Tag Archives: monthly update

May 2025 Update

April was a full and busy month, with the new book coming out, finishing the supplements, processing backer rewards, attending a convention, and ramping up my next projects. That’s one of the reasons this post is being sent a week later than usual. The other is because I wanted to wait for the details of my launch party before I posted.

Projects

I’ve been winding down Champion Impact, though a lot of the final steps are taking longer than expected. There’s a good chance I will be done with everything by the end of this month, as long as I don’t get distracted.

I’m ramping up the next projects. The primary project is The Colonel Lieutenant, Book 3 of the Renaissance Army series that people keep asking about. I’m hoping to have that done by Easter of next year, but I’ll have to keep focused.

There are other projects I’m working on, but nothing major to report or confirm. The two bigger ones are Champion Impact, the sequel to Champion Bold, and Orcfyre, my fantasy novel I’m eager to finish.

May Goals

  • Complete draft of The Colonel Lieutenant
  • Get Champion Impact forms out to backers.
  • Finish Orcfyre re-plotting and start writing
  • Knock 10 items off Project To-Do List

Books

Image courtesy of Goodreads
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)
  • Homemade Sourdough: Mastering the Art and Science (Non Fiction)
  • Armageddon’s Children (Fiction)
  • War and Peace (Fiction, Audiobook)
  • The Seven Basic Plots (Research)
  • Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research)
  • Without Remorse (Fiction, Re-Read)
  • Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan (Non-Fiction)

Actually finished two books this month, which is great. Still behind on my goal for the year, but at least I’ve knocked a couple out. The two I finished were both great reads.

Sapiens was in a similar vein to Guns, Germs and Steel, only without being as preachy. It provide a good, well-structures history of human development and how progress is not always beneficial. It also gave me some ideas of how to work out issues with some of the histories I’m working on for my own projects.

And the book on sourdough was about answering some questions on sourdough, and some fun recipes to try.

According to Goodreads, I currently have nine active books, including the audiobook, I’m working through. That’s a lot. Some of them are in niche places (my patio read book, my Kindle ebook, the audiobook). The rest are just books I need to sit down and pull notes from.

Which is all a long way of of saying I need to read more.

May Goals

  • Finish Game Theory Book
  • Finish Two Fiction Books
  • Finish One Non-Fiction Book

Movies and Shows

  • Scrapped Princess (Re-Watch)
  • Rurouni Kenshin Reboot (Season 1)
  • Andor (Season 2)
  • Last Kingdom (Re-Watch)
  • Marco Polo
  • The Last of Us (Season 2)
Image courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic website

This last month my roommate put Crunchyroll and Max on the main TV, so now I’ve got even more options to watch.

I watched two season of anime off Crunchyroll. I re-watched Scrapped Princess, which I haven’t seen in 20 years. I’d forgotten enough that it was almost like watching it for the first time. Almost. I still remembered bits here and there.

Then I watched the first season of the Rurouni Kenshin reboot. This is my favorite anime series, and to see it redone was pretty fun. The story-telling is tighter and the animation cleaner. That being said, it’s not perfect. One of my three favorite fights occurred at the end of the season, and though it was visually stunning, it wasn’t as exciting as the original fight.

The two big shows from April and early May are Andor and The Last of Us, both in their second season. Andor continues to be a fantastic show, with excellent writing that isn’t dependent on huge action sequences and space battles. There’s one more trio of episodes to go; expect a bigger write up in June.

The Last of Us was a show I really enjoyed, based off a pair of games that I also really liked. I even did a whole post about the first season; the second has yet to disappoint. They are making a lot of changes to the story on so many levels, I can’t really get into it here. I will have to see how it ends to really see how the changes work out.

May Goals

  • Watch One Best Picture Winner (Three remaining)
  • Watch One Fix-It title (Four remaining)
  • Finish One Started TV Show
  • Start One New TV Show

Games

  • Space Marine 2
  • Madden 2025

Not much in the gaming department. I’m working through Space Marine 2, and playing some Madden 2025 with my roommate. Also revisited Stellaris some more, but that’s nothing special.

RPG wise, the game I run, Atonement, has advanced to the next chapter. The party is now in the high mountains, preparing to fight trolls and undead. I’m excited for this chapter; it’ll be much more straight forward than the pseudo-politics of the great city of Erasmus. Simple fights leading to moderate puzzles. Good, old-fashioned role-playing game.

May Goals

  • Finish Space Marine 2
  • Start new PC Game
  • Continue a game in progress

What’s Next

I have a launch party set for June 8th at Inbound BrewCo. Here’s a link to the Facebook Event Page, and an image below with the appropriate info.

April 25 Update

March was a good month. I finished the Champion Bold revisions. The paperbacks are sitting at home. The hardcovers are on their way. The supplement second round of proofs are sitting on my table waiting for revisions. I had my first event of the year, getting people interested in my new book and having people ask about book 3 of Sasha’s series.

It was a good month.

