#february was a productive month but I only had WIPs to show

[wishingstarinajar]

My Art Summary of 2024, the year of once again simping for robo men after a long absense. Love 'em, good to be back!

The choice of the Masterpiece was based on what drawing gained the most attention across platforms rather than what I consider my "masterpiece of 2024".

Template by Papakkapao_ on Twitter~

[midnightmeteora]

MEDIA THREAD-FEBRUARY

A short month no doubt, spent most of it drawing (I gonna try to finish those wips I swear). Anyway:

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14.-Hazbin Hotel (season 1)

I'm not someone who enjoys negative ranting on media. But oh my god I didn't like this show. Thankfully I watched this along side my GF and my Bestie but still, it was quite dreadful getting through this show. The script was annoying. All of those parodies about Vivzie's shows are true, there's always a swear in most sentences. It stops being funny and it becomes annoying, cringe even. I don't get this show, is it a comedy or a genuine attempt of making a social commentary??? It tries to tell a story about redemption and the value of change, but it doesn't have the pay off nor the build up to excel imo. For most of the runtime, this show barely attempts to dive deep into the nuance of the characters, most of the time if there is nuance to be found. It later decides to either treat it as a joke or rush to no end, lacking the payoff expected for serious issues like sexual and psychological abuse. The visuals were also kinda sucky. It has a unique style no doubt. But everything blends together when there's so much color overlap and over designed characters with similar motifs and color palettes. Most of the songs are alright on their own, but in the show itself, I only enjoyed like half of them. Yeah this show wasn't for me, and the more I think about it, the angrier I get ngl.

. #15.-Kimi ni Todoke (season 1)

Love letter to shojo media (? One of my favorite shows rn, it's so comfy, yet it still pulls them punches with the drama when it needs to. Every character is so loveable and the humor is wholesome fun. I really like how it develops the characters thru meaningful interactions and moments that pushes these teens foward. I'm loving this show, quite excited for S3 later on this year :]

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#16.-Sonic Frontiers (main game replay and update 2 content playthrough)

I still really like this game! Admitedly, its luster did shine off a bit now that it's been a while since the original release. This time more cracks became more noticeable to me, particularly the plot itself is rather empty and on a second playthrough it brings the game down a tad bit. The last section in Ouranos island is veryy weak plot wise, even though I had a blast with the gameplay. I still believe that this is a cleverly designed game, but I wished it had more production values behind it. By far the main aspect that will age the game later on. This game kinda lacks the visual aesthetic and presence that many other games in this franchise have. Not only that, the new additions like the jump acceleration kind of made some of the open zone sections kind of dry... I really look foward to the next mainline game, this game is still the best step in the right direction it could've been. The update 2 content was also really fun! I really like the action challenges and the new kokos were neat to get. I mightttt need another replay to abuse the spindash to hell and back, but I still need to finish new horizons as of writing.

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#17.-Sonic Frontiers: Final Horizons update

Damn was this a mixbag. I'm a bit underwhelmed ngl. It wasn't bad, but it kinda pushed the game to its absolute limits, and not in a pleasant way. The unrefinement from the main game is in an all time high. The new island content and characters are ok. Amy is fine for the most part, doe I wish she was able to wall climb. Knuckles was so much fun and I hope they use this template for future appearances. And Tails' tornado was so broken that made his sections redundant. I think everyone but knuckles kinda show the issues with the open zone. You can skip so much of the platforming that it kinda robs you from the main draw of the game. The new cyberspace levels are really cool!! But I did not enjoy completing the extra missions, they made the experience far more frustrating and unpleasant, not only that but you hardly even need to engange with cyberspace, but i'll get to it in a second. The new mixes are nice and the new levels are pretty sick and fun to speedrun but I still feel like they don't benefit from the asset re-use and the weird jank the game has.

The tower challenges were a bit of a mixbag, the platforming got a bit obnoxious on tower 2 and 4 ngl, but I did enjoy the trials. Trial 5 is no doubt quite infamous, but I actually found it fun, I liked figuring out how to minmax my time defeating the titans. It kinda show how clunky the parry and the animations are however, and yet, it also made me appreciate the enemy design and the combat way more than I already did! Finally, we got a new final boss battle, and it was alright? The spectacle was nice, but after all the things I had to do to even get there, I'd rather have the original ouranos island section as easy and anticlimatic it might've been. The new added story wasn't that much different either, just a tad more flashy with a bit more involvement from the main cast. Overall it was an ok addition, but I wished I didn't spent that much time doing the extra missions and stuff, many of the parts of this update lacks the incentive I desired and at times, the payoff I expected. Which is why it felt underwhelming for me. I hope the next game is an improvement over final horizons, if this is going to be the main base for the forseeable future, then there's still work to be done.

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#18.-Super Mario Bros (NES)

I'm starting to play more retro games as of lately since I really want to have more games that I can replay whenever I want a quick gaming session aside from Mega man and Sonic. So I'm want to try the 2D Mario games since admitedly, I was never a Mario guy (If you couldn't tell by my Sonic fanatism). 2D Mario has never grabbed my attention since it is rather vanilla and the "new super mario" series also left a very bad taste in my mouth just like everyone else growing up. Anyway, og super mario on NES was fun tbh. It is quite challenging for modern standards, but I found plenty to like tbh. The potential for further replays is hampered by those tight physics doe, I'm already playing SMB3 (I'm gonna skip 2 for the time being tbh) and I can already tell that the control was pretty tight in this first game. Hammer bros are really agressive too. I'm glad I'm finally beat this game, even though it cramped my hands like a MF bc I played this on a 3DS.

