October Preview: FM6 Noteapalooza and Burnination

4 doctor appointments, including the left/right C4-C7 RFAs this month.  So far I'm usually in extra amounts of pain for about a week after every RFA, I imagine it will continue this time.  Two weeks after I start feeling better with pain levels dropping.  Since the vast majority of my pain is radiating from this spot, no idea how much extra pain or how much it will drop once they're through burning those nerves out.

My hope is that I'll be able to sit in chair and type for 8 hours a day afterwards.  Being able to go for a morning walk and use a video game controller and not having to wear wrists braces 24/7 would be nice added bonuses, but I really just want my typing to be painless again.  Or at least a lot better than it is now. So, that's the hope.

I have started the FM6 readthrough.  Got through 5 sessions in 2 days and I already want to die (22 left to go).  104 notations already.  Pfft.  Already noticed a couple things I'll need to add to Seismic Semester, imagine there will be more.

So that's me for the next month.

Totally recommend playing Tactical Breach Wizards if you like puzzle/tactical games btw.  It's not like XCom where you have percentages and every encounter is long and grindy.  Is much more like a puzzle game since every skill hits and you're expected to clear rooms in two turns max (very few go longer if you're doing things right).  Good characters and fun urban fantasy story too.

10/5 Update:  Well, they timed the RFA just right, because the one they did last November is starting to wear off and I'm struggling.  Can't work but ever other day, even editing instead of straight up writing.  Have managed to get 11 chapters down, with 16 left to go.  196 notations.  Eek!  That's where most of the pain comes from, handwriting everything down.  Here's hoping handwriting detection AI gets better over the next 5 years so I can more easily digitize everything in the future.

Was reading the Learning Council powwow chapter today, where Moira Welf gets her first real introduction.  Funny to think she wasn't really around for so many books, since she's so important later in the novel and especially going forward.  As I've said before, Vicky is the POV character of her novel, but Moira is the driving force.

First Draft Done

Brain mush.

9/25 Update:  You can't even begin to imagine what a massive weight off my chest this is.  I wrote the first chapter of this novel in 2018!!!  So much insanity in my life and to just have a first draft done, to be able to say, "this is a story," is such a relief.  I have 31 different corrections/rewrites I need to fix so far, need to change a ton of characters from [XXX] to actual names, beautification, clean up, tightening, formatting, all that fun, but...it's officially 225k words of story.  Sessions 81 to 92 to be exact.

I think genre wise, it's probably most accurate to call it magic school slice of life.  I'm sure some percentage of my fanbase addicted to explosions and vampires and dragons might not dig that, but if you love the characters, there's so much time with Val and Miranda and Welf and all the new Singles and Ceinwyn and Plutarch, probably the most Lady that's ever been in a FM novel, Asa has a subplot, Ronaldo and Makayla speak, what's the world coming to!

Last Big Scene Down

3 falling action scenes left to write and the Seismic Semester is over.

Also, the cover is finished!  Probably reveal it and give you lot the first chapter in November if all goes well (December if all does not go well...January if things go very badly).

9/23 Update:  So I miscounted and it was actually 4 falling action scenes, but it's down to 3 now!

Quick Notes September 2024

1.  RFA C4-C7 is finally a go for October!  This should bring the most relief I've gotten so far, now that they've narrowed down where the problem area is.  Best news I could've asked for! (other than the spine spontaneously healing, I suppose)

2.  As such, October will be ****ed.  But November onward could be heavenly.

3.  Blogger is tagging posts as not sensible for public standards if I curse too much, hence the above self censorship.  **** you, AI overlords!

4.  Cover work on Seismic Semester is ongoing.  King Henry will not be the character on the front.  Chill!  It's still all from his POV and a Tape (Sessions 81-92), I just have the 6 covers with him already and 3 more in the bag (WtEAW/FM7/FM8).  So I thought adding some variety going forward would be fun and this character being on the front is pretty fitting given the story.

5.  As I've said many times, it's a photoshop cover using stock photo elements, they try their best, but it is not an artist spending weeks on a newly created personalized painting that I'm spending thousands of dollars on, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

6.  I got tired working on the readthrough.  Finished FM5, but the idea of two weeks on FM6 broke my spirit.  I'll get back to it in a couple months.

7.  Edited Session 91 for the first time instead and now I'm typing it into the computer while having even more brilliant ideas, of course!  Sessions 91 might be the best chapter in the book.  I don't know...pretty proud of Session 83 too.

8.  Plan (also known as whatever makes me happy) is to edit what I have of Session 92 (14k words already!) and finish the first draft on Seismic Semester before I enter RFA burnination territory next month.  Have like...ten day window in the middle of September and another ten day window ending the month into early October, so decent chance I might manage it.

9.  I hate the International Break...so, so much.  The season just ****ing started!

10.  Might finally watch Furiosa tonight.

11.  Speaking of great watches (I hope, don't let me down, George Miller), I finally checked out Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix and can't recommend it enough.  Maybe my favorite thing I've watched this year?  Fallout was good and Delicious in Dungeon too, maybe I'm forgetting something else, but...lots of disappointments and faffing about too (hello Hashira Training Arc).  As far as BES, Any show that blasts a Japanese cover of For Whom the Bell Tolls while the main character is tripping balls on some psychedelic flower while fighting a heavy to the death with a glowing blue samurai sword forged from a fallen meteorite...what more do you want in life?  End WAS a bit "and we have a second season too!" but, I'll forgive it, since...we get a second season!

12.  100+ degrees for the next week.  **** me!