Projects

Finishing Champion Bold has been big. Not only do I feel better about getting a project done, but I’m ready and eager to tackle the next ones. and with the BPRG system, I believe I can get them done quicker and to the table faster than the last few books.

I still have to finish the supplements. The books have a number of minor adjustments to make to some images and formatting, but they do need to be done before I can say ‘complete!’ So, I’ll get them done.

Once this project is done, then I’ll focus on the next two projects: Book 3 of Sasha’s story (The Colonel Lieutenant) and the sequel to Champion Bold (titled Champion Impact). There are other projects I have in development that I’m not giving up on, but those are the two big ones.

April goals

  • Sasha 3: Re-game and re-write the big campaign
  • ChamImp: Finish plotting process
  • ChamImp: Get forms out to backers
  • Other projects: Knock 10 things off to-do list

Books

  • Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)
  • Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research)
  • War and Peace (Audiobook; Fiction)
Image courtesy of Amazon

To my frustration, I did not finish any books this month. I made good progress in both Angel Fire East and Sapiens. Also, I re-started Game Theory at my new reading desk station in my new place. War and Peace is my new free audiobook/podcast at work. the 10-15 minute runtime per chapter work for those short time periods just before lunch.

What’s really bad is this puts me at four books read for the year so far. My goal is 36, so I should be at nine. I’m five books behind schedule. I’ll need to pick up the pace a bit.

Oh, darn. I need to read more. How terrible. (End sarcasm.)

April Goals

  • Finish Angel Fire East
  • Finish Sapiens
  • Finish Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory
  • Start and finish one fiction book.
  • Start and finish one non-fiction book.

Movies and Shows

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
  • Shazam: Fury of the Gods
  • Pacific Rim: Uprising
  • New Mutants
  • Marvel: What If? (Season 2)

Knocked a good number of things off my watch list this month, and yes, most of them were so I could watch them on the fixit podcast I listen to. But honestly, none of them were as bad as I thought they would be.

They weren’t great, and I see why they didn’t take off, but they weren’t terrible. This is going to be quick and short.

Shazam: Fury of the Gods had a decent underlying story. But it suffered from spending too much time with the superhero characters and not enough time with the children.

Pacific Rim: Uprising had an odd plot: it kind of made sense, but it didn’t quite feel right. The rest of it was a lot of the right parts that did not fit together well enough to make a good movie.

New Mutants was probably the closest to a good movie of the three, and the one I most wanted to be good. But there were too many ‘good idea, but they didn’t think it through’ plot holes. Which is a shame, because it wasted Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor Joy and Charlie Heaton.

Finally, Marvel: What If? Season 2. Nine episodes of alternative Marvel histories that wrap up with an overall narrative. All of the episodes were good. And I want to give a particular shout out to Episode 6, with the dialogue almost entirely in Mohawk and Spanish.

April Goals

  • Watch one Best Picture winner (3 left)
  • Watch two of four remaining Fix-It titles
  • Finish one started TV title
  • Start new TV show

Games

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Space Marine 2
  • Madden 25
  • Football Club 25

Started two new games this month. One, Football Club 25, it one I got for me and my roommate to play against each other alongside Madden 25. Football and football. What a treat.

I also started Space Marine 2. I wanted a game that was fun and didn’t require a lot of thinking and planning. Just get in, shoot and fight. And nothing says simple shoot and fight like a Warhammer 40K game.

April Goals

  • Advance to next chapter of BG 3
  • Advance to next chapter of AC Odessey
  • Advance to next chapter of RDR 2

What’s Coming Up

I’ve got a convention coming up Easter weekend; I’m excited because I’ll have my new books ready for it. At least, the paperback copies. The hardcover copies are on their way.

I’m also planning a book launch party in May. I don’t know dates yet, but I will post when I know.

Until then, keep on writing.

Cheers!

-Michael

March 25 Update

February was filled with proofing the novel and filling out the supplements, and relaxing where I could with shows and movies.

Projects

For starters, I’ve got all five proof copies ordered and on their way: the hardcover and paperback editions for Champion Bold, and the three paperback supplements: Catalogue of Aliens, Encyclopedia Galactica, and Ship Recognition Guide.

When I wasn’t proofing and editing, I was working on other projects. Sasha’s Book 3, The Colonel Lieutenant, is the next big project, currently undergoing a major re-write. Other ones I want to focus on are the Champion Bold sequel, Champion Impact, and the fantasy novel, Orcfyre. Some minor projects I’m picking at are my American Civil War novelette series and some other science fiction and fantasy ideas I’m kicking around.

March Goals

  • Approve the proofs for publishing
  • Sasha Book 3: Finish Current Act Re-write
  • Sasha Book 3: Big End-Battle 2nd Wargame
  • Orcfyre: Act Re-distribution and outline
  • Other: Knock 10 things off my to-do lists.
  • Publish two blog posts.

Books

  • The Other Queen (Fiction)
  • The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866 (Non-Fiction)
  • Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Non-Fiction)

Image courtesy of Amazon

I actually managed to finish a pair of books this month, putting me only two books behind where I want to be right now. Not bad progress.

