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Status Report for June, 2024
The first book of Alien Tastes weighs in at 89,188 words. Whew. The second one currently has 24k, where Molly actually gets to her first class at the galactic cooking school, but some amount of that was yoinked from draft 4. I actually wrote, let's see... 12,072 words in June.
I've been thinking about my writing. It's really kind of disconcerting that the two projects I have are epic serials that could easily run 8 books or more-- admittedly that also resembles a large number of books and web serials I read, but still, I would like to actually finish things. Also, I need to start thinking about how I'm going to get beta readers for these things. Browsing about the web, I came across the fact that there is a Reddit for exactly that, finding/being a beta readers for authors' stories, so I may investigate that...
On the first part of my concerns about writing, which is to say, actually finishing a story, finis, done, though...
Well, I started poking at a couple ideas to see if they could be single-books. The first one I looked at was 'Bright Heroes, Dark City', a mystery set in a superhero VRMMO. After reviewing a rough plot outline, I came to the conclusion it would probably add up to three books.
Good stuff, Tufty, but... SHORTER!
The second was an RPG campaign concept... An alien vessel has been spotted coming towards the solar system at about 5% of the speed of light. It doesn't appear to be making any efforts to brake. Alarmed and determined to protect humanity and if possible, acquire interesting technologies from the 'Intruder', the rival powers of the Earth/Lunar Federation and the League of Outer System Colonies have both sent interceptor vessels to match velocity with the ship, and attempt to make first contact.
After some scrambling to put together a cast of characters and a reasonable-seeming outline, this looks like it'll be one book. Excellent! So that may be the next thing I work on, with an eye toward eventually making it a free book on Royal Road.
IN OTHER MEWS...
I got my colonoscopy done in early June. Three polyps, pre-cancerous, but nothing to be alarmed at, so they say. The whole affair involved:
1. A week of low-residue diet prior to the colonoscopy
2. A 'one-off' week to get back onto my normal two-week culinary schedule
But all is back to status quo now, and I'm looking forward to a relatively quieter 'rest of the year.'
Thanks to my older bro, I've got a gardener again. My front lawn was looking like a slice of wilderness, nothing but weeds. Now it's nothing but dirt, but that's more acceptable in these parts.
I also took my car in for a service-- it's been two years. All good, though they did opt to replace the battery. I did look into whether I should get a new vehicle, but... To my surprise, BMW doesn't make the i3 anymore, and in fact, most of the new EVs on the market are big honkin' SUVs. The closest thing to the smol, cute style of car I prefer is the Nissan Leaf. So on the whole, I decided it was better to just keep running with my i3.
I have had my flirtation with Certificates of Deposit (CD) for the guaranteed interest rates, but after talking with my older bro, apparently he prefers to keep his money in a high-interest money market fund, and I think that's probably the way to go-- much more flexible about being able to withdraw money. So I will probably get around to revising that next year.
My thoughts are with my friends who have suffered deaths of loved ones recently. It is tragic, but remember, if you need a warm fuzzy kitteh, I'm just an email or Discord ping away.
I've been thinking about my writing. It's really kind of disconcerting that the two projects I have are epic serials that could easily run 8 books or more-- admittedly that also resembles a large number of books and web serials I read, but still, I would like to actually finish things. Also, I need to start thinking about how I'm going to get beta readers for these things. Browsing about the web, I came across the fact that there is a Reddit for exactly that, finding/being a beta readers for authors' stories, so I may investigate that...
On the first part of my concerns about writing, which is to say, actually finishing a story, finis, done, though...
Well, I started poking at a couple ideas to see if they could be single-books. The first one I looked at was 'Bright Heroes, Dark City', a mystery set in a superhero VRMMO. After reviewing a rough plot outline, I came to the conclusion it would probably add up to three books.
Good stuff, Tufty, but... SHORTER!
The second was an RPG campaign concept... An alien vessel has been spotted coming towards the solar system at about 5% of the speed of light. It doesn't appear to be making any efforts to brake. Alarmed and determined to protect humanity and if possible, acquire interesting technologies from the 'Intruder', the rival powers of the Earth/Lunar Federation and the League of Outer System Colonies have both sent interceptor vessels to match velocity with the ship, and attempt to make first contact.
After some scrambling to put together a cast of characters and a reasonable-seeming outline, this looks like it'll be one book. Excellent! So that may be the next thing I work on, with an eye toward eventually making it a free book on Royal Road.
IN OTHER MEWS...
I got my colonoscopy done in early June. Three polyps, pre-cancerous, but nothing to be alarmed at, so they say. The whole affair involved:
1. A week of low-residue diet prior to the colonoscopy
2. A 'one-off' week to get back onto my normal two-week culinary schedule
But all is back to status quo now, and I'm looking forward to a relatively quieter 'rest of the year.'
Thanks to my older bro, I've got a gardener again. My front lawn was looking like a slice of wilderness, nothing but weeds. Now it's nothing but dirt, but that's more acceptable in these parts.
I also took my car in for a service-- it's been two years. All good, though they did opt to replace the battery. I did look into whether I should get a new vehicle, but... To my surprise, BMW doesn't make the i3 anymore, and in fact, most of the new EVs on the market are big honkin' SUVs. The closest thing to the smol, cute style of car I prefer is the Nissan Leaf. So on the whole, I decided it was better to just keep running with my i3.
I have had my flirtation with Certificates of Deposit (CD) for the guaranteed interest rates, but after talking with my older bro, apparently he prefers to keep his money in a high-interest money market fund, and I think that's probably the way to go-- much more flexible about being able to withdraw money. So I will probably get around to revising that next year.
My thoughts are with my friends who have suffered deaths of loved ones recently. It is tragic, but remember, if you need a warm fuzzy kitteh, I'm just an email or Discord ping away.
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