May 2023 Update
I’m so close to tying off MK1 and moving on to brainstorming MK2. I had in my head that I would make that transition June 1 and I still might make it. The progress on MK1 has been a bit of a rollar coaster since my last blog post. At first, I was absolutely crushing it and making very rapid progress. Then things at work picked up and progress came to crashing halt—silly job.
At any rate, I have mapped out all the timing of the sequences and I am positive future Jeffrey will appreciate and admire all that work when developing the rest of the series. I didn’t quite “map” out the main character arc, but I did create a short-hand summary of all relevant chapters and sections to be able to view the character arc more easily in its totality. I decided when reading through MK1, it would make more sense to tweak the character arc in lights of book 2 and maybe even book 3.
I have two loose ends to tie up before moving on to MK2. I need to read through some sections of the second main protagonist’s arc to make sure their reactions are consistent with some new developments. And then I need to fix some of the main character’s interactions in one section. All in all, these shouldn’t take me too long and if I’ve not moved on to MK2 by June 1st, I will shortly after.
On the MS front, my leg continues to be weaker than last year. This was made clear with the advent of lawn mowing season. Last year, I could mow, edge, and blow in one session. It would suck and I would be struggling by the end of the year, but not sure I could do that now. I have to split the edging to the night before, mow the next morning, and have my kids do the blowing. As much as I hate it, I think it’s only a matter of time before I have to get a lawn service.
My wife also observed that I never used to complain about my leg after standing for a long time doing chores or whatever, but now it definitely gets fatigued the longer I stand on it. Ditto doing cardio exercise. We have an old, rickety elliptical machine, and doing a cardio workout leaves me pretty weak for half a day. I’ve been racking my brain about exercise I could do that doesn’t affect my mobility so much. I’m worried this year over year deterioration doesn’t bode well for next year and that skiing may be over much sooner for me than I hoped.
So, feeling pretty good and optimistic on the novel and pretty crappy and pessimistic on the MS.