Coming Back After A Hiatus (& A Trip!)
Hi Hello! It's been a long time, how have y'all been? Hopefully the answer is as good as you can be, because each and every one of yous deserves to have as good of a time as possible!
As for me, well, we've been having A Time™
Just to give a quick rundown of this year so far:
- Got promoted to Project Coordinator at work (technically happened last year, but really really late in the year so it'll go here)
- Restarted my zero draft of DESECRATE
- REVERENT: An Anthology of Divinity is released! I have a story in it called Condemn Me!
- Attended the Akron Book Fest (my first time showing my books locally!)
- We Can Always Tell is released! Featuring my story Fall Into Me!
- Finally gave in to the request of one of my friends and downloaded Warframe again... (foreshadowing: i've been so unproductive since this event)
- Attended Alt Street Market in May
- Got just so much inspiration for DESECRATE through the tragic loss of Pope Francis and the conclave that followed
- Restarted my zero draft of DESECRATE
- Not long after that, I went on hiatus! There were a few things that happened in this time, the first of which being a road trip with three of my closest friends from Ohio to Philadelphia to Baltimore back to Ohio!
- Came home to two (2) weeks of intense yard work while we prepare my house (prev my papa's house) for selling
- Did an author interview with my dear friend U.R. Holm, who is the first person to interview me without my mask!
- Tabled at Pride In The CLE at the beginning of June
- Almost immediately after that I left for yet another road trip! This time I drove out to Philly to meet my friend (one of the ones from the prev trip, ily Xochi) and we took the train up to Connecticut for StokerCon
- Published a new short story on Friday, June 13th at StokerCon!
- Restarted my zero draft of DESECRATE
- Got so busy with work that I disappeared off the internet again for another two weeks
So as you can imagine, I'm kind of tired 😅 Oh! I also have images! Let me throw them in here:
As far as writing goes... DESECRATE has been through the wringer, folded and wrung out and refolded and molded into an entirely new shape. That being said, I am really happy with how it's shaking out now!
I've really gotten into the mind of Kit, our beautiful transmasc agender main character who goes through hell and comes out... changed. So much so that I've been going back through his playlist and updating it! At least, updating the one (he has an everything playlist and then a vibes only playlist for writing):
I'm really excited to play around in his brain and see how this draft shakes out. I'm really hoping to have something I can throw at my alpha readers soon! I keep pushing off their meals and I'm fairly certain they're organizing a mutiny in order to obtain food (my writing).
Speaking of alpha readers, I met so many amazing authors while I was at CLE Pride & StokerCon! I'm really hoping to absorb some of them into my writing process, starting with Aubry and Jack. I really appreciated all the conversations I've had with them and I really trust their opinions, hopefully they will be down to help me out at the beta reading stage! (and I hope they keep me in mind with their projects!)
I think I've gone on long enough! The last thing that I want to talk about is that big red box at the bottom of this post.
After talking to some folks at StokerCon (thank you Aubry i appreciate you Aubry), I have decided to start a few fun projects. Y'all will hear more about them soon, but just know that they are in motion. In preparation for these fun projects, I've decided to expand my options for support!
I was considering opening a Patreon, but imma be honest I don't think I can handle another platform. My newsletter (that I'm working on reviving, starting with this one!), my Instagram, & my Bluesky really take everything for me. Work has been a lot, and if I can I want to contain what I need to do to as few platforms as possible!
Which brings in a fun discovery on my part: did y'all know you can have paid newsletter subscriptions?
Paying to join my newsletter was never my intention, but I have combined my newsletter now with what I wanted my Patreon to be! That means that this portion, the updates, will be available publically for free, but the portion of my newsletter that contains my writing will not be.
If you so choose to support me, there are three tiers available:
Kodi's Towns Folk is the first tier for $5/month. This is the tier that will grant you access to my writing snippets! These will be longer snippets from my current writing and cut scenes from past works! This tier will also be given art updates, including an early showing of any finished art INCLUDING covers!
Adonai's Sheep is the second tier for $10/month. You will have access to my writing snippets as well as access to eARCs of my books before they come out! This tier is also where you'll get consistent art updated. WIPs, finals, everything!
Icarus' Feathers is the highest tier for $20/month. This is a far reach tier that I don't expect anyone to sign up for, but if you wanted to then you would be granted access to my writing snippets, the eARCs from the previous tiers, AND physical (paperback or hardcover 👀) ARCs of my future releases! At this level, you'll also get access to helping me make decisions on art related things and have first dibs on YCHs when I start doing those!
That being said, I do not expect and honestly am not ready for anyone to subscribe just yet! I want to make sure I have a decent backlog to make it worth the subscription to y'all, so I would love a couple months to really get things settled (especially with how much I've been sucked into work and my upcoming Master's program!! That starts this August!!)
Thank you guys for sticking it out to the end of this update, there was a lot to review.
I hope yous have an amazing day, and I will see you next month with another update <3
