Game Reviews

The Book Blogger Inside Tag

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 14 Comments

This is one of those “free to do” tags that I snagged from The Writing Hufflepuff.  We’ve been having some awesome vent-fests in her comments, and when I saw this, I figured it would give me an excuse to talk (more) about myself.   This is actually a tag from this month.  I’m caught up on all my old ones, but still keeping up with my schedule/to-do list.

Where do you typically write your blog posts?

Right here with my butt on the new sectional.  Before we had the new sectional, I wrote them on the old sectional.  I used to go into the bedroom to do any kind of writing work, but there’s no place to sit comfortably in there unless I set up my table and drag my husband’s gaming chair in.  It’s so much easier to just sit in the front room and pop on some headphones if the hubby is watching/playing something.

How long does it generally take you to write a book review?

It really depends on a number of factors.  If I loved the book and it was an in depth story, it could take me over a month to say everything I need to say.  If it’s a DNF (did not finish), those usually only take me one or two writing sessions to bang out (with the first one being the review set up), since it won’t take me too long to say why I gave up on it.  On average, it probably takes me two or three sessions to write a review, so a week?

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The State of the Writer: 5/20/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/22/18          The State of the Writer: 6/3/18–>

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

Finished Projects: 6

Book Reviews: Master of Crows by Grace Draven – 5/7/18
Tags: The WIP Tag – 5/8/18
Game Reviews: Paper Mario Color Splash – 5/10/18
Awards: Mystery Blogger Award #4 – 5/10/18
Book Reviews: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #1) – 5/16/18
Book Reviews: The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson – 5/19/18

It was a productive two weeks 🙂

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,336
Prior Word Count: 261,419
Word Difference: -83
Status: Revising
Progress: First edit of Chapter 5

Quill pen with shadowI made some good progress in these last two weeks and am currently halfway through the first edit of the 5th chapter (that is a lot of numbers).  I think once I finish this I’ll be able to continue with my regular editing and posting schedule…after I consult my checklist of course 😉

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The State of the Gamer: 4/17/18

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<–The State of the Gamer: 4/3/18            The State of the Gamer: 5/1/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I Played

Title: Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Series: Final Fantasy
System: Android (Kindle)

Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusThis counts as a “What I Played” in terms of I played it for maybe twenty minutes the other day.  I’d love to keep up with this daily since you’re given rewards every time you log on, and it would be easier to keep up with the story, but I just don’t.  There are still a bunch of characters I haven’t found yet, and I know this because on some of the expeditions you need to have a particular one, and alas, I do not.

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The State of the Writer: 1/28/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 1/14/18          The State of the Writer: 2/11/18–>

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

Finished Projects: 5

  1. Final Fantasy Type-0 Game Review – 1/16/18
  2. Top 20 Books of 2017 – 1/21/18
  3. The Scorpion Rules Book Review – 1/24/18
  4. Ori and the Blind Forest Game Review – 1/25/18
  5. Shadows on Snow Book Review – 1/27/18

It was a productive two weeks.  Yeah…I’m surprised, too.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,308
Prior Word Count: 259.474
Word Difference: +1834
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

I almost didn’t update this week, and that would really be a shame since I made some significant progress with my revisions.  I was able to integrate a huge chunk of my notes, and I believe I only have one or two more smaller ones to figure out, so I’ll be able to do a reedit with the new stuff soon.

Also, as much as I love Seph, I should be using more pictures of Aeris.  This is her story after all.  I mean she’s the titular character for Planet’s sake *hmph*

Cancelled

  • 2018 Gaming Plans – Not doing it.  I’d rather just do it instead of talking about it, savvy?

