My brain is messy, but I'll try to keep this news update from being too messy.
First of all, I'd like to apologize again for generally being quiet. Between the post-holiday rush, my convention, being sick/sore/etc. and dealing with just LIFE things, I've generally been in my head and quiet.
Work has resumed, as you've seen with the recent release. I've got multiple releases underway. I have plenty of art for them, and scripts, and I keep writing more scripts. I don't have a ton of excuses for not getting things done. Sure, some days, I legitimately can't record because of noise problems. But there's times I could get things done that I haven't.
Anyway! I'd like to make some changes to how I do things. Mostly minor things, which won't really affect what I create for all of you. One thing will, and we'll discuss it at the end.
First, I'd like to communicate more like I used to. I know I do this in the discord channel to some degree, but I mean on patreon itself, especially given that not everyone uses or has access to the supporter discord. I'm going to go back to weekly news posts, even if it's just small things like art WIPs, a status update on releases, etc. These will all be available to $3+ tier patrons. In some ways I worry that I started taking my supporters for granted and stopped talking as much as a result.
Next, there are some 'tiny' changes I'm going to make. The thing that wears you down over the years is usually an accumulation of small things. If I can make little changes that make no difference in the quality of what I create, then I think that'll help ease things a bit for me. One less thing to think about so I can focus on doing what I do best.
For starters, I'm going to organize megaupload a bit less. I'll just dump everything new into the yearly folder (they'll still have individual folders) instead of making monthly ones. Small thing, but something I don't have to think about as much, and you can just sort the folder yourselves anyway. I'll probably find more tiny little things like this to trim.
I'll also stop trying to firmly plan out each month's releases; this often doesn't work out anyway because of my ADHD ass brain, and then I feel guilty for delivering something different than what I promised. I need to just work on what interests me IN THE MOMENT. Another reason I'd like to do small weekly updates, so you can know what has grabbed my brain that week.
The other thing that I'm going to change will actually affect rewards a bit, though. I'm going to stop thinking of audios in terms of 'main releases' or 'bonus audios'. This is kind of an extra bit of overthinking and tedium that I've applied to my own work. I'm going to make things. I'm going to release them. The first 2 in each month will be for $3+ patrons, subsequent will be for $5+. That's it. What this does mean is that maybe one of those two first releases is a futa audio or something, which I'd usually try to shove off to a bonus audio. Or maybe it's a 20 min audio instead of a 30+. This really only affects $3 patrons, but most people have moved up at this point anyway.
Lastly, this is a bit of a personal one, maybe strange to some people. I do not believe in the idea of separating the art from the artist. I'm firmly against it, in fact. If I really like someone's work, I want to know more about the person behind it. I want to know what they enjoy, what they dislike, what influences them. If anything, it adds to their work. Sure, sometimes, that means I end up thinking a person sucks and I stop looking at their art. That's ok.
When I started my ASMR, I inadvertently created a barrier. I wanted people to look at my art on its own, without consideration for me. I didn't really think about it at the time, but it goes against the things I believe in. I want to put more of myself, as a person, into what I do. Yes, I have my twitch streams for that, and some folks do show up, but streams are hard to watch for many people. So I was thinking about recording some non-RP asmr stuff. Maybe in vr, maybe just a regular audio. Talk about things going on, what I've been doing or getting into. Ramble a bit. Less RP asmr, and more like 'hey it's just me'. I know a lot of people won't care, and that's ok. But I think it'd be a nice outlet for me, and even if one person enjoyed it, that'd be cool.
If/when I do these, even if I do a VR thing, that won't count as an 'animation' to me, so I'll just release it to all patrons, probably?
Anyway, that's all I really have on my mind. Maybe I'll try to do weekly updates like this on Sundays and show off a little bit then. Even if I do a release during a week, I'll try to check in.
Thanks for your patience. I'll be back with more soon.
Also as a reminder I WILL be gone for a week at end of month to go see my parents, so don't expect an update during that.