Author Journey (July 3, 2023)

Welcome to the second half of 2023 and a whole new posting schedule on the Otaku Author. Each week, I’m going to be focused on a different anime series and what better way to kick things off than with Domestic Girlfriend?

Author Journey (July 3, 2023)

I was going to mention here how my week got completely obliterated by my kids doing half-day camps, problems with contractors and sourcing supplies, or how the day job suddenly went into overdrive in what would normally be a quieter week, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. There is a more pressing thing to discuss which I’m sure is going to be a major focus for me going forward. Basically, J-Novel Club is hosting a light novel competition where the grand prize is the possibility of a story being turned into a manga by Kadokawa. Now, the chance of that actually happening may be incredibly slim, but there’s still a chance and it’s not one to be sniffed at!

The Weekly Recap!

All right, let’s talk about last week. I planned on watching an eleven-episode season and finishing off a movie. I completed both and then had some things to think about with regard to my rate of anime consumption. My biggest issue is that my nights are pretty stable which is when I watch anime. My days have been in flux for a while so I’m building up quite a backlog of posts to catch up. I completed my goal and have something planned for this week.

I had planned on reading three manga volumes and I only managed one. Since I had two to return to the library by today, that means that one of them hasn’t been read yet. So, that’s my first goal for today. Obviously, there will be more details later in the post. However, this week, I failed to complete this goal.

This is what I was talking about in the anime section. I only managed to write two posts this week! So, having completed another series which would give me three more posts and a movie which will only require one, my net posts to schedule has increased by four. I need to find a way to catch up and I think I’ve done it. I had hoped to schedule eight posts… Two is not more than eight!

I actually started work on the revised outline for RIP Tide and effectively got halfway through the story. I am now left wondering whether I should make it a two-person POV story as there’s a lot that could be expanded on and internal thoughts that would make it far more fascinating. It’s a good start, so I’m calling it a win here.

With the way everything went last week, I didn’t manage to pick up my pencils once. It’s a sad state of affairs, but it was not a normal week. This week, the kids are back in full-day camps so I shouldn’t see the day job creep into the evenings. Another missed goal!

Tasks	Goal	Completed
Anime Watched	12 Episodes	12 Episodes
Manga Read	3 Books	1 Book
Posts Scheduled	7 Posts	2 Posts
Chapters Written	Editing RIP Tide	Half of Outline complete
Artwork Completed	5 Sketches	0 Sketches

Aspirations for the Week!

The J-List competition has got me all fired up and since I can submit multiple entries, I’m going to try to finish RIP Tide and MSR which was a story I started for NaNoWriMo a couple of years back. It’s about 60% complete and is a very different style of story to RIP Tide which could give me more chances. Either way, I want to finish these two stories and having a deadline of January 31, 2024, should give me all the impetus to get it done.

Watching Anime

So, here’s the thing. I could easily watch another twelve-episode season and may well find myself even further behind with my posts. To combat this issue, I’ve decided to tackle a much longer season – a forty-eight-episode season to be precise. These should take me at least three or four weeks to watch, which will give me loads of time to catch up on some posts. I’m going to target twelve episodes a week.

Goal: 12 Episodes

Reading Manga

I still have a big stack of books to get through but I also have a much larger pool of posts scheduled so there’s no real need to hurry. I could even slow down a little, but then, the books are sitting on my desk waiting to be read. I will continue to target three books a week.

Goal: 3 Books

Posts Scheduled

Basically, I have more posts outstanding than I did the previous week so I need to get them off my plate. Without any new posts appearing, I should be able to make good work of them. That said, things haven’t been going my way of late so I shall just plan on ticking along as normal, which would still eat into my backlog. I’m going for seven posts.

Goal: 7 Posts

Writing

This is going to be the biggest focus for me for the rest of the year and I feel like things could slow down across the board to allow me to do that. I have the revised outline for RIP Tide to complete, possibly with a second POV, and I want to go through MSR’s first draft again. There was an issue that caused me to take a break near the end of the book and I’m pretty confident that I know how to resolve that now. It’s only taken a couple of years running it through my head…

Goal: Complete RIP Tide Outline and Tie up Loose ends in MSR

Artwork Completed

I want to keep working on my style. I don’t know if I’ll manage to do five a week for a while, but that’s the stretch goal. My general target will be three going forward. That should allow me to consistently work on it. Of course, the stories have to come first.

Goal: 3 Sketches

Final Thoughts

Taking on a longer anime season should give me a good chance to get everything back under control. I went from not watching enough to watching too much to keep up with the posts in a matter of weeks. If I consider doing something like this every once in a while, I’ll finally get to see some of the longer shows that I’ve been putting off because of how long they are and give me more time for other things. I have just under six months to get these two stories written and polished.

You’re possibly wondering why I’m even telling you all this. Well, one time I planned on writing a short story to submit to a contest and I told a couple of people about it. Then, I forgot to write it until someone asked me how it was going. I realised that at least one person was waiting to see how I did and that was enough to make me write it and submit it within the time limit. I didn’t win, but I learnt a valuable lesson. It’s easy to brush off myself, but disappointing others is much harder. So, please keep me honest. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2024. Thanks for reading!

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