Writing
Therapist 3 now has a Gumroad link, so the release is now complete. Part 4’s editing process continues with reasonable success. The cover commission is in the works, and it looks great.
I’m still on track to complete this series by the end of the summer. Now, the omnibus/print cover is going to be A Whole Other Thing, and I will need to wait and see whether Reddit implodes under its own corporate greed before I can start that search. (Deep sigh.) But I can get the four novellas out in any case.
I’ve been thinking a lot about What Next, but I think the answer is “one step at a time, fool.”
Other updates:
Games
Harvestella Got Weird in a manner reminiscent of another JRPG series after all. (implied spoilers inherent in that link) I’m in chapter 7, which I think is near the end of the storyline, and just hit the beginning of year 2. I’m still enjoying it. It took until chapter 6 or so for the script to start spouting complete JRPG word salad. That’s pretty impressive. (and look, I’ve played this genre for 30 years, and play over 100 hours a year of them to this day. I love them. I can slag on them if I want.)
The sidequests remain a highlight, although I get the frustration some players have with their bite-size structure. It’s just fun to see a range of topics from “I am a Dark Angsty Dude Seeking Revenge for my Slaughtered Village” to “I am a robot trying to figure out human emotions, so I became an advice columnist”. It’s like each and every sidekick character is coming from a different genre, and I love it.
Oh! And the SNES emulator on the Switch just released the original Harvest Moon. Which is neat. But the new port of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is also coming out, so between [Mostly Action-JRPG Stuff and A Little Farming] and [All Farming All the Time], I’m probably going to take a break with something other than a farming game.
Anime
Skip and Loafer remains excellent, and I will miss it when the season ends in a couple of weeks. I have still not started the second cour of GWitch. But I finally finished up The Executioner and Her Way of Life — my previous treadmill show — so the decks are clear to get started.
Executioner displayed the problem inherent in making an adaptation of an ongoing work and also the problem inherent in the light novel format, where nothing meaningful ever gets resolved so that the series can run forever. In other words, nothing meaningful gets resolved in this one-cour series. Which I pretty much knew going in. There’s a setup, a couple of small arcs, and then it just kind of ends. But it was fine. I don’t regret watching it.