2018 in Review & 2019 Goals

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20181216_7years

Before I get into anything else, I hit seven years on WordPress sometime in December!

2018 in Review

The things that happened this year:

  • Finished writing The Book of Immortality (104k words).
  • Scripted and drew a short comic, Veitlen and Nymue.
  • Moved out on my own for the first time in April!
  • Started writing The Land of Two Moons in June, and started drawing pages of the comic in July.
  • Got a Switch and Breath of the Wild in July. Then got Super Smash Brothers Ultimate for Christmas.
  • Rebelled during NaNoWriMo for the first time! And won at 50,338 words.
  • I also attended a few NaNoWriMo write-ins for the first time, and also went to the TGIO party for my region.
  • Made AT LEAST a $10 USD donation every week. This totaled $586.78.
  • Kept the same job for an entire year!

There are some other minor things that happened, but they’re so minor that they don’t need to be put here.

What I want to do in 2019

Edit/rewrite The Book of Immortality.

I completed the editing outline in November, and I don’t plan to change too much about the story, other than take out all of the filler I wrote during NaNo. I did start rewriting some of it during NaNo, which I found to be fairly difficult as I was going from a present-tense script to past-tense prose. It was incredibly jarring, and also my prose is terrible after years of doing nothing but scripts.

I don’t want to leave this story in limbo and I planned on editing it in 2019 anyway. I don’t really have a timeframe for when I want to start doing this – only that I want it to end before 2019 ends.

Start posting The Land of Two Moons online somewhere.

At the moment, I have fifteen pages completed and eight in progress. I want to start posting the comic online in late January/early February at the earliest. It’ll probably go up on Smackjeeves, as that’s the only comic hosting I’m familiar with at the moment.

Unless I decide to self-host the comic on its own domain. That could always happen.

Continue working on (and finish) The Land of Two Moons.

I’m around 60% done with this story. It’s definitely something that’ll be done this year. I don’t see it being much longer than 50 chapters.

Related: pencil 12 pages of The Land of Two Moons every month.

I penciled 10 pages in December, and it was a really easy goal to hit! I’m going to attempt 12 pages per month in 2019 for a total of 144.

Write and post a work of short fiction on this blog.

This might be prose, or another short comic. But I want to write something that isn’t related to either The Book of Immortality or The Land of Two Moons.

Get a custom domain name for this website.

This is an idea I’ve been toying with for the past few months. Since it’s easy and cheap I’ll probably end up doing it sometime in January.

Keep the same job.

This is really something that I don’t have control over, since I could get laid off at any time. But unless something particularly bad happens, I plan on working at the same place for all of 2019.

Final words

BACK UP YOUR WORK.

Whether you use the cloud or some kind of external storage, make sure you’ve got copies of all of your work! You have no idea when your primary computer will crash and burn.

Lexember 2018

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This Lexember, I worked on Rennukat – the conlang that I created for The Land of Two Moons.

Day 1

iro [ˈi.ro] v. to exist physically

Tsu rennut iro.

[tsu ˈrɛn.nʊt ˈi.ro]

two moon.NOM.PL exist.PRS.IND

“There are two moons”.

Day 2

Language: Rennukat

syven [ˈsy.vɛn] n. star

Day 3

syvekerru [ˈsy.ve.ˌkɛr.ru] n. galaxy (star-cloud)

Day 4

rennudiren [ˈrɛn.nu.ˌdi.rɛn] n. an impact crater caused by the former moon Ellinen

Day 5

lerucha [le.ˈru.tʃa] n. theocracy. A loanword from Ciniáne leruggeá [le.rud.dʒe.ˈɑː] “God republic”

Day 6

hasra [ˈhas.ra] n. desert

Day 7

varasynne [ˈva.ra.ˌsʏn.ne] n. taijitu. From vara “dark” + synne “light”.

Day 8

maita [ˈmaɪ.ta] n. magic.

vara maita “dark magic”

synne vaita “light magic”

Day 9

nahtaryklun [ˈnah.ta.ˌrʏk.lʊn] n. spirit weapon. From nahta “soul” + ryklun “weapon”.

Day 10

Akoisusei [ˈa.koɪ.ˌsu.seɪ] n. The Goddess of Mercy. From akoi “behold” + susei “mercy”.

Day 11

dyhtail [ˈdʏh.taɪl] n. deity

Day 12

soiny [ˈsoɪ.ny] n. pigeon

Day 13

aven [ˈa.vɛn] n. crossroad. Sai Avenit “The Crossroads” is a city in the Western District of Tsurennupaiva.

Day 14

chanda [ˈtʃan.da] n. serendipity. Chanda is the name of the current Avatar of Akoisusei (The Goddess of Mercy).

Day 15

Sairren [ˈsaɪr.rɛn] n. One of the moons that orbits the planet Talassa.

Day 16

Veitlen [ˈveɪt.lɛn] n. One of the moons that orbits the planet Talassa. Also the name of one of the protagonists of The Land of Two Moons.

