Author Journey (April 18, 2022)
It’s been another busy week for me and that just justifies my decision to step back from seasonal anime for a while. I’m still watching anime, but it’s at my pace. That’s when I’m not trying to catch up on the day job.
April 18, 2022
Hot Topic
Nothing has changed since last week when I took over the childcare responsibilities for our youngest son. Sure, you could just call it parenting, but it is a significant change in the status quo. I’m barely putting any time into my day job during the day and can’t see that changing until the summer, at the earliest. That means, I’m staying up later again to catch up on my work which leaves me with very little time to do anything else.
As a result, I’m pretty tired and the kids seem to have chosen this as the time to start getting up at six in the morning instead of seven. I am having a lot of fun during the day as my youngest son is quite the comedian. If only he’d sit still for a little while so I could get a sneak nap in… Had I still been trying to cover seasonal anime, I think I would have struggled, so it was fortunate that this all happened at the end of a season.
What have I been watching/reading?
Anime
I have continued to increase my manga reading which has been a nice side effect of the current situation. I’m at 28 volumes for the year so far and would like to hit 100 as I did back in 2018. I’ve got my next series reserved at the library and have bought another one which is currently ongoing. I love going into a series knowing that it’s finished and that I can plough through it, however, it’s also important to support the current series else they might not make it to the end.
- Fire Force
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Magical Girl Apocalypse
There was no Fire Force review this week as Yomu gets over jetlag and reacquaints himself with Canada. It’ll be back soon enough, so worry not.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood introduced us to another of the homunculi. This time it was Greed although he appears to be working on his own project.
This was the second to last episode post for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and it showed us some of the schemings that have been going into being a demon lord. We also got to see just how much more powerful everyone is now.
If you’re in the mood for something a little crazy, then you need to check out Magical Girl Apocalypse! Anyone that is a fan of apocalyptic stores should absolutely check this series out.
Work in Progress
It seems like forever ago when I outlined my rewrite of Valiant Lineage, and it was… Anyhow, I’ve been stewing on the outline for a while. In the first chapter, I’m keen to set everything up correctly. My heroine is wild and impulsive and I want to show that, but she also has a strong sense of protecting those who need it. I had the scene set up to show just how reckless she is, but I needed to show the other side of it.
Well, on one of my many walks with Gus last week, it came to me. I now have a reason for her to be reckless. If you’re familiar with the story structure called Save the Cat, this is the save the cat moment where the hero shows us what makes them tick, but also gives us a view of potential flaws and weaknesses.
I’ve already added the new notes into the outline and will probably continue to refine it over the coming weeks. I do want to start work on some over outlines too, but it’s all about finding the time.
The Plan
So, I’ve almost finished the posts for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. I condensed two full seasons and five OVAs into sixteen posts. It was a lot of fun putting together and is a format I will look to use again.
If you glance at the numbers below, you’ll see that I actually did two posts for quarter four. Another of the benefits of setting my own schedule is that I can change it and adapt it to fit what I want to watch.
Posts
- Quarter One
- Author Journey – 13/13
- Historic Anime – 39/39
- Seasonal Anime – 36/36
- Bonus Posts – 18/18
- Quarter Two
- Author Journey – 3/13 (+1)
- Historic Anime – 39/39
- Seasonal Anime – 3/3
- Bonus Posts – 1/1
- Quarter Three
- Author Journey – 0/13
- Historic Anime – 13/39 (+1)
- Quarter Four
- Author Journey – 0/13
- Historic Anime – 2/39 (+2)
I never expected to start on quarter four, but I have several series in the works that take up most of quarter two if not all of it. This schedule is working for me even with the added pressures on my time so that feels like a big win.
Writing
- MSR (Paranormal Harem Rom-com)
- Plotting – 49/58
- Writing – 43/58
- Editing – 42/58
- Artwork – 0/9
- Valiant Lineage (Epic Dark Fantasy)
- Plotting – 41/41
- Writing – 0/?
- Editing – 0/?
- Artwork – 0/?
- Black Death (Post Apocalyptic Shoujo AI)
- Plotting – 0/?
- Writing – 0/?
- Editing – 0/?
- Artwork – 0/?
- Asteroidea (Horror Science-fiction)
- Plotting – 0/?
- Writing – 0/?
- Editing – 0/?
- Artwork – 0/?
I’m not going to track updates to plotting as that would take a lot of time and wouldn’t add anything to the documenting of the process. As with everything else, I just need more time.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do. I’m glad that I get to spend this extra time with my youngest son and while I am tired, it’s absolutely worth it. I just need to keep everything ticking over here and try to build on my outlines.
Anyhow, thanks for reading and stay safe.
