The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Volume 4, Issue 4 -- Tuesday, April 16th, 2019

Howdy, patrons!

If you live in the United States, I hope all of you have survived the dreaded Tax Day. If you don't live in the US, April 15th is the last day to file your taxes for the previous calendar year. For most of us, it's relatively straightforward -- your day job gives you a little form that tells you how much taxable income you made over the year, how much was set aside for various taxes, and you enter that information into a tax preparation app that should tell you if you're getting anything back or if you owe anything. However, as you get older and accumulate more stuff -- like 401(k)s or houses, or side jobs, or homes -- it starts to get a lot more complicated. 

I have a fairly simple life, but man taxes were a beast this year. The Patreon has thrown me into a whole different area of the tax code, and in order to take advantage of it there's a LOT you should be keeping track of. As a writer in the US, for example, pretty much any book could be considered a write-off related to my career. Software used for writing can be written off, and so can my Wordpress and domain registration subscription. Meals where I talk about writing (as long as they're itemized) can be written off too. So can travel to conventions, con registration, and all sorts of things! The problem is making sure you keep track of all these expenses so if the IRS comes calling you've got receipts. 

So this year I'll be trying to keep better track of expenses and time spent writing. If the government is going to treat this like an actual job, then I guess I'd better do that too. Which means making sure that I'm treating this Patreon more like a professional. Sorry about that, so far!

I'll be taking the rest of April to work that out. I want to make sure that the serials are updated on a more regular basis, and that the quality of my writing is improving too. I'd also want to introduce the fabled "premiere" serial for all of you wonderful folks who have been providing patronage at higher levels. I already have the first premiere serial in mind, but after that folks will be asked to vote on the ones they like! I'm thinking that they'll be shorter than the "basic" serial that I'm writing -- something like five to eight parts, with a rotating crop of stories depending on how you feel.

With "Crushing The Competition," I'm getting to the point where I realize I'd feel a lot more comfortable with the chapters if I just stopped flying by the seat of pants, drew up at least a rough outline, and gave myself enough space to edit the rough draft before posting. THAT is going to require some foresight, however, which is what I'm taking the time to do. The setting is admittedly high-concept, and while I like the chance to make up interesting things on the fly it also feels like the story hasn't gotten much momentum -- even though we're up to part 14. There's roughly 20,000 words written right now, but it still feels like we're at the beginning. 

On top of that, I'm not sure how the characters are coming off. Is Ralph a whiny, dour black hole of joy? Is Namare mysterious and cool, or capricious and annoying? And how is the Titan Northern crew coming off? It's hard to get a read on this if I'm just dashing to the deadline and dropping the story fragment there. It really pays to go back and consider things a bit more carefully.

Above all, I think I need to learn how to write for myself. That doesn't mean I shouldn't consider how a story will be received by an audience -- but it also means that I should focus on building stories in a way that brings me joy. As I've mentioned before, I'm sure, one of the reasons it's been so tough to build and keep momentum is the sense of pressure I place on myself to make sure I'm not wasting everyone's time. But fear is not a great motivator for creativity; passion, curiosity, and excitement are. So taking the time to figure out how to build passion into this story is a worthy endeavor.

Of course, I'll keep you all updated on my progress through the rest of the month. The next chapter of "Crushing The Competition" will be posted here on May 2nd. I'm hoping the gourmet serial (hah!) will begin appearing a bit later that month.

Until then, buckaroos! Let me know what you'd like to see next month, if anything.

-Jakebe