Salvete omnia! End-of-volume announcement. No grandiose introduction necessary; let's cut right to it.
Volume 3 is finished. What now?
As some, hopefully most, should recall from my previous announcement almost...10 months ago (jesus, wow), with the conclusion of Volume 3, we'll now be entering an interim.
But first, a brief reflection.
To give a quick refresher/reminder, an 'interim' is a fancy officialese label I've put for the gap period between two main volumes during which I'll be releasing a side-volume chapter once every Wednesday while I work on writing the next mainline volume. Volumes 1 and 2 had a relatively short gap period between the two (two or so weeks), and I was releasing their chapters concurrent to their development; I was only ever five or less chapters ahead of release. This was unsustainable to me and very stressful, so 10 months ago I decided to shift away from that and only release main volumes when they are completely written.
Strawberry Tales + Volume 3 was essentially the experiment for this new schedule or routine that I adopted. Although Strawberry Tales had turned out to be both longer and slightly more difficult to balance alongside working on both the rewrite and later Volume 3, the side-volume was successful even if it was not read by everyone; it prevented the project from going on a hiatus.
Volume 3, likewise, was delayed significantly by the Prologue rewrite; I began the writing process for it late into Strawberry Tales and had to release it early. Initially releasing Volume 3 under a one chapter per week schedule, however, did make up for that; I managed to complete the volume while also releasing some of it, although a lot of the backlog chapters were rough drafts. Regardless, Volume 3 in my personal opinion was an overall improvement compared to Volume 2 and especially Volume 1 in both writing and quality.
I won't bore you with all of the intricate sort of hurdles I ran into throughout Strawberry Tales, the rewrite, and Volume 3, but either way I believe that this first trial for this schedule has worked well. So, we will be keeping it going forward. And because I don't have a fixation on rewriting the rest of the Prologue (yet), I believe it will be much smoother this time around.
Alright, so what's the side-volume?
I don't even have a tentative title for it yet, because I haven't actually begun...writing it yet (lol), however I do have the concept figured out. The side-volume for this interim is *tentatively planned to follow shortly before and throughout the twelve day war between the Company and Huckleberry, primarily focusing on Red and Blue's perspective and their contributions to the Company's campaign against the Fallen. My goals for this side-volume is to make it more or less action-and-adventure oriented and lead it into Volume 4.
That's all I'll say for now; I'll have it figured it out by release, which speaking of...
When will this side-volume begin releasing?
That's the neat part. Like I said, I haven't actually begun writing it yet. I should have begun writing it within these last 4 days, however...I made the mistake of purchasing Elite Dangerous, and I blame that exclusively for my laziness. However, this leads into my next thing. I am taking a three week break. Or more accurately, there will be a three week gap period, with the side-volume's first still-to-be-made chapter being tentatively set for release on Wednesday, November 12th. As with Strawberry Tales, chapters will be released once a week, every Wednesday at (or around) 5:15pm PST (Pacific Standard Time).
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Initially, I was thinking of a two-week so-called 'break' (which wouldn't actually be a break because I would still be writing), however after being at this for nearly *two* fricking years now (wow), I think I know myself enough by now to know...I might need three weeks. This gives me both time to write and do other stuff. Ya'll don't know how much of a time sink this project is; it's effectively been a full-time commitment.
This tentative release, keep in mind, may be subject to change -- in which case I will inform you all. But for now, Wednesday, November 12th is my deadline.
K. Cool. But what about Volume 4?
For once, I actually do have several chapters of the next volume already written. The caveat is that these are purely skeletal chapters -- sketches. I can already anticipate that Volume 4 is going to be incredibly trickier to write. This is because Volume 4 *needs* to wrap up the whole Company/Blossom 'arc' of this story so that I can *finally* move on to the Citadel and Advanced Selection arc (assuming I even follow through with that) I had initially intended for the story before I had (randomly) decided to bombard Coastfield and set everything on this path.
Vol.4 will have to be very focused and precise, giving me very little room for error or sudden shifts. Vol.4 is going to probably end up faster-paced than I usually am, consequently, alongside being just as chunky as Volume 3. To be honest, I don't even know if I can pull it off; there is so much I have to do and a lot that needs to happen, and I'll have to make it happen.
So, to get to the point: I am going to be taking my sweet, sweet time. Volume 4 will begin releasing when I believe it is in the right condition for release. If we assume that the side-volume runs for 10 chapters, that is ten weeks, placing a speculative release somewhere in mid-to-late January, 2026. However, this will very much depend. There are many things in my life that could potentially happen between now and then which could suddenly derail or delay. As always, I will remain communicative and if anything happens, I will let you all know.
But for now, mid-to-late January is my tentative target; but there could be another couple week gap period after the end of the coming side-volume.
That all being said, what I did with Volume 3's earlier-than-I-wanted release worked very well. Ideally, I would prefer to release Volume 4 with an immediate two chapter/week schedule; however, if by January or earlier, I can see that development is going to drag or I just feel confident about the first chunk of chapters I've written, I'll likely do an initial release schedule that is one chapter/week until I've completed the rest of the volume.
I will have more of this figured out when the time comes. For now, that is all I can really say. Time being, you should be anticipating the coming side-volume. If you have yet to catch up, now would be the perfect time to do that.
Regarding the Future
So, there's surprisingly a lot I'd like to say regarding the future and what things are looking like entering 2026. However, in order to spare your eye-balls a *two thousand word* announcement and suffice for this mere one thousand word announcement, I decided to cut all of that from this. Instead, I'll be releasing a separate end-of-year announcement in December (maybe New Years) regarding the project's future, as we enter closer to its two-year anniversary; it'd be more appropriately timed.
In Summary:
-We'll be entering another inter-volume 'interim'. -But first three week 'break' period for me (to both chill and build backlog). -Perfect time to catch up if you're behind. -Still-to-be-named side-volume, focusing on Red and Blue & Company War, tentatively slated for release Wednesday, November 12th. -Volume 4 is anticipated to be ready by mid-to-late January, 2026 but no guarantees; I may delay at my own discretion as deemed necessary. -Expect an announcement regarding project future entering 2026 sometime by or before New Years (so, late December). -Spoiler: I might have to get a real job.
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