Update On The Future Of Dozens Of Donuts

This statement comes with a heavy heart. Dozens Of Donuts has been a pivotal part of my life ever since I created it in 2013, and continued it in the Spring of 2014 as a capping project my last semester of college. The music, the artists, the readers, the blog itself has meant so much to me, far more than just your average hobby. Even as a hobbyist, every other one I had combined failed to come close to the amount of time I poured into this here blog. Now, before I let you all down too much, no this announcement is not to declare the death of Dozens Of Donuts, as you may be thinking. However, it is to announce a cutback in content.

In the past few years, I've been incredibly lucky to have received downtime during my typical working hours. One such job, for two years of the blog, was overnights where I had all the time in the world to listen to music, ponder my thoughts, and write my reviews. Basically, the hobby invaded the job and the only times I actually worked on DoD from home was if something needed to be done quickly, or an article needed to be posted. Late last year, I got a new job. This involved moving and starting my life anew. However, I got lucky again, spared with countless hours outside of my normal, busy working hours where I could, once again, write to my heart's content. In the past few weeks, as I start to train for a secondary position at this job, this time has cut down drastically. And then, inevitably, when I learn a third position, fourth position, so on and so forth, that free time will be removed entirely.

This leaves me with no alternative other than to cut out the excess. There just isn't enough hours in the day, week, or month, to write the in-depth reviews that I do. Couple that with my desire to venture out into other hobbies more, listen to more music without being tied down to reviewing them, and the generally burnt out feelings I have after posting 485 articles (wow!), and continuing the excursion that is DoD just isn't feasible. So, before we get into what will change, I want to thank you, dear reader, for following me along on this crazy hobby of mine. While viewership wasn't what kept me going (I'm convinced 99% of people would've stopped by now having not reached Fantano fame), it can't be understated the elation glancing at a post's stats gave me. As of right now, DoD averages 300 views a day, spiking on days where I post content. That's roughly 9,000 a month and, as of this writing, 282,124 all-time. Whew!

As an aside, look at how far we've come. This is my first post, announcing the creation of this blog. How adorable.

To some, the ensuing changes, compared to the sentimentality I'm presenting right now, may cause an eye-roll or two. In reality, not too much is changing. I'll still be here, posting at least once a week, giving you my thoughts on the latest albums and singles with dashes of the past thrown in. So, without further ado, here is the plan going forward.

Reviews

This is the big one. Of course it is. It is, after all, by far the most time-consuming of my articles. Therefore, the reviews will see the most change. As of right now, the five-paragraph reviews are dead. Instead, I'll be transitioning to Review Round-Up, a new series where I'll post general thoughts on albums recently released. In my opinion, there's a good and bad with this. The obvious bad is that in-depth reviews, for the most part, will be no more. The good is that, surprisingly, I'll be able to review more albums, just with a shorter length and less thoroughness.

These Review Round-Ups will be posted bi-weekly (Update: weekly, for the foreseeable future) on Friday's (Monday's come 2018). They'll have their own tab up top too, much like Past Greatness or Loosies. However, in regards to heavy-hitting albums or artists that I feel deserve a bigger review, I will infrequently post them separately when the time calls. For those readers that access my material from sites where I post updates (Last.fm, KanyeToThe, RateYourMusic, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook), nothing much will change. Ironically, it'll be more work Friday's on my behalf, but that needn't be your concern.

Loosies

Because I'm a completionist, and Loosies aren't too much of a burden, they won't change until the end of the year. However, when 2018 rolls around, Loosies will be posted bi-weekly as well. They will, more likely than not, switch every other Monday with Review Round-Up. And, much like Review Round-Up, they'll be more content to give. I won't be restricting myself to just six singles for two weeks, it'll be whatever I deem worthy enough to talk about.

Past Greatness

To dedicated readers, you've already seen the changes in Past Greatness with September's article. Unfortunately my favorite new series was doomed from the start as there was no feasible way to write three reviews, on top of everything I was doing, typically about lauded albums that required a quality review. Simple change here; Past Greatness stays once a month, but is reduced to one album. Great ready for next month's where we go to the oldies!

Deep Cuts

No changes. Hooray! I enjoy Deep Cuts a great deal, and being that it's only monthly to begin with, with only five songs contained within, keeping that streak going shouldn't be difficult at all.

End Of Year Lists

Readers of mine know how meticulous I can get when it comes to list-making. It's an obsession of mine. Unfortunately, the end of year lists I did in 2016 took a very, very long time to create. However, there's no way in hell I'm condensing the albums or songs list. They will remain 50 and 100 respectively. Verses, beats, and hooks, however, will go away. I haven't kept track this year, so there's no way I could've done them anyways. Lastly though, best and worst album covers of the year will return, mainly cause I greatly enjoyed putting that together last year.

Editorials & Lists

There was no greater way to see how wrapped up I was with DoD elsewhere than to check on the Editorial and Lists tab and see that nothing got posted this year. That makes me sad. While I don't particularly fancy myself as a great (or even good) Editorial writer, those posts tended to gain a lot of traction. The same could always be said for lists. While I can't make any promises, if the changes to DoD overall opens up some breathing room for me, there is a chance that I'll be able to produce some Editorials or Lists over time. The latter for sure, as I've been slowly but surely building two as we speak. I just always had something else to do that was more pressing.

So there you have it. Does it suck? Yes. Was it necessary? Yes. Is it the worst thing in the world? Probably not. No matter how much life tries to pull me away, there's no way I'm losing grip of my precious Dozens Of Donuts. I hope to continue to see you all along for the ride, and if you have any suggestions moving forward feel free to let me know!

Thanks for everything, Brian