Even more progress, plus revision of stuff...

Okay folks, just a minor update (now becoming a major post xD). I've updated the title of all of my Twitch exports to YouTube in line with the "Played Up with Stormkeeper" branding, although to keep the titles shorter, they'll all be called "Played Up w/ Stormkeeper Live!", though I'll be tagging the videos with the full title of the section concerned, so there shouldn't be any issues in search. Additionally, I've started changing the bottom part of the description area for future videos (which I'll also proactively start putting into the videos whilst they're still on Twitch) to put my StormkeeperGU links first, followed by the GUN and then Gamed Up stuff.

The order of the bottom part is likely to change again - currently, the notice that it was broadcast on Twitch is between the "If you like...etc." paragraph, but as I realised after changing them to the second layout of the blurb that it's best off going above the paragraph, but I'm not changing it for now - applying primarily to all videos on Twitch dated from the 16th of September (giving me a week to think about it), with all the videos prior to that date getting addressed later on.

I also want to fix all the tags for the videos on Twitch and YouTube, especially the former, because if I get the tagging right on Twitch, then it'll be exactly the same on YouTube, meaning I've saved myself some work! Additionally, the older videos - in this case probably from before the 1st of October (if not November), as I still need to think about tagging order - will have the new tag order applied to them, to be in-line with the new systems being applied to make things a little less stressful to manage later on!

I have a rough idea of the order of the tags, although when Twitch exports them, it adds two tags before then (which I'll retain), so I just have to worry about doing all the tags before export properly, as they shouldn't change. That said, however, there are also additional tags that need to be sorted too, notably the tag categories for Twitch before I start streaming; they too will be standardised across the board to make things a little easier for me in the future, seeing as I forget which tags I actually apply each time. This also needs that I'll likely need to revise my system for tagging, etc a little bit so I spend very little time doing the "text work" from before, during (if I stream more than one game at the same time) and after I'm finished streaming.

I'm also starting to make better use of my scheduled posts on Facebook and also the Steemit platform, but unfortunately, I still have to do things manually every other platform, although I have changed things a little with the automatic post made via IFTTT that's posted to Facebook about 10+ minutes after I start the stream, so I should get more visibility in that sense, or so I hope anyway! Those changes have already been made and the first test will be this coming Monday, though I don't expect things to change overnight either! In any case, I need to really think about where I can better save time so I don't have to go back and do other things later, especially as I want to use the time saved for doing video stuff, be that filming, producing, research, or travelling (for thrifts).

Things aren't perfect as of yet, but I do feel that taking 2 weeks off has allowed me to recenter myself, so hopefully, it'll mean that I can shake off my past workflow and develop a more efficient one; I still do have some time to go before I have gotten fully used to streaming on a regular schedule, but I have at least made sure that I've made up the 25 hours required (albeit outside of the 5x1 hour buffer time for each stream) for 30 days, as well as meeting the additional 12 day streaming requirement, which means that the only worry I have now with regards to making Partner now is the 75 average views requirement, though I'm very far away from that.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I'm even considering Partner considering I've just recently made Affiliate, and the truth is, it just makes it easier for me in the long run, as I've always met 2/3 of the aforementioned goals to make Partner, and really, if I'm doing that consistently without thinking, then I needed to scale my actual scheduled hours back to something a bit more conservative than before, to allow for me to create videos, on top of streaming. Also, working within the general framework I'm working in right now allows me to focus on just streaming, and not worrying about if I haven't made 25 hours down the line, as it'll be just something I'm doing all the time; it does take time to build up good habits after all!

I will say that this means that every 4 weeks, it means that I'll be streaming 20/28 unique days on my StormkeeperGU Twitch channel, and outside of streaming on other channels under Stormhaven Media, I won't be streaming any more than that, as I think that 25 hours over 28 days is enough, although equally, I may also scale back one of my streams by an hour before I implement the schedule, because, on a 30 day basis, I'm streaming just a touch over 108 hours anyway, so losing an hour on 1 stream wouldn't hurt overall, I think; 24 hours a week amounts to 104 a month, but then I'd have to consider breaks, which is another dimension I hadn't considered.

In any case, I will need to think about all of this down the line... thankfully, Partner is so far off, I can fine-tune things over time, although I may also consider doing a once or twice a month stream as well, though I'm getting ahead of myself here; I'll just stream for the 25 hours to begin with, and if a particular stream works better with me starting an hour later, or finishing an hour earlier, then I'll consider dropping back to 24, although even then I could also chop off 30 minutes from 2 streams... there's a lot of ways to do it, but these are just my thoughts at 06:00 hours in the morning right now... I think that 25 hours will at least work pretty well for me from December, although from then, I'll be keeping records whenever I stream each month.

The benefits there being I can make sure I make enough hours each 30 day period to stay within 25 hours, and also see where best to cut episodes, though equally, I think that rerunning certain popular streams may help with the stream hours, but I would need to wait until after I'm comfortable with my new schedule first, plus I'd need to see what my community thinks of me rerunning certain streams to begin with!

Either way, it's definitely food for thought, although it'll be quite some time before I can change content creation into any sort of viable career, but at least I'm trying to make it work... it'll take a fair bit of time, but equally, I'm starting to better map things out which is good. Of course, as far as Twitch goes, Partnership is the dream... I may never actually get accepted, although at this point, YouTube Partnership seems a bit more feasible, although I do have those copyright notices to address eventually, though again, I'm quite a while away from 1,000 subs on YT! That said however, I need to start budgeting for a bigger hard drive, a better CPU (i7-4790k ideally), and a better graphics card (a 20XX version of a 1060 6GB at least)... swapping my 8GB for 16GB of RAM is a possibility too, but that'll have to come after getting a gaming-grade laptop and something like an Elgato, so I can stream more consoles, and take the strain off my PS4!

I clearly have a lot of plans, but I need to think about how feasible it is to realise them; I have also got to start setting up storage and shelving as well, which is a bigger priority right now, so I imagine that my current setup (unless I get some good deals or breaks) is what I'm stuck with for now, although at the very least I'll probably get a bigger hard drive, as it's really was is needed right now so I can store more games! Thankfully, it shouldn't be long before Linux Mint 19.1 is out, so I can start a fresh reinstall of it and upgrade to something more modern. As for Windows 10, I'm having to keep that for now, but equally, I've pre-paid for 3 keys so it won't cost me anything extra... of course, that said, I imagine that a clear wipe wouldn't be such a bad idea, just so I can fix any outstanding issues... upgrading my "work" laptop with a 2TB SSHD may be a good idea as well, seeing as 500GB is a bit small for my needs... getting another 8GB of RAM for it may be a good idea too, if only so it can better reach its potential, and as for my 14 inch laptop, that should get at least a 128GB SD card, and probably an external hard drive for more demanding stuff... I should make a list, heh.

Anyway, that's it for now... I need to rest up some more so I can prepare to go thrifting tomorrow, and if possible, do some stuff today as well... but we'll see how that goes.

Until next time folks...