Can you believe it’s already April? It feels like the year has only just started but we’ll soon be one-third done with it. It’s always like this, time doesn’t quite work the way you expect it to. I’ve been doing a lot better with my health lately. I did get the flu recently, which was pretty bad, but my general health outside of those two weeks has been good. I’ve finally started feeling at home at my internship (I know, it’s pretty depressing that it takes two-thirds of the school year, but that’s just the way it is) and I’ve been a lot less stressed. Today is also my only day this week due to Easter, so that’s really cool. I had a super busy week with uni last week. I had to work with some groupmates on a large project and this was our second time handing in the assignment. The first time already spelled out about how well the second time was probably going to go. It wasn’t great. Me and one other group member ended up doing the part of another group member that wasn’t able to get it done in time. It’s too bad since they’re all nice people and I get along well with each of them, we just don’t get shit done efficiently. I also get really annoyed when I need to do schoolwork in the evening. I’ve learned many years ago that the morning is when I’m productive. I can still do things in the afternoon or evening, but I’ll be much more tired and have a severe lack of focus. But what’s done is done, and no one meant to be a problem, it was just poor planning as a group. I hope the assignment gets a passing grade.
I’ve talked about this before on this blog, but I still live with my dad. That sometimes feels really bad as a 30 year old man, but it works for me and it works for my dad so it just gives me the opportunity to do the things with my life that I want to do as opposed to moving out and getting stuck in a job I don’t want just to get by. But my dad is nearing his 60s and as a carpenter that means he’s lived a pretty hard life. It’s not as hard as some other jobs, but it makes teaching a class look easy. He’s been struggling with his health for a couple of years now, primarily being unable to sleep full nights. It’s really eating at him and I find this very difficult to watch. I’m trying my best to be as supportive as possible and I take over as many tasks in the house as I can (I’m clumsy but I can vacuum a floor like nobody’s business). But it is definitely something that’s been lingering in the back of my head. I hope he gets a breakthrough with one of the specialists he’s going to soon, I really want him to be happier again. He’s just so tired and more grumpy because of it.
That’s what has been playing in my life, but it’s fortunately not kept me from writing at all. I was going to do a quarterly update last week but I had too much going on so I relied on something I could write a little bit quicker. As of today I’ve written a little over 128.000 words already. That’s a lot of words, but not as many as I would have hoped. That’s quite alright, I know my goal of 500.000 words was a high goal, but I am still aiming for it. Perhaps when summer approaches I can pick up the pace. I’ve been writing a lot more fiction in the last month or two and that has really helped with my motivation. I’m also reading more – although not as much as I should – and I’m even reading non-fiction. It’s a book by Stephen King about how he approaches writing and it’s very interesting. I’ll talk about it some more once I’ve finished the book. He says you should read and write about six hours a day which I couldn’t help but laugh at. Listen, I know he has the time, since he’s a full time writer, but with teaching, going to uni and having other hobbies there’s no shot I can spend that much time on reading and writing. Having said that, I do have to be honest with myself and admit I should put more time into writing and especially reading. I have books piling up and if I want to get more comfortable in fiction writing I really should read more of them.
Last but not least, let’s talk about this blog. Views are up from last year, which is very nice. I have no massive goals to get millions of followers or anything, but it is a nice feeling that people are actually reading what I’m writing. It really does brighten my day when I suddenly have a couple more likes than I expected. I am probably slowing down my posting schedule for the next month or two. For starters, I’m not covering an anime weekly this season. That’s because I wasn’t really too excited about anything to properly write about. With both Made in Abyss and Bungo Stray Dogs I felt like there was something to talk about for me, but I don’t just want to recap a show scene by scene, that’s not fun to do. So I will return to Bungo Stray Dogs, where I’ll predict what’s about to happen and then be wrong by the very next scene. Until then, it’s three to four posts a week for the time being. It gives me a little bit more time to spend on The Necromancer’s Daughter and also makes it so I don’t get overcrowded in the last months of the school year.
I know I’ve gone on for too long already and if you’re still here, thank you for that. I’m hoping to keep improving my writing style and quality and if things go really well, I’d love to send my first book to a publisher before the year is over. That will only happen if I stop being lazy and start editing the first volume of the Hesitant Hero. Let’s hope I have a productive summer. See you all tomorrow for more One Piece Wednesday and thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 