Schedule, Big Updates, and More!

Hi, I'm Eligos. I'm trying to be better at communicating.

First, I want to apologize for the absolutely-all-over-the-place schedule over the last few weeks. There's been a couple big things going on that have required some extra prep work from me, but most of that's done, so it should smooth out from here.

Re: Monarch Webtoon

It's happening! It's been a regular daydream for me since the way back in the Crossroads arc, and Aethon and Moonquill are making it happen. Production starts in January, and though I don't know when the first episode will hit, I'll keep you updated.

Grizzled Monarch Patron: "Excuse me, Eligos, but how do you intend to actually make enough content for a Webtoon when you're barely uploading a chapter a week?"

Fair question, Grizzled Patron. Short version? I caved and hired a professional proofreader. I've been struggling for a while under the workload, and basically had to accept I needed some professional assistance. It's not cheap—around double my car payment monthly--so I appreciate each one of you for helping offset those costs.

Patreon Schedule:

We did a poll a few weeks back, and I've spent some time considering the results. It was pretty evenly split between batch updates and daily updates.

So, we're going to do mini-batches.

Basically, whatever I write for the day, you get. In an ideal, perfect world, where the chapters land exactly within target word counts, that's two chapters on weekdays.

5-6 chapters Double-Blind, 3-4 chapters of Re: Monarch total.

People Who Math: "How do two chapters a weekday = a range of 7-10 chapters? Wait. Where did the seven even come from? Why is my question becoming self-aware?"

Fair question, People Who Math. I'm trying out this new thing called "Setting Realistic Goals." Sometimes writing 1500 words takes me two hours. On a bad day, it can take six. Sometimes the word count balloons to DOUBLE or even TRIPLE the target length because I'm a like a dog with a bone when a scene gets under my skin and oh-no-it's-four-in-the-morning is the inevitable result.

Sometimes Matt's being too much of a dick, or Cairn gets lost in the fathomless depths of his own navel, and I have to scrap an entire chapter. 

So, you know, wiggle room. 

I may experiment a bit, uploading whatever I have from the previous day on the morning of the next day, but for now, we're gonna try it vanilla to preserve my much-needed Saturdays off.

MWF: Double-Blind

T/TH: Re: Monarch

Double-Blind Availability

Double Blind's Book 1 is officially edited, prettied up, and in my publisher's hands. First book covers the first 210,000 words, so I wanted to let you know now, in case you wanted to reread, or you’re a Monarch reader with some interest who hasn't had a chance to dig in yet. I'll be announcing this on Royal Road when I get an official date, but I'm posting the first heads up here.

Sappy Self-Indulgent Stuff:

If you're just here for the words, that's it. That's all I've got. Feel free to tab out, read some chapters I just uploaded. We’ll be back on Tuesday, the 27th.

But seeing as how I rarely engage on Patreon, I thought I'd share a little about myself. So stick around and shoot the shit if that's something you're interested in.

First, I-uh. I just want to thank you.

Truly.

The Monarch Folks who supported me from the beginning.

You Double-Blind people who stuck it out after the Rising hype wore off.

I can't really thank you enough, to be honest.

I've talked a bit about some of this stuff in parts, but never really formed it into a cohesive narrative.

2019 was a meat grinder for pretty much everybody, myself included. Like any displaced twenty-something, I had more anger than I knew what to do with. Buried myself in reading. Burned through all the books I could afford, reread Worm twice, Found Mother of Learning by chance and eventually stayed on Royal Road, devouring the Best-Of list.

Before I finally canceled a bunch of my streaming subscriptions, I rewatched Re: Zero and thought—fuck it, I'll write something. I'll do a time loop, a roving time loop with the scope of MoL and the tone of Re: Zero. It'll be fun. It'll pass the time.

It was. And it did. But not in the way I expected. It was just an outlet. I wasn't expecting to pour so much of myself into it, or that people might actually like it.

Then I decided "Hey, I need a break. I've been working on this same project for like a year and a half. Let's do a fun, light LITRPG!"

I'm going to be upfront with you. I think I messed up the "light" part. But it's really let me bring a lot of my crime/thriller writing DNA into a genre that doesn't typically have much of that particular mix, which is fun as hell.

Fast forward to today.

I'm able to pay rent on time, afford healthy food that won’t kill me before I hit forty, and finally bought replacement my beautiful, but horrifically elderly and barely holding on 2012 MacBook Pro.

I owe most, if not all of that, to you. I never thought I'd be able to take this as far as I have. Thanks for believing in me, boosting the releases, and more than all of that, thanks for reading.

I'll always do my best to surprise you.

Sappy Stuff Over.

I've been reading a lot more lately, which has helped with some minor blocks I've been dealing with. I'm also delving more into the technical side of the craft—trying to get better at the capital W side of Writing.

I'm currently working on:

- Murdering the passive voice with a hatchet. Violently. It won't die, but I'll keep trying.

- Blending dialogue and action and description a little more naturally.

- Making Double-Blind more fun without betraying the existing universe and tone.

- Not spoiling anything about the upcoming Monarch arc. Tempting as it is.

We'll be back on Tuesday, December 27th. Happy reading, and happy holidays. I'll be lurking in the discord more than normal over the next few days, so if you haven't already, stop by and say hi. You can poke fun at Bob while you're there.

Stay warm, and see you Tuesday!