In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 58: Changed Circumstances

Usually I put my random news and information at the end of chapters so that those who don't want to read it can more easily skip past it, but since I've been gone so long and have some changes to talk about so I'll put it first this time. I picked up a second job six months ago to help address some financial struggles, and at first I thought I'd still be able to keep writing consistently. For a while I was, but as my hours at the second job increased and circumstances at my first job changed I wasn't anymore. I used to use full days off to write, but now I rarely have more than one or two of those a month unless I have to take time off for family events. I didn't forget about this story, and felt bad that I wasn't updating, but was shocked to realize just how long it's been since I posted any writing; around four months.

While it hopefully won't take as long again before I can prepare another chapter, my work schedule isn't going to let up soon. I've decided to transition to a different industry entirely to (hopefully) address the financial problems, and the necessary training is going to take up a lot of my non-work time for the rest of the year. My schedule will change substantially after that, but it's hard to say whether that will be an improvement for writing.

The pace of updates for a while is going to stay pretty slow. I mentioned before that the storyline I'm currently writing for In A Starship's Wake is the one I've devoted the most thought and planning to so far, but that didn't translate into it being easier to get written and edited. Sort of the opposite has happened; because I desperately want it to be good I'm consistently unsatisfied with the quality of what I finish. That's been a big source of frustration and a contributor to the lack of posts.

You all can tell me what you think of this, but I'm loosely planning to mark In A Starship's Wake as completed once I finish this storyline...however long that takes. That's for several reasons. First, if this section comes out to the 8 to 10 chapters I'm expecting, that will put the story in the mid or high 60's for number of chapters, which is a lot. Second, I don't like leaving it in "ongoing" status when I can't update on anything remotely resembling a frequent basis. Third, if I come up with an idea for a shorter story in this world or my fantasy one (I've had several) I don't have to feel guilty if I work on that instead of devoting time to In A Starship's Wake. Might even get something worth posting out of it.

If you do want to see more creative work from me, I did finally start a YouTube channel to make family-friendly gaming videos, something I've occasionally mentioned in the past. For the moment I just do Minecraft Let's Plays by myself, but the smaller time commitment means I've been able to get things up slightly more often. I have hopes I'll even be able to get a weekly video up for that, like I used to for In A Starship's Wake chapters back in 2018. The channel is Narrow Ground Entertainment, the same as my website, and if any of you are interested in that kind of content I'd really appreciate your support there.

Whatever your actions on or feelings about the above, I'm very grateful for your readership and support so far. For any of you who can't deal with such infrequent updates, I get it completely and hope I can change that one day. Check back in once in a while when you think of it and hopefully I'll have something new for you to read. God's blessings, hope you enjoy the new chapter.

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 "Allison, did you get all the invoices for Monday done yet?" Larry tramped past her desk in the warehouse office as he asked, a harried expression on his face.

"I finished them an hour ago," she called after him. She and the burly owner were the last two in the supply company's office, a common occurrence for a Friday evening.

"You did? How?"

"There aren't that many orders for Monday, they're just big ones. I'm working on Tuesday already."