Hello, everyone.

First of all, I would like to apologize for the inconsistent updates. Truth be told, I have a lot going on IRL, so finding the motivation has been hard. I will not go into details, but let's just say I've been adjusting to my new environment, which is exciting yet overwhelming. It's also the main reason why I haven't fully returned to social media yet.

Before I dive into the current progress of Amniland, let's talk about Mihayu. When I started working on it, I wanted merely to tell a story with a message, much like for Amniland. However, due to circumstances, my focus shifted from writing a story I wanted to tell to earning money. To put it simply, instead of writing Mihayu for fun and the desire to convey a message, I ended up writing it with the hope of earning money to help me live. Aside from this expectation being unrealistic — then again, aiming for the moon is part of being an artist — it also drained my desire to write the story, and I lost the motivation to continue.

Now, let's make it clear: there's nothing wrong about wanting to live off your passion. It's my dream. The problem is the impact on my ability to write. The pressure from real-life circumstances pushes me to try and finish Mihayu as quickly as possible to make it a source of revenue. This, of course, means prioritizing speed over quality, which is a huge "NO". I don't want to waste the potential this story has; I don't want to give up. Not to mention it goes against my initial plan, which was to make it available for free here on Ko-fi. There will be an option to pay for it, sure, but it's unlikely people would do that. After all, I am a nobody, and money doesn't grow on trees. If you can have something for free, then why wouldn't you take it? Why would you pay for it instead when you have no idea if you're going to like it or not? You could argue people would donate money after reading the story if they like it enough and wish to support me, but let's be real. It won't be enough for me make it a living out of it. Very few readers know about my work, and even fewer are interested in it.

So, what am I going to do about it? Try to change my mindset, of course! I need to learn how to manage my anxiety and deal with the stress. I'll hardly earn money from the story — if at all — so I have to accept it and remind myself why I want to write the story in the first place.

Oddly enough, I don't have that issue with Amniland. Probably because I know it's going to take a few more years for me to finish it, and that project means the most to me. Though the amount of changes needed is overwhelming, I have the enthusiasm and motivation to push through. Obviously, the pressure is still there, but not to the extent of draining my joy of writing.

There is a lot to change in Book 1 alone. As an example, Act 2 will go through a significant revamp: the way it was originally written did not allow a certain conflict to be resolved before Act 3. This is because Act 2 introduces three characters, one of which has no conflict and is never seen ever again. The other two do have conflicts, but one is left unresolved — in part because said character is only met midway through the act. The solution became clear: cut the pointless character and replace them with the other one whose conflict needs to be resolved. As you may have guessed, this leads to major changes in the plot, with entire scenes being either cut or rewritten.

I cannot go into details to avoid spoilers, but I've been thinking about documenting the things I had to change or cut throughout the making of the trilogy so I can talk about them in detail after the release.

Currently, I am halfway through the editing of Book 1. Once I am done with that, I will write the next draft while editing Book 2, and so on. I cannot wait to start writing again!

If you have read this until the end, thank you! I hope you'll have a great day, and I wish you best of luck for September.