It may not seem like it, given the fact that I got nothing out in October, but I actually have somewhat good news.
First and foremost…sorry, again. It really sucks starting each month saying ‘I think this month will be the month that I get my shit together’, and then having to say at the beginning of the next month, ‘Actually, no, I didn’t get anything done’. It’s kind of my personal hell in a way. As someone with untreated ADHD (specifically the unique hell that seems to be Combined Type), having to say ‘Sorry, I failed to Do The Thing’ is kind of my legacy, unfortunately.
Anyway, to the somewhat better part of this. It’ll be brief.
My new theory is this: I’ve been trying to take the wrong ‘on-ramp’ back into productivity in the form of writing. Instead, for the next 1-2 weeks, I’m going to be taking the ‘mindless tedium’ on-ramp instead. I know, it sounds counterintuitive. In short, 2026 has caused a lot of backup, not just creatively, but in terms of ‘housekeeping’, aka, annoying behind-the-scenes shit every writer needs to take care of somehow. Given the fact that almost none of these tasks require actual creativity, or even decision-making really, to solve them, I believe that this will help sort of ease my broken, battered brain back into the ‘getting shit done on a regular basis’ track faster than writing.
There’s more to it that than, but it has become obvious to me that this…isn’t working. At least, not in the way it needs to.*
*Here is the asterisk, and me doing my best not to bury the lede. One big caveat I placed against the ‘just work on housekeeping stuff’ was ‘unless I WANT to write something’. Sometimes, my brain is good at taking a constellation of ideas and constraints, and reconfiguring it into something workable. This, (I hope), has happened. I’ve got an idea, I’m really into it, and it’s snowy survival/action. Think A Warm Place but Sci-Fi and with monsters.
I want to be clear: This is basically a quick and dirty ‘fun’ project that I’m throwing together and getting out both for my own sanity but also to keep the algorithm fed. My sales are getting…worrying. Like, pretty worrying. I have to get more shit out faster.
What will it look like? It will look like, in the beginning, a three-part serial, each part somewhere between 10-15,000 words or so. Probably aiming for 12,000 apiece. They’ll have silhouette covers. They’ll be 2.99$ apiece and in the Kindle Unlimited (Kindle+). Sorry if that seems pricy, it’s just that the algorithm treats 2.99 books a LOT better than .99 cent books. These will be offered for free at some point.
Will it be harem? Yes, HOWEVER, the first three episodes will be between the main character and the first LI. It won’t ‘become’ harem until after the first three episodes. The problem is that I’m building in a fail-safe. If something goes wrong, (see: if my brain turns against me and morphs continuing this into the equivalent of pissing teeth while running a marathon), then every third episode will have kind of a ‘breakpoint’, where I can, at the very least, put a pin in it and put it away, if not just call it finished. The thing is, the only reason I’m doing this is because I’m inspired to write this, so the chances of that happening are at least lower.
When will it come out? This month. Kind of as soon as I can get it written and up. I’ll make an actual blog post about it explaining more when it’s closer.
Beyond the new project, practically speaking, what does this actually MEAN? I’ll respond in the form of a bullet list.
THE LITHIC DEEP is getting pushed back to 01.01.2027. Sorry. The good news is that I do finally feel locked in with this one. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve written so far, and look forward to continuing. It’s just taking longer than I would have liked. This should be the last time I kick this can down the road.
OUR OWN WAY 7. I’m still going to try to get this and possibly the collection out before 2027.
PARASEXUAL is actually going to be my main focus for these next 1-2 weeks, with the background stuff being worked on in between bouts of torturous editing. While I ultimately failed to get Parasexual 2 out before November, gunning for that during the past few days is I think what sort of got my engine running again and what kind of gave me the idea to take 1-2 weeks off of creative responsibility (sort of). (Which I realize Parasexual kinda skirts the line of, as I have to make some creative decisions for it to rerelease, but it needs to get done.) I managed to get like half the novel edited during the past several days. And, I don’t know, I guess it kind of had that effect of ‘Oh, I think I might be capable of more than I thought I was’ on me. Recovery is…an extremely weird, miserable, and confusing path. Anyway, this should still be done before 2027.
STATE OF THE LIBRARY. I’ve been putting together a massive post this last month. Usually, at the beginning of the year, I do a big address of all my varied ideas. This is sort of like a big giant version of that. I will be talking about literally everything I can think of, ideas past, present, and future (that I’ve mentioned, and a few I haven’t!), to give you a general status update of where I’m at with each.
BACKGROUND “HOUSEKEEPING” TASKS. Here’s a short list of stuff I’ll be dealing with over the next 1-2 weeks, (you can honestly skip this, this is more akin to reading patch notes than anything else).
Audiobook covers. I’ve been updating my audiobook covers to have a bit more parity and to reflect the ebook covers, as some have been updated over the years. Not everything is getting a tune-up, but most everything.
Gotta update the back matter on fucking every single title. That’s always fun.
I need to make sure all my titles don’t have DRM and you can download copies.
I need to touch up the website. I clearly need to overhaul the Audiobook page. (It’s down right now, in case you went looking. It should be up soon, I just have to figure out a better layout.)
I’m going to be finally putting up my ‘extras’ from what would have been The Lost Archive. These will be going up for free on my website in the form of blog posts for the sake of convenience and also on my Patreon, for free. The only thing is, you’ll have to at least be a free member to access them, since I can’t make them ‘public facing’, because they have sex scenes. There will be just four of them. Three from Crystal Candy: Refuge, Maidens & Mayhem, and Planet of the Bugs, and one failed Misty Vixen/Lara X Lust project, We Who Endure. Again, to emphasize, these are incomplete projects that will never be complete. They’re really just there for completion’s sake, and because some people have asked to read even the failed projects. These are the ones that survived the great sifting, ultimately.
That’s the big obvious stuff and will certainly be enough to keep me busy.
