Weekly writing progress:
Top of the order! I've joined a promo for pride month through SPFBO, and there are a LOT of cool LGBT books in there. Check it out here. At least take a look at the covers in there. The promo starts June 1st!
Editing on book 3 has been proceeding at a reasonable pace. I'd like to go a bit faster, but I fear I'm experiencing a touch of burnout. I've made it through four chapters this week, and I'll probably get another one done this weekend. I'm not worried, I've had short periods throughout this whole process where I've had this feeling and I've been able to work through it without much issue. I'll still be opening up the document every day and working on it, I just may not be able to go as fast as I'd like.
I've approved the final cover for the paperback copy of book 2 as of this morning and I think it looks great! I'm excited to get it into my hands.
The ARC for book 2 is out. I've sent out the emails and those that signed up are able to read. If you want an ARC for my second book feel free to email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com - It's absolutely no pressure, low stakes. I don't believe in hounding ARC readers. Most I do is gentle reminders around the time of release.
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!
What I've been up to:
TV
We finished Renegade Nell. What a ride! Feminism, queer representation, action, comedy, and lovable characters. I loved it. Eularia and Valerian are such amazing splashes of color on an already colorful cast of characters. I love the whole jacobites practicing dark arts thing and all the hints at Nell's sister having a connection to the fae and the costuming is extraordinarily fun and... I could go on. It's an easy watch with the family. Highly recommended from me.
I started Delicious in Dungeon and it's yet another charming fantasy. Essentially, a D&D party lost one of their members down the throat of a dragon, teleported out to escape, and now need to descend the dungeon levels to get back and save her. Unfortunately, they're too poor to afford food, and they must resort to eating the monsters in the dungeon. I commend the creator for making the food look so delicious. Makes me want a giant scorpion hotpot. Anyway, I switched to this from Vinland Saga, because Vinland's main cast are impossible to root for. I may go back to it, I'm not sure, but just like real life during that time period, there are basically no good guys, and I like having good guys to root for.
Books
The Lord of Chaos - I think I'm just into this series now. I've adjusted to Robert Jordan's writing style and comfortably skim the EXTREMELY LONG descriptions of things, and it makes the whole story go down easier. All of the different characters are intersecting and progressing in their respective arcs and the whole thing is pretty satisfying. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with the books now, to the degree that I almost don't want to stop after this one. (I'm going to, though. I have at least three other books I want to read between this entry and the next one.)
All that said, I know I've already said it, and I'll probably complain about it again, but I'm really sick of Rand's... honestly... the entire cast's rampant sexism. All the women think men are idiots, all the men think women are made of explosive paper mache and should be protected, sheltered, and locked away from danger at all costs. It's so tiring. I do not want to read about how Rand remembers the face of every woman who ever died for him while in the same paragraph reading how relieved he was that someone he thought was a woman turned out to be a man. It's a critique of our culture, in general, but I absolutely hate the whole "men must sacrifice themselves for women, better for a man to die than a woman" thing. It's that sneaky sexism that seems noble until you think about it for even a split second. It really dates the whole story for me, because most contemporary fantasy I've read intentionally *does not* do this.
Games
As I said last week, I've been playing less video games and just reading more. Which has been fun. I never realize just how much time I put into games until I spend it on something else. I did start playing Diablo IV again, though. I wanted to see if they actually fixed the loot system. I'm not far enough into the season to have a real opinion just yet, but it has been kinda fun to dive back into hell.
I've played only a bit of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. I think I'm going to focus on doing all the combat challenges and beating the game on hard mode, and then call it a day. The part of me that likes checklists really wants to get all the trophies, but the part of me that enjoys happiness is telling me no. Stop. You won't have fun playing a bunch of poorly constructed mini games.
Want to chat? Comment here or email me at mjlindemann@mjlindemann.com. I try to respond to everyone :)
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