16/04/2025
Production update: NQ suspended for a month :(
After a fortnight-long migraine I'm going to have to take some time off from the podcast for health reasons - hopefully just a month, but let's see how things go. In the meantime I've suspended payments on Patreon.
All being well, Patreon content will resume on Saturday May 10th and there will then be three bonus episodes starting on Wednesday May 14th, before the next main episode comes out on Wednesday June 4th. If I'm able to do this I'll resume Patreon payments one month today, on May 16th.
Here's a brief summary of the medical position:
1 - Doctor suggested I could come off anti-migraine medication.
2 - I came off anti-migraine medication.
3 - I started having migraines again.
4 - Doctor put me on other anti-migraine medication.
5 - The migraines have stopped and I'm now in recovery mode.
Although the episodes are pausing, most production has continued and will continue. There are bonus episodes to be edited and recorded which don't feature me; interviews to be transcribed; future interviews to be arranged and future recordings to be scheduled and diarised. What hasn't been able to continue for the past month are recordings featuring me. That may be about to change, though, and if I make good progress I'll try recording episode 47 with Charles and Alex before the end of this month.
My morale remains remains relatively high. There is such an obvious cause for this setback and the solution is so straightforward that I do not have the same despairing dismay I felt in previous relapses. This is hopefully just a blip in the road back to better health.
I'm really proud that I've been able to keep the Napoleonic Quarterly going since catching covid in October 2021. This was only possible by broadening the project out to include an ever-expanding cast list of fellow contributors, each equally fascinated by the Napoleonic period and willing to give a little of their time or money. I am incredibly grateful to all of those making a difference. However, it doesn't feel right to keep taking money from Quartermasters in months when there is no output to offer them in return. So I have suspended payments on Patreon today. These will resume on the 16th day of whichever month the podcast gets going again. Again, a massive thank you to all those who do contribute. About three-quarters of the money goes to paying for an editor, with the remainder being spent on subscriptions and equipment, so there really is no need for this revenue to continue right now when I'm not incurring the cost of paying the excellent Sam for his audio wizardry.
Finally, I'm really excited about where the Napoleonic Quarterly has got to. We now have a settled monthly package of content to offer Patreon, with at least one quarterly live event (the next one, by the way, will be a live recording of episode 48 which wraps up season six.) We're building up to a fantastic relaunch of the podcast once we hit the imperial era and then it will be on to 1805 and beyond, which is when this podcast really will move up to another level.
Having to delay the build-up to all this is frustrating, but is all part of the process I suppose. I remember when I first discussed this project with Charles he told me it was a journey and that I could never know where it would take me, but could only start by making the first step. Now we are nearly halfway through and the time has come for a pause by the roadside for a restorative breather. But we will resume the march towards Waterloo before not too long.
