I started today with a strange dilemma. My work day typically begins with loading up a stable of programs I use in relation to writing or editing the current novel project. Word for the core writing content, Scrivener for compiling, OneNote for my world building Wiki, Excel for a few of the math world building factors. It takes a few moments to get them all situated and where I like them on my displays, but in the past two years of work I’ve become adapt at getting started. Today, however, I’m having to pause because the routine is broken. You see, that novel is currently done.
I started the novel (Let’s just call it code name DAD for now) years ago, when I started braining storming a setting had started high fantasy but moved into a cyberpunk timeline. It wasn’t a copy of our own world, but many of the events that happened in our world would funhouse-mirror inside of Manta, just with the added factor of elves, orcs, dwarves, and elemental deities being a factor in world events. The threads of the story are almost a decade old, but the story of Micara, and her struggles in the city-state of New Castle were born back in 2014. By 2015, we had already created the first part of the book, part 2 came along in 2016, and March 2017 was the day the book was finished. A year came and went, and several surgeries later I was able to get back on task in March of 2018 to start the first full edit. Finally, after more than 4 years of writing, editing, world building, and podcasting, the book’s first edit draft came to fruition on July 2, 2018.
Is the book done yet? No. No, it’s currently at the editors, getting reviewed, poked, prodded, and overall ripped down and apart. I’m trying to not think about that too much because I’ve been in that book for so long. It’s hard for me to not want to think of the book as precious, but I have to distance myself from it. There will be more books in the future and I’m sure this will become an easier practice, but it’s the first one. That is special in its own right.
What next, then? Well this is a status update for July, let’s see what we’ve accomplished in the last month compared to our goals from May.
June Review
- Writing – We accomplished the most important task here; finish the novel edits. Everything else was tertiary to that task. We didn’t do much here in the blog, nor over on Hiddennode, but that’s fine. Now’s the time between big project moments to get rolling with that.
- Streaming – This has gone… poorly. I’m just not getting the population I want in here, and we’re coming up on our three-month deadline. It disappoints me, but I’m determined to not be broken by that disappointment. I’ve got a few new single player games I’m going to running with this week. Let’s see how they do (see below for details).
- Podcasting – Hiddennode went the way of the blog. That’s okay. We’ll be picking it up soon. Hiddengrid/Codex podcast… That’s a long story, but one that I need to address in another post. I had ideas that didn’t work. That doesn’t mean I’m stopping.
- Overall – We accomplished the most important task, but we slacked heavily in everything else. July is the chance to bring that forward. So let’s set some goals!
Writing
Focus: Short Story development
- Bloggy activity
- Short-Story-a-thon
- Novel Concept
These three goals are meant to dominate my July. The blog content is meant to be the lifeline to my works to the rest of the world, or to sound more poetic “All roads lead through the blog.” The second goal focuses on the creation of short stories meant to sustain myself between the novels. While the novels are my flag ships, the shorts are meant to be teasers of content, tastes of my world, writing style, and way of thinking. I’m only supposed to write one per month, but hey if I can create a couple of them, I won’t be upset. Finally, I need to decide what to work on for the next novel. August is intended to be the month we outline and start book two. By the end of July I need to know what that concept will be.
Important links:
https://www.patreon.com/jsamueldiehl – sneak peeks, weekly updates, and more.
https://twitter.com/jsamueldiehl – Announcements and thoughts.
Streaming
Focus: Get on Schedule
- Back to work
- New Games
- Schedule in place
The biggest problem with Streaming lately is I don’t keep to my schedule. That’s a flaw on my part I’m correcting this week. I’ll put out a post later this week with the new schedule listed. I’ve got several dozen games sitting in my Steam Library that I haven’t streamed yet, and keeping to my schedule will help me get through these. That’s really our goal for the month. The achievements I spoke about in May aren’t as important as just getting on schedule.
Important links:
https://www.twitch.tv/nulloperations – The official stream
https://twitter.com/nulloperations – Stream announcements and schedule changes
Podcasting
Focus: Hiddennode activity
- The weekly audio -or- video log. We’re doing both on occasion.
- StGM is going strong
- New RPG content is delayed
June was a rough month for podcasting. July will have our Hiddennode return, but Codex and Hiddengrid needs some serious rethought. I’m iffy about those these days. I’ll have a workshop post later this month.
Important links:
http://www.hiddengrid.com/ – the podcast that was
http://www.hiddennode.com/ – the podcast that is
http://codexpodcast.com/ – the podcast that will be
https://www.patreon.com/hiddengrid/ – change is coming to this
July Goals
- Short Stories
- Weekly episodes of Hiddennode
- Streaming Schedule
- Weekly blog posts here
- Weekly updates on both patreons
There’s a lot of good that happened in June, but we slacked here and there. July is about catching those issues and bring them back to the forefront. I’m not too panicked about those slips though because they took a back seat to the important editing project. That’s our flagship, and so it’s vital to be make the call to slice those off if they’re in the way. The flagship is currently docked through August and September, so it’s time for the skiffs to dot the lake.
I’m not sure where that metaphor is going. Boats I guess?
Okay, off to work. Have a great July and we’ll be back soon.