Autumn Has Arrived

Update 17 27-Sept to 3-October-21

This is my time of year. Usually as soon as September starts, I become a happier person. Though this year it took a while for the weather to change just enough to need a hoody in the morning (though I’m still wearing shorts).

This past week I finally feel like my Autumn has arrived. And with October starting and my horror loving heart stirring, I am in a good mood.

That means I sat down and got some work done last week.

Goals for the Week:

I started the week wanting to knock out a chapter and a half, hoping to get a decent way into a second chapter…

And I blew right past that goal. I finished chapter 4 from the previous week and then hammered my way through chapter 5 and 6… and then I started chapter 7. Now, I will probably finish chapter 7 today (today as when I’m writing this not today as in Monday), but I decided to get this post finished first and then do my writing session for the rest of the morning.

And before someone rolls their eyes and says, “Chapters can be any length, hell Jonathan Maberry has a chapter that is only 6 words long in the first Joe Ledger book.” We all know that I use word count as my goal, not pages or chapters and I will go to the numbers!

I aim for 6000 words a week, last week we hammered out 10,469 words over 4 chapters. Bringing the 3.0 Manuscript up to a total of 34,617 words. At this rate I should be back at the 75k I was at before I re-outlined in about six weeks.

Obviously I know I won’t keep producing such high numbers, but if I can push for 10k a week… well, we’ll be going into the holidays and the new year with a finished manuscript I hope.

Other Goals!

But wait! There’s more. Not only did I crank out 10k last week, but I also got in a podcast recording session and we worked out our recording schedule for the rest of the year. Got a lot planned on that side of things, and once we get the editing schedule back on track, we should have everything moving along smoothly.

Last week was the return of the monthly Curse of Strahd game. We had a lovely time arriving in the village of Barovia and immediately triggering 4 different hooks. I wish we could all play more often, but alas, monthly has already had issues.

And of course, I already have two other games a week.

This Week’s Plans

I want to push for another 10k this week, though it might be harder this week.

We have a longer recording session this week, and that will cut into writing time. One of my co-casters won’t be able to record for at least 2 weeks or longer, so we’re going to get in a double session this week, bringing us up to about 12 or 13 recorded episodes.

I also have some painting work to get done and that will eat into my time.

Everything is picking up in pace, as it always does at this time of the year. IN the last two weeks I have had five birthdays (not that there are any parties during this pandemic). And I have more ahead as well. Then we have the holidays to prep for. Meaning lots of shopping and hunting for deals and cursing out my friends for not updating their Amazon wishlists (or the friends who refuse to even make one).

This Week in Media

Comics have been pretty awesome. The Death of Doctor Strange was excellent, Amazing Fantasy is excellent, the Harley Quinn animated series (comic) is AWESOME. I love the artist. Their cartoony style is perfect, but they also pack in a ton of details that you really need to pay attention to. It’s the details that really kill some of the jokes and make every panel great.

Despite my older co-worker being cranky and thinking every new writer “sucks” compared to some hack from the 70s that he still praises, the comics in the last few weeks have been excellent (at least among the ones I have been reading). The new Moonknight is kicking ass, and I am a judgemental prick when it comes to Moonknight series (I only like 2 of the series out of the 8 I’ve read… I mean I like some things in the other ones, but mostly just complaints otherwise).

Besides comics I have been making a run on Korean TV shows and a couple Chinese shows. In the last month, I completed three GREAT Korean shows and I really think everyone should give them a try.

Korean Shows:

The Uncanny Counter—basically grim reapers who have to hunt down evil spirits that possess evil people. But it has a young protagonist that overcomes bullies, a little romance, and just great writing and characters over all.

The K2—a very convoluted series with extremely complex characters with great music, a kick-ass lead character (literally great fighting), a HUGE dose of romance, nasty backstabbing characters, corruption in gov’t and police, and a very good ending.

Mystic Pop-Up Bar—FANTASTIC. Another mystical saving spirits for heaven type story… but with a ton of Humor, Emotion, Romance, and a little fighting. My favorite on the list though Uncanny Counter does give it a fight for top spot.

Outro:

So, yeah… lots of good shows out there, but I have to give in to my horror love and watch a LOT of horror movies, even though really, I watch horror every single day so I don’t really have much I can watch in October that I haven’t already watched a dozen times. Sigh.

I hope my push to write, and my thoughts help you out. And then maybe you’ll be inspired to keep writing. That is really my main goal with these posts.

See you all next week.