December's Weird: 6 Things To Start the Month Out Right

Checking in, no more Patreon, a big shameless ask, an important question, plus a secret, and a free 5e adventure!

1. December’s Weird, Y’all

I love this time of year, but it’s really odd sometimes. It’s festive and jolly, and I love being around my family and friends and celebrating the holidays with them. It’s wonderful, and I want to make the most of the merriment.

But I’m also pretty susceptible to SAD (seasonal affective disorder), or at the very least, experience symptoms similar to it each year. It’s not wonderful, and I kind of just want to curl up into a ball and sleep until springtime.

Add in that I’ve been unemployed for 4 months and get a steady stream of job application rejections each day, and it’s a bit of an odd time where I am caught between those two extremes.

My wife is exceptional at keeping me looking at the positive side of everything, though, and encouraging me when I get down and a little weird, though, and she has fully supported me emotionally, professionally, and creatively (as well as financially, haha!) over the past 4 months, and I can’t thank her enough for that.

I say all this to not only check on in a human level and say thank you for being here. It means a lot. You inviting me into your inbox really does warm my heart and keep me writing and going when I think about stopping.

2. Announcement: No More Patreon

If you were subscribed to either the Patreon or this Substack as of yesterday morning, you’ll probably have gotten a couple of emails.

One announced that I was shuttering the Patreon because I haven’t been able to really, while the Substack just keeps growing every day. So I am going to put my efforts where people are and want to be. Thank you for letting me know where you want to be.

A second one might have been that you’ve been given a trial membership to the BJK Games Substack. If you were a free subscriber here or there when I officially made the switch got a 1-month paid subscription here, so you will get access to all the locked content I’m going to be putting up this month.

Important Note on Why I Made This Choice

I’m an optimist and an idealist at heart. I believe in the free exchange of information and think that an open and free internet is in the best interests of everyone.

I’m also a realist and understand that—not to put too fine a point on it—I have to pay my bills. It sucks, but I want to be 100% candid with you here.

As much as I’d love to maintain a completely free newsletter and focus on paid memberships at Patreon, it’s not feasible. It fractures the readership and community too much.

I still have every intention of maintaining free content here. But there will also be some subscriber-only content, discounts, and other perks (such as comments and chat threads, polls, that sort of thing as soon as I get a handle on what’s available).

Thanks for understanding and being patient with me while I figure all this out.

3. The Ask: Subscribe or Gift a Sub

So this one’s kind of shameless, but if you like what I do, I’d really really really appreciate it if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber or gifting a subscription to someone you know and love.

(Or know and hate, I guess, depending on how you feel about me.)

Last week, I hit the limit on what I could draw for unemployment benefits from the state of Alabama. Even though Alabama is one of the worst states in the country for unemployment (and for a heck of a lot more reasons than that), that income was, well, income.

So my ask is that you click one of these buttons and think about going premium. Or think about going premium and then click one of those buttons. I don’t mind which order you do it in, honestly.

And, if you prefer, here’s the link to my portfolio, if you’d rather just buy something directly. That’d be awesome, too.

Thanks for letting me be shameless for a minute.

4. The Question: What Should I Work On?

A little lower, I have a secret project announcement, but for now, I’m bouncing between a few WIP projects, and I’d like to know what y’all thought was the most promising and that you’d like to see created.

I have parts of all of these made at varying levels of completeness, and I keep bouncing between them, unsure which is the better option both creatively and commercially.

So I want you to tell me. Which would you rather see me get out the door? You want to read my novel as I get chapters drafted, or would you prefer character and DM options for your games that you can use right away? Or do you want exclusive adventures or a longer campaign with bits dripped as I get them ready for feedback.

Vote above and let me know! Leave a comment or shoot me a message and let’s discuss things!

And now, it’s time for the exclusive benefits of being a subscriber: you get to know my secret, and you get a coupon for a free 5e adventure on DTRPG!

Wanna know the secret and get the freebie? It’s as easy as clicking a button!

Either way, you’re an amazing human being, and I can’t thank you enough for being along for the ride as I figure out exactly what this is and what kind of content works best for me (and for you!)

I love and appreciate each and every one of you.