January Accountability Post

Here’s a link to my December Accountability Post.

•  1st:
  • Happy New Year! Go read something!
  • I read some of ‘American Craftsman.’ I listened to some of ‘Moon over Soho.’ Both are good, and I like them in very different ways. The Peter Grant series (including ‘moon over soho’) is probably the series form of Urban Fantasy I have read before in terms of manifesting their Urban setting- the audiobook in particular is excellent. Meanwhile ‘Craftsman’ is doing a good job of manifesting a military experience, turning sorcerers into spec ops agents.
  • I finished ‘Moon over SoHo.’ Absolutely fantastic audiobook. Honestly the audiobook is so good I’m not sure how good the paper book/ebook would have been in comparison. The narrator REALLY took the book and carried it to victory. Review to come.
  • Draft to of my present story is now up to 11,341.
• 2nd
  • Read some of Craftsmen. It’s really reminding me of ‘Gemini Cell’ by Myke Cole. Also listened to some of ‘Three Parts Dead,’ ‘Broken Homes,’ and ‘Empire of Sand.’ Don’t know which I’m going to listen to next.
  • I am up to 12240.
• 3rd
  • I listened to ‘Broken Homes.’ Was good, but not as good as SoHo. I’m going to listen to 3 parts dead next.
  • I am up to 12544.
• 4th
  • I read some of ‘American Craftsmen.’ It’s good, so I think I’m going to finish it in the next day or two. I am finishing listening to ‘Three Parts Dead,’ and I’m loving it. I forgot why this is one of my favorite books of all time. The audiobook narrator does a great job of adding a humor to the book which REALLY makes it sparkle. The humor was there in the text, but the narrator has solid comedic timing.
  • I finished 3PartsDead as well as ‘Christmas Eve 1914.’
  • I am up to 13229.
• 5th
  • I read some of craftsman and ‘Empire of Sand.’ I’m liking Empire, but not loving it. It’s reminding me mainly of ‘City of Brass,’ but also ‘The Poppy War’ and ‘Twelve Kings of Sharhakhai.’ Unfortunately I do not like Empire as much as any of those other three.
  • I am up to 13282. I got distracted.
• 6th
  • I finished ‘Empire of Sand.’ Not my jazz, but I can acknowledge that it’s a good book. I then began ‘Foxglove Summer.’ Creepy book. I’m really enjoying the Peter Grant series. So far my order of best to least best (can’t say worst cause I like them all) are: Moon over SoHo>Rivers of London>Foxglove Summer>Broken Homes. Hopefully the remaining books show up from the library soon.
  • I wrote about 1088 words, and deleted about a thousand other words, bringing my total up to 12875.
  • I’m going to experiment with something. For one month, starting tomorrow, I am not going to watch any YouTube videos, Twitch streams, catch up on the news on any online sites, nor will I listen to any podcasts. I want to dis-involve myself from the internet as much as possible- however I cannot stop updating this blog so I can’t go completely cold-turkey. So for the next month I will continue updating this blog as well as do my usual signal-boosting on Reddit for my blog- however i’m going to keep my time on Reddit to a minimum of at most ten minutes spread out throughout the day.
• 7th
  • I finished ‘Foxglove.’ Was really good. Starting ‘Last First Snow.’ Also read ~60 pages of Craftsmen.
  • I am up to 15505
• 8th
  • I listened to ‘Last First Snow.’ Man, that was a good book. Best in the series (so far). I’m not sure what I’m going to read next.
  • I am up to 16500
• 9th
  • Finished ‘The Hanging Tree.’ Read some of ‘Craftsmen.’
  • I need to relax some more, I’ve been reading too much. I’m getting focus headaches. I’m going to lay off reading for a day or two.
  • I am up to 18993
• 10th
  • I am up to 20016
  • I finished Zero G. I started ‘Whispers Under Ground.’
• 11th
  • I finished ‘Whispers.’ I started ‘Empire of Ivory.’
  • I am up to 20197
• 12th
  • I listened to some of Empire of Ivory.
  • I wrote zip, nada, zilch. I’m going to take tomorrow off as well.
