Halloween is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than to delve into the deep treasure trove of goodies that lives in the world of horror films? There are plenty of films out there that are actually set on Halloween, and they generally don’t fail to let you know at every opportunity via pumpkins, trick-or-treaters, and more. But there are also lots of awesome movies that give you that great Halloween-y feel…but actually have absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. So with that segue out of the way, today Jason is talking about 6 Movies for Halloween That AREN’T Halloween Movies:
Month: October 2018
Plans and Goals 2018: Week 43 Review
Wait, who? What? Where? When? What day is it? What week is it? What YEAR is it?!
Seriously though, did someone place some kind of curse on me? Or did I get abducted by aliens or something? Because it feels as though I’ve lost massive amounts of time somewhere. I genuinely have no idea when it somehow became a new week. It’s not as though I was busier than usual, or that anything particularly time-consuming came up throughout the week. Maybe the transition into winter-esque weather is getting to me.
Anyway, I’m sure you can probably see where this is going. Week 43 pulled the rug out from under me, and without even thinking ahead to the rest of this post I can pretty much tell you that production was at a low.
So I’m going to sit here, take a gulp of water followed by a swig of black coffee, and see if I can’t make some sense out of just what exactly happened in the past seven days.
Plan #1: Focus more on Writing.
My intention, during week 43, was to put most of my attention into this particular plan. How did that go? Uh…well..
- Goal #1: Write half a million words throughout the year. *looks at word count for the week* Wait, what? Really? Dammit, how did that happen?
My intention, after handing the manuscript I’d been working on over to my beta-readers, was to take the newfound open time to just write whatever I felt like writing at the time. In a sense, I did do that, scribbling a few words here toward The Other World Book Three, a few words there for a random ghost story idea that popped into my head… And yet somehow I find that my word count for the week is actually rather pathetic. It’s still not the worst I’ve ever done, but dammit…I could have sworn I wrote more than that. That’s what I get for writing free-hand, I guess. It’s sooooo much slower than plucking away at a computer, and yet also far more satisfying, so…yeah. Choices obviously need to be made.
With all that mumbling to myself out of the way, here are the facts. I wrote 1894 words toward blog posts, and 1243 words toward fiction in week 43. That gives me a week’s total of 3137, which is quite a bit less than last week, but also more than the previous week, so at least I have that going for me.
With those words my year’s total goes up a bit to 212,960, and my daily average goes down a bit, but still manages to stay above the closest hundred mark, with 708. - Goal #2: Sell more books. One paperback and a full book’s worth of page reads on Kindle Unlimited. It’s pathetic, but at least it’s something. There’s nothing worse than logging into my reports and seeing blank charts, so whoever you are who has been reading something of mine on KU: thank you!
I’ve also gotten a bit of free publicity recently in the form of some lovely fellow YouTubers talking a bit about my books and how they’re planning to read them soon, so that’s quite nice! It hasn’t really translated into sales, but it’s still extremely nice regardless. Nothing makes me smile quite like someone shoving one of my books at a screen and demanding that other people read it. 🙂 - Goal #3: Complete and publish The Other World: Book Two. There’s obviously not much to say here since, as previously mentioned, the manuscript is currently with my beta-readers. There’s not really anything I can do to move further until they’ve returned their notes to me. That said, one thing that I do need to do is commission the cover art which, I hate to admit, I’m having a hard time convincing myself to do since I don’t currently have the funds necessary.
And now seems like an excellent time to point out the “Buy Me a Coffee” button on the sidebar to the right of your screen. I recently created an account for the service with the hopes of raising the money required to commission the aforementioned cover art. And hey, donating the minimum of $3 also gets you access to a couple of short-short stories that I wrote for a contest a while back, so there’s also that! So if you’d like to check those out and also support a starving author, give that button a little click. You know you want to. 🙂
Plan #2: Focus more on YouTube.
