I AM NOT ANNOUNCING A RETIREMENT! DO NOT PANIC! Granted, I can’t stop you from being disappointed.

I had to start with that because it seems the recent retirement of a number of YouTube celebs have people on edge. While some of the big names in various communities have decided to move on to other projects or spend more time with their family, it inspired others to also rethink how they’re producing content. For example, it actually caused Gaijin Goombah, who looks at Japanese culture and media, to actually create MORE content by starting a Warhammer discussion channel. I’m not a Warhammer guy so I won’t be watching, but he decided to pursue something he really loves, but will continue his usual content.

Then you have big showings of comic success in the indie sphere. Most of it is coming from creators unhappy with the current content deciding to make their own. I can see more than ever that it’s possible to become a relatively successful comic creator with your own ideas. That won’t stop DC and Marvel from hiring people who couldn’t care less to play to other people who couldn’t care less but there you go.

Then…there’s me. I started BW Media Spotlight in 2008 with the goal of making myself a better storyteller, though in the beginning I was just doing it for fun and getting over my second trip to the hospital thanks to Crohn’s induced inflammation. It seems every time I’m ready to make a move forward in my goals I get sick. Last time was 2016, when I was in the hospital thanks to diverticulitis induced inflammation. And surgery. And a blood clot. And a hernia. And a kidney stone. And MRSA. You want proof there is a God? I’m not dead…though for some of you that might prove the opposite. That’s enough out of you. All of that is gone, except maybe the MRSA (I think if I’m hospitalized again all the nurses will still be dressed in plastic throwaway outfits), with just my usual sinus issues and some earwax build-up to be worried about as of this writing. While I’ve made some comics, I’m not where I’ve wanted to be, and I’m starting to realize that for all the good the site has done for me–the people I’ve met, the things I’ve gotten to talk about, keeping my sanity in check–it’s also hindered me. Not so much the site itself as they way I approached it.

So while some things are not changing–the feature article, the daily video, Saturday Night Showcase, Jake & Leon–there do need to be a few changes around here. With the daily comic reviews running out of content, now seems like a good time to alter how that works. It’s not a complete alteration, just some minor modifications that will help with my current biggest problem: time!

Yeah, you’re all singing The Touch right about now.

What’s NOT changing

The feature article set-up will continue per usual. While I would still like to move Chapter By Chapter to the weekends, it will currently remain on Mondays. Saturday Night Showcase will also continue to be on Saturdays (duh), and the combination of Jake & Leon and this week’s update as to what’s coming will still happen on Sunday, unless I miss the comic that week. Then it will just be the update.

The Daily Video will continue to happen Monday-Friday mornings, 6 AM ET. I’m not even going to pretend we’ll be switching out article links…as least here. I’ll come back to that. There will also be no changes with my other site, The Clutter Reports. Decluttering continues.

So what IS changing?

Star Power will be ending in a few weeks in “Yesterday’s” Comic. I don’t have anything physical to replace it with because Sonic/Knuckles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all I have left. I was able to do Star Power due to how it was released. The only other webcomic I follow like that is the currently on hiatus Runners. So replacing Star Power is Blue Beetle. I’ll be moving that from Saturday to Friday. It should last a while since once I’m done with the Fox Features run the Charlton run is still public domain until DC pulls the same nonsense they did with Captain Marvel (Shazam) comics from the Fawcett days.

So what’s going up on Saturday? Currently (or in three weeks) I have nothing. Saturday Night Showcase may stand alone like Jake & Leon does on Sunday. I do have ideas for what I want to do next, but that’s for another section and not even close to being ready. I’m also thinking a “weekly flashback”, going back to and updating older BW articles. Not sure, but I have a few weeks to decide. The goal is to reduce my work load with the site to focus on other things.

As each comic runs out, since I’ll be getting caught up with Sonic and the Turtles eventually–starting with the Turtles, I won’t be able to replace those, either. At some point it will be Ultraverse Monday, nothing on Tuesday, Sonic on Wednesday (and that won’t last long), Drive Thru on Thursday, and Blue Beetle on Friday. Yes, Drive Thru. I’m out of comics in my ComiXology library, so I’ll begin going through the Drive Thru Comics library. Once that finishes up I’ll again have nothing. I’m thinking the comics will be replaced with a daily article link, as I have a backlog of those and I don’t seem to be replacing the backlog of videos fast enough. This means I’ll still have content outside of the feature article, but the regular comic reviews will end.

