Netflix has some things, Neat.

Howdy y’all. I’m back again, though a little early for some of you.

So first of all I’ll be working Monday, in the day no less(Curse you sunlight… hiss), so I’m writing this up a day early. Unless you are reading this from my patreon page you might not have even known this as I’ll schedule it for my usual time, but I felt I should mention it.

So, have I read anything this last week? YUP. I finish 5 books since last time I checked in, and I’m pretty close to a 6^th, so that’s going well. I’ve kinda held back on playing my MMORPG this last week, and well, while I could subscribe again for another week, I haven’t. Mostly because my sleep schedule is all messed up already as I prepare for a day shift. My co-players are used to us logging in at night, and since I’m not, I didn’t feel like wasting in game currency just not to play. This all means I had a few more hours to read, hence the jump back up in the number of books I completed.

Otherwise what have I been up to? Um, I watched a couple documentaries on Netflix. One about LSD, which was amusing if not informative. The other was about the final Monty Python performance back in 2014. A little heartbreaking to see Terry Jones with his forgetfulness setting in, and the fact that they were doing it so he could get some money for things he needed to pay off. However it was nice to see them all coming back together, and seeming to get along after so many years. I had felt there was a bit of a rift between some of them, but that seemed to mostly disappear. There was a ton of mutual respect flowing around. They all seemed to be having fun, even after all this time and doing the same skits, yet they all laughed and enjoyed the humor they created, and continued to create over the years.

Other than that I noted that Avatar: the Last Airbender was trending #1 on Netflix, and was happy and surprised. I love that show, and have it on DVD. I’ve watched it many times over the years, at one point because I didn’t have Internet for over a month, heh. I couldn’t help but start it up again, and I find it amusing to see so many other people discovering it after so much time since it had originally come out. So if you haven’t seen it already, or you just want to join us all watching it again, hey it’s on Netflix.

Also I’ve continued editing my mostly finished book… I mean finished relatively speaking as it sits at around 70% done, so that’s fun, heh. I’ve really enjoyed reading some of these later chapters as it’s been a minute since I had first written them and am surprised how good they sound… to me. That really helps solidify my own notions that it’s a worthwhile project, and makes me feel justified in continuing writing. It’ll be awhile I’m sure before it’s finished, as my original time-line has gone way off course because of many things, but I’m still making headway.

Anywho, that’s about all I have for you this time. I hope you all have an enjoyable week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. I’m 70% into the new novel’s first draft. Samantha is working on some edits for me, and I was able to edit another chapter based on her suggestions.

– Steven Oaks

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Watching Some Stuff

Hello all. Another week, another post.

So, what all have I been up to you ask? Well let me think. I read, obviously, though again only so many books this time. 3 to be exact, though I’m close to finishing a fourth. Most of my waking time is still dedicated to my MMORPG, and the majority of that is just me fishing. I don’t know why, but I guess I feel a bit of satisfaction leveling it.

Anyway, I did spend a bit of time watching some stuff on Amazon Prime. First I watched the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.. movie. It was alright, not great or anything, but it was good enough for what it was. I had been a bit of a fan of the two characters, and I had already watched Jay and Silent Bob strike back, which this is a continuation of that particular story. It had some funny moments, and as expected a ton of call backs. The ability to get these actors, and have them say some of these lines was amusing. I’d say give it a pass if you weren’t a fan of Strike Back.

Another thing I watched, all in one sitting mind you, was Upload. I really liked it, and I couldn’t stop watching it, though the continued anti-vaping theme grated on me. But that aside, it was an enjoyable watch. It’s all about a guy who has an accident, and instead of allowing himself to “die” gets his consciousness uploaded to a virtual retirement home. The place is a bit buggy, and you need money to do most anything. Unfortunately he’s under his girlfriend’s account and can’t do much as she’s paying. Things get a little more complicated as he starts to like his “angel” who is a customer service representative for the virtual world, and there is a mystery behind his accident. All in all I say it was a fun watch, and I would like a second season… PLEASE!

And finally, yes I’m still working on a book. I’m nearly through the edits and re-reading as I wanted to do before finishing my first draft. I know, I probably should finish it before I do any editing, but I find doing it this way relieves any kind of doubt I might have in the ending I planed, and I think it tightens the story more. So I’m going to do it anyway, might as well have a better understanding of everything I’ve written. Since I’m not just writing, I have a job, it takes me awhile to get a book done, so I find it’s kind of necessary to go through things a couple of times in case I’ve forgotten something.

Anywho, that’s all I’ve got for you this week. I hope you have a good one.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. I’m 70% into the new novel’s first draft. Samantha is working on some edits for me, and I was able to edit another chapter based on her suggestions.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.

Trying to Figure out an Ending

Hello all. I’ve returned for another weekly update. Yay?

Anyway, this week I read some books. How many? Well only 3, but two of those books were as long as 3 books themselves, so there’s that, heh. Of course part of why there wasn’t more read by myself was because I’m still playing way too many hours of this dang MMORPG. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about it, but it’s what I’ve been up to.