The first book was The Other Queen, the fifteen and last of Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction series. This one follows a period of time in Mary, Queen of Scott’s, life under incarceration, with her and her jailers as the characters. I’m working on the book report now, so I don’t want to say too much. Except that now with that done, I can do one of my other big reading projects.

I also finished The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866, a non-fiction book on West Point prior to and during the American Civil War. This one was research for several different projects of mine; I wanted to know what sort of curriculum West Point cadets went through, and how it differed from other contemporary European schools. I got a lot of good information from this book.

March Goals

  • Finish two fiction title
  • Finish one non-fiction title
  • Finish one research titles

Movies and Shows

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
  • Skeleton Crew
  • Oppenheimer
  • Shazam!

I made an effort to make time for movies and shows this month, and I knocked three titles off my list.

First, Oppenheimer, the biopic about the doctor who helped develop the a-bomb and then fell to post-war politics. I really likes this one, from the casting to the politics to the explanation of the physics. At no point did I feel like the movie was talking down to me, and that’s the least you can ask for when a movie is getting into atomic physics and red-scare politics.

Then there was Shazam, the superhero movie. I’ll be honest, the only reason I chose this one was because the sequel is on my fixit podcast and I want to see that before I listen to the podcast. But I actually really liked this one. It was funny, and exciting. Just adult enough to appreciate, without being too adult to not believe there are children involved. I’m glad I watched this one.

I also finished Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. I had a rough start to this one because I had to warm up to the children, but halfway through I came to appreciate them (and they had grown enough for me to like them). My final grade was going to depend on how the show wrapped up, and it ended really well. The kid’s space adventure gave them the skills and experience needed to win. Huzzah! Good show.

March Goals

  • Finish one started show
  • Start one new show
  • Watch one Best Picture Winner
  • Watch one other movie

Games

  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Madden 2025

Nothing much to say on the gaming front. I’m enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3 when I have time to play it. Haven’t touched any of my other games in a long time. My RPG characters are all still alive. The game I run is still going strong.

March Goals

  • Advance to next chapter of Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Advance story of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Advance story of Red Dead Redemption 2

What’s Next

I have two events on the books.

First is the Literary Libations event on Saturday, March 22nd, at noon. I’ll be there with a number of other local authors, selling my books and trying not to buy more. I’ll also be doing a reading of some sort. See details here.

Image from the event Facebook page.

I also have a table at Minicon 58, April 18 – 20, 2025, at the Doubletree Hilton in Bloomington. I’ll be there all three days with a table. I applied to be on some panels; we’ll see what I get assigned. Details here.

Image from the event website.

That’s it for now.

February 25 Update

Where did January go? I swear we just started the month a week ago, and we’re already done? Wow. At least I managed to get some things done this month.

Projects

I’ve got physical proofs of Champion Bold, and I’m reading through them to find last-draft corrections. Most of these are formatting errors: missing punctuation, or lengths of text that need to be italicized. Maybe one in five corrections is style, something that makes less sense to me now that I’ve had several weeks stepped back from the project. (For all you writers out there, this is why I recommend putting in several week breaks in the process: when you come back to the project, these things stand out all the more.)

Paperback and hardcover (author’s photo)

I’m almost done with the supplement books. I’ve got all the artwork assembled; some of it I need to finish processing to add to the book. There are a few articles I need to complete, and a few pages where I want to add additional images or world-expanding text boxes to fill blank spaces.

Recently, I pulled out Book 3 and I’ve been writing in that again. I processed some of the things that bugged me in my previous draft and I’m working those into this draft. My editor has a copy of what I’ve done so far, and I’m looking forward to her feedback.

I’ve picked at some other projects last month. I looked at my fantasy draft and worked out some fixes that I’m starting to incorporate. I’m doing world building for some other projects, lots of histories, organizational building, or crafting magic and philosophical systems. The type of things where you work on it for a bit, take a step back, then return and delete half your work and keep at it.

February Goals

  • Finish review of Champion Bold
  • Order Proofs of Supplement Books
  • Continue work on Book 3
  • Knock items off other project to-do list

Books

Image from Amazon page
  • Angel Fire East (eBook; Fiction)
  • The Best School in the World: West Point 1833-1866 (Non-fiction)
  • The Other Queen (Fiction)
  • Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind (Non-fiction)
  • Hannibal (Audibook; Non-fiction)
  • A Burton House Christmas (Fiction)

January was a bit odd reading-wise, because I ended up starting a lot more books than I meant to. Mostly this was due to library returns forcing me to discontinue reading before I had finished some books and reminding me to start the other library books before they became due. So, I’m actively reading through four books simultaneously. Which feels like a bit much, now that I’m no longer reading on the bus every day.

I did finish A Burton House Christmas, a small side-book in the Burton House Saga. It was an interesting aside book from the main narrative: six of the characters each tell a Christmas story, either a real experience of theirs or a fictional tale they wrote themselves. Each story has a different flavor and feel, but each feels like a Christmas story. A nice experience I didn’t get to until after the holiday season.

