Working from home is weird.
From a distance, it really just looks like a lot of cleverness and dedication. Until you try it for yourself, you never really begin to grasp just how much of that time is just spent grabbing your inner child by the suspenders, plopping them back in their high chair, and forcing them to eat their vegetables.
It's a chronic thing. If you're easily distracted (lik...
2018-06-21 05:53:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe last two days were a bit of a trial. Between finishing the longest story I've ever written for this show the day before yesterday and the nearly three-hour recording session yesterday, I'm a little spent.
...which, as an aside, is why this update is coming to you the morning after and not the day of. I am bad.
I'm also proud of the amount of work we've been doing late...
2018-06-19 17:47:44 +0000 UTC View PostAlright y’all. I’ve missed a couple of dailies over the past week, and for that I apologize. But hopefully I can make up for it with the news of what I was doing in that time.
For you see, today I took a took a leap. I have vanquished the demons of procrastination, I’ve forded the river of self-doubt, eaten the fruits of concentration, and at last, crossed the chasm finished t...
2018-06-18 07:23:35 +0000 UTC View PostAs you all know Benjy and I are working to meet our schedule deadlines. And sometimes, that means working even when it's well past stopping time. I want to apologize for the lack of update last night. By the time we finished working it was morning.
I have been attempting to introduce our coordinators to the Discord server. They should be able to host fun functions for everyone to participate in....
2018-06-17 05:28:47 +0000 UTC View PostIt feels like I learn so much from every story I write for this show. It's almost never just like, sit down for five hours and pump out a short story. These things put me through the ringer. And I'm glad. I really think I'm beginning to develop as a writer.
This short story, for instance. The main thing I'm picking up right now is complexity of context. For a short story, you reall...
So, it occurs to me that I completely missed yesterday's daily. Seeing as I have no proper means of prostration or the self-administration of justice, I'll do y'all one better and try to make up for it by spoiling a little bit of the story right here and now. I'll also post a little bit more for our $3+ patrons after I share this, but hopefully this will help slake a little of yo...
2018-06-14 05:50:43 +0000 UTC View PostToday was a game of evasion, in that the only thing I really needed to do was evade the mesmeric pull of procrastination. I... did alright.
In the end I put down some quality words (I think), but it was slow, and not nearly as much as I would have liked volume-wise, considering our current deadline. Nevertheless, I've gotten the first scene to a place I'm comfortable with, and it's really ...
2018-06-12 05:44:48 +0000 UTC View PostEnough preamble! We begin.
I'm in the actual process of writing the short story now, and due to our collaboration deadlines with World Anvil, I'll need to pump this one out in a cool 3-5 days. Rough, considering the amount of research that goes into writing something which resembles the Rurik dynasty with any modicum of accuracy.
I'm off to a blazing start though, having deleted, re-writte...
2018-06-11 07:48:04 +0000 UTC View PostThat's deceptive, because the truth of the expression is that we have an outline! This story is officially and fully plotted! Tomorrow I begin writing in earnest. Which should be a fun experience. This one is loaded.
Apart from that, not much to report today. Right now I've got a big salad in front of me and people are giving me margaritas. I don't... quite know how I got here, but it's...
2018-06-10 03:37:41 +0000 UTC View PostAnd the writing process....
haaaaaas yet to begin. Still. Because we want this to be a good story, so we're pushing this outline super hard.
We've got everything (more or less) down at this point, I just need to articulate it in an actual document before I can move forward. I think I'll just pull a late-nighter to get this done so I can focus on beginning the writing process to...
2018-06-09 05:26:54 +0000 UTC View PostWe've done it! At long last!
...kinda.
Today I spent maybe 7 hours outlining, just to come home and discuss every individual detail with the other member of my team (Chloe, I'm talking about you). We finally came to something that really feels solid, but that won't be ready until later tomorrow.
Also, as an aside, I'm totally spent right now. I keep dozing while typing and just writi...
2018-06-08 06:23:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhat time is it? 2:00am? That... we can call that "today" right? Not "tomorrow"?
Good.
Sorry you guys. I've been falling behind on these things. I blame unexpected circumstances, such as five babies showing up out of nowhere behind unannounced visiting relatives, and many more voice/video conference calls on the daily than we're used to. I'm attempting to re-calibrate and g...
2018-06-07 07:12:43 +0000 UTC View PostHey Everybody!
It is that time of month again! I am about to begin sending out lifetime rewards. And that of course means some reminders, so here they are:
Pre-January 2018 Patrons
Please update your pledge to include your address if you haven't done so already. We can't ship physical rewards to you without that information.
Intern...
2018-06-06 19:47:57 +0000 UTC View PostSo we ran our first audio think tank last night. I wrote a postmortem for everybody who missed it, but I can't get it out of my head. Something about interacting with you guys in that way felt... liberating?
That level of intimacy feels so long overdue. We've been skulking about behind the scenes for such a long time now, I suppose I've been expecting myself to organically find a comfor...
2018-06-06 04:14:06 +0000 UTC View PostHey guys!
There has been a slight change in the schedule for the Think Tank this evening. It will now be taking place from 8:30 pm-10:00 pm CST (UTC -5).
A primer for the session tonight is still in the works. So look forward to that!
