Thank you to everyone who has stuck around for this story, and who has been reading and commenting. It has been no secret that in recent weeks I haven’t been posting much, and that for a few weeks before that I was inconsistent as it was. This post is meant to explain all of that; I felt the dedicated readers of the story deserved an explanation given how dedicated they’ve been. If this update/announcement results in losing some followers I totally understand.

  Before going into it, the most important update: I will be resuming posting of chapters on Tuesday, March 3rd. That chapter will pick up exactly where Chapter 43 left off at the end of January, and will be entitled Chapter 44: Dungeon Crawler Jacob. Regular posting should resume at that point, with a slight schedule adjustment. If all you are looking for is when the next chapter comes out, it will be then.

  This time in my life has been very difficult, and I suppose I owe everyone an explanation. Truth be told, I haven’t been posting because I haven’t been writing. There’s an old phrase that when it rains, it pours. That’s definitely true of my personal life, as things tend to compound. My current personal rainstorm started with a legal threat from my landlord. My landlord has a lot of money and power, and a lot of political connections to almost every governmental official in my city. They have some of the best lawyers in the state, and quite a few municipal government contracts. In short: they’re extremely hard to win against, and often act with almost complete impunity. I’m reaching out to Legal Aide and am looking for another place to live, but I have been looking for over a decade. My region has a housing shortage for any units less expensive than “luxury”. This issue has been going back and forth for over a month, and is still ongoing as I post this.

  I should mention as well that I’m a low income writer in my home government, who relies on government assistance. Yes, I have a job - multiple. Yes, I have looked for better. No, there is not better work in my town. I have picked up as many hours as I can, and my work as it is is 2 hours away from where I live. My bills have gone up several hundred dollars in the past month, but my usage of energy and income has not increased. Food prices are raising rapidly in my city, everything is becoming exceptionally expensive and my family cannot afford to move. I’ve been struggling to make ends meet, but we’re getting through it. I’ve also had relationship problems, and I wouldn’t exactly call my home or family safe (if you get my drift). Add in work stress (I manage a facility, we’re renovating) and it’s a lot at once.

  So why am I telling all of you this? After all, common knowledge is that random internet strangers don’t care about your life or what’s going on. They just want the final product, and don’t really care about what goes into making the sausage. As a writer we’re reinforced that people on the internet simply exist to be mean. Trolls and negative nancies are absolutely everywhere, looking for any opportunity to ruin everyone’s day. My author spaces are filled with horror stories of cruelty in comments, personal attacks in reviews, and drive by 0.5 stars for simply existing. Royal Road is really harsh sometimes, that much is no secret.

  But somehow, despite not posting, despite not being consistent, despite hinting at it, the audience for this story has grown. The comments have been supportive of my difficulties as an author, and the readers keep coming back. This story is never going to be as popular as Primal Hunter, He Who Fights with Monsters, The Greatest Archmage, Beware of Chicken, or any of the other big hitters. It’s a Deckbuilder novel. The community for this genre is tiny and niche; I knew that going in. I started this story because I grew up in elementary school loving the Pokemon Trading Card Game and Yu-Gi-Oh, and wanted to write a story that put those mechanics into real life. I had an idea, I ran with it. And those who are here for it have been here for it. I feel like for that community, I owe you all a little something. Writing on this platform has been awesome, and I really mean it when I say it’s been awesome because of y’all.

  So, enough babbling. What’s next?

  As I have promised in the author’s note above, I will be posting regular chapters again starting on Tuesday, March 3rd. The next chapter will be Chapter 44: Dungeon Crawler Jacob. Yes the name is a nod to the super popular book series, I couldn’t help myself. Over the next 4-5 days I will be doing an extensive amount of writing, with the hopes of creating a 3-4 chapter backlog by the time the next chapter comes out. This backlog should allow me to schedule an entire week’s worth of posts in advance, giving all of you something more stable to look forward to. The goal is to have all chapters go out at 12:37pm PST, as that seems to be the time that in my experience has maximized visibility. These posts will follow yet another modified schedule:

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Regular Chapters: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (3x a week)

  Lore Posts: Wednesdays (1x a week)

  In regards to Lore Posts, I will be reducing those to one a week. Originally the Lore Posts were meant to buy time for my regular chapters, as they are much easier to write. With the personal life difficulties however, I need to refocus as much of my energy as is humanly possible on producing standard chapters. Those are the basis of the story, they need a backlog.

