1 Year LIYSS Update:
As I promised at the end of Part 1, here's a more thorough and very lengthy update. Do not read any further unless you are fully caught up. Spoiler warning.
When I started this story, I never expected it to get so big. When I read some of the older updates below, it's quite funny how naïve I was. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I never thought that the first part of the story would take this long. It happened for several reasons so let's touch on them briefly.
When I did my most recent readthrough, it was especially striking how the story gradually becomes more and more detailed. Scenes that would have taken a paragraph in earlier chapters stretch out into entire chapters later in the story. Now, in my opinion, this is a good thing. I feel like I'm becoming better as a writer and a side effect of this is everything takes longer. I've always craved extreme detail and world building when reading erotic stories. It makes them so much more satisfying. I don't think that I could force myself to become less long winded even if I wanted to.
Burnout is real and it's hit me hard lately. Unless I get hit by a bus, I'm going to see this story through. However, I just can't keep up the pace that I had earlier. I know that it can be frustrating when I don't post for a week or sometimes even longer. Please try to see this from my perspective. I've spent an inordinate amount of time writing on this website. I've abandoned old hobbies in favor of this new one. It probably takes a few hours to read through this story and I'm so grateful that you've given me your valuable time. But, it takes far longer to actually write it. I'm talking hundreds of hours. I don't have any regrets about how much work I've put into this but I just don't want to spend the same amount of time doing it in year 2. Writing has dominated my free time and sometimes a guy just wants to relax and watch some TV. Always down for recommendations, by the way.
Now let's talk about the elephant in the room. Well, several of them. I have other stories and projects that I'm working on. From a readers perspective, I understand that this can be annoying. Like, come on ThreeNipps, just finish this one first. Let me try to explain this the best I can. For a while, having other stories to work on helped tremendously. They served as a nice break when I wasn't particularly feeling this one. Some of them also take a tiny amount of time to write when compared to this one. I don't always have several hours to sit down and write. The story that you're reading in LIYSS has been a fantasy of mine for years. Like you know when you're just daydreaming about something? My thing is that I concoct these massive stories in my head. It's _impossible _to have a one tract mind. Now that I'm not writing quite as much, stories go months without any updates. 'The Girls Need Some Sun' more like 'The Girls Need Some Updates' am I right? Look, I'm sorry but I can't unpublish something and send it back to the drafts. I'll get to it... I'll get to it...
Okay yeah that wasn't very brief. Moving on.
Let's talk a little about the story and it's numbers. The main storyline currently sits at 130,000 words. That's more than I thought and there's still a ton of story to tell. This story is going to be a behemoth by the time it's done. Guys, it's going to take a really long time. We're talking several years at least.
We're approaching 20,000 likes and 2,000 favorites. Over 2.5 million views. Yeah... that's quite good. To be honest, it feels somewhat undeserved. There are so many great stories that fly under the radar. Some luck plays into which stories become very successful. I try to not pay much attention to likes because I don't want them to influence the direction of the story. The most popular thing might not always be what's best when looking at the big picture. But still, all of your support is appreciated. One of the goals that I've had in the back of my mind for a while is to see this story on the CHYOA top stories list. We'll get there eventually.
Now let's talk about what's next. February 27th marks one year since this story was published. I have a special surprise planned for that day so keep an eye out! In March there's several things that I need to do. I'm going to go through the story and put specific dates at the start of each day. This is way overdue. I made a calendar to help me keep better track of things. Characters need last names. Yup... I've never mentioned anyone's last name. The one exception that I can think of is Voelkel which was basically an alias for Jack and his mother. I'll probably make a character page with basic information listed. Part 2 of the main storyline will take place during Christmas break. I have no idea how long it will be. Probably not as long as part 1 but you never know. I need to finish part 1 for the Lose Virginity to Mom pathway. Probably a couple of chapters. Obviously, there's a lot to do.
Let's wrap this up. I'll also post this in my thread on the forum. You can always comment and ask questions but it's easier to do it there. It's nice to not be squished into the tiny column that is the comment section.
If you enjoy my work, I highly encourage you to follow me. You can do that by clicking on my profile and SMASHING that follow button. You'll get notifications whenever I post something new. If you wish to support me further and get some sneak peaks at content I have written and planned for the future, you can donate to my Patreon. If you haven't donated to the CHYOA Patreon and are financially able to do so, I highly encourage you to do that as well.
There was probably something that I meant to talk about but just forgot. If it's anything significant, I'll update the post.
Thanks for your time and all of your support,
ThreeNipps