I’ll still have comics to review thanks to Free Comic Inside, and I do want to revisit storylines in Scanning My Collection, plus I want to do more Golden Age heroes after Blue Beetle ends, including going back to the first era of Fox Feature comics since I’m resigned to the anthology format. It will just be winding down as a BW feature when it comes to daily reviews.

So what are you planning to work on?

There are two projects I really want to get out there. One of them is video content. I have a few series ideas in mind, or just one-shot stuff, maybe even a short just to make YouTube happy. I have the thing so I might as well use it. It’s another way to examine storytelling, but it takes a lot of time to write, film, find footage, edit, and finally post. Replacing one chunk of work with another will just be a new version of the same problem: time. I want to watch stuff in my YouTube and DVR backlog, especially Finally Watched and Saturday Night Showcase material. These are fun, but time consuming. I still have a video-a-month goal.

However, my drive is not to be a YouTuber, it’s to be a writer. I have a novel series idea but I really want to make comics besides Jake & Leon, Captain PSA, and Captain Yuletide. I like making them and there are no plans to stop. However, I have a bunch of comic ideas I really want to do. That Ninja Ballerina idea I had I want to revisit and finally create, if only for practice and feedback. I might do a few other things, but I also have this year’s Captain Yuletide to figure out, and…let’s just say I have plans for Reconstruction Zone I don’t feel ready to tease yet.

All of this will be set-up before I start making my serious projects, the big ones. I have what I think is a really cool graphic novel idea I want to be ready for after getting feedback on me trying to do more than a four panel gag strip or a Christmas superhero minicomic. I have the full plot laid out, and two potential concepts for sequel stories. There’s also an ongoing series I’d really like to do, the final goal. I also mentioned a novel I wouldn’t mind trying out. I’ve stalled on all these projects due to not having time to make stuff, and I want to finally have the time to take what I’ve learned over the years analyzing other people’s stories and translate it to my own storytelling. You know, the supposed goal of BW Media Spotlight.

I said I wanted to get more creative last year. I didn’t. I’m 50 years old. I don’t know how much time I have left, especially if I get more medical issues. It’s long past time I finally started to make the content I want to. This site is still content I want to make, but I need to get a work schedule that will allow me to create…and to get a job. Speaking of things I need, I really need a source of income. I have a bags of comics, action figures, novels, and video games I want to sell, but outside of The Clutter Reports’ “clutter for sale” section I don’t know how to sell them. I tried Patreon once and that failed. So I need income. What effect that will have on creating I don’t know, but that means getting out of the sedentary mindset I’ve had since I lost my job.

Which is the last thing I want time for: fun. I’ve been stuck in this house for far too long. I almost need to relearn how to drive, and I want to go somewhere besides shopping or doctors. If the Crohn’s really is in remission and everything else is gone, I still have to find a place with easy access to a bathroom but I want to finally get out of this house a bit more often. Again, I need money for that, including fixing my bike so I can go riding again. I need to exercise and get my energy and body back into something resembling what I used to be, or should be at my age. Even at home I want time to play video games, watch shows and movie for fun, and read for the pleasure of it. Basically, I want a life again…or what passed for it with me.

So you’re not going anywhere?

Nope, you’re still stuck with me. Then again, you’re the one who decided to come here, some of you even subscribing. I want to keep this site something to visit without burn-out and with me pursuing other projects that are my goal, as well as having a life of some kind. I do apologize for how rambly and unfocused this article seems, but this is me finalizing what planes I have for the future of BW Media Spotlight and the various storytelling related projects I’ve wanted to work on. Stay tuned for more content, but different kinds of content as we continue to examine the art of storytelling…and to finally BE a better storyteller!

Also may change the site’s visual theme. I haven’t done that in years but I’m waiting for WordPress to give me a theme that has what I like about Selecta with improvements. Curious what your thoughts are as the BW readership (if you’re still reading this) for what YOU’D like to see here, and maybe what you’d like to see in a new attempt at Patreon.