Howdy, y’all! April appears to be winding down, which means it’s time for another month-end review! Join me, won’t you, as I try to get in updates on what I’ve been up to before the allergies attack yet again.
Writing
I am firmly in the midst of my Wild Ink review! I’ve completed reading through the original 160k+ word draft. I pulled out any excerpts that showed how magic works, as well as the religion and colloquialisms from this world, and dumped them in a new worldbuilding document.
While doing this, I fell completely in love all over again with the character that tried to run away with the story when I first wrote it. He’s, uh, definitely going to have to come back in some form in a future story. I just love him too much to let him languish in this story that is never going to see the light of day.
Next up is to go through all of my notes for the first draft and copy anything useful/relevant into my worldbuidling document. After that, I’ll read through my first two attempts at overhauling the initial manuscript. Then I’ll read through the manuscript and notes for the completely rebooted version I ended up doing.
Whoo. Lotta revisiting my old stuff going on! That’s okay, though. I am having fun remembering what I love about this story and world, despite all of the cringing at how I would absolutely not have written some it the same way now. It is nice to see how much my writing skills have grown in the last decade!
Yarncraft
Knitting has been a little slow this month. Or, at least, it sort of feels like that. Lots of little things getting done. For instance, I finished the rest of the Candy Stripe Eggs (pattern in Ravelry) in time for Easter, whoo!
These were a lot of fun to knit. I am hoping there’s another knit along for them next year!
I also finished the first of two custom gnomes I offered for the PTA’s silent auction last month. The winner chose the pattern Oh, Gnome, You Didn’t (Ravelry link). This was a fun and sweet knit as well. It was really nice to get back to gnoming after a few months’ break.
Currently I am almost done with the second custom gnome. She should be delivered to her owner at some point this week, so I’ll have photos of her to share next month. After that, I’m going to take the rest of the week off from knitting and then look at which of my lingering WIPs I’d like to tackle next.
Gaming
Star Wars Jedi Survivor comes out in a few days, so I’m looking forward to jumping into that some point in the next month. It’s the sequel to Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, which I was pleasantly surprised by when it came out. Granted, I’m just starved in general for single-player Star Wars games, but it genuinely was a lot of fun. I’m excited to see what the sequel holds (and hoping they didn’t cram too many more mechanics in there).
Other than that, though, it’s been all Animal Crossing all the time over here. Remember that lovely tour I took you on last month of my island home? Yeah, that’s gone now. I deleted Nyadiri and started a new island a little over a week ago. Over two years of work and care just…in the wind. Well, not completely. Nyadiri still lives on in dreams, or more specifically, at its dream address. If you’d like to visit it, here’s that address for you: DA-3235-7456-8954. You can also (I believe) still visit my Happy Home Paradise designs here: RA-9212-7067-8103.
But, honestly? It was time. I had been itching for a good long while to start a new island, but the only things stopping me were, a) the knowledge that I would lose MY Static (sob), and b) ALL of that work I put into collecting all the things and finishing the museum and all of that stuff. I mean, it was to the point where I frequently over the past few months caught myself thinking, “if I bought a second switch, I could have a second island.” I mean. I know that is ridiculous. Aside from the fact that I don’t need and shouldn’t spend money on another gaming console, there’s the fact that I know from personal experience that activley playing on two islands at once is too much for Cori.
I’ve already flattened and redone Nyadiri twice, and that’s a whole different level of ALL OF THE WORK, and you still miss out on the fun of just starting over, picking out a new island layout, getting to explore again, all of that. So, the urge was there. Then, one of the Youtubers I watched flattened her island of two years and has been putting up videos of her new island and starting over, and the urge greatly intensified. “I want that,” I thought, “I really do.”
The deal was sealed when I had the stay thought, “I could have all my villagers be sheep and call it Yarnia.” I mean. That’s utterly silly. But that was the push I needed. Still, I did put two years into the first island, I didn’t want to lose everything, so I spent a little over a week carting stuff I couldn’t part with, as well as millions of bells, over to my daughter’s island. I finished up on a Friday night, slept on it, and pulled the trigger on Saturday afternoon.
I know this is meant to ask if I typed in the name correctly (and make sure that I’m not doing something naughty with my name choice), but hoo-boy, Animal Crossing, asking the existential questions over here. Am I okay with Cori, indeed. I mean, jury’s still out, but…mostly?
My two starter villagers are not too shabby–got Mira (the rabbit) and Dom (the sheep). The second I saw Dom at the airport, I knew I had made the right decision! Why else would the game grant me a sheep as one of the first villagers for my all-sheep (and maybe Static–I am weak) island?
He’s so cute! Just look at that sweet little fluffy boy. So far, I’ve been having a grand old time getting Yarnia up and running. With the boost of bells (and some crafting supplies) from my previous incarnation, I have already paid off my house (all expansions) and don’t have to worry about grinding. I can just play through the initial story and then go about getting the island just how I want it. My tentative plan, aside from all of the sheep (eventually–I’m not too worried about that just yet), is for a largely natural, cozy vibe to the place. Currently, it’s kind of a mess, as I’m chopping down trees left and right and all of the buildings are crammed onto the beach (or as close to it as possible) until I get my terraforming unlocked.
But it’s a fun mess, and I am very much enjoying the journey so far!
April was a busy, busy month, aside from all of my diversions listed above. May is looking to maybe be quieter, but who knows, really? Still, I am definitely planning not to take this however brief lull for granted. I hope your month is winding down with a little bit of peace as well, or that there is at least some on the horizon!
Until next time, lovelies, be well. Go for what you want, and take care of yourselves, like this fella down here!
coriwrites 