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#19.-Kimi Ni Todoke (Season 2)

THIS WAS PRETTY GOOD, the drama got pretty interesting and it developed the characters extremely well. It has a ton of nuance that I want to rewatch and admire all over again ngl. Left extremely soft after watching it. Can't wait for season 3

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Might start to do more stand alone posts from now on if I want to continue logging these opinions lol.

[wild-aloof-rebel]

i’m gonna take a minute here on new year’s eve to do a little self-promo for the writing i’ve done over the course of this year, the same as i did last year

it’s been a weirdly productive year for me. though i spent much of the first half of the year not writing anything at all, it eventually became one of my biggest coping mechanisms, and i’ve managed to end up with over 103k words posted to ao3 in 2020, which is the most i’ve ever published in a single year. it took a hell of a lot of effort in a year when it’s been hard to focus on... anything at all, so i’m really proud of that, but i’m also kind of hoping that maybe next year i won’t quite make it there again because at some point i’ll be busy out doing other things and not sitting at home feverishly dumping words into a google doc to think about something other than the anxiety crawling under my skin

thank you to every single one of you who has read, kudos’d, commented, or bookmarked one of my fics or liked, replied to, or reblogged one of my posts about my fics. you have been a bright spot in these bleak times, and i appreciate you more than i can say! 💗💗💗

on to the fics...

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happy endings are new beginnings Thoughts on homes and happiness and having to say goodbye. 

this little fic written back in february is about missing things before they’re even gone, which was definitely a big watching s6 mood. it’s a bittersweet thing, and it’s not really canon compliant at this point of course, but i still like it a whole lot

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bloom Patrick gives David a one-month anniversary gift.

savor Patrick gives David a two-month anniversary gift. 

sing Patrick gives David a three-month anniversary gift.

this little series of fics that i called tempting fate was salvaged from some old google docs from 2019, where they were originally chapters of a longer fic about a full year worth of monthly anniversary gifts. sometimes ideas don’t pan out the way you want them to, but that doesn’t mean the effort you put into them was wasted and that there weren’t good things to be found there. it feels like a very optimist-in-2020 mood to have gone back to resurrect these nuggets of joy from something otherwise abandoned and lost

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just wanna tell you how i’m feeling I Really Like You: a mixtape for David Rose, carefully curated by Patrick Brewer

the idea for this one came from an ask here on tumblr, and it was a lot of fun picking out what songs patrick would put on this mixtape. it’s just a sweet, happy early relationship fic about the ways we show that we’re falling in love before we’re able to say the words

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the most important thing (isn’t baseball) David Rose insists he is done letting baseball players into his bed and his life.

Of course, it would be easier to believe him if he could stop thinking about the cute but cocky catcher he met at his parents’ annual All-Star party.

this of course is my big, 18 months in the making, nearly 65k word labor of love for the year. yes, it’s a story about baseball, but much more than that, it’s a story about falling in love, not just with a person but also with the things that are important to them. it is by far the work i am most proud of, and even though i know that many of you who have read it are not at all interested in baseball, i appreciate so much that you gave it a go anyway. and an extra thank you to everyone who followed it as a wip and commented along the way—thank you for trusting me and being so supportive at every turn

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hopes as high as a kite When Patrick goes home for the holidays to come out to his parents, he discovers it’s harder to do than he had expected.

A story about leaving things behind, letting go, and learning to fly.

this is a fic that’s been bouncing around in my head since spring of last year, but i think that maybe it could only have been told this year. it’s been a year filled with fear and frustration and longing, and i think all that made its way into patrick’s story in a way it wouldn’t have before, so i’m glad i waited to tell it. ultimately, it’s a holiday story that’s a little sad while still being so hopeful, about the friends who show up for us when we need them and get us through the hard times, which is something that feels particularly relevant to me this year

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if the fates allow Through the years, these two will be together.

A lifetime of Christmas parties spent at the kids’ table.

i kept toying with the idea of trying to publish something else before the new year and had ultimately decided to focus on other things, until i watched a dustin milligan movie randomly one night and immediately started outlining this fic. as you may have noticed, i am typically a fairly slow writer, so it was a fun challenge to try to turn off my inner critic and editor and just pump out a fic as quickly as i could. i definitely don’t want to write that way all the time, but it was an exercise in leaning into my instincts and not second-guessing myself so much, which i think we can all use a reminder of sometimes

[mittensmorgul]

not a strictly spn question, but, as someone who wants to start writing, how the ever-loving fuck do you pump out so many fics so fast?? i’ve been working on outlining the same three stories for like a year (not really) ((but kinda))

Hi there, and congrats on that much outlining! I… don’t outline that much, ever, for anything. But I also don’t think I crank out fics all that fast. It might seem that way sometimes, but the Pinefest fic I posted in February has actually been drafted (and through several rounds of editing) since last August. I only just posted it for Pinefest. So it might seem there was only a month and a half between me writing that and the thing I posted last night, I’ve actually been working on THAT since January… three and a half months for 30k isn’t very fast. :P

I’m putting this under a cut because it’s kinda long, and possibly boring or irrelevant in the big scheme of things…

(I once wrote a 105k word original novel in 15 days, and a friend of mine wrote a 130k novel in just over three days on a deadline, but heck that is atypically fast… and nearly killed them… no really they developed shingles from the stress of it, do not recommend)

So I might be slightly biased here, but at some point you gotta stop outlining and start writing. That’s the secret. You can’t crank out stories unless you actually start writing them.