February Goals

  • Finish two fiction titles
  • Finish one non-fiction title
  • Finish one research title

Movies / Shows

Image from Amazon
  • Skeleton Crew
  • Tenet
  • Star Wars Visions Season 1

I made an effort in January to watch more new things, even if it was just one episode when I got home from work before I got lost on the computer screens. It helped.

Star Wars Visions is a show where each episode is a different story, animated by a different studio, giving it a different style and flare. Some of the episodes I really liked, feeling like old Samurai movies or anime films. Others felt more like the sort of anime shows I never got into as a teenager: I’m glad I watched them, but I don’t feel the need to see them again.

I watched one movie last month: Tenet, the time-warping movie from Christopher Nolan. This movie was not as bad as I’d heard, but it wasn’t great. There were a lot of things I liked about it, but it seemed to get into it’s own science a lot without explaining it enough to the audience. There was enough that didn’t make sense to me to disrupt my enjoyment. I’m glad I watched it, and I’d probably watch it again, but it’s not amongst my favorite movies.

February Goals

  • Finish two season of TV
  • Finish two movies

Games

Not much to add on this front. I’m playing through the same games I was last month. I just haven’t sat down and concentrated on any one game to knock it out. I’m sure I could if I wanted to, but that’s a lot of time, and I’ve got a lot of other projects I’d rather be working on. That being said, I’ll make an effort in February to make progress on my games. Maybe I’ll get in a streak and knock one out.

What’s Next

I have two events in the next few months.

March 22nd I’ll be at Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater. It’s a short, six hour event with several other authors. I’m hoping to have my book ready be then.

Then, Easter weekend, I have a table at Minicon, Friday through Sunday. I’m looking forward to that event as well.

And I should have a book launch party for Champion Bold. I’ll let you know when that is,

Until next time, keep on writing!

Cheers!

-Michael

January 25 Update

December was a busy month, between moving, book work, and the holidays. I had to start adjusting to my new schedule, which is having a big impact on my reading and project work (see below). And while I was moving, I added lists of items I own but have never read or watched, giving me more lists to deal with. Yay, lists.

Projects

With my new schedule, I have more time at the coffee shop in the morning to write and work on projects. At my new house my office is dedicated to projects. So, I anticipate getting a lot done at the new place.

I am at the point where I can order physical proofs of Champion Bold, and start prepping the eBooks. This is not difficult, but it does require me to sit down and do it. *

I’m finishing up the supplement books, and I should be ordering copies of those soon as well. I have to finish a few bits of artwork and make sure there isn’t a lot of blank space, then I can pull the trigger on those.

As for Sasha book 3, I spent some time going through what I wrote during my NANOWRIMO re-write challenge and wrote some act synopsis for the rest of the book. It turned out to be a good exercise; I’m more confident I can finish the book off shortly and get that prepped for editing.

I have other projects in the work, and now that I’m done moving, I’m eager to get to work on them.

January Goals

  • Approve physical copies of Champion Bold.
  • Get physical proofs of supplement books.
  • 2025 plan for Sasha Book 3
  • Project plans and lists

Books

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Image courtesy of Amazon
  • Fire and Blood (Fiction; Finished)
  • Fool Moon (Audiobook; Fiction; Finished)
  • Sapiens (Non-Fiction; Restarted)

One downside to moving is that I’m no longer taking the bus to work; so I’m losing out on a lot of reading time. I have to find time to reach a chapter or two each day; as such I’ve started considering my books as a ‘bedside book’ or my ‘backpack book’. Not only that, but I have a list of over 100-titles that I own but have never read; I want to work on getting that down to less than 100 books, and eventually zero.

On the plus side, my long walk from parking to work means I can start getting through my audiobooks.

I finished two books in December. Fire and Blood is a fictional history of the Game of Thrones universe, and it was a fascinating read. It really explained a good portion of the Targaryen family history in Westeros. It only got so far, and I wonder if there’s a second one coming. It did inspire me to consider similar projects of my own.

I also finished Fool Moon, the second Dresden Files book. It was quite the story, and I enjoy the universe and the rules of magic that the characters use. What did surprise me is that I guessed the end of the book about halfway through, but only because it was the only explanation that was left given what we knew. But I thought ‘that can’t be it’ and pushed it out of my mind. I guess the lesson as a writer it: if you need the reader to be unsure of who did it, make sure they have several suspects.

January Goals

  • Finish one fiction book
  • Finish one non-fiction book
  • Start one research book

Movies and Shows

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
  • Star Trek Lower Decks Season 5
  • Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire

I watched the last episode of Lower Decks. I enjoyed it. It was not everything I expected, but it hit all the high points it had to. I’m sad to see it go, but I appreciate that it needed to end before it got too old.

