Weekly Update 03/29/24

It's going to be a quick update this week since I've been on vacation the majority of March!

Weekly writing progress: 

By the time this gets posted my ebook should be live! And before I post again the paperback should be live! I'm extremely excited and nervous for the general public to start reading :)

Other than that little bit of news, I have nothing to report. No news on any covers, and I'm only just getting started on proofing and all that stuff to put a bow on book 2.

I've gotten some reviews and feedback from ARCs that has been mostly positive, so that's good!

What I've been up to:

TV

On the plane ride to and from Florida I watched Frieren: Beyond Journey's End the entire time. I love this show. Not much more to comment on that I haven't already said. 

Other than some episodes of drag race season 16, we haven't watched any other TV since coming home. P.s. season 16 is probably my favorite cast since the earlier seasons. It's REAL good. I'll have to eat my words about Plane Jane because I'm actually growing to like her. I still abhor how she treated queens she felt were "bad", but I think the other queens have checked her enough when her ego gets the best of her that she's grown. Speaking of ego, Q *sips tea*. Of course, I know reality television has a lot of "production" in it, but I still love it. 

Books

I finished Nettle & Bone on vacation and wow, what an amazing book. I honestly kind of wanted to just start reading it again, but I like to keep a forward momentum and experience new stories as much as possible without slipping into nostalgia reads even though I've been known in the past to reread/rewatch/replay books/movies/games an extreme amount. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever, but I've adopted a philosophy that there are too many stories in the world that I want to experience, so unless I REALLY need that nostalgia hit, I just move onward. Regardless, Nettle & Bone is an amazing read that I would readily recommend to anyone that likes fantasy.

I started The Fires of Heaven which is book 5 in The Wheel of Time series. I took a few months off to read other stuff, and now I'm back at it. I've been pleasantly surprised with it. I'm about 30% in (I think) and the pacing has been really good, there's been some dramatic irony, the character work is coming through more. I was worried after The Shadow Rising that I was going to hit a slump, but I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with this one so far. 

Games

Nothing. I'll get back into Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth here, but I just haven't had time since getting back home between unpacking, washing the dogs after picking them up from boarding, catching up on emails, etc. etc. - Domestic stuff.

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

Weekly Update 03/15/24

 Weekly writing progress: 

- The Princess short story is completely done save for the cover which my friend will be doing. We're waiting until the cover for book 2 is done to make sure we can keep things visually consistent.

- Final major edits on book 2 are done. I was hopeful I would get to start on line edits/proofing, but at the time of writing this I'm going on vacation tomorrow and I'm just not in the headspace to focus. I have a few days off when I get back that should help me get a jump start. My timeline is moving back a bit, but I'm hoping to have the line and proofing done in mid March.

- After that I'll be leaping head first into book 3's initial editing pass. When I started all this I was hoping to have the books release within two months of each other, but things just take a while. Book 2 should come out within 2-3 months of book 1, but book 3 may take till December. I do two rounds of beta reads with my books, so the process just takes a while. My goal is still to have book 3 released by the end of the year. 

I'd like to have a more aggressive release schedule going forward, but unless this becomes my full time job it will be about a book a year. (If I release book 3 in December that works out to about 10 months/book) - I feel like 10 months of part time work per year for a personal pursuit outside my primary profession is "enough", and I don't begrudge myself taking time away or "slacking" a bit every now and then in order to focus heavily on a game or a book. I strongly feel I could do 2 books/year at my current skill level if I could put in full time hours and had a dedicated editor instead of doing two rounds of beta reads and scouring my books countless times for typos and grammar errors, but #futuregoals I guess. 

What I've been up to:

TV

Frieren: Beyond Journey's end continues to be an excellent anime. The writing is very, very good. It's proof that I don't need a lot of action to enjoy an anime which is what I thought part of my problem with Pluto was. But no, I just need characters with consistent motivations and real growth. Though there is some action, it's certainly not the primary focus of the show.

Vinland Saga is still good. I've been focusing more on Frieren, so not much to report. 