I know I’ve said this before, and not all that long ago, but it has been so difficult to focus on YouTube lately. A big part of it is the fact that we don’t even make pocket change with our videos, and while the channel is more about the hobby aspect than any aspiration of money, at this current very very broke time in my life, it’s hard not to feel that anything that has no chance of making me money is a total waste of time. But that’s just a background feeling that’s been gnawing at me. In the meantime, let’s take a closer look at the actual week’s facts:
- Goal #1: Film more often. Two vids. Definitely not as good as it could have been, not by a long shot, but given prior weeks I’m genuinely happy that we managed to get those two vids in. The intention was to do more Halloween- and horror-related videos, but Jason’s been the only one with a) ideas, and b) f*cks to give. That’s not to say that I don’t give a f*ck about Halloween or the channel – that’s obviously the opposite of reality. I just have to bring my thought process back to what I said above about the effort not feeling worth it. Instead of filming videos I’ve been looking for jobs and trying to figure out how to sell books/old clothes/toys we don’t want, etc. My brain has just been too stuck on this “where is the money going to come from?” issue.
- Goal #2: Put more focus into, and have more fun with, the social media aspect. Social media continues to move forward fairly well, at least the channel accounts (the author accounts have been ridiculously dead lately; I just haven’t been able to find the effort). I’m still having a lot of fun with my Instagram Halloween challenge; some of my pics weren’t the greatest, but some of them are downright cool, to hell with modesty. I do have to admit, though, that I really should be POSTING on Twitter more, rather than just SCROLLING through my feed. I’ve been weirdly addicted lately. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been lazy, and swiping one finger up repeated is a really easy thing to keep doing over and over again. Thoughts? 😛
#3: Focus more on myself.
We’re sneaking into winter weather, so baths have reentered my life (oh, how I missed you so), and that’s where the majority of my inner focus has been happening lately. I’ve been so sleepy and stressed out that I’ve been spending most of that bath time just staring at the walls around me, or closing my eyes and letting my head sink in the water, but hey…hot water and relaxation. Gimmi gimmi gimmi.
- Goal #1: Take time daily to read/watch/play. I’ve been focusing my little bit of time on getting through Carrie, since that was the book I really really wanted to read for Halloween. And it’s genuinely good! And weird. And so very, very Stephen King. Totally enjoying it.
Jason and I did watch “The Haunting of Hill House” during week 43, most of it binged in a single session that left us still awake at 4 am, because WE’RE SMART. I wouldn’t normally consider that “me time”, since it was spent with Jason, but I also really wanted to watch that show, so I’m going to count it just this once.
Games? They’ve been totally on the back-burner lately. I’ve been plucking out a few stages on Sailor Drops just when I’m, like, sitting in the car waiting for Adrianna to get out of school, or in between episodes while binging Netflix shows, but that’s pretty much been it. Oh! But I did forget to mention last week that I finally managed to finish Dead Nation on morbid mode. Thank bloody hell. I thought I was going to put the PS Vita through the wall if I didn’t get through that soon. Now I just need to finish a single stage on “Undead” mode for another trophy, and, uh…you know what? I’m not going to talk about that right now because the rage might overtake me. 😛 - Goal #2: Stay active, but don’t obsess. Dammit, I still didn’t get those other two Zombies Run Halloween missions in! Curse you for running away from me, week!
In all honesty though, I’ve also just been outrageously lazy lately when it comes to anything physical. Mental stuff? Yeah, I can handle that, even though I’ve been sleepy too. But physical stuff? Screw that. Let me stay in bed.
That’s obviously got to change though. I’m sinking deep back into bad habits. And I do miss my Zombie missions. I miss Sam’s voice egging me on. And I need to get some distance on my Pokemon Go eggs.
I’M SUCH A NERD.
Seriously though, if anyone has any ideas as to how I can perk myself up and maybe start sleeping less than 10 hours a day so that I can work some actual movement back into my life, that would be great.
