(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for the audience – and you’ll notice it’s now Monday. This is because yes, the week starts Sunday but those updates kind of invited me to move more week stuff into my weekend. So now updates are Monday..
And now on to what’s up!
What’s Up For The June Sprint?
- First, Way With Worlds Minibook #1 will drop eom.
- Speaking at Hydra Comic Con.
- Finishing the full plot outline and writing the first chapter of “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet” hopefully.
- Donating some books to libraries.
- A few social events.
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Got behind on this, trying to get back to it. I think I’m kinda of tired writing these, so maybe book #6 just needs to be done in one go.
- Social: Finished up Fanime.
- Her Eternal Moonlight: The sale completed!
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” I think I’m back on track. I’ve got an expanded plot outline done more or less on time.
What am I going to do this week:
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Try to, well . . . write for it.
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” I’m going to finish up the full plot outline – scene for scene – this weekend. This is the big one. If I can get this to work I’m ready to write. Not 100% sure I’ll do it, but let’s give it a shot!
- Writing: More blog posts – now alternating my agile findings and my writing experiences.
Challenges and blockers:
- My allergies are back, so we’ll see how bad that hits me.
- I realized I’ve not done any new generators – I might shift some priorities to do a fun one.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for the audience. Which is you.
This week saw a lot of stuff with fanime, so let’s get to what’s up?
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: As usual, writing.
- Social: Fanime has gone great, seeing people, having fun. And yes, I budgeted time for it – to make sure I relaxed.
- Speaking: Spoke at Fanime, it went great! Think the self-publishing panel needs to be broken up into several panels there’s so much to cover.
- Cosplay: I was Doctor Oobleck, and it was a lot of fun!
- Her Eternal Moonlight: The sale is on of course! Which you probably saw in my announcements!
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” Still a bit behind on this I’m afraid, mostly because I have to keep “extracting” myself from ideas I locked myself into during that failed first plotting. Imagine it like building the foundation of a house and finding you still had some stones you laid while redesigning it.
What am I going to do this week:
- Plan New Sprint for June: That gets done Wednesday or so. Targets for June are releasing the first Minibook, speaking at Hydra-Con, finishing the “Bridge To The Quiet Planet” plot outline and writing the first chapter (again, hopefully).
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Well, uh . . . writing. So as you guessed I’m doing a few bits each week or so.
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” I’m going to at least get the character designs fully fleshed out and get the plot outline further along – at least to a few paragraphs if not a few pages.
- Writing: I’m going to keep doing my Agile blog posts, but I think I’m going to start posting on my findings in writing – that experience of doing a major fiction project again is pretty informative.
- Newsletter: A new newsletter comes out this Wednesday! I also have to get all the new signups for my newsletter into the database!
Challenges and blockers:
- Mostly challenges to do fiction writing again, I don’t quite have a sense of how long things take restored. But hey live and learn. This will improve in time – and I get to post my lessons.
- There may be some challenges with training at work and some changes taking up time, so fair warning things might get delayed.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
And it’s time for another Scrum style standup! What am I up to?
Well bluntly this week also was nuts, with assorted work events, a friend having health concerns (resolved) and of course occasional allergies. It’s not been the greatest week – but Agile method are about adapting. So where are we?
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: Back from the editor, looks good, she kicked butt. I’ll probably go into it sometime in the near future – but I’m not scheduled to until next month.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Still writing, and on schedule here. Not much more to say.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: This keeps just being interrupted, and I’ve not had that great a response. I’m going to try and get back to it, but may just delay until next month.
- Marketing: I’m trying Amazon Marketing Services ads and have a bunch set up. I think they might be working but it’s hard to tell. I have no direct sales but had a spike in sales anyway. I also am placing flyers around town in various locations, but am not 100% sure what’s working and what isn’t.
- Seventh Sanctum General: Figured what to do with the Tumblr and planned that out. And yes, you’ll have to wait!
- Professional: Yet another professional meetup which was great.
