Author Journey (August 12, 2024)
I had planned on spending my first week back as a reclusive writer/blogger by getting a plan of action sorted and kicking off the first steps. Unfortunately, the universe doesn’t like it when I start planning things…
Author Journey (August 12, 2024)
Favourite Moment!
Firstly, let’s start with something exciting. Over a year ago, I saw a figure that instantly spoke to me. It was of Yuzuriha, the female ninja from Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku. She was my favourite character in the manga. They had just finished the first season of the anime and released a figure of her sitting on a tree stump, looking as casual as she always does. Anyhow, I ordered it thinking it would arrive in time for my birthday. However, I failed to notice that the year of the release date was next year. Then, it got pushed back a couple of months and now, it sits nicely on my bookshelf. It was easily my biggest investment in the world of anime figurines, but I don’t regret anything.
The Week That Was…
So anyhow. On the final day of my vacation, I was hit with a sore throat. I didn’t think much of it until I tried to eat something at Heathrow Airport and found that I couldn’t swallow anything. That continued all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. A couple of days later, still unable to swallow anything solid, I went to see my doctor. He thinks I have laryngitis and has prescribed me antibiotics. Things appear to be improving as I was able to eat mashed potato yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever been this hungry in my life. Trying to consume enough calories by drinking smoothies, milkshakes, and soup has been challenging. As a result, my mind really hasn’t been where I hoped it would be. Hopefully, things will continue to improve as the week goes on, but if you hear about someone running through the streets of Ottawa yelling meat, it’s most likely me and not Luffy.
Another thing that took the wind out of my sails was the disappearance of another blogger’s website. Occasionally, I check the links on my site to look for dead links. Google doesn’t like them so it’s a worthwhile thing to do. This time, however, I noticed that there were several dead links and they were all pointing to the same website. If you’ve been around the anime blogging scene for long, you’ll no doubt be aware of Karandi and her blog 100 Word Anime. Well, her website is now no more… When I started focusing on anime, she was one of the first bloggers to comment on my site and was always friendly and engaging. It’s not been the same since she stopped blogging and seeing that her site has now been taken down, it’s almost as if she was never there. Anyhow, I hope she’s doing well and that one day, maybe, she’ll come back.
Reading, Writing, Watching!
As you might imagine, it’s been a tough week to get much done. So, instead of diving straight into the anime I had lined up, I’ve had to settle with watching just two episodes of anime and reading one volume of manga. That forced me to rearrange a few posts last week to make sure I maintained my daily streak, which is currently sitting at 1,057 days.
Anime!
- Highschool Of The Dead (Season One) – Gakuen Mokushiroku: Haisukūru obu za Deddo
- Highschool of the Dead (OVA) – Drifters of the Dead
Manga!
- Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! (Volume 4) – On a Collision Course with Love!
- Gigant (Volume 6) – We Should Break Up…
- Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana (Volume 4) – I Can Smell Blood!
- Gigant (Volume 7) – What Do I Do?
Aspirations for the week!
I’m so hungry it’s not even funny. Anyhow, my goal this week (other than to eat something yummy) is to get my plan in order. I’ve got a new anime to cover for the next four weeks and I’ll be making a dent in the backlog that built up while I was on vacation. I’ve been acquiring even more books thanks to a bunch of preorders, so I have even more manga to read. Even a couple of light novels too. On top of that, I need to get back to writing. I think I’ve decided which story I’m going to start with and have a solid idea of how that will go. By the end of the week, I’d like to have a fully formed five-year plan that ends with me becoming a full-time author. No more messing around. It’s time to get serious! Anyhow, thanks for reading.
That Yuzuriha figure looks great!
Glad that you’re on the mend. I hate being sick. It always gets in the way!
It was a shame about Karandi’s site. Hers isn’t the only one to drop off. Up until a couple of years ago, I was tracking 350 active anime sites. As of last Friday (I mark sites inactive after six months of zero posts), we’re down to 248.
Glad you’re still around!
Thanks. She is pretty cool.
Annoyingly, it seems to get in the way of developing that healthy lifestyle that is supposed to stop you getting sick…
I know what you mean. I only mentioned Karandi because her site vanished recently. When I look at some of the old tag posts most of the people tagged are no longer active. It’s sad that all that work has just vanished from the world (other than using WayBack Machine or similar).
I’m glad you’re still going too.
I definitely miss Karandi’s site, and it’s sad to know that it’s not there. She was kind and even commented on some of my posts. I hope she’s doing alright.
Agreed. There have been so many bloggers that I have enjoyed exchanging comments with over the years who have vanished and it doesn’t feel like they are getting replaced at a similar rate either.
Absolutely and I’ve noticed that as well when I started here years ago. I know I’ve had my hiatuses with my blogs, but it can get sad at times not seeing other bloggers being as active as they used to be.
Every now and then I go through some of my old posts and clean them up. It’s really apparent with the tag posts when you see the bloggers tagged or that tagged you have now gone. And so often, they just ghost. No goodbye. Nothing. I’m guessing they were hoping to come back to it at some point and then it never happened. Still, it’s pretty sad.
Good point. It’s something I should pay attention to more often with these old tags posts. Sure, I update things for information and correcting typos. I hear that and it is sad when they didn’t even make any goodbyes before leaving.