Abbott Elementary is threading the needle on their main couple relationship better than I expected. I'm still annoyed by it, but I like the characters. I think all of the actors and the writers are getting comfortable with their characters and it shows.

We've been too busy to get our episodes of Tokyo Vice and Shogun in, but when we return from vacation I'm sure we will prioritize them heavily.

Books

Nettle & Bone is amazing. I love how relatable the main character is. I love that her bravery isn't a brash, in-your-face type of bravery. She proves herself not by throwing herself into danger (though she does do that), but by refusing to back down even though she's rightfully terrified. Also, bone dog is cute and special and I love him.

Games

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is a lot of fun. If you haven't played the original Final Fantasy 7 feel free to just skip this whole paragraph because you aren't going to care one whit about it. The major criticism for FF7:R is that there is "too much open world stuff to do", and the people that think that are stupid and wrong. The child robot that sends you on quests is a bit obnoxious, but this game expands all of the characters well beyond the original, and all of these short little quests are great opportunities to play as the characters and expand their relationships with each other. Aerith dies in the original game with less than a chapter's worth of dialogue and it's lauded as one of the bravest moves in gaming (for the time), but here I feel like I'm actually getting to know her. Same with Tifa and the rest of the crew. There's some very, very silly dialogue choices and "anime style" slapstick humor that I don't think translates well when they've chosen to go with such a realistic animation style, but for someone like me that's a very easy thing to forgive.

I haven't been playing anything besides FF7: Rebirth and Overwatch 2 lately, so that's it for me. Off to the Caribbean!

See ya in two weeks!

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

Weekly Update 03/08/24

Weekly writing progress: 

- Editing on book 2 is almost done. I have one bit left to do and then it's on to proofing/line editing, then one final FINAL read through before I completely sign off.

- I put in the order for book 2's cover this week. It'll feature the coin of eyes prominently and the main color will be red.

- I'm doing line editing and proofing of the 2nd short story, The Princess, before I do so on book 2 because the cover artist (a friend) wants to read it before designing the cover. So that's my priority right now.

- I posted on another ARC facebook page and have another ARC reader because of it. I'm hopeful Netgalley will yield some more ARC readers as well. My goal is 20ish reviews, but I'm a realist and so if I get any more than 10 I'll be happy. Who knows, though. I feel like I could have done more for promotion, but I'm terrible at promotion on social media. It's a skill that I need to learn.

What I've been up to:

TV

Tokyo Vice season 2's latest episode was a banger. That show did such a good job of setting this episode up and then knocking it out of the park.

We've started Shogun and I'm loving it. All the main actors are doing a great job. Cosmo Jarvis' accent as Blackthorn is bizarre and his version of the character is... well... he's an ass. But it works. It really works for the show. Hiroyuki Sanai and Anna Sawai are amazing as well. I love, love, love the visuals in the show, and the set design, and all the politics. Very good.

Vinland Saga is a passably entertaining gore-fest of an anime with a done-to-death viking story. I will definitely watch it all the way through, but I'm a sucker for violent battle anime so take what I say with a grain of salt. *shrug*

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a show with a premise I haven't seen done in a while. A fantasy setting with elves and humans, but the show isn't about the adventuring party. It's about the elf living her life AFTER the party saved the world, and the first episode tugged at the heart strings just right as the main character had to watch all of her friends age. The little bit of combat I've seen is exciting too. This came as a recommendation from a friend, and so I'm looking forward to diving in more.

Books

I finished The Sentence last weekend and I loved it. It was strange having so many locales and events that I have personal experience with being represented in a novel. Truly an exceptional read.

I have started Nettle & Bone and I'm fully engrossed. I already know I'm going to love this book.

Games

I finished Prince of Persia and I loved it, but I was also ready to be done with it. Excellent combat and exploration, but I would have loved some sort of option that let me buy a map to find all the secret areas. I know there is a scramble in the gaming industry right now to incentivize exploration, but genuinely, I have 0 interest in random exploration. I do like being rewarded for poking around, but it's important to me to have some sort of in-game way to streamline the completionist process.

