Author Journey (October 7, 2024)

Author Journey 2024 10 07 The Otaku Author

How is it October already? I’ve almost finished watching my selections from the Spring 2024 lineup and Fall has just begun. Guess I had better get on to Summer as soon as possible. Ah, the fun of living a season behind!

Author Journey (October 7, 2024)

Favourite Moment!

I’m still streaking… by that, I mean running… running (with clothes on) for thirty-four consecutive days. In that time, I’ve completed two hundred kilometres which is the distance between Ottawa and Montreal. I had a couple of shorter days this week where Real-Life Family Events popped up and stripped me of several running sessions. In a way, it’s been a good thing because I’ve found a way to at least get one run in a day, even if I have to do it at midnight, which has happened more than once last week. Anyhow, it’s shown me that I don’t need to do three every day. One or two is also good. Suddenly, I’m rethinking my weekly goals to include a goal and a stretch goal. Especially, since the idea is to keep the streak alive. The longer it goes, the less likely I am to let it stop.

Remember last week’s post? I had finished watching Dorohedoro as my running entertainment and wasn’t sure what I was going to watch next. Well, I decided that I should finally get around to watching Hunter x Hunter. I’m currently sixteen episodes in and am having a great time. I’ve got some observations to make and questions to ask, but those will come in the season one review. Anyhow, there was an incredibly surreal moment that I think I can mention here. During episodes four and five, Gon and the others are taking the first phase of the Hunter’s exam and it’s basically a run. So for two episodes, I felt like I was running with them. It amused me greatly. Maybe, I’ll even become a hunter someday?

The Rising Of The Shield Hero 2 Episode 7 Kizuna Kazayama
The Rising of the Shield Hero (Season Two) – Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

The Week That Was…

So, onto the anime seasons. Back in March, I picked a bunch of shows that I was planning on watching. Two of them ended up being two-cour seasons so I stopped one when I went on holiday – That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Season Three) and haven’t started the other because it only recently finished – Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf (Season One). I had started reviewing Slime episodically, but that felt like too much given the slower nature of the show, so I’m going to reassess things once I jump back in. Other than those two, I have Unnamed Memory and Train to the End of the World. I probably would have finished both of them last week had I not some Real-Life Family Events. Either way, I’ll finish those soon and then I can start to look at the Summer lineup. I originally shortlisted 22 shows… Will have to see if that happens!

Anyhow, I started the week by finishing off Gods’ Game We Play, watching the last seven episodes in one night. I wasn’t expecting it after the first half of the season, but I really got into it by the end. Other than that, I watched the first episode of Unnamed Memory and then everything else was Hunter x Hunter. For most of the week, I wasn’t watching anything if it wasn’t on the treadmill. In a way, that was also good. I’ve been struggling to catch up with my season reviews as I was watching shows too quickly, but this week has given me the chance to do just that.

I did manage to read five manga volumes this week which was nice. I’m not sure how I managed it, but I did. That’s allowed me to add a little to my buffer of manga posts. It helped that I was focused on just two series as I kept getting to the end of the volume and wanting to see what happened next. I didn’t get to read through an entire book in one sitting though, but that’s fine.

I wanted to write after each session on the treadmill, but with the Real Life Family Events, the first of which occurring while I was actually on the treadmill, they kept throwing things into chaos. Plus, when I was finishing a run after midnight, I really didn’t have it in me to start writing. Hopefully, this week will go a little smoother. I do need to rethink my goals to give me a more balanced focus.

Anime!

Manga!

Goals

TasksGoalCompleted
Anime Watched3 Episodes26 Episodes
Manga Read3 Books5 Book
Posts Scheduled7 Posts12 Posts
Chapters Written20 Chapters
Chapters Edited2N/A
ArtworkCoverN/A
Spy x Family Episode 24 Yor and Loid on a date
Spy x Family (Season One – Part Two)

Aspirations for the week!

So, I’ve been thinking a little about my goals and how maybe having them weekly isn’t all that I had hoped for. Well, it’s not everything. I think that I need to have a smaller daily goal and a weekly goal that has some allowances for Real-Life Family Events. That got me thinking about the Ray Bradbury challenge that he proposed that you should read a short story, an essay, and a poem every day for one thousand days. Could I use something similar? Maybe, watch an episode of anime, read a volume of manga, and write a chapter every day. Now, writing a chapter a day is a stretch goal at the moment, but starting at two to four hundred words a day, maybe I could build up to that. If I get those three things done then I can throw in some extra runs since I would get my episode of anime on my first run. And since I’m loving running again, I can use that as my reward for getting my work done.

It’s a crazy idea, but I’m going to start today by giving it a go. I’ve had crazier ideas so this might just work. Getting through so much manga would definitely help with my buffer and eat into my to-read pile. So, it’s a plan. I’m going to try it this week. Hopefully, it’ll work and I’ll have some new streaks to maintain. Anyway, I’ve got to run, watch, read, and write… thanks for reading!


Lynn Sheridan The Otaku Author Header

9 Comments

  1. It’s a good thing you elaborate more on the actual definition of the word “streaking” since youngsters of today’s era (exclude me though I’m knowledgeable in several slangs/terms related to their wordings; ‘sus’ being one of the prominent examples) had a different interpretation when seeing this word.

    I think half a chapter a day should be a recommended goal or best, based on what you wrote above, at least 200 words a day since I too am struggling with my fourth story arc at the moment though my case concerns of which words to choose that isn’t too jargon.

    Speaking about stories, if you told a youngster that you wanna become a hunter, they think you’ll be going in dungeons based on dungeon-and-hunters-themed manhwas being more popular outside of Japan. Lmao~ then again, if they see the word “Slayers” in my story, they think my story is similar to the very popular Demon Slayer series when that’s not the case even though there’ll be demon-like monsters in there. 😅

    Anyhow, I wish you a safe running ahead and your other goal to finish a chapter within at least a week.

    • Can’t believe that I’m not down with the youngsters… lol!

      I used to write three to five thousand words a day five days a week, but those were simpler times. One day, I hope to get back to that.

      And, thanks!

  2. I’m amazed you can run at midnight and then get to sleep. I think I need a couple hours of cool-down first.

    Bradbury was an astonishing writer, so I feel awkward criticizing him, but I can’t imagine writing a short story a day. Mine run in the 10,000 to 14,000 range. I need two hours to crank out around 2,500 words. Well, maybe after I retire, but now? I can’t imagine it.

    But. I like your idea of continuing to try things until you find the combination that works! We’re grateful we have families to trigger RLFEs, of course, but they can be time consuming. Worse, their urgency can dominate one’s emotional strength for days on end. Looking back, I think that my children being out of school has been a net gain in terms of RLFE frequency.

    Well, that is, until you factor in increasing elder care…

    But those are a well of ideas and energy for writing, aren’t they?

    • It takes a little while to wind down, but it’s not too bad. Last night I followed my run by listening to a Dean Wesley Smith interview which ensured I didn’t fall asleep until it was over.

      Ray Bradbury had two challenges. One was to write a short story every week for 52 weeks because no one can write 52 bad short stories in a row… and the other was to read a short story, an essay, and a poem every day for 1,000 days. Writing one a day would be a tough ask of anyone. I’m twerking the latter for my plans.

      Yeah. I’m going to keep shuffling stuff until I get a system that works. Isn’t that how evolution works? It’s the unrelenting consistency of RLFEs that gets me. Every time I think I’m turning a corner there is one waiting for me. I need to try to factor them into my plans.

      All experience is something we can use to give our writing life and credence if we find the time to actually do some.

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