stomach churning heart palpitating ARGH but otherwise just great
Thu 2018-02-08 00:21:14 (single post)
Hi. Wow. So, I haven't blogged under the auspices of the Actually Writing Blog for like two weeks now, maybe more. I won't bother making excuses. For the most part I don't really have a good explanation. Or rather, I do, but, as explanations go, they are well-trod subjects that would be boring to rehash. Failure to adequately absorb the impact of roller derby practice on the rest of the week, I guess, plus a large helping of avoidance. Recursive avoidance. That's where you avoid doing the thing that's no big deal, because the thing you're really avoiding comes right after. Then you start avoiding the thing before the no-big-deal thing. And so it goes, like a row of dominoes, until you don't want to get out of bed at all because starting your day will start the one-thing-after-another chain of things inevitably leading up to the thing you're dreading. The thing I'm dreading, of course, because that's who we're talking about here. Anyway, it took me several days of dread and exhaustion to finally just say, fuck the chain of things, let's just skip to the dreaded thing and rip the gods-damned band-aid off.
Also there were multiple dreaded things. Most of them are now done, and aside from the "anxiety! is this what a panic attack feels like? How interesting" aftermath, I'm feeling a lot better now.
So! Actually writing. Since the start of the year, I've written five new flash-length stories! I made the deadline for each week of the 2018 Codex "Weekend Warrior" contest, and I'm looking forward to submitting every single of them for publication in the near future. A couple are almost perfect just as they are, and need only a little tweaking before being publication-ready. (Just my opinion, of course; the editors I submit them to will have the final say.) The rest could use some real revision and probably expansion--not everything needs to be 750 words or shorter--and will probably get submitted a little later in the spring.
I did not make the deadline for the "4x4 contest" on 4thewords. I came very close, but in the last 24 hours of the contest I proceeded as though I had 48 hours remaining, which is because when the good folks behind 4thewords say "January 31 deadline" they don't mean through the 31st, as I would have expected, but rather until. But hell with it. The point of revising the novel isn't to enter its first 4,000 words into a contest. It's to have a fully revised and finished novel which may be entered in the contest that really matters, which is to say, publication. So I plan to come back to it in, I dunno, March I guess? March is the traditional month of NaNoEdMo, so that seems appropriate. Also that gives me the rest of February to decide what to do with my five fresh new flash tales.
So... that's the latest in writing. Tomorrow there will probably be stuff about cooking. (I've been cooking.)
YPP Weekend Blockades, February 3-4: git yer PVP on
Sat 2018-02-03 13:24:54 (single post)
Hullo! This is your weekly Puzzle Pirates report. If you are waiting on the weekly Friday Fictionette release announcement, that'll be showing up later on today because I kind of sucked at life yesterday. It is almost finished, it will be out in a few hours, everything will be fine. Meanwhile, we got blockades.
I also sucked at Seals, unfortunately--not a single one of my pirates achieved the January 2018 trophy. Better luck this month! The trophy trigger for February 2018 is completing 2 different expeditions (Imperial Outpost, Viking Defense, Buried Treasure Atoll, or Lost Shipwreck). Dunno about you, but I'm halfway done already, for one of my pirates anyway. Woot!
What else is new? Well, there's the January 29 client update. Looks like a lot of stuff related to faction bounties on Obsidian/Dark Seas, and some bug-fixes and seasonal content for all oceans. Click through for the full details.
And of course there are blockades! Full schedule below. Enjoy, have fun, pew-pew, etc.
Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.
Doubloon Ocean Blockades
*** Saturday, February 3 ***
12:00 p.m. - Anegada Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Jinx (3)
Attacker: Pew Pew
Attacker: Lit
Undeclared: Black Flag
12:37 p.m. - Ashkelon Arch, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Pew Pew
Attacker: Spoon Republic
12:38 p.m. - Ambush Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Pew Pew
Attacker: Spoon Republic
12:39 p.m. - Tumult Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Pew Pew
Attacker: Spoon Republic
12:40 p.m. - Kakraphoon Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Pew Pew
Attacker: Spoon Republic
12:40 p.m. - Pukru Island, Emerald Ocean
Defender: Pew Pew
Attacker: Spoon Republic
Attacker: Lit
Undeclared: Invicta
12:52 p.m. - Isla Ventress, Jade Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Sortilegio (1)
Attacker: T unit
3:04 p.m. - Jubilee Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Velt's Boiyz
Attacker: Who Gives A Sheet
6:21 p.m. - Polaris Point, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Velt's Boiyz
Attacker: Who Gives A Sheet
*** Sunday, February 4 ***
11:00 a.m. - Viridis Island, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Vanguard
Attacker: Dragon Lords
11:24 a.m. - Olive Island, Meridian Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Chthonic Horde (1)
Attacker: Dragon Lords
Subscription Ocean Blockades
*** Saturday, February 3 ***
12:01 p.m. - Diastrophe Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Jinx (1)
Attacker: Pandamonium
12:09 p.m. - Terra Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Secrets of the Deep
Attacker: Tyranny
12:10 p.m. - Conglin Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Secrets of the Deep
Attacker: Tyranny
8:37 p.m. - Jorvik Island, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Tyranny
Attacker: Secrets of the Deep
8:48 p.m. - Garden Cradle, Cerulean Ocean
Defender: Secrets of the Deep
Attacker: Tyranny
YPP Weekend Blockades, January 27-28: "Think game mechanics."