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” You’ll probably see an entire post about this, but I ended up having to stop plotting it – it wasn’t coming together well. Short form was it was a mix of being rusty, of mis-applying techniques, and not breaking down the work. I restarted plotting it and it’s coming along great once I applied a bit more planning to the whole affair. You’ll probably see a post on it – but short form is that I won’t work on Chapter #1 until next month.
What am I going to do this week:
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Write more of course.
- Professional: One professional event this week.
- Social: My girlfriend’s birthday and a book club this week.
- “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” I’ll be finishing up some plot outlining and going over character story arcs.
- Newsletter: Get my newsletter out this week.
- General: I’ll may do some fanime preparation
Challenges and blockers:
- Continuing allergies and various interruptions have me a bit concerned. I might strip down some plans.
This week taught me a lot about adapting. I cancelled writing a chapter to have time to actually develop the book outline. I was willing to cancel a marketing idea because, simply, I needed the proper “mood” to do it. I also caught a few missing things and got on top of them fast. It’s likely I overplanned this month a bit, but hey live and learn!
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
And it’s time for another Scrum style standup! OK it’s weekly, and I prefer them daily but that’s a bit much.
First a note – I had a nasty allergy attack around Thursday which held a few things up. I’m overall on time/ahead of my plans but it was annoying
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: Editor had a bit of a delay, so I expect to get things in a few days.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Got actually 10 questions written. I find more and more these are best written in large amounts.
- Way With Worlds Marketing: The bookmarks came. They are awesome. Let me strongly recommend Club Flyers.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: I held off on this when some allergies hit. I’ll probably start them off in a week or so.
- Professional: Two professional meetups, they were awesome. I really enjoy the “Agile Crowd” here in the valley.
- Social: Bad movie event was great. We saw “Mac And Me” which was hideous, but before that watched “Misfits” which was good.
- “A Bridge To The Silent Planet:” A bit harder than I expected. It’s about 1/4 plotted with some outlines out to the end. It’s becoming a bit more of a small novel – neither a doorstop nor a novella. Which I realized is what I want. However it’s a bit hard to shake the rust off so its’ slower than I wanted – and the allergies didn’t help.
What am I going to do this week:
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Write more of course.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: May or may not do this.
- Professional: One professional event this week.
- Social: Got a barbecue and otherwise will work on creative projects.
- “A Bridge To The Silent Planet:” I plan to finish the plot outline this week.
- General: Some basic chores and such.
Challenges and blockers:
- The allergies hit hard. I might delay a few things unless these clear up in the next day two. Expect a possible “revised sprint.”
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Let’s get to my weekly Scrum style standups – and this is a pretty big milestone!
So for a month I’ve been using a lot more Scrum/Agile techniques, and that includes these weekly reports. Now I can assess how it went!
The answer? Pretty damn good.
More done, less stress, better sense of what I’m doing, more adaptability. There’s a lot of blog posts about to come on this (which is also good as my blogging is erratic and I want to fix that). These posts should also help you get up to speed as well, and after I tweak my methods I’ll probably do a roundup.
Major goals of this month:
- Get Way With Worlds Minibook #1 back from editor.
- Write at least 30 more questions for Minibook #5 and/or #6.
- Start and write first chapter of my fiction piece “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.”
- Attend Fanime and speak (probably one day as Professor Oobleck)
- Some general writing.
- Experiment with Amazon Ads.
But hey it’s the end of one Sprint and the start of a new, so let’s get to status!
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: This is not late exactly as I had no deadline, but clearly have to check with my editor.
- Way With Worlds Marketing: The newly printed bookmarks come today. So yay!
- Publicity: I’ve wanted to reach out to comic shops to speak at. So far it’s kind of 50/50 on possible results – one not interested, one interested but noncommittal, two interested.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: Got people responding so I will probably start that this week!
- General: A few social events here and there, nothing much out of the ordinary.
What am I going to do this week:
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Write at least five more questions. I may need to accelerate these.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: Post my first entry.
- Professional: I have two professional events coming up,this week.
