How Commissioned Essays Are Going to Work in the Future (Patreon)

Those of you who've been kind enough to give me money to write about subjects of your choice have probably noticed that I'm several months behind on your commissions. My sincerest apologies for that. Finishing my associate's degree, moving numerous times, coping with my mental health, and sorting out new relationships have taken priority over my freelance writing that sometimes makes me a couple hundred dollars a month. But I've missed blogging a lot. The writing process is rewarding and wonderful for me, and I'm really enjoying writing Dreams of Orgonon again (look out for "Army Dreamers" and "Breathing" over the next week-and-change).  I have some academic requirements to knock out before I can dedicate time to writing commissions again, but when my statistics course wraps up in July I'm going to spend a good month catching up on those. Whatever happens, expect July to be my comeback month in terms of writing.

So here's the bulk of the update: I'm going to change how commissions work on this Patreon. Some fundamentals of the process are remaining: $5+ patrons can commission pieces from me, and those pieces can be about a topic of their choosing, providing we have a conversation about expectations first. But it's also difficult for me to write about subjects I'm not greatly passionate about. Hell, I struggle to write about things that mean the world to me. Certainly I'm capable of writing essays I'm proud of about ideas that are new to me. But as far as getting motivated to write goes and getting my readers work at a reasonable pace, it's harder for me to write about things that aren't my ideas.

This means I'm going to start listing proposals and topics for commissions that patrons can request that I write about. I'm going to start posting these lists once I get my current obligations out of the way. Patrons are still welcome to discuss paying me to write about ideas of their choosing, but on the whole I'd rather focus on things that are already keeping me preoccupied. So look out for the first list in... let's say July. I've got some fun ideas lined up already, and I really hope they come to fruition. See you around with "Army Dreamers" in a couple days.