Author Journey (May 22, 2023)

This week gave me an idea as to what an average week will be like going forward. I’m working out when my time is best used for each of my projects. It was far from perfect, but I’m making steps in the right direction.

Author Journey (May 22, 2023)

It was another tiring week with the day job, although mostly because of my back issues. Things are improving, but I get the feeling it’s going to be a long and slow journey to full recovery. I also lost a day last week because of a teacher training day at my kids’ school and will lose another this week (today actually) because it’s a public holiday. It’s funny how my mindset has changed so that I look forward to work days as I can be more productive than weekends. Obviously, I still enjoy weekends and holidays, but I do like my quiet time at night.

The Weekly Recap!

Having zero goals is not proving to be too much of an issue. Well, I am yet to fully incorporate all of my projects so there is something to work on, but my anime-watching and manga-reading is taking off. I did find some of my old short stories that I had published several years ago and think I might do something new with them. Read through a couple and really enjoyed them. They need some work, but they’re mostly there.

Binge-watching shows is giving me a pretty good indication of how much I’m enjoying it before I even finish. The last couple of weeks, I blew through two seasons a week, however, this week I only managed one full season and then two episodes of another. I could feel it dragging and at times, I was struggling to stay focused. That’s not what I want from my anime. There were some moments worth discussing, but it was a bit of a disappointment.

With my new schedule, I only need to read three manga volumes a week to maintain my bank. This week, I read five and had hoped to get through a sixth one. I’ve got the first four volumes of a series I’m excited to get to, sitting at the library, waiting for me to pick them up, so I was keen to clear the shelf on my bookcase that is reserved for library books.

Similarly, I need to write seven posts a week to keep up with things and this week I managed ten. I think things will settle down again soon, especially as I hope to get back to writing and drawing soon. I just need my back to be all right with the position and the length of time I want to dedicate to it.

So yeah. No writing or drawing again this week, but as I mentioned earlier, I found some old stories and spent a little time reading them through. It’s been a while since I read them so while nothing was a surprise, I did feel the emotional moments which is a great sign. I’d love to get them ready to rerelease in the near future too.

Tasks	Goal	Completed
Anime Watched	0 Episodes	14 Episodes
Manga Read	0 Books	5 Books
Posts Scheduled	0 Post	10 Posts
Chapters Written	0 Book Outlines	0 Book Outlines
Artwork Completed	0 Sketches	0 Sketch

Aspirations for the Week!

I’m still not quite ready to commit to some goals but I think I’ll kind of outline how I’m hoping my week will go. As I said, today is a public holiday so no school and lots of family commitments. I’ll likely continue watching my latest series at night, but otherwise, I should be fairly chilled.

Tuesday through Friday, I should have some available time. I want to start drawing again, even if it’s just to rough out some poses. I’m going to spend a little time working out all the unfinished writing projects and unpublished stories that I have lying around and come up with a plan. Getting my stories published again has always been a big priority for me and now I have the availability.

I’m going to try for at least three volumes of manga and I’ll finish off the first season of the show I’m watching. After that, I have a longer season lined up before coming back to the second season of the current show. I don’t expect to finish the longer one, but I’d like to get it started.

Then, given all of that, I’ll try to settle into the new seven posts-a-week routine. If I stick to the rest of the plan, I should be more limited to post-writing time which will help.

Final Thoughts

It’s far too soon to tell, but I feel like things are moving in the right direction. Of course, my ongoing back problems are a limiting factor as I still can’t sit for too long. If I can use that to my advantage, however, it could help me build a better routine. Anything that means I don’t find out that I’ve been sitting at my desk for hours on end without moving is clearly a welcome change.

One thing I try to advocate is variety. I watch a lot of different types of shows and read different genres. I’ve mentioned in recent posts how I’m seeing differences in the length of stories too. I love short stories, but I also love long sprawling epics. That makes me want to try it all, and with the projects I have lying around, I think I can make that work. So, I’m excited to list it all out and come up with some sort of plan. However, from what I’ve learnt about how I’m watching anime now, I think it’s going to be a much more flexible plan than I’ve used in the past.

I’m slowly starting to get a better idea of how my daily schedule will work and so far I like what I’m seeing. If I can line up a bunch of different writing projects, I can pick whichever one grabs me most next, similar to how I’m choosing my anime. I know what I want to watch, but I can change it up as I see fit. Flexibility is going to be important going forward. Anyhow, thanks for reading.

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