Update on WIPs - state of the irons on the fire

Hey everyone!  This is a quick work and life update for everyone here.

Things I'm working on:

Delvers LLC 5
...going very, very slowly.  I'm currently stuck on a chapter but I think I might finally be over the hump.  If so, it'll be done today.  If not, another day or two, tops.  This chapter has been the longest ever for me to write for some reason

Jake's Story
Going well.  First book is about 1/3 written at this point with what is on Patreon

Engineering Ludus
Gonna be a lonnng book.  Quite a bit up already, maybe about 1/2 or 2/3 done.  Steven says he'll be done within a couple of months.  He has more chapters already but needs to edit them on his end.

Intern activities
Our intern Taylor has been doing a great job.  He's already done copy edits for Jake's Story, and will be working on Engineering Ludus today.  This will help make an even cleaner market copy after editing, since it'll have had more passes.

Secret art project
Still chugging along.  I can't rush this thing, unfortunately.  When dealing with legends, you feel thankful that you got a shot.  You do not yell at them or they might just tell you to piss off. :P

New project based on a nightmare:
Barely off the ground.  I'm spread too thin right now and working on this much more would mess with my ETAs...but it'll be my first horror.
After working on this a little bit, I'm learning that I really, really love post-apoc stories with magic.  It might be something I lean into in the near future.

Facebook groups:
The fact I don't run Gamelit Society anymore helps a lot, but I still have a few other groups to manage.  They're all growing slowly but surely, and I have some great people to help me manage them.  This is one of the smallest time sinks I have.  Being /on/ facebook is a productivity killer, but my actual work-burden there isn't too bad.

Mailing list:
I've finally started working on getting my mailing list ready to go for future releases and sales.  If you're not already on it, you can join here:  mailing list signup link 

GameLitRPG.com -
production stalled right now.  It's a lot of work, nobody seems to care, and the Patreon donations have dried up.  I'm going to keep the site live because a few people still use it and what I'm getting on Patreon is paying for the site to stay up, but building it further is not a priority right now.

Patreon
I want to start posting more here, I need need more content.  There are a few things in the works.  Just throwing money at it and sourcing more art is not really an option since I'm making about 50% on Patreon as I did a year ago.  Right now the only reason to keep Patreon live is to keep getting your opinions when I post chapters.
Regardless of what you pledge, if you're reading the chapters, the best way you can help me is to keep giving me your reactions and feedback.

Also, thanks again to everyone who reached out the other day after I asked for feedback about this Patreon itself.

Mailing stuff out
Something I'm super slow at and not very proud of this fact.  But the majority of patreon patrons would prefer that I give their patreon rewards to libraries, so I'm going to reach out to everyone who is eligible for a book, and if they want me to give them away, I'll be driving to libraries with Melli to donate a ton of my books to libraries, maybe some shelters too.

Taxes:  
I need to start gathering all of my documents/scanning the paper docs I have, and sending them to my accountant.  This takes time every year.  I'm sure most of you relate.

Haremlit Facebook group newsletter
- ramping up to make this a real thing.  I've already talked to Will Arand and the other mods of that group about it.  We are in agreement on our next steps.
For folks who didn't see the public discussion about this, this will be the first group that I'm involved with that has its own email list.
We won't be able to share any of the emails or take them for our own lists...because it's technically illegal.  I think it's still worth doing, though.  If it works well and readers like it, it could be something we do in the future for other genre groups.
I don't have enough time to manage this and neither does Will or the other admins, so I'm working with someone to get them up to speed in order to help.

***
Personal stuff:

Government admin stuff
Melli and I just mailed out the packet to USCIS to get her green card extended.  This has been what has eaten up a lot of my time over the last week.  It sucks that I wasn't able to work as much recently, but I really, really don't want my wife to be deported. :P  I joke, but something like that would basically grind both our lives to a halt.

I've done some soul searching, and if my only two choices were to not be with Melli, or to give up everything to be with her, I'd choose the latter.  Things can be replaced, our loved ones cannot.  And I've already had to endure a long distance relationship with her--I'm not going through that again.

My wife and I are very close.

Tile work
I've been promising Melli for almost a year now that we would fix some of the stuff in the new house.  2020 was super difficult and I should wait until the finances are more settled first, but I really do function on guilt and it's reached critical mass.  We went to look at tiles recently, and now I need to talk to contractors about fixing our fireplace and shower.

The shower in particular is weird.  I love my bathroom, but the shower seemed to be added as an afterthought.  I'm a dude with my head in the clouds so I can ignore it, but it bothers Melli, and I don't like things that bother Melli.

In pet news...
About a month ago my old dog (13 years old) was acting weird.  After taking her to the vet to get bloodwork, it turned out she had some problems with her kidneys/diet.  I switched to an expensive new food and she's taking pills now that all have seemed to work.  She's acting much more spry and healthy/happy right now.  Around that time I also realized she's gone deaf, so I've been working with her on learning new hand commands.

That's about it!  It's been raining for weeks where I live which has been depressing, but at least I am not in Texas anymore.  For anyone in Texas or anywhere else who has been hit by the huge freeze, please stay safe and stay warm.