Richard Raley's Blog, page 5

Another Week Off?

Spine is, if not screaming, then still vigorously complaining.  I suppose this is a good sign from a certain point of view that this really is the area that's the main perpetrator and it's taking a bit longer to heal up.  But yeah, still bruised and swollen where they burnt the nerves out.  Pain and aching all down my left shoulder and around my neck too.  Woke up to a thirty minute intense cramp in my left foot today, that was fun.

So...no work getting done really.  Few days back I managed to hand edit a whole 8 pages of the last chapter (which is the only chapter still left in first draft state), but I've been paying the price ever since.  Just very gun-shy to push myself with more and think another week of FM and reading in bed is probably the smarted thing to do.  No matter how frustrated it makes me.

Read through the four Thursday Murder Club books, good fun if weak on the mystery aspect.  Septuagenarians solving murders from their retirement community if you haven't heard of it.  Turning it into a movie with Helen Mirren as the lead, should be fun.  Highly recommend Penguin if you haven't started it as well.  Don't even really need to be a comic book fan to enjoy it, I'd say.  It's once again made me realize how little time I have for even "good" television these days when we have so much "great" media swirling around.  Been struggling through quite a few shows the last month maybe forcing myself to ingest an episode a day and then devoured all four episodes of Penguin yesterday, and I can't wait for the next one.

Anyway, 3 paragraphs is about what I want to push myself to type at the moment, so here's hoping I have more productive news to report in a week or two.

Week Off

Burnination C4 to C7 left side tomorrow morning.  Be out of action for a week at least.  Got tried of note taking and worked on editing the first chapter of Seismic Semester the last couple days.  I think it's like...done.  Just don't see anything more I can do with it.  Nothing to add, did my subtraction edit.  It feels pretty tight.  Might be some typos I catch on the kindle or the beta readers notice, but...feels locked.  So one down and eleven to go.  Granted the first chapter is the shortest and simplest by a mile, because of course it is!

Regardless, it being done, I'll post it as a sample chapter later this month or early November along with the cover reveal.

Hope any of you in Florida are staying very safe.  Had some of my family dodge the worst of Helene in NC.  Not fun, not fun at all.

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.

First Draft Done

 Brain mush.

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).

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!

This was the Most Necessary, Stupidest Idea I've Ever Had

 This "readthrough" is killing me.  AKA massive note taking session.  Just hit 46 pages.  Two months and counting of homework.  Finished FM5.  I don't think I've done this much background work since I started writing the series.  Mostly because I'm addicted to writing and dislike all the other aspects of this profession...

It's been so needed for so long, but...and like I don't write a lot in the summer because of how ungodly hot Fresno gets, but...schedule also got imploded by spinal procedures and the root canal so it made since to do it now when I couldn't write much anyway, but...and I have pet peeves that have developed about my writing in the last few years, pet peeves I keep seeing OVER and OVER in these old novels and I'm just...it's only two words Richard, two completely unneeded words but like 99.9% of your fan base has never noticed you do it over and over, so why do you care, huh?

Pfff...

Going insane.

But needed.

All of this will be so useful heading forward.  Checking info will be so quicker.  I have a file now that is just a list of every mancer and when they attended the Asylum and historical events as they happened and who must have played who in the Winter War and who must have been a student-advisor here and everything is just categorized, nothing getting lost through the cracks.

Also, as far as writing Seismic Semester, with the way the pain was so overwhelming at times, I just didn't look things up like I used to.  Pain really limits your ability to handle multiple tasks.  Writing was hard enough.  The idea of sitting at a laptop and searching through old chapters seemed impossible.  So...I made mistakes that I'll need to fix or explain before it's released.  Got that all figured out now because of this.  Nothing that should need huge rewrites, but an extra sentence or paragraph of explanation definitely.  I actually did pretty good considering how fuzzy I was on the painkillers and muscle relaxers.  The biggest one is that the Camping Test in Seismic Semester is only one night long.  Cuz I forgot it was multiple nights in FM2.  But there's is a simple reason to explain the change away.  So all good.

Well...I have Three Little Trips, FM6, Dread Fortress, Goes Home, and Dilemma left to get through.  Spending two weeks on FM6 alone might send me to a real asylum, so...wish me luck.