Started Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and, surprising nobody, I love it. I'm sure I'll talk more about it later, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

The next two weeks I'll be on a cruise! I plan to have a scheduled post for next Friday, and then the next update will be the last one before release. I can't believe how fast the time went!

See ya next week!

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

Weekly Update 03/01/24

  Weekly writing progress: 

- Editing on book 2 is going very smoothly. Better than expected, to be honest. I'm only a week or so away from finishing my editing pass and then I can start line editing and proofing.

- Posted on socials and groups for ARCs and preorders and had a very positive response. Multiple additional ARCs signed up and a number of preorders as well. I'm pleased :) - Again, if anyone happens across this blog and would like to sign up, you can do so here.

- My book is going to be on Netgalley for the month of March to attempt to net more ARC reviews. 

What I've been up to:

TV

I finished Pluto and it turned out exactly as I thought it would. I was hoping for a more nuanced, fresh take on the premise, but it gave me a somber, dry, joyless version of a theme that's already been beaten to death by plenty of other, better stories (Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell, etc. etc.). I'm also not a huge fan of "and then there were none" plots, so maybe I was doomed not to like this from the beginning.

Tokyo Vice season 2 continues to be amazing.

We watched all of Avatar: The Last Airbender live action in the last week. I could genuinely write 10k words on how I feel about this version of the story, but this isn't a review blog. I'll try to keep it short-ish: The magic of the original eluded this version in myriad ways, but the most egregious changes they made had to do with tone. Part of why I hold the original so close to my heart is that it managed to tackle pretty heavy topics without actually going too dark. I'm confident this is why Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino left production. The darker tone strikes me as studio meddling, and, surprise surprise, it doesn't work. To say nothing of the many, many examples of weak writing in the shows script. I'm sure a lot of people will love it, but it's simply not for me. Again, I could go on, and there are some good things to say about it, but writing up a wall of text critiquing this show is not a good use of my time.

Books

I'm 70% of the way through The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. I've been slacking on reading, but it's not because I haven't been enjoying the book. On the contrary, the book is phenomenal. 

Games

I'll be finishing Prince of Persia today. 9/10. It was an excellent example of the metroidvania genre. My only gripe is that post game clean up (if I had chosen to do it) would have been hell because they do not have any options for purchasing maps to point you where all the left over collectibles are.

Helldivers 2 is the other game I've been playing, and I'm enjoying it immensely. If you have gamer friends I strongly recommend you all buy it and kill some bugs/bots together.

See ya next week!

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

Weekly Update 02/23/24

 Weekly writing progress: 

- Finished edits on the second short story. I'm happy with the additions; my betas didn't fail me with their suggestions. I still have to do proofreading (I've got a checklist), but I'll do that after the final editing pass on book 2.

- Started my final editing pass on the second novel. There's a lot to consider and my betas had some really neat insights. I'll be adding a decent chunk of words (probably 2-3k) in different sections to make sure certain moments land right. One thing I've learned about my writing is that I tend to write very lean, and just because something doesn't serve the plot doesn't mean readers won't want it in there. Of course, because these words are going to come at different points in the story that means 2-3k won't be 1-2 days of work, it'll be significantly longer, considering I'll be reading through the novel again to get a "feel" for where the additions I want to make will have the best impact. I'll probably be editing until my vacation (yes, another one) in mid-March.

- Received my proof copy from Amazon of the first novel and it is gorgeous. I'll have to upload a corrected manuscript to Ingram, Bookfunnel, and Amazon because I, somehow, forgot to make sure one of my own fantasy words was correctly hyphenated throughout. 

- While not immediately productive, I've also been kicking around adjusting certain aspects of book 3. I'm very fond of what I did in the rough draft, and obviously the bulk of events were planned during the process of writing book 1, but there are certain threads I could/should add and others that may need to be tied off more cleanly. I've always planned the series to leave the door open for more books, but THIS story I want to be completed in three books. This may mean adding 12-20k more words which would make it significantly longer than the first two.

