C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 145

Writing Life: The Publishing Year So Far

Well, it hasn’t been a disaster, so that’s a plus, but I’m behind on showing the new covers and letting you know about the new releases or pre-releases, and I’m definitelybehind on my blog. I look back and see there was only one post in February, and none in March. My, things did get away from me, didn’t they?
I seem to have gotten up to showing the new covers but not the releases, and some of the new covers didn’t get covered at all. I’ll roll them up into a quick post, below.
JANUARY RELEASES
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FEBRUARY RELEASES























MARCH RELEASES

A Poem for Poetry Month: The False Gods’ Assassin

April is National Poetry Month in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It, and other poetry events can be found on the International Poetry Calendar on The Griffin Trust For Excellence in Poetry website.
I learned about Poetry Month last week, and meant to post a poem a day for the month, but time has gotten away from me, and I’m only returning to the idea now. Today’s poem is an ABC poem.
The False Gods’ Assassin
At last I get to see them,Bringing lightning from the sky,Calling all to come and see theDeities they’ve become.Each and every one of them,Forever and a day,Going about their business,Hearing prayers they want to hear, holding biased sway.In every part of their portfolio, aiding only those who pay,Just so-called gods and goddesses going about their day.“Keep coming,” I whisper,Looking to the sky.“Maybe you’ll get lucky.Now is the time you die.”One was never meant to live forever,Putting one above the mortal coil.Quickly I take aim and fire,Reeling from the harsh recoil,Seeking to move before the target falls,Trying to find another of these misguided felons. TheyUsed to be just normal men,Violence was their calling,Was until they found a way to cheat death, by dirty means,Xanthic turned their skins, now their eyes in darkness gleam.Yes, to bring them down is right.Zeroing in the god-slayers’ sights, I seek to end their sins.

Writing Life: Working Out the Work Schedule

Like a lot of writers, I have a lot on my plate. This year, in addition to being the primary carer of a child, and the main housekeeper, I am trying to maintain my publishing schedule, fill out the last third of that schedule, finish my university degree, and decide if I’m going to take a year to write before going back to work, find a job, or write full time. Right now, I’m not sure which way I’ll jump, but that last option is looking better as the year progresses.
I’ve tried to work out a schedule that will let me do all this, and I started by breaking down what I wanted to do, and allotting it to part of a daily schedule. It’s taken me a week to see just how badly this will not work. It’s not because allotting things to each day is a bad thing; it’s because I just don’t work like that. I work best in a block.
And this makes it difficult for me to break away to do things that must be done daily. Things like exercise and language practice. Those can’t be done in a once-a-week block; they have to be done on a daily basis. The problem with trying to do everything like that, is it takes me time to adjust between tasks. If I’m writing, I lose the flow. And same if I am publishing—and that is where mistakes creep in.
While I can work on multiple projects at a time, I actually need to work on them in two to three hour blocks, or set aside a particular day of the week for them. Until the week just gone, I didn’t realise just how strongly I needed to work that way, or how my productivity would drop if I did not. This week, I’m going to test working in blocks with only the necessary tasks done daily.
Next week, I’m going to see how well it holds out against the resumption of classes.

Update: Babes in London – No, I Can’t, But I Will

The Fireborn fan-fic adventure, Babes in London , is progressing, but it’s not going according to play and I’m going to have to rethink my approach. Turns out I can’t do 100 words a day. This is the progress so far, and what I’m going to try and do about it.
Progress for Week 1 (February 25 to March 3) was as follows:* find the manuscript;* find the adventure notes, and discover the outline was as complete as I'd hoped—right to the end;* find the rules books;* edit and touch up the Introduction and Overview, adding 220 words;* continue writing, and add a total of 550 words.
Progress for Week 2 (March 4 to March 10) was as follows:* go over the outline;* edit and touch up Act I;* edit and touch up Act II, Scenes 1-3, adding 226 words.
Progress for Week 3 (March 10 to March 17) was as follows:* Nil, the flu put me in bed for four days, and then I had a house inspection.
Progress for Week 4 (March 18 to March 24) was as follows:* Nil, I was still fluey, and had to catch up on missed classes, prep for this week’s classes, and prep for next week’s exams. No writing or publishing activities occurred here.
Progress for Week 5 (March 24 to March 31) was as follows:* Nil, I had four exams this week, and had to catch up the publishing schedule before writing could commence. I also had to start on the first essay due in three weeks’ time.
Progress for Week 6 (April 1 to April 7) was as follows:* Nil, as I tried to assess where I was at, what needed to be done, and the priority order. I have done that.
Decisions:* I’m not shelving this project, but I think I need to wait until my next university break before I try it again. At that time, I will ‘owe’ this project 8,024 words. I will devote 2,000 words a day to it for the first 5 days in June, and that will bring me back on schedule. With any luck, it will also see this project finalised by the end of June.* In the meantime, I will read over the rules and setting again, since reading can be fitted in around things that this piece of writing cannot.