Day 17

koissa [ˈkoɪs.sa] n. avatar

Day 18

meinara [meɪ.ˈna.ra] n. planet

Day 19

tsyra [ˈtsy.ra] n. diamond

pevu tysra “carbonado (black diamond)”

Day 20

narzyll [ˈnar.sʏl] n. beryl. This is an old loanword that’s kept its spelling.

juki narzyll “goshenite”

kane narzyll “red beryl”

losir narzyll “morganite”

ris narzyll “aquamarine”

ryt narzyll “emerald”

tuura narzyll “heliodor”

Day 21

hallionhiljon [hal.ˈli.ɔn.ˌhɪl.jon] n. solstice. From hallion “sun” + hiljo “stand still”. The final –n exists solely because hallionhiljo sounded too awkward.

Day 22

mortjara [mɔr.ˈtʃa.ra] n. sapphire. From mor “deep blue” + tjara “gem”.

Day 23

kanetjara [ˈka.ne.ˌtʃa.ra] n. ruby. From kane “red” + tjara “gem”.

Day 24

sherir [ˈʃe.rɪr] n. quartz. A loanword from an old, lost language.

Day 25

diren sherir [ˈdi.rɛn ˈʃe.rɪr] n. stishovite. From diren “crater” + sherir “quartz”.

Day 26

aritehde [ˈa.ri.ˌtɛh.de] n. silver. From ariana “silver color” + tehde “metal”.

Day 27

haturra tehde [ha.ˈtu.ra ˈtɛh.de] n. gold. From hatuura “gold color” + tehde “metal”.

Day 28

artemaren tehde [ˈar.te.ˌma.rɛn ˈtɛh.de] n. bismuth. From artemaren “rainbow” + tehde “metal”.

Day 29

natarika [ˈna.ta.ˌri.ka] n. demon.

Day 30

vuhta [ˈvʊh.ta] n. ghost

Day 31

manavah [ma.ˈna.vah] n. human

NaNo 2018 Week 4

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22 November

Target Word Count: 36,667

Words Written: 36,687

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 16 pages (converted to 3200 words)

Finished chapter 24 of The Land of Two Moons and started chapter 25. I had to create a bunch of new characters for this next part of the story.

23 November

Target Word Count: 38,333

Words Written: 38,487

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 9 pages (converted to 1800 words)

Finished chapter 25 and started chapter 26.

24 November

Target Word Count: 40,000

Words Written: 40,187

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 0.5 pages (converted to 500 words)
  • The Land of Two Moons script: 6 pages (converted to 1200 words)

Finished inking two pages of chapter 1. I’m also almost done with scripting chapter 26.

25 November

Target Word Count: 41,667

Words Written: 41,787

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 8 pages (converted to 1600 words)

Finished chapter 26 and started on chapter 27.

26 November

Target Word Count: 43,333

Words Written: 43,587

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 9 pages (converted to 1800 words)

Finished chapter 27!

27 November

Target Word Count: 45,000

Words Written: 44,187

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 3 pages (converted to 600 words)

Today was a rather difficult writing day for no reason at all.

28 November

Target Word Count: 46,667

Words Written: 47,187

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 15 pages (converted to 3000 words)

Finished chapter 28, which ended up being much longer than a normal chapter due to it containing an action sequence. Also started on chapter 29!

29 November

Target Word Count: 48,333

Words Written: 49,787

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 13 pages (converted to 2600 words)

Wrote a lot more than I planned to.

30 November

Target Word Count: 50,000

Words Written: 50,387 (50,388 according to the validator)

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 3 pages (converted to 600 words)

Won and finished chapter 29!

Overview

I won and validated at 5:00 PM on the 30th. That’s much better than last year, when I won at 11:30 PM.

2018_11_nanowrimo

Instead of writing a whole bunch about how it was really hard to keep on track at times and how much I really love The Land of Two Moons, I’m just going to end this blog post with saying that I’m happy I won and I’m going to continue working on this story until it’s done.

NaNo 2018 Week 3

Jay ArgallLeave a comment

15 November

Target Word Count: 25,000

Words Written: 24,487

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 3 pages (converted to 600 words)

This is the first day this year I’ve fallen behind!

16 November

Target Word Count: 26,667

Words Written: 26,087

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 8 pages (converted to 1600 words)

Finished chapter 22. I was hoping to get more than 26k, but ended up being too tired.

17 November

Target Word Count: 28,333

Words Written: 29,987

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 12 pages (converted to 2400 words)
  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 1.5 pages (converted to 1500 words)

I’m back on track! I also started penciling chapter 1 of the comic.

18 November

Target Word Count: 30,000

Words Written: 30,187

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 1 page (converted to 200 words)

Finished chapter 22. I wanted a break, so I took it easy today.

19 November

Target Word Count: 31,667

Words Written: 30,187

Did not write today.

