Currently on art: After FFM 2020, Behind Armada on hiatus

Hi everyone!

It’s been 1,5 months since my previous Currently on art post, so it’s time for another one.

FFM 2020 is behind us already. Even though my decision to post only on WordPress cut the number of comments I received drastically, I still had a good time and got some fantastic learning experiences, as I focused on writing the best stories I could. In the end, the results weren’t as great as I’d hoped, but I overall created stories I am proud of and which I’ll be happy to publish in a collection. I definitely did better than last year both wordcount- and quality-wise!

One story I want to highlight is Awkward Stranger, in which I was challenged not to use filter words. Out of all the challenges this year, this one taught me the most as I found ways to show more and tell less.

I’ve also compiled the FFM 2020 statistics. Have a look!

If you want to check the stories I’ve written this summer, please check out the page where I’ve collected all the links for easier finding: Flash Fiction Link Compilations

In other news, after years of work, I’ve finally finished my Tranformers Armada fanfiction Behind Armada. The end is sloppy and rushed as hell, but I’m relieved to have gotten it done. Right now, its trilogy (TF: Armada-Energon trilogy) is on indefinite hiatus.

I’ve been struggling with a lack of inspiration and motivation with Behind Armada for longer than I remember, so I’m not eager to continue into the next installment in the trilogy, let alone the third in which I take the bad English version of Transformers Super Link (known as Transformers Energon here in the west) and try to make it better. Therefore, I decided to take a breather from the project, let some dust settle and then look into it with fresher eyes later before making the decision on whether or not I want to discontinue it. Right now, I’m completely in favor of discontinuing and can’t see it changing, but who knows? Maybe a miracle happens and I end up recovering my inspiration.

I’m planning to make the decision by the beginning of 2021, perhaps in December, so expect to see an announcement either in a Currently on art post in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021 or sometime around them!

What next? Well, we’re getting a whole new event called Tribble Month (in which we write a 50-300 word-story each day) in September, and as a permapossessed flashficcer someone who lacks severely in the department of capability to say no to flash fiction challenges, I will participate in it. This means that next month, I will be posting daily stories here again.

I will also start my new studying year properly in September, so my project workflow will slow down as I challenge my courses, the mess caused by the COVID19 pandemic (it appears that the second wave is coming up here in Finland) and anything else that’ll try to get in my way. I do believe that things will go well, though; once I get a routine going, I should be able to deal with my courses well.

Let’s act responsibly with this pandemic, stay as positive as possible and take care of ourselves!

Now, onto what’s up with my projects, as per my project widget:

• Exceptional Jedi: Chapter 23 of Crystals of the Past is in writing. All writing is at 1513 days. I’m also working on remaking Arya’s reference, with Jedova’s one standing by untill I’ve got Arya’s own ready. I need to make a comic about Valentine Clanker and lots of other drawings. I’ve been creating data on Scrivener to build a wiki of sorts there so that I can flesh things out for writing. It is coming along well. Revising has been more sporadic than I’d hoped, but hopefully I’ll be able to work on it more soon.
• The Fate’s Way: Chapter 40 is in editing. I still need to redraw the regular Alyssa and also Alyssa’s friends and family and the other important people, like Matti, someday. Silverwind’s reference is in progress. Revising needs to be done.
• Behind Armada: The story has been finished and the Armada-Energon trilogy has been put on indefinite hiatus. Its future is currently unclear, as discussed above.
• Off-DA projects: I’ve been working on a small programming project that I wanted to do for the previous April Fool’s day. Right now, the core functions are done, so it’s basically ready for the next April Fool’s, but I’m trying to think of things I could implement. In addition to that, my FFM collections have started to move from their standstill; since I figured I’m only going to keep procrastinating looking into the paperwork publishing physical books might entail, I decided that I will initially publish them as free ebooks. I’ve looked into it a bit, so I should be able to start compling the first one soon. I have no idea what I’ll use as cover art, though.
• Foes & Friends Remastered: Part 23 of New War Remastered is in finalization. I should work on references at some point.
• Greenfield: I have started the first round of editing, implementing the things I learned this FFM without a regard for decreases in wordcounts (although, right now, I have written more words than I’ve erased, which is a plus). Read more about the project here.
• Lyokostar: The translation of Lyokostar 1 progresses: Part 4 of story 6 is in translation, while part 3 waits for betareading. Unfortunately, I’ve had to nuke probably over half of the story because it’s utter garbage, but at least what will replace it will be far better. I’m writing monthly Lyokostar 3 oneshots in Finnish. References need to be done.
• Gaming: Habitica keeps on going. I played World of Warcraft to level 20 because you get a cool female Paladin hero in Hearthstone for that. I also bought Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia recently and I’ve spent more time than I should’ve playing it each day. I’ve clocked around 30 hours and almost completed the game now. It’s been a blast playing it, as you can probably imagine.
• Other stuff: I’ve fallen behind with literature deviations because I can’t read them on DA without getting a headache from the eye strain. I’m trying to keep my watch from flooding otherwise, though, and so far it’s been looking good. I’m reading FFM stories steadily each day, so I should be able to get them read before the next FFM. I hope my first FFM collection will come during this year. Lots of reading to be done still, but my TBR list has gotten smaller again, so it’s under control. It’s probably going to continue like that. I’m getting back to Unity and video editing slowly in addition to trying to learn some new stuff.
• Personal life: I’ve been working on a new online course, agonizing over a crappy course enrollment system in preparation for the new studying year and working on the small-ish work gig I got. The last one of those is ending very soon. Not much else, really.

I’d say that’s all for now. Take care!