Let’s get right into it!
Word Count update!
Sleepless’s chapters twelve and thirteen have been posted! The project is up to 167 pages worth of content — 62,965 words!
Cardinal meanwhile saw the addition of Mission Logs 13, 14, and 15 since April 1st, bringing the project up to 65,800 words across 199 pages!
Fun to mention as well, Cardinal’s master document is formatted to the size of standard printer paper, unlike Sleepless. Adjusting the page size and margins to fall in line with my usual printing parameters, Cardinal would be 239 pages.
Mythic saw the release of part three, putting the project up to 35 pages and 11,010 words!
Things I Remembered to Update (Yay!)
Somehow I forgot to update Cardinal’s master document past its midseason finale? Mission Logs 13, 14, and 15 have been added as of this past Friday!
Cardinal’s Glossary also has been updated to reflect any new terminology from the past three logs.
Everlight Part 1 audio! It’s out! Audio for the others is in the works!
Redbubble is up to 16 designs!
Future of Free Content [Poll Results]
A huge thank you to everyone that responded to the poll both here and on Instagram!
For those who missed it, I put a poll out [here] to try to get a bead on what kind of content my free subscribers would like to see going forward — writing tips, or more free stories.
Writing tips are content as normal, in the style of articles like my discussion on outline aftercare and character building. They’re a way for me to talk about a writing-related subject, how I handle them, and how that might help you.
The only free story example currently offered is the 5-part series Mythic, which is still being published at the moment. I picture most future free stories will be standalone articles instead — self-contained stories that begin and end in the span of the article.
They could be responses to writing prompts, or experiment with different styles and types of fiction. I also would love to put out some short stories that take place in Cardinal Directive’s universe, but don’t directly interact with our main cast.
The reason I have been going back and forth about this is fairly simple: it doesn’t make all the sense in the world for my free content to attract a different audience than my paid content. I want free content to give people an idea of what I do and give them a reason to become paying subscribers.
Just to say, I do this because I love it. This is my full-time job, and I’m very lucky to have a job I really enjoy and people around me that encourage me to pursue it. I don’t do this for the money. However, every cent I DO make goes towards paying to house and feed my horse, Red.
Never in a million years did I think I would be lucky enough to have a horse and be a full-time writer — at least not before I was retirement age. So even though I don’t do this for the money, each subscription does mean more than you can ever know because it supports a dream twenty+ years in the making. Getting subscribers is about keeping that dream alive, which is why I would love to see this blog continue to grow.
In any case —
There were upsides and downsides to both options and honestly I was happy to provide either form of content, so I wanted to put it up to you all to see what you would want out of your subscriptions. If there was a strong leaning towards one or the other, it only made sense to skew in that direction.
Instead, almost everyone who responded voted for both! As mentioned, I’m perfectly happy with this, but it does bring up an interesting question that I would like to put to all of you:
How often would you like to see writer tips vs. free stories?
Keep in mind, free content is published every OTHER Monday, so in any given month there are usually only two (2) free content releases. Some months this goes up to three (3), but the majority of months see two.
Would you want a 50/50 split alternating every release? A roughly 50/50 split but at my discretion which ones come out when? 1:3 ratio so one type of content only comes out roughly every two months?
Or would you rather leave it as author’s choice? Please comment your response below!
Schedule/Things to look forward to!
FREE CONTENT
Mythic, Myth of Everlight Part 4 - May 2
Mythic, Myth of Everlight Part 5 - May 16
FINALE of this story arc!
Author’s Notes on: Science vs. Fiction - May 30
PAID CONTENT
The Cardinal Directive —
Mission Log #16 — May 13
Mission Log #17 — May 27
Sleepless —
Chapter Fourteen — May 6
Chapter Fifteen — May 20