C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 121
February 20, 2018
Ingress: Today’s New Medal—Onyx Trekker
I finally walked my 2,500th Ingress kilometre, today. I would probably have walked it sooner, but… pokemon. And now, because I play these games side-by-side, I can focus my walking on MORE pokemon, even as I try to level up my other ingress medals.
ALL the fun, right?
It’s time to move.
ALL the fun, right?
It’s time to move.
PokemonGo: Today’s Hatchlings & New Pokemon
I think I forgot to mention yesterday’s hatchling and new pokemon. That’s okay, I’ll put them in the end of month round-up, rather than spam you here.
TODAY, on the other hand, I managed to hatch TWO pokemon: a torchic—which I’m happy to see because I’m working towards being to evolve a blaziken— and a bagon—which is a brand new pokemon for me. Torchic came from a 5k egg, and bagon hatched out of a 10k egg. It’s been a busy couple of days of walking.
Finally, to top it off, I managed to catch enough surskit to evolve a masquerain, making it a good day's hunting overall.
TODAY, on the other hand, I managed to hatch TWO pokemon: a torchic—which I’m happy to see because I’m working towards being to evolve a blaziken— and a bagon—which is a brand new pokemon for me. Torchic came from a 5k egg, and bagon hatched out of a 10k egg. It’s been a busy couple of days of walking.
Finally, to top it off, I managed to catch enough surskit to evolve a masquerain, making it a good day's hunting overall.
February 19, 2018
Ingress: Tactics—Why Smash and Leave?
Ingress is an outdoor, augmented reality game, with strategic and tactical elements. Kind of like chess where everyone’s having their turn at once, or a game of Capture the Flag, if there were multiple flags and the field was world-wide and the teams unlimited in their numbers with everyone kinda doing their own thing within a team framework. Anyway, I find it fun, and I’m always taking note of what the other side is doing so I can learn new tricks… and then undo it. Right? Cos that’s the game.
Anyway, way back in July, I noticed a continued pattern from the local greens (and one I see in some of the local blues, too, but not as many), and I’m seeing it not just the established players, but some of the newer ones to the area, as well. They’ll come in and smash a field, or a portal, but they won’t capture it, or, if they do capture it, they put a single resonator on it. It used to drive me crazy, because I couldn’t make sense of it - and then I found some Real Life constraints where it made sense.
Anyway, I looked at it over the last few months, and I still don’t get why it's such a common tactic, so I tried to figure out where the gain was, because I just can’t see it. If you break the smash-and-leave/minimal-deploy down into pros and cons, the results look a little like this:
Pros for smashing and leaving (or minimal capture):
It denies the other team AP for smashing one of your team’s portals;It denies the other team AP for taking down your team’s links;It denies the other team AP for taking down your team’s fields;It leaves the portal an easy capture for members of your team who might need to add it to their unique portal count;It conserves your resources (power cubes, resonators, & mods);It reduces the amount of time you need to spend in one area;It gives you a fair amount of AP for minimal effort;It enables you to advance your Purifier medal;It reduces the amount of points the opposing team gains from smashing at the end of each cycle;It allows you to help out a team-mate when you don’t have a lot of time;It enables you to deny the enemy an asset when you don’t have time to do more;You can do it from the bus or as a car passenger as you go past; It lets you do something when you have a ton of other commitments and are fitting your Ingress in around the rest of your life.
Cons for smashing and leaving (or minimal capture)
It leaves the portals vulnerable to enemy capture;It makes it easy for the opposing team to gain points for portal capture;It minimises the expenditure of resources the opposing team has to make in order to capture portal;It denies you the AP for portal capture (which is more than for portal destruction);It denies you the AP for creating links (which is more than for just smashing links);It denies you the AP for creating fields (which is more than for just smashing fields;It denies you the AP for resonator deployment (which is more than for destroying them, especially deploying the first and last resonators on a portal);It denies you the AP for mod deployment;It reduces the AP you earn from visiting an area by almost two thirds;It slows your ability to gain AP and thus level faster;It prevents you from making advances on your Mind Controller medal;It prevents you from making advances on your Connector medal;It prevents you from making advances on your Builder medal;It prevents you from making advances on your Engineer medal;It prevents you from making advances on your Illuminator medal;If you leave the portals white, it prevents you from making advances on your Liberator medal;It prevents you from creating links that would hinder the other team’s ability to do so;If you are glyph hacking, it puts you at risk of filling your resources-carried quota, reducing your ability to hack, maintain your hacking streak, and gain AP from hacking;It significantly reduces the number of points your team gains at the end of each cycle;It makes it easier for the opposing team to rebuild the damage before the end of the cycle, and not lose points from your efforts;If you deploy only one resonator, it means your fellow team members cannot make a unique capture if they are in the area;If you do not capture and fully deploy the portal you deny your fellow team members the ability to make links of opportunity to portals they might have keys to, thus denying your team incidental opportunities to boost the score for the cycle.
