<–The State of the Writer: 2/20/22         The State of the Writer: 3/20/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

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Finished Projects: 1

• The Broken Rose Chapter 9 Artwork Update – 3/3/22

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Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count:  11,215
Prior Word Count: 11,228
Word Difference: -13
Status: Editing Chapter 1 and adding in macro edits from notes
Progress: Chapter 2

The word count went down because of the editing, and I’m already planning on cutting some more extraneous things out.  I know it’s weird to be editing when I just started drafting, but I’ve mentioned before I need to iron some things out prior to continuing.  I just can’t have it sitting “wrong” even though of course I’d fix it eventually.  I’m just like that lol.  If I know it’s wrong and it’s an integral part of the story, I have to fix it.

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Project: Story Audio Recording
Title: Northern Lights
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction
Length: Novel
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Status: Editing
Progress: Adding in sound effects

*sigh*  So I’ve spent the past two weeks yelling at Past TSN #lolsob.  She decided it wouldn’t behoove her to note the sound effects used at the end of Chapter 1 during the “True Colors” by Kesha part.  Why she thought this information wouldn’t be necessary, I’ll never know, but what this means for Current and Future TSN is she has to listen to the sound effects in the finished recording and try to match them against what she has saved on her computer or in her Epidemic playlists, so yeah…I’m tired.  I want to reuse some of these sounds in order to create a sort of thematic consistency, if that makes any sense.  Like there’s this scratching noise that runs throughout the narrative, and I want to have the same sound to match.  I’m also thinking about associating certain sounds with the gleam/light in his eyes, so yeah…and of course I might change my mind at any time and decide “Nah, this is too ridiculous,” but I want to have the possibility of such options out there.  So I’m currently in Chapter 1 adding in the notes I should’ve done before.  Goddamn you Past TSN!

At least the voice effect I have for Sephiroth is easy to add in, and I do have to give Past TSN props for writing out clear instructions on that.

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Project: Research & Essay Organization
Status: Organizing Essay Notes
Progress: Working through notes for FFVII & ASOIAF comparative essays

It took me longer than I’d like to admit to find the images I wanted for this, but that doesn’t even compare to how it took me til today to realize that Pixlr does still have a collage option, I just couldn’t find it for, oh, OVER A YEAR 🤦🏾‍♀️  Granted I don’t know what they hell they mean by “simple collages” since the ones closest to the top are anything but simple, and you have to scroll down to find a template like the one I used above.  Just…two pictures on top of each other or side by side.  Well I know now so that’s good.

I’ve been wanting to do this organization for a long time, because the itch to start these essays proper really needs to be scratched, but I’m fighting two opposing forces: the one that tells me I haven’t done enough research to do so, and the other saying that I’ve either done enough or could curate what I’m researching to speed things along.  At the very least I can start organizing things because I’ve just been throwing notes together for the past decade, so things are…a…bit…messy.  As always, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing and could change up my battle tactics as I go along, but I’m making progress of sorts, consolidating things, and figuring out my next steps.  The ultimate goal is to publish these both digitally and physically.  Even though that’s years in the making, the foundation for it has to start now.

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Project: Author Website
Status: Free Trial Expired
Progress: Saved tutorial videos and planning to buy

I need to re-purchase the website before I can do any updates to it.  After the free trial expires that’s pretty much all you can do, and I needed way more than two weeks to figure out how to create this.  I’m sure some people could do it in that time, but I just wasn’t able to.  I think you can request an extension, but  I don’t know if that’ll fly after it’s expired.  It’s around $275 a year for the sub I want, which isn’t terrible, but it’s not an insignificant figure I can just throw around on a whim, so I’m planning when I’ll do it.  I have it on my list to do so in two weeks, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to get the majority of the site done that weekend.

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In Progress

• Game Reviews: Final Fantasy VI – Still in the midst of the story analysis.  I’ve been doing a lot of editing here (obviously).  One of the biggest balances is how much to compare things to other Final Fantasies (especially VII) when I’m planning on focusing on that in separate essays anyway.
• Yearly Posts: The Books of 2021 – I’m still plugging away at this.  I’ve made some progress, but it seems I lied about having it done before the first March update, oh well lol.
• Book Reviews: A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings) – I definitely need to start organizing my reviews before I do them, because I did that with this, and it’s so much easier to work on.  Obviously, it still takes work and concentration, but I’m not flipping between different places to figure out where/how to fit things in.

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Holy shit this update took a while!  I guess that’s what happens when you add things in.  I have more stuff I’m working on in the background that I still haven’t posted here, but what author doesn’t?  

I’ve been watching this show called Manifest, which is about a plane that took off in 2013 but didn’t land until 2018.  It’s…more than what I expected.  Like they aren’t revealing what happened easily, and things just get more and more complicated.  There are three seasons with a fourth planned so there’s still more story to go.  I’m fond of the multiple meanings of the title.  Some of the passengers have strange “powers.”  They have what they refer to as “callings,” which allows them to see future events or even through the eyes of other people.  Then there’s the interconnectivity angle.  It’s definitely something that keeps me coming back even if some of the characters annoy me a bit lol.

Anyway I’ve spent enough time on this.  I have more stuff on my to list.

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<–The State of the Writer: 2/20/22         The State of the Writer: 3/20/22–>