That said, when I say I don’t outline, I mean I have notes for fic that range from this, for my 8k short:

*soulmate situation described here: http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/173681098950/i-saw-a-writing-prompt-that-went-like-this-you Officially written and posted on 11/14/18 as Lost Time.

that’s just a link to a post that inspired the thing, to this, for a 65k fic: 

*NAILED IT! How could I fanfic my way through this baking show? or maybe I should just… write fanfic of this… (notes document: Cakepocalypse notes) (in process as of 4/1/18 as a potential dcbb as Cakepocalypse) (posted 6/23/18)https://archiveofourown.org/works/15017792

(sorry, I removed the link to my notes doc, but what I am willing to show of that:

wherein a lot of those 15 pages consists of images of the cakes in each challenge for my own personal reference while writing.)

Basically the ONLY two fics I’ve ever written an outline for structurally required it:

Cakepocalypse and Around the World in 24 Days, both fics based off “reality show” formats– Cakepocalypse was basically Nailed It!, and AtWi24D is the Amazing Race (and over 101k, based on about 5k worth of very detailed notes I’d be happy to show you if you come off anon). There was no way I could keep track of that many “contestants” and all their challenges, travel, baking, guests, etc. without keeping these sorts of detailed notes.

My previous pinefest fic, Winchester 275, was a 57k AU based on a two sentence thing that had been sitting on my to be written list for YEARS:

*(writing for pinefest, working title of Winchester 275 as of 8/29/17, draft finished 11/29/17, posted 3/6/18 http://archiveofourown.org/works/13788693) astronomy night at a dude ranch in arizona, Cas brings the telescope, dean only sees the stars in his eyes oh god did i actually write that down? yes. yes i did.

And my first DCBB, Revenge of the Subtext, was 80k based on a one sentence prompt: http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/130269813965/meangreenlimabean-mittensmorgul.

So if your fic doesn’t NEED you to make such detailed notes, just start writing already. :D

When I first started writing (loooong before I ever started writing fic), some of my encouraging friends told me some interesting stories. We got to talking about how annoying it was that so many people respond to someone saying they write with, “Oh, I’ve been thinking about writing a novel for years,” or something else along those lines. My friend told me she knew a guy who had been outlining his novel for more than a decade, but never seemed to be able to get it quite right so that he felt he could start writing. With that sort of attitude, he probably never will, you know?

You will never have a “perfect” outline. Just like you’ll never have a “perfect first draft.” You have to have a draft to be able to edit it, you know? Can’t edit a blank page, and an outline can only take you so far before it becomes so fleshed out that it ceases to be an outline and looks more like a first draft.

So set a writing goal for yourself. Shoot for easy to start with, and then you can tweak the goal as you fall into the habit. Say, 200 words a day. Or 1000 words a week (because in all honesty you might miss a day here and there, and you shouldn’t get down on yourself for that, either). I personally shoot for 1000 words on days when I write, but I’ve been doing this for more than a decade now. I don’t always make it, but sometimes I double that, or quintuple it, or more. And I have scheduled days off (Supernatural nights when new episodes air, and usually the day after, and Monday night when I play pub trivia and it’s Mr. Mittens’ night off work). But outside of those days, barring extreme exhaustion or illness, I try to write at least 1000 words a night.

Being that I’m not an outliner, I feel I need to say that I always know the whole story before I start writing. It’s all up inside my head, running like a film that I “transcribe” into a fic. So even if I don’t have a written, bullet-pointed list of plot points and emotional beats, I do have the “finished product” looping through my head continuously until I transcribe it all. I know that’s not actually useful writing advice for most people, and I have no idea if this is how anyone else approaches writing, but it’s how it works for me. Minor details may only show up while I’m writing, but the whole story is already there.

This is why I never, ever post incomplete, wip fic. I am a compulsive editor, mostly because I don’t create detailed outlines before I start, and for the sake of continuity, editing is my friend. Can’t go back to insert a reference into chapter 3 that will become important by chapter 14 if you posted chapter 3 half a year ago, you know? Your readers are not gonna go back and reread your updates when you remember that Important Detail never actually made it onto the page in the exact way you needed it to way back when. :P

Now, an outliner MAY have picked that detail up and inserted it before they ever started writing, but one thing folks might not understand until they actually start writing: Actually writing the thing out, making it flesh and letting it breathe, will inherently change your two-dimensional outline. I’m not saying that your plot will derail itself, but only once you begin bringing the story to life, begin living on the page through the characters, will you begin to feel them as living beings, and can really begin to understand them and make them feel real to readers. No outline can do this, and will always fall short of feeling “good enough” for this reason.

(sorry, a lot of how I feel about writing sounds slightly unhinged when I try to talk about it, so please remember that the first original novel I wrote was based on a recurring nightmare I had after a psychotic break, which I literally wrote as therapy to banish the Bad Thoughts. Yes, it worked. Yes, that’s why I still write this way more than a decade later.)

