Wednesday 1 January 2014

One Year Later: Jan 01/14


NEW YEAR.  NEW BANNER.  VISUAL SPOILER.


Author Notes:



In 2013, there was never a Wednesday or Sunday that went by without an update. For 2014... the "Taylor's Polynomials" serial will be scaling back, updating only weekly. The rest of this post is an explanation of why.

1) Time. The serial is sucking up all my free time. Gone are the days when I slap a talking head next to some text. I'm making new drawings several times per month. I'm creating new characters, fleshing out the universe, and have added race as an issue, something I NEVER thought I would touch. In December, I once thought I'd have to let an update day slide. Instead, I forced the ideas out of my head onto the page. I don't think I'm at Hobby Burnout levels yet, but I'm headed there.

2) Public Interest. I now run two blogs - this serial, and MathieX, where I post miscellaneous thoughts. I posted 8 times here in November, and got about 1240 views. I posted 6 times there in November, and got over 2000 views. Granted, many hits may have been for previous posts, but this blog began FIRST and has MORE POSTS. MathieX also maintained hits through December, while here December views dropped to 1003 - despite the big Episode 200 and the Christmas Special. Conclusion: There is more public interest in the things I am doing elsewhere.

3) Inspiration. Related to the first point, I hardly have time to READ anymore. I need to do that, not merely because I enjoy it, but to see what other serials are doing (successfully) that I am not. I need the inspiration that comes from the ideas and successes of others. It's also been suggested that I try to bundle the first three series' together into some form of publication, and right now I'm too busy writing to even think about trying that.

So, this will be the last Wednesday update for a while. Perhaps indefinitely.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank my core group of regular readers, as well as everyone who has offered me words of support. Including those who gave me advice in a past MathieX post when I started ranting about how no one remembers me, and how can I be more interesting. I have tiny tweet files on my desktop that I look to when I'm feeling down, and I treasure the remarks many of you have made about this story... even though I suspect that you have forgotten that you made them.

52 continuous weeks. 104 updates, every Wednesday and Sunday. (85 serial posts; 8 song parodies; 5 explanations/extra posts; 3 art posts; 2 recaps... and the splash page for Series 5 was a separate update.) I'm like clockwork. Regular. Reliable. Hidden. And forgettable.

So, I'm sad. But at the same time, I suppose I am better off than some. I do get 30 hits on a good day, up from 5 hits back at the start of 2012. Moreover, a shift to Sunday-Only updates could give me the freedom I need to serve you, the readers, even better. Time will tell.

Here's to 2014.


Gregory Taylor
mathtans@gmail.com


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3 comments:

  1. While I am saddened by the reduction in updates, you have very good reasons. Time is a luxury for you for most of the year. Cutting back will let you find time for a breather for yourself. And preventing hobby burnout is good. The story has evolved, really, from a simple plot to something more involved.

    With your main blog, you're getting peers reading and discussing. Here, it's the Venn diagram issue that Robert Sawyer brought up at Can*Con - he was aiming for the union of SF and mystery fans but got the intersection instead. Hopefully you can pick up more readers here - it's worth reading.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for both the acknowledgement and understanding. The story has definitely gone places I didn't initially expect! As far as intersections go, I fear you're right, and more, that I'm at the intersection of three sets - those who like/get math, those who like/get serials, and those who like/get my pop culture references. Oh well. Maybe it'll be real big in 2020. (20/20 hindsight, that is.)

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    2. I find the pop culture refs are bonuses. :) It's hard finding an audience. You've been growing over the past year, which is good, and you're getting more regular hits than I am with my old prose. Plus, pics! So, I think you can still pick up more people reading. There's just a lot on the Internet and limited time that it's hard to stand out.

      I still look forward to the new chapters. :)

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