Update on the State of the Site

  Hello, all! Welcome (more firmly, anyway) to the New Year, with its fresh promise of not being nearly as terrible as the last. We’re off to a bit of a rocky start over all, but whatever, right? New Year! Woo!

  I’m writing this as kind of an acknowledgement of the fact that, recently, the blog updates to the site are a little bit more staggered than they have been in the past. There are a number of reasons for this:

  First, I have a minimum threshold for quantity and quality of posts. I know it doesn’t work super well for clicks, that ever-so-precious resource of the internet age, but I also respect your time. As such, I don’t really like the idea of publishing less than two pages worth of material. Writing a post takes a substantial amount of time to get a topic, write it out, proof it, and get it set up. It may not seem like much, but it can be creatively (and at times, emotionally) exhausting. Which ties into the next thing.

  Second, I have a couple of jobs that require me to do things so I do not starve. I’m in the process of building a name for myself as a writer; as such the money I get from it is limited. My main source of income is as a lecturer and writing tutor. Despite what some may think, creating and teaching a college course is not something that can be accomplished in a couple of hours. You’re constantly reading, revising, and interacting with students. As a tutor, I’m working one-on-one with a number of people on any given day. All of my jobs are heavy on the reading and writing, which can put a crimp on sitting down to pump out non-vital material.

  There’s another side of this, too. I love these jobs. They’re incredibly rewarding, but they also have the unintended side effect of bumming me out when they’re over. The semester breaks are not the safe harbors that you may expect. For me, breaks are places I go to feel underutilized and impatient. They’re jobs I love and want, so it comes with the territory. But still. Blurg, am I right?

  Third, the expansion of my blog into writing, editing, recording, and the billion other things that go into making videos for the internet added another thing to an already crammed plate. I love my Traipsing Through Silent Hill series, but every episode takes a lot of work—a lot of work that can sometimes feel wasted. On top of that, there is a certain anxiety involved with the material being produced—a mistake can’t be fixed in moments, like text. It needs to be adjusted in Adobe Premiere, checked to make sure it still fits, re-rendered (which can take several hours), and then re-uploaded (once again taking several hours).

  To illustrate this point, Episode Fourteen of Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2 was recorded at 60 frames-per-second rather than the game’s natural fps of 30. Since Adobe Premiere was set up for 30 fps, on account of the rest of the footage being at that speed, the majority of the episode looks… off. This means I have to re-record the raw footage, re-edit the episode, and make sure that the subtitles and audio match up. If it doesn’t, that means re-recording audio and the like. On top of that, re-rendering and re-uploading. On top of that, I don’t think the game itself was ever meant for this level of critique, which has kind of made me depressed. Overall, the entire process is daunting and, if we’re being honest, horribly disheartening.

  Fourth, I spent the last month going through proofreading edits for Improbables. I actually have the nearly-finished manuscript waiting for my final run-through, which I am going to do as soon as I’m finished with this. What this means is that I sacrificed the occasional blog update to make sure that I was keeping up with my obligations as an author. Improbables is very important to me, as it represents a significant departure for me in several areas. I’m nervous and excited and all kinds of other emotions that are all making me feel a bit like I’m being pulled apart. I feel like it’s my best book, but that’s not really my place to say, now is it? Now that it’s written, the best I can do is make sure it’s in the best shape it can be in, and that means dedicating time to the proofing process.

  I’m hoping that I can get back on track with the consistent updates you’ve come to expect from me. Traipsing Through Silent Hill 2 will, ideally, be done within the next month or so, which will allow a smooth transition back to more text-based blog updates. On top of that, you’re finally going to get a new book from me within the next couple of months—exciting, no?

  Anyway, thank you so much for following, and I’m looking forward to entertaining you into the future!

  Also, it’s my birthday today. That’s nice.

     

  

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