Brief Analysis:
Looking at the pros and cons I still can’t see much of a gain for smashing and leaving, or smashing and minimal capture, unless you are pressed for time and this is all you are able to do. Otherwise, the team benefits are less for smashing-and-leaving than they are for smashing-and-fielding, leaving the team score much reduced at the end of each cycle. (And this could go a long way to explaining why the Resistance in our area have won so many cycles in a row.)
Beyond the team disadvantages, there are the individual disadvantages for not fielding after you’ve gone to all the trouble of taking down an enemy field—I mean, why, unless you were already L16, or have to get to work on time, would you not make all the AP you could from fielding the area? After all, if the other team can do it, it’s not impossible, right? And then, even if you wereL16, why would you not either advance your team’s score in the cycle, ortake the opportunity to work towards your onyx in a medal you don’t have? Failing that, why make it easy for the opposition by leaving them a field of instant captures?
Even breaking down the pros and cons for this style of play, I’m still not seeing the advantage of smashing and leaving, unless you’re pushed for time and want to help out a team mate, or are just doing what you can in a busy Life schedule – in which case it does make absolutely, perfect sense.
Final Comment:
In early September 2017, I made almost a million AP in 5 days of micro-fielding. If I’d had to stop to take down fields that had been put up in place of the one I’d built, my rate of progress would have been much slower, and I might have run out of the power cubes I needed to maintain my advance, as well as the weapons I needed to clear a path to expand on what I’d built. Granted, I would have made an additional third of AP on each area, but I don’t believe I’d have been able to do anywhere near as much fielding, if I'd had to smash, simply because I'd have been out of energy before I was done.
February 18, 2018
PokemonGo: Daily Hatchling & Today's New Pokemon
One of February's pokemongo goals was to hatch an egg every day. I've missed posting the others (although I have missed a day due to a back injury), but here's today's new hatchling, a pretty little aron, and, just because I don't want to spam you all with pokemon posts, beside him is volbeat, caught for the first time, today:
Progress Report: February 11-17, 2018
The week just gone went well, although it ended with a back injury because I didn't go for proper walks for the duration. On the upside, I completed
Mack 'n' Me: Origins
the first book of the Mack 'n' Me 'n' Odyssey series, and almost finished a short story that came about as a result of that, as well as discovering the seed for a fourth book in that series.
Progress Overview: February 11-17, 2018New words produced: 22,894Outlines and Notes: 3,580Words compiled: 4,215Works completed: 1 ( Mack 'n' Me: Origins ) Works edited: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works released: 0 Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 0Hours at Desk —February 11-17: 35 hours 55 minutes Hours at Desk —February 4-10: 48 hours 21 minutesHours at Desk—January 28-February 3: 27 hours 39 minutes
January Hours at Desk: 180 hours 3 minute
Goal Progress
Publish Fortnightly: Weekly pre-releases have already been uploaded to the beginning of March, 2018. Stories have been written to cover the release schedule to the first week of March 2018, and the second release for that month is in the process of being written. This goal is currently on track.
Short Story/Month Goal: So far, the short story, Memory's Vampire , has been uploaded for March 2018, and stories have been written, but not yet published, for April through to June, 2018: Dreams of the Serpent, Destiny’s Queen, and Harper’s Choice . The seventh short story River’s Edge is still in progress. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: May 2018: April 2018:
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Chapter Book/Month Goal: So far, one chapter book, In Full Flight , has been released for January, February’s chapter book Granny Finds a Gas Mask is available on pre-order, and March’s chapter book has been started. This goal is currently on track.