In Progress

  • Audio Recording – I meant to do this on Friday, but my voice hasn’t been cooperating.  I noticed when I stopped drinking coffee, it was better.  This is quite problematic, since coffee helps me…function.  It’s quite a dilemma.  I’ve significantly cut down on how much I drink, but I think it’s the milk/cream I put in it or my earl grey tea that does me in.  I’ll try to do the re-recording again this Tuesday.  There have been some other reasons it hasn’t happened, but those are more mental/personal.  It’s always something, isn’t it?  Suggestions are welcome.  I’ve tried tea with lemon and honey.  I actually like my speaking voice, not to be a…oh wait :p
  • Favorite Game Every Year I’ve Been Alive – Thank you iplayedthegame for reminding me I was working on this.  I don’t have a draft open on WP so I didn’t think about it.  I’ll think of a better title before I post it, but in an idea from The Well-Red Mage, it’s a project where you post your favorite games every year you’ve been alive (pretty self-explanatory from the title).  1980-1985 were the toughest in terms of finding games at all, but later years are challenging for other reasons.  Except for 1997.  No problems with that year at all 😉

Did I ask anything interesting last week?  I think it was just my standard closing statement, my…benediction as it were.  Of course I wish you all well and want to know what projects you’re working on!  This has been a rough week for me.  I haven’t been keeping up with my resolutions.  I didn’t update my Facebook fanpage for the second weekend in a row, though I did take some notes on what I will write, but that doesn’t satisfy the terms of the agreement.  Hearing about your accomplishments always gives me a boost though 🙂 ♥

<–The State of the Writer: 1/14/18          The State of the Writer: 2/11/18–>

The State of the Writer: 12/17/17

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 13 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/3/17          The State of the Writer: 12/31/17–>

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

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Game Review
Title: The Witch’s House

Date Posted: December 10, 2017

I’m concentrating on shorter, easier game reviews during the holidays (if I can even get to them), while I figure out how I’m going to organize and work on projects in the new year.  This was a terrifying watch for someone as jumpy as me, and even if you’re not a wuss puss like yours truly, the end of the game is going make your mind bend over backwards as you attempt to “what the fuck?!” your way out of the epic twist.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 259,206
Prior Word Count: 259,206
Word Difference: 0
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

Seph is patiently waiting.

The Great General should never be kept waiting, but hopefully he understands how busy the season of Advent is :p

As you can tell from my word count I made zero progress on any revisions.  Even with cutting down on how often I update and reading less books, the holiday season has stepped right into those empty time slots.  I’ve also been working later since overtime is available, because TSN needs that money.

I’m not sure how I’m going to fit in the revisions I want to do for this with the ones I want to do for my first original novel and working on my next one, but that’s why I’m planning on “time schedule” spreadsheets.  Spreadsheets will save the world.

Reviews

Project: Book Reviews
Title: Various
Status: Upcoming

Right before I wrote/posted this, I reorganized my book reviews.  I’m going to start reviewing graphic novels and manga as series instead of individual volumes.  That will greatly decrease the amount of book reviews I garner in a given time.  Now if I’ve already reviewed a book in the series (like Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft), I’ll continue reviewing each volume separately, but going forward, I’ll review manga and graphic novels as part of a whole.

I did add a few books in the past two weeks:

  1. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
  2. Parallel by Anthony Vicino
  3. Death Note, Vol. 5: Whiteout  by Tsugumi Ohba (Series)

Project: Game Reviews
Title: Various
Status: Upcoming

Just one added to the pile this week, but what a game.  I thought I was watching something else, but stuck with it, and in the end, I ugly-cried in a way I’d never ugly-cried for  for a game this entire year (and possibly ever).

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: 12/3/17          The State of the Writer: 12/31/17–>

The State of the Writer: 10/22/17`

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 17 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/15/17          The State of the Writer: 10/29/17–>

A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior week.

Finished This Week: 0

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 259,494
Prior Word Count: 259,807
Word Difference: -313
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

I decided to change the order of the beginning scenes in Chapter 2.  Then I changed them back after I remembered I’d chosen that order based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (which I just now decided would be the picture, because why not?).  I was going to do this long flashback bath scene after Aeris first wakes up and realizes she’s clean, but the more I though about it, the more I realized that I was right from the start.  I wrote some additional paragraphs, which I do like, so I’m going to try to incorporate them into the body of the story, but I need to put back in what I cut out.  Thankfully, I rarely delete anything plus I email myself frequently, so I have back versions of the story.  Sometimes my paranoia comes in handy (though that might not be the right term, since I have lost stories before).

