CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Before Pokemon Go came along, I was looking for a way to help motivate myself to go for longer walks. Old injuries mean I don't do running, or biking, and that means extended low impact exercise is important. Being borderline Type II Diabetes, AND getting over the effects of a prolonged period of stress and being bullied meant exercise was important, so I asked my Facebook friends for suggestions... and one of the things that came back was "Try Ingress ". So I did - and I loved it. Since November 28 last year, I have walked just over 950 kilometres, lost weight and seen a reduction in health problems such as back ache, duration and severity of the flu, and blood pressure. All good. I'd like to see I've met a ton of new friends, but I haven't really done that. I've met people on-line who play, but I haven't been able to make get-togethers, so I haven't gotten to know them yet, but that's okay. Not making gatherings, doesn't mean I can

So, back in June, I got to thinking about this whole writing-as-a-possible-career thing… I decided I’d need to step up my game if I was to be a successful indie writer, so I looked at what I had achieved, and what I hadn’t, and knew I needed to revamp my publishing schedule. Since regular releases are important, I decided I wouldn’t do a mass release of everything I’d finished, but work to do a fortnightly release during the semester while I was studying. I also discovered I was supposed to upload a copy of each published work to the National Library of Australia in order remain in line with the Copyright Act of 1968. That was a lot of work. To this end, I prioritised my release schedule set-up over my writing, and my legal obligations. I spent the second week of my university break uploading ninety per cent of my C.M. Simpson Publishing titles to the National Library of Australia, and then started on preparing a fortnightly release schedule for my short stories. By the en

Once university resumed in late January, 2016, I soon discovered I wasn’t going to be able to put the work in to achieve the grades I wanted AND complete these challenges, so I chose to bow to the necessities of life—and to give myself room to work towards my OTHER dream. So, I can’t do it all. Well, who knew… and now I do, too. By the end of January, I had achieved the following Story-A-Week Challenge and Holiday Extension Challenge goals for January: Week 1: ShortStory630— Rendezvous at Raptor’s Rest : now scheduled for release January 13, 2017. Week 2: ShortStory508— Lord of the Vortex : All I had this week was the title, and the story came from there. It ended up being 4,045 words long. Week 3: ShortStory483— Headlines from the Starman (was: The Royal Starman in the Moon ) : added around 1,100 words for a total of 3,669 words. Chapbook5C— Rocky Rides the Space Range (Otherworld Adventures #4: was meant to be completed in Week 2 of December 2015, but was f

I have to admit, I don't like going for walks, but I DO like the effects, and now I have an added incentive. Apologies in advance for all of you who don't like pokemon, but my kids do, and I'm finding it a great way to encourage myself to get out of the house and walk AND to spend time with my kids who love catching these little guys just as much as I do. Once a week, I'll post the poke-catch results for the week... and list the ones that got away. I'll also try to remember to post something about the location, if I go anywhere outside my neighbourhood. So, enough chit-chat from me. Here they are: On Saturday I caught: a weedle.... and a rattata that wanted to sit on my knee. On Sunday, I caught: a rattata that tried to impede my progress. On Monday, I had better luck, and I caught: a pidgeotto at the playground, a pidgy on my hat, and a pidgy the wasn't going to let me pass... ... and then there were the three ratt

Well, I have definitely let the blogging thing slide, this year. I’ve had a bit of trouble balancing it with everything else. This report will be different to normal – especially as it’s mid-week and not on a Sunday. Where have I been, you ask? Let me see, I tried to get my publishing schedule on track, but, after a promising start, it fell to pieces when the university semester began. I tried to fix this over the mid-semester break, by setting up a regular bi-monthly release for the second half of the year… and so far, I have succeeded. In the meantime, here’s a quick overview of where I’m at: Works released from January 1 to August 6, 2016: Short Stories: 4 Released: February 5, 2016                                                                   Released: July 2, 2016 Released: July 15, 2016                                                                  Released: July 29, 2016 Collections: 2