20 November

Target Word Count: 33,333

Words Written: 31,987

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 9 pages (converted to 1800 words)

I’m behind, but I did manage to write more than 1667 words.

21 November

Target Word Count: 35,000

Words Written: 33,487

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 5 pages (converted to 1000 words)
  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 0.5 pages (converted to 500 words)

I wrote a lot less than I wanted to, but I was anemic for most of the day. That messed up everything, not just my writing.

NaNo 2018 Week 2

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8 November

Target Word Count: 13,333

Words Written: 14,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 5 pages (converted to 1000 words)

Still taking it easy today.

9 November

Target Word Count: 15,000

Words Written: 15,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of two Moons script: 5 pages (converted to 1000 words)

Finished chapter 18 of The Land of Two Moons and started chapter 19. What was supposed to be one chapter (chapter 16) has turned into four (chapters 16-19).

10 November

Target Word Count: 16,667

Words Written: 19,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 20 pages (converted to 4000 words)

Finished chapter 19 and chapter 20. I also introduced a character that I completely forgot about. She’s supposed to be a major character, so this is pretty bad.

11 November

Target Word Count: 18,333

Words Written:

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 1.5 pages (converted to 1500 words)

Did a bit of figuring out where exactly my script is going. Since I introduced the new character yesterday, I had to add in another chapter that explained some things. That’s what I’ll be writing tomorrow.

I also finished redoing the last of the prologue (!!!) and started on the chapter 1 cover.

12 November

Target Word Count: 20,000

Words Written: 21,511

Breakdown:

  • The Book of Immortality editing outline: 247 words
  • The Land of Two Moons script: 1 page (converted to 200 words)
  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 0.5 pages (converted to 500 words)

Outlined chapters 27-30 of The Book of Immortality. Started on chapter 21 of the script of The Land of Two Moons and finished the chapter 1 cover I started yesterday.

13 November

Target Word Count: 21,667

Words Written: 22,037

Breakdown:

  • The Book of Immortality editing outline: 126 words
  • The Land of Two Moons script: 2 pages

Outlined chapters 31-32 of The Book of Immortality. Didn’t get a chance to write very much today otherwise.

14 November

Target Word Count: 23,333

Words Written: 23,887

Breakdown:

  • The Book of Immortality editing outline: 600 words
  • The Book of Immortality rewrite: 1.25 hours (converted to 1250 words)

Outlined chapters 33-40 of The Book of Immortality. The editing outline is done! I started rewriting the first chapter. It’s pretty awkward, since I’m going from a script to prose and present tense to past tense.

NaNo 2018 Week 1

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I decided last-minute to treat The Land of Two Moons as a normal ScriptFrenzy – a goal of 100 pages in a month. Since a normal script is around 20,000 words, I’ve decided to have 1 page of script = 200 words. I still have a goal of 50,000 words, though!

1 November

Target Word Count: 1,667

Words Written: 1,709

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 6 pages (converted to 1200 words)
  • The Book of Immortality editing outline: 509 words

Finished chapter 14 of The Land of Two Moons. Outlined chapters 4-9 of The Book of Immortality.

2 November

Target Word Count: 3,333

Words Written: 3,509

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 9 pages (converted to 1800 words)

Wrote most of chapter 15 of The Land of Two Moons. I also managed to tie some plot things together and make it a previous event look like foreshadowing. It definitely wasn’t foreshadowing when I wrote it weeks ago, but it definitely is now.

3 November

Target Word Count: 5,000

Words Written: 6,864

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 6 pages (converted to 1200 words)
  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 1 page (converted to 1000 words)
  • The Book of Immortality editing outline: 1,131 words

Finished chapter 15 of The Land of Two Moons and started on chapter 16. Outlined chapters 10-26 of The Book of Immortality. I now have a good idea of what events I do and don’t want to keep in the second draft. I wrote quite a bit of filler during last year’s NaNo that needs to be taken out.

4 November

Target Word Count: 6,667

Words Written: 11,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 21 pages (converted to 4200 words)

Finished chapter 16 and 17 of The Land of Two Moons. I went to a write-in today and wrote 21 pages while I was there. That brings me to a total of 42 pages that I’ve written for The Land of Two Moons. 42 pages in 4 days!

5 November

Target Word Count: 8,333

Words Written: 12,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons comic: 1 page (converted to 1000 words)

Redrew page 6 of the prologue. One page to go!

6 November

Target Word Count: 10,000

Words Written: 12,264

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 1 page (converted to 200 words)

My hands started getting numb pretty much as soon as I got home from work. Also, I got really distracted by waiting for election results. But this is why I used the weekend to get ahead – to make sure I wouldn’t fall behind even after missing a day or two.

7 November

Target Word Count: 11,667

Words Written: 13,064

Breakdown:

  • The Land of Two Moons script: 4 pages (converted to 800 words)

Decided to take it easy today as I still had some problems with my hands/wrists.