February '24 Update

So, first off, I really, really, really wanted to have Artemis formally done and released by the end of February but it stretched just the tiniest bit too long. Instead, it will be releasing to patrons either tonight or tomorrow. At this point, the entire chunk that's been giving me so much trouble the past few months is completely written and completely rewritten, but there's still 12-15 hundred words that still need proofing. That's probably more than I can get through by the end of the night, but it's certainly small enough that it won't push past tomorrow unless i get hit by lightning or some such nonsense. Now, ahem...

In general, February went... about how February always seems to go. (Do other people have particular months that always seem to turn into a shitshow year in and year out? Dunno.) Between a shortened month and several abnormal time sinks, I'm quite confident that I fell well short of the 50K target. By how much I'm not exactly sure, however, as I sort of lost track of my place during the middle of the month when things got really hectic. Also, there's a pretty big swing depending on whether one counts mangled attempts at writing which had to be deleted and restarted. (Ah, the writer's waltz. Step one, write. Step two, read. Step three, delete. Over and over again...) If one counts such pitiful products, I think I came close to 40K, maybe even got past it. If not, we're probably talking 30-35K. But I am now done (*almost*) with the Artemis story that turned into such a slog at the end. (Really hope that one winds up being worth the effort.)

If I recall where the start of Feb fits into the timeline correctly, then most of the month's writing can be attributed to rewriting and proofing of Gold Star's first chapter as well as all three stages for the last chunk of the Artemis story. (Which isn't the ending. The shorter scenes 4 and 5 have been written for months now...). Aside from those projects, I also got a bit of a head start on revising Gold Star's second chapter and at one point sunk one day into starting up a new short when I just needed to reset my brain. (That one isn't high priority, I got a bit of the rough draft done then put it straight into the folder of 'things I can pull out and finish fairly quickly when I need a change of pace/break/short filler between huge projects.)

At this point, I think March should be a fairly standard month. There's 31 days again (yay), I'm not aware of too many commitments I have at this point beyond the normal, and what I work on will hopefully go more smoothly than Artemis. (I'd say it couldn't be worse, but...) In terms of projects, I think the queue is fairly settled with three main competitors for time. Chapter 2 of gold star is already under way, it will almost certainly be a high priority as I want to be able to release it pretty quick after chapter one when they go public since there's not a ton of actual sex in the opening. With how much is already written, the fact that revisions have already started, and a length that will likely be shorter than most 'full' stories/chapters, I anticipate it being significantly less of a timesink. 

The second candidate is my first commission. That one isn't finalized yet, I've been sinking all my time into getting Artemis out, but we are far enough into discussions that I'd be surprised to see it fall apart at this point. It is a hist/fantasy piece that revolves around two rival adventurer/mercenary groups who have encountered one another in a bar. After plenty of bickering, banter, and (something else that starts with a b...) one group (comprised mostly of somewhat sleazy men) convinces the other (four proud and arrogant women) to wager their bodies. You can probably imagine who wins the bet.

The final candidate is Domestication's long-delayed fifth chapter. I still haven't resolved a few key questions about it, but at this point I'm just going to have to dive in and handle them as they come up.

Aside from those, I might also dip a bit of time into the next 'sack' short and/or another short as necessary. First, though, with the one year anniversary passing and Artemis released, I have a fair bit of housekeeping that needs done. The patreon page needs freshened up (the 'about me' and tier descriptions, etc., I'm going to start up some public releases again, and I need to work through some final details on the commission. Individually most of that isn't too time consuming, but it adds up pretty fast so there probably won't be much writing this weekend after Artemis goes out. Hopefully that doesn't put me in too deep a hole so far as March is concerned. Regardless, it probably means no weekend update this go around. Not much point.

That should be it for now. Look out for Artemis, and let's hope you all enjoy it enough to make the damn thing worthwhile.