reminder that you all finish Volume 1 on Thursday, and next week, no chapters will be posted on any platforms to make sure that you guys stay 20 chapters ahead! I'm taking this short break from posting to ensure I have all my ducks in a row before beginning to post Volume 2!

Discord Server

I'll share the Discord Server with Royal Road readers on Thursday this week and will likely post it regularly. So, if you're interested, you can use the link below to join before it gets posted to the masses. As a Patron, you get a special discord role and access to a separate channel for discussing the story amongst the other Circle Mages.

It's just me monitoring the server. Please don't go in there trying to break things or get out of hand with topics unrelated to the story. I hope to create a community around the series and love interacting with everyone.

https://discord.gg/bPevj9An2C

Please use the link above to join. Take a moment to read the rules and say hello!

Comments

You can't please everyone and clearly there are plenty of people who love the story!

Mackenzie Larson

Ngl. Scrape the comments. Dump em into copilot or chat gpt and have it summarize constructive criticism out of them. All of the help with phone of the hate

draermore

Might try and see if I can make this

Afrisan

You know.. how cool would it be if someone made a constructive criticism bot. It just scrapes the comment threads from your chapters and gives you a sentiment analysis and constructive feedback without all the bullshit

Afrisan

As a reader I am happiest when a story is fully theirs. I prefer when authors ignore criticism (other than grammar, glaring loopholes), same with any form of art. Art is an expression of the artist, readers must remember that an artpiece is not and should not be influenced by their desires. I want to see the author's vision for their world and characters not the reader's. Also, dogs are cute I think you should add one or I will get angry and rate you 0.5 on royalroad.

Jodrod

Unfortunately, 1 negative comment tends to outweigh 100 positive ones. Any creator, entertainer or instructor can tell you the same thing, "Words hurt more then you think". We want to pretend like things ppl say on the internet are unimportant but when you are sharing something like this, every statement cuts deep. Hopefully, your day(s) get better and try to remember that the majority of us all love this story and can recognize it for what it is; a small piece of yourself that is full of creativity that you are blessing the world with.

PWeygandt

Well if there's one thing that helps get me through the day, it's the phrase "Some people suck." Simple and to the point. Helps me get through dealing withe terrible people I don't want to deal with.

small_brain_boy


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