Author Journey (October 2023)

For three years, I published a weekly Author Journey post as I attempted to keep myself on track. Well, life has been ridiculously busy as of late and I started to feel like I was micro-managing myself, and I hate being micro-managed.

Author Journey (October 2023)

The last time, I published a monthly Author Journey post was in October 2020. After a successful NaNoWriMo attempt in November 2020, I decided to switch to weekly posts. I thought it would give me a chance to analyse what I was doing and set myself goals for the following week. For a while, it worked. However, once my time became stretched, it just showed how often I wasn’t achieving things and that ended up as a negative. I felt like I was constantly disappointing myself and that didn’t make me write more.

A couple of years ago, in my real-life job, I moved teams. I went from a manager who would have a monthly catch-up if we needed it to a manager who wanted two catch-ups a week. I hated that change and I’m only now realising that I had done the same thing to myself. Things have been slipping for a while now, so it’s time to correct that. One thing that has helped me with this process has been Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s book Be Useful. I grew up with Arnie on the TV constantly. He’s been one of my heroes for a long time and it felt like he was talking directly to me (I’m listening to the audiobook which is narrated by him). His words are brutally honest and a little stinging at times. It’s like he knows that I haven’t had my priorities straight and he’s not afraid to tell me.

The Monthly Recap

So, this is going to be very much like the weekly Author Journey posts but with a bigger focus on writing fiction and goals that last a calendar month. I wanted to do it every four weeks, but since the international calendar doesn’t have names for those periods, I decided to stick to what everyone knows. Ultimately, I want to spend less time coming up with excuses and more time writing my ass off. One thing that Arnold was clear about at the beginning of the book was that you need to have a vision. A vision of what you hope to achieve. Without a clear vision, you will end up floundering. I’m feeling a little triggered right now, so thanks, Arnold. He’s right though!

Writing!

With everything going on, I managed next to no writing in the whole of October. I started out with a plan that made sense to me. It was a significant reduction in my workload compared to the first six months of the year. However, I hadn’t planned on real life requiring as much attention. Basically, I found myself stressing about watching anime and publishing posts. Time was not my friend.

Anime!

I started October with a plan that involved watching five new seasonal shows and three historical shows. Basically, I needed to watch eight episodes a week to keep up. In hindsight, I should have prepared all of my historical posts ahead of time, but obviously, I didn’t have that time to begin with. I ended up watching twenty-eight episodes in total, which wasn’t enough.

• Highschool of the Dead [On hold]
• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
• Goblin Slayer II (Season Two)
• The Kingdoms of Ruin [On hold]
• Ragna Crimson [On hold]
• The Eminence in Shadow (Season Two)
• Beast Tamer [On hold]
• Overlord

Manga!

It was a much slower month on the manga front, however, I have a much better buffer and I’m not reviewing any books that are suddenly coming out. Not yet anyhow. I got through a total of nine books which ended up being a nice number as it cleared some of my stack of library books. I have to read three more books to complete my target for the year, so a slow month hasn’t hit my overall goals too badly.

• The Eminence in Shadow – Vol 4 to 7
• Jujutsu Kaisen – Vol 3
• Undead Unluck – Vol 2
• Goodbye, Eri
• Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Vol 5 to 7
• One Piece – Vol 1
• BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense – Vol 2
• One-Punch Man – Vol 2

Aspirations for next month

I’m going to continue listening to Arnold’s book because, at the moment, I’m getting a lot out of it. Hopefully, more of his advice will continue to inspire and direct me to focus on what I need to focus on. One thing to note. Since I put three series on hold, I’ve had a lot more time to take care of things in real life that have taken a step back. This last weekend, I did nothing and it didn’t add to my stress load. Normally, missing one evening left me frustrated and annoyed. I’m trying to finally find some balance to my life and my goals.

Writing!

Shortly after my last Monthly Author Journey post in October 2020, I took part in NaNoWriMo and completed it. That was probably the last really good writing spell I’ve had and that needs to change. In order to do this, I’ve put three of my shows on hold. That alone has already given me so much more time. Starting tomorrow, I will have a NaNoWriMo post that I will update daily with my progress. I’ve struggled with writing for a while now, so hopefully, this will be the moment that I start on a journey towards my vision. So, I guess, I’m planning on writing fifty thousand words in November… Let’s get it on!

Anime!

I have three seasonal shows to keep up with which is a much more manageable load. I have one historic show, but I’ve already completed the next four posts so I don’t have to worry about Overlord for the rest of November. More time for writing. I need to watch thirteen episodes to keep up, which sounds very manageable.

Manga!

All my manga posts for November are done. Yeah! I do have three more posts to complete for 2023. I also have nine more books from the library to get through. Obviously, I only have so long before I need to return them so I’m going to plan on reading all of them before the end of the month, however, that will not take priority over my writing.

Final Thoughts

My desire to watch, read, and review everything hasn’t gone away, however, I have recognised that it is not my vision. That’s not what I want to achieve in my life, as much fun as that would be. So, I’m slowing things down and getting back to writing. Publishing stories of my own is more important than reviewing someone else’s stories. I’m not going to stop though as I get a lot from analysing them and putting my thoughts down in my posts. Anyhow, there’s only a few hours until November and I’m going to try to hit the ground running as soon as the clock ticks past midnight.

There have been a lot of changes here of late, but I think this is going to be the one that sticks. I’m already feeling more relaxed after a week of it. Thanks for putting up with my dithering, although I’m sure it’ll have been worth it in the end…

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