But this is where you’ll begin to fill in the “gaps” inherent in any outline. Personality quirks, inside jokes between characters, feeling their feelings and translating that to the page. But also picking up all the dangling threads like repeating themes and emotional triggers.

I think I’ve gone way far off the path here…

Basically, pick one of your outlines. Decide you’re gonna start writing it. Then start writing it. It’s that simple, and that seemingly impossible. Write one sentence. Then write another. Then write lots more.

Good luck! I know it’s terrifying. I’m terrified every time I pick a new fic idea to write and stare at that blank document. But I stare it down, give a hearty pterodactyl screech, and dive bomb the keyboard. It’s really the only way to do it.

It’s worked pretty well for me so far. :P

[gottaenjoythelittlethingzz]

February Review

Time for another update! Now while at first it may seem as though my February was a little less productive than January I can assure you it is only due to the fact that February is the shortest month of the year.

To recap, my media goals for the year include reading 12 books, watching 100 movies, and keeping up with as many tv shows as possible. This month I’ve watched a new show and 11 movies bringing my total of new movies up to 34. I’ve also read 2 books which is a feat for me! And these weren’t even audiobooks, I had to sit and read them. (Don’t ask what kind of books they were. Okay, maybe they were comic books, but they were for a proper literary class. They count and it’s fine!)

As for my writing, well...

It seems to have taken a back seat. Unfortunately I did not feel the need to write any new short stories this month though some half baked ideas may sit in my drafts and a prompt lay cold in my inbox (apologies). However, late last night, my final chance to do something for the month, I decided to post my first movie review! It’s certainly not one I planned to start with, but it’s one I watched a few days ago and it just fell into my lap. I’d highly recommend it! That counts as words on a page in a concise sequence, right?

As for my WIP, there’s even less news. Unfortunately at this time I’ve yet to finish chapter 2 of my WIP to my liking. Plans may have to change. Maybe instead of posting new chapters on the first of each month it will instead have to be “within the first few days of each month”.

I’ve been so consumed with the second chapter that I’ve neglected to start the third (godz help me when that time comes next weekend, though I know exactly what it will entail) and as such have only added about 2k words since the last update to the master doc. Although the good news is I’ve added an additional 2k words in extending the reach of the outline and planning out more scenes. So it hasn’t been a total waste. The picture of TROD gets clearer in my mind every single day!

A short review for a short month. With luck progress, in all its forms, will continue for the rest of the year! I shall keep you all informed as best as I can as far as my writing process goes. Keep an eye out for chapter 2 as I’ve yet to give up hope and will try to get it out in the first few days of this month.

I hope your February treated you well, school/work isn’t too mind numbing, and your projects are going just as well or better than mine!

Until next time, still has been another blog update,

~ Nevada

[tiffotcf]

2017 Fic in Review

(Yes, I know it is March. Let’s just not talk about this.)

I was tagged by @samantha-girlscout and @megabadbunny

total number of stories (completed/WIPs):

2 completed  1 WIP

total word count: 32,847 for my individual stories 23,561 for Speakeasy Spirits with @csakuras 56,561 in total

(I was real disappointed with myself until I remembered that I had been writing Speakeasy too.)

fandoms written in: Ghost Hunt 

looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? Uhhh, both. I certainly wrote less than I wanted to. But I also knew by about midway through the year that I was gonna be pretty useless when it came to writing for the second half of the year because my work stuff was getting out of control. (and it still is and has kept me from getting basically anything done so far this calendar year)

what’s your own favorite story of the year? Another hard question. Because I really love all the stories that I have in this year.  By Any Other Name, because as a story that dealt with themes of gender fluidity and other queerness it was the most personally important story that I have written so far.  Kaleidoscope Heart, because it was my big novel fic and after a little over three years of work I was finally done with it. And I had proven to myself that I could write a novel length story that people wanted to read and maybe if I could do it for fic I had a shot at doing it in the big leagues. 

Speakeasy Spirits, because this is one of the stories that I have wanted to write for years and it has the ability to be even more if I can find the time and energy to help make it what I know it is meant to be. 

did you take any writing risks this year? Yes. I wrote from a much more personal place with BAON and I took on the task of working on a story collaboratively. Which has been fun and super eye opening on the writing process and how it works for me and for others. 

do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year? I have three larger multi chapter projects that I want to work on this year. I would love to finish Speakeasy but we will see. But continuing Speakeasy and finally getting started on the other two is my real goal. I had hoped to start putting out Kaleidoscope’s sequel in February but being sick all of January and then spending the month of February playing catch up at home and work for having been sick in January squashed those lofty ideals.  So, new goals is to get the first chapter of Kaleidoscope’s sequel out by April and to have the first chapter of a shorter but still more than one chapter story project started in the summer maybe June/July.  While taking some time to reevaluate and revamp Speakeasy and try to get it back to a regular posting schedule. AKA. Let’s see if I can finally start getting something done in this spring/summer. 

best story of the year? I guess Kaleidoscope because finally finishing it was like a big deal for all the time and effort I had put into it over the years so it would be totally unfair to say any thing else was the best. But as I previously mentioned I really REALLY love all three of the stories I worked on this past year. 

