UPDATE What the eff is going on with Hit Me, Baby! and where the eff has candlejill been?
Hello to anyone reading this! Right. So... a lot has been going on. My last update of Hit Me, Baby! was in October. I've had the story nearly finished since then... but... some things have come up which I'm conflicted about, preventing me from posting. One is my lack of time. I had surgery and was recovering most of October and November (things are still a bit tender). The holidays hit and I became incredibly busy. Then my daughter and SO both got covid (they were vaccinated - it was mild and they both recovered but it was pretty stressful). I also started some new meds (holy fuck, Yaz fucked up my shit - but it's chilling out now). Those are the negatives for why I haven't updated because, while HMB! is nearly complete, it needs some thorough editing. Buuuuuut on to the positive, which I'm extremely excited to vaguely announce— A friend of mine and I started a publishing company! 🎉🎊🥳 I'm really excited and nervous! It feels a little premature to mention at this point, but I wanted to address the reason for the radio silence. Though we are officially formed (at least in the eyes of the IRS), we're mostly focusing on behind-the-scenes necessities before fully launching and marketing our company; website building, developing contracts with our authors, figuring out the breakdown for in house editors and artists for covers, making logos — those kinds of things. I've personally been doing some graphic design too. It's all been very exciting and extremely time consuming! So, needless to say, I've been busy. And while I don't intend on being a primary author represented by our company, I am considering the option of repurposing some of my fics into published novels/novellas. Hit Me, Baby!, FMF series, and Physical Education being the main ones since they're the most original. Obviously they would need a complete overhaul (and so—so much editing), but the bones of those stories are mine and I have ideas for strengthening the plots. Because of that, I've been hesitant about publishing the next chapter of Hit Me, Baby! and I feel like a complete dick about it. Everyone has been so supportive. You can't possibly understand how much I appreciate it. I feel like I owe you all so much because of everything you've done for me over the years. But I also know how much time and effort I've put into providing entertainment while simultaneously not receiving (or expecting) financial compensation for it. With the success I've seen others in this industry find transitioning from fanfic to original content, I feel like I owe it to myself to try. On top of that, I'm torn between pulling my all of my AO3 content (and "candlejill" in general) entirely, leaving it on AO3 but abandoning my work to "anonymous," or just leaving it all up. Right now, I'm leaning towards a version of finishing Hit Me, Baby!. Posting the complete story to AO3 for a short time so those of you who have been so supportive (and are somehow still around), aren't left with an unfinished story. After some time I'd probably take it down. I've also debated posting only the next chapter, which isn't the full end of the story, but it is at least more complete than what's up now. How the next chapter is written (and it's a fucking long one), it could be an ending - the final chapter is more of a coda, which I might leave unposted. I don't know. I don't know what to do and that indecision has paralyzed me into doing nothing and I'm sorry for that. But, anyway, that's what I've been up to these days! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring (if you're on the side of the world finally breaking out of winter).
