Weekly Update 05/17/24

Weekly writing progress: 

I got in! - I'm now an official contestant in the SPFBO X (or spiffbox if ya nasty). This is kind of the biggest fantasy indie book competition there is, so I'm super happy that I'm even participating. My book was assigned to Fantasy Faction to review, and to say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement. 

On the actual book editing front, I've made moderate progress. I finished drafting the chapter I wanted to, and I've spent a *lot* of time retooling one of my character's arcs in my head which will eventually include another 1-2 chapters from their POV. I will likely need to go through and edit from the beginning and make the changes I want as I go in order to do a good job on those chapters, so that will take time. I have to say, I do feel like landing this plane may take longer than I was hoping, but we shall see.

Not EXACTLY writing related, but I was informed this week that I'm a dunce for not having a linktree, which... yes. Yes, that's just true. SO anyway that's up and running -  linktr.ee/MJLindemann 

If you're on my ARC list, I plan on sending out ARC sign ups for the second book today if possible, so look forward to that!

Do make sure you sign up for my email list at mjlindemann.com if you haven't in order to get your free copies of my short stories!

No other news on the writing front!

What I've been up to:

TV

We finished The Bad Batch and it was soooo good. Action packed finale with some noble sacrifices and excellent character development. I loved the little epilogue they had. Loved the show from start to finish!

I finished the first season Hell's Paradise. Definitely a fun season finale with a really cool fight sequence at the end, and an interesting (if a bit cliche) twist that should pay off in the second season. 

We started Renegade Nell and we both are really liking it so far. The lead actress, Louisa Hartland, has a truckload of charisma, and I've been genuinely impressed with *most* of the fight scenes (of which there are many). 

Other than that, we've just been watching Abbott Elementary which continues to be cute and entertaining. They have such an amazing cast of characters on their hands it's hard not to love them.

Books

The Lord of Chaos has managed to keep my interest pretty well. I like that there is a lot more time spent on characters that actually do magic in this one so far. I feel like despite having some really cool battle sequences in the first 4 books, Robert Jordan held back a bit too much on the "fun" part of his world until book 5. It still has some pacing issues and the sheer number of named characters is... I mean I literally can't keep up with them, but overall I'm really liking my time with this book so far. 

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - I finished it! Just over 100 hours of my life spent on this game. It was amazing. I really liked the ending even though I'm NOT  a huge fan of timeline hopping stories. I think they've managed to thread the needle on this one so far (mainly because there isn't much timeline hopping for the main cast). My issue with timeline hopping is that a pervasive feeling of "nothing matters" ends up happening to me, and I hate, HATE, having "replacement" characters from alternate worlds. It's a double whammy by cheapening sacrifices while also giving me a really gross feeling that now there is this weird impostor walking around with the main cast. With that said, I think they are gearing up to converge all the timelines into one in the third installment, and that's something I'm ok with. I'm really quite excited for the next game. Now to play through the game on hard mode! Which I will do over a long while and probably not be updating anyone on.

I'm not sure what the next game I'll play is yet. I may take a break and spend the extra time reading. We shall see!

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 05/10/24

 Weekly writing progress: 

Two major things:

Everyone signed up (or signing up) to my email list should have a copy of The Princess sent to them today at 3pm CST. (Yay!)

I signed up for the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) contest today! It's a 24hr sign up period, after which 300 novels are randomly selected to take part. For self pub fantasy, it's a pretty big deal to make it into the finals of this competition, but I'm just hoping I make it through the random lottery. 

The only other news I have on the writing front is that I'm doing edits on book 3. I have a bit of drafting I'm doing because I'm adding 2 chapters and doing a full rewrite of another. After that, I'll be going methodically through the book several times to make sure everything is consistent before I get into sentence level editing. My first round betas are chomping at the bit to get their hands on this, so I'm hopeful I can have it all done in a couple months here.

Do make sure you sign up for my email list at mjlindemann.com if you haven't in order to get your free copies of my short stories!

No other news on the writing front!

What I've been up to:

TV

We continue to watch Bad Batch on disney plus, and it continues to be amazing. We've got about four more episodes and I'm excited!

I'm still watching Hell's Paradise. Not much more to report on it that I haven't already said.

With the weather being so nice, I haven't watched much else in the last week. We've been taking the dogs on extra walkies instead. 🐕

Books

Welp, I finished The Fires of Heaven. Easily my favorite Wheel of Time book so far, and the climax was super cool with a lot of bombastic set pieces. The characters all landed in very interesting places in their development, and I'm looking forward to what's going to happen in the next book. Speaking of...

