Marshmallow Ranch Gazette #07.01

Volume 7, Issue 1

Thursday, May 25th, 2023

I'm relaunching the Jackalope Serial Company in June 2023, and I hope that's good news for all of you. I know that I haven't been consistent with posts…well, ever, and I can't promise without a doubt that I'll be more consistent in this latest run. But I can promise that I will try my best to be as consistent as possible and communicate when I'll need to skip a week or two as soon as I know it. It's certainly not fair to all of you if I'm unable to finish an ambitious project, especially since I'm asking for you to be invested in the story as it unfolds week after week. It might not feel like it through my actions, but I do appreciate your patronage and I take your investment very seriously.

That is, in fact, the reason I backed off in the first place. The consistent failure of developing a writing practice where I have something to show every week forced me to reflect on my relationship with writing as it stands today. It's taken me some time to reaffirm that telling stories is an essential part of me. I'll never be able to stop trying to create them, so I need to figure out how to make it all work. Patreon is a side hustle, and I have complicated feelings about that. Not every hobby needs to be monetized, and sometimes turning your hobby into a revenue stream is a sure way to kill your enjoyment of it.

I haven't enjoyed writing in quite some time, but that's not the fault of this endeavor. I've been having a lot of trouble because I haven't been entirely honest with myself or my reasons for writing. I can't say I've cracked that problem, but I'm a lot closer to it than I was a few years ago. Now, I think I'm ready to take another run at it and be vulnerable in ways I couldn't be before due to fear.

And, to be honest, I could use the money at this point. I was laid off from my day job in late April, and while I've gotten a decent severance, it's not entirely clear when I'll be able to find full-time employment again. I'm a black American without a college degree trying to find a job with decent pay, regular hours, and the ability to work from home at least two days a week. While I've got a lot of experience and a decent set of soft skills, finding another position that meets my needs is an upward climb. I should be OK until at least September; money becomes a more immediate problem after that.

While I'm looking for a new day job, I think now is a good time to concentrate on my writing. I'm not the best scribe out there, but I've rediscovered the joy in it and reconnected to my passion for it. I have a better sense of my meager ability, and I want to use each story as a deliberate practice to get better at the skills I'm not so great with.

So, here's the deal: an "episode" of a larger story drops once a week until it's done. A week after completion, the story will go up in full on FurAffinity, SoFurry, and other places. I'd also like to post smaller bits of fiction, like character backgrounds or non-fiction writing essays, but for now, all effort will go toward the serial.

I'm also updating the payment tiers, so heads up for that. There will be only two moving forward: the basic $2 tier that gets you immediate access to the serials and a $5 tier that will unlock bonus content and allow for occasional voting on what you'd like to see most. The payments will be made per episode, so that works out to $8/month or $20/month -- though I believe you can actually state your monthly limit if you'd rather only kick in for two or three episodes per month. I wouldn't blame you; in fact, I appreciate that you're willing to stick with me at all.

Another issue of the Marshmallow Ranch Gazette will be coming down the pike on June 1st, with the first episode of my relaunch story dropping on Tuesday, June 6th. I should have new episodes posted every Tuesday after that for the month, and we'll see how things go from there.

Welcome back to the Jackalope Serial Company, friends! If you have any feedback for me -- suggestions for keeping my schedule, requests or recommendations for stories you'd like to see, or constructive criticism about your experience so far, I'm all ears!