Sat 2018-01-27 13:34:59 (single post)
So it's blockade time again, but I'm gonna be immersing myself in the pillaging game instead because I still want to earn the January Seal o' Piracy at least on some of my pirates. (Complete 10 each brigand and barbarian sea battles.) But you may have different priorities. Thus, the blockade schedule.
There are, at the current time, two islands that may be blockaded on the Dark Seas (Obsidian Ocean), and, by golly, they are being blockaded. Magpie Island, won last weekend by Consider It Sunk, is being attacked by Blame Brenda. The defense intent post proposes that you job for Consider It Sunk so that they may continue their island development plan, which includes fostering a monopoly on the frig market to prevent extraneous blockade attempts and the elitification of Obsidian. The blockade (attack) intent post simply promises to add island attractions and "rename all buildings to a less stupid theme."
Meanwhile, Loggerhead Island is coming under attack by Friendly Fire:
If we win, we will be dusting the shipyard for a bungalow (because the poor pirates need a place to live too). All other buildings will be replaced with weaveries so everyone can enjoy the best puzzle in the game.
Defenders are Amateur Hour.
Over on the Cerulean Ocean, the flag Tyranny has "scuttled" for BKs to attack a bunch of outpost islands. This is part of their strategy to protect large islands from BK attack--thus keeping blockades strictly PVP--by allowing BKs to own enough outpost islands that they don't spawn flotillas. I expect this means Tyranny won't be defending their outposts this weekend. Babylon isn't too pleased, accusing them of "self-serving interests" and of being "bullies and thieves," and have announced intent to blockade any Tyranny-owned islands next Sunday, February 4. So far popular opinion seems to be with Tyranny on this one, but we'll have to wait until next weekend to find out who gets more jobbers.
Scroll down for the rest of the schedule. Good luck, have fun, shoot cannonballs, earn PoE!
Standard reminders: Schedule is given in Pirate Time, or U.S. Pacific. Player flags link to Yoweb information pages; Brigand King Flags link to Yppedia Brigand King pages. BK amassed power given in parenthetical numbers, like so: (14). For more info about jobbing contacts, jobber pay, and Event Blockade battle board configuration, check the Blockade tab of your ocean's Notice Board. To get hired, apply under the Voyages tab.
Doubloon Ocean Blockades
*** Saturday, January 27 ***
3:58 p.m. - Prolix Purlieu, Meridian Ocean
Defender: Velt's Boiyz
Attacker: Who Gives A Sheet
4:17 p.m. - Loggerhead Island, Obsidian Ocean
Defender: Amateur Hour
Attacker: Friendly Fire
4:24 p.m. - Magpie Island, Obsidian Ocean
Defender: Consider it Sunk
Attacker: Blame Brenda
*** Sunday, January 28 ***
12:00 p.m. - Anegada Island, Emerald Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Spoon Republic
Attacker: Jinx (3)
Subscription Ocean Blockades
*** Saturday, January 27 ***
12:17 p.m. - Chaparral Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Fleet of his Imperial Scaled Highness (1)
Attacker: Because I Can
4:02 p.m. - Iris Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: Fleet of his Imperial Scaled Highness (1)
Attacker: Because I Can
7:00 p.m. - Frond Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Tyranny
Attacker: Jinx (1)
11:00 p.m. - Orca Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Tyranny
Attacker: Jinx (1)
*** Sunday, January 28 ***
11:15 a.m. - Park Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King holds the island!
Defender: The All-Consuming Flame (2)
Attacker: Because I Can
12:00 p.m. - Spectre Island, Cerulean Ocean
Brigand King attack!
Defender: Tyranny
Attacker: Black Veil (1)