- Social: I also have a Bad Movie Event with some friends and my girlfriend. Thinking this week might not be the most productive.
- “A Bridge To The Silent Planet:” I’m going to plot this in one go or so over the weekend. It’ll actually involve an experiment in writing organization.
Challenges and blockers:
- Fanime may or may not have me do a third panel. If they do, then I have to spend time to polish it. I’ve budgeted time.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Let’s get to my weekly “standups” Scrum style continue! What have I done and what am I going to do?
(OK, yes traditional Scrum is daily, but give me a break).
So what have I done the last week?
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: My editor should be on it. Waiting for updates as we speak.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: I completed my monthly goals over a week ahead of time. I might write more.
- Way With Worlds Marketing: The newly printed bookmarks are on their way – not sure what was up with the website, but I think they just got overloaded.. So here’s hoping I didn’t completely screw it up.
- General: Went to assorted meetups, spent time with my girlfriend, and configured a new computer (a major part of my time over the weekend). The latter should make me more productive, except it’s powerful enough to run Overwatch, so uh . . yeah, there’s that.
- Additional: I took an unplanned task to help edit someone’s story. I might be doing more of this as I feel it lets me use my knowledge. The idea is maybe I’ll offer, now and then, to do a deep-dive on someone’s chapter #1.
What am I going to do this week:
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: Well I want to get this back, but it’s not required – I do want it back early May.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: I’m going to contact the folks who wanted to do it this week to start queuing content. My goal was to contact but not necessarily publish, so I think this might be easier to just do end of month so next month starts queued up.
- Miscellaneous Marketing: I want to check with local comic shops on speaking and do more with my self-pub group that also has a group of speakers.
- General: Finishing any final computer configurations. Probably get some social time in. Plan next month. Lots of miscellaneous and clean-up this month.
Challenges and blockers:
- No blockers; if anything slightly ahead.
- Long-term the next pop culture is on hold, and probably won’t start until late summer/early fall as my co-author is busy.
General:
- Next month is shaping up to focus on Fanime, and a new project – writing fiction.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Deciding to call this “Steve’s” Update because you know it is mine. Anyway, the weekly “standups” Scrum style continue! What have I done and what am I going to do?
So what have I done the last week?
- Got the Color Generator deployed. It’s out and being used, so go to it! I also learned a lot about generators making it.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: I should hear from the editor this week.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Still writing away, a bit ahead of my game actually. Might crank out a bit more than intended.
- Way With Worlds Marketing: I got new flyers for Way With Worlds put together, now I just have to print them, but ran into some issues with the printer website malfunctioning – maybe everyone is busy.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: Will probably start next week. I do have a kind-of-spotlight with Character Creation Is The Whole Game.
- General: Went to a meetup, went to Rifftrax, cleaned out a closet and a half, did a newsletter, finished my laptop research.
What am I going to do this week:
- Printing the Way With Worlds Flyers: If the aforementioned interruption is overcome.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Still writing.
- General: Purchase and recieve that laptop, go to some social events. Likely to be a light week here – going to be focusing on a lot of “life” stuff.
Challenges and blockers:
- No blockers right now except said interruption with printing the flyers.
General:
- May will be a bit busy due to Fanime so it’ll probably involve me focusing mostly on my current works and not taking on any new generators, etc.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
And as promised weekly updates, or “standups” on the projects I’m working on since I’m planning more Scrum style and loved Failbetter’s use of Scrum-style updates.
So what have I done the last week?
- Got the Color Generator to final beta. It’s basically ready to go, so I’ll check feedback, give it one more look-over, and call it done. I’ve learned a lot about language working on this one, lessons that’ll pay off in later generators.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #1: Is off to the editor. Unfortunately she has family visiting and broke a finger, but expects to be typing-worthy next week. I had no plans to use the edits until later anyway, so it won’t throw my plans off.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: I’m writing questions at my planned pace.
- Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: My plans to start promoting talent on the Sanctum are figured out, so I need to line up candidates soon – I’ve got a list.