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Novel/Quarter Goal: So far, I have released 1 young-adult novel for Quarter 1, A Planet’s Ransom , and finished Mack 'n' Me: Origins for the second quarter. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: January 2018:
Publishing 12-Months Ahead Goal: I am altering this goal to writing 12-months ahead and publishing 1-month ahead. The writing schedule is in place, but I have yet to catch up with the publishing goal.
Finishing-Series-I-Have-Started Goal: At the start of the year, I named several series that I wanted to advance. For C.M. Simpson, these were the: Freeman, The Priestess, the Prince & Dragon, Aggie & Tams series; and for Carlie Simonsen they were the: Wings and Tag Man One series. So far, I have released In Full Flight , for the Wings series, and am in the process of writing the third book for the Dear Tiger series. This goal is on track.
Finishing-Novels-Started-2017 Goal: At the start of the year I said I wanted to finish some novels started last year.
On January 9, 2018, I returned to the novel I had tentatively titled Mack ‘n’ Me , and had to retitle the work I'd done on it to Blaedergil's Host . It turns out that the novel I started is an entirely new story, and the first in the series, predating the flash fiction already set in the universe. It has been completed, and re-titled: Mack 'n' Me: Origins . The third novel is still titled Arach. I forgot about the second book in the Aggie & Tams series, and the second book in The Priestess, Prince & the Dragon series. I am currently 50,000 words in to writing Mack ‘n’ Me , which is now slated for release in the second quarter.
Anthology Challenge ProgressThe Anthology Challenge is to release one collection of short work each month in 2019. When I began this challenge, I had completed four collections, but had to compile, cover, edit and upload any. The current status for each collection is as follows:
January—Short Work for 2017, Volume 1: Completed and collated at 98,000 words, requires cover, front and end matter, editing, formatting and publication;
February—Short Work for 2017, Volume 2: Completed, requires collation editing, and publication;March—Tales from Odyssey: 79,824/90,000 words;
April—An Anthology of Bloodlines: 46,510/90,000 words;May—Pixie-Dust Dreaming: 53,020/90,000 words;
June—The Story-Match Challenge 2015:Completed at 102,655 words, requires collation, editing, and publication;
July—The Story-A-Week Catch-Up Collection:Completed and compiled at 96,700 words, this still requires a permanent cover, formatting, editing and publication;
August—Another Anthology of Dragons: 43,311/90,000 words;
September—Tales from When the Trolls Came: 21,815/90,000 words;
October—Stories from the Lizardine: 31,493/90,000 words;
November—Tales from Tallameera: 19,902/90,000 words; and
December—Another 366 Days of Poetry: 0/90,000 words.
Extension—Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction: 0/90,000 words.
Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge ProgressThe Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge is to release one collection of chapter books each month in 2020. When I began this challenge, I had not completed any of the proposed collections. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Wings: 3 of 4 proposed volumes completed; existing stories compiled with updated front and back matter;
February—Rocky: previously known as the Otherworld series; 5 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
March—Wheelchair Romance: currently included in the Wheelchair Adventures series; 3 of 4 proposed of volumes completed;
April—Granny Finds Adventures: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed, but overviews are completed for the first three, and writing has commenced on the second volume.
May—Tag Man One: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
June—Long Hair Collected: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
July—Ribbondrake Riders: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
August—On Patrol Collection: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
September—Running with the Pack: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
October—Traveller’s Tales: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
November—Marcus Drain’s Collected Adventures; 0 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
December—The Dear Tiger Letters: 2 of 5 proposed volumes completed. The third volume of the series is currently being written.
Goals for February 18-24, 2018 This weeks goals are to complete the following: Dear Tiger: Don' t Look Back Dear Tiger: I Like Your Lab Granny Finds a Gatling Gun 14 x flash fiction14 x poems
Progress Overview: February 11-17, 2018New words produced: 22,894Outlines and Notes: 3,580Words compiled: 4,215Works completed: 1 ( Mack 'n' Me: Origins ) Works edited: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works released: 0 Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 0Hours at Desk —February 11-17: 35 hours 55 minutes Hours at Desk —February 4-10: 48 hours 21 minutesHours at Desk—January 28-February 3: 27 hours 39 minutes
January Hours at Desk: 180 hours 3 minute
Goal Progress
Publish Fortnightly: Weekly pre-releases have already been uploaded to the beginning of March, 2018. Stories have been written to cover the release schedule to the first week of March 2018, and the second release for that month is in the process of being written. This goal is currently on track.