most popular story of the year? Kaleidoscope Heart, Probably only because it is the oldest and the longest and therefore has the most established following 

story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: From this year? I mean I don’t really really think it has gone unnoticed, I feel very lucky to get the attention that I do on my stories. Butt I would love more feedback on interaction with By Any Other Name because I want more queer content and that was my first big move into starting to join the conversation in this fandom and in writing in general.

most fun story to write: I drive no pleasure from the careful construction of words into sentences. Or as @beejinki  says, “fuck ya’ll I ain’t write” (Bee told me I had to write this). But in general 

story with the single sexiest moment: Why do I even bother answering this question? I guess there is some steamy cheek touching in By Any Other Name

most sweet story: By Any Other Name, I think? (these are getting nigh impossible to answer)

”holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story: Not Applicable

story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters & most unintentionally telling story: Ummm, I’m not sure. KH and BAON for different reasons. KH because that story went a lot further and in different directions from when I first started it way back when. And BAON because it presented all of the characters in a way that fit the canon but showed a hidden side to both Mai and Naru that really changed things up for them. 

hardest story to write: Kaleidoscope Heart, because it took three years. Though BAON made me thint the most critically about content.

biggest disappointment: uh, Speakeasy not becaue of it at all, but I am disappointed in myself for not getting more of it done in the first year of working on it. I am really hoping I can get my writing groove back on it soon. 

biggest surprise: By Any Other Name, I didn’t know I was going to rite a story like that until one conversation one day a few weeks before I started it and suddenly there was the idea and it needed to happen. 

taggity tags:

Since I am three months behind on this I will not tag anyone new. I will just wish my fellow writers a productive year.  So good luck to you all @megabadbunny​, @samantha-girlscout​, @frenchcirce​, @beejinki​, @snavej​, @roseandradio​, @csakuras​, @myseryluvscompany​, and everyone else I am forgetting as I am sure I am forgetting tons of people and I just can’t seem to think anymore these days. 

[brianhandy]

Final Name & Marketing

Wild Honesty: A game for deeper conversations. That is the final name of the game! It is a balance of informational and styling for our primary market of mental health more than indie game, and we even got the web domain for it. Our first build is approved for the app store, marketing research is underway, and Testflight builds are out in the wild and generating more attention than expected. It’s been a good two weeks!

I am reading so many articles like this now. This Disney+ analysis was excellent!

Investing in Marketing (and financing that!)

There was a big pivot here these past two weeks! The planned release is end of this month but a financial assessment from tax rebates tomorrow will set this up more too. Where publishers want more ownership and larger investments, the new plan is instead a line of credit for the LLC and a justified (low risk to my best judgement from lots of WIP numbers!) investment on marketing as long as it could make back its own cost. That’s a lot! This is a big change for me, and I’d still love to have a market specialist to run those numbers, which might be a call with an advisor soon, but in the meantime is about researching marketing techniques and taking a chance on one - hopefully with a marketing company. 

The goal is to connect the game with people who would pay to have it, and I think that could not only be done, but up to a certain point even be worth the financial investment to get the word out. The numbers look like other high quality titles make about $10-20k back if they are in the top 10% of the market, and we have enough strong and positive feedback consistently to lead me to believe that is a real possibility here. The question instead is, how much financially do we want to risk in attempting that?

Names are a key element of concisely & verbally sharing the value of a product.

The Words & Tones of Naming

The last minute name change comes out of the ongoing debate, which almost finalized on Cute Animals & Tough Questions, but was highlighted to me in a final meeting with an old advisor/friend as “that sounds like an indie game” when that has recently become our secondary market. Friends outside of games talk about this title just as a deep conversation starter, and while still a game, they are not focused on it for distraction. That makes the market lifestyle and mental health, and Wild Honesty is a stronger name for invoking that as the primary use. The subtitle, “a game for deeper conversations” establishes both that it is definitely a game, and that it is definitely about opening up and involves talking. The promise is in getting to that closeness, and I feel pretty confident with this final decision moving forwards. Expect a logo (or rough draft at least) next blogpost!

Apple has extensive and clean documentation to help with all this.

Submitting Builds: Content!

Submitting to Apple for an early build approval was important. It, as always, involved a lot more content than expected. iPhones have amazing export features for screencapture now from a connected MacBook directly - including audio capture - and trimming video in the Preview app is ridiculously easy in the latest version of Mac. It’s great to see Apple support how proliferative video is in users’ lives now, both in creating and sharing content, with simple but important tools easily accessible. Even so - App Store submissions, to have video, have very strict resolution and time length requirements. I upgraded my Adobe suite to add Premiere and After Effects just to more easily deal with all this. Content is still the hardest part of submitting, but now there are Privacy Policy and HTTPS government form requirements too (that one will still have to be done soon). Submissions are hard! Always leave extra time for the unexpected here.

Online tools, mailed forms, and face to face time all helped make this happen.

Applying for Business Credit?

A marketing plan needs a marketing budget, so since our last blogpost, I both applied for and was given a company line of credit and a company credit card with a low interest rate and no interest for 9mo respectively. This is a perfect tool to try taking a chance at investing in marketing, and with enough funds to cover any budget up to our target returns. Still on the table is research on bankruptcy and what happens if things go wrong, aside from being in debt, as my understanding is that legal entities have a lot more protection and opportunities for forgiveness here - but I still need to do my research on those topics. For now, it creates a powerful safety buffer, and an opportunity to experiment short term with a launch budget even if later it means paying down a failed attempt at an investment. 

