Poll and Updates

The struggle is real

Changing the schedule

This week, I’ve got a bit of publication housekeeping to do. Based on experience, I was anticipating a slow summer, and thinking of slowing down myself, but boy it’s been off to an early start. My numbers have never been stellar, but they’ve been on a steep downward trend since January,¹ and as a result I’ve found my motivation to be at a low ebb.

As such, I am going to be making some changes (other than ‘write better stuff lmao,’ although hopefully that will be a result thereof):

a) I’m going to try posting on Tuesdays instead of Sundays.

Research indicates that Tuesdays and Thursdays are better for engagement, and my own experience suggests that most people read during the week anyway. I’ve probably made a rod for my own back by posting on Sundays for such a long time, so we’ll see if a change helps.

b) I will be posting fortnightly instead of three times a month.

This was a more difficult decision, but I hope it will be the right one, for the moment at least; I certainly felt a tremendous sense of peace after I’d settled on it.

Some people are capable of producing consistently good posts every week, but that has never been me. It takes me a long time, and many rounds of edits, to write anything I feel good about, and trying to have something worthwhile ready on an almost-weekly basis has begun to feel like being chained to a treadmill, to the detriment of my nervous Victorian constitution.

The hope is that my actual rate of production will not drop too dramatically, but the quality will improve: I look back at some of my recent posts,² and I just see bloated rubbish that was never going to do well, but was forced out for the sake of having something to post. Of course, I do want this project to keep growing, but in order for that to happen (and for it to feel worthwhile) it sort of has to be good, and not slop churned out for a fickle algorithm.

Hopefully, with a lighter publishing schedule, I will be able to build up a backlog of more interesting material for later in the year. In the meantime, I need to sleep better, read more,³ and give more time to the other hobbies that have fallen by the wayside.

Poll(s)

As this is such an eclectic publication,⁴ I often struggle with trying to decide what my priority should be. Therefore, it would be very helpful and much appreciated if readers would take a few moments to answer the polls below.

Also, if there’s anything in particular you would like me to cover, be it a book, a game, a film, or even just a theme you’d like more on, please do let me know. I always like to hear from regulars, and writing with even one specific reader in mind is always more motivating and enjoyable than writing for Schroedinger’s cat, so chances are good that I will cover any requests (unless it’s, like, a massive novel or something; unless it’s a really good massive novel, or a massive novel I’ve already read, in which case I’ll see what I can do).

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1. Barring the recent bump through a few successful notes, that convinces me that doing sort of good notes on a regular basis is perhaps more important than frequent posts.

2. Not the Skald ones though, I maintain that those are good, if niche.

3. I’ve been back on my bullshit with Blood Meridian and The Road, which has been fun. Contemplating Lonesome Dove. I need more gangrene and people getting shot with arrows in my interior life.

4. I’ve certainly made a rod for my own back there; the algorithm doesn’t know what to do with me. But variety is the spice of life, and I don’t want to be someone who just writes the same essay over and over.