Author Journey (April 24, 2023)

2023 04 24 The Otaku Author Journey

Well, I’m just glad I kept my goal on the lower side of things for last week. I think I lost about three days in total once all of the real-life stuff was done messing with my schedule. Still, it wasn’t all bad!

Author Journey (April 24, 2023)

Last week, I mentioned how we had a really short Spring as Summer had already begun. Well, this week decided to cycle through all of the seasons in just a couple of days. Needless to say, all these temperature fluctuations have not been good for my healing knee. Regardless, things are moving in the right direction and physio has definitely helped. Hopefully, I can get back to normal as soon as possible. On top of that, the Mrs had to go away for work for three days, leaving me home alone with the kids and dog. Can’t say I was very productive during that time!

The Weekly Recap!

Knowing that things rarely go to plan, I decided to take it easy and give myself five episodes of anime to watch. Admittedly, I’d like to be watching much more, but that felt right given the way things were going. Well, I did it. In the process, I completed one season and now have just four episodes left of another. As much as I hate getting to the end of a season, I do have a lot of great shows lined up so I’m also excited to try something new.

I had planned on reading four books and technically I did and I didn’t. I started reading a series that I’ve been keen to get to. It’s only six volumes long, but they are actually bundles. The first two volumes included books one to four of the series. So, I did read four volumes, although they were physically bound into two books. I’m going to count that as a win, even though I am reviewing them in their physical formats.

So, this is a weird one. I completed my goals of episodes and volumes. I even got my season review in there and still, I find myself short two scheduled posts. Oh well, it can’t be helped. I am really enjoying the manga series too, so that takes the sting out of missing those goals.

After finishing the outline for book six, I was going to write a book zero that would become a valuable source of information, however, I struggled to come up with the right POV for that book. Then, I realised that I could just incorporate it into the story and I think that makes it a stronger series. Bonus material should always be a bonus and not integral to the main story. So, yeah, I ended up outlining book seven.

Last week, I finally got my digital pen out and started trying to use it. I while back I got a tablet and pen to try my hand at some digital art. It’s the type where it works similarly to a mouse where you’re looking at the screen and drawing on the tablet. After a bit of work, I’ve discovered that I’m not a huge fan of that style, so I’m going to invest in a tablet that I can draw on… eventually, they’re more expensive. I did like the software and was able to colour an image as a test. You may remember it from my attempt at Inktober in October 2022.

Test

I also stepped up my game with the pencil sketches and plan on building up a nice bank of material that I can then transfer to the digital set-up once I’m up and running with the new tablet. This is definitely the final version of Kira.

TasksGoalCompleted
Anime Watched5 Episodes5 Episodes
Manga Read4 Books2 Books (Really 4)
Posts Scheduled11 Post9 Posts
Chapters Written1 Book Outline1 Book Outline
Artwork Completed1 Cover Sketch4 Sketches and 1 Digital Colour

Aspirations for the Week!

I’m not even sure where to begin with this week. The day job should be quieter for a week or two, but that’s not a guarantee. I’m not expecting anything else to interrupt my week, but there’s always something. So, I’m just going to play it safe this week. Let’s try to underpromise and overdeliver!

Watching Anime

As I said earlier, I have a series with just four episodes left so that’s all I am going to plan on doing. Finish that series. Simple!

Goal: 4 Episodes

Reading Manga

There are four more books in the series I started, but they equate to nine regular-length volumes. I really want to go for it and if I’m going easy on the anime, this should be possible. Let’s do it!

Goal: 4 Books

Posts Scheduled

So, that will leave me with ten posts to schedule. Maybe eleven if I get around to doing a full series review of the manga series. I do actually have another manga series that I finished and need to do a final post on so if I have time, I’ll do that too. If!

Goal: 10 Post

Chapters Written

So, it looks like I’m on to the outline for book eight which is both insane and great. I have no more drafts to work from so this is going to be completely new. That makes it quite daunting, but it also gives me more freedom and I don’t have to reread an old draft from five years ago.

Goal: 1 Book Outline

Artwork Completed

I really want to increase the number of sketches that I’m doing. I want to build up a library of poses and details. As such, I bought two new sketch pads and will be attempting to fill them with quality reference sketches for my future digital projects. Basically, I have a real bug for drawing at the moment and want to keep that going.

Goal: 5 Sketches

Citrus Episode 3 Yuzu stunned
Citrus (Episode 3) – sisterly love?

Final Thoughts

It didn’t end up being a bad week, but it certainly was a struggle. I’m still hoping that things calm down and my injury heals. Keeping up with all my commitments is hard enough without the constant distraction that my knee provides. Even focusing on a book or episode isn’t straightforward. I did several weeks where I didn’t set any goals because of that and since then, I’ve been trying to slowly increase them. Part of me wonders if I should have kept them at zero until I’m feeling completely normal again, but then, when will that ever happen?

No, I’m sticking with my goals and will keep pushing forward. I like to think that the determination alone to complete them will help keep my mind off other things. Anyhow, thanks for reading.


2 Comments

  1. “I have no more drafts to work from so this is going to be completely new. That makes it quite daunting, but it also gives me more freedom and I don’t have to reread an old draft from five years ago.”

    It’s like your work conspired (in a good way) to give you a track until you were back into it, and then let you launch. So, good timing!

    There’s no getting around physical pain. After a month, my foot finally works. But it was a drag on my productivity. It’s amazing you’ve accomplished as much as you have despite the pain!

    • Yeah, it’s been a nice way to get back into it, although I would have preferred to have never stopped. That seems to be the biggest issue. Once momentum is gone, it’s so hard to get it back. This time, I’m going to plot all the way to the end and then write the damn thing.

      It’s been trying but I’ve got to believe that it won’t go on for too much longer. I’m doing physio now and that’s helping.

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