Short Story/Month Goal: So far, the short story, Memory's Vampire , has been uploaded for March 2018, and stories have been written, but not yet published, for April through to June, 2018: Dreams of the Serpent, Destiny’s Queen, and Harper’s Choice . The seventh short story River’s Edge is still in progress. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: May 2018: April 2018:
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Chapter Book/Month Goal: So far, one chapter book, In Full Flight , has been released for January, February’s chapter book Granny Finds a Gas Mask is available on pre-order, and March’s chapter book has been started. This goal is currently on track.
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Novel/Quarter Goal: So far, I have released 1 young-adult novel for Quarter 1, A Planet’s Ransom , and finished Mack 'n' Me: Origins for the second quarter. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: January 2018:
Publishing 12-Months Ahead Goal: I am altering this goal to writing 12-months ahead and publishing 1-month ahead. The writing schedule is in place, but I have yet to catch up with the publishing goal.
Finishing-Series-I-Have-Started Goal: At the start of the year, I named several series that I wanted to advance. For C.M. Simpson, these were the: Freeman, The Priestess, the Prince & Dragon, Aggie & Tams series; and for Carlie Simonsen they were the: Wings and Tag Man One series. So far, I have released In Full Flight , for the Wings series, and am in the process of writing the third book for the Dear Tiger series. This goal is on track.
Finishing-Novels-Started-2017 Goal: At the start of the year I said I wanted to finish some novels started last year.
On January 9, 2018, I returned to the novel I had tentatively titled Mack ‘n’ Me , and had to retitle the work I'd done on it to Blaedergil's Host . It turns out that the novel I started is an entirely new story, and the first in the series, predating the flash fiction already set in the universe. It has been completed, and re-titled: Mack 'n' Me: Origins . The third novel is still titled Arach. I forgot about the second book in the Aggie & Tams series, and the second book in The Priestess, Prince & the Dragon series. I am currently 50,000 words in to writing Mack ‘n’ Me , which is now slated for release in the second quarter.
Anthology Challenge ProgressThe Anthology Challenge is to release one collection of short work each month in 2019. When I began this challenge, I had completed four collections, but had to compile, cover, edit and upload any. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Short Work for 2017, Volume 1: Completed and collated at 98,000 words, requires cover, front and end matter, editing, formatting and publication;
February—Short Work for 2017, Volume 2: Completed, requires collation editing, and publication;March—Tales from Odyssey: 79,824/90,000 words;
April—An Anthology of Bloodlines: 46,510/90,000 words;May—Pixie-Dust Dreaming: 53,020/90,000 words;
June—The Story-Match Challenge 2015:Completed at 102,655 words, requires collation, editing, and publication;
July—The Story-A-Week Catch-Up Collection:Completed and compiled at 96,700 words, this still requires a permanent cover, formatting, editing and publication;
August—Another Anthology of Dragons: 43,311/90,000 words;
September—Tales from When the Trolls Came: 21,815/90,000 words;
October—Stories from the Lizardine: 31,493/90,000 words;
November—Tales from Tallameera: 19,902/90,000 words; and
December—Another 366 Days of Poetry: 0/90,000 words.
Extension—Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction: 0/90,000 words.
Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge ProgressThe Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge is to release one collection of chapter books each month in 2020. When I began this challenge, I had not completed any of the proposed collections. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Wings: 3 of 4 proposed volumes completed; existing stories compiled with updated front and back matter;
February—Rocky: previously known as the Otherworld series; 5 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
March—Wheelchair Romance: currently included in the Wheelchair Adventures series; 3 of 4 proposed of volumes completed;
April—Granny Finds Adventures: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed, but overviews are completed for the first three, and writing has commenced on the second volume.
May—Tag Man One: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
June—Long Hair Collected: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
July—Ribbondrake Riders: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
August—On Patrol Collection: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
September—Running with the Pack: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
October—Traveller’s Tales: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
November—Marcus Drain’s Collected Adventures; 0 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
December—The Dear Tiger Letters: 2 of 5 proposed volumes completed. The third volume of the series is currently being written.