Our 100% unrelated Global Game Jam game this weekend: Turkey’s Revenge!

Conclusion

Wow launching a game is hard. It seems that taking on more ambitious indie projects, targeting wider audiences, and doing more experimental things in more experimental conditions leads to even harder game launches than we previously had. And launching a normal game is hard enough on its own! Time, money, and quality are always the resources at stake here. I’m taking as much time as I can to make up for the other two, but time seems to be at the expense (living expenses, specifically!) of money, so that may run out soon too. More info in a coming blogpost - but the core game with 300+ questions has been getting really solid feedback and, almost every time I show it, gets brought up again sooner than I expect and catches me off guard! That’s great! People keep asking when they can buy the game and if it will be on their platform. That seems... really good? I don’t know what will happen at the end of February, but I am very excited to find out!

2/3/2020

[useyourrwords]

Year in Review // Readathons, Diverse Reads & Structured TBR Success – Quarterly Check In

I’m back from hiatus, yet again!

I’ve had a grand time away but I’ll get into that in my Month in Review posts next week!

For now, I want to take a moment to go over my year so far since we’re a bit over a quarter of the way through!

I’ll be covering my reading, watching, blogging and goals from January to March and how I think I’ve gone so far!

If you would like to buy any of the following books please consider using my Book Depository Affliate link!

         TBR

│The Raven Cycle│

│

│Shadow and Bone Series│

│The Conqueror’s Saga│

│Montague Siblings│

│Villains│

│The Dark Artifices│

│Harry Potter Series│

│Sharp Objects│

│Sadie│

│

│Sawkill Girls│

│The Hate U Give│

│Rejected Princesses│

│

│Bygone badass Broads│

│

│Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda│

│Children of Blood & Bone│

│City of Ghosts│

│Percy Jackson and the Olympians│

I mean, that’s not great. But at least I have actually been reading book I own!

Readathons & Challenges

Before this year I hadn’t  participated in any readathons or challenges!

 But this year I’ve been participating in the Devour Your TBR challenges each month—even if it’s only one or two books!

 I also participated in the Late-A-Thon readathon that was run by Destiny @ Howling Libraries!

Reading Challenge

This year I set my reading challenge to 50 books! Which is half of what I read last year but I did this because I knew I wouldn’t have as much time to read this year.

According to Goodreads I’m one book behind, as of April 5th, which I honestly expected.

Each month I try to read 5 books, and in both February and March, my reading took a bit of a hit.

I’m hoping I got back on track and read at least 5 books in April. Hello future Grey, did I do good???? Future Grey: you did great!

Stats

 I’ve read 3989 pages

 My average rating is 3.68

 I take 13.9 days to read each book, on average

 10/11 books read have been YA

 The genre I’ve read the most is fantasy (big surprise!)

Diversity

 So far all of my reads have been diverse in some form or another!!!

 5 of which have had LGBTQIAP+ rep

 5 of which have had POC rep

 5 of which I have deemed feminist literature

     My Book of the Quarter

│Sadie│Courtney Summers│

│

│

│

│★★★★★│Read Feb 14│

Structured TBR (Started Feb)

│Must Read: 

 11/15│

 5/2│

 0/0│

 4/4│

 11/6│

 20/20│

 11/10│

So I’m behind on books read but I already knew that.

I’ve gotten through quite a few ARCs! So I’m very proud of that! That Late-A-Thon and Jan Jam Jar helped with that a lot in January!

I’ve been good at reading owned books, and literally every single book I’ve read has been diverse in some form which makes me very happy!

I’ve been keeping up with reading my Rejected Princesses and Bygone Badass Broads entries each month which is giving me a good dose of history!

│Allowances: 

 3/2│

 2/1│

 1/1│

 0/0│

 0/1│

I have read more library books than I was meant to but it is the first time I’ve had a structured TBR so I knew it would take a little while to work out the kinks.

Like making sure I don’t have too many holds on Overdrive or the Library at once as that gives me the risk of multiple books becoming available in one month. And if there is that risk then I should take advantage of the feature of suspending holds!

It’s also good to make sure that, if I do have a library book, I try and read it first so it doesn’t carry on into the next month.

However, since I started my structured TBR late, meaning I’ve only done it for two months, even though it has been three months (at the time of writing this) I think I can give myself the exception of passing.

I think I might bump my audiobook allowances to two each month for the rest of the year, just because it doesn’t interfere with the rest of my reading because I’m listening to audiobooks during times I wouldn’t be reading otherwise so reading more of them can only be a plus! And I need that extra wiggle room now that I’ll be doing a four hour drive to and from my Aunt’s house once a month!

