Lost in the Movies: Trouble with the Schedule (status update on Lost in Twin Peaks, The Unseen & more)

Trouble with the Schedule (status update on Lost in Twin Peaks, The Unseen & more)


The illustrated companion for my currently-unfolding Fire Walk With Me podcast has been re-scheduled for tomorrow (the original text-only version posted last Saturday has been removed).

My "Unseen" film review series has been suspended again after just one entry and is only slated to resume next year when other projects are finished.

My summer plan is still to release daily Lost in Twin Peaks podcasts and thrice-weekly TWIN PEAKS Character series, but I'm questioning how manageable this will be.

That's the gist of my current status, but you can continue reading for more details on what's happened so far and what might happen going forward.

If you've been checking in on this site for the past week, you may have noticed that I missed several deadlines. First, on Saturday I had to publish an "illustrated companion" for the upcoming two weeks of Fire Walk With Me podcasts...which was not, in fact, illustrated. I only had time to prepare a text overview of what would be in these episodes, so I promised that screenshots and other images would follow in a few hours...then by Saturday night...then by Sunday morning...then by Monday night...and so on. Finally, a couple days ago I abandoned any last pretense that I was going to catch up with what I originally posted; I deleted the text guide (replacing it with a simple message relaying the change in plans) and am now planning to publish an actually illustrated companion this Saturday, May 14 at 8am - halfway through the two-week schedule rather than at its outset. I've been so committed to the May 7 - 20 schedule because it coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the film's premiere, just as the season three podcasts which will follow are synced to the fifth anniversaries of those episodes.

Along the way, I accidentally missed one of the daily episodes but got it up the next morning and carried on as before (this was more due to oversight than workload). I also had to give up on my already-brief resumption of the "Unseen" series (written reviews of popular films I've never seen before). After publishing The Avengers last Wednesday, I missed this Wednesday's entry. Since I was only planning to review a few films before putting "The Unseen" on hold again anyway, I'll just leave the remaining entries until a year from now, when the series is supposed to renew for a longer period. That leaves my third project this spring, perhaps the biggest of them all: the revised TWIN PEAKS Character Series, which I've been previewing for patrons since April. It's scheduled to open up to the public on May 23, and I want to stay at least a month ahead behind the scenes so that I can continue running the Patreon advances. Should I keep trying to pursue this goal, even as the Lost in Twin Peaks podcast proves quite time-consuming (just as it did last fall, when I had to pause after the first season)?

Honestly, I'm not sure - nor am I sure if I want to keep slogging through the podcast like this, or if I should just remove the episodes I've already released this week, stop posting new ones, and only resume the feed when a full backlog is complete for seasons two, three, and the film. Right now I'm leaning toward carry on with my current plan especially since much upcoming work for both projects is already finished. But the next time I fall behind on anything and miss a deadline - be it for a character entry or a podcast - I'm going to start pausing and eventually even abandoning different projects. The end goal of all this is to clear the deck for the final stretch of the video series Journey Through Twin Peaks within a year. Ideally I can also wrap up other long-term projects, some of which have been in the works and/or on ice for over half a decade. Nonetheless, Journey is the first priority and I won't let myself be distracted in perpetuity. Aside from Journey, another priority is my regular podcasts output - monthly patron and public episodes in several series which I've been sharing steadily for the past nine months if not longer. They are easier to prepare and keep up with than Lost in Twin Peaks, so I should be able to continue them no matter what. However, if even those become distractions, I'll lighten that load too: when it comes down to it, having new Twin Peaks video essays ready for the summer of 2023 is what I and most of you are primarily concerned with.

So for now, look forward to a busy schedule of podcasts and character entries this summer and fall. I'll continue to update my progress here, so that you can keep track of how far ahead I am overall and on each project - and therefore how close I am to giving up on any or all of them, which I acknowledge is a real possibility - even (in some cases) a likelihood. On the other hand, maybe this is the roughest patch, and once I'm over this bump I'll be able to deepen the backlog. Either way, thanks for reading, listening, and/or watching along. I hope the end results have been worthwhile.


No comments:

Search This Blog