An Update
It's taken me far too long to realise I was trying to square peg myself. When I first started crowdfunding I seemed to find the best way of working, which was to write longer stories in parts, but as time passed I found myself trying to make myself work in a different way. Instead of letting me be who I am as a writer I was trying to follow a path that was never going to work. The more I tried to follow that path the harder it was for me to write, because I was trying to become a different type of writer, and I know why I was doing it - I felt like my way wasn't the right way. For some reason it's taken me a year to come to the conclusion that everyone is different. When I'm ghostwriting I write the way I need to, but it never feels natural. It's something I have to do in order to pay the rent. When I write my own work I can write the way that feels right to me, rather than the way that doesn't, and if I hadn't been writing, mostly, for self-publishers, I probably wouldn't have done this.
What I've come to realise is that I'm not, naturally, a self-publisher. I'm naturally a crowdfunded. I find it easier to write if I'm moving between worlds, and characters, and letting stories be as long as they need to be. I find it easier to write if I'm doing what feels right to me, instead of trying to walk a path that isn't mine to walk. Maybe this path is the one that means I won't be earning anywhere near as much as the self-publishers, but that doesn't matter. This has never really been able the money. It's been about writing. What I need to get back to is enjoying the writing, because if I'm enjoying it them I'm writing more. Yes, I would like to earn an income from it, but that's not going to happen if I don't start publishing regularly again, and that's not going to happen if I don't enjoy writing.
So, once the end of this month is over, I'm going to be getting back to writing regularly for the website, and I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to be myself, for the first time in far too long, and my aim is to be posting at least 5,000 words a week. The main focus will be the incomplete stories, Case (which I'm in the process of sorting into smaller parts, because it's become far larger than I ever thought it was going to be, and that's due to the characters being who they are), and I am going to be posting some stories for the novella worlds I was working on, because those worlds are ones I want to be writing for. I just don't want to try to constrain them when I know how I write best. If you have any favourites you'd like me to focus on let me know. That will help, because then I know what to focus on first, although I do have some ideas.
There have also been some changes made at the website. The collections are almost entirely sorted - they're in order, I just need to change the titles of some stories, and then it'll be done. I've updated the Guide, and included the downloads for the ebooks, which aren't perfect, but they are done. I'm planning on updating them to collection 2 in April/May next year. For the first time in a long time I'm feeling like I can write again.
What I've come to realise is that I'm not, naturally, a self-publisher. I'm naturally a crowdfunded. I find it easier to write if I'm moving between worlds, and characters, and letting stories be as long as they need to be. I find it easier to write if I'm doing what feels right to me, instead of trying to walk a path that isn't mine to walk. Maybe this path is the one that means I won't be earning anywhere near as much as the self-publishers, but that doesn't matter. This has never really been able the money. It's been about writing. What I need to get back to is enjoying the writing, because if I'm enjoying it them I'm writing more. Yes, I would like to earn an income from it, but that's not going to happen if I don't start publishing regularly again, and that's not going to happen if I don't enjoy writing.
So, once the end of this month is over, I'm going to be getting back to writing regularly for the website, and I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to be myself, for the first time in far too long, and my aim is to be posting at least 5,000 words a week. The main focus will be the incomplete stories, Case (which I'm in the process of sorting into smaller parts, because it's become far larger than I ever thought it was going to be, and that's due to the characters being who they are), and I am going to be posting some stories for the novella worlds I was working on, because those worlds are ones I want to be writing for. I just don't want to try to constrain them when I know how I write best. If you have any favourites you'd like me to focus on let me know. That will help, because then I know what to focus on first, although I do have some ideas.
There have also been some changes made at the website. The collections are almost entirely sorted - they're in order, I just need to change the titles of some stories, and then it'll be done. I've updated the Guide, and included the downloads for the ebooks, which aren't perfect, but they are done. I'm planning on updating them to collection 2 in April/May next year. For the first time in a long time I'm feeling like I can write again.