2023 Thou & Me (Patreon)

Greetings and here comes the obligatory New Year/End of Year post haha!

It's been a weird year but I feel like all the years I've been on Patreon something has held me back from feeling 100% enthused with how I've used Patreon and how Patreon was used to engage with me.

I always try and make a plan I think will work and then one thing or another (internal and external things) poke holes in the plan. I'm like

haha

The biggest things for me this year were the decisions surrounding Beauty and the Brit and then having my health make me unable to continue with doing anything mentally and physically from pretty much August onward.

Maybe it's the way I am processing all of this stress and healing but I'm honestly not disappointed with my year here on Patreon. I accept what limitations I had personally.

As always, I hope for better for the future. Problem is: what is my plan?

I've realized recently that I don't need one. I want to have one, but I'm still healing and after that I need to find a new job.

I still have the receptionist job I got before I had to go on medical leave, but I found out the company wasn't willing to pay for my medical leave despite my boss being so encouraging about me being able to keep my job and have no worries about taking a medical leave and yet too also somewhat demanding of a doctor's note so she could "get things started" for me. Turns out "things" was a Record of Employment so I could go on our government provided Employment Insurance unless I wanted to pay to keep receiving my work benefits. Lord. All of this info previously unknown to me which I found out after my surgery and wasn't able to actually physically apply for myself until pretty much November after which time I learned that I was ineligible to receive anything for October because too much time had passed. Uh, should medical leave not have a grace period in case you had to be in hospital and were unable to do something?

I digress XD

Point is undue stress came upon me in my time of need and I can't continue work for a place that only has your back in words only to rescind those and the benefits the moment you're out of work for longer than a week. There's no security in that, and besides I don't want a career working in Early Education anyway. I was trained for school-aged kids and I like that age group. For me to go forward in making a plan for my Patreon, I need to figure out the security within the parameters of the rest of my life. I can't make routines and plans for this business if so much else is up in the air in regards to planning and scheduling elsewhere.

So that sucks, but it's another transition that has to be made.

Meanwhile I'd love to know people's thoughts about what they might like to see from me in the upcoming year(s)? 

Should I start to create a focus on teaching my writing/storytelling craft to people, as some others do? Should I use Patreon as a way for fans to get early access to my publishing journey and news in that regard? (coz I'm totally wanting to publish outside of this platform my novel A Promise Kept so that'll be going on anyway!) Do you enjoy having a story or part of it told on here for you to access as a Patron as I usually have done? Or is there something else that you'd love to suggest for me? I'm very happy to explore options!

Glad to still be here and writing you all this end of year summary and new year look ahead. Thanks for reading it, and thank you to whatever support you've given me this year: a pledge, an interaction/engagement with my work, a prayer, a follow... I appreciate it all!

Here's to 2023! When I have more of an idea of what's what, I'll be back to surprise you all with it! haha

Love,

Brittany xoxo