Not Dead, yet · 8:52am Jan 7th, 2017
Okay, to start with, I can't apologize for vanishing like I have. There are several reasons why I blanked out, and using them as an excuse can only partially explain what all happened. Part of it was finishing up school and getting my Bachelors. Another was losing contact with dedicated editor. Still more was holiday rushes at a retail job, then pile all of that unto repeated attempts to move out into my own place. But mostly it was simply a result of lazyness and a complete lack of creative drive. But I am wanting to change that this year. I have once again begun the year of writing, by that I mean I will force myself to write at least a page of something every single day. Now if that page will be Contact related I can't say for certain. But write I will, and I will try and get something out for all you good people to enjoy even if it kills me.
Speaking of new years resolutions I had a bit of an idea and would love to hear some of your guy's feedback on this. Would anyone be interested in short story commissions? This would be a huge help to me on several levels. One it would help keep me motivated as I would be expected to make a quality product that people have paid me for, rather than simply doing it when I feel like it. Secondly it would work my creative muscle as someone might ask for something that I might not have considered attempting before. Thirdly it would provide me a bit more income, which I really need right now. Would this be something people would be interested in? What do you guys think would be a reasonable price range for short stories? Or am I just dead in the water with this idea because of my dissapearing act?
Anything you guys can tell me would be a great help! I hope to have something for all you wonderful followers soon!
Wow, it HAS been a while. I had to remind myself what story I was following you for. ^^; Been over a year I guess!
Hmm, you didn't tag the blog, so you might be missing folks who follow Contact (or another story) but not necessarily you. I'm not sure how that works. Might be worth bringing up the commissions (or potentially Patreon which seems to work well for authors here) on a Contact-tagged blog. :) Especially if you've got another chapter to post to pop everyone's eyes.
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If I had a new chapter of Contact, that would be awesome. However I am not nearly so lucky. Anyway thanks for the feedback! To be honest I wasn't sure if I should have tagged this on Contact or not since it wasn't directly Contact related. In regards to a Patreon, I am completely untested in the field. I would rather get some commissions under my belt before I try and open up a Patreon. Though it might be something to consider for certain.
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Yeah. While not as focused as commissions might be (and I know that focus can help) it's a lot easier for people to toss "pocket change" at you, like $5 a chapter or something, in exchange for things like previews of chapters, and can help you get going where people might be otherwise timid about commission commitments. Just a thought. :)
I just recommend using "Contact" since the metrics say it's your biggest-exposure fic, so you'd reach more people that way.
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I do agree with you, never been part of a patreon myself so I don't even know what kind of goals I might set at the moment. And yes Contact is probably the best known fic I have. If I made a patreon tied to it I could probably generate some good interest. Though I don't want to let people down again if I can't make any progress then I won't keep patrons for very long. Though in terms of commission what few examples I have been able to find are about 10 bucks for 4k words. Which isn't all that hard to do and not very expensive to be honest. At least with starting with commissions first I get some experience on how quickly, and effectively, I could fulfill my obligations.
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Totally make sense!
Almost a catch-22 there! You need exposure to attract commissioners, but need commissions to get into the groove again to get exposure. Not sure I have any good ideas there.
Could maybe start up a Contact chat on like, Discord, see if you can get a few people in to cheer you on and see if that can get you the exposure by connecting with your fans?
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Definitely a possibility, if I had Discord to begin with :P . But seriously one thing I know would help me in the long run would be to find a new dedicated editor. One thing that helped me pump out Contact chapters was having some help that was just as passionate about the story as I was. If its just me its hard to keep up the motivation, because I can't help but think whatever I am working on is much worse than it actually is. But I am getting back into writing practice, and haven't missed a day yet. So I have that going for me, just need to put it toward Contact chapters now.
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Well, I'm certainly willing to volunteer, if that helps! You can put a call out for more editors too, or a pre-reader or somesuch. There always seems to be a couple people willing to chime in, and it would help get you that motivating feedback. :)
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If you are offering to assist with editing, I won't turn down the offer! Not sure when I would have a Contact chapter for you to look at though. Unless of course you wish to assist with the unfinished one. Seriously I can't get it to work right, and have started re-writing it several times. Its one of the biggest reasons why its taken me this long.
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Sure! Let me know how you'd like to collaborate and I'll see if I can't be a good object to bounce ideas off of. :)
Hello.
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Greeterlings