The one movie I watched last month was Rebel Moon Part One, which was a Zach Snyder movie released on Netflix. I’d heard it was a pretty rough movie, but I watched the director’s cut which seemed to address a lot of the issues with the story telling. Even so, it wasn’t great. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun, and it had a lot going for it. But there were plenty of scenes that seemed to exist just for their own sake, and background info that we were missing. I would watch it again, but I understand why a lot of people wouldn’t watch it.

January Goals

  • Complete one season of TV
  • Watch one movie

Games

  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Madden 2025
  • Warhammer 40K: Armageddon

Not much to add for the gaming section. I worked through some more Baldur’s Gate 3, played some Madden 2025, and beat another mission of 40K Armageddon. I do want to play more, but I want to play better. And I need to keep my projects going.

January Goals

  • Continue RDR2 or AC: Odessey
  • Continue Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Finish W40K Armageddon

What’s Next?

Focus on getting books ready for publishing, and advancing projects. I’m signing up for 2025 conventions. I should be at Minicon this year, and I should have a launch party for Champion Bold sometime this spring. I’ll let you know the dates soon.

December 24 Updates

This update is very late in the month, due to moving, project work, vacations and then catch up. Suffice it to say, I’m feeling very tired. Accomplished, but tired.

Projects

I had two big projects this last month. One was to get Champion Bold to the proofing. I’m pretty much there. I’ve gone through each page looking for italicization errors, formatting issues, and trying to avoid large blank spaces. Now I’m waiting for the last backers to get back to me with their names (if they want to be included), then I will format as a PDF and start prepping for proof. This might take a few rounds to get done as the two programs involved have some different ways of interpreting the same data, but I’ll get it done.

The other was in regards to NANOWRIMO. I used the month as a chance to re-write Book 3 of the Renaissance Army series. This went well for about two weeks, when I had time to work on both projects. But when it came time to pick and choose, I had to pick Champion Bold. That being said, what I did re-write was a lot better. I’m looking forward to getting back into that soon.

December Goals

  • Get physical copy of Champion Bold
  • Finish supplement books
  • Knock 5 things of Project To Do List

Books

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org
  • Running with the Demon (eBook; finished)
  • A Knight of the Word (eBook; finished)
  • Fire and Blood (Physical; started)
  • Fool Moon (Audiobook; continued)

Since I had a week off from work, I missed out on a lot of my normal reading time. I finished Running with The Demon and then read through A Knight of the Word, the first two books in the longer Shanarra series by Terry Brooks. This was one of the first fantasy series I started reading as a child, so I’m interested to get through it as an adult and see how it reads.

Running with the Demon ended better than it started it; it took a long time to get into it. Introducing the characters and the rules took a while. Once it got going, it took off and ended pretty well. Though it reminded me more of a Stephen King novel than the fantasy stories I remember from my childhood.

The second book (A Knight of the Word) was mostly better story, largely because I knew the characters and the rules of the world from the first book. The series of twists at the end were a mix of what I expected (which I hoped he would have done differently) and what I didn’t expect (which I appreciate). Still, it was a good book.

Fire and Blood is a long narrative history of House Targaryen and its rule of Westeros. It’s not a story in the sense of the other books of the world, but it is a fascinating read. I’m enjoying it, especially because it has given me some ideas for non-traditional projects I could work on.

December Goals

  • Finish Audiobook
  • Finish One Non-Fiction Book
  • Start one Research Book

Movies and Shows

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org
  • Deadpool and Wolverine
  • Agatha All Along
  • Star Trek Lower Decks Season 5 (Started)

Managed to find time this month to sit down with friends to watch a few things.

Deadpool and Wolverine was a great movie, filled with a lot of fun callbacks, fourth-wall jokes and action scenes. I found the initial premises a little hard to accept, but once I got past that (and it’s really easy to get past it) I loved the movie.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Agatha All Along. What I got was a great show that managed to follow the established rules of the MCU, and still provide enough surprises to be enjoyable. I’m looking forward to re-watching it to see what I missed the first time.

Star Trek Lower Decks is on its Fifth and final season this year, with one episode left to go at the time of this posting. This show has been fantastic since episode one, telling its own stories while making references and call-backs to previous series. It’ll be a shame to see it go, but better it leave by its own accord than it die of misuse.

December Goals

  • Watch one Best Picture Winner (3 Remaining)
  • Watch one Fix-It Movie (11 Remaining)
  • Watch one Other Movie
  • Watch one TV Show
  • Watch one In Progress TV Show

Games

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Madden 2025

As part of my moving process I invested in a PS5 and several games I had my eye on, including Baldur’s Gate 3 and Madden 2025.

Madden is a typical football game. My playing so far has either been with my roommate, or doing the skill tests to learn how to play the game. I haven’t done a season yet, so I can’t claim any great competency at it. But I am enjoying it.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a DnD 5th Edition game. I started the first Baldur’s Game way back when several times, but never got too far into it. This one I’ve heard good things about, and so far I’m having fun. I’m playing as a generic custom character, so I can make dumb mistakes and learn the game. I’ll replay later as the game characters, once I have an idea of how things work.

