(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* My official total for Nano is 21,748 words. Not what I planned, but not terrible. It actually supports my assumption that doing 50k in a month is do-able for me, since I spent a lot more time editing than writing this month. I didn't plan to do Nano until last minute so I was trying to juggle Nano and existing projects.

* Where did this week go? My tracking for this week is mostly blank and IDK why. I know that yesterday I got a little too involved with catching up in Guild Wars 2, but that doesn't explain the week.

* Now that I've finally sunken my teeth into it, SOTO is probably my favorite GW2 expansion. They added player-spawned events, so if people are waiting on an event someone can just pull out a party canon and go 'who wants loot?'

There are lore reasons why this makes sense and why players would do this. But, functionally, it's player spawned events. It allows for ongoing farming and new types of farming. Doing trains, where a commander leads a group map hopping to hit events in an optimized way, has always been popular. World bosses, infusion hunting, rare item hunting, hero point hunting, etc. This allows people to customize trains and also fill in downtime when it's important to get to a map early. It makes map currency farming, something I enjoy a great deal, very dynamic and social. Also, the maps and skins and stories and new city areas are really top notch. I need to design a few looks around some of the new skins.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I think 50k would absolutely be doable! I know you were pulled in a lot of different directions with stuff this month.

I'm glad the Guild Wars expansion is good! That sounds like a fun mechanic to introduce.

[olivermoss]

November is a tricky month, stuck between October and December. I'm glad I tackled Nano, though, because I really love my novel concept and that it's very stand-alone. The plot really does need a bit more developing, though

[mistressofmuses]

October all the way through the end of the year feels weird to me. October and November both seemed to vanish in a flash, and I'm guessing December will feel the same.

I really like the novel project that you declared. I hope you're able to get the plot to where you want it and get it written!

[olivermoss]

Thanks! I'd always though of my origfic in terms of 'what is my dream project, what do I most want to do?' But since I was suddenly doing nano I thought in terms of 'what can I get done' and that was huge.

[mistressofmuses]

That's an interesting way to look at it. I've heard the advice (many, many, many times) to make every project your dream project - throw in everything you most want to do and all your favorite things and every character dynamic that lights your brain up and every beloved pet subject...

But the idea of "what's actually reasonable to get done" may sound a little less romantic, but is a lot more achievable and comes with a lot less inherent pressure.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, I feel a bit silly writing 'once I decided to plan something I can actually do', because once I wrote it out it seems obvious. Doing things I can do are stepping blocks to doing bigger things. Most advice is to do the opposite of that, though.

[mistressofmuses]

Maybe that SOUNDS like something that should be very obvious, but... It really is counter to the most common advice and messaging, which does say every project should be the biggest and bestest and most everything-est. The grandiose ideas are fun, too. But working toward something that can actually get done is going to be a lot more effective than something of an impossible scale.

[olivermoss]

It's one of those things that makes sense once you realize it / say it out loud :)

[mistressofmuses]

There are a shocking number of those things, honestly. Things that SHOULD be super obvious, and are once you do realize them, but have that gap between "figuring it out" and "duh", lol.