  On the business end of publishing this story (I know, I know, not something y’all as readers need to know about but it’s important to us writers to, you know, eat): I have removed all Patreon tiers except my tip jar. Let’s be fully honest, it wasn’t getting any subscribers. This story’s audience isn’t looking for that, and that’s totally ok. Once I have a backlog of 20 chapters in the tank I will open an advance chapters tier as a personal incentive and will begin plugging it again in the author’s notes. I do not have separate patreon pages for separate stories (I use volumes for that), so I expect it’ll grow when I introduce my next, more Royal Road standard story (that will be released in December of this Year as a Christmas Story; drafting has not started yet as The Shadow Factory is my passion project and I want book 1 of this series to be finished first). I will also start getting more involved in the Royal Road community with shout out swaps once the backlog is built, and may take out a Royal Road ad. We’ll see how it goes until then

  On the Storytelling side of The God Card Saga, I’ll give this update: I have planned right now around 12-13 books in the series; this is the only book that leans this heavily into the Wonka-esque side of things. The next book parallels a different story, one that I think will be a lot of fun to read. In between books I will be releasing short novelettes/novellas focusing on different moments and characters in the universe. As an incentive to stay I will announce that the first one will be publishing immediately after book 1 concludes, and will follow Nokumori (The Card Shop Owner) at either the first or second internationals. If there is a moment you see in the story mentioned that you want to learn more about, comment away! I read every comment, and definitely take them in mind when planning lore posts and the stories between books.

  Finally, for those few who read all this and thought: “Any way I can help?” - the best thing you can do to help the story is to comment on chapters (even thank you for the chapter, those comments genuinely do help and I respond to as many as I can), submit any spelling or grammar errors you notice, and even more importantly: Follow, Favorite, Rate and Review this story. Royal Road has almost no in-built algorithm; people find stories based on shout outs, recommendations on other books, and on the various Lists on the website. The most important of these for audience building is the Rising Stars list - both in the main list and in the various genres on the platform. Those lists are determined by the amount of people following, reading, rating, and reviewing with a mystical formula that no writer knows the specifics of. What seems to have been worked out by most author communities is that reads, follows and favorites are the main benchmark for getting on a list, while ratings and reviews have a slightly larger impact on your placement. Reviews - especially good ones - bump stories up the rankings as a whole on a list, and get books closer to the “Top” lists. The number one thing you can do as a reader to support this book is to keep reading, keep engaging, and to consider leaving a rating or review.

  In summary to this very long update:

  I’m going through things, but I’m trying to get things stabilized and back on track. Chapters start up again next week.

  Life sucks. But that’s ok. We’re pushing through.

  Lore posts are decreasing to one a week.

  Patreon only has a tip jar.

  Please follow and favorite. Reviews really help boost the story’s visibility on the site.

  The community for this story is super cool and I’m not giving up on it. Thank you all for reading, I look forward to posting the next chapter and returning to the extended suffering of our poor friend Jacob. We’re at least 3/4ths of the way through book 1, and I’ve very excited to see what you all think of the end. The book ends with a bang, I hope you all enjoy it.

  leaving a rating or review??? Reminder, 5 reviews and I post an extra special Lore Drop (on top of the regular posts that week) detailing Every card in Jacob’s deck. Since y’all have been so cool I’ll start a second challenge: 20 favorites, and I’ll release a bonus chapter with the premise of Book 2 in the author’s notes.

  trust in the cards…