gigglinggoblin
patreon
News on Tumblrs
🕑 Added 2018-11-07 18:26:09 +0000 UTC Hello, my lovelies! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween, by the way! <3So, I have some kinda sour news, I'm afraid. I'm thinking about reducing my Tumblr post frequency from once-per-day down to five-per-week, starting next January. My current workload doesn't feel especially sustainable, and a big part of that is having to write seven distinct stories every week. It basically amounts to two extra unpaid chapters a month.
Rationale
For some insight, here's how my current schedule works: Each morning, I sit down to write either about 1k-3k words of a chapter, 2-4 Tumblr posts, or to edit about half of a finished story. So, a given week's schedule might look like:
Friday: Write 2k of Bonus Pairing
Saturday: Write 3 Tumblr posts
Sunday: Write 2 Tumblr posts
Monday: Write 1.5k of Bonus Pairing
Tuesday: Finish Bonus Pairing
Wednesday: Edit Bonus Pairing
Thursday: Complete+Upload Bonus Pairing
In theory, this means at the end of the week, I've had time to write about 6k-7k of a story, 7 Tumblr posts, and fully edit the chapter to upload it. In between, I also find time to manage the Patreon. Additionally, I try to get ahead of schedule so that by the end of the month, I can piece together time to write a fifth chapter even though there's usually less than a fifth week to spare. The Goblin Vault tends to be a casualty of all of this.
This might work better if I had time to treat my writing as a full-time job. Obviously, I don't, and juggling smut atop schoolwork, non-smut writing, and a social life is getting a little bit untenable. And the thing is, I do sometimes miss days, especially on the Tumblr—it's a lot easier to write 3,000 words of a single story than 1,500 words of three stories. I need to ease up on something, and the Tumblr is a big timesink.
I used to compare myself to Jukebox, who posts daily flash fiction. Well, Jukebox's stories are way shorter. Way shorter. Heck, his flash fiction is usually shorter, too. That comparison doesn't really work anymore.
What To Do
So, tl;dr tumblr takes a lot of time and I need to find a way to dial it back. What then?
I don't love the idea of paring the Tumblr back, since it was one of the first pledge goals to make posts daily. That said, the end of the year feels like a good time to do it. I might even be able to spend some time actually adding to the Goblin Vault instead of managing my Tumblr all the time.
One potential option could be to break up the fifth chapter I write into smaller increments and post them on the Tumblr on the non-flashfic or lore post days. It would be exclusively posted on Patreon (in one big chunk) and on the Tumblr, with some fun stuff added in each update like setting comments and character insights.
This schedule would look more like:
Friday: Write 4 Tumblr posts
Saturday: Write 2k of Intrepid Pawns 12
Sunday: Write 2k of Intrepid Pawns 12
Monday: Finish Intrepid Pawns 12
Tuesday: Edit Intrepid Pawns 12
Wednesday: Complete Intrepid Pawns 12
Thursday: Recovery day/upload IP12 to Patreon/queue up snippets for the Tumblr
Are there any other ideas, or strong opinions on the matter?
Comments
apurpletoast
Your supporters are actually supportive, so don't worry about it! Pretty cool actually, when you think about it, and how people online often are. Makes me smile anyway.
Vmaganti
Whatever works best to promote your own health and well-being. I would miss the daily tumblrs, but if cutting down is better for you and also helps you focus on longer stories, that might be a wise decision.
skeeley
When you first committed to seven posts a week I remember posting my concern about your ability to balance work and school. So consider my vote strongly on the side of cutting back, even though I love the posts.
Wildmanden
I like the Tumblr, and i obviously wouldn't be super excited about it getting cut down, but i can see the problem. Honestly your schedule seems pretty busy, so i understand that you want to dial it back a bit. In regards to breaking up the fifth chapter on tubmlr, i'd be fine with you just posting it on patreon once it's done, if that makes it easier.
Scott Sinclair
Personally I'm not a huge tumblr fan, and only occasionally check it. I'm much more interested in the full stories and BPs you write.
Yshomatsu
I understand why you wanted to focus and keep up with tumblr when you started everything, and I like your tumblr. But I have to say I would rather support/pay you for more patreon stories and less tumblr than the other way around. I love all your writing and this year it just seems like you’ve dialed back on patreon posts a lot and that’s not fair to you. All the work you do for us, you deserve the support money from patreon more than making sure you get a post on tumblr everyday
Sothe Dain
I have the extremely strong opinion that you should do what's best for you and keeps you happy and stable. If you decide you need to back off on tumblr a bit I totally get it. It's a very small price to pay to keep you happy, and healthy and if you burn yourself out trying to keep up with unrealistic goals everyone loses. Do what you need too. You have all my support.
