It doesn’t feel right not having a post at all in December, so here’s a quick round-up of where we’re at as we depart 2023. (If you’re wondering why I’m not posting a serial entry this month, where have you been?)
THE GOOD
The Accidental Time Travelers Collective Volume 2 came out earlier this month, and I have a short story in that once again this year, “Plan V”. (If you missed it, Volume 1 came out December of last year, and included my story “Free Will”.) There are both new and returning authors in this second anthology.
I pulled my story together in August, before school resumed, and managed to keep up with editing requirements as I yet AGAIN went through the toughest school term to date.
I also completed my 13th annual Christmath Parody, “Inequalities” this month, which was going to be delayed, then came out on time for all the wrong reasons. (see below)
I’ve spent a bunch more time on Mastodon in 2023, where there’s a supportive writing community, and I also joined BlueSky, which I look at occasionally.
I think that’s it for the good.
THE BAD
My new serial, “Angel Pasta”, which began in September, has not done well at all. It started in a promising way, with 15 views and 3 votes, but exactly one month later, Part 3 had only 6 views and 1 vote. I extended the time limit for a full month to no avail.
Part 4, which went up at the end of November, then had literally only 1 view for over 20 days. It got its second view and it’s first vote on December 19th, which honestly wasn’t enough motivation for me to do anything with it. Apologies if you’re the one voter who’s since been waiting.
I’ll still finish it, I always do, but what’s the point?
After over a decade of this site, I can’t get more than two people to care about my interactive serial writing. (I also feel like the second view was the first person coming back, since I said the next part would be “after Dec 20th”.) What’s wrong with me?
Related, March 2023 was my worst month for pageviews in 2023, at only 63 across 400+ posts. Then April, May and August were all below 100. The best month was way back last January, when I got 680 views. Possibly due to Volume 1 of the short story… but then almost no one stuck around? I suppose that’s the cynical view.
Motivation is lacking all around, I suppose. How does a person know when it’s time to give up? Any suggestions for what I might do instead?
THE UGLY
I’ve been dealing with Covid-19 over the holidays. Tested positive the afternoon of Dec 24th before I was going to meet the in-laws, and it hit me like a truck late that night. I likely caught it at school, despite how I masked with an N95 every day.
What’s followed has been a week spent in the basement, next to an air purifier on Turbo with a window cracked open, in the hopes that I don’t spread it to my wife or daughter.
So far so good on that front, at least. But it wrecked our travel plans and I’ve mostly experienced my daughter’s 5th Christmas by proxy. At least now I don’t get winded climbing the stairs as I did the middle of last week.
I’d say this has afforded me lots of time to write, except knowing almost no one’s reading my work, it really didn’t feel like there was much of a damn point there. Though I did finish the ChristMaths parody on time, as referenced above, because why not.
It got six likes on Facebook, which isn’t bad considering I barely post anything there any more. Why do I even.
Sorry if this post became a downer. Partly I hope to make your life seem better by comparison, as always.
THE COINS
I posted about this in September, but you probably missed it as I was introducing the new serial too.
A reminder, to end 2015, I had 42 coins from that year. During 2016 I got 37 minted coins (some in BC). During 2017 I got 20 coins dated that year (some before June). During 2018 I got 21 coins minted, during 2019 I got 17 coins of that year, then pandemic.
During 2020 I got one, plus a quarter to start 2021, so calling it two.
In 2021, there were also only two (and again the quarter might have been the start of February 2022, I don’t recall). Conversely, in 2022, I started getting current quarters in MAY. By the end of the year, I had 10 coins (half were quarters). But I think the death of the Queen put the halt on things.
For 2023, I’ve had one coin, a two-nie, still with the queen on it.
There are apparently black “goth” two-nies commemorating the Queen floating around, but I have yet to see one. Likewise a small number of 2023-dated coins with the King started circulating this month, but again, nothing I’ve seen.
And so, that’s been the year.
Another year of questioning why I still write.
It’s not like I couldn’t be using the time for something more productive.
I don’t know, I’ll get back to it, I always seem to, perhaps because I can’t take a hint.
I do hope your year has been, if not positive, at least full of bright spots you can focus on. Me, as noted, I do have the short story, and my daughter (with the yearly calendar I put together of her too), along with the fact that I haven’t yet infected her with a debilitating disease, which is something.
Take care, hope to see you visit my site in 2024.
