Author Journey (March 10, 2025)

Over the last two weeks, I experienced a slight change in the number of real-life family events, which was nice. There’s still room to improve, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Also, I have finally defeated the laundry!

Author Journey (March 10, 2025)

What happened?

Firstly, by defeating the laundry, I don’t mean that I will never have to wash anything ever again. Sadly, that’s not true and that’s not been my aim despite what my wife thinks. My goal has been to get it to a manageable situation where I can comfortably do a load of laundry and then put it away without it piling up and up. Well, I am there and it feels good after being buried under a massive pile of it for so long.

Anyhow, I also saw a slight reduction in the number of real-life family events and that allowed me to adjust my schedule a little bit. Previously, I had switched to four posts a week on alternating days, however, I realised that the weekend is always the toughest time to get anything done, so I decided to switch to five days a week and have the weekends off. It worked well last week and took even more pressure off me than I thought it would. So, that’s how things are going to go for now.

How is it going?

1. Health

I’ve also been able to increase the distance that I’m travelling each day and have seen a steady increase all through March so far. I’m averaging 8.6 kilometres a day which is going to help my overall average, but it’s still not enough. There’s also the hope that by increasing the distance covered, I’ll make myself more tired and finally get a good night’s sleep again. Fingers crossed on that one! I’ve also decided that rather than showing my progress as a daily average, I’m going to do the same as I’m doing with anime and manga. The total goal to achieve 10 km a day is 3,650 kilometres.

Goal: 3,650 km (10 kmpd), Current status: 545 km (8 kmpd).

2. Writing

So now, I’ve finished Dialogue by Robert McKee and have almost finished Character – the third book in the series. It’s been very interesting and has given me a lot to think about with my stories. In fact, I regularly zone out while listening to the audiobook and drift into one of the scenes in my world and start analysing what I’ve done and how to improve upon it. I’m pleased that several of the things that he’s mentioned are already things that I do. I guess I’ve been studying film and TV since I was little so it makes sense that I’ve subconsciously taken in a lot of the aspects that make stories great.

Goal: Publish a book, Current status: I know which story I’m going to do first!

3. Art

I hate that this is the section that suffers the most from my lack of time, especially as I find it incredibly relaxing and with my lack of good sleep, doing something like this seems like it would be beneficial. Hopefully, I’ll be in a position to refocus some time on it soon.

Goal: Complete artwork for my book, Current status: Desperate to draw!

4. Watching

Things are still going slowly here, but I can see that changing soon. I managed to watch just one episode of anime. This coming week should see a big change in my circumstances, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Anyhow, I’m way behind my goal of watching more than I did in 2024.

Goal: Watch more than 629 episodes of anime, Current status: 4 episodes watched

5. Reading

With my new routine, I plan on reviewing two volumes of manga and two episodes of anime each week. That means I can slow down here. I probably won’t since I have too many books to get through, but it’s nice to know that I’m not forced to read loads. I will continue with How Not to Summon a Demon Lord and I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet until I run out of volumes. I’m also going to review a new release from a series that I’ve already been covering every other Monday when I’m not posting an Author Journey.

Goal: Read more than 159 manga volumes, Current status: 32 volumes read

6. Blogging

Last week, I switched from four posts a week to five, but that gave me the weekends off completely, which is tougher, as I said earlier. This will allow me to cover two anime series and two manga series each week with a bonus manga post every other week. I quite like the way things have worked so far with the fortnightly Author Journey posts so I’m going to keep it like that for now.

Goal: Publish 365 posts, Current status: 56 posts

What are you planning?

This week is going to be massive! It’s March break and my wife has taken the kids to visit family leaving me at home with the dog. I have a list of chores longer than both arms to get through, but without distraction for an entire week, I should make quick work of them. I also have big plans to get some posts scheduled which will give me back a lot of time. I’m not sure how much I’ll get through, but if things go to plan, it’s going to take so much pressure off, allowing me to spend some more time writing and drawing, while still blogging at a good pace.

I have been given the gift of uninterrupted time which is exactly what I ask for every Christmas and birthday. It’s hard to believe that it has really happened. I’m not going to waste this chance. I’m going to run because I have so much to do and can’t wait to get started. Thanks for reading!

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