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The State of the Writer: 10/8/17

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 17 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/1/17          The State of the Writer: 10/15/17–>

A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them.  This will include (but not be limited to) any and all work(s) in progress (WIPs) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, and reviews.  Additionally, this post will showcase what writing projects I’ve completed in the past week as a sort of weekly roundup, as I’ve seen other cooler bloggers do.

Finished This Week: 0

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 260,204
Prior Word Count: 260,270
Word Difference: -66
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

Did I make progress in my revisions this week?  Kind of…I did more prep than actual revising, but I guess that’s what happens when you decide to go back to the beginning.  I finished Chapter 1 fairly quickly, because there wasn’t much to change in Chapter 1, just some clean up of stuff I somehow missed in my multitude of edits.

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The State of the Writer: 10/1/17

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<–The State of the Writer: 9/24/17          The State of the Writer: 10/8/17–>

A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them.  This will include (but not be limited to) any and all work(s) in progress (WIPs) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, and reviews.  Additionally, this post will showcase what writing projects I’ve completed in the past week as a sort of weekly roundup, as I’ve seen other cooler bloggers do.

Finished This Week: 1

Project: Locke & Key, Vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Author: Joe Hill
Illustrator: Gabriel Rodriguez
Date Posted: September 30, 2017

An easy review for an awesome graphic novel, and from what I’m hearing the later ones only get better.  I already have the second volume on my to-buy list.  I better bump it up!

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 260,270
Prior Word Count: 260,329
Word Difference: -59
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 2

The most pressing question of the moment is what the hell pictures am I going to use for updates during my revision?  I don’t want to repeat old ones, and I sure am hell am not going to go through much effort to find new ones for chapters I’ve already posted about, so there might be some weird stuff *shrug*

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The State of the Writer: 9/24/17

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<–The State of the Writer: 9/17/17          The State of the Writer: 10/1/17–>

A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them.  This will include (but not be limited to) any and all work(s) in progress (WIPs) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, and reviews.  Additionally, this post will showcase what writing projects I’ve completed in the past week as a sort of weekly roundup, as I’ve seen other cooler bloggers do.

Finished This Week: 1

Project: Book Review
Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Date Posted: September 21, 2017

I’ll hopefully be adding audio to this an my other book reviews soon.  I have one recorded for Gaslight Hades, but I need to edit it.  I’ll obviously have to figure out a schedule for doing this as well, but I will say the recording process is enjoyable.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 260,329
Prior Word Count: 260,062
Word Difference: +267
Status: Editing/Planning Revision
Progress: First edit of Chapter 11

The above picture has pretty much been me for the past week, sipping coffee, taking notes…thinking, which is always a dangerous thing.  Even though I write fantasy, I’m actually quite a bit of a realist, which isn’t really that anathema.  Fantasy worlds are only fantasy to us; they’re quite real to their inhabitants, and one of the things that’s always made Final Fantasy VII stand out is how closely it aligns to our own world.  With taking place in an analogue for New York City, focusing on our abuse of the Earth/Planet, delving into bioethics and warfare, and the subtext of man’s hubris to name a paltry few.

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The State of the Writer: 8/20/17

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 20 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 8/13/17          The State of the Writer: 8/27/17–.

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.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 266,548
Prior Word Count: 266,752
Word Difference: -204
Status: Editing
Progress: Reviewing Chapter 11

This is the second “letter” chapter (with Chapter 5 being the first), but as I was doing my preliminaries last night, I ran into an integral question.  Is this chapter necessary?  With writing or more specifically editing, that’s something you always want to ask.  Is this chapter/part necessary to the story?  Is it needed to further your and therefore the characters’ goal(s)?

My idea with the letter chapters was to show the past, present, and future through Aeris’s eyes.  The first letter is all about her horrible past and her struggles to reconcile it with the wonderful present.  There are ideas of worthiness and blame she has to wrestle with along with a sort of survivor’s guilt.  She was saved from that horrendous existence, but she can’t stop thinking about those who are still suffering, and that’s tearing her up inside.  She wonders why she was worthy to be rescued when she could physically “take” the worst kinds of abuse, because she’d just come back, but others would actually die.

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