So, this isn't a real chapter, obviously. This is an update on my hiatus and when I'm coming back, and just a little bit of talking about my plans for this story and others.

It almost feels silly writing an update like this when I only have 200ish followers and my chance for growing on RS is long since over, but truth is I really value everyone who's made it this far in my janky-ass story. It's been deeply rewarding for me to get it out and just...Play around with a couple of characters in a world I made. It's been really fun, but I'm not fooling myself or anyone else. The Accidental Pimp is structurally a mess and has many flaws keeping it from being as good as it can be. For one, Volume 2 ended abruptly and I realized I didn't have nearly enough of a middle section for it to be satisfying. And that's fine. I can fix that later if/when I decide to release on Amazon. What's important is I keep moving onward.

This story's been fun, but I want to get a little more serious about writing than I have been. The title and subject matter alone definitely keep a number of people from checking out my stuff, and that's entirely fair. But as goofy as The Accidental Pimp is, I really love writing it and making it up as I go, getting distracted and chasing plot bunnies that completely fuck up what passes for an outline. And I don't see that changing, but if I'm going to grow as a writer, I do need to switch it up.

So here's what's going to happen. In early January I'm going to start posting Volume 3 of The Accidental Pimp and will probably stick to one 3-4k word chapter a week while I work on my next project. Work is going a bit slowly because of the holiday season but with the new year there's nothing stopping me from going full steam ahead and making this what I do full time. Over the course of 2023 I fully intend on finishing Volume 3 of TAP, as well as writing two new stories. The first of them is "The Hearthknight: Cursed Redemption" and I'm about a third of the way done with it. It'll be ready by spring at the latest. It will be a largely self contained novel instead of an ongoing serial. The second new story I'm still workshopping, but they'll all take place in the same shared world I hope to expand and continue to play with as long as I write.

Other than that, I might finally set up a patreon while not expecting much out of it. It seems the cool kids thing to do these days, and maybe I'll be surprised and my next story will be more widely read. And that's just about it. TAP continues in January, Hearthknight by spring, Something Else come autumn. If you've got any questions or comments, drop them below. I'll probably delete this update the day before I get back to posting, but I'd love to hear from you! And if you haven't left a review, I'm pretty sure the ones I have are the only reason some people gave the story a chance! All it takes is 50 words.

See you in 2023!