<–The State of the Writer: 9/3/17          The State of the Writer: 9/17/17–>

A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them.  This will include any and all work(s) in progress (WIP) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, or reviews of any type.

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Finished This Week: 2

Project: Essay
Title: The Unfinished Seventh – An FFVII Comparative Essay

I managed to revive and finish a project I hadn’t touched in about sixth months in order to post it on September 7, 2017, the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.  I worked on it for about eight hours straight on “due date” despite fatigue and brain fog standing in my way.  I was highly encouraged by posts on The Well-Red Mage’s and Cheap Boss Attack’s sites about Squeenix’s magnum opus, and I knew I had to finish so I could be counted amongst such great company.  It’s already generated some amazing discussions, and, like every essay, meta, or analysis I write, I learn a host of new things and am inspired with fresh ideas for later projects.  Feel free to give it a read if you’re interested in comparative analysis involving how Greek tragedy inspired numerous aspects of the FFVII narrative especially in regards to Sephiroth’s character arc!

Project: Book Review
Title: Stone & Iris
Author: Jonathan Ballagh

I’m making some headway on my mammoth book review pile, but I’d planned on reviewing one a day.  Ah the best laid plains…I’m at least happy I was able to get this review out there.  This brief story deserves all of the accolades and required two readings on the part of yours truly, which I’m not ashamed to admit.

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Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,408
Prior Word Count: 263,453
Word Difference: -2045
Status: Editing
Progress: First edit of Chapter 11

Hopefully, you’re not growing tired of feather pens.  I’ll probably keep this up throughout the first edit at least.  I’m cutting out a lot of words, as you can see from my word count above.  When I initially wrote it, I put in situations that would be better served elsewhere.  Since this is a letter chapter, I want it to be more about her thoughts/feelings and not necessarily more action based items.  But I also don’t want it to be boring and/or extraneous.  It’s a constant balancing act.

Quote: He’s never hurt me in any way, but his hands make me feel weaker.  It’s a different kind of weakness though, almost a sleepy one. 

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Project: Book Reviews
Title: Various
Status: Upcoming

I just added one book to the review pile this week: Abstract Clarity by B. W. Ginsburg, a fellow writer and blogger.  I’m working on the review for this one right now.

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Project: Game Review
Title: SOMA
Developer:  Frictional Games
Let’s Player: ChristopherOdd
Current Word Count: 4459
Prior Word Count: 3118
Word Difference: +1341
Status: Drafting

I am definitely making headway on this review.  I’m almost finished summarizing the story.   The last day I worked on it was Tuesday, but I got a little freaked out/scared when I was talking about the leviathan, which is actually a WAU mutated giant squid with the faces of its potential victims fused into its body *shudder*  Between that and the viperfish, which have the same, I needed a break from Body Horror, but didn’t have time the rest of the week to work on it.  I have to do it early enough in the day so that I have time to decompress from it and fill my mind with something else.  Also, I was trying to complete the FFVII essay I mentioned above.  This week SOMA will be my sole major writing project so I’m hopeful I’ll have it done before I return to work next Monday.

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Project: Vacation Essays, Reviews, Audio/Video, and Organization

Completed

• The Unfinished Seventh – An FFVII Essay
• Stone & Iris (Book Review)
• I Dare You Book Tag (Blogger Tags and Awards)
• Browser Bookmarks (Organization)
• Blog Enhancements and Updates – Front Page Banner (Organization)
• Audio/Video (Organization)

In-Progress

• Final Fantasy Character Assessments: Squall Leonhart – I figured out his Major Arcana.  That was the toughest part.  The rest is pretty easy (or so I hope)
• Blogger Tags and Awards – I finished one; only 12 more to go!
• Book Reviews – Like the Tags, I finished one with 20 more to go.
• Audio/Video – I did a test the other day using my review of Stone & Iris, since it (like the book) is short.  I need to do some research on how to improve the sound quality.  I have a Yeti microphone, which is considered the best in the business, but I’m of course an amateur.  It could be that I need to speak more into the microphone, but research/information is never useless!
• Blog Updates and Enhancements – I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’re reading this that I changed my blog’s theme.  I absolutely love it.  I think it fits with my aesthetic much more than the prior Penscratch, and even the blueish/greenish color for the links is just perfect.  That being said, there’s still a lot of work to do.  Since the theme is now different, many of the post banners need to be updated as well.  They either don’t entirely fit or where my header is covers up integral information.  I’m also going to upgrade to a paying blog more than likely this Friday so that I can make more changes I want.

I always end up overestimating what I can possibly accomplish in two weeks.  Even without my health issues, what I proposed last week would be a tall order o.O  One of my goals is not to beat myself up if I can’t finish everything I set out to do in the limited amount of time.  I know I’m doing my best in circumstances that aren’t always ideal.

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What are you currently working on?  Is it a creative writing project, essay, review, or something else?  Have you just started something new or are you wrapping up a long term project?

<–The State of the Writer: 9/3/17          The State of the Writer: 9/17/17–>

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