Saturday, June 15, 2013

Summer Updates

Hey all!

It's time for an update. It's been a month already, so let's see the progress I've made on my lists, hmm? (I also added a "Games" list in the middle of everything.)


My reading list:

Inheritance (of the Inheritance Cycle by Paolini) (5/11)
The Girl who Played with Fire (5/20)
Man's Search for Meaning (5/25)
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (5/31)
City of Bones (6/7)
City of Ashes (6/14)
City of Glass (started!)
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess

My movie/show-watching list:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (4/28-5/08)
Cats Don't Dance (re-watch) (5/14)
Dinosaurs: We're Back! (5/14)
Road to El Dorado (re-watch) (5/20)
The Fountain (5/22)
Saving Private Ryan (5/24)
Swan Princess (5/31)
Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain (5/31)
Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure
 (for old time's sake; I was obsessed with these movies as a child!) (6/1)
The Road (6/8)
500 Days of Summer (6/9)
The Possession (6/13)
Matrix Trilogy (re-watch) (6/15)
The Island
Legion
Deja Vu
American Psycho
(new) Tron

Games:

Bioshock (6/3 – 3:55 PM to 11:58 PM = 8 hour completion)
Halo: Reach (6/4 – 9 hrs: 16 mins: 48 seconds on one day)
Bioshock 2
Bioshock Infinite (Maybe)
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo 2
Halo 3
Halo 3 ODST

Serious:

Revise the living daylights out of first book in trilogy (5/21)
Outline second book (Very much in progress/nearing completion…)
Write second book


Not bad, not bad at all! Just the other day I discovered that in order for me to stay on track at least with the books is to read a book a week until the very last week of summer (in August), which I think I can manage. A book per week isn't that difficult, it's just when the library has some of them available is the problem. Movies aren't that hard to fit in either because they are a set length of time; I can squeeze them in any time I want to, essentially, and I only have five more to go. As for the games, they each take a good long day to finish, which still is manageable, but it's harder for me to find a chunk of time that long where I can just sit and bang out a game. I know, I know, I could still play them in smaller chunks over a longer period of time, but I don't want to forget anything about the storyline. It would end up being that I would start playing a game and then go a few weeks before playing it again and then I wouldn't remember what the heck I was supposed to be doing in the first place. So, in my opinion, the best way to play a game is to play it in as compressed a timeframe as possible. Perhaps this coming week I'll make sure to take at least one day and sit down to play through another one. 

So, I feel I've made lots of progress, but none of the lists are done yet! (Which is okay, really, because I've got two months or so left.) And I really need to get on starting my next book, although I've been stewing about it deliberately - I haven't been "putting it off" as some of you say. Every day I come up with more ideas, more twists, more purpose for the characters, so I'm glad I'm not just jumping right into it. The more I can outline, the happier I'll be with the finished product. (:

As I just demonstrated, for the next two months on the 15th I am going to update my lists here on my blog just to see where I am (and in case anyone out there is curious, they can see too if I've been slacking). Hopefully by the next time I report back, the book outline will be finished and the book-writing will be in progress, as Camp NaNoWriMo starts on July 1st and that's when I'm aiming at beginning the writing process. We shall see if that comes to pass, hmm?

Anyway, toodle-loo! Until next time (in about a month)!

V