The Lord of Chaos is the next book (6) in the series, and I've already made a bit of headway in it. This book is an absolute doorstopper at 395k words, and the prologue alone is 30k. I'm 56k into the novel which would be a little over the halfway point for most novels. After this one, I'm going to be taking a little break from the series to cleanse my palate. There are some standalone books I want to read before I dive back into what is affectionately referred to as "The Slog" of the series which, depending on who you ask, starts at book 7 or 8 and goes until 10. Luckily, the word counts for those books are about 30% less, but I'm still not exactly looking forward to it. Regardless, I WILL do it, because I'll be damned if I'm going to quit now. 

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - still good. It's so long. I had no idea it would be this long. Some day I'll play another game again. Someday I'll be released from this extremely fun prison punctuated by moments of horrible frustration due to poorly designed mini-games.

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 05/03/24

 Weekly writing progress: 

My read through of the rough draft of book 3 is done. I already stated this last week, but I will just reiterate that the third book will be taking a bit longer. I have at least two chapters I want to add along with a whole host of other changes. I'm still hopeful I'll have it done and out by the end of the year. 

The cover for the short story, The Princess, is almost done! So make sure you sign up for the email list at mjlindemann.com if you haven't in order to make sure you can get a copy :)

No other news on the writing front!

What I've been up to:

TV

We've been watching Bad Batch on disney this last week and loving it. The Star Wars animated series have never failed to impress me. Crosshair's character progression from amoral loyalist to this sort of surly, begrudging father figure has been really cool to see. To say nothing of all the other characters, including Omega. Another home run for the Star Wars franchise in my opinion. I'm excited to watch the rest of the series (we've got about 6 episodes left)

Hell's Paradise continues to be a fun, gorey, island adventure of an anime. Lots of sword fights and weird plant magic that reminds me a lot of Jeff VanderMeer's writing. Not thematically, but the surreal/weird plant life from the show is very similar to how I imagine Jeff's Area X from the Southern Reach trilogy. 

Movies

We watched Poor Things this last weekend. It was sort of breathtaking. Yorgos Lanthimos had such a unique aesthetic for the movie that with every other scene my jaw was just on the floor with the visuals. I will say that the movie isn't the most accessible thing in the world. The soundtrack is bizarre, the amount of nudity and sex could be off putting, and the plot comes in fits and starts... but if you want a lovingly crafted, beautiful, expertly acted movie with a strong point of view. This could be right up your alley. I *need* to watch more of his films now.

Books

The Fires of Heaven - I'm a little over 80% through the book and something big just happened (IYKYK). I'll try to be vague enough to avoid major spoilers. I gotta say, this continues to be the absolute best book in the series. I'll have to eat my words about a critique I had regarding Rand knowing too much. Robert Jordan (RJ) definitely made it very explicit that his knowledge/intelligence is being heavily influenced by his past lives. I'm still annoyed by the sheer amount of sexism from every character, but I'm granting it some grace for the time period (in real life) that these were written in. I'm sure this was all quite progressive to someone like RJ at the time. The big thing that just happened worries me, though. This was easily my favorite character, so we'll see how the books carry on without them. On one hand I'm kind of excited to see, and on the other hand I'm annoyed this individual didn't have more "screen time" before their exit - though who's to say they'll be gone forever?

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - Nothing too much to say about it, other than that I am very impressed they've managed to expand so much on the story and it still doesn't "feel" like they added too much filler. It feels like the FF7 from my childhood only gave me impressions of the characters whereas these games are giving me a full picture. The voice acting has been absolutely amazing with some genuine laugh out loud moments that would NOT have been possible with a less talented cast. 

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 04/26/24

Weekly writing progress: 

Woohoo! 

Book 2, An Eager God, is done. All I have left to do is make sure the blurb is where I want it before sending it to my cover artist to include on the paperback. 

I am now about eight chapters into my read through of the third book, The Lies of the Heavens. It's always odd going back to a rough draft because, well... it's rough. It's also kind of cool, though, because I get to have moments of "Oh YEAH! THAT'S what happened".

Importantly, this one is going to take more work than the last two at this stage. I have more POVs than the previous books and I knew, even as I finished the rough draft, that I would need to add chapters and shift things. I'm hopeful that the book will be done and released by the end of the year. I'm going to work my hardest on it. 

Lastly, I spoke with my short story cover designer and that should be done in early May, so I will be sending out a second email through my email list in May to get everyone that short story, The Princess. So make sure you sign up for the list at mjlindemann.com if you haven't! 

No other news on the writing front!