I’ve been wanting to air this for a long time, just couldn’t find a way to or getting in to fights or pissing off people. This decline began around 2019/20, accelerating in the last 3 years. And sadly no, they aren’t being replaced. Sadly, instead of growing as a whole community, it rallied around select few, whilst it helped them grow, it came at a cost. Now that is crumbling, we’re seeing the folly of this. Add to that fewer anime bloggers are cropping up, and even then, the community has become so scattered into their own small microcosms. I know this will piss off or even outright irk people on this observation of mine.
It’s not just anime bloggers. Several of the establish big bloggers (often the creators of the tag posts that went viral) have also closed up and disappeared.
It really is a shame as they was a great community feeling several years ago where everyone was getting tagged and nominated for posts. There were collaborations and group projects. It definitely feels more isolated now.
That’s a fair point.
Nothing stopping us, the current bloggers from trying again with collabs, group projects, q&a’s etc. It just takes for someone to take the lead (or nudge). I do think it might require a bit more energy though, as most tend to stick to and tend to their own blog.
That’s true. Everyone already has lots on their plate keeping up with their own blogs. I think a tag post might be a nice way to start things off. I’ve had an idea that I’ve been sitting on for a little bit that I’ll try to get ready. It’s just something simple that would be easy to follow up on.
Bloop: That matches what I’ve been seeing. You’re just laying out the facts!
I’ve tried to help bloggers find one another with my master list and with my weekly favorites post. But like Lynn, when I go back through old editions, or even when I look at the tags I participated in, there’s a lot of broken links.
I think there’s a place for the written word; I think blogs fill a niche that YouTube and other social media can’t fill. My concern is that the major player in that space, WordPress, has made changes that seem to have driven people away. I know I can’t use the editor to compose; I just use it to assemble.
There’s one bright spot. Blogs that this one and a few others remain vibrant. They’re a lot of fun to read. I hope blogging finds its new steady state and quietly continues to entertain and enlighten!
I was talking with Yomu about that and WordPress is still the number one blogging platform, although there definitely doesn’t seem to be as many new blogs starting.
They really do shoot themselves in the foot though with half-assed updates that make things harder. The latest update has made Patterns (formerly reusable blocks) harder to maintain.
Not to mention that fact that I have been kicked off the free stats package because my site is “commercial” apparently despite no affiliate links, no advertising, and no asking for donations. They need a serious change in management before they drive it into the ground.
Anyhow, what can we do to make the community more vibrant again? We need to come up with some ideas!
Very good points in your observation. Glad Lynn and I weren’t the only ones who noticed. I agree when it comes to blogs. WP certainly has been inconvenient over the past few years. Maybe that was one of the reasons that could’ve made people shy. I’m glad you all are still blogging though.
That figure is awesome! I’m sorry to hear that you got sick, too! I’m slowly recovering from my bout with covid. Writing, watching, and reading have been pushed back because of it. Best wishes on the five-year plan!
Thanks. I knew that I was going buy her the moment I saw her. And yeah, it’s not much fun being sick, and with two young kids I don’t even get to rest. If anything I find my step count seems to increase when I’m sick… It makes no sense!
And thanks. I’ve been putting things off for far too long so it’s time to get this train back on the tracks.
Good luck with the 5-year plan, great idea – have you got a rough overview, yet?
Originally, I was going to use the Underpants Gnomes plan from South Park – 1. Collect underpants 2. ? 3. Profit, but that seems somewhat unsustainable… lol!
I’ve come up with a few plans over the years and the biggest issue has been following through with them. Not enough flexibility and once you fall behind, it becomes too easy to give up.
This time, it’s going to be focused on finishing the stories and publishing them. After that, I’ll be looking at a mix of subscription models. I haven’t quite finalised it yet, but there will probably be some early access via Patreon. I keep considering Kindle Unlimited, but then I look at all other light novels and none are in that program which makes me think the target audience isn’t in there too. I’ve got some things to get sorted, but the number one thing is to write and finish the stories. I have so many unfinished books sitting around doing nothing.
May you get well soon and that you’ll be able to catch up writing your series. I guess I shouldn’t feel bad for not writing anything for 35 days when I caught the bad flu.
I’m hoping your new anime watch would be 86 since I’m curious about your first impressions on each episode where half of them I’ve mixed feelings about. Speaking about it, I like the admin at SpaceWhales views on it even though theirs seem to be fully liking it which I struggle to do so no matter how hard I try. Sadly, this blog’s author also seems to have vanished since their last update is on March 4, 2023.
I’m always hard on myself because I get anxious if I start to fall behind on things, but that’s just crazy. We have to take the time to look after ourselves, so don’t beat yourself up.
I promise, I will watch 86 real soon. Also, it seems to be all too common for blogs to just vanish or become completely inactive. Doesn’t make it any less sad though. A lot of good bloggers have simply vanished without so much as a goodbye…
Lynn, Ospreyshire, Crow will be aware of this, as I tweeted to him about a vid I made that could help getting bloggers noticed with the use of rss feeds.
x.com/scribbbleanime/status/1824508839669928125
I’ve been messing about with blocks, and you might be aware of the blogroll block. That could also help with others finding each other, without breaking too much sweat. I know people have issues with blocks, just throwing out something that could help out the community in finding each other.
I’m actually a big fan of the blocks and the flexibility they bring. It’s probably the only update they’ve done in ages that I think went well. Anyhow, this looks very cool, especially using columns. Will have a play and see what I can do.
Blocks really do, along with the rss feed block, there is also the blog roll block, that feature died out a few years ago, can be used again in a creative way maybe