Elysae Shar's Blog, page 4

Loving Draft2Digital Right Now

Because I never learn from my mistakes, I didn’t make a copy when I decided to rework What Lies Within. I initially meant to release the new version months ago but stuff happened and I didn’t get it done. Realising that I’d rather finish Lost Among Shadows first, I cursed myself because now I no longer had the original file and thus couldn’t stick previews in the first two until I finished WLW.

But because I also never do the work I’m supposed to do. I gave in and made a new cover for A Crack in Time. When I went to stick that on D2D I found my salvation: Document on file (Download?). So, I’ve got options again. Yay, me!

A Crack in Time new cover and blurb:

When Mark finds himself stranded in a world of darkness, he wants to go home no matter the coast. Turns out that banding together with a giant slug to outsmart the sentient mist acting as a gatekeeper, may not be the best idea he’s ever had.

Buy on Amazon/ All other vendors

 

A5 Vs Letter

As I’ve mentioned before, I tank after about three pages of editing. I just never realized that it wasn’t three pages as in ~1.5k words but three pages as in three pages. While that’s no excuse, it kind of explains why I’ve been dragging my feet through Lost Among Shadows so much.

I like the way A5 looks closer to the finished product, so I’ve switched to revising in that format for Lost… I’m back on Letter now and I gotta say, ~20 pages seems far less intimidating than 40+.

Weeks and Countless Coins Sunk Into Pulling an Abyssal Hand Octillery

I finally got one two days ago, which left me a little unsure as to how to proceed. Fish for another Octillery, Shaymin-Ex, or just go Steam Siege?

I settled on Steam Siege mostly because that’s what you get for tournaments right now and I needed another thirty or so coins for this week’s promo. The first one I conceded upon realizing my opponent was playing Nightmarch. Started another and placed second.  After that, I logged out and got some more editing/revising done.

Today, I remembered the uncommon chest I “won” in that first match and considered trading it away for whatever. I’ve never had any luck with them. Fortunately, nothing on Public Trade interested me, because that useless little chest contained a Setup Shaymin. That’s hands down my best pull ever. This week’s been insane TCGO wise.

So, I Do Need Two Screens

After struggling with this for a week (read: being amazingly unproductive), I switched back to my laptop coupled with my monitor. And it’s amazing. I’ve gotten more revision done in just a day than all last week. It seems I need some sort of minor distraction to focus. Just having a random page on my other screen helps. Never could work with those distraction-free word processors or study in silence…

Anyway, I’ve hit a chapter now that needs an almost complete rewrite, but it’s going surprisingly well. Might even finish that today.I’ve an end in sight now. But, I’d like to release a revised and slightly extended version of What Lies Within before Lost Among Shadows and make it permafree, too. Depending on how much longer Lost takes me, I may delay that. I’m not waiting until next year or so to release Lost.

Not sure, if I’ll dive right into the final Ash Manor Episode after that or start a new series. Or, for a change, finish one of those 30k fantasy starts I’ve floating around.

I Swore I’d Never Buy Booster Packs

And then I did it anyway.

Almost a year and a half ago got into watching people open Pokemon boosters on Youtube and it made me want to open some, too. It didn’t have to be Pokemon, but I wanted something I was, at least, familiar with. That left me with either Magic or Pokemon. At 5,00 and 6.00 respectively I considered both too expensive as I didn’t really want the cards.

Then I discovered Pokemon TCGO. That sealed the deal. I played for a few months until just after Worlds before I got frustrated with the VS Ladder and quit. Picked it up again in April or so.

Today, I found Breakthrough boosters on sale in a local store and bought two. Shame on me because that stuff is damn addictive. So, I went out again and bought a Zygarde tin.

Pulls were about average from what I’ve seen. One Mega, one EX, and one Mega online. online was a bit of a letdown, but I pulled five Breaks out of six (tradelocked/tournament) packs there yesterday, so I can’t complain.

Sad thing is. I’ve no idea what to do with the physical cards and I’ll probably buy more in the future.