- General: Also went to two meetups on writing and project management on top of some gaming. I think this new planning method is working out!
What am I going to do this week:
- Finish the Color Generator: I’ll integrate any feedback, do a final check, and consider it done.
- Way With Worlds Minibook #5: I’ll be writing more of this!
- General: Another professional event this week, gearing up to purchase a new laptop, some chores, and possibly cleaning a closet (you know those boxes you never unpack until years after moving?).
Challenges and blockers:
- No direct blockers, but I do have a concern about how to pace final edits on the Minibooks. My default plan is essentially do a final edit early in the month they’re released, but I wonder if that’d just become a drag and I should do them all at once. My gut take is I should do this, though I might have to up my writing pace – and really, that does sound like it’d turn into a drag.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
I’ve been thinking of how I organize my projects and share them with you my audience and friends. I’ve not been thrilled with how I’ve done updates, and recent spates of illness and surprises derailed a few things. So what I’m doing is taking my projects to be managed much more traditional Scrum style. I got the idea here from Failbetter’s use of Agile to make them publicly engaged via blogposts while doing Sunless Skies.
If you’re not familiar with Scrum,, its basically a method of organization where you A) keep a backlog of stuff to do B) do it in small increments called sprints, and C) regularly report and measure progress. I recommend reading up on it.
(I’m still big on the Getting Things Done method, and will use it as part of my work, but my large amount of longer-term projects require some different approaches plus this lets me try out techniques from work.)
What this means for you is
- Every month (a “sprint”) I’ll tell you what I’m planning to tackle on my projects. Most Sprints are two weeks, but I plan my projects quarterly/monthly so this is a bit easier.
- I’ll do weekly reports (a sort of Standup) on progress. These are usually daily in proper Scrum, but I have my limits.
- I’ll do a roundup/retrospective at the end.
So what’s up for April!
Finishing The Color Generator: I’ll finish the Color Generator in April with the goal of deploying before the end of the Month – preferably mid-month. I’ll be regularly updating it with new data so keep an eye out.
New Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: A new Seventh Sanctum project to spotlight talent and interesting media – this is an experiment and may or may not succeed.
Way With Worlds Minibooks #1: The followups to Way With Worlds. I will send this to editor – remember these don’t launch until June.
Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Get this to at least 60% completion if not more. And, yes I have four of these suckers written already – make room in your summer reading!
There are also some marketing efforts, tech purchases, and home maintenance but I don’t think you care about those.
So I’ll be posting updates weekly (probably Monday) to let you know where everything is once a week!
And as it’s Sunday, let’s get to a status!
What I’ve worked on:
- Wrote 5 more questions on Minibook 5.
- Minibook #1 will be in the hands of the editor next week.
- Reached out to initial “promotables” for the Sanctum Spotlight and designed how it’ll run. It’s pretty much ready to go, I’ll start it later this month.
- A few notes on the Color Generator are in place, I’ll dive into that more soon.
What’s coming up this week:
- I plan to focus on the Color Generator to get as much done as possible.
- I’ll be attending two professional events, so that consumes time.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Yes, another update. I am on a roll! For now. We know how that goes.
- So first, comments are back at Seventh Sanctum. I had to take them down due to some bizarre issues where they seemed to be messing with some formatting. Or search results. Or something. It got a bit strange. I think I figured it out but am not entirely sure. Anyway they’re back!
- The Way With Worlds Book 2 gets formatted this weekend. If all goes well, it’ll be enough to do a test print. I’m hopeful I can get it all together – I’d still like to get it out end of March, but early April is looking more likely.
- Those Way With Worlds are in the works – book four in fact of six I plan to write.
- The new generator is still in progress. I’ve got a bit more on my plate then expected but hope to finish it up before end of March.
- I also have been enjoying A House Of Many Doors, a literary exploration RPG that you really need to check out.
Also no new illnesses. Well, on my part, but considering the rain here and all the diseases still flying around I kinda want to hide for awhile!
– Steve
