Progress Report: Week 1 August 2017

Last week, I managed to achieve all the goals I set, and then some. It was a bit of a relief. My exercise came back on line, I caught up on the class prep from the week before last, and got the class prep for last week done ahead of time for all bar one lesson. I also covered, edited, formatted and uploaded September’s first release The Starman’s Arrival, as well as finalising the pre-release for C.M. Simpson: Short Work from 2015-2016.

I also got a bunch of other stuff done, including some writing, advancing some projects I wasn’t thinking of doing for a couple of years, and adjusting plans for next year. It was a busy week, but not too bad.

Week 1 Progress

• New words produced: 12,716
• Outlines and Notes: 1,874
• Works completed: 0
• Works edited: 2 (The Starman’s Arrival, Shades of Memory)
• Covers created: 2 (The Starman’s Arrival, Shades of Memory)
• Works published: 2 (C.M. Simpson: Short Work from 2015-2016)
• Works submitted: 0
• Competitions Entered: 0
• Bloggery: 3,867
• University Prep and Assignments: A lot – 8 hours of lectures (catch up and prep), God knows how many hours of reading and class prep.

Writing News

Last week saw the third week of university commence – and I actually got to attend all my university classes. I also managed to prep for class AND still complete all of last week’s writing priorities, finalising the upload for both C.M. Simpson: Short Works from 2015 & 2016 and The Starman’s Arrival.

In addition, I did some much-needed writing. I have a couple of novels burning a hole in my brain, and thought I’d start work on them early, so next year should see Side Shift, Mack ‘n’ Me, and Arach. The last two share the same characters, and spring from at least one of my short stories (Cloud Door) and some of the flash fiction pieces produced for my flash fiction collections. The novel, Side Shift, was started before the short story Fate in the Sun was even an idea, but has become the progenitor story for the events that happen in Fate. Arach is set after events occurring in the Mack-n-Me flash fiction, and several years after Mack ‘n’ Me, itself, so it’s third on the writing priority list.

I also brought September’s second release up to the format stage for CreateSpace. It’s an urban fantasy thriller set in Canberra and involving machinations between the Russians, the Chinese and a super-secret Australian agency that is very much not on the books: Shades of Memory. I created the cover for it on Saturday.

When Aggie Dormain arrives in Canberra to paint some old diggers, she does not expect to meet an out-of-work archaeologist investigating an alien conspiracy, much less to be pulled into an adventure that would give Indiana Jones a run for his money.

I also had an idea arrive for a non-fiction research book, and some development on the first novel instalment for the Aftermath of Shadow series. But study first – real life, later.

And, last, but by no means least, I approved the paperback version of Freeman’s Choice for release. It’s currently available on the CreateSpace store, and will shortly be available from other vendors like Amazon.

When Lorellan Cartwright finds buying back the woman he loves an impossible task, he promptly steals her away, but escaping from the criminally minded third duke of Aristoc and reaching a place of safety are two very different things. And stealing from the duke embroils Lorellan and Megan in the politics of crime lords, long forgotten races of fantasy, aliens and interstellar law enforcement. Can they escape the tangled webs woven by others and find refuge? Or will they join the ranks of those who tried before and failed?

June-July Challenge: Babes in London

Last week saw me prepare the next three instalments of Babes in London. Act 3 Rewards went up on Friday, and Act 3 Finalisation is coming up for the end of this week. Next week will see us heading into the final act with the set-up for Act 4, Scene 1, and the week after will see the first stage of investigations.

NOTE: This adventure is not sanctioned in any way, shape or form by Fantasy Flight. It is not an official product, and I am in no way affiliated with them or they with me. There is no relationship between us. This adventure is mine, for fun, and for you, because some of you asked me to finish it.

Also, if you like this adventure and want to play it, please go buy the official rulebooks from somewhere where the original creators and publisher of the setting will be paid. I got mine from a Melbourne game store, but I’ve found PDF versions of the Player's Handbook and the Gamemaster's Handbook are now available from DriveThruFiction. If you enjoy their world, this is the best way to thank them.

Ingress Updates

This week’s Ingress consisted of walking to and from class, with an hour in the middle of the week devoted to micro-fielding. I also managed to get an hour of walking done every day this week, bar one… and for that I was a minute short, so, that was a success on the exercise front, and I feel a lot better for it.

As to Ingress itself, the main achievement for the week wasn’t made by walking, but by creating portals to walk to later: gold Recon. It’s amazing just how many portals you can assess while catching up on eight hours’ worth of lectures.

PokemonGo Updates

This week’s PokemonGo was fairly minimal, with Ingress having priority after a week’s enforced low-level play. I did, however, manage to add a new pokemon to the Johto pokedex, and hatch a few eggs, which wasn’t a bad way to round out the week.

Priorities for Week 1, July 2017

This week’s priorities are as follows:

• keep up with class prep;
• finalise the format and upload of Shades of Memory;
• maintain walking fitness;
• finalise the edit, format and upload of Fate in the Sun;
• begin the edit of Army boots and Stilettos (written as Carlie Simonsen);
• continue work on Side Shift and at least Mack ‘n’ Me;
• begin writing my first 3,000-word essay assignment for completion next week.