Yeah, I’m weak.

Back on a Desktop for Now

Yesterday, I got it into my head to see if my old computer still worked and if it was worth getting it a new graphics card. I always looked down on the poor machine because it has a Radeon card and I despise those. Had nothing but trouble with them throughout the years.

That computer is somewhere between one and six months older than the laptop and I hadn’t used it in a good 3.5 years… So, I spent an hour searching for a power cord that might well have still been at my mother’s. Found two in the end and have no clue where the other came from.

I kind of expected to find a rather pathetic i3 1.7 GHz processor. All my memory supplied about this computer was desperation buy therefor bad. I found a nice 3.3 Ghz and the fan keeps blowing cool air at me. And the hard drive is so nice and empty.Laptop’s been warning me about low space for ages.

Now I just gotta settle on a nice graphics card and I’m all set. Provided I don’t blow the thing up installing it.

It’s kind of weird to use only one screen, though. Haven’t done that since at least 2012. I miss watching movies on the side (Yeah, I’m one of those no-TV people).

Well, I Screwed That Up

I played around with Canva and made a new cover for No Such Thing. But when I went to upload it to Amazon, I noticed that the page number was suspiciously low.

Turns out I published the wrong file, which unfortunately is also the only version I kept. I guess, at least, it’s the version after the massive rewrite and not the original. Still, this kind of sucks Now, I get to re-revise the thing before taking it wide next month.

Because the only thing I really lost is some more in depth description and potential tie-in for future stories, I’ve decided against unpublishing. That and I’m not a big seller anyway.

On the positive side, I’m making decent progress on Lost Among Shadows. It’s a pleasant mix of passages that need massive rewrites and those that only need minor fixes. So, I’ll get stuck for ages on one page than breeze through the next ten.

Getting Back on Track

While I’m still nowhere near where I wanted to be with Lost Among Shadows by August, I am catching up nicely. I hit a spot of about twenty pages that only needed minor changes right around the time the weather broke. It’s been nice and dreary all week. So, I’m happy and feeling like I’m getting stuff done. Lost Among Shadows might end up being my 1st-anniversary release, which is a bit weird. I figured I’d

I figured I’d have moved on to writing fantasy exclusively by now, not a serial I have a love-hate relationship with. I mean, before I started revising Lost I considered abandoning Ash Manor, but I fell in love with again once I read through it. I’ll probably switch back to hate after it’s released…

Should Have Gone Into Hibernation

The heat’s killing me. I’ve spent all  of July either so tired my vision blurs or with a headache because the temperature’s about to change…

I’m slogging through revision far slower than I normally would. I mean revisions always been draining to me, but at the moment a whole page is a good day. I tried working with Hemmingway app for a bit, but trying to get rid of all those nasty red sentences and minimizing the yellows slowed me down even more. As I’m using Grammarly plug-in, I’ll probably chase the final result through it and have another look.

I’ve also been stupid enough to revise out of order because I really wanted to edit an aspect scene. The aspect’s nice and easy. But now, revision of what comes before that made Ash do something tp change the aspect’s attitude toward him and thus the way the aspect’s scene plays out. I like the new development, so, it’s staying. It show’s another side of Ash and works as a bit of foreshadowing.

Oh, and I’m doing away with all deadlines. Never meet the ones I set myself anyway. The only deadline I’ve ever met is Amazon’s preorder and that I’m banned from till October. So, I’m now adopting a “when it’s done it’s done” attitude. Not like someone’s going to come after me.

So, the Day Before Camp NaNo…

…after finishing Dragon Age twice and starting to catch up on my neglected revision, I decided to participate in July. To finish Lost Among Shadows rather than to write something new. Well, I did all that about a week or so ago. Made some decent progress on Lost, too and made the whole series new covers.Then today, I ventured into the same store that got me into this mess, to begin with, and…bought Dragon Age II. So, now I’m relying on that discipline, I misplaced at the start of June, to get me back on track.

At least, I’ve no plans of buying Inquisition. I don’t think my laptop would survive that one.