Dammit, that post took way longer than I was expecting. Not that there was all that much to say, or that it was much longer than normal, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been staring at this computer screen for an hour and a half now. No wonder I’ve been getting so few words written. >.<
ANYWAY, that’s enough b*tching and moaning for today, I think. All in all the week wasn’t the worst; the biggest problem was just that it disappeared in a blink on me. With Halloween upon us in the next couple of days, hopefully my mind’s tendency to make time vanish in a flash will back off a bit and I’ll actually be able to gather my thoughts and figure myself out again. Cross your fingers for me, for bloody hell’s sake.
How was your week? Were you able to accomplish anything? Do anything fun? Make any progress toward your own goals? Feel free to share!
VIEWER MAIL TIME! Fully Stuffed Box from Marie!
We got a box from Sweden that weighed about a million pounds! An exaggeration, obviously, but in all seriousness Marie crammed this thing so full I thought it was going to burst. XD
We’ve got books, candy, blind bags, statues, figures, and one particularly amazing action figure that I didn’t even know existed! There’s truly a little bit of everything for each of us, and we were absolutely humbled by the love. Thank you so much for everything Marie! Keep an eye out on the channel Instagram account for future photo shoots!
Comet TV Hushaween Unboxing! (October 2018) Happy Halloween!
It’s time for some silent spooks and quiet creeps…it’s Hushaween over at Comet TV. To celebrate, they’re showing silent era horror films, as well as some awesome classics during their Midnight Movies showings, and they’ve sent us a surprise package! Take a look at the tricks and treats we got, and then head over to their website to see how you can watch some awesome horror flicks 100% FREE this Halloween season!
Plans and Goals 2018: Week 42 Review
Oh man…oh man…oh man…
Anyone who knows me personally or who has been following me for a while knows that I regularly have “bad” weeks. Between general adult life stuff and my oft-fluctuating mental/emotional state, sometimes things just don’t go well and it makes for a rough reporting period.
This was not one of those weeks. This was so much worse. The main issue? Some kind of wicked death-flu passed through our household. Adrianna didn’t get it, thankfully, but changes are that she was the germ-carrier, as we all know that these things tend to come home from school. Jason and I, on the other hand, got hit hard. And unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it), we didn’t get it at the same time, so the time period during which our household was in totally-useless-turmoil was expanded. Each of us had our own day of being completely and utterly dead. And I mean, this wasn’t your common whiny, cuddled up in bed while sniffling and watching TV and crying for food. This was “Uh, is he/she still alive?” territory.
I thought Jason was pushing it when he had it and spent nearly 14 straight hours passed out in bed and/or on the futon in my writing room. But then I got it and pretty much did the same thing. I seriously felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and that was on top of feeling like I’d been driven over by an entire convoy of eighteen-wheelers. And even after that 24-ish-hour period of death had passed, there was still an extra full day of feeling-better-but-still-pretty-damn-exhausted to recover from.
And that’s not even the whole week! I also had another full day course that I had to travel into the city for again, so that day was written off. On top of that our niece had hockey games in a nearby town on the weekend, which we joined some of the family for because, hey…gotta support the kids! (Obviously not complaining about this bit, just listing it in the reasons the week was basically melted goo.) Add into that stuff the continual job searching, trying to get set up for Halloween, and dealing with random crap that’s been happening lately such as power outages and doctor’s appointments, and JEEBUS ALMIGHTY, stahp, life! STAHP!
So the question then is did I get anything done in week 42? Well, it wasn’t a complete waste, so let’s try to look at the positives, shall we?
Plan #1: Focus more on Writing.
