So, the bad news: I'm going to probably skip making videos for the next few weeks.
The good news: You're gonna get a hell of an episode when I'm done.
I've found that creativity isn't programmatic or even logical. You may try to set a schedule for "I'm going to do this thing on this day," but if your brain isn't feeling it, you're just wasting your time. As I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts/podcasts, I have not one but two big episodes planned for this year. Usually I take on one every few years (the last being my MiniDisc documentary) but somehow the timing of the projects lined up such that ones I had started at vastly different times (2021 and 2023, respectively) are coming together in parallel.
I've been hard at work editing one of them -- the project from 2021 -- and honestly I can't really focus on anything else new lately. I've gotten partway through writing a few new scripts, but I just can't focus on them, no matter how hard I try. You may have noticed that my last few videos have been shorter than usual; some of the best advice I've ever gotten about running a YouTube channel is to produce content on a consistent basis, and that's generally served me well. But my attempts at trying to just "get content out there" isn't paying off, and could in fact prove detrimental should I continue. I need to focus on quality instead of quantity.
I don't have an exact date for when these big project videos will drop. One will -- hopefully -- be ready by late May/early June, and the other will come in the fall. Between the two, of course, I'll get back to regular videos (I still have a huge backlog of projects!). I'm really proud of what's to come, for different reasons, and I'm trying to make both of these big videos the best they can be. (For example, your Patreon contributions this month are going towards hiring a drone pilot in California!)
As always, I really appreciate your support and input. I'll try to keep up with Patreon-exclusive content along the way. You will, as always, get an early look at both of these videos before they go live and I think you'll find the wait was worth it.