Past Grey Reads

 Book Review // Girl Made of Stars – I Am Broken

 Grey Reads // Everything’s On Fire and I Couldn’t Be Happier – Girls of Paper and Fire

 Grey Reads // Bloody Moors & Candy Castles – The Wayward Children 2 & 3

       TBW

Jan-Mar Releases

│The Hate U Give│

│

│On The Basis of Sex│

│

│Captain Marvel│

│

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6│

│

│One Day At A Time│Season 3│

│

Past Grey Watches

 Grey Watches // I Wanna Bone Jude Law and Kate Winslet – The Holiday

 Grey Watches // It Has To Be A Shit Show – A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

 Grey Watches // I Hate It So Much I Love It – A Christmas Prince

Highlights

 2019 Ahead // It’s Twentybiteen, You Ready?

 Tag // The Library Lover’s Book Tag – I Am a Library Fiend

 Grey Learns // A Groundbreaking Journalist, Strong Abolitionist and Feminist – Ida B. Wells

 Grey Tags // Shockingly Intelligent and Mind Blowingly Stupid – The Entertaining Blogger Award

 Grey Tags // Romance Realist, Judgmental Judy & Fatphobia Errywhere – Out of My Comfort Zone Tag

 Top Ten Tuesday // Audible and Overdrive Are My Lords & Saviors – My Audiobook TBR

Blogosphere Highlights

I’ve picked my absolute faves of the posts I’ve shared over the last three months, just in case you missed them the first time. They’re mostly blog and writing help because those things are always useful!

January

│Ellyn @Allonsythornraxxbooks│ HOW TO GET ON TOP OF YOUR NETGALLEY FEEDBACK RATIO│

│Avery @Red Rocket Panda│HOW TO HYPE YOUR FAVOURITE READS│

│Abbiee @Abbiee│WRITING TIPS Transform a Messy Story Idea Into a Strong Outline (in 3 simple steps!)│

│Ilsa @A Whisper of Ink│How the HECK does one receive a physical ARC because I want one?! (I hear your cries and answer all your questions) Welcome to How To Request + Recieve ARCs│

│Simone @Simone and Her Books│My Review Process and Why I Write Reviews│

│Swetlana @The Caffeinated Bookworm Life│16 Blog Post Ideas To Help You Get Through (AT LEAST) A Month Of Blogging│

February

│Krystin @ Here’s The Fucking Twist│True Crime Tuesday: The San Francisco Witch Killers│

│May @ Forever And Everly│Discussing Blogger Appreciation and the Lack of It: Analyzing Answers, Stats, and Graphs From a Survey I Made!│

│Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxxbooks│HOW TO: OUTLINE A BLOG POST│MY 10 STEP GUIDE TO GROWING YOUR BLOG│

│Kelly @ Just Another Book in the Wall│THE VALUE OF TEEN VOICES IN THE BOOK BLOGGING COMMUNITY + PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT!│

│Madeline @ Caffeine & Writing Dreams│How to Cut Adverbs for Stronger Writing // & When It’s Okay to Use Them│

│Kat @ Novels and Waffles│Stand Out Above The Crowd // 4 Ways To Make Your Free WordPress.com Theme Look Different From Everybody Else’s│My Branding Journey + Four Questions To Ask Yourself While Rebranding // ft. A Free Downloadable Checklist│How in the World I Make My Graphics // A Step-By-Step Tutorial│I Font It That Way // How to Choose the Right Font for Your Blog│By Any Other Name // 5 Steps That Will Help You Choose An Awesome Blog Name (ft. A Free Worksheet!)│

Listen I couldn’t decide on which ones from Kat to share, because they’re just ALL. SO. GOOD.

March

│Krystin @ Here’s The Fucking Twist│True Crime Tuesday: The Moors Murders│

│Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads│Stressed About College? These Book Recs Are For You!│

│Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxxbooks│5 TIPS ON ANNOTATING YOUR BOOKS!│

│Avery @ Red Rocket Panda│DOWN THE TBR HOLE | USING THE #KONMARIE METHOD FOR MY PHYSICAL SHELVES│

│Fadwa @ Word Wonders│MY PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS – OR HOW TO BE A MASTER ORGANIZER!│

│Qui @ The Black Lit Queen│Diversity vs. Representation|BLQ Quick Guide│

│Madeline @ Caffeine & Writing Dreams│How to Write Scenes that Balance Plot & Character // Scene and Sequel Sequences│

Past Month In Review

 January in Review // I Cried, Laughed, Ate Pasta, Celebrated My Birthday & Completed TWO Read-A-Thons/Challenges

 Month in Review // I FINALLY CHANGED MY NAME – February

 Month in Review // The Month From Hell – March

Goals

 Get to a point where I walk 10000 steps a day

Yeah I can say I’ve done this. I’m back to square one but I did get to a point where I was walking 10000 steps a day regularly. I’ve just gotta get back to it.

 Find a way to be more financially stable somehow

this hasn’t happened yet but my finances are a little easier to handle after some messing about with my budget.

 Finish a draft for my WIP

I’ve still not started it. I hate myself. But I have been doing a lot of the ground work in my head, like discovering the history and setting and working out stuff about the characters an such. And like, I’ve kind of written some scenes. But I’m yet to actually take the time and sit down specifically to write.

 Read 50 books

Not quite on track but I’m getting there!

 Legally change my name FINALLY! 

I did it! My legal name is finally Greyson!

 Continue going to therapy

I had my first appointment of the year at the very start of April so I didn’t quite make it in the first quarter of the year so I won’t give myself a tick yet.

 Take regular mental health days

I’m doing this! I might be only doing it because something bad happens that makes me an absolute right off for a whole day but I’m doing it!

 Play more video games 

I’ve honestly played too much Sims in the last two months!

But also I wanna start playing games on my PlayStation again!

Past Month Ahead

Month Ahead // Happy Birthday To Me + Hiatus Announcement – January

February Ahead // I’m Finally Going To Read The Raven Cycle Series & It’s Black History Month + A Great Resource for Education!!!!!

