Thanks to my backers for their January Support. I didn't post much, which is part of the reason I suspended February charges. Still, I very much appreciate your support! All of you! And your generosity is never taken for granted...to the point where some of you have taken to reverse fin-domming me. Lol. Love you all.
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So the holidays are over, and that's a relief. At first, I thought it had all just caught up with me like getting hit by a freight train. After New Year's I was so exhausted I could barely function. But when it persisted through the month and got in the way of nearly all aspects of my life, I had to reach out to my various doctors and get to the bottom of it. It was hard not to get depressed during that time. I know depression can only add to that sort of thing, but it's hard to stay positive when you can barely stay awake no matter how much you sleep.
When I started...'this', my new pen name, my experiment. I never intended to be this open about my health shit. I've learned from experience it doesn't do well to treat online journals like an actual journal, and people get tired of hearing from the chronically ill. But when you run any kind of business, and you fail to meet deadlines personal or otherwise, you at least need to explain why. That's how being so open about all this stuff slowly leaked into my update posts over time. I felt I owed it to my backers and fans to be transparent as to exactly why certain content got delayed or slowed. Still, I don't love talking about this stuff.
For now, I'll just say that some meds have been changed, and fingers crossed it's a stable combination long term.
Onto workloads. I've got some comms in rotation. I've been testing out this 'stage rotation' kind of system at present, where I have a set workload and cycle from one piece to another between stages. For instance, I'll sketch one piece, then move to the next piece and sketch it. Once I get to the end of the workload I shift back to the first piece and line it, and so on until each piece is completed. Even discounting the health hiccup though, I realize doing things that way sort of creates a period where there really isn't much to show. I've been supplementing that period with showing lots of WIPs...but it doesn't really feel quite the same as having completed pieces to post every few days. I don't know if that's better or worse, to be honest. Backer feedback would help I guess?
Those on the public-only side of things, I've really been slacking. It's a bad habit of mine to let art from the Patreon build up, which only makes me less likely to do all the 'writing descriptions and tags' portion to post it. Even using postybirb takes a while at this point, and I still don't even have the most amazing grasp of tags to begin with. They differ somewhat from site to site, so I'm unsure if I'm maximizing my searchability on most of my pages. So instead of dropping about a month after the patreon and substar releases, I end up dropping the art publically like...two months after. Unless it's a commission that the client wants to be posted publically on completion of course.
I just dropped a new print on my personal merch site, which is pretty nearly done. So if you liked the Amelia pin-up I dropped recently called 'A Festival of Lights', consider picking up a print. I've started adding exclusive deals to my personal merch site, and have been considering a few more deals to throw in to sort of shift shoppers over there. I still have some work to do on the Etsy side of things, basically adding info to all the sheets and descriptions mentioning the uncensored merch store. Clerical work is always the 'boring' part of things, but it needs doing if I want to generate more passive income.
Here's the Amelia Print, a Wasted Merch Store Exclusive!
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/products/a-festival-of-lights-ft-amelia-pteratopolis
I'm overdue on asks, and writing. I've still got editing to look over, even if all the editing isn't done on the next chapter. I'm sorry, it's taking forever I know...hell the whole Val story is taking forever. And here I planned to not only have that one done by the time Z2 came out, but two other fics in the Bellhunterverse series. Z2 was meant to mark my exit, as I wasn't planning on incorporating it at all even before I knew it was going to have a degenerate Kaa hypnosis snake in it. I was plotting to be on original stuff by then, but you can only ever plan for what you can reasonably expect. It took surprisingly long for Z2 to drop too, I had so much time...and where did it all go? Ugh. Regardless I don't expect Z2 to be any better than the shorts, so I was preemptively plotting not to utilize any lore from it. Dawn bias aside, I don't really have any faith that Disney in its current state will make a good Zootopia Sequel.
Don't get it twisted, I haven't turned my back on my Zoot stuff, I'm still happy with my work and want to complete my remaining stories. I just had planned for the remaining three to be an ending for my time spent in the universe. A nice, logical end to the BellHunterverse. Granted at this point I may just forgo the Finnzelle story entirely to allow me to wrap things up with 'The Bellwether Legacy" after Vulpes wraps.
Artwork stuff wise I'm still elbow-deep in commission work. I expected to be coloring some of the lined stuff I shared by now, but it can't be helped. All the while my commission/art idea list just keeps expanding. At least I'm keeping track of my ideas now, but still, I need more me's. Preferably healthier versions of me. I've also got art lessons to work on which I haven't even restarted...and 3d modeling, and animation...god, so much to do, and it feels like I've got no time to do it all. As far as I know, I've only got one life, one go around on planet Earth. Even if reincarnation is a thing it doesn't matter, it's not like I retain previous life knowledge. I've already lost enough time to far too much bullshit, and it's time for things to start coming up Milhouse damnit.
Anyway, I think that's about as deep in the weeds as I want to get for now. If I start giving timetables I'm only serving to shoot myself in the foot. Thanks to everyone, followers, long-time fans, and of course, once again, my dear backers for your continued support.
My Merch Site
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
My Etsy Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
My Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee
My Substar
https://subscribestar.adult/wastedtimeee
My Newgrounds
https://wastedtimeee.newgrounds.com/
-Wasty