Author Journey (October 28, 2024)
It must be the season or something but those real-life family events just keep on coming. What I wouldn’t give for a nice straightforward week with no distractions! But where would be the fun in that???
Author Journey (October 28, 2024)
Favourite Moment!
One of the highlights of the week has to be taking my boys to see The Wild Robot at the cinema. As well as anime, movies have been a huge part of my life and was the focus of my first blog so it’s always been important to me that I expose them to the things that I loved growing up. So, when they come to me and say they want to see a movie, it’s all go. It’s even better when the movie is good and The Wild Robot was excellent. There were times when I secretly wished it had been more like WALL-E where they used less dialogue, but then it probably wouldn’t have connected as well with the kids. My eldest is saying it’s now his favourite movie, so that’s some praise.
I’ve already ordered the books that the movie was based on so that we can strike while the iron is hot and encourage some reading. Anything to get them off YouTube for a few minutes… I mean one day, these guys are going to inherit my manga collection and I need to know that they won’t just sell them. So, encouraging them to love reading is an important thing, especially as I was a late bloomer when it came to reading. I hated it when I was younger and it wasn’t until university that I really got into it. The first book that I read in one day was The Hobbit which I picked up in the airport. I read it for the entire flight and then the bus home from the airport. Then, after travelling all day, I kept reading until I finished it in the early hours of the morning. The sooner I can get them to have that sort of experience, the better.
The Week That Was…
It was take two of my attempts to return to the office and it didn’t go quite as planned. I had been in the office for about an hour when I got a call from the school telling me I needed to come and pick up my youngest… So, I left and took him home where I worked as I had for the last four years. He was off the next day too, but went back on Thursday so I once more headed into the office. This time, there was no call. Interestingly, there was also no one in the office but me. I did some work in my dull, lifeless cubicle while listening to a conversation from the other side of the building. You could hear a pin drop. I stayed until lunch and then went home to work. What a complete waste of time! Not only was I not productive in the office, but I missed out on all the other stuff I fit into my days while working from home.
My anime watching of late has been limited to the treadmill and last week was no exception. I finished watching season two of One-Punch Man and then started Komi Can’t Communicate, which is a show I’ve been talking about watching for a while now. At least, I still have my running to keep me going. I did manage to squeeze in the first episode of Why the hell are you here, Teacher!? which is only twelve minutes long as I am experimenting with rescheduling some of my older posts. Of course, I’m rewriting the posts and updating the images so it’s basically a new post. It should be an interesting experiment nonetheless.
Recently, I picked up volumes three to eight of Solo Leveling from my library and have been diligently working my way through. Last week, I read volumes four to six and am absolutely loving the way this series is developing. I also managed to squeeze in volume one of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? which was also a lot of fun. I even managed to finish reading volume one of the BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense light novel and am considering writing up a review. I mean why not?
I’m yet to get my writing going what with all the distractions and interruptions, but I hope to do better. I have been reading some of my old stuff in the hopes that I’ll find a way in, which I think I have. I just need to make the time for it, which isn’t easy right now.
Anime!
- Hunter x Hunter (Season One)
- Why the hell are you here, Teacher!? Uncensored (Episode 1) – First Period
Manga!
- Parallel Paradise (Volume 8) – The Witch is Back!
- Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess (Volume 7) – New Skeleton Friends!
- My [Repair] Skill Became a Versatile Cheat, So I Think I’ll Open a Weapon Shop (Volume 3) – We Need Help…
- Kaiju No. 8 (Volume 11) – I Don’t Want to Die…
- Solo Leveling (Volume 3) – Job-Change Quest
Goals
| Tasks | Goal | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Anime Watched | 3 Episodes | 14 Episodes |
| Manga Read | 3 Books | 4 Book |
| Posts Scheduled | 7 Posts | 7 Posts |
| Chapters Written | 2 | Nothing |
| Chapters Edited | 2 | N/A |
| Artwork | Cover | N/A |
Aspirations for the week!
My hope is that the week goes without a hitch. I’d love to have a nice easy week where I can focus on distributing my time between my various projects and finally get them all moving. Now, I know that this is a fantastical idea and the reality will no doubt be something less inspiring, but that’s the goal. I’m aiming for the top. I’m fine with sticking to watching anime on the treadmill for now. I’ve got a good pace going with my manga and I’m even squeezing in some light novel reading. So, all I need to do is get back to writing and drawing.
It turns out that Writer’s Block and Imposter Syndrome aren’t just a tag team. They are prepared to allow Real-Life Family Events to dive into the ring whenever they get tired. At least, I now know more about what I’m dealing with. I’m not sure if it will help me beat them, but someone once said, “Know your enemy!” Anyway, it’s time to get back to work. This time, I’ve got a good feeling about things… Thanks for reading!
It’s tough when RLFEs and imposter syndrome team up to encourage writer’s block. They’re like force multipliers or something.
I hope this week turns out to be stunningly dull, from a work and RLFE perspective!
I would love a stunningly dull week. That would be a real change. I hope your week is also void of anything of consequence.
My hope for you is an exceedingly boring week that allows your creativity to flow!
It’s good to encourage your young kids to read books (though it’ll be better to choose a more family-friendly series like Bofuri for example), even manga (e.g. Spy x Family) is considered good reading material. Believe it or not, my younger self was more of a tellyworm than a bookworm. Surprisingly, I became interested in writing stories (and coming from a household where none from my family is a writer) at around 11 or so.
Eventually I do pick up on reading stories at my late teens with a high school library before it “gone dormant within me” before picking back up in year 2018. Unbelievably confusing, right? 😅
May you get a boring and handsweek soon that’ll let you write down physically. Office workplace need to be a thing in the past soon because hosting welcoming parties or organising a charity event there make more sense to use the building than printing/typing data from any computer.
I started watching BOFURI with them and they were enjoying it. They also liked One Piece, although we’re only eight episodes in… My eldest loves Pokemon so, I’m trying to start with the Pokemon manga, but I do hope that one day, they’ll start treating my office like a library and come and borrow a book every now and then, provided they don’t return them dog-eared…
At a younger age, I found that I would find a book that really connected with me and read it all the way through in a couple of days and then I’d go weeks, maybe months before I found another. I remember devouring The Silence of the Lambs on a vacation. E-readers have made things a lot easier, although I still prefer paper. That said, I have loads of books on my e-reader app on my phone that I can dip into here and there.
All the studies are showing that staff are more productive, more engaged, have better work-life balances, and are generally happier when they work from home, but until the commercial real estate market changes to reflect that, the trust funds need people in offices… Makes no sense. Not to mention that it’s better for the environment.
Thanks. I hope the universe agrees with you!
Correction: …a hands-free week…
P.S. That reminds me of needing to read Omniscient Reader (PG13 rating) soon; webtoon first and the novel.
No worries, I got what you meant.
And Omniscient Reader sounds cool. I might have to check that out!