Brand New Stories Coming to Patreon

This news about my new Patreon is mostly copied from my November email to my newsletter subscribers.

In the course of 2020, I’m sure most of us have developed new mechanisms to cope with uncertainty. It’s been that kind of year.

Recently, I realized that, as I’ve adjusted my own mental processes, my experience of time has changed. Thinking about things in the long term (where will I be living next year? Where should I try to move if things go south? Is it even possible for me to move?) is stressful without doing anything for my happiness, productivity, or clarity. So, I’ve pushed back those unhelpful long-term anxieties by focusing on the immediate good in my life—my bird, my garden, a new sweater—and putting my energy into the small actions I can take right now to move forward.

All of this might not be relevant here except that this way of thinking has spilled over into my writing. I’ve inadvertently let go of “where do you see yourself in five years?” writing-wise, just as I have in my personal life. Where I used to think about these years-long, unrealistically-ambitious projects, I now think in smaller pieces. What can I write today that will be great, make me happy, and move me forward? What can I finish in this sitting? Basically, I’ve been thinking about my writing serially, chapter by chapter.

Around the time I started Seven Forsaken, I also started a garbage story (do not ask me about this project, I will never have it connected to my real name), which I’ve been posting under a pseudonym. In both cases—writing to a high standard and just for giggles—I’ve found that the one chapter at a time approach is the best way to keep myself creating.

All told, I’ve written more words in 2020 than possibly any other year in my life. I’ve had four projects exceed 70,000 words and one exceed 100,000 words total but, of those, only my serialized projects (Seven Forsaken and the Garbage) have yielded complete reader-ready chapters.

As a young writer, I always shied away from serialization, since I thought it would throw me off my plotting and foreshadowing game. But The Sword of Kaigen started life as a serial and that turned out to be better received than anything that I wrote as a full novel. Maybe that was the universe trying to tell me something and I’m just slow on the uptake.

So, why the self-indulgent ramble?

Well, having digested this new information about my productivity, I’ve decided to pursue the serial format with a new project (or two or three) on Patreon.

Another side effect of so much instability is a constant undercurrent of worry that the Amazon royalties won’t hold and I’ll be stuck without an income in a state where it’s barely safe to go outside. So, if even a few of you feel like becoming monthly patrons for an extra story (or two or three), I’ll be over the moon with that.

What this should do is keep me connected with those of you who like the chapter-by-chapter format and motivate me to finish more books for those of you who prefer to read the finished copy cover-to-cover. Everyone wins.

I took November off Seven Forsaken to set up a starting package for Patreon, so that those jumping in with me here at the beginning get a substantial helping of brand new content. For the moment, my Patreon has just two tiers (named after weapons because I thought that would be both cute and scalable):

As of this posting, the Saber Tier includes one chapter of Sazuma, one chapter of Gunpowder Magnolia, and a “lost chapter” of Theonite 3 centering on Misaki and Izumo. Both tiers include a whole bunch of new cover art and will update with new content at least once a month.

These are the only tiers I’ve set up so far, since I’m trying to start out focused on the writing projects themselves. If you’d be interested in more expensive tiers that include physical rewards (i.e. signed books, ARCs, decal stickers, bookmarks, etc.) let me know and I’ll look into setting those up… maybe when the prospect of entering a crowded post office is less terrifying.

As always, Seven Forsaken is available for FREE through my newsletter.