Stress: The Death of Productivity

Without going into too much detail: we've been trying to buy a new car. Our current car is unable to pass inspections next April without $1000+ worth of work on it, and after paying double what I originally paid for the car in repairs in just the last three years, I'm going to say I'm willing to let it die.

So we've been car shopping. And we ended up in a bit of a mess, one I'm currently trying to remedy. It isn't a huge mess by any means (in fact my parents think I'm silly for being so worried about it), but it's enough to be a nagging itch on my mind.

Which makes it almost impossible to focus, which means Steelgods editing has entered the backburner. The fact I'm sick with a rough cold probably isn't helping this.

If I were to estimate, I'd say I'm 25% through Steelgods. I can get 2-3 chapters a day, which means I only have maybe a couple weeks left for it, but this whole situation and brought it to a grinding halt. I'm hoping against hope that the issue will be resolved tomorrow, so that tonight I can trick myself into being not stressed and actually write the "bonus" chapter I've been needing to add. We'll see how that works out.

In other (more positive) news, I'm now on Goodreads. After much foot-dragging by myself I've finally jumped on, and promptly added reviews for the boatloads of books I've read. My list is pathetic in comparison with my wife's, but that's just the way it goes.

In other reading news, I have now read A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords. All of them are fantastic and probably one of my favorite fantasy series ever. Seriously, they are great.

As a break before A Feast for Crows, I'm reading A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells. The odd hilariousness of this book is also helping with my stress, so we'll keep on it for now. I don't think George R. R. Martin is the best thing to read when you are trying to not feel down.

So, apologies for disappearing for a few weeks, but hopefully I'll have more updates very soon. I'm also doing game reviews on the Backlog Blog which also has been neglected (I have boatloads of them lined up: I play a lot of video games), but I'm hoping to start putting a review up every other day as a minimum.

Keep it real, I'll try to keep from pulling my hair out.

Steelgod September: Slow Going

Due to life, I've been struggling getting through the Steelgods edits. The "rewrite" idea works but it is also time consuming; I spent most of yesterday rewriting a fight scene (which I actually rewrote last week, so that dumb fight is now officially in draft 3) and then doing the next chapter. I think that puts me on Chapter 4, which is where the plot really starts kicking in. I'm hoping to do one or two chapters a day from here on out, assuming my mood (and schedule) allows.

So that fight I was referring to is actually the first one in the book (which happens right away in the second chapter). My first write of it was decent but there are things inconstant with the rest of the series. The second was more in line but the fight itself was just awful. I finally gave up and actually outlined my first fight (first time doing that...actually it was just half the fight, but whatever) which was what made it work. Finally.

I'm read A Song of Fire and Ice and am on book three (A Storm of Swords). I don't know how I managed to ignore this series up until this point; it's fantastic. Expect reviews of them soon.

Other than that, I'm not doing anything particularly exciting. I'm considering doing a switch off: edit one day, write something the next. I have an idea for a (probably awful) urban fantasy called Half that would be worth a shot. It has no plot and only a basic premise. Nothing could possibly go wrong.