Author Journey (October 2020)
October has felt like the first month in a long time where I feel like I’ve got my groove back. I caught up with a number of different projects and even found a way for me to take on NaNoWriMo next month!
Got any big announcements?
The biggest announcement is that I have regained control of my blogging schedule and completed a full pass on book two of the Black Death trilogy. For so much time this year, I’ve felt like I was just doing everything to keep up. Admittedly, I could have just slowed things down and taken a bit of a break, but that’s sadly not how my mind works. To a certain extent, it probably kept me sane through the beginning of the pandemic. All of this means that I will have time to do NaNoWriMo in November and I’m really excited about my project for this year. More on that in a moment…
How’s the writing going?
I have completed the first edit of book two. In this pass, I fix minor typos, add additional sentences, and document where the scene fits chronologically. It’s even more important to do that with a collaborative project like this one. When you write you’re own story, it’s not that big a deal, but we have three separate stories that slowly weave together as the books progress and as such, they run at different speeds. I’m making sure that if one scene ends in the middle of the night of day three since the outbreak, the next scene should not be focused on something that happened back at day one. It’s been an interesting project and I think we’ll have a great story once it’s all put back together again.
Have you done anything interesting?
Last month, I mentioned that I hadn’t been playing Pokemon Go. Well, I realised that without that occupying my time, I was spending more and more time on social media. That was really starting to bum me out. I’m just appalled at what some people think is an appropriate thing to say to anyone and I really don’t need that sort of crazy in my life. So, I’m playing Pokemon Go again, only this time, I’m playing more casually than before.
Like last month, I have been listening to a lot of podcasts about writing. I used to listen to loads of podcasts while driving to and from work, but since I now work in my basement, not had much need for it. When I decided to get serious about writing again, I made time to listen to podcasts again. The funniest thing is that it’s all the same people talking about the same things as before. It seems like nothing has changed, except that I’m back to the starting point.
What have you been watching?
I finished all three of the seasonal shows I was covering and completed the season reviews. Then, in the week between the old season ending and the new one beginning, I revisited my shortlist for the Summer schedule and binge-watched Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out, Peter Grill and the Philosophers Time, and Super HxEros. Ironically, I think I enjoyed all three more than Deca-Dence or Gibiate. Was it because I binged them or were they just better?
I also managed to find time to watch God Eater and absolutely loved it. It’s instantly one of my favourite series. And then, I started the new season of anime and have only picked two shows to cover. The first is Iwakakeru: Sport Climbing Girls and I am already completely in love with the series, which is partially down to my love of climbing. The second show is the third season of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon and that’s been good so far as well. I’ve also made some notes of potential binge shows for when the season comes to an end.
My A to Z Anime Challenge posts have continued, taking me from the letter N to the letter R. I have been watching some more shows and will have the season reviews out for them in the very near future. There aren’t any prizes for guessing which ones, but I welcome your guesses in the comments.
- Fruits Basket – Season Two
- Deca-Dence
- Gibiate
- Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!
- Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time
- Super HxEros
Do you have any plans for next month?
My main focus is going to be on completing NaNoWriMo which is where I will attempt to write a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. I’ve got a detailed outline ready so this should be a breeze, but who knows what will happen in November. This year has certainly been full of surprises. Other than that, it will be business as usual for the Black Death trilogy and blogging. Of course, now that I have my author site up and running again, I have three blogs to keep on top of…
Anyhow, stay safe and thanks for reading.
Congratulations on all of your accomplishments! I’ve recently published my own trilogy, so I know how grueling editing can be (especially, if you’re a perfectionist like me). Let’s all do our best during NaNoWriMo! 😄
Thanks and good luck with your trilogy and NaNoWriMo attempt. Do you have anything planned story-wise or are just going to see what happens?
Thank you! I just finished the last book in my trilogy, so I’m going to write a novel-length fan fiction instead. Ha-ha! 😅 It will be kind of a doom-break, until I get the first book in my spin-off series outlined.
Makes sense. I’m doing an action adventure rom-com which is going to be a nice break from writing about the end of the world. I think I’ll try to turn this into a series as well, but for now I’m just going to have fun with this book.
Mhm! Sounds refreshing. In my series, I wrote about some dark topics and the end of the world, too, so my fan fiction will be a science fiction/romance. Though leaning a little bit more on the tragic side of love, I think it will grant me a little bit of reprieve from my main series!
Nice. I’m going with goofy awkward comedy with a touch of romance. It’s on a tropical island with blue skies and lots of fun. Should be the perfect palette cleanser to the Black Death and the world in general.
Nice! Good luck with NaNo too – I’ve never been able to get the time in November, due to the day job being more full-on toward the end of the year. One day perhaps 🙂
Thanks, they have a bunch of different versions throughout the year. I think I’ve done it in May and June before.
I did it once as part of a group where we pass the story between us. That way you only had to write one out of five days. It was a lot of fun and the story was mental. It was like following a serial that released new content daily.
Something like that would make a good blog series.
I should try June one day – the April one I thought happened one time, tended to clash with the poetry version (which I used to attempt).
That’d be heaps of fun, yeah 😀 (The shared support/accountability would be cool too).