• 13th
  • I finished Empire of Ivory. Was good.
  • Finished ‘Craftsmen.’ Was good.
  • Took today off writing because I donated platelets and felt bad afterwards.
•  14th
  • I wrote Craftsmen’s review. I think the review was a high quality one.
  • Read ‘Descartes in 90 Minutes.’ It was a nice hour’s read.
  • I started listening to ‘Lud-in-the-Mists.’ At first I thought it was really good, but now I’m getting bogged down. It’s a story about a township suppressing the smuggling of faerie fruit across the border of faerieland. It’s also boring. I think it’s better than ‘King of Elfland’s daughter,’ though.
  • No writing. I forgot.
• 15th
  • I finished with ‘Lud.’ I didn’t really like it.
  • I read ‘Saga, Vol. 1.’ Now THAT was good.
  • I started listening to ‘Twelve Kings in Sharhakhai.’ It’s a re-read, but I was in the mood for something epic. As far it’s real good. My one comment is that the first 10% of the book has been workshopped to death- it was too clean to feel organic.
  • I’m up to 21508.
• 16th
  • Listened to some of ‘Sharhakhai.’ It’s pacing has some problems- too many flashbacks are slowing things down. But damn if the book isn’t otherwise great. Love the setting, love the plot. The characters need some more dev, but I’m only a quarter of the way into the book so I think they might yet become great characters. Not as good as ‘With Blood Upon the Sands,’ but it’s close.
  • I am up to 22738
• 17th
  • Listened to ‘Sharhakhai.’ In addition to pacing problems, the book also misses opportunities to show, not tell.
  • Read some of ‘Plato for Everyone.’ I’m liking it so far.
  • I’m not going to write anything for a few days. I’m experiencing some arm pain.
• 18th
  • I read some ‘Plato.’
  • I listened to some ‘Sharhakhai.
  • I wrote nothing.
• 19th
  • Did nothing.
• 20th
  • I read some Sharhakhai, but it wasn’t much.
  • I wrote nothing.
• 21st
  • My arms are still in pain, but it’s getting to the point where I just have to start working again. So I’m going to start writing using my voice-to-text software and I’m going to not lift weights or do HIIT at the gym for the next week. My software sucks for writing blogposts (like this) so I’m going to have to figure something out.
  • I finished Sharhakhai.
  • I read a little ‘Plato.’
  • I wrote a few words.
• 22nd
  • I read some of ‘Seven Blades in Black.’ I’m liking it. It’s reminding me of ‘The Gunslinger,’ but with more attitude.
  • I am up to about 23000.
• 23rd
  • I read ‘Zen Dogs.’ It was a fun book, which physically made me feel happy.
  • I read some of ‘Seven Blades.’ Is good. It REALLY wears it’s Final Fantasy heritage on it’s sleeve.
• 24th
  • I am up to 23655.
  • I read nothing.
• 25th
  • I am up to 24910.
  • I read a little ‘Plato.’
  • I’m gonna double down and read more ‘seven blades’ tomorrow.
• 26th
  • I read some MtG short stories. They were good.
  • I wrote 16 words. I really need to work on my work ethic.
• 27th
  • I read some of ‘Children of the Nameless’ and ‘Guilds of Ravnica’ and ‘Seven Blades.’
  • I wrote maybe fifty words or so.
• 28th
  • ‘Seven Blades’ is really good. Sykes’ narrative voice is kinda like a mixture of Dresdenish humor coupled with the occasional heavy-descriptive prose section. I like it.
  • Finished seven blades even though it took all day. Was good.
• 29th
  • I am up to 25065.
  • I Started reading ‘Undeath and Taxes.’ Is fun, but I’m not liking it as much as the first. The plotline is more of a continuation of the previous book instead of it’s own thing.
• 30th
  • I finished ‘Undeath and Taxes.’ Was fun.
  • I’m up to 25465.
• 31st
  • I started reading ‘Kingdom of Copper.’ Is good so far, but I’m puzzled by the authors choice to take Ali back to Daevabad immediately.