I'm not dead, and I am coming back in full

First, my deepest apologies and most heartfelt thanks to the Patrons who- for some unknowable reason- have continued to support me over the past ten months.  You have absolutely no idea how much your support means to me, but hopefully I can give you an idea by the end of this post.

So where have I been?  In and out of a hospital unfortunately.  Since I started writing and you generous folks have started supporting me, I have owed you explanations for when my promises fall through.  The honest answer is something I have made no secret of, Treatment Resistant Clinical Depression.  The phrase doesn't sound nice, but it sounds much better than "I desperately wanted to kill myself to the point there were discussions about losing my power of attorney and freedom."  Which, as something people can understand at a glance, is easier to grasp.

The problem I had back then as I struggled to keep my head above water was that sometimes I would feel great, on top of the world.  Going to school, working a part time job, building an LLC, and still having the time help my elderly grandparents and keep ahead of the writing schedule I promised all of you- that would feel so easy.  And I would tell myself, "this time, I wont fall back."

I always did though, and when that happened I would drop all the projects I was juggling and things would fall apart.  The worse things got, the more I beat myself up over it, which only added more fuel to the cycle.  I more or less hit rock bottom over those months, which brings me why I appreciate you all so much.

I lost my job, as one might expect, and things got extremely tight.  To the point where the money, however small it became, that came in from Patreon and my amazing Patrons can be honestly described as life saving.

Thank you for your support, thank you so much for doing that even when I did not remotely deserve it.

But as much as I appreciate it, I am not the type of person to be a charity case!  All of you decided to support me for a reason, for a story of mine that you liked enough to donate your hard earned and valuable money to.

It has been a long time, but from here on out I want to discuss the future of my writing.  

The biggest change you will notice is that "A Broken World" is undergoing a rewrite.  I want to assure you that nothing is being taken away from the story.  Despite being my most popular work, "A Broken World" was never my favorite story, or even a story I particularly liked.  It lacked a spark, but that is changing.

I am confident that the rewrite will be overwhelmingly superior to the original, more alive, more real, and paced far better.

I have already started writing the new first chapter and it will be posted here to Patreon tonight or early tomorrow morning.  When it actually appears on Royal Road depends on the admins, but it should be there within the next three days at most.

Once it is situated on Royal Road, one chapter will be released there each Monday at noon.  However, you, my lovely Patrons can look forward to two to three chapters per week each at 3k words or more.

That format will be extending to all of the original seven fictions I published on Royal Road.  As before, each one will be released on a different day at noon.  Patrons will enjoy two to three times that each week, released to Patreon as I finish them.

I won't have a job for the foreseeable future it seems, so I have time to write a lot.  Maybe to the point of four chapters per novel per week.

But all of that is about the low Patreon tiers, what is going on with the higher ones you ask?

Honestly, not much has changed.  Character art, maps, writing notes- all of that is old hat.  But there are going to be some additions, including sneak peaks at other stories that I wrote first chapters for and then shelved so that I did not become too divided and, a little mini AMA type deal.  That latter bit is still something I'm unsure how to do, but once I figure it out it will be there as well.

So all of this is to say, I'm back.  Thank you so much for your support, and I will be doing my absolute best to live up to that support.

-Vladerag