December Goals

  • Make progress in Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Make progress in Assassin’s Creed Odessey
  • Make progress in Warhammer 40K Armageddon
  • Make progress ins Baldur’s Gate 3

What’s Next

Working on the book. Planning events and projects for 2025. And surviving the holidays. That about it.

November Update

October was fun. Filled with a few good books and a few good shows, mostly it was filled with a lot of good project work, and a lot of fun writing.

Writing and Projects

I’ve got Champion Bold to Word, which means I’m prepping it to get a printed proof. This sounds easy, but this is where I’ve made some errors in the past, so I’m being careful and thorough. Progress is progress, but progress also involves a lot of tempermental programs. So, slow and steady, and checking my work.

The supplement books are coming along nicely. They’re not quite at the printed proof stage, but they should be soon. I just need to finish some articles and assemble some artwork.

I’ve been working on other projects, planning and preparing. Particularly, I’ve been revising my plan for Sasha 3, hoping to get that to proofing during 2025.

November Goals

  • Use NANOWRIMO to re-write Book 3
  • Get Champion Bold to proofing stage
  • Finish Supplement Books
  • Knock 10 things off Writing Project to-do list

Books

Image from Goodreads.com
  • Under One Roof (Burton House Saga Book Six; Fiction; Finished)
  • Fool Moon (Dresden Files, Book 2, Audiobook, Fiction, Started)
  • Running with the Demon (eBook; Fiction; Started)

I read through Under One Roof, Book 6 of the Burton House Saga. This books takes the reader to colonial Australia, which involves reading through how the penal colony works for both men and women, and how the colonists interacted with the aboriginal inhabitants. As for the characters the story followers, their stories involve a lot of overcoming personal adversity, and trying to be the best leaders they can be for those who are dependant upon them.

I’m almost done with Running with the Demon. This book I came to by accident. I’ve been wanting to re-read the Shannara series, some of which I read back in middle school. I picked up a humble bundle, and this was the first book. It’s not bad, but it took a long time to pick up. If I stick with the chronology, I have six more books to get through before I get to a book I’ve already red. I may skip ahead. I haven’t decided yet.

November Goals

  • Finish two fiction books
  • Finish one non-fiction book
  • Finish on research book

TV Shows and Movies

(image off of Wikipedia)
  • The Acolyte
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5

Did not watch a lot of new things this month. I did watch through The Acolyte, the Star Wars show. I really liked this show. For half of it, I was thinking it was going to do A and B, and then it went wonky and gave me Q and T. And I liked it! But it’s been cancelled, so no more of that for me. I’m kind of miffed about it, but I can’t get into reasons because of spoilers.

Started Lower Decks season 5. The last season, by all accounts. It’s been a fun show, and I’m excited to see how it ends.

November Goals

  • Start one new TV show
  • Finish one in-progress TV show
  • Watch one Best Picture Winner (3 remaining)
  • Watch one Fix-it Movie or Show (10 remaining)
  • Watch one other movie

Games

  • Deathmatch Island one Shot
  • Assassins Creed Odessey

I got to participate in a short campaign of Deatmatch Island, an RPG that harkens back to Hunger Games and other similar deadly competition games. Your character is completely randomized, and the encounters are difficult but not game-ending if you get them wrong. It was fun, though it’s not a long-term game.

November Goals

  • Advance Assassins Creed Odessey
  • Advance Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Advance 40K Armageddon
  • Work out test game RPG one-shot ideas

What’s Next

October Update

September was a busy month, working on the Champion Bold project. Specifically, working a lot on my Blender (3d modelling) and Krita (drawing) skills to develop aliens and spaceships. My editor got sidetracked by some personal issues (hey, it happens; my book is a side-project, which I understand). I found an artist to do the last bit of artwork I didn’t trust myself to do, and I’m knocking off the ones I think I can do one by one. And I ended the month having finished my active shows and most of my active books, meaning I start October getting to chose what I start.

Writing Projects

I’m only a few chapters away from finishing editing Champion Bold. Then there’s a list of book-wide edits to check: things like spelling consistency, ensuring the math works, the page counts match, stuff like that. A lot of things I don’t want to work on until I can go through the book and do them all at once.

I’m also working through the supplement books, processing the artwork and articles. My Blender and Krita work is getting better, which is nice. I’m glad to be knocking this items off my to-do list, but it’s not the writing I like to do.

I got some good feedback for Book 3, which I’m folding into a revision plan for NANOWRIMO. Some of the feedback was what I expected; some of it was a surprise. But, it’s good to get feedback.

I’ve done some prepwork on other projects. Nice to just stretch the creative mind.

October Goals

  • Start formatting Champion Bold for publishing
  • Get supplement books to 80%+ complete
  • Knock 10 Items off Minor to-do list
  • Two non-book report Blog Posts

Books

  • Fool Moon (Dresden Files, Book 2, Audiobook, Fiction, Started)
  • The Rook (Fiction)
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind (Non-Fiction, Started)
  • Red Storm Rising (eBook, Fiction, Started)

I read a few good books this month. Sapiens I started (and got about 1/4 way through before my Libby rental expired). It’s about the development of culture and civilization. It reminds me a lot of ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’, except it doesn’t sound like it’s lecturing me.

