2020) Happy just-passed Christmas and a happy upcoming New Year · 11:21am Dec 27th, 2020

Hello all!

I realise that it has been quite some time since I posted anything to this blog thingy, and I'm sincerely sorry for that.

But, to get the unimportant stuff out of the way first: I'm doing well. I hope all of you are as well.

Now, onto the important:

Regarding commissions, I refunded a few to lift some of the weight off of my back. The reason why those in particular were refunded were due to a variety of factors. The biggest was definitely drive, however. The two biggest ones were either commissioned so long ago that any motivation I actually had to do them had shrivelled up, and the other was so large in scope ultimately (definitely upwards of 30k) that I kept putting it off and off until I finally decided to cancel making any progress on it and gave the guy back his money. What this ultimately means, however, is that, without those stories worrying me, I think I can make a lot more progress on the commissions I do have and get them out sooner rather than later. Now, with the remaining commissions, I think I should illuminate to you all a common problem I face whilst writing them. It can either be a boon or bane depending on your outlook.

I have an issue with verboseness. Some people love it, others criticise it as purple prose and I have no idea whose advice I should follow. However, with those stories, there's an issue under the hood of them all that only a few know, mostly the people who have commissioned me and people I interact with on discord. A smaller example of this is Namesake, a story I meant to be one, perhaps two thousand words, becoming three instead. A larger example of this is Side Effects, a story meant to be ten thousand becoming twenty one thousand. But by far the worst case of this is actually one of my ongoing commissions. The story with the acronym SFIFC, was supposed to be five thousand words. It has now tripled in heft at fifteen thousand. And before any of you scowl and worry I'm gouging people after the fact: I do not charge extra for going over the number of words you paid for.

I do not know whether this is a good or bad thing ultimately. It's certainly good for the commissioner who is getting triple the number of words but I rather than feel proud at my output I wince, wondering whether this makes me a bad writer. Am I subconsciously pursuing quantity over quality? Or am I trying to rigidly for it to make sense in my head? I have no idea. I'm wondering whether the solution to this is upping the cost of my words, increasing the estimated wordcount (which leads to the same outcome ultimately), or just be much stricter with myself when typing. If any of you have a solution I'd gladly hear it.

Now, as for when these commissions will see the light of day: I'd like to say early January for three of them, or right on the cusp of the new year for one. As for original stories, I don't know. Maybe when I've finished the current batch I'll work on something original. I never felt right about writing an original story whilst people were waiting for theirs, which is why those have slowed down. I have a few in mind which I've started but won't continue until I've finished the comms. I'll also need to finish up Snow and Sand as well as Learning to Love, finally. I also want to do a spin-off/semi-sequel to The Big Kahuna at some point. For the new year also, I'd love to write my own novel. If I could publish just one book and see it on shopshelves (if they still exist in this corona-ridden world), I'd consider my life complete.