Thanks,
☮❤️😀
—Chloe, Happy Human Helper
2018-06-04 23:24:21 +0000 UTC View PostSo, I just went down stairs to fill our water bottle and came back to find Benjy asleep in front of his computer with an open post draft. I too will be going to sleep very soon.
I thought it important to mention that we will be holding a think tank tomorrow about the story. It will be an interesting one. The think tank will be in session from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm -5 UTC (or CST).
We'll have mor...
2018-06-04 06:56:34 +0000 UTC View PostI love this.
Sorry to be a weird downer, even when everything is going to well, but list videos get to being a real grind after the first week or two of production. All that image-searching and fact-checking and what-have-you. It's pretty mechanical for the most part. So today, looking back at all that material as a source of creative fuel for a work of fiction was just... pure catharsi...
2018-06-03 03:59:05 +0000 UTC View PostHeyo!
Just trying to collect some information about you guys really quick. It should help us with event planning and coordination in the future!
Tick all of the following that present "free time" to you. You can select multiple options if you choose, and comments explaining your schedule are welcome.
I'm coming off a high.
Once the video went up, today rapidly fell into the sort of indolence that can't even be justified as "saw-sharpening". I was just relieved, and happy, and reveling in the flood of enthusiasm over the new video. After such long production cycles, these days feed my soul. I've come to expect it, and although spending time away from work plays a cruel trick upon my stress, t...
2018-06-02 07:21:45 +0000 UTC View Post
It's here, and it's 22 minutes long! Because you guys asked for it, and we love you.
Honestly, as far as list videos go, I'm pretty happy with this. Thanks for being so patient with us while we worked to put out something we could be proud of. Hopefully it is everything you'd dreamed of~
Now, on to planning a thinktank session for the new short story...
—B...
2018-06-01 18:06:44 +0000 UTC View PostIt is 2:52 in the morning, and after a twelve-hour work day, I have but one worthy update for you:
The new video comes out in less than 48 hours.
Rejoice. Set the world to kindle, brave ones. A new dawn is coming.
—Benji
Sometimes I forget my own age. Very frequently, actually. I have a poor self-concept. I think, internally, I expect myself to be like... 45. When people ask me how old I am, I often have to stop and do math.
Stress'll age you. If not on the outside, on the inside. Having chronic anxiety disorder also doesn't help much, but that's neither here nor there.
If you're lucky, however, and if you...
2018-05-30 03:47:56 +0000 UTC View PostQuick! I have 16 minutes to write this before my computer bites the dust! Plugging it in is a ridiculous notion and you should be ashamed for thinking to suggest it!
IN SUMMARY, TODAY I:
• Ordered a fancy wax seal with the new TF logo on it for our lifetime reward letters
• Prepared the Patreon/Audible promos for the end of the new video
• Prepared the new logo for use in the new ...
If yesterday was contentedness, today was loveliness.
That’s a roundabout way of saying I had a nice, relaxing Sunday with Chloe. We spent some time working, of course. I took the necessary steps to get Talebot’s next mysterious correspondence ready for the forthcoming video, and Chloe finished spacing and de-breathing a chunk of script.
Apart from that, though? We v...
2018-05-28 05:51:07 +0000 UTC View PostToday felt productive to me, but in a strange way. It was productive like those days you spend going to the bank and the laundromat and the adult-products-you-need-in-order-to-live-store. Not necessarily the fulfilling kind of productive, but enough to feel good about yourself by the time you're turning in for the evening.
I'm content. Things are going well. We're on our way to releasin...
2018-05-27 03:44:52 +0000 UTC View PostWell, this is unwelcome. At least there's a silver lining?
As fate would have it, there's a character limit on Youtube's description boxes, which we failed to account for when we first came up with all our tier rewards for Patreon. With only 5,000 characters at our disposal, there's no way we'll be able to continue add...
2018-05-27 00:52:58 +0000 UTC View PostRight now Chloe and I are sat here at the kitchen table, her questioning me whether I am, in fact, a "bop", and me telling her that I haven't had a blood test done yet to determine the truth of it.
In English: tonight is a fine night.
Not much to report on the front that matters, though. We're mostly waiting on Chloe to finish up the audio, which is actually well on its way—Chloe finishe...
2018-05-26 06:00:37 +0000 UTC View PostUsually this is the last part of the process before we upload the video, but Chloe still has some audio to finish slicing and dicing and after that I'll have lots of syncing to do. For now, though, I'm doing everything I can, including the art for this video's thumbnail.
There are a lot of options this time around, but I'm curious:
Which of these do you think would appeal...
Hello you wonderful people!
You haven't heard from me in quite a while. I would catch up with you all but that's not really what these posts are about, is it? Benjy was going to write this but then he passed out in the car after our date so I thought I would takeover for tonight.
Today we woke up at 5:00am because I had a shift at my second job that started very early. While I was at work ...
2018-05-25 02:49:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Before I detail the expected, inching progress toward the new list video and the repeated motions of my everyday life, I’d like to compose for you an interlude:
Today I ran.
At 12:00pm, I wrapped my feet in the expensive white tennis shoes that had once been meant for lab classes and tiled hospital floors, and I jogged one lap around the block. I let my hair flop aroun...
2018-05-24 01:34:24 +0000 UTC View Post