End of 2021, Year in Review

Hello my wonderful supporters. Pateron has been gently reminding me through many, many emails to do an end of year review, and I'm finally getting off my butt to do it.

First, thank you for your patience. The last few months I have not fulfilled my promise of a minimum of 2 chapters a month. My job has been adding early morning meetings, which has been making my 40-hour work week creep up further( super fun). I have started a new relationship, which is going wonderfully. And I have been getting myself to the gym more. As far as excuses go, it's not the best, but it's also not the worst.

But this is also a wonderful year for my page in general. I started writing Giant of Bright Tower over on DeviantArt, and after seeing people actually read and like my stories( and one amazing fan who followed me and was one of my first Paterons), I decided to just give this a try. And low and behold, now here I am ending 2021 with many Paterons and my very first ever commissioned artwork for one of my stories! So yeah, I'd say going from not having a Pateron to where we are now makes this a pretty good year in general.

That said, in review, I think I've learned three important lessons:

1.) Writing is a habit

I had time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I thought that I would be able to get some writing done. But no, I enjoyed spending the time with people I don't normally get to see, and socialize and more. I wanted to do nothing but relax and chill, and writing seemed hard ( especially after a few drinks, could not put two and two together). So the only way for me to write is to find the time to do a little, even 5 min, everyday without exception. I think that's a rule for a lot of things in life. 

2.) Trust my readers imagination

As I've mentioned before, I read a lot, and I have come across stories where a character was described in one sentence and ones where a character was described in one page. I remember pausing when I got to Bubba's gym for the first time. Do I need to describe in minute detail the color of the walls, ceiling, and carpet? How many windows, what shape? Where the front desk is compared to the offices? How big the place is exactly, the distance between machines, their arrangements on the floor? But as I was reading a story at the time, I realized my mind just pictured it for me with the details I was given. And so I'm just going to trust my readers to picture the stories for themselves. Does Bubba's gym look exactly the same in all our minds? No, and that's fine.

3.) An imperfect something is better than a perfect nothing

This is something that not just writers, but all artists must learn. I'm going to write below average, make mistakes, bad, plot holes, and worse. And that is going to be ok. Hell, right off the top of my head, I can think of mistakes in major works that people have posted, shared, and discussed. In Harry Potter, how did Wormtail get into Griffindor when he turned out to be a coward? In the Matrix, first one, how did Joe Pantoliano's character get into the Matrix by himself to talk to Agent Smith? And this one is mine, in the recently released Disney movie, Encantado (SPOLIER ALERT, SPOLIER ALERT, SPOLIER ALERT) If Dolores gift is super hearing, why didn't she know Bruno was hiding in the walls?????????????? The point is, and my lesson learned, is that I should just write. It's not going to be perfect, but anything, literally anything, is better than a blank page.

So that's my review. Thank you all for your support. Whenever I feel down, I remember that I have a Pateron with people who like what I do. It's a wonderful feeling, and I just have to reward you all with the continuing adventure of Bubba and Steve.

Goodbye 2021 and Welcome 2022!!!!