That wicked 85-15 split!
I know, I know, looking at the above pie the work I’ve managed to put into my projects the past month seems scary low. And to be honest, that’s what it was. A total of 8 days I managed to do, which is about half of September. Yikes! But, folks, I also have good news incoming.
As you can see, the season is upon us. I fully expect another month of crazy, maybe December too. You know how it is, with all these commercial holidays we are enjoying. It is a blessing to be able to contribute, though, and the more productive and efficient I become, the sooner I can get back to the passion projects.
That being said, I did complete my WIP goals for the month, and semi-completed the SCaN goal. If you follow me on X, you may know that that particular aspiration got sidetracked by some spin-off re-writes of Grimm Fairy Tales. The one about a boy and a cat, in particular.
WIP: DA!
Font chosen, check! Script written, check! Script implemented, check! Well, mostly, anyway. You see, while I was making the script, I stumbled upon the fact that I had not baked in enough sound effects. So now I’m going through a list of said SFX, as well as learning to make things like BAM! and KA-BOOM! Wow, I’ve learned so much in the making of this 8-pager.
The exciting thing is that the comic is pretty much done. Yay! The next items on the list are the cover, a back leaflet… legalese… and then it’s polishing and publishing time! We are so close it’s getting scary. And I’ll have to really start thinking about where to post this masterpiece… oof!
If you wish to know more about my progress and process with the comic, check out the latest ArtLog, or, as I mentioned above, follow me on X to get real-time intel on my projects and thoughts!
FP: SCaN
So, I was to flesh out the main story arc. And I got some ways into it before hitting a bookshelf. I mean, literally, there’s a bookshelf in John’s bedroom, and it is filled with books. So of course, I had to make up some stories to read to the kiddo, no? The long and the short of it is that I got hooked on finding old classics and other folk tales and started to modify them to fit the world of SCaN. And so, I have now written the Prologue and the Tutorial day… Which means I have about 10+ days still to go!
For November this means that I will keep working on the main storyline, the skeleton that would work as the ‘default’. Considering your choices matter somewhat in this game, I can never make a truly linear story for it.
If you’d like to know more about what I’ve been developing for Scan, check out the latest DevLog!
Learning this new rhythm
I always seem to have the best times to try new patterns and to get myself together. Like now, when the holiday season is about to peak and Christmas! But then again, there are so many important lessons to be learned from this, such as not slacking off when I do get those precious free days. It’s a bad habit of mine, truly!
I’ve also had the privilege to watch my husband work for a few months non-stop. I don’t know how he does it, or what drives him, but boy, is he a machine! While I wouldn’t dream of being like him, I do think there are things I (and the rest of you, too) would benefit from. Mainly his insane levels of discipline. If he sets his eyes on a goal, he will get there. Even if it takes years. And then he moves on. Crazy stuff, I’m telling you!
Meanwhile, I’m currently the complete opposite. I’ve managed to train my internal AI to accept laziness, and to fight against my aspirations. If I don’t have to do it, then it can wait. Indefinitely. You can see how that would be detrimental to this whole creation process, yes? So, while my husband lives and breathes code, perhaps, I too, could learn to breath art and creation in my own way.
I’ll admit, the month wasn’t quite how I imagined it. Sometimes I felt guilty about not working more on the projects, or because I was zoned out watching YouTube. But then again, I remembered that I’ve worked tons on the translation side of things, as well as gained some revelations on my being itself. I’ve also managed to keep the house in order, and we’ve made a ton of Jerky with the new dehydrator!
Sometimes the load may seem like it is too much – don’t get discouraged, for the road ahead is paved in gold.
Have a great Spoopy Month,
Mrs. V