…Sunflowers at Night…

I’ve had a lot of thoughts lately. Some good. Some bad. Most somewhere in between. I’ve been struggling to make room for my writing for a long time now, and these past few weeks have been tough, but they’ve also helped me gain some much needed perspective. Some of my best thinking times have been during late night walks around the neighborhood.

I have written every single day during the month of September. Not a lot, but the fact that I’ve gotten new words down each day is a great accomplishment that can help set the foundation for even better progress in the months to come. This was, in no small part, due to the incorporation of a word count spreadsheet that my wife, Tara, put together at my request. Having that daily block waiting for my word count at the end of the day was just what I needed to push past the run-down, exhausted feeling I’ve been fighting for so long. I would much rather get at least some words than have that empty block for the day as a reminder of my failure.

What’s more, I’m very happy with the words I’ve gotten and how the story I’ve been working on has progressed.

I guess it isn’t too late to teach this old dog a few new tricks. Speaking of new tricks, I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to engage with my fans lately. I’ve tried to do this in the past, but I haven’t figured out a way to make that connection in a manner that makes sense.

One avenue is My YouTube Channel.

What? You didn’t know about this?!

Haha! I’m just kidding. I mean, yes, I do have a channel, but it’s been a tough journey since I created it over a decade ago in March, 2012.

I’ve put up an assortment of videos over the years, but I always invariably take them down or switch them to private. This is something that I’m actively working to overcome. I’ll be honest, though. I have a lot of anxiety and a need for perfection to work through. It’s hard to think about how I could have done this much better when I was younger, but that line of thinking won’t get me anywhere, and it certainly won’t help me grow my channel today.

So, I’m putting my best imperfect foot forward, and I’m working to grow my channel one video at a time. That doesn’t include the hours and hours of rejected takes I’ve got sitting on my camera’s SD card, but we’re taking baby steps.

One way I thought might make this journey a little easier came to me yesterday in the form of Free Talk Tuesdays. This is going to be a series of videos I can post one day a week where I talk about writing updates and a few loose topics for about 30 minutes. The purpose will be to produce content, sure, but more to help me feel a little more comfortable in front of the camera.

The goal will be to shoot these videos in one take, with no cuts or edits. I’m hoping this will help me to overcome the feeling that I have to throw out entire videos if I make simple mistakes. It should also help me grow accustomed to the process, so I’m also hoping I’ll make less mistakes over time.

Another way I’d like to connect with my fans is via my Newsletter. This is mechanism will also take some work and fine-tuning, as I learned earlier this month.

I’m still trying to figure out how to do all of these things without burning myself out, which has become quite a balancing act. The good news is that I’ve accepted that I’m on a journey. I can’t start out by being great at any of this stuff. I mean, that’s one of those statements that makes perfect sense when you say it out loud. And yet, it’s something I’ve struggled with for a very long time.

One of the changes I’ve decided to make is to start offering chapters of my recent Dungeons & Divebars novellas for free via my newsletter, with catch up chapters available by following my author account on Ream.

Ream is a platform much like Patreon, but was built to be focused on writers. I’m offering these chapters completely free of charge, so please don’t sign up for any of the support tiers. All you have to do is Follow my account, and you’ll get notifications of updates. It’s a super slick platform, and I hope you enjoy the writing and updates I post there.

Examples of some existing content on my Ream page include handwritten portions of Second Chance (very much in draft form), special notes, and the first 6 or 7 chapters (typed draft format) of Seeking Truth, Book 3 of A Battle Mage Reborn.

If getting access to that sort of content interests you, be sure to click the link above and give me a Follow. Remember, it’s completely free, and it will only take a moment of your time.

Other than that, I’ve been doing my best to take life one day at a time. I have plans to upload my Free Talk Tuesday video to YouTube this afternoon, and I’d like to finish recording another video about my word tracker today if I can fit it in. I’m really excited to share what I’ve been working on and, while it hasn’t been direct progress on Seeking Truth, I think this latest writing has really helped me to grow as an author. I hope you think so, too.