September Update 2023! (Patreon)

Good afternoon everyone, C.H. Darkstrider here with the latest update! I know this one is a bit on the late side, but as I always say, better late than never, yeah? A lot has been going on these past couple of months and I am eager to lay out the gameplan for you all today! So, without further ado, let’s get into it!

The first thing that comes to mind is the chapters I am releasing and the pace at which I am releasing them. I know that I have been remiss in releasing what I promised in a timely manner and have been working to correct that. The thing is, I believe I have been suffering from a mild form of burnout lately.

Whenever I fall behind, I do what I can to work as furiously as I can to catch up to where I should be. I put in extra time at all hours of the night to meet these deadlines and I wind up being so beat the following day that I barely get anything done. So, I have decided to start slowing things down after this month is completed.

What that will mean going forward is that I will no longer be focusing on trying to release double chapters of my stories. Not in the near future at any rate and likely not for a while. I realize that I have been pushing myself so damned hard that I haven’t taken the time to look after myself properly. Even my wife thinks I push myself too hard with the deadlines I set. So, I thought I’d take her advice on that and slow the pace a little.

While this means that only three story chapters will be releasing per month, that doesn’t mean that I will stop working on my other tales. It also means that any other free time I have will be devoted to crafting other goodies and pieces of media that I have been remiss in getting done. This means artwork, additional lore, and even something that folks, my wife especially, have been telling me I should do. Audios.

I have been hesitant in the past to do audios because of the limitations of doing the audios correctly. While I could have done the narration and the male parts, doing the female parts was a bit of a hassle, as I don’t sound like a woman, no matter how hard I try! Not to mention that many voice actresses have some pretty high rates when it comes to voice work, and few have the octave and voice ranges I need.

All of this, and the limitations of various voice programs, has halted me from doing audios. Until now. Now that the programs have evolved enough to where I can emulate a woman’s voice to where I actually sound like one, I am now working on these audios! I will finally be able to craft the voices needed to bring my characters and worlds to life!

Now I’m sure you’re all wondering what’s going on with that and where I will be placing them and where I will start. Well, I will first be starting with Project Prometheus and go to Gaia’s Champion after that, then Tales of the Wastelander. I will be rotating between each story and will work on the audios for my other stories when time permits. As for which tier I will be placing them in, they will be going to the Honor Guard/10$ tier.

I understand some folks might think this is too much as far as audios go, but there is a lot of time and effort that goes into crafting audios. For those who know of or who have friends who are voice actors, you know what I’m talking about. But I will be fair and release the first audio chapter I make for everyone to access. This way, you can all hear the audio and decide for yourself if you want to stay in whatever tier you are, or to upgrade to the Honor Guard tier.

Lastly, I wanted to bring up something that I have been doing lately and something that some of my patrons/subscribers have noticed. What I have been doing every week is going through my old work and giving it a rework and polish. I was looking back on my old chapters and thinking to myself, ‘By the gods! What stupid idiot wrote this garbage?! Oh, right! I’m the idiot!’

So, I have been taking some time out of my rest day every week and rereading all of my old work. I have been fixing it to today’s standard, one chapter at a time, and have since reposted them to the page. Such a process is slow though, as the time I have set aside for it is limited. Currently, every story that has at least two chapters has had an extensive rework and I am busy working on the third chapter of each story. I’ll get there and get each chapter reworked, but it will take some time.

Well, that about does it for this update! I hope you are all doing well during such a time and that everyone is staying safe out there! Thank you all for your support, as I would not be this far without you, my devoted readers and fans! I am glad to have you all along for the ride and know that you will love what I’ve got cooking for the next few story chapters! Cheers everyone!