Goals for February 18-24, 2018 This weeks goals are to complete the following: Dear Tiger: Don' t Look Back Dear Tiger: I Like Your Lab Granny Finds a Gatling Gun 14 x flash fiction14 x poems
In the Scanner: The Ingress-PokemonGo Crossover
I play both Ingress and PokemonGo. They brighten up my walk, give me an incentive to get out and about (although, some days, that incentive is stronger than others), and help me break the cycle of negative thought that was helping perpetuate depression. There’s nothing like having to think strategically, or identify what that buzz was and if you’re going to catch it to nudge you out an unhealthy thought cycle, even temporarily.
So, in jumping back and forth between games at regular intervals, I noticed that where there were patches of xm on the Ingress scanner, there were usually pokemon that hadn’t shown up on the radar in the pokemon scanner. Cool, right?
Check this out. No pokemon near the local stop… and the closest one’s you can see in the scanner are for a stop that’s a couple of hundred metres away. Not a pokemon in sight, but Ingress shows this bubble of xm a short way up the walking path.
The first time, I walked up this path, I didn’t have Ingress running; I was just hoping there might be pokemon I couldn't see. And there were! After I’d noticed the correlation between xm and pokemon appearances, I thought I’d check out the theory that where pokemon gather in their reality, xm gathers in the Ingress reality, and I went back to this spot, and actually looked at it in Ingress.
At first I thought it was a bit of a coincidence, that there’d be nothing really connecting these two things, so I spent a few months checking it out, and it held… Well, for at least 80% of the time, and it makes things interesting. Now, if I’m walking a path with a while to go before the next portal, I remember to pay attention, because I know that where there’s a patch of xm haze , I might just want to flip to my other reality, and check it for the pokemon who’ve come creeping through the cracks from their universe into ours.
Going back to the example above, there are pokemon right where the xm has gathered. I was going to say to take a look at the third picture and the extra pokemon because there's no xm there, but, when I look back at the xm picture, there's the tiniest couple of specks of xm about where the pokemon is sitting, so my attempt to disprove the theory fails, right there - but you should know that it doesn't hold true all the time, just a lot of the time, okay?
In my head, I know there’s a technical explanation for it, something shared in the underlying code. Whatever – not my field. I’m a writer; I make up imaginary worlds and then make up an explanation for them, and I prefer to think of this weird coincidence this way. There are elements in our world, our real world (not code – shutup you pragmatic realists, okay? Let the rest of us have our fantasy We know it isn’t real, but everyone likes to dream.)
Anyway, the fantasy goes a bit like this: where the worlds of Ingress and PokemonGo touch on ours, where that influence, whether it be magical or energy-based, seeps through, those points coincide, and we see it reflected in our scanners. It’s how we recharge our xm in Ingress, and, in PokemonGo, it’s where we can usually find pokemon, away from a stop or gym.
This might not be how it actually works, either in the real, or the imagined worlds, but I can’t help wondering what it’s going to mean for Wizards Unite.
So, in jumping back and forth between games at regular intervals, I noticed that where there were patches of xm on the Ingress scanner, there were usually pokemon that hadn’t shown up on the radar in the pokemon scanner. Cool, right?
Check this out. No pokemon near the local stop… and the closest one’s you can see in the scanner are for a stop that’s a couple of hundred metres away. Not a pokemon in sight, but Ingress shows this bubble of xm a short way up the walking path.
The first time, I walked up this path, I didn’t have Ingress running; I was just hoping there might be pokemon I couldn't see. And there were! After I’d noticed the correlation between xm and pokemon appearances, I thought I’d check out the theory that where pokemon gather in their reality, xm gathers in the Ingress reality, and I went back to this spot, and actually looked at it in Ingress.
At first I thought it was a bit of a coincidence, that there’d be nothing really connecting these two things, so I spent a few months checking it out, and it held… Well, for at least 80% of the time, and it makes things interesting. Now, if I’m walking a path with a while to go before the next portal, I remember to pay attention, because I know that where there’s a patch of xm haze , I might just want to flip to my other reality, and check it for the pokemon who’ve come creeping through the cracks from their universe into ours.
Going back to the example above, there are pokemon right where the xm has gathered. I was going to say to take a look at the third picture and the extra pokemon because there's no xm there, but, when I look back at the xm picture, there's the tiniest couple of specks of xm about where the pokemon is sitting, so my attempt to disprove the theory fails, right there - but you should know that it doesn't hold true all the time, just a lot of the time, okay?