Otherwise I’m still going through what I’ve already written, editing before the first draft is completed. It’s what I’ve always done. Either when I feel stuck on some point, or unsure where to go with the story, I’ve generally felt going through what I’ve already written helps clear things up for me. And as I do this the world keeps moving and I generally find some inspiration in it, or in reviewing what I’ve already put to ‘paper’. As far as I can tell, and with feedback from Samantha, the book so far is readable and entertaining. I just need to figure out how I want to tell the ending. Only another thirty-thousand words or so to go, heh.

Endings are the hardest part for me. You’ve got to wrap up everything, and make sure all threads that you’ve put down come together and make sense. If there’s a series, you can tease a bit more at the end, or leave some threads behind to get your readers interested in consuming another story, but there still needs to be a satisfying conclusion for each books ending. And since this book has a bit of mystery and detective work being done, I have to double be sure to have all the clues in the book be correct. You can mislead, but it still has to be pertinent to the ultimate conclusion. This all is the difficulty I’m experiencing with getting the ending worked out for this book. But I’m getting there, and as the days go by I’m figuring it all out.

Anyway, Dofus… heh. Well, mostly I want to talk about how nice it is to have (a) friend(s) who you can talk to daily. During this time of isolation… well that’s my life most of the time, it’s really cool that I can pop on to Discord and have someone to talk with. And of course it doesn’t hurt we have an activity to work on. And fun enough, for me at least, I’ve finally gotten my new character up to the same level as the old one. And that old one took years to get there, however this time around it only took a few weeks. Crazy how working together with someone can really help you raise your levels. Dungeon running every day I have free has really helped out. And now I’m even making a little bit of in-game money by selling off all the things I make or get from completing these dungeons. Meaning I seem to be able to get enough currency to pay for my subscription, though I’ve had to borrow a bit this last time. I’ll get better though I’m sure.

Alright, I think I’ll leave off here. Otherwise I’ll just go on about this silly MMORPG until no one reads these posts anymore. I hope you all have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. I’m 70% into the new novel’s first draft. Samantha is working on some edits for me, and I was able to edit another chapter based on her suggestions.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.

Distance D&D

Greetings and Salutations. Um, and hello? Another week, another post. Here we go.

So what have I been up to… uh, yeah, you probably guessed it. Reading! Well, a little of that, only 4 books, and lots and lots of hours on that MMORPG that I keep talking about, Dofus.

You see, apparently if you make enough in game currency you can trade it in for the subscription fee. Well I’m not that good at making money in-game, but my friend apparently is. He was able to gather enough to get myself and Samantha a weeks worth of subscription for us to play the full game. And let me tell you it was a good weekend to do that. Double XP for professions, which I’m apparently obsessed with. Right now I’m just fishing all over the place, and I’m the highest level fisherman in the guild… heh, apparently no one else wanted to fish. I find it relaxing… and I can feed fish to my pet cat… in-game of course. Makes him stronger, and therefore me.

Oh, yeah I edited several chapters of my book this week as well. I’m making my way back. It’s unfortunate that this whole global pandemic has set me back, but I think it has for many of us. I’m just trying to get back to normal as best I can. So I apologize for taking longer at this than I thought I would.

Not much else has been going on. Most of my attention has been taken over by online game-play. Speaking of which, we once more played a bit of D&D these weekend over the Internet. Roll20 and Discord to the rescue. It was all combat, so not much for me to talk about. Mostly my Tabaxi obsessed with killing all things fish related, and just simply fed up with everything attacking. He did suggest burning down the forest where the lumberjacks had been attacked, and simply be done with it. Odd for a druid I suppose, but in his own words, fire is a natural cleanser, and sometimes things need to be purged so life can start again fresh.

This suggestion was not met with much applause by the rest of the party, but our resident dragon man did take it under advisement while burning any monster that attacked us. Which apparently was super effective against these Blight creatures that we found inhabiting the woods.

Eventually we found the supposed source of the problem. A giant tree that apparently spewed blights after consuming whatever living creature was around it. Being the cautious bunch that we are, we attacked at range and easily defeated it, along with the two giant Blights guarding it. That being finished we of course looted the bodies, and found the remains of the poor lumberjacks that had been assumed dead before our venture into the forest.

All that was left to do was distribute the loot, and head back to town. But with the night growing rather late… 3am, heh, we all headed out before we did anything else. And thus another session of distance D&D was finished.

Anyway, that’s all I have for right now. I hope you all have a great week.

TTFN

You Must Be Drunk link to the Amazon store here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM

What I’ve published

Walk On

click here for a link to the book

Outsider Trilogy

Click here for a link to the book

Poetry

Link to my author page on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Oaks/e/B00MEGSEZ6

Or you can help me out on Patreon. Again, thank you. https://www.patreon.com/StevenOaks

Update: You Must Be Drunk is published. Find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8KH6WM. I’m 70% into the new novel’s first draft. Samantha is working on some edits for me, and I was able to edit another chapter based on her suggestions.

– Steven Oaks

Follow me on the things below.