So, things are finally calming down. Soon I can start really breathing, and the anticipation is killing me! I can relax, which means its time to buckle down and get some real work done, but before I do that, let me talk about about these past few months.

First, school was stressful. It wasn’t difficult so much as taxing. There was a lot of reading and writing involved. Between two classes alone I had to read six books, not to mention dozens of short stories and poems. In fact, these past two weekends have been consumed by writing two longer (eight to ten page) essays in those classes. Not particularly difficult, but somehow I found working up the motivation to get into gear and churn them out very difficult. I would have thought writing over five hundred pages (virtually) every day would have helped overcome that, but perhaps since blog posts are easier to write then essays it doesn’t translate perfectly. But at this point, I have two exams and one small assignment to finish, and after that I’ll be completely done for the semester.

As far as improv goes, I’ve cut down on that a little bit. I’ve called a hiatus for the performance cast (meaning I only teach them once a week), and until things get sorted out a bit better that’s where we’ll be. I still feel like I’m progressing, especially since writing an improv blog post every week has multiple purposes, but for now that’s not where I want my life to be focused.

Dungeons & Dragons is at an interesting position right now. I honestly didn’t expect both of my two campaigns to retain the traction they have, and the universe I’ve created (an alternate version of Nacre Then) is getting bigger every day. I almost can’t control all of my ideas for that world, and now all of my Google Docs and spreadsheets are woefully short compared to all of the ideas I have. I’ll need to find the time to polish them out and write some more soon (before the next session I need to iron out quite a bit). I can’t say I’m upset, however. Worldbuilding is my passion, after all, so playing in a sandbox of my own alternate universe is both weird and delightful. In fact some of the things that have been established into the lore of Therros have made it’s way (in some small details) into Nacre Then!

Over these last few months of school, improv, and writing, I took a break from listening to audiobooks. I haven’t forgotten 2016’s New Year’s resolution to read fifty books, though! I’m about halfway through my forty-sixth now, so I’m not worried about hitting my goal. In fact I already have the rest of the year’s books planned out. I don’t have plans for another New Year’s resolution, but we’ll see.

Lastly: writing. I’m super excited I found the… strength? Willpower? to write the second novelette in my anthology (maybe titled The Aftermath of the Rupture?). I, regretfully still haven’t found a suitable name for Aluvalia’s piece, and I’m already over halfway done, but I know it will come in time. The Dawn of Night was the perfect title for the first story for a lot of reasons, and I’m afraid it may have set some unrealistic expectations for my titling skills of the next shorts! In any case, I’m also already thinking about the third novelette, which takes place in Zephira. I’m super excited to start writing it because it has a very interesting set of characters (one of which wasn’t even created by me!) and I can’t wait to play with some new tools. It’ll be the first time Koh Liirans appear in any short fiction I’ve done! But before I even think about writing the third novelette, I really need to go back and make some edits to The Archive. There’s a lot of information that has been added since I finished it last year. It’s time I revisited it and added on to the Cedria and Aluvalia sections!

That’s all for now! The next few weeks will likely include a lot of video games. I need to play more Heroes of the Storm to finish the ‘Nexus Challenge’, but I also plan on giving my farm in Stardew Valley some more attention, as well as working hard at improving myself in Overwatch and reaching platinum rank again!

Also: audiobooks. Many books will be read over the next few weeks. Including some more Brandon Sanderson and (finally) Patrick Rothfuss! I cannot wait.