In my head, I know there’s a technical explanation for it, something shared in the underlying code. Whatever – not my field. I’m a writer; I make up imaginary worlds and then make up an explanation for them, and I prefer to think of this weird coincidence this way. There are elements in our world, our real world (not code – shutup you pragmatic realists, okay? Let the rest of us have our fantasy We know it isn’t real, but everyone likes to dream.)
Anyway, the fantasy goes a bit like this: where the worlds of Ingress and PokemonGo touch on ours, where that influence, whether it be magical or energy-based, seeps through, those points coincide, and we see it reflected in our scanners. It’s how we recharge our xm in Ingress, and, in PokemonGo, it’s where we can usually find pokemon, away from a stop or gym.
This might not be how it actually works, either in the real, or the imagined worlds, but I can’t help wondering what it’s going to mean for Wizards Unite.
New Cover: C.M. Simpson: Short Work from 2017, Volume 1 (Fantasy & Urban Fantasy)
The cover for the first anthology to be released next year has now been finalised. It combines elements from the fantasy and urban fantasy short story covers published in 2017. This volume will be released January 27, 2019, and will be available for pre-order in December 2018.
February 17, 2018
Progress Report: February 4-10, 2018
School went back this week, and the sun came up later, so my routine changed quite a bit. This didn't stop things from getting done, though. Here's how we went.
Progress Overview: February 4-10, 2018New words produced: 26,957Outlines and Notes: 2,877Words compiled: 0Works completed: 0 Works edited: 1 ( Memory's Vampire )Covers created: 0Works published: 3 ( Memory's Vampire )Works released: 0 Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 5,402Hours at Desk —February 4-10: 48 hours 21 minutesHours at Desk—January 28-February 3: 27 hours 39 minutes
January Hours at Desk: 180 hours 3 minute
Goal Progress
Publish Fortnightly: Weekly pre-releases have already been uploaded to the beginning of March, 2018. Stories have been written to cover the release schedule to the first week of March 2018, and the second release for that month is in the process of being written. This goal is currently on track.
Short Story/Month Goal: So far, the short story, Memory's Vampire , has been uploaded for March 2018, and stories have been written, but not yet published, for April through to June, 2018: Dreams of the Serpent, Destiny’s Queen, and Harper’s Choice . The seventh short story River’s Edge is still in progress. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: May 2018: April 2018:
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Chapter Book/Month Goal: So far, one chapter book, In Full Flight , has been released for January, February’s chapter book Granny Finds a Gas Mask is available on pre-order, and March’s chapter book has been started. This goal is currently on track.
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Novel/Quarter Goal: So far, I have released 1 young-adult novel for Quarter 1, A Planet’s Ransom , and finished Mack 'n' Me: Origins for the second quarter. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: January 2018:
Publishing 12-Months Ahead Goal: I am altering this goal to writing 12-months ahead and publishing 1-month ahead. The writing schedule is in place, but I have yet to catch up with the publishing goal.
Finishing-Series-I-Have-Started Goal: At the start of the year, I named several series that I wanted to advance. For C.M. Simpson, these were the: Freeman, The Priestess, the Prince & Dragon, Aggie & Tams series; and for Carlie Simonsen they were the: Wings and Tag Man One series. So far, I have released In Full Flight , for the Wings series, and am in the process of writing the third book for the Dear Tiger series. This goal is on track.
Finishing-Novels-Started-2017 Goal: At the start of the year I said I wanted to finish some novels started last year.
On January 9, 2018, I returned to the novel I had tentatively titled Mack ‘n’ Me , and had to retitle the work I'd done on it to Blaedergil's Host . It turns out that the novel I started is an entirely new story, and the first in the series, predating the flash fiction already set in the universe. It has been completed, and re-titled: Mack 'n' Me: Origins . The third novel is still titled Arach. I forgot about the second book in the Aggie & Tams series, and the second book in The Priestess, Prince & the Dragon series. I am currently 50,000 words in to writing Mack ‘n’ Me , which is now slated for release in the second quarter.