Once that expired, I switched over to re-reading Red Storm Rising as my ebook, which was one of the most influential books of my youth. Re-reading it, it made me consider some story ideas I’d been thinking about,

The book of the month has to be The Rook, a supernatural thriller that really takes the cake. A cross between X-files and X-men, it was an excellent book that has several sequels I’m looking forward to reading.

October Goals

  • Finish audiobook
  • Finish two fiction books
  • Finish one non-fiction book

Movies and Shows

  • The Expanse (Season 3)
  • Star Trek Prodigy (Season 2)
  • Wonder Woman 1984

I finished both my active seasons this month: the Expanse Season 3 and Prodigy Season 2. Expanse continues to be a good show I just don’t resonate with. I like it, but I can’t binge it like I can other shows. Prodigy is fun Star Trek. I wish it got better support from its networks. I’m not sure we’ll get a Season 3, but I’ll watch it if we do.

The last weekend of September I watched Wonder Woman 1984, mostly because it was on my fit-it podcast. It was…so bad. I wanted to like it, but I can’t. My only fond memory was a personal response to them stealing a medium-ranged jet to travel across continents. Otherwise, it was a terrible movie. Still, only the third-worst sequel in my opinion.

October Goals

  • Finish one started TV Show
  • Start one new TV Show
  • Watch one new Best Picture Winner
  • Watch one new Movie

Games

  • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Assassin’s Creed: Odessey
  • Warhammer 40K: Armageddon
  • Command and Conquer
  • Stellaris

Did not play a lot of games this month. I played some Stellaris for nostalgia’s sake, and played through some missions in the Command and Conquer remaster I hadn’t beaten before. But most of the time I was at my computer, I was working on modelling projects.

The RPGs continue to go well. My new character in Frozen Flame survived his first session. My players in the Atonement game gave me a lot of sudden praise for the story, which I appreciated. And the Delta Green game continued to be weird but fulfilling.

October Goals

  • Play something
  • Enjoy it

What’s Next

October will be filled with finishing up Champion Bold and the supplement books. I’ll also be doing Inktober ( a month-long drawing challenge), preparing for a NANOWRIMO project, and knocking off other minor writing bits. I did apply for some 2025 conventions, but I haven’t heard back from some of them.

We’ll see how it goes.

Cheers!

Michael

September Update

Wow, August past quickly. I made an effort this month to knock some things off my to-watch list, and to enjoy my time more. But I still got stuff done.

Writing Projects

Making good progress on Champion Bold and the supplement books. My work from hereon in will be as much about pictures as it will be about text. I need to focus on getting little bits done. I want to publish sooner rather than later, and that means focusing.

When I wasn’t focused on my main project, I’ve done some planning and prepwork for other projects, particulalty The Colonel Lieutenant. I have some idas how to revise that story. And I nibbled at other projects over the course of the month.

September Goals

  • Get draft copy of Champion Bold
  • Finish one Supplement Book
  • Knock five things off my Story Bit List
  • Two non-review blog posts

Reading

  • Wisconsin Vampire (Fiction)
  • Northwoods Wolfman (Fiction)
  • Undead Cheesehead (Fiction)
  • Storm Front (Dresden Files, Book 1, Audiobook, Fiction)
  • Fool Moon (Dresden Files, Book 2, Audiobook, Fiction, Started)
  • The Rook (Fiction, Started)
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind (Non-Fiction, Started)

I finally started and ran through Scott Burtness’s Monsters in the Midwest Series: Wisconsin Vampire, Northwoods Wolfman, and Undead Cheesehead. These books involve citizens of a rural Wisconsin town becoming the monsters they’d only seen in movies. They are horror-comedy, with enough amusing bits to make you chuckle, and enough horror to keep your wary. I liked them, though they’re not my usual read.

Finished the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front. I have to say I’m surprised. I have listened to this book before, but I had forgotten the last two-thirds of it. Finishing it for a second time, I’m unclear how I could have forgotten it. It was really good. I immediately rolled over into book two (Fool Moon). I have six or seven of them on audiobook, so I’ve got my work cut out for me.

September Goals

  • Finish one fiction book
  • Finish one non-fiction book
  • Finish one research book

Movies and Shows

  • Star Trek Prodigy (Season 2)
  • Expanse (Season 3)
  • Echo
  • The Mummy (2017)
  • Hellboy (2019)
  • Warcraft

I didn’t expect to watch three movies in a weekend, but I have a ‘fix the plot’ podcast I listen to and I’d listened to most of the movies I’d seen already, so I knocked a few bad movies off the list. The Mummy was a big let down (overpowered villain and deus ex ending). Hellboy was better, but not by much, which sucked because David Harbour did a good job as the character. Warcraft wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d heard. I actually like it, though it could be a lot better.

