Well, I didn't quite make it to the pool this morning… but I did successfully manage to get up considerably earlier than I have been up until now, so I count that as a partial success. I nearly got up in time to go to the pool, but then that last snooze of my alarm apparently knocked me out for more than half an hour rather than ten minutes. Whoops. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow; the mind was willing and the intentions were pure, but the body was just slightly unwilling.
I do actually feel a bit better for getting up a bit earlier. I wouldn't say I feel especially bright-eyed and alert or anything, but I do think I feel marginally better than I normally do at this time in the morning. Which is nice.
I'm feeling a little frustrated today, though; I'm feeling oddly conscious of the fact that I never seem to be able to get beyond 25 patrons on this 'ere site. I've been bouncing back and forth between about 20 and 25 for quite a long time now, with that initial 20 representing a wonderful "core" of people who have supported me for a long time now. If you're one of those people, an extra-special big thank you for what you do!
That last 5 seem to come and go at various points every month, though. I know from my own Patreon habits that people often shift their pledges around every so often so they have the opportunity to support more creators than they otherwise would — and thus it's nothing personal or anything I've done "wrong" when they go elsewhere — it's just a bit of a shame that the growth of this page seems to have stagnated a little bit, with people coming and going at seemingly roughly the same rate.
MoeGamer itself is doing great, mind you; the last three years have seen incredible growth in both views and visitors, with most visitors sticking around to read more than one thing, which is wonderful to see. I'm not sure if we're going to beat last year's record (which was the site's best year ever to date) but we're certainly on track for similar performance at the very least.
Those who have been following for a while will know that I'm not generally one to care about figures; I'd be doing this even if no-one was reading, because I simply love the act of writing, and putting together my pieces for MoeGamer lets me enjoy my favourite hobby on a much deeper level. But it would be nice to know I have a few newcomers to my work now and again, and perhaps some people who feel inclined to support independent, ad-free games writing. It would be super-cool to be able to afford some stuff like rarer games, more obscure consoles I don't own (coughTurbografxcough) or better video capture hardware, for example.
With that in mind, dear patron, a humble request: if you particularly enjoy something on MoeGamer, please do share it, whether it's a simple retweet on Twitter, a quote tweet with a comment or using one of the "Share" buttons that are at the bottom of each post. It really does make a world of difference; a simple tweet helps a lot, and a single link on Reddit or a specialist forum typically sees my views and visitors for the day absolutely explode. Plus it's always nice to see new faces in the comment section. (So long as they're not, y'know, dicks.)
There are now over a thousand articles on MoeGamer, most of which have been crafted to be "timeless", i.e. you can refer to them at any point in time rather than them being particularly tied to then-current happenings. (This is why I make a point of not being a news site, and keeping "topical" opinion pieces to a minimum!) If there's anything from the archives that you particularly enjoyed, or a writeup on a favourite game, do please share it with friends and family so we can continue to grow.
Thanks for your time and your continued support! I really do appreciate it, and I'm constantly humbled that there are so many people of you already who think my work is worth pledging to support. I hope you have a pleasant Tuesday, and with any luck tomorrow's post will start with some sort of enthusiasm about getting into the swimming pool 🙂
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