Author Journey (June 19, 2023)
Despite a couple of Real-Life Family-Events, this past week went surprisingly well. I didn’t do everything I set out to, but I remained productive and can definitely feel the routine bedding in.
Author Journey (June 19, 2023)
I lost a couple of days to Real-Life Family-Events which was frustrating, but they happen no matter what I do to prevent them. On top of that, I fell into a spiral of self-doubt with the cover art I’m working on and wasted a couple of days trying something different before realising why I was going in the direction I had originally chosen. Lots of drawing, but no focus! I’m also two weeks away from my posting schedule which I’m quite excited about. The countdown has begun…
The Weekly Recap!
Last week, I had planned on starting the long season I had wanted to begin the week before. It’s twenty-five episodes long and is the adaptation of a recent manga series I read. Well, I borrowed all six giant hardback books from the library, read them, loved them, and then ordered copies to keep. I love this one and so far, I can say the anime has been wonderfully adapted. I’ll let you guess what series it is. As much as it pained me to stop at thirteen episodes for the week, I did. Goal achieved.
With the manga goals, I had planned on reading just one volume. I got this out of the way fairly early in the week and was going to leave all the other books sitting on the edge of my desk alone. Then, something else happened. I got word from my library about the final four books in another series, that I’m reading and also loving. They had come in and were waiting for me. I picked them up on Friday and couldn’t help but read one of them. Guess what I’ll be doing this week!
So, with the new posting schedule, I’ll be watching a series and then writing up three posts based on it. It’ll vary based on the series, but there will usually be a season review, a list post, and an analytical post. I had gotten a little ahead of myself with the massive increase in time dedicated to watching anime. Thankfully, I have clawed that back. Now, I just have the three posts for the last season I watched and then everything will line up again. I achieved my goal of eight posts scheduled.
Once again, the one area that I am trying to push my spare time towards is the one that got kyboshed again. I definitely need to try to space out the work on RIP Tide so that the Real-Life Family-Events and Real-Life Work-Events don’t take all that time in one go. It was an unfortunate alignment of events. This week, I will do better.
I mentioned earlier how I was questioning my choices for the cover art for RIP Tide. For some reason, I got it into my head that having two characters in more of an action scene would have been better. However, after several sketches that went nowhere, I spotted the covers of some of my favourite books and every one of them has a single character that occupies the bulk of the cover. So, I’m sticking with that design. I did do ten sketches so I achieved the goal even if it didn’t necessarily move me forward.
| Tasks | Goal | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Anime Watched | 13 Episodes | 13 Episodes |
| Manga Read | 1 Book | 2 Books |
| Posts Scheduled | 8 Post | 8 Posts |
| Chapters Written | Editing RIP Tide | Meh! |
| Artwork Completed | 5 Sketches | 10 Sketches |
Aspirations for the Week!
I’m about to enter the Real-Life Family-Event minefield that is Summer Vacation! The kids have a number of day camps and a number of days without. There’s a chance that I could get more time as the camps usually last a little longer than regular school days, but that could very quickly change. I’m going to be stealing time from wherever I can. Should be an interesting couple of months…
Watching Anime
Limiting myself worked quite well last week as I would watch my two episodes a night before bed and then stop. It helped that it’s a series that I know from reading the manga, otherwise, those cliffhangers would have been hard going. Anyhow, it’s helped me get to sleep earlier and while there are so many more shows I want to watch, I do need to look after myself too. I know, boring! Anyhow, I’m going to finish that series so, twelve episodes will do it.
Goal: 12 Episodes
Reading Manga
There’s no way that I’m going to let the final three books sit there staring at me all week. Expect me to read them all today and then I can focus on other things. Three books is the goal.
Goal: 3 Books
Posts Scheduled
So, I’ve got three posts from the last series I watched to write. Then, I’ll have three manga reviews to write and an Author Journey. That’s just seven posts which is fine. Seven will be the breakeven going forward.
Goal: 7 Posts
Writing
No more wishy-washy goals here. I shall do a complete read-through of RIP Tide, making notes as I go. That way I can tighten up the outline and remove/add things.
Goal: Read-through of RIP Tide and Notes
Artwork Completed
I know I ended up drawing a bunch of things that won’t do anything for my cover, but I did get some good practice, which is really helpful as I’ll like to nail down my style. I’ll do a little work towards that and also some work on the final cover image. Let’s call it five sketches, although it may be tough with Summer Vacation beginning towards the end of the week.
Goal: 5 Sketches
Final Thoughts
I’m quite sure that forcing myself to stop and go to sleep after watching two episodes probably did a lot to compensate for the levels of tiredness I was experiencing the week before. It also sets a more reasonable pace for writing up the posts. Obviously, the hardest thing is that my to-watch list grows at a stupid rate so I do feel like I need to push on. Also, I know I’m working on a new schedule and said I wouldn’t do episode reviews again for the foreseeable future… Well, I forgot about the second season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation! I shall be making an exception, but then it’s my site and I can do what I want.
Luckily, Mushoku Tensei isn’t back for a couple of weeks so I have plenty of time to prepare. I’m so excited about this season. The first was incredible and still occupies my thoughts. I’m also planning a special set of posts for October which will focus on my absolute favourite series of all time. I can’t wait to revisit it yet again. That’s all I’m saying about that, but if you know, you know. Anyhow, those books are begging to be read. Looking forward to seeing if the series ends well. I hope so. Thanks for reading!
“but there will usually be a season review, a list post, and an analytical post”
That sounds cool! I’m looking forward to checking out the new format!
“I did do ten sketches so I achieved the goal even if it didn’t necessarily move me forward.”
Sometimes you need to work through something to see how you don’t want to do it. So, success!
“Well, I forgot about the second season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation! I shall be making an exception, but then it’s my site and I can do what I want.”
I think your flexibility is commendable. I mean, come on — it’s Jobless Reincarnation! What else could you reasonably do?
It’s going to be different just talking about one series each week, but it should be interesting providing you’ve seen the shows…
Yeah, it’s like I needed to do it to see that it wasn’t the look I was going for. It has given me renewed conviction that I’m doing the right thing at least.
And yeah, Jobless Reincarnation is incredible and there’s no way I’m chancing spoilers and I’m going to need to talk about it. Figure, I can more flexible when I have less posts each week too.