- ARCs for the first novel are out. If anyone happens across this blog and would like to ARC read feel free to sign up here.

What I've been up to:

TV

I'm almost done with Pluto, and I have a feeling where the story is going and it's not exactly my favorite direction. I was hoping for a more inventive exploration of the AI/humanity/personhood theme, but the plot is real focused on its central mystery which isn't actually that interesting. The detective character is just going around searching for clues, but the audience has known who the bad guys are for a while now. Dramatic irony can be used to great effect. In this instance, I don't think it has been though. I find myself frustrated that the plot has stalled and we're just playing "and then there were none" with a bunch of side characters who should know better than to take on the villain alone. For all the pontificating about robots being more logical, which in-turn makes them less human, they are all acting foolishly in a way that even a human never would. If they are all being hunted it would make sense for them to team up, but they won't. They're all acting solo for unfathomable, poorly thought out reasons. I think the idea is that they are close enough to human to all have their own motivations for doing what they do, but in practice it's coming off as contrived to make sure they all die in order to maximize tragedy. It's still a solid show, but it definitely won't be a strong recommendation from me.

We started the second season of Tokyo Vice and I love it. Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi are amazing in it. The camera work, dialogue, weaving stories, and dedication to setting is just *chef's kiss*. 

We started the most recent season of Abbott Elementary and it's good. Not great, but good. I tend to get really bored of will they/won't they plots, and Abbott seems very content to keep milking that cow for everything its worth, and I'm becoming exhausted. The more tension that is built the bigger the pay off must be, but a point can be reached where the tension becomes either too intense or goes on too long where I completely stop caring and just want it to be over. That's where I'm at right now. I'll still watch every episode because I'm very attached to these characters, but this one aspect of the show is dragging it down for me.

Books

I'm still working on The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. It continues to be wonderful.

Games

I'm coming to the end game with Prince of Persia. I'll make sure I get the special ending, but after I get that I'll be done. The game is a solid 9/10 for me. Excellent in all the ways it needs to be, but there are other releases I'm looking forward to.

I started playing Helldivers 2 and it's extraordinarily fun. I love co-op multiplayer and the game excels in that aspect. 

See ya next week!

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

Weekly Update 02/16/24

Weekly writing progress: 

I've congregated all of the beta feedback for my second short story into one file, and I've begun doing edits. I expect I'll be done with edits early to mid next week, and then I'll do the same thing for the second book. I expect that'll take me about 2-3 weeks to complete all of my "final" edits on book 2, and then I'll be able to get back into the third short story and third book.

I didn't get a lot done in this last week with writing/editing, but I've been productive with other book related endeavors:

- My book is now listed for pre-order on Amazon. The full release will be on April 2nd. You can find it here.

- I've completed the prep and am awaiting print covers so I can complete setup for the paperback on both Amazon and Ingram Spark.

- My email list is up and working. Anyone that signs up should get a copy of the short story and be able to push it to their devices without issue.

- I signed up for a 30 day Netgalley promotion through Inkfluence to start at the beginning of March to try and grab some ARC readers. I'll be posting in some ARC groups once the website is completely done (it's very, very close).

What I've been up to:

TV

I continue to watch Pluto. Halfway through episode four now, and it's still really good. Not as action packed as the anime I'm used to watching, but that's fine. 

We watched all of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and both of us quite enjoyed it. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are both excellent in it, and the sheer number of cameos from big stars is enjoyable to see. The dialogue is well done and the on screen chemistry between the two leads was just great. 

We continue to watch Letterkenny and it continues to give me a chuckle on a consistent basis.

Books

I finished Howl's Moving Castle and thought the ending felt SLIGHTLY rushed, but other than that it is an A+ book in my opinion. An easy five stars if I ever saw one. It's so, so charming. I can't recommend it enough.

I've started The Sentence by Louise Erdrich and my first impression is that it's beautifully written and the chaos the main character exists in is extraordinarily gripping. 