What I've been up to:

TV

We watched the Shogun finale and it was really good. *spoilers in this paragraph if you continue reading* I feel like it was a rather muted last episode, and I would have appreciated a more emotional conclusion to the Blackthorne/Toronaga relationship - but I'm not going to complain. I also recognize that present day morals and that time period in Japan are not exactly compatible, but it made it REAL hard to think of Toronaga as a good guy when he burned Blackthorne's ship down, blamed the fishing village, and killed innocent fishermen as a ruse to keep Blackthorne in Japan. That final shot of him looking all regal felt tainted. I'm not sure if that's faithful to the book or not, but still, there it is. 5/5 show though. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes samurai/feudal japan stories. 

I started Hell's Paradise and it's another gorefest battle anime with ninja magic so... right up my alley. I don't expect it to light the world on fire, but it's well animated and it's great to have on while I work out.

Speaking of lighting the world on fire... we finished Fallout and we loved it. It's a little on the nose with some of it's themes where some characters feel like they're almost turning to the camera and monologuing directly to the audience to make sure we "get it", but I almost think shows HAVE to do that now since... ya know... homophobes and racists seem to think X-men and star trek and star wars are "woke" now when they've *always been* "woke". Anyway, that's a whole topic I may get into some other time. But yeah, Fallout is excellent and everyone should watch it if for no other reason than it is just a really, REALLY fun time.

Books

The Fires of Heaven is still the book I'm reading. I'm 60% through now. Nynaeve is taking way too long to develop, but her chapters have been extremely entertaining so I don't know how much I care? Rand seems more capable than he should be for someone who was a farm boy like... a year ago. That can be explained away with "past memories", but I kinda wish Robert Jordan would have made it a bit more explicit that his intelligence and strategy is coming from his connection to his past lives. It's obvious that's what is happening, but usually there are some words indicating that's the case, and in this recent chapter there wasn't any indication. Anyhoozle, this is still the best entry I've read since the first book. I'm extremely fond of the first book, but I think that's because I like beginnings of stories more than anything else.

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - I'm both continuously impressed with what SquareEnix has managed to do with this game and intermittently frustrated by how absolutely horrendous some of the mini-games are. I'm the type of gamer that likes to "perfect" games when I can, and some of these mini-games were terribly designed. Cosmo Canyon looks fantastic, though, and the further I progress the more comfortable I am with the combat and the game's combat is just amazing (though I think it's on the easy side). Even if I do still wish it was turn based. *sigh* AAA turn based RPG's. Where you at? I miss you.

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 04/19/24

Weekly writing progress: 

Dear reader,

I have failed.

I did say I'd be done with my final read through of book 2 at the beginning of this week, but I massively overestimated my ability to read it for the *counts on fingers* tenth time without stopping for breaks. Especially since I was still making little adjustments the whole way. But take heart! I finished it yesterday, and tomorrow I will be doing a final spell check/grammar check (through Word). My hope is to have it done and dusted tomorrow, but that's pretending I'm not distracted by something... Hopefully when I report in next week I'll be onto book 3's read through (the rough is done already).

The final version of book 2's cover is completed, and I'm very pleased with it. I'm excited to show it off on all the social medias, but I will be waiting a bit before doing that. Please look forward to the release of the second short story via my mailing list. If it's not out by May 1st, I'll send out a special email to include it. So make sure you sign up for my mailing list at mjlindemann.com if you haven't! 

No other news on the writing front!

What I've been up to:

TV

We are caught up on Shogun and I think there's only one episode left. This last one was a tear jerker, but it had absolutely outstanding performances from the cast. Anna Sawai's acting was breathtaking, the way she walked, the way she managed to get so much emotion underneath all of her "respectful" statements. And the camera work and set design this episode... I have no idea how they'll top this for the finale, but I'm looking forward to it.

I caught up/finished Solo Leveling. It's a series that delivers on all its promises and has great action sequences. Can't complain.

We started Fallout and hot damn that show is so good. It manages to capture everything the games do right (dark humor, political commentary, exciting world building) and I'm just pleased as punch about it.

Books

The Fires of Heaven is still the book I'm reading. It's still good. There will likely not be updates on the book reading front for a few weeks beyond this because these Wheel of Time books take me so long to get through.

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - still enjoying it thoroughly. I'm taking my time with the game, which is something I rarely do. Among my circle I'm usually known as the person that devours games in a week and starts hunting for my next meal, but something about this one is making me take my time. I'm also spending a lot of my time on Overwatch 2, but I'll spare you details on that because that ain't fun for no one to hear about.