Phew! Okay, you’re going to think I’m lying through my teeth after that spiel above, but my writing focus, such as it is, actually didn’t suffer too badly in week 42! Let’s look closer…
- Goal #1: Write half a million words throughout the year. There’s no use saying that I’m super-happy with my word count for the week, but considering the amount of time that I spent driving, taking courses, and being effectively dead in the past week, I’m still pretty damn accepting of what I managed. I only wrote 1678 words worth of blog posts, but I also wrote 3033 words worth of extra finalized scenes for The Other World: Book Two. That gave me a week’s total of 4711, which is twice as much as the previous week. It obviously still wasn’t exactly my best week ever, but nearly 5k words is a pretty damn decent word count considering I spent part of the week trying to crawl out of my own metaphorical grave. Those words also pop my year’s total up to 209,823 words, and only knocks my daily average down to a single word, keeping it at 714.
- Goal #2: Sell more books. Someone read an entire one of my books on Kindle Unlimited! I know that’s not likely the most exciting news for the average indie author, but I don’t see people reading my stuff on KU very often, so it’s pretty awesome to me to see that someone opened the book and read the entire thing in a single fell swoop. Sweetness.
On a related note, however, if anyone else recently transferred their books from CreateSpace to Kindle, I have a question for you: did your CreateSpace royalties transfer? I ask because I’m currently having this argument with Kindle. Their customer service insists that my royalties WILL be transferred to my Kindle account along with my books. I keep trying to explain that I’ve ALREADY transferred my books and the royalties did NOT transfer along with them. So yeah. It’s not a huge amount of money (probably about $50 CAD), but it’s really starting to annoy me that I can’t convey this issue to these people. Help? - Goal #3: Complete and publish The Other World: Book Two. Excellent news!!! At the beginning of week 42 I compiled Book Two in two easily readable formats, threw it with force at my four beta-readers, and ran for my dear life. Woo! There’s not much more to say about it than that since it’s now in someone else’s hands for the time being, but it’s definitely exciting to be able to just say that. PROGRESS, people! PROGRESSSSSSSS!!!!!
Plan #2: Focus more on YouTube.
I still don’t wanna talk about it!
- Goal #1: Film more often. From the actual filming side of things, we got exactly nothing done in week 42. Obviously you can’t really blame us though (see aforementioned explanation about having one foot in the grave). Exactly one video was actually uploaded, but it was Jason’s Halloween list video, which was filmed the previous week. Jason somehow managed to get it all edited despite being sick as a dog, so at least there was that.
- Goal #2: Put more focus into, and have more fun with, the social media aspect. The great thing about social media is that you can involve yourself in it while camped beneath a pile of blankets with a hot toddy on the bed-stand next to you. So yeah, I did manage to keep up with that stuff, specifically with the Instagram challenges I’ve been taking part in on both accounts. I’ve been trying to put more effort into my photos lately too, trying to make them fun and interesting. Maximum effort!
#3: Focus more on myself.
Does curling up in bed while trying not to die count as focusing on yourself?
- Goal #1: Take time daily to read/watch/play. You’d think I might have managed to put in a bit of effort toward this kind of stuff while camped in bed, but as I previously mentioned most of that time was actually spent passed the hell out. I did read a the first few chapters of Carrie in order to keep myself awake while taking a bath, but that was about it. Of course, we’ve been watching lots of horror movies and Halloween specials lately, so I guess I’ll count that under relaxation time.
- Goal #2: Stay active, but don’t obsess. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…you guys caught the part where I said I was sick as a dog, right? The funny thing though is that I actually did go out and get a bit of exercise during week 42! It wasn’t much, but I did go out for a Zombies Run Halloween mission, which was awesome even though I was barely walking. 😛 Here’s hoping I can cram in the other two missions sometime this week.
So despite the epic sickness that plagued us in week 42, along with all the usual life stuff and annoying distractions, it wasn’t the absolute worst week for productivity. No we didn’t get any videos filmed, and my word count wasn’t the most impressive in the world, but I did get some writing done, and my current manuscript is finally in the hands of my beta-readers, so I’m calling it a win, all things considered. And here’s hoping that we manage to keep any death germs out of the house for the coming week. Wish me luck!
How was your week? Were you able to accomplish anything? Do anything fun? Make any progress toward your own goals? Feel free to share!
Tracey Tobin 