2020 Wrap Up

This was a year!

Parts of it went by super fast, other parts of it just dragged on. No matter what, everyone’s lives have been changed from this point on.

I’m sure there are questions about why I’m even doing a wrap up given the state of the world, and everything that’s gone on. And I know I haven’t been the most consistent person in the world when it came to posting. I’m aware.

This year hasn’t been kind to anyone. So I want to start this off by saying, if you didn’t do a lot this year in terms of working towards your goals. Or ended up getting side tracked by helping others, or homeschooling, or working if you are a front line worker. Do not worry!

This year hasn’t ben kind. This year has been weird. The memes of apocalypse bingo going around weren’t for nothing. Not doing everything you set out to do is okay.

Hell, my mental health took a turn for the worst this year for a bit. And I’ve slacked off entirely because of that and my very distinct lack of motivation to do anything.

It’s okay. No one knows what goes on in your personal life or what you are struggling with, and there for cannot judge you for not getting things done. Take care of yourself and household first. With the uncertain times we’re in and a lot of uncertainty and controversy with the vaccines that are supposedly on the way, it’s okay. Take care of yourself. Anyone who says anything against it are saying way more about themselves than you.

I know I did not complete all of my goals this year. And that is okay.

I know I changed my goals fairly early on in the year because I changed my mind on some projects. This is also okay.

I’m not posting this to make anyone feel bad about how little they’ve done. I’m posting this more as a review of myself for myself. I think it’s good to track and measure progress, and adjust goals accordingly based on how well we do.

With all this being said, let’s get into it.

Firstly, I abandoned all work on TftPR, WftGK, and the anthology that went along with it. I decided to drop it because I felt I was too inexperienced right now to tell the story in the way it deserves. I’ll probably pick it up again at some point, but not right now.

I did participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and I posted daily updates throughout the month. I did end up winning too.

Half points for ‘Side Quest’ here. I did character profiles, made my first map, and figured out some of the details for some of the quests. I’ve decided I’m going to write them pantser style, and not outline them. I will put down details as they come for details and things that I want to incorporate in them. But I’m not going outline them like I usually would. Fun experimentation for next year if nothing else.

So, for ‘project death’ or ‘SDM’ as I have taken to calling it recently, it is outlined! And I have character profiles for it done. So I’ve done quite a bit with this. It’s ready to be written at the start of the new year. Because it is way more of a historical fantasy sort of story I do think there’s quite a bit more research I need to get done for it. But very excited to have it as far along as I do.

I did not enter a proper writing contest, unless you want to consider NaNoWriMo a contest, nor did I do anything with ‘Steampunk 4’. So, no points for me there.

‘Realm of the Demon Empress’ has been renamed to ‘Amilia’ and I did write it for NaNoWriMo. So that is all ready to go and get edited in the new year.

I started with some fanfiction, but I haven’t done a whole lot with it recently. I started if nothing else.

I have started a bullet journal at the beginning of the year, and have kept up on it through out the year. I love it! I’ve tweaked and added a couple things for the one I’m going to use in 2021. I’m super excited. I’ve found it’s a really good tool for me.

And, finally, I have read 25 books by the end of the year! That one was a squeaker. I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I found I could rent audio books on my phone through my local library and have been listening to those a lot recently. I love them more than anything right now.

So, I think all in all I got about half of my goals done. Which isn’t bad if you ask me.

I do feel like I could have done more, but I always have these feelings when I look back on a wrap up like this. I think I did as much as I could have given the situation.

I do have big hopes for next year. Both in terms of what I want to do, and for the change of the world.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled long enough for today. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate, and you were safe.

I hope you have a wonderful, safe New Year, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn

NaNoWriMo Day 20

Hello. How are you today? I hope you are well.

So, spoiler, I didn’t go back and write more last night. When I left off the next scene was a massive one, and I wasn’t sure if I would have the energy enough to finish it. So guess what I started with today.

That scene also ended up being quite long, about two thousand words. So, I highly doubt I would have been able to do that last night without feeling horrific afterwards.

Today I’ve written 2,751 words so far. This brings my overall word count to 44,548.

I know I’m making that 50K. I’mma just say that right now.

I just wrote two really high intensity scenes where shit gets real. So now things are going to slow down for a bit, while more tension builds. We’re getting close to the climax so these things are to be expected after all.

I’m not sure, however, that I will be able to finish the entire novel by the end of the month. Bet your buttons that I’m gonna try! But I’m just not sure I’ll get there. We’ll see though, maybe I’ll surprise myself.

Alright, that’s about all I have for you right now. I hope you are having a wonderful day. And if it’s not wonderful, I hope it gets better. Stay safe, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

April 2020 Goals

Hello everyone, and happy April fools day.

