Hello everyone,

Welcome to my end-of-the-year post. It's been quite a while since I started Light My Way and things have not gone according to plan in the slightest, but it's been an interesting and fun journey nevertheless :) Here are a few things I want to talk to you about, now that 2024 is coming to an end.

New soundtrack incoming

I'm going to make the big announcement that I had prepared now before it might get buried under the other stuff that I plan on writing for this entry. Bat Studios has partnered up with the very talented band Crocodile Paradox to create the soundtrack for Light My Way! You can check them out on Spotify and follow them if you like what you hear. They have a very unique style that fits with how I hear Light My Way in my head when I read it. Crocodile Paradox's vibes should be an interesting addition to the world of Stradia where our chapters are in dire need of proper music. We are currently using placeholder music that we can find online, but I am unhappy with most of it. It's difficult to convey what I feel using pre-made music. Working with a professional band will give me a chance to explain what I want to happen in most scenes and let them use their creative genius to spice things up. The thriller-horror part of the novel will reach new levels with the help of a proper soundtrack. I am very hopeful that this partnership will position Light My Way as being a must-read must-experience visual novel. And finally, in case you are interested in following Crocodile Paradox, their debut album "First Bite" will drop in 2025. I will also announce it here when that happens. 

A big thanks to the crocodiles for offering their help with Light My Way! 

Progression

There are 7 chapters almost out. Chapter 7 - "Breathless" will be out tomorrow for our Supporters, so if you're not partying too hard tonight, you'll be in for a treat on 01.01.25. I worked a lot on this. I spread the text out to make it flow better. It took a long time to get it done especially working on the code. The story itself is going to, hopefully, surprise you yet again. I try to add something to every chapter and this one is close to my favorite in terms of how well (at least how well I believe) I exemplified some inner thoughts and experiences. Maybe some of you will feel the same way. I certainly hope so. 

There are 4 more chapters already prepared. I stopped after finishing Chapter 11 because I was too busy editing the previous chapters and working on stabilizing my life. But it's getting to the point where I have to slowly consider re-starting writing to get to the end of the novel. I am still unsure how much I want to put in. At most, it will be 15 chapters, but I doubt it will get that far. The story needs to end at some point obviously, but I need to choose how and what is the final point of Light My Way. I'm struggling with a lot of decisions I need to make with how it will all progress, but maybe if I finish Graven before that I will have more creative fuel to get out of the "slump" I kind of put myself in. 

Dual lane

Working on two projects has been a blessing in disguise. If I feel like I can't make progress on one of the stories, I switch to the other and it usually works that I put more words down. It doesn't matter if it's 100 or 1000 words. Progress is progress. I can't edit an empty page, so I put in even the minimum amount of work daily. However small it may seem, every step forward puts me closer to my goal. I'm keeping this mindset stepping into 2025. 

I am glad I started with Graven even though it has been very tough on me. But it's also unlocked some parts of my writing and a certain style of storytelling that I was curious about anyway. This style should be much more deeply exemplified in my future project "The Swimmer". I have a 25k-word script that I wrote a few years ago. It lacked a lot of conflict. There wasn't enough in the story to make it an actual story. Re-reading it, I see that it's so boringly linear. But now I know what I need to put in, so I'm going to get to that one at some point too. But for now, I'll stick to two projects :D That's more than enough. 

Kazuul's calling

And Graven will answer. This novel will be a one-shot, regardless of how long or short it will be. I am still aiming for a minimum of 50k words. I posted on my Patreon how I sometimes feel bad about the "small" word count compared to other novels. But if it wasn't clear by now, my projects play out like actual books rather than anything else. I managed to get to over 35k words last week and I plan on pushing it to the end by the end of January. This story is less complex, but it has the very awful downside that it keeps sending me spiraling whenever I touch it. In a way, I feel like if I finish it, I will get some sort of closure...Maybe I'm imagining things, but I am too far deep down this certain foxhole to stop now. Time will tell how far gone I will be when it will finally be finished. Hopefully, just far enough to juice up the final chapter of Light My Way to a whole new level. I already have some ideas...

Timeline of planned releases

Although things rarely work out as planned, here is the attempted release schedule for our projects:

- Light My Way Chapter 7: 01.01.2025
- Light My Way Chapter 8: February 2025
- Graven: March 2025
- Light My Way Chapter 9: April 2025

I am unsure if this will pan out as I imagine it, but it's what we're aiming for. I don't want to be stuck writing for Light My Way for the next few years. It needs to end so I can move on to other projects. The Swimmer is at the top of my list since I already have a big chunk of it written. It needs a lot of editing, but I have enough material to work with, especially since I have the entire story in full. I will expand it to at least 50k words. There is a second story that I have written, which is about 12k words. It's a small one that was meant as a holiday side-story. But we're too busy with what we already have going on. I can't afford to pay for an additional artist, so this one will wait its turn until either things change financially for me, or we manage to get to a point where Rlion can fit this as well into his now very busy schedule. 

Personal notes

It's the end of the year again, and with it, people will start flooding social media with how much they have achieved this past year. The "New Year, New Me" trend will pop off for a week or two (at most). Don't get bogged down by that stuff.  So what if all you've done the past year was to survive? Like me, for example. I'm glad I got here and that I am still me after all that has happened. Don't let yourself get dragged into this nonsense that today is supposed to be some magical day that you need to spend this or that way, otherwise it's a wasted day. If you're together with family, make sure that you don't wait until next year to call or meet up with them more often. If you're alone, make yourself a warm cup of tea, put on your favorite music or movie, and eat your favorite snack. You do you. Be proud of yourself that you've made it this far. I sure am. And so should you :)

A big thank you to Tito and RLion! I am very happy to have met them and to work together with them, turning my stories into something the world can experience. We have our good and bad times, but we're there supporting each other every time one of us is down. I'm very grateful that I somehow managed to find two of the nicest people I could hope to work with. 

May we have many, many more years of working together! 

Without Light My Way, I would be lost. Every chapter that comes out, brings me more and more joy that I thought was completely gone. My passion for writing has come back and I never want to let go of it. Writing is the one thing that genuinely makes me happy and I intend on going forward for as long as I possibly can. 

Happy New Year to all of you! Thank you for the support that you've offered me for such a long time. I will do my best to me you all proud.

Bring it on 2025! I am as ready as I'll ever be. 

See you all in Stradia!
- Hadrian Maximus