January '24 Update

Just a heads up, this report is probably gonna feature a fair bit of good news/bad news approach, so brace yourselves. Including in the recent progress chunk. On the positive side of things, I successfully passed the 50K quota for January, which makes me pretty confident going forward. There were periods of really fast manic progress and some periods that really didn't go well, but on the whole if I can hit 50 once I should be able to do so regularly. The downside, however, is that in order to hit my quota I had to back off the Artemis story just a little. When the 2K rewrite/proofing I talked about last time went so well, I was hopeful the next chunk of 2K that needed work would be similar. I was very, very wrong. That chunk turned into an absolute slog. Like, less than a thousand words a day territory even. It's pretty much finalized now, but it was slow enough that I had to divert and work mostly on Gold Star this week.

For the month as a whole, I'm pretty happy. At different points I think I worked on as many as four stories, but the overall progress was pretty solid and I got a release out while getting Artemis a lot closer to the finish line. (I have never written a story I both love and hate so much at the same time. I really like a lot of it, but damn has the production process been so tortured that part of me never wants to see or hear anything about it ever again.)

Moving forward, I have a much clearer plan than I did awhile back. This weekend I have a chunk of about 2-3K more in Gold Star that I want to get rewritten then proofed, and I also need to get a full outline written up on one potential commission so I can know whether it'll be approved or not for when Artemis is done in (hopefully) another week or two. After the weekend, my plan is to focus on Artemis and try to power through the last little bit even if it isn't very efficient time wise. Once it's done, my focus will shift to Gold Star. Originally I intended that one as a single long form story, but in writing it out I think trying to keep it in a single chunk might just leave it longer (and as time-consuming to write) as Artemis, maybe more so. Fortunately, unlike Artemis it has nice internal subdivisions that make it relatively easy to chop up. So my loose plan now it to do it in 3/4 parts that'd combine to something like 30-40K words once all is said and done. (More than a standalone story, less than a true series). The first chunk will feature the opening scene, the girl's arrival/introduction, and the preliminary action, The last chunk will run from waking up the morning after, probably include some 'farewell', and then have an outro/epilogue sort of bit, And the middle chunk (which may get split in half if it's too long) will feature a couple rounds of fun. At present, the first chunk is fully written and has something like 5K (of an estimated 10-12) that is finalized. Progress on revision has been quite solid, so I don't imagine it'll take too terribly long and it should follow fairly soon after Artemis.

That all means the good news is that I may (hopefully) be able to get one huge story (Artemis) and the opening of another (Gold Star) both out to patrons this month because they're both pretty close to done. (Once both are out, the new queue will include the next chunk of Gold Star, Domestication 5, and the commission (if approved)) The bad news for February, however, is that I see very little chance of hitting my quota. It's a shorter month than usual, what's left of the Artemis story will probably be slow going, and I have far more normal life commitments than normal coming up. One in particular may be minimal or may blow up into a huge time-sink. I won't know for a week or two. So, while I'll get as much as I can done, it's probably gonna be an underwhelming month on total progress. (Not saying it'll be 20K or something, but 50 just doesn't seem realistic. I'll push for 40 and hopefully reach it, but I won't know for a while what chances I have.)

Alright, that's all for now. There's not much point in a weekly report sunday so I'll be back the weekend after with a report (and potentially Artemis if I can power through enough of what's left)