Release on Seismic Semester is looking like Feb/March btw.  We aren't making November without a super rushed edit process (one I don't know my spine can handle) and I don't release during the holidays.  Cover is getting done as we speak!  Feels real with a cover!  It's alive!!!

Ultra Class 2015 Reveal

Have I done this yet?  I feel like I haven't done this yet.

If you want to go in completely blind, obviously SPOILERS and stay away.

I could possibly change one or two names before release, only this feels pretty locked.  It will appear at the start of the novel just so you have reference since there are so many kids.  The day-long introduction to the class takes up multiple sessions in Seismic Semester and is one of the most complicated things I've ever written.

On the whole, and I know this sounds like sacrilege, I think 2015 is more complex and interesting than 2009, which was very top heavy with a lot of empty names (granted one's I've slowly filled in and can fill in more!).  Having almost finished the novel, I definitely have a couple favorites.  One of which I was very much not expecting when I started...

Maxwell Lamont - Hydromancer

Francisco “Paco”Garcia - Necromancer

Olivia Root - Necromancer

Nile Kane - Pyromancer

Sahara Kane - Pyromancer

Juliette Maes-Welf - Aeromancer

Dat Bao Nguyen - Electromancer

Adeline Hyde - Electromancer

Makoto Ikazuchi - Electromancer

Valko Nenov - Sciomancer

Leah Townsend  - Sciomancer

Gavin Gullick - Spectromancer

Roshanara “Ra Ra”Davani - Spectromancer

Summer Atwell - Cryomancer

Agnar Magnuson - Cryomancer

Ella Diaz - Floromancer

Jackson Shaw - Floromancer

Reginald “Reggie” Pike - Floromancer

Connor Coney - Faunamancer

Sigrid Erikson - Faunamancer

Kailani Kalani - Faunamancer

Alessandria Espinoza - Faunamancer

Douglas Moseley - Mentimancer

Cicero Yates  - Mentimancer

Divjot Malik - Corpusmancer

Gabriella Harper - Corpusmancer

Tatiana Itani - Corpusmancer

Chris “Fucks PigsChris” Miller - Corpusmancer

Chris “Never Seen aDarkie Chris” Olson - Corpusmancer

Chris “Cursing Chris” Lee - Corpusmancer

August - Return to the Grindstone

Only two appointments this month and no procedures (assuming they don't surprise me with the RFAs instantly instead of October like I expect).  Yay!

Probably the hottest month in all of recorded human history.  Boo!

Back at working on the series, specifically the readthrough.  Halfway through FM4.  Just hit 100 on my numbered notes for that book alone.  Almost 20 pages all told.  I'm definitely paying for my past self's laziness on not already doing this.  The Great Asylum School Year file grows and grows as I insert every odd, random, casually mentioned student across the whole of the series.  Ideas for the upcoming books are flying in.  Ideas for callbacks as we wrap up the school story as well.

Like...in FM4 during the recruiting trip I mentioned a 14yo girl named Marybelle who was good at making prized jams and assumed to be an Ultra Floromancer.  It's a one off reference without any real impact on the story but...that means she's Class 2013.  Thus, 2015's competition in the Winter War.  So remembering these things are very important.

Just...busy.  12 hours each, the last couple days.  Super glad I've done this.  Though having Seismic Semester sit at 10k words from being first draft complete is an itch in need of a scratch, I will say.

We'll get there, we'll get there!

July/August Seismic Semester Tease

I caught sight of Max returning from the showersalready, towel thrown over his shoulders and flippered hands scrapping hisknees on account of his freakishly long wingspan.  “Hey, if Tat chases Juliette then you have mypermission to tackle her and hold her down until she comes to her senses.”

Max did not blanch.  Max blushed. Guessing he had more than a few dreams that started exactly like that.  “I’m…I’m not sure I can…she’s…a whole lot ofwoman…”

“Well, that whole lot of woman ain’t ever gonnalet you kiss her, much less do anything else with her, until you prove you’reher match, so think of this as practice. Just…you’ve seen what she can do to a soccer ball, so make sure youcross your legs.”

“Don’t say things like that out loud!”

“The ball thing or the kissing thing?”

“All of it!”

Taking at least a week off, maybe two.  Very beat up from all the dentist and medical procedures.  Also, it has been so stupidly hot in Fresno for so many days in a row that I can barely think at the moment.