Games

I continue to work on Prince of Persia (which I'm enjoying) and play Overwatch 2. Not much to report here. 

See ya next week!

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

Weekly Update 02/09/24

Weekly writing progress: 

None. I have zero writing progress. Zilch. Nada. Last week I was on vacation and this week I've been sick enough that I couldn't really get much done. I'm also not going to get anything done today because I've spent most of my time catching up at my real job due to how sick I've been all week, and I need a break... dammit.

HOWEVER

The cover for my first book is done and finalized, and so is the cover for my short story. They are amazing and I am so so SO pleased with them. I'll have the novel cover up on my socials soonish for a cover "reveal" for the few people that follow me. Hoping that by the 15th the website will be up and running. I also have all the beta feedback for the second book in and the feedback has been glowing.

What does this mean?

This means I no longer have any bottlenecks delaying the release other than my own efficiency and ability to sink hours into setting things up. What things do I have to set up, you ask? Thank you for asking!

- Create a book funnel account and set up my ARC deliveries as well as my short story deliveries.

- Polish up my mailing list and make a real workflow for sending those out monthly.

- Upload my ebook and paperback to KDP (it's my first time so this is gonna take some research to make sure I get my book in the right categories and have good keywords).

- Set up an ARC questionnaire and FIND ARC readers.

- Marketing - I'll be starting slow with marketing efforts. Low bid amazon ads is all I'll probably start with before I fold in facebook ads. I am not someone who particularly enjoys being a salesman even if it's for my own Thing, so you won't see me pushing for book signings or shouting from the rooftops unless people poke and prod me enough.

Those are the big ones. I'll delay doing my final passes on the second book until I have book one ready to rock. I'm expecting the release to be sometime in early April, but I'll know more once I start lining up ARCs. Book two shouldn't be too long of a wait after that. I don't want to say any dates because I've done nothing but blow past any dates I set for myself. I think I just have to take the stance of "things will be done when they are done", and stop trying to set hard deadlines for myself. I've proven I'm disciplined enough to make progress without a date looming, and all I do by setting dates is stress myself out. 

I would like to have a map made, but it probably won't be included in any first editions of these novels. Most likely, I'll have it drawn and posted on my website and sent out to the mailing list. The map I've made personally is incredibly unfit for viewing by anyone, and on top of it there are far too many things out of place, missing, and modified that it would be an undertaking just for me to get it ready for an actual artist to make it pretty. An undertaking that is going to take a back seat to everything else. For now, if someone reads the book they'll just have use their *rainbows* imagination *unicorns*.

What I've been up to:

TV

I finished Love Death + Robots on the plane ride back from Mexico and it was excellent. Can't recommend it enough to anyone who likes animation. 

I started Pluto. It's good, really good, but I haven't been able to get to the second episode yet.

The husband and I binged the rest of Hazbin Hotel earlier this week and it was some of the most delightful television I've watched in a long, long while. Everyone brought their A game on that show. 

We finished the first season of Percy Jackson and I'm realizing this is the first time I'm mentioning it here. That should tell you all you need to know about my feelings on it.

We're back into Letterkenny. We're into season four now, and it's exactly as I remembered it. The show waffles between laugh out loud stupidity and sequences that I find personally very obnoxious. I'll be having a good time watching them make jokes about the word moist and talking about ants riding sea doos, and then it'll take a hard left into extremely loud music followed by, what I find to be, very boring fight scenes. If I could cut out all the sequences of blaring music and terribly choreographed fights I would do it in a heartbeat. It's a testament to the concept and the writing that I'm willing to stomach them just to watch the rest of the show.

Books

I finished A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and it was absolutely phenomenal. I laughed and cried and then cried and then cried some more. It was a beautiful little book.

I'm really far into Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones. It's delightful and whimsical and so different from the movie in such interesting ways. I love it. 

Games

I haven't played a lot since returning from Mexico. I'm a decent way into the new Prince of Persia game and I'm really enjoying it. Other than that, it's just been Overwatch 2 baybeeeeeee.

That's it, see ya next week!

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