{"id":340,"date":"2016-05-21T09:47:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T16:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=340"},"modified":"2016-05-21T09:47:44","modified_gmt":"2016-05-21T16:47:44","slug":"may-2016-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/may-2016-update\/","title":{"rendered":"May 2016 Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or: Playing Catch-Up<\/em><\/p>\n

Holy cow! It\u2019s been a while since I provided a general update on all things Rissa<\/em>. My last post<\/a> revealed all is not so rosy here in Oil and Gas country. The low price of WTI (oil), coupled with a bad world-wide economy, mixed with the horrible fires in Fort McMurray have made Alberta a pretty grim place as of late. Layoffs in the industry means a higher workload falls on me and my team, taking away from the time I devote to writing.<\/p>\n

\"work_toomuch\"<\/p>\n

Less time writing often means when the ideas hit, I\u2019m also not sleeping. Long nights or early-morning wake-up calls to write creates a vicious cycle that eventually beats me into a pulp. The only upside is that I now have better control over my anxiety. Now, I just need more time to write!<\/p>\n

The Gamemasters Trilogy<\/h1>\n

March and April brought about something completely unexpected; an entirely new novel series! Way back in 2013 when I participated in NaNoWriMo <\/a>for the first time, I had written a fanfiction-esque novel called Eternal Horizon Online<\/em>, which was based loosely around video game-centric anime\u2019s like and the .Hack series, Grimgar, and the ever popular Sword Art Online. My story mushed all three of these anime\u2019s together and I was decently happy with the final product. As The Rose Cross Academy series came to the forefront, this story went into a drawer on my computer to be forgotten, like so many of my one-off stories.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"SAO

The in-game menu system of Sword Art Online<\/p><\/div>\n

On a whim one afternoon, I picked this story up again (this is one of my writers block \u201cunblocking\u201d techniques \u2013 to work on older stories to get the brain going again) and started to polish up the prose. After working with the original story for an hour or so, I figured out everything was just ‘all wrong’; the story was flat lacking purpose. Instead of setting it aside like so many unblocking project, I found myself obsessing about the plotline all day. While doing laundry, it hit me! A completely new cast of characters and a totally different story line later, I had a new novel. Instead of everyone knowing they’re participating in a game, a situation occurrs where a group of beta testers wake up in virtual reality having no idea where they were or how they got there. And thus, The Gamemasters Trilogy<\/em> was born, of which I\u2019ve almost completed the first book and have already starting on the second.<\/p>\n

\"Main

Main character Michael Cavanaugh is the kick-ass black magician of the series<\/p><\/div>\n

I wrote like a madwoman on this new series, quite literally. I barely slept, I barely ate; every spare second I had went into this new novel. I wrote an astonishing 100,000+ words in just under two months. When the dust settled, I had about 70% of the first book completed, and soon realized I had created a monster of a novel. I imagine I\u2019ll be pushing the 150,000 word threshold by the time the first novel is complete.<\/p>\n

Grimms and Garms<\/h1>\n

Add to that Book 2 of the Rose Cross Academy<\/em> series, Grimms and Garms<\/em>, is heading towards completion as well, and I\u2019m thinking that come the fall, I\u2019ll have two books to publish! This novel is also well above the 100,000 word mark and may squeak by at 130,000. That\u2019s fifty percent larger than the first book in the series, Risers and Dreamers<\/em><\/a>. Eek! Makes me a little nervous to think the next 3 books I have planned in the RCA series might start to balloon out of control.<\/p>\n

\"You'll

You’ll meet two Grimm’s in Grimms and Garms<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Grimms and Garms<\/em> sees the return of the cape-and-hat man, Mr. Grimm, lurking around to taunt June and lead the evils of Below straight to him. Add in two more of the series antagonists, Morghen and Ehrin Faust, and poor June just can\u2019t catch a break. His only saving grace could be that he\u2019s finally starting to notice Petra.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also playing around with a different cover design; we\u2019ll see where that goes.<\/p>\n

Wattpad<\/h1>\n

And finally, I\u2019ve been reading a lot on Wattpad <\/a>lately, and decided I should start publishing some tidbits on there as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great place to advertise your works and generate interest in your writing. I\u2019ve started posting my short stories (ghost stories) from NaNo 2015 under the collection Through Your Soul, Darkly<\/em><\/a>. If you\u2019re interested in a chill down your spine, go have a read!<\/p>\n

\"Through<\/a>

Through Your Soul, Darkly<\/p><\/div>\n

And with that, another month has come and gone. I\u2019m hoping the spring and summer months will bring some relaxation to the hectic-ness of life in Alberta, and allow me some quality time with my novels. All I can do is hope right now.<\/p>\n

Until next time, happy noveling!<\/p>\n

– Rissa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or: Playing Catch-Up Holy cow! It\u2019s been a while since I provided a general update on all things Rissa. My last post revealed all is not so rosy here in Oil and Gas country. The low price of WTI (oil), coupled with a bad world-wide economy, mixed with the horrible fires in Fort McMurray have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[34,8],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates","tag-rca","tag-updates","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/2016_05_Update.gif?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-5u","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/july-2015-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":0},"title":"July 2015 Update","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It's finished! Book One is finished! The absolute and final edit is complete and I have a full, publishable draft. But not so fast! The text may be done, but there are still several more tasks to be completed before this novel sees the light of day. 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I\u2019m tying up a couple of loose ends such as photography and defining samples and previews of book one. Worst of all, though, I\u2019ve flip-flopped on the title for book one, and I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that sometimes too much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Updates","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Oct2015_Update2.jpg?fit=500%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1743,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/getting-back-into-the-writing-swing-of-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":2},"title":"Getting back into the (writing) swing of things","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"July 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"June was stressful. The end. There's only so much upheaval, change, and spur-of-the-moment this Gold, chaotic-good, INTJ-Architect can handle before she blows her top. And said top t'was blown. It took me about two weeks to settle in mentally to the new house. It wasn't the constant beep-beep-beep of construction\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British Columbia"","block_context":{"text":"British Columbia","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/british-columbia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/DreamJournal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/DreamJournal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/DreamJournal.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/DreamJournal.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3540,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/new-book-release-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":3},"title":"New Book release news","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"June 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026 or why a write-a-book-in-a-month challenge isn\u2019t necessarily a good challenge. Welp, it\u2019s been a while, I know. I wish I could say I\u2019ve been furiously writing, but alas, I have not. In all honesty, the pandemic threw a wrench into my writing. 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Here’s what happened.","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Strange things happen when you make a goal and stick with it. I can't believe it took me ten years to figure this out! The Backstory When I set my New Year\u2019s writing resolution for 2021, I vowed to write every day this year. I would allow myself to \u201cskip\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Updates","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/JanuaryWriting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/JanuaryWriting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/JanuaryWriting.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/JanuaryWriting.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5312,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/where-the-heck-have-i-been\/","url_meta":{"origin":340,"position":5},"title":"Where the heck have I been?","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"March 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd like to think I can use the excuse of life getting in the way, but in reality, it really hasn't. 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I think it's the reading that's been taking me away from the social aspect of being a self-published author.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Updates","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/QnFairyFarts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}