Author Journey (May 6, 2025)

When I started this break from posting, I never thought it would be this much work… not a break, at all! Anyhow, I’m back for a brief update before I dive back into the world of “trying to get my life organised.” Fun times!

Author Journey (May 6, 2025)

What happened?

I was thinking of telling you about the time I briefly toppled Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, but I haven’t prepared, so that will have to wait for another week. The last two weeks have continued pretty much exactly as things were going before them – lots of Real-Life Family Events and not enough time. If I had the ability to pause time around me and catch up on everything I needed to do before restarting time, I couldn’t tell you how long I would remain in the parallel paused world because the to-do list is growing faster than my to-watch list and my to-read list put together… not to mention my to-write list. Saying that, I really need to make those lists so I don’t forget anything. I keep finding Google documents with loads of ideas that I had made notes of over the years.

One thing that I have been pleasantly surprised by has been that the Otaku Author’s views have remained steady. There has been a very slight dip, but the overall average has been consistent. That takes some of the pressure off rushing back, which isn’t something I was planning anyhow. I had initially said two to six weeks, and I think it will be the larger number before I am in a position to resume my normal posting schedule. Over the last couple of weeks, I have also managed to acquire several DVD boxed sets of anime series that I have been itching to see, but they’re not on any streaming services. Of course, these are all pre-owned, which means I got them for a good price. I can’t wait to dive into them and start reviewing some really niche series.

How is it going?

1. Health

I managed to walk more than ten kilometres on eight of the last fourteen days, which is amazing. The other days suffered from a number of Real-Life Family Events, and one day was due to Gus needing his vaccines updated, so he was tired, and I decided to give him a day off. I recently passed the one thousand kilometres for the year, which is exciting, although I still need to up things if I’m going to hit my target. Sleep continues to be all over the place…

Goal: 3,650 km (10 kmpd), Current status: 1,008 km (8.1 kmpd).

2. Writing

I’ve had less time than normal to work on my story, although it never leaves my head. I really need to get some of these ideas down before they drift away, especially some of the things that happen much further along in the series. One thing that I did to encourage myself was to sponsor a podcast, which will help motivate me to take this seriously again. As a patron, I get to attend a monthly group Zoom call with the hosts where we can talk about the industry. We had the first one a week ago, and it was well worth it. The podcast is called The Indie Writers’ Club, if you want to check it out. I enjoy it. It’s one of two podcasts that I listen to as soon as the latest episode appears.

Goal: Publish a book, Current status: Working through the emotional beats and mental blocks.

3. Art

As I mentioned, the break has not been much of a break! So, I’m still trying to get on top of everything, but it’s definitely something that I am working towards.

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

4. Watching

Sadly, I have been unable to watch a single episode of anything over the last two weeks! Admittedly, I did put all of my free time into catching up on some posts that I hadn’t gotten around to writing, so there was a reason on top of being completely overrun. I did take the kids to watch A Minecraft Movie again, this time with several of their friends. I think they had even more fun the second time.

Goal: Watch more than 629 episodes of anime, Current status: 23 episodes watched
Bonus: 8 episodes of TV, 3 movies

5. Reading

I only managed to read two books since the last post. Hopefully, that’ll change now that I have a number of posts written that had been slowing me down. I try not to leave too long between reading or watching and writing the post, as things can merge together in my head, so while I might have been able to read more, I didn’t. That’ll change soon.

Goal: Read more than 159 manga volumes, Current status: 46 volumes read

6. Blogging

So, I only published one post, which was my Author Journey from two weeks ago, but that is also what I said I would do. The first week of my break was the hardest, which is shown by the fact that I didn’t write anything that week. The second week, I managed to write six posts, so that is a positive shift that will hopefully continue.

Goal: Publish 365 posts, Current status: 85 posts

What are you planning?

So, I had originally planned on publishing this post on May 5th, and was busily writing it in the middle of the night, which is usually the only time I get to myself, when a Real-Life Family Event struck. Then, there was another on Monday, which pushed this back until now. Apparently, no time is safe from Real-Life Family Events. Now, I feel like I should clarify that Real-Life Family Events are not usually life or death situations. I would come up with a much more serious name for that. They are something family-related that interrupts everything. This is the main reason that I am off work at the moment and have been since January.

So, what am I planning? I dare not say because as soon as I utter anything resembling a plan, the universe finds a way to kneecap me (which it literally did a couple of years ago). My plan is to just do what I can and attempt to make all the necessary preparations for my return, which I am confident will be four weeks from now. Two weeks already feels unreasonable. Anyhow, it was nice checking in, if only for a moment. Thanks for reading.

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