Update: Babes in London

It’s happening, but it’s happening slow. Babes will be finished – most likely by year’s end. I will start to re-post the older sections here.

Why? Well, two reasons. The first is that it has haunted me since I saw the setting. Always. At first the magic of the Fireborn setting, and then the challenge of writing for it, and then, finally, the story that came to mind. Always the story. I want to see the end.
And, finally, Applemans, whose comments you will see on the previous posts. He, or she, is the second reason. Without Applemans, I would not have been able to even begin to justify the time to finish this story. I *might* have eventually made time for it, but it wouldn’t have been this year, as I have been veryfocussed on doing the “sensible” thing with university and my other writing. So, you need to thank Applemans for his, or her, encouragement, and polite insistence that the story had to be told to the end.
And so do I. Thank you, Applemans.
As to the rest? Well, I’m aiming for a minimum average of 100 words per day, and I’ve spent a week seeing what is possible with the university schedule that’s just kicked in. The 100 words average is possible. The per day is questionable. The probable outcome will be 700 to just over 1,000 words a week – and I’ll have to limit it to that, or other things that need finishing won’t be finished on time.
Lastly, this announcement was supposed to go out last week, but I wanted to see how much was possible, so it’s out today. This means that Fridays will be your day for Fireborn progress reports.
Remember, Babes in London is a fan-fic adventure. I don’t get paid for it, and I have no affiliation with, or contacts at Fantasy Flight Games that I’m aware of. This adventure is not sanctioned or endorsed by them. It is my own work, using their setting and background. To play it, you will need to purchase the Fireborn Player’s Handbook and Fireborn Gamemaster’s Handbook . I will not be providing you with any of the material those books contain, but I will be referencing it. It would also be a good idea for you to have the official introductory adventure for Fireborn: The Fire Within, as that contains stats and background material that you will find useful. These three books are available from DriveThruRPG .


Fireborn Gamemaster's Handbook Fireborn Players's Handbook

PokemonGo - Today's Badge: Backpacker Gold

I've been stepping up my walking lately. Going for more Ingress missions, and pokegoing as I go along. Today, I finally spun my 2000th pokestop, and hit gold with my Backpacker's medal. Cool beans. Not a bad day, then.

PokemonGo - Monster #117: Wigglytuff

Yesterday, I added another monster to the pokedex. This is the kind of Wigglytuff you get, if you don't power-up your Jigglypuff first. It's still very cute.

New Cover: The Magicians and the Silk Road

And here it is:

Hani is surprised when his wife joins him on the journey to barter for spider silk, moreso when she brings their children. Nothing, however, prepares him for what the children do when they meet the spider queen.

PokemonGo - Monsters #114-116: Kabutops, Vaporeon, and Gyrados

I went for a long walk, today. I needed a break. Tomorrow, it's back into it, again. As well as feeling a lot better for the walk, I managed to catch the following very cool fellow, near a local playground. Perhaps it was working out... Either way, I couldn't resist taking a few shots before throwing the pokeball - and I guess it just couldn't resist throwing a few poses.






















And then I evolved these guys. Yeah, I know... should have powered them up first.

PokemonGo - Pokedex Monster #113

This is the 113th addition to my pokedex, courtesy of evolution - a Weezing. This one is from a Koffing that wasn't powered up, and is part of an experiment, which I'll share in six or twelve months or so, when the data is in.