Work took up a huge chunk of my energy in August; my company changed ownership, and that required me to spend a lot of extra time each week getting caught up and processing my switch from one company to another. I was, simply put, exhausted for much of the month, without the energy to work on projects. I spent most of my time recovering or relaxing.
Projects
When I got to work on my projects, I got stuff done. I worked out some stellar cartography for one project, and continued to refine the outlines for several others. I processed some chapters for The Colonel Lieutenant, wrote out character backgrounds, and organized a number of institutions. It wasn’t the list I hoped to get done, but it was work.
I’m hoping, now that the sale is done and my job has returned to a normal routine, that I can refocus my creative efforts. I still have almost a hundred ISBNs, which means I can publish dozens of more titles. But I cannot keep allowing myself to have lulls like I’ve suffered twice this summer. If I want to publish more, I need to write more consistently.
September Goals
- Get The Colonel Lieutenant completed up to the big campaign
- Finish Re-Writing Orcfyre Act 1
- Publish two blog posts
- Complete 10 other Project Items
Books
- Red Rabbit (Fiction, Re-Read)
- Hunt for Red October (Fiction, Re-Read)
- The Seven Basic Plots (Research)
- The Gypsy Morph (Fiction)
- War and Peace (Fiction, Audiobook)
I finished Red Rabbit and moved into Hunt for Red October. I’m making good progress through it, and I’m having the same, improved enjoyment of the story that I had with the previous novels. But what I hadn’t realized from my previous readings was how little of the middle book takes place on the submarine or with Jack Ryan. Probably influenced by my memories of the movie, I had forgotten how many scenes revolve around naval, aviation or political action in support of the story.
I’ve continued through the other books, slowly chipping away at them chapter by chapter. It doesn’t help that I don’t have a good reading chair in my basement; I think I want to do something about that.
September Goals
- Finish Red October
- Get past Chapter 20 in Seven Basic Plots
- Finish Gypsy Morph
- Finish One other Book
Movies and Shows
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 3)
- Foundation (Season 1)
- Alien: Earth (Season 1)
My roommate and I started watching Alien: Earth this month. This show is fantastic. The characters are enjoyable (even the ones I don’t like). The action is limited, but when it happens it matters. The world we see makes sense and has rules it follows. We’re four episodes in, and I’m very excited to see what else we’ve got coming before the end of the series.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 3 is a mixed bag. On the one hand, I haven’t hated any of the episodes, and they’ve all had at least a basic story that I could get behind. But most of them don’t reach the A-level I’ve been hoping for. There’s either some misstep in the pacing, or some payoff that wasn’t built up properly, or just something that made the whole story stall out. I still have a few episodes to watch before I can give a rating to the whole season.
September Goals
- Finish Three Seasons of TV (Any Kind)
- Watch Three Movies (Any Kind)
Games
- Madden 26
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Anno 1800
- World of Warships
- Last of Us (Replay)
- Last of Us Part 2 (Replay)
Since August was a big stress month, I found myself destressing with a lot of video games.
I finished my replay of Last of Us at a higher difficulty, only to discover there wasn’t any achievement for doing so. Alas. At least now I can go back and play pick up what I missed in easier modes, and play around with some of the options the game offers.
With that, I moved on to Last of Us Part 2. This replay is different because I’m playing in an entirely different structure. If you weren’t aware, Last of Us Part 2 is a non-linear story. You play as one character for three days, then another for three days, and each experiences flashbacks going back years. This game has the option to play in chronological mode, where you play all those events in sequence. It’s a lot of fun. I’m experiencing the game in a new way. It’s the same story, but much more direct.
I’ve been playing a lot of World of Warships, an online game where you play early 20th century warships against each other. I’ve been having fun, trying to play daily and monthly challenges within the game to advance for certain rewards. It’s a nice way to burn off some steam and let my inner historian out.
I’m still playing through the sandbox of Anno 1800, the city-building and resource management game. I’m enjoying the challenges, but this game does strain my computer’s system. It takes almost fifteen minutes to load, and it slows down sometimes as it tries to process. I’m not sure my computer can handle it; I’m looking into building/buying a new computer, and this is one of the games I want to experience on the newer machine.
And finally, Madden 26. My roommate and I are playing each other, which is fun, but I’m also playing the Superstar mode. In this mode, I play a single player, and I play only when that player is on the field. It’s a good way to play a story game within Madden without needing a ridiculous amount of time and effort.
September Goals
- Finish Anno game
- Finish Last of Us Part 2
- Advance Horizon Forbidden West Storyline
- Start PC Storyline Game
What’s Next
I don’t have anything planned at the moment, but I have my eyes on a few things. I very much want to get another event on the books for the autumn or winter. If and when that happens, I will post about it.