Math, Mondays, Marmaduke

Today's blog topics include: My weekly writing schedule; plug for the Belief Suspenders blog and my author spotlight on it; thoughts on Dead Island and balancing multiple games

Note: All Marmadukes may not appear.

Tim Cody is currently:
Writing: Crimson Soul II
Almost Playing: Dead Island (PS3)
Watching: Up for debate
Fourth Thing: Something


When I write, I average about 5,000 words a day--which evens out to about nine or ten pages, ten point Times New Roman double-spaced. When I try to do that every day of the week, I tend to get burnt out toward Thursday (which happens to be today).

Thursday's writing is generally good, but it usually requires a bit more intensive editing as the other days' writing. So I tend to dedicate Fridays solely to editing, which is usually easier than writing--it's all already written, now I just have to make sure it doesn't suck hard.

So since I'm between contracts right now, I'm writing on a five day a week schedule.

Monday is okay, but, similar to Garfield, I tend to be a bit sluggish. So I kinda just poke at the keyboard until I've written between six to ten pages.

Tuesday and Wednesday are pretty much similar to each other. I can crank out my usual 10ish pages by the time Attack of the Show is starting at 4:00.

By Thursday my brain feels heavy and I'm just hoping what I'm writing doesn't suck. I think I should stop, but I believe that if you don't use it, you lose it. So I keep moving forward, hoping I'm not just making more work for myself later.

Friday is typically for editing, since I'm worn out and am wanting to play whatever game is beckoning me from my shelf. What I wrote Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is usually fine, and only require minor renovations. What I did Thursday often requires a bit more looking at, but I've never thought "Damn, I really should've listened to myself and quit while I was ahead."

Fridays are also usually spent realizing how little I actually followed my outline, and trying to figure out how I can go back and add in the important points I left out.

Saturday and Sunday are, of course, for Domino's bread Doctor Bowlers, grocery shopping, hardcore partying, and general tomfoolery.

A little bit ago I won a consolation prize in a contest run on the Belief Suspenders blog, so be sure to check out my author spotlight here. If you're a fellow writer and would like your own author spotlight, read to the end of that post--figure out why I'm wearing taffy suspenders and you could receive your very own! (Author spotlight, not taffy suspenders.)

Also be sure to check out some of the other things going on around the blog, it's pretty nifty.

Secret Technique 46: Blog Topic Change!

I spent all last weekend playing Dead Island with two of my brothers. It's pretty awesome, pretty much what I expected--Borderlands with zombies. It's got some mad issues, though, like the fact it took us two whole hours to connect online to each other.

Also, I figured out why their special moves are built up via a Rage meter and called Fury modes. Using Purna's Fury mode throws me into quite the rage. Its auto-targeting, which you can't seem to turn off, prevents you from shooting who you want. It's pretty in-Fury-ating.

Despite the issues, however, the game continues to be quite fun, and it comes highly recommended to anyone who enjoys murdering zombies with buddies.

I received Disgaea 4 a few weeks ago, and I'm pretty eager to play it. I think I may start it up today, since I'm feeling a little burnt out (see above). Juggling two games, however, one of which is an in-depth JRPG, the other of which is one I'll dedicate every weekend hour to, is a tricky proposition.

I got the little Fuka figure from the limited edition here on my desk, but I regret not learning about the hyper-limited edition, available only through NIS's website, until it was too late to order it. Having a whole family of Disgaea figures would be just the greatest.

I also want to play White Knight Chronicles 2 with a deep, burning passion. Balancing two JRPG's is a bold move, however. But with my backlog of games is steadily growing, drastic measures are going to have to be taken...

That's that and marmalade*.

-Tim Cody

*If marmalade persists for more than four hours, consult a talent agency--you may be the next big thing