Anthology Challenge ProgressThe Anthology Challenge is to release one collection of short work each month in 2019. When I began this challenge, I had completed four collections, but had to compile, cover, edit and upload any. The current status for each collection is as follows:
January—Short Work for 2017, Volume 1: Completed and collated at 98,000 words, requires cover, front and end matter, editing, formatting and publication;
February—Short Work for 2017, Volume 2: Completed, requires collation editing, and publication;March—Tales from Odyssey: 79,824/90,000 words;
April—An Anthology of Bloodlines: 46,510/90,000 words;May—Pixie-Dust Dreaming: 53,020/90,000 words;
June—The Story-Match Challenge 2015:Completed at 102,655 words, requires collation, editing, and publication;
July—The Story-A-Week Catch-Up Collection:Completed and compiled at 96,700 words, this still requires a permanent cover, formatting, editing and publication;
August—Another Anthology of Dragons: 43,311/90,000 words;
September—Tales from When the Trolls Came: 21,815/90,000 words;
October—Stories from the Lizardine: 31,493/90,000 words;
November—Tales from Tallameera: 19,902/90,000 words; and
December—Another 366 Days of Poetry: 0/90,000 words.
Extension—Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction: 0/90,000 words.
Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge ProgressThe Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge is to release one collection of chapter books each month in 2020. When I began this challenge, I had not completed any of the proposed collections. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Wings: 3 of 4 proposed volumes completed; existing stories compiled with updated front and back matter;
February—Rocky: previously known as the Otherworld series; 5 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
March—Wheelchair Romance: currently included in the Wheelchair Adventures series; 3 of 4 proposed of volumes completed;
April—Granny Finds Adventures: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed, but overviews are completed for the first three, and writing has commenced on the second volume.
May—Tag Man One: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
June—Long Hair Collected: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
July—Ribbondrake Riders: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
August—On Patrol Collection: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
September—Running with the Pack: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
October—Traveller’s Tales: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
November—Marcus Drain’s Collected Adventures; 0 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
December—The Dear Tiger Letters: 2 of 5 proposed volumes completed. The third volume of the series is currently being written.
Progress Overview: February 4-10, 2018New words produced: 26,957Outlines and Notes: 2,877Words compiled: 0Works completed: 0 Works edited: 1 ( Memory's Vampire )Covers created: 0Works published: 3 ( Memory's Vampire )Works released: 0 Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 5,402Hours at Desk —February 4-10: 48 hours 21 minutesHours at Desk—January 28-February 3: 27 hours 39 minutes
January Hours at Desk: 180 hours 3 minute
Goal Progress
Publish Fortnightly: Weekly pre-releases have already been uploaded to the beginning of March, 2018. Stories have been written to cover the release schedule to the first week of March 2018, and the second release for that month is in the process of being written. This goal is currently on track.
Short Story/Month Goal: So far, the short story, Memory's Vampire , has been uploaded for March 2018, and stories have been written, but not yet published, for April through to June, 2018: Dreams of the Serpent, Destiny’s Queen, and Harper’s Choice . The seventh short story River’s Edge is still in progress. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: May 2018: April 2018:
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Chapter Book/Month Goal: So far, one chapter book, In Full Flight , has been released for January, February’s chapter book Granny Finds a Gas Mask is available on pre-order, and March’s chapter book has been started. This goal is currently on track.
March 2018: February 2018: January 2018:
Novel/Quarter Goal: So far, I have released 1 young-adult novel for Quarter 1, A Planet’s Ransom , and finished Mack 'n' Me: Origins for the second quarter. This goal is currently on track.
June 2018: January 2018:
Publishing 12-Months Ahead Goal: I am altering this goal to writing 12-months ahead and publishing 1-month ahead. The writing schedule is in place, but I have yet to catch up with the publishing goal.
Finishing-Series-I-Have-Started Goal: At the start of the year, I named several series that I wanted to advance. For C.M. Simpson, these were the: Freeman, The Priestess, the Prince & Dragon, Aggie & Tams series; and for Carlie Simonsen they were the: Wings and Tag Man One series. So far, I have released In Full Flight , for the Wings series, and am in the process of writing the third book for the Dear Tiger series. This goal is on track.
Finishing-Novels-Started-2017 Goal: At the start of the year I said I wanted to finish some novels started last year.