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 04/12/24

 Weekly writing progress: 

I have finished line/proof editing the second novel. I'm on my final read through, about 1/3rd of the way through the book. Somehow I used beat (like a drum) instead of beet (like the vegetable) in one place even after all the edits, so thank the gods I found that and spared you all the abject horror of running across it ;) 

I'll probably be done with the read through by the beginning of next week at which point I'll put it into Atticus and format it. That process only takes a couple hours. Then it's copyright, assigning it an ISBN and that's it. Hard to imagine, really. It all seems to go by so quickly

I just signed off on the final version of the cover illustration. They'll do text within the next week and then my e-book could technically be up for sale in two weeks, but we'll be waiting a couple months here. I want to get my second short story out to my email list and continue working on ads, and get the book out to ARC readers before the release. 

What I'm most excited about is to get started on editing book 3. It's been almost five months since I've even looked at it, and I'm ready to get in there and rip it apart. 

What I've been up to:

TV

We've been watching Shogun and I like it quite a bit. A feudal Japanese setting will always hold some nostalgia for me due to the sheer amount of anime I've watched and video games I've played that were set in that period. Hiroyuki Sanada (who I've always loved), Anna Sawai, and Cosmo Jarvis as the three leads have been knocking it out of the park. The set design and costuming are next level as well. Also, shout out to Tadanobu Asano and Tokuma Nishioka who steal every single scene they're in. Casting on this show was just perfect. 

Solo Leveling continues to be exactly what I signed up for and I'm not mad about it. 100% a middle of the road anime with fun action sequences and a fun world. 

We watched Wonka and there is a lot to love about it. Timothee Chalamet did an excellent job, the visuals were gorgeous, the songs were actually quite fun, and I think the movie really, really works as a *movie*. I do not, however, think it works as a successor/addition to the original. Certainly better than the Johnny Depp version, but it just doesn't have the same magic as the first. It has a type of magic, for sure, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the movie to anyone, especially anyone with kids, but there's a darkness and mystery to Gene Wilder's version of the character that adds a lot of depth to the movie and that's completely missing here. The plot is also QUITE a mess. I specifically remember a sequence with a giraffe that made no sense (How did you get it out of the zoo? How did you get it into the vehicle? WHERE did the vehicle come from?) Maybe I missed the answers to those questions. But still, overall I would say I really enjoyed watching it. 

Books

The Fires of Heaven - not much to say that hasn't been said. I continue to read through it. I usually read faster than this, but I just haven't had the time.

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth - again, not much to say. The game is good. I'm slowly making my way through it. Reading and video games have taken the largest hit with regards to my free time. I've been spending more time on editing and back end stuff with my book than I was previously.

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)

Weekly Update 04/05/24

Weekly writing progress: 

My book officially released! It feels so good to have it out there in the world now. A big, big thank you to everyone who bought it! And an even bigger thank you to those that have posted reviews :)

The cover for the second book is almost done. We're in the coloring phase and I just sent it back for a minor adjustment. Once that's done it's just a matter of finishing up my final edits and doing all the back end stuff to send it out to the ARC readers and get it up on Amazon and blah blah, boring stuff. I'll have a bunch of boring stuff to do with it. 

I'll reveal the cover at the same time I reveal the release date on both my facebook and my Instagram

What I've been up to:

TV

I finished Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. The second season was less impressive for me because, while I love a good tournament/exam arc, I thought the way this one was implemented in the story was thematically inappropriate. I feel like it ended well, and I'm still very much looking forward to the next season.

I started Solo Leveling. I know I'm going to like it if for no other reason than the progression fantasy of it all. I will say the main character, in the two episodes I've watched, lacks a lot of depth. It's a character I've seen done a million times and I'm a bit sick of it. Extremely Nice Guy tm with no skills to speak of but mountains of bravery is granted the power/ability to ascend through the ranks in society. The monsters and world are really cool, though. 

We finished Tokyo Vice season 2 and I really liked where they left things. I thought all the characters had a nice little bow tied on them, but the show still left the door open for another season. Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi stole the show for me this season. 

Other than that, we've just been watching a bunch of Drag Race. :)

Books

The Fires of Heaven continues to be quite good. I'm liking it far more than The Shadow Rising. I'm happy with the pacing and there seems to be real character progression with Moiraine and Egwene especially. I do have a bone to pick, though, about Elayne's character having a crush on the man she thought of as a father figure when she was a child, and how RJ passed this creepy impulse off as normal-ish. It's one thing to have a young character that's "into" older people (that's completely fine), but it's another thing to intentionally have it be a father figure who dated the character's mother, and then to pass it off as normal-ish using Jung's elektra complex as an explanation. I don't remember this from my original read through of this novel, and it is a bit unsettling.

Games

Playing Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, and it continues to be really good. I am starting to see how the reviews say there is *too* much side stuff you need to do. Many of the mini games are tedious and a lot of it is forced down your throat. I'm still loving the game, though. Otherwise, I've just been playing Overwatch 2. 

Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)