One Piece: Pure Corruption

So. Hi.

The chapter progress page moved a lot for a bit, then slowed down. Chapter 046 has been at three and a half fruits for a bit. That's a half-truth, though - the chapter is basically finished as it is, it's not going to go over 3500 words, and I'm editing some stuff before sending it off to proofreading. Though I already have two chapters in that phase, and I don't want to give my proofreader too many chapters at once.

But I'm also considering if I, for reasons I'm obviously not spoiling, might have to do some rewrites of chapters 045 and 046. I need to discuss it with my proofreader too. I've been... not quite agonizing over it, but I keep second-guessing myself about it. Which is a reason things have not been super productive lately. Hopefully I'll get to publishing soon!

/Kenny

And, again, things are me.

I've got my new apartment. There's still a lot to be done to make this into a home that I'll be completely comfortable in, but the computer is in place, internet's working, I have my Switch set up, and the kitchen is done enough that I can cook normally. Moving day was a complete disaster and one of the absolute worst days of my life, I will say that much - I was anxious about it and it still ended up a lot worse than I had ever imagined. But somehow, all the items made their way to the new building (except for a few I decided to just discard because it was probably time to replace them anyway), and things are slowly becoming better.

Week before that wasn't great either. I was away at a con, working karaoke as always, and I personally didn't have a fantastic time for several reasons. The actual karaoke was great - whenever I sang, I felt good, it was a lot of things surrounding it and the rest of the con that just made me not feel great. I'm too old to do cons like I used to.

On the flip side - I did get a lot written while at the con. So another chapter has now been sent off to proofreading, and the following one is at least more than halfway done. Still have other stuff to deal with - but publishing should actually finally resume shortly. Please be patient just a little longer.

/Kenny

So! I've got an apartment lined up. Not the one I mentioned in the previous update, but another one in the same area. It's a nice apartment. Big. Open. Bright. Nice kitchen.

And it makes me extremely worried. Or, well, anxious. A little scared.

Not the apartment as such. It's a good apartment. And I'm pretty sure I'll like living there. Once I've settled in. Which is the entire thing, really - moving to another apartment is going to literally be the biggest change in my life since I moved into the apartment I'm moving away from, which I've lived in for over ten years. So of course I'm anxious - every routine I've made for myself, everything I've gotten used to in all my years of living here - practically all of it will get discarded and I'm going to have to start figuring out new ones. I'm sure it'll all be good once I've done that, but... it's probably perfectly natural for me to worry about it right now. I do have this tendency to worry that things are going to end up being "wrong", that I've made the wrong decision. At the same time, this is absolutely the best apartment I could get under the circumstances, and it is a good one. More central location.

So anyway.

Being anxious over that hasn't exactly been to the benefit of my writing, as I find myself less able to concentrate because of it. I'm certain it's going to turn out alright in the end, but I can't just magically become not anxious. Next week will be a lot of preparations (though most of it's prepared already, as I've mentioned in the past - the majority of my possessions are in boxes and furniture that could be disassembled has been disassembled), and the week after that I'm actually heading off to a con. I definitely need that break. And when I come back home, it'll be moving time, though I don't know yet exactly the date that's going to happen. I've got some phonecalls to make.

And once I'm in my new place, with the computer and router all set up, I can start building anew, and then I will absolutely be more able to get things written. I hope. Also got that part where I need a job, but, y'know...

/Kenny

And by things, I mean me. Soon. Anyway, I figured some update here was called for, since I still am not a point where I have a chapter to publish.

I've been continuing my job-hunting with no success, and am now also taking care of some other stuff. Plus, I have to move out of this apartment in a month's time - going to view a new apartment on Tuesday, which I'm first in line for, so chances are good that'll be my new place. A lot bigger and in a much better location, for only a pretty negligible increase in monthly rent. So that's cool.

And that's basically where I'm at. I have a variety of things going on at the moment. Since I don't have a job, you'd think I'd be writing more, and I do agree with you. But not having a job or anything at all, really, frustrates me to the point where I end up just doing nothing productive. Can you get burnt out from doing nothing? Because it's kind of feeling like that. If I had less free time, I'd probably make more of an effort to do more with it. Plus, I mean, having less free time would mean having a job, meaning having money to do things with, so there's that too.

Bah.

Well, I hope you'll still want to stick with me and be patient just a bit longer. Hopefully I'll have something else going on soon to pep me up.

/Kenny

The chapter progress page has gotten that revamp I was talking about - instead of a vague sense of "halfway" and "almost done", the progress bars are now (almost) entirely tied to my current word count of upcoming chapters. It now has half-fruits as well, and each full fruit represents a 1000-word threshold - half a fruit means less than 500 words written, a full fruit means between 500 and 1000 words, and so on, until four full fruits which represents 3500+ words but not all chapters actually reach that many words so sometimes it'll skip a step (and since I still intend to update the progress bars weekly, a lot of steps will be "skipped", most likely). 4½ fruits now means it's in proofreading/editing, while five full fruits of course still indicates that the chapter is ready to publish. So there you go!

So this is just a regular message from me. Still no new chapter, which I'm sorry about. But I figured some signs of life and information from me could be called for.

The two jobs I have, I technically still have, but they're part-time gigs that don't really get me enough money, so I'm still looking for more. In the meanwhile, I've been using my free time for some stuff I have to do - I have to move out of this apartment within 4 months, so I've been cleaning up. Packed boxes of stuff. Thrown away a whole lot of stuff. You never know how much trash you have until it's time to move. Disassembled and put away a bookshelf. My apartment has rarely looked better tbh and there's still a whole lot of work for me to do, and it's something I really do have to prioritize at the moment. Writing isn't completely at a standstill, though - I've made some breakthroughs. I do have a mostly clear plan for the rest of the current volume. I really want to get these chapters out, but life is like it is sometimes.

Still.

Have a good April Fool's day. Remember to check your sources. I'll hopefully have some gooder news for you soon enough.

/Kenny

I'm gonna keep this fairly short, 'cause I'm currently doing New Year's at a friend's mom's place. But I've wanted to give you a bit of an update, at least.

As you can see on the chapter progress page, which didn't get updated over Christmas for a wide variety of reasons and I now have changed to be more truthful about when I've actually been updating it, the next chapter is done and will be published on Friday, so you havethat to look forwards to.

I'm not going to give any big New Year's Resolution about publishing more. I wish I could, but - I have an update on what I said in my last news post. I have jobs now. Yes, jobs. Plural.

One that makes use of my skills - I'm an interviewer for a research company, so I go around and do surveys.

And one that is what I like doing more than anything - writing about video games. Reviewing. So far, this year, since getting the job, I've written reviews of one forgettable indie game on the Switch eShop, Super Mario Party, Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Okay, so that last one hasn't been great for my writing progress. But anyway.

So a big thank you to everyone who's been with me for 2018, sorry for not giving you more chapters, and I hope you'll stay for what's hopefully going to be a more productive 2019!

/Kenny