 Month Ahead // Writers Week, Comedy & Too Much To Do – March

So far so good!

What have you done so far this year? What did you read? What posts did you write that you’re super proud of?

│Blog│Goodreads│Instagram│Twitter│Tumblr│

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[valeriebielbooks]

Never Done THIS Before Challenge UPDATE

You might remember in March when I started talking about stretching my creativity by doing things that took me away from my normal activities and outside my comfort zone. I called this my “Never done THIS before” challenge and asked you all to join me. A few of you replied that you were going to try to put some new things into your schedule, and I promised to check back in to let you know how I was doing.

What kicked off this thinking for me was attending a modern dance show at Winona State University in February. I was intrigued by the collaboration of arts and the inspiration we can get for our own creativite endeavors. This led me to the creation of the NDTB-Challenge that I presented in here.

In March, I took a different kind of class called Museum as Muse at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus. It was meant to kick-start your writing creativity in a whole new way. I know that what I learned in this class might help all writers.

April was a biggie! Along with my husband, I traveled to a part of Spain I've never visited before, Andalusia. I really focused on using my Spanish exclusively on the entire trip and fared quite well. I even managed to have an argument with a waiter in Spanish, so I know I am improving. (LOL) You can read all about that experience here.

But in May and June I felt creative boosts were a little elusive for me. I was doing a ton of stuff—I just wasn’t going out of my way to find new creative opportunities. What I didn’t realize (until I made this list) was that I was fueling my creativity the WHOLE time. See if you agree.

Here’s what I was doing for the past few weeks:

My latest novel Circle of Nine: Sacred Treasures was the Runner Up in the Young Adult category for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and also short listed for the grand prize. So YAY!

I outlined (gasp!) the next installment of my middle-grade adventure series—shunning my ‘panster’ ways. This is already paying off as I find my writing path more clearly defined. I might turn into a firm believer of outlining . . . we’ll see.

I was integrally involved in three different nonprofit events/efforts that included a donation drive for an orphanage in Guatemala and the resulting shipping container packing, an appraisal day fundraiser for our local historical society, and handling some of the logistics and all of the publicity for our local children’s theatre production of Peter Pan. PHEW! I’ve done things like this in the past—just not three at once before!

I spent time developing my Lost Lake Press author-assistance business by reconfiguring my Pinterest boards and learning how to effectively write the alternate image text on my blogs images to make the Pinterest links more easily searchable. (This also makes me realize there’s a whole host of things to learn about social media and so many resources to help guide you. If you’re interested in configuring your Pinterest page to better suit your needs, just let me know. I can help!)

I created a School & Library Visit Flyer and reached out to public librarians in Wisconsin offering my services as a speaker. . . and booked two events already!

And, I finally taught myself how to create affiliate links for my books by becoming an Amazon Partner . . . Yes, I know I’m late to the game in the affiliate link business, but better late than never, right?? (I’m going to write more on this topic in my month-end Writers’ Forum. If you’re not subscribed to get that, you can do sohere.)

All of these things I had NEVER done before . . . but they weren’t tagged as part of my challenge in advance. Of course, I couldn’t KNOW that I was going to win a book award. Writing an outline was a tactical decision for approaching my next project rather than a “let’s try something new” moment. I didn’t set out to try to handle three nonprofit projects at once, they all landed in the same month rather accidentally and I’d already committed to assisting with them all. I have known for months that I needed to market my workshops and author talks to libraries, but I finally got off my butt and did it with good initial results. And finally, I am almost always working to learn more about the ins and outs of social media and indie publishing tools—so while helpful, these aren’t particularly earth-shattering new experiences.

BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER . . . THESE ALL WERE NEW EXPERIENCES! I don’t want you to only focus on big things to help fuel creativity. Big events like travel and conferences cannot happen every single month. My point all along was to step out of your comfort zone in whatever way you can.

SMALL THINGS MATTER AND CAN STRETCH YOUR CREATIVITY JUST AS MUCH ! And what seems like a big concept can be made to fit your resources and schedule. For instance, here's something I want to share that you might adapt for yourself! Fellow writer Jess Witkins writes about how she fueled her creativity in a new way while at the week-long Write by the Lakeworkshop by adapting her stories to different genres. Don’t miss her excellent post!

What activities do I have planned for the rest of the summer that I’ve never done before?

I am designing costumes to wear to the Irish Fests I’ll be attending in August . . . check out my event calendar for specifics. (That is most definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but I decided to have some fun with my attire.) I might even be making some jewelry as a bonus for those who buy a complete set of my books at these events. As I am not particularly crafty—we’ll see how big of a challenge this might be for me.

I am committed to completing my work-in-progress by the end of the summer . . . whether that means Labor Day or the end of real summer later in September remains up in the air. LOL This is fast writing for me and I typically am not able to do this. We’ll see if I can stick to my ambitious writing schedule.

I am entertaining the idea of some changes/additions to aid the marketing for a completed middle-grade novel. (This may impact the ambitious writing schedule for my WIP.)

I am pursuing some nonfiction companion projects for my middle-grade adventure series. (This is a big leap for this fiction girl!)

And just for fun—I might take on an art project or two at our local Workshop that holds cool classes like cement leaf casting.

What “Never Did THIS Before” activities might you be planning for July and August?

Don’t be shy—you just might inspire someone else!