I am not participating in this, nor will what I am telling you today be fib as it were. Like usual, I will be laying out my goals for the month in the hopes that this will help light a fire under my ass and get more done. So far with my track record, I’m not super successful though. But the hope is still there.

So, without further ado, let’s get into it.

1. Since I finished the ‘Amilia’ outline, after working and reworking on it for a couple years now, I’m treating myself and writing the rough draft this month. My hope is to get all the way through, but I’ll be realistic and say halfway through the outline and I’ll call it a win.
2. Project ‘Death’ has had some immense work done on it, but there is still so much to do before I can get to the outlining phase. As such, I need to finish thought-dumping it this month in hopes I can move on with it later this year.
3. I have some light outlining I want to get done for ‘Side Quest’ because that’s a massive project in and of itself.
4. I didn’t get to figure out characters or a better working title for ‘Steampunk 4’, so I want to try, at the very least, to get a better name for that.
5. And I want to read at least 2 books.

The usual for this month. I also have another family birthday this month to celebrate so I need to be aware of that as well.

Pretty much the usual, at least usual for me. I’m hoping to make the most of this quarantine that’s going on and try to get as much work done as possible. But, ya know. I also don’t wanna burn myself out.

So, what are your goals for the month? What are some of the things you want to make the most of during times like these? I’d love to know if you’d like to share it in a comment.

That’s all I have for you today. I hope it’s been wonderful and nothing mean has occurred to you today, and if your day hasn’t been wonderful I hope it gets better. And I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

March 2020 Goals

Hello everyone, how are we today? I hope you’re well.

So, new month, a new batch of goals to work through. If you’ve been here before you know this song and dance, and if you’re new, hi. I’m T.R. Flynn. This is a regular posting I put up at the beginning of every month to put out my goals and basically try to light a fire under my ass so I can get things done instead of sitting in my depressed stupor while feeling horrible that I’m getting nothing done. If you wanna skip a post like this and move onto something more interesting, feel free.

So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get started.

1. I want to finish the ‘Amilia’ outline, as I don’t have much that needs to be done for it. So, hopefully, next month I’ll be able to start the rough draft of it… again.
2. I want to finish thought dumping ‘project death’. I think I’m about halfway done, and then I can start outlining it next month. If everything goes well.
3. I haven’t finished the character profiles for ‘Side Quest’ yet, so I would really like to get that done this month. If, for no other reason, so I don’t have to worry about it later.
4. I have another project that I want to get started this month. Nothing too crazy, but I want to start figuring out the characters for it. Namely the main cast. And, if possible, a proper working title for it because so far I’m calling it ‘Steampunk 4’, and that’s… it’s just not working well for me.
5. And, of course, I want to read at least 2 books this month. I didn’t quite meet my goal last month, so I’m hoping I can catch up this month.

So, that’s all I have for you today. What are some of your goals for the month? I’d love to know if you’d like to share.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. And if it’s not wonderful, I hope it gets better. I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

February 2020 wrap up

hello everyone, how are we doing today?

Even in a leap year, February is the shortest month of the year leaving it, at times, the most disappointing month. Especially if you aren’t a fan of Valentine’s day, or your partner/crush hasn’t done anything in your favour. It can be a disappointment for many a reason, but for today, we’re talking about our goals specifically.

I’m happy to say I got the good copies of my ‘Side Quest’ maps done. I’m super happy with how they turned out and can’t wait to refer to them. I also can’t wait to use this sort of stuff later in my career too.

But I haven’t gotten anything done in terms of outlining or figuring out characters in ‘Side Quest’ yet. So that’s two against me there. 

I’ve been looking into writing contests but so far there’s nothing that’s really jumping out at me or on a reasonable time table for me to complete a piece in. So we’re going to be looking into that stuff again next month too.

I’ve decided to turn RotDE into Amilia and change many a thing in the outline, so I was focusing more on the outline than I was the rough draft. I’m almost done the outline actually. There’s just a little bit I need to finish up next month and then go through once more just to make sure everything’s correct. So, I’m rather happy with what I’ve managed to do with this.

I’ve read one book this month. I’ve been in a bit of a slump recently and both the books on my bedside table are very thick and I’m not very far in either of them yet. So, I’m going to need to make up for this later on.

And to any of you who don’t follow my weekly Life Log updates, things, I have decided that WftGK/TftPR is not a project I want to work on. At least not right now. At the very least it’s not the project I want to make my debut. Maybe one day I’ll get back to it, but for now, it’s sitting in a drawer with all the other projects I’ve abandoned over the years.

And that’s all I have for you today. How many goals did you complete this month? Id love to know if you’d like to share.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day, and if it’s not wonderful I hope it gets better. ANd I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.