Author Journey (January 22, 2024)
After a couple of crazy weeks, things finally settled down, allowing me to get a better idea of how my schedule will work… most of the time! It was without a doubt my best week of 2024 so far…
Author Journey (January 22, 2024)
Favourite Moment!
Of course, that was the third week of the year so my claim about the best week of the year was a little tongue in cheek, even though it was undoubtedly true. That said, there were a lot of positives to take from it. I managed to finish watching The Kingdoms of Ruin and write up all of my episode reviews. That’ll take a lot of pressure off the coming weeks and allow me to focus on another series this week, most likely Beast Tamer. So, yeah, this is less of a moment than it is a movement. Things are shifting once more and I’m excited about the way it’ll improve my production levels. Reducing the length of my posts has also helped, so it’s all coming together.
Writing!
A week ago, I was talking about Dean Wesley Smith and I mentioned Robert A Heinlein’s writing rules. So naturally, last week, I continued this way of thinking and revisited another pulp fiction great – Lester Dent. Like Heinlein, Dent was prolific, writing hundreds of books. And, like Heinlein, Dent came up with a formula for writing pulp fiction. It involved throwing trouble at the hero and getting them into increasingly dangerous situations. When I first started working on Valiant Lineage, it was Dent’s formula that inspired me to write it as a short fiction serial. As a result, I spent the week going over the formula and revising my plans for the rewrite. Don’t worry, I’ll start writing soon. I just need to get into the right space and this is definitely helping. It’s like I’m retracing my steps from 2017 (my most prolific period of writing).
Anime!
As I mentioned earlier, I finished watching The Kingdoms of Ruin and wrote up all of my episode reviews for it. I just have a season review to complete and that’s the series done. That’s one less thing to worry about for the next eight weeks, which means I can put that time elsewhere. I ended up watching a total of twelve episodes, doubling my goal.
Catching up on my To-Watch List
Winter 2024
Manga!
Once more, I read just two volumes of manga, keeping up with my posts on Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs and My Dress-Up Darling. Similar to The Kingdoms of Ruin for anime, having Ragna Crimson reviewed up to volume eleven takes the pressure off here too. I will try to push further forward with these two series. It’ll be nice to get to a place where I only have the seasonal shows that I must watch for the coming week, maybe two!
| Tasks | Goal | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Anime Watched | 6 Episodes | 12 Episodes |
| Manga Read | 3 Books | 2 Books |
| Posts Scheduled | 10 Posts | 15 Posts |
| Words Written | 5,000 | 0 |
| Artwork Completed | 1 Piece | 0 Pieces |
Aspirations for the week!
I’m still working on cleaning up this site in the background and one of the things that I’ve noticed is the number of tag posts that I used to do. It’s kind of sad that those seem to have completely died off. I can’t think of the last time I saw someone complete one, so it’s not like I’m just not getting tagged anymore. That was always a great part of the blogging community. Maybe we should try to bring those back. I wonder if they would take off again? It’s something to think about at least.
Other than that, I’m just going to be tackling my weekly goals as normal and trying to get my rewrite of Valiant Lineage going. I have so much material to work with that once I get going, it should be fairly easy to keep the momentum going. Anyhow, thanks for reading.
“It’s kind of sad that those seem to have completely died off. I can’t think of the last time I saw someone complete one, so it’s not like I’m just not getting tagged anymore.”
I’ve been thinking about that, too. The character of the community has changed, and like you, I wonder if there’s something we can do to make it more welcoming and enjoyable. Maybe new tags? Maybe themed posts? I remember that Scott at Mechanical Anime Reviews organized a couple of themed posts, and that seemed to go well.
Whatever it is, it would need to be lightweight, both from an execution and an administrative perspective. In terms of single author blogs, I think you’re the most prolific, so if you can think of something that would work with your schedule, it might be a winner!
Glad your week was less hectic!
We’ll have to have a think about it. I like the idea of a couple of tag posts going around to kick things off. I might put together an ice-breaker post to kick things off.
Some themed posts or ones that welcome response posts might be good too. It just feels like the community has faded over the last couple of years.
And yeah, things are settling down, which means I’ll start ramping up… lol!