Author Journey (May 2020)

So apparently, it’s now the end of May! All the days seem to be merging into one long day and my schedule doesn’t want to let up, but it’s time for some reflection and a bit of a change!

Got any big announcements?

If you’ve read my Sunday Sevens post – Course Correction from this morning, this probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but I’m going to slow down the number of seasonal anime that I’ll be covering on this site. I’m currently doing seven series and I did the same last season. Basically, I’ve come to realise that it’s eating into my fiction writing time in a big way and as I never intended to be a seasonal anime reviewer, it’s something that I need to cut back on. I plan on reviewing a maximum of three series in the next season, although I will watch more and probably do season reviews.

I’ll admit that I got pulled into the idea of posting daily after doing a thirty-day anime challenge back at the end of 2018. After that, I got caught up with the need to post daily. I had been watching some seasonal shows but was generally doing mini binges where I would watch four episodes and then post about my impressions. The Promised Neverland was the first series I started to cover episodically and I had a lot of fun. After that, I added more and more until I got to here. I have no regrets about writing seasonal reviews other than the time it’s taken away from writing fiction, so it makes sense that I scale things back and find some more balance.

How’s the writing going?

As you can probably guess based on the last statement, I haven’t done a whole lot of writing in quite some time. That is going to change and I am going to start getting things ready for July. I have one more month of episodic reviews to cover for the current season and the completionist in me won’t let me even think about stopping mid-season. If I can’t drop Plunderer after nineteen episodes then you might begin to understand my problem. Anyhow, that gives me a whole month to get things ready.

I have a load of plans and story ideas ready to roll, but ironically since I wrote my Course Correction post, I have been hit with the beginning of a new story. Now, I know what you’re thinking, is it wise to add even more projects to the neverending list? Probably not, but at the same time, I believe it looking for little victories to help propel me along as I work on the larger projects. Getting the first draft of a zombie novel finished will be a big boost and help me rediscover my form. It’s an exciting idea and a genre that I know inside and out so I think it will be a good thing.

Have you done anything interesting?

Not a lot of interesting things have happened to me of late. Playing Pokemon Go with the kids is possibly the most exciting, especially with how my eldest son is starting to get into gaming. He’s always bugging me to make trades and trying to get me to give up my good Pokemon! There have been a bunch of Throw-back Weekly challenges and they’ve taken a lot of our focus. If you complete them all, you get a legendary Pokemon and who doesn’t want one of those. I’ve now caught over four-thousand Pokemon and visited 930 stops, walking 319.2km since March 23. I’m sure this will continue and as long as it gets us out of the house, it’s a welcome distraction.

If you play Pokemon Go and would like another friend, I seem to have loads of gifts and can’t carry many more items. My trainer code is – 8632 8817 2933.

What have you been watching?

I’ve now got through the middle section of the season and it’s pretty much as I expected. Fruits Basket is excellent and Tower of God continues to be mysterious. Princess Connect has been the biggest surprise for me as that seems to get better and better. Plunderer is possibly the worst anime I’ve ever seen and after nineteen episodes, we’re finally getting to the end. If I wasn’t reviewing it on Ecchi Hunter, I probably wouldn’t have lasted three episodes!

Another big surprise is the battle for second place in the anime made from a mobile game competition. Princess Connect appears to have first place sewn up. Shachibato has made big moves in the recent episodes and has put a lot of ground between it and Shironeko, which is verging on the “it’s so bad it’s good” rating, although it’s most definitely not good. After that, we have Tamayomi which is mostly forgettable and The 8th Son which has good weeks and boring weeks.

• Fruits Basket – Season Two
• Princess Connect! Re:Dive
• Shachibato! President, It’s Time for Battle!
• Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle
• Tamayomi: The Baseball Girls
• The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
• Tower of God

Do you have any plans for next month?

So many plans, although my main goal is getting through the seasonal reviews and creating an outline for my zombie novel. At the moment, I have a bunch of scenes in my head and I need to get those down and build the rest of the story around them. Once the outline is done, I’ll be able to breeze through the first draft in July. That’s right, I’m going to try and pick up where I left off and write fifty-thousand words in thirty-one days. It’ll be like riding a bike. Other than that, I shall be doing my part and avoid all unnecessary human contact. I’ll also try to stay off social media so that I don’t realise what a complete dumpster fire 2020 is turning into. Stay safe!

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