I did start and finish Echo, the Marvel show with the deaf character. That was a lot of fun. It did a few things I’m still not sold on, but the action scenes were fun to watch. And it was nice to see a story told not from a western perspective.

September Goals

  • Finish either Expanse Season 3 or Prodigy Season 2
  • Finish the other one
  • Watch one Best Picture Winner
  • Watch one other movie
  • Finish one started TV show

Games

Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Wikipedia
  • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Assassin’s Creed Odessey
  • Warhammer 40K: Armageddon

I played a lot in the first week or two of the month, then fell off towards the end. I advanced all three games, but didn’t make a large amount of progress. Which is okay. I got a lot of other things done.

In RPG news, I lost a character in Frozen Flame. It was sad because she was fun to play. but, she also wasn’t very effective. I didn’t do a lot the last few games, and her utility in combat was pretty limited. I’m working to build a better replacement character who can add something to the party.

September Goals

  • Advance RDR2 to next chapter
  • Ten hours of Assassin’s Creed Odessey
  • Ten missions of 40K Armageddon

What’s Next?

I’m focused on book right now. There may be an event in December, and I’m signing up for conventions next year. But for now, it’s all book.

Thanks for reading. See you soon. Cheers!

Michael

August 2024 Update

Hello. July was a good month. I knocked a lot of things off my list, got my book to 80% edited, and made progress on the shows and games I hadn’t gotten to in a while. That’s a good month.

Writing

My focus was on Champion Bold and the supplemental books. Writing, drawing, hiring artists. It’s a large beast I bit into, but it’s progressing nicely. The Book is 80% edited, and the supplemental books are in the 40’s.

Not much advancement on other projects, but that’s okay. I want to get my primary project done and published, and that has to be my primary goal right now.

August Goals

  • Finish editing Champion Bold, get published proof prepped
  • Get Supplement books to 75% complete.
  • Process feedback on The Colonel Lieutenant
  • Knock 10 items of Minor To-Do List

Reading

  • Last of the Mohican Graphic Novel, Marvel Illustrated (Fiction; Finished)
  • Gettysburg by MacKinley Kantor (Non-Fiction; Finished)
  • The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory (Fiction; Finished)
  • Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Fiction; Audiobook; Started)
  • Wisconsin Vamp by Scott Burtness (Fiction; Started)
  • Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory (Research; Started)

I read a lot over the course of the month. Reading a graphic novel of Last of the Mohicans actually made me understand the story a little better, though it’s still not great. Also finished the next Philippa Gregory novel The Virgin’s Lover, which I will have a blog post for up soon.

The fun one was a book my dad read when he was young on the Battle of Gettysburg. Oddly enough, it was titled Gettysburg. It was fascinating to see how books of that time (1952) portrayed the battle; what they emphasized and what they ignored. As a bonus, it did four pages on the 1st Minnesota and what it did there.

August Goals

  • Finish one fiction book
  • Finish one non-fiction book
  • Finish one research book

Movies and Shows

  • Witcher – Season 3 (Finished)
  • The Expanse (Continued)
  • House of the Dragon – Season 2 (Started)

As I said in the intro, I actually sat down to watch new things this month. I got halfway through Season 2 of House of the Dragon with my sister. So far, so good. And I knocked another episode off of the Expanse. I really wish I could get into that show as much as other people. It’s good, but it usually isn’t grabbing my attention.

Finished the current season of The Witcher, and while I enjoy the show — especially the over-the-top fight sequences — I feel it doesn’t do a great job of explaining the world. I have so many question that just don’t get answered. Maybe if I read the books or play the games, I’ll find out more.

August goals

  • Finish current season of the Expanse.
  • Watch two movies.
  • Knock Tv show off my ‘started and not finished’ list
  • Start new TV show

Games

  • Warhammer 40K: Armageddon (Started)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Continued)

I advanced a little bit in RDR2. Played through a story mission that actually left me really angry. I had to free a member of our criminal party who had been captured, and there was no way to do it without killing a lot of people, including at least one innocent woman. I texted my sister (who loves this game) and asked her if I am able to kill the guy I rescued later on in the game. Apparently, it depends on my choices. Which is cool from a game design perspective, but I need to avoid looking up how to do it, lest I get spoilers.

Started a new computer game, Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon. It’s a hex-based wargame that uses the Panzer General engine to play as an Imperial Guard commander during the Second War of Armageddon. I like this game so far for two reasons. First, it is a simple and fun game with short missions. And two, the Second War of Armageddon was largely my first introduction to the 40K universe. So, it’s a bit of nostalgia in it for me.

The RPG games go well. My characters are still alive, which is good. The game I’m running only had one session this month, but it set up a nice battle for next session. Knights, evil wizards, and lots of goblin friends…and perhaps foes.

August Goals

  • Advance RDR2 into next chapter
  • Start Assassin’s Ceed Odessey
  • Finish Armageddon

What’s Next

I have on public appearances planned right now. But I want to change that this month. I hope to find some conventions and events I can sign up for, before I hear about them too late.

Until next time, keep on writing.

Cheers!

Michael