Lot’s of major changes are coming this coming month. Let’s not waste any time and get straight into it.
In my last update, I made a joke about dropping the ‘daily’ part from the blog. Since then, I’ve been doing some thinking. Though I made it a joke, I stopped the ‘daily’ part of Daily Rants a long time ago. Since then, I’ve kept to a schedule, but maybe it’s time that changed.
These last few months, I’ve done a lot of reflecting. Both about myself and the content I create. Truth is, I don’t have the time or energy to keep up with it all anymore. Between working on this blog, my books, beta reading on Fiverr, my actual job, and my social life, my schedule has been something of a mess. I feel that the quality of my work has been suffering for it. Burnout has been creeping in on pretty much everything I used to love doing.
The breaking point for me was last week’s article on ‘My Adventures With Superman‘ (go check it out if you haven’t read it yet, link here). What I had intended to be a short and simple review spiraled out of control, becoming an passionate deep-dive into that series. It was a ton of fun to write and I’m super happy with how it came out! I want to write more articles like that! But with the current schedule, writing four of those a week is basically impossible.
So I’ve decided to go ahead and drop the daily thing completely. I’m cutting back on quantity to focus on quality. You’ll still get plenty of articles; I’m not quitting any time soon. I’ll still keep to the same schedule and the same kind of content. It’s just that they’ll be coming less frequently. Rather than four a week, you might see one or two.
I still intend to finish my promised projects. The Gamera marathon will still be completed, though we’ll be taking a break to talk about ‘House of the Dragon‘ season two. Book reviews will still come as frequently as I read them. I’ll keep going with Berserk manga reviews until we’re all caught up. I’m still making my way through ‘Blasphemous‘, as well as another Metroidvania, ‘Nine Sols‘. When I’m not doing that, I’ll be catching up on ‘Mushoku Tensei‘ and ‘My Hero Academia.’ Those articles will be out when I’m happy with them.
My hope is that this will alleviate the aforementioned burnout and help restore my passion for blogging. I don’t want to monetize the site anymore; each time I’ve tried, it’s only made the site worse with no returns to make up for it. This is my favorite hobby, but I feel I need to ease up on the gas to keep it from becoming work.
Speaking of work: I’ve got some updates on my books. Currently, my main focus is on editing ‘Father of Monsters.’ Whenever I need a break from that, I go back to do more clean up work on ‘Threads of Reality: Shadows of Revolution.’ My goal to get those fully published by 2025 is still alive and well; whatever happens, at least one of those books WILL be released next year.
Let’s see some numbers. Here’s my progress on FoM editing:
- Pages complete: 75/372
- Chapters complete: 12/58, 13 almost done
- Part 1 complete, Part 2 50%
I’m currently in the middle of heavy re-writes on this project. Progress has been slow, but it’s finally starting to take shape into something I’m proud of. With the change in schedule, I hope to accelerate this process as much as possible.
My main problem with ‘Father of Monsters‘ was always bloat. The rough draft spiraled out of control after part one, with too many characters and plot lines that detracted from the main story. Right now, I’m in the midst of polishing what works and removing what doesn’t. The edited draft will hopefully end up a good deal shorter than the rough one was.
I’ve also got some sketches of what I want the cover to look like! Sketches that I’m very excited to be sharing with you all today!
It’s far from professional, I know. I’ve never been much of an artist, and the program I use is a mediocre Photoshop ripoff, so it didn’t help much either. But at least I actually drew it, so I am legally allowed to still make fun of AI bros.
Rest assured, this isn’t the final version. I’ve already commissioned an artist to take this rough sketch and turn it into something more appealing to look at. If all goes well, I’ll be able to share a look at the final version with you all next month!
Now, here are the numbers for ‘Shadows of Revolution‘:
- Pages complete: 137/401
- Chapters complete: 5/17
Unlike FoM, ‘Shadows of Revolution‘ is not undergoing any major narrative changes. In terms of the story, I’m already perfectly happy with how this one is. Currently I’m doing clean up work, taking in some feedback I’ve already received from a few sources and refining what’s there. Once that process is complete, it’s off for beta reads, after which I’ll put the feedback to use for one final draft before preparing for publication.
If I can keep myself on track, I’ll have both books ready for release on digital storefronts by next year. My goal for FoM is June; it would be a nice little birthday gift to myself, finally making my childhood dream of publishing a book come true. Failing that, I’ll stay the course and get them out at some point in 2025.
For my fellow audiobook fans, rest assured, I’ve got plans to cover that base as well. My brother is an up and coming voice talent, so I’ll be working with him on the narration. Of course, I’ll also be running it by professionals to make sure the audio quality is up to snuff. Depending on how long that takes, the audio version may be out at the same time as the digital release or some time afterwards. I’ll keep you all posted when we start going forward on that.
That’s all I have for you guys today. There’s still a long road ahead, but I’m feeling confident in walking it. I appreciate you for sticking with me while I figure it all out.
As always, thank you all so much for reading, and have a lovely rest of your day.
Jonah's Books & Rants 
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