Author Journey (June 7, 2021)
I’m starting to rebuild my momentum with my blog posts and it feels pretty good. Now, I just need to transfer some of that to the rest of my projects. Anyhow, my progress is encouraging, so let’s focus on that!
June 7, 2021
As of today, I have now written and scheduled a blog every day for the last sixteen days. That’s almost fifteen thousand words and honestly, after last month, I’m delighted to feel a routine forming. So, that’s blogging back up to speed which just leaves plotting, writing, and editing to get going again. Admittedly, these will take a little longer to do as schools in Ontario will remain closed until September, despite all of the medical professionals calling for them to open…
I’m from England and lived in New Zealand for several years, so I have my finger on the pulse of both those nations, and it’s also hard to ignore our southern neighbours in the USA. So, watching the leadership here continuously get things wrong has been frustrating, to say the least. Sure, it’s not a job I would have wanted to do, but it would appear that neither did the guy running things. You wanted to lead, now lead!
Anyhow, I’m starting to feel much better now and am easing myself back into the day job. There appears to be a lot of meetings popping up, but I’m giving those a miss for now. Most could be an email, so I don’t feel like I’m missing much. Work continues to be incredibly accomodating and that takes some of the pressure off. Admittedly, I did continue to work through the first two weeks of having COVID-19 so they probably owe me…
The big news for me and my attempt to return to my old productive self is that my eldest has got a spot in the after school program, which he loves and misses. It also runs through the summer holiday so he’ll be able to have some friends to play with once more and I’ll have my days back. It’s a win for everyone.
Last week’s episode of Fruits Basket has left me with an odd feeling in that I’m not quite sure how it made me feel. Usually, it’s quite obvious how I feel thanks to the presence of onion-chopping ninjas, but this episode didn’t hit home in the same way. Part of it is probably due to the person that I didn’t want a redemption arc starting on that arc. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s basically a shoo-in.
These last couple of weeks have given me the chance to dive back into Heaven’s Lost Property and finish season one of Otherside Picnic. I had been six episodes in at the beginning of May and then was unable to watch any more until recently. It’s been a great series to cover and I look forward to the posts coming out over the next ten weeks. Have you seen Otherside Picnic? What did you think?
I’m glad that I can revisit Heaven’s Lost Property as I think it’s one of the cleverer harem series out there and I’m already seeing that. I’m only five episodes in so far and since this series has two seasons and two movies, I’ve got a lot to get on with. Of course, now that I’ve finished Otherside Picnic, I can push on with my next series. Exciting times!
Obviously, I’ve not done much towards my fiction projects over the last month or so, but I have been thinking about them a lot. That’s helped me to really get some of my ideas together. It’s definitely allowed me to step back and look at the projects as a whole. That’s part of the reason I’ve decided to attempt to plot out my entire fantasy series before beginning the rewrite.
For one, it will help with foreshadowing and continuity. It will also help me get my thoughts together. My goal is to do a sentence or two per chapter and at the moment, I’m looking at breaking the story into fifteen books each with at least thirty-two chapters. So, that’s four-hundred and eighty chapters, but I’m only doing a sentence or two to begin with. I have a template set up so I can update as and when the ideas strike.
That then leaves the Black Death trilogy which is a big focus for this month. I’m quite comfortable doing one or two blog posts a night which means I can put all my other time into editing this series. It would be great to finally be able to say it’s done and that’s what I’m going to be working towards this month.
On top of all that, I can feel my stamina returning. I’m not crashing when the kids go to bed, I’m still going strong when the Mrs goes to sleep. Even the dog goes down before me. It feels like things are getting back to normal across the board. I have a few more weeks before the school year ends and the summer program starts, but even virtual school is becoming less of a burden. I think the teachers have run out of material and the kids switched off a long time ago.
Anyhow, I’ve got some more posts to write and an epic fantasy plot to fill in. Stay safe and productive. Thanks for reading.
Wishing you another round of sincerest best in maintaining your current momentum. So (just curious) is writing your fantasy series more challenging than sorting the edits of Black Death theory?
Anyways glad to hear Otherside Picnic has made you rank it high enough. My feelings of it is all on my review on MAL so you may read it since you’ve completed watching it. I could have given it a perfect score if Kozakura wasn’t drawn as a childish-looking adult unless that really was described in the source material. Also maybe a bit more even pacing/taking it slow for they could’ve shown what Sorao was doing right before she was at the Otherside and being found by Toriko.
Still, it’s a great series that deserves a season renewal though it’s a very slim chance given it doesn’t get the same exposure like those ambitious, popular projects of Jobless Reincarnation & 86 which gained more popularity given their LN readers are make up a large number, I speculate. Guess time will tell and maybe purchasing the source material if one is unable to wait for a season renewal.
Thanks. I don’t know if I’d say more challenging. It’s just different. Black Death is a cowritten project so there’s parts that I didn’t write and I’m trying to get it all to mesh together.
My fantasy series started out as a novella serial that I began writing six years ago. I’m going to redo it as a series of novels. It’s a much larger project and has more backstory to work out before I get going. Black Death is real world so I can use existing places and stuff. For the fantasy I need to build the world, the politics, the magic system, the races, the history, etc. That’s why I want to plot the whole thing before I start again. It’s going to be quite the journey, but I’m excited to get there.
I didn’t mind Kozakura towards the end, but I agree. Not sure she needed to look like a child. I enjoyed the series and have picked up the light novel so I’ll let you know how things changed. I hoping we get a second season, but who knows.
Good to hear things are getting on track. Hopefully the productivity cancontinue for you 🙂
Thanks. I’m lucky I schedule posts in advance otherwise I would have never kept up over the last month. Feels good to get back on track.
Scheduling is definitely your friend! I’m the same right now. If I don’t schedule, I fall behind.
For sure. I was reviewing seven seasonal shows a week at one point and it was always a race to get them ready. Being able to schedule posts ahead of time takes off so much pressure.
“Usually, it’s quite obvious how I feel thanks to the presence of onion-chopping ninjas,”
I need to remember that line. I feel like the ninjas are constantly around me. 🙂
You don’t even notice that they’re there until it’s too late!