Dragon Slayer Chapter Two has been posted! It’s been a lot of fun to retool this story, and the next chapter after it is mostly done as well. After that, I’d arrive at the end of the story’s original commission, and to be honest, we’ll see what happens to the story’s priority after that.

I do get annoyed with having to take a break from one story to write another. I think I’ve diversified my strategy a little too much from when I was just writing one story at a time. At the same time, I’ve felt lucky to get commissions and a lot of the people I’ve written for seem to get a lot out of the process too. But still: I keep showing on my updates that I’m working on After, but… It’s been a comically large amount of time, and I wouldn’t say I’m halfway through it.

Of course, I could end up feeling inspired and pick it up any time. And of course, After is going to be a self-contained new story, whereas maybe more people want Final Answer Chapter 12 than something new. Maybe they want another update in the – oh jeez – two other longform stories started.

Being a writer that and starts too many stories to be able to update them all quickly enough… it feels a little shameful. I almost feel like I’m at Alcoholics Anonymous announcing I have a problem, even though my writing has been able to sustain me more than ever, which is a great feeling all in all. Still, commissions need to be handled smartly, and perhaps I should have a lower maximum on my number of open commissions at a time, or dedicate more time to this.

I’ve been heavily considering the latter.

If you email me or try to commission me, you know that the worst aspect of that process is my efficiency. Especially after choosing a blue collar job, my available time to work on my stories has dwindled. I suppose I don’t have to adhere to a pace that sees a piece completed monthly, but… I feel like a lot of people joined my community under this expectation, so I still want to adhere to it. Fortune does favor the bold, so I wonder if I should gamble on my writing and make it something I do more often – as in, taking less shifts at work.

I’m strongly considering it.

I don’t want to play whack-a-mole with my own stories. I don’t want to think of my own emails and feel pre-emptive guilt. I don’t want people waiting this long for something they’re paying money for. I want to make a change, and some changes are risky, but… maybe they’re worth it. We’ll see. I’ll talk to you all soon.

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