On January 9, 2018, I returned to the novel I had tentatively titled Mack ‘n’ Me , and had to retitle the work I'd done on it to Blaedergil's Host . It turns out that the novel I started is an entirely new story, and the first in the series, predating the flash fiction already set in the universe. It has been completed, and re-titled: Mack 'n' Me: Origins . The third novel is still titled Arach. I forgot about the second book in the Aggie & Tams series, and the second book in The Priestess, Prince & the Dragon series. I am currently 50,000 words in to writing Mack ‘n’ Me , which is now slated for release in the second quarter.
Anthology Challenge ProgressThe Anthology Challenge is to release one collection of short work each month in 2019. When I began this challenge, I had completed four collections, but had to compile, cover, edit and upload any. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Short Work for 2017, Volume 1: Completed and collated at 98,000 words, requires cover, front and end matter, editing, formatting and publication;
February—Short Work for 2017, Volume 2: Completed, requires collation editing, and publication;March—Tales from Odyssey: 79,824/90,000 words;
April—An Anthology of Bloodlines: 46,510/90,000 words;May—Pixie-Dust Dreaming: 53,020/90,000 words;
June—The Story-Match Challenge 2015:Completed at 102,655 words, requires collation, editing, and publication;
July—The Story-A-Week Catch-Up Collection:Completed and compiled at 96,700 words, this still requires a permanent cover, formatting, editing and publication;
August—Another Anthology of Dragons: 43,311/90,000 words;
September—Tales from When the Trolls Came: 21,815/90,000 words;
October—Stories from the Lizardine: 31,493/90,000 words;
November—Tales from Tallameera: 19,902/90,000 words; and
December—Another 366 Days of Poetry: 0/90,000 words.
Extension—Another 366 Days of Flash Fiction: 0/90,000 words.
Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge ProgressThe Chapter-Book-Collection Challenge is to release one collection of chapter books each month in 2020. When I began this challenge, I had not completed any of the proposed collections. The current status for each collection is as follows: January—Wings: 3 of 4 proposed volumes completed; existing stories compiled with updated front and back matter;
February—Rocky: previously known as the Otherworld series; 5 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
March—Wheelchair Romance: currently included in the Wheelchair Adventures series; 3 of 4 proposed of volumes completed;
April—Granny Finds Adventures: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed, but overviews are completed for the first three, and writing has commenced on the second volume.
May—Tag Man One: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
June—Long Hair Collected: 1 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
July—Ribbondrake Riders: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
August—On Patrol Collection: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
September—Running with the Pack: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
October—Traveller’s Tales: 1 of 4 proposed volumes completed;
November—Marcus Drain’s Collected Adventures; 0 of 6 proposed volumes completed;
December—The Dear Tiger Letters: 2 of 5 proposed volumes completed. The third volume of the series is currently being written.
Ingress: In-the-Scanner—Dropped Keys
This morning, when I checked in with Ingress, I noticed a key beside one of the local portals. Usually when you click on one of these there’s this little entry underneath to tell you what it’s a key for. Today, it was also accompanied by a picture of the portal to which it connects. Way cool, Ingress.
Just Released: Granny finds a Gas Mask
Woohoo! The first book in my new young adult science-fiction series, Granny Finds Adventure, is now out! You can find it on Smashwords, Amazon, and DriveThruFiction or via Smashwords and Draft2Digital distribution.
Helping Gran is a chore, but with her holding their mobile phones hostage, Gareth and Giselle have no choice. Unpacking boxes of books is no surprise. Unpacking the gas mask is—and so is finding themselves back in the war, in Gran’s war, because ‘some things are meant to be changed’. How on Earth, does Gran expect them to help with this? Better yet, how on Earth, can they get back home? Granny Finds a Gas Mask is the first book in a series where the things Granny finds lead to adventure, and Gareth and Giselle have to figure out how to get back to their own time and place.
Helping Gran is a chore, but with her holding their mobile phones hostage, Gareth and Giselle have no choice. Unpacking boxes of books is no surprise. Unpacking the gas mask is—and so is finding themselves back in the war, in Gran’s war, because ‘some things are meant to be changed’. How on Earth, does Gran expect them to help with this? Better yet, how on Earth, can they get back home? Granny Finds a Gas Mask is the first book in a series where the things Granny finds lead to adventure, and Gareth and Giselle have to figure out how to get back to their own time and place.
