Summer sunshine fades into autumn twilight, and with the dying of the light comes the time for another of my (newly reimagined) quarterly check-ins. Or, as I like to call them now, Quarterly Quest Updates. (Because let’s face it, every task on your to-do list feels much cooler if you call it a “quest” instead.)

Writing in Q3

My main writing goal for this quarter was to wrap up the first drafts of chapters 3 and 4 of Shadow of the Curse-Eater. This turned out to be much more of a struggle than I expected. Midway through chapter 3, I burned out. I remember the exact moment I realized it. I woke up dreading the day ahead of me, sat down at my writing desk, and promptly put my head in my hands, overcome with two intense urges: to vomit and to run away.

I chose to run—well, walk—away for at least a little while. And to slow down and breathe. It helped, some, but other obstacles soon reared their heads. Dragon Con, of course, put me a little behind schedule (for more on that, check out my Instagram)—but much worse was the serious bout of COVID-19 I suffered that put me even more behind. It knocked me flat for about a week, and I’ve been fighting off the lingering fatigue ever since.

Still, this quarter wasn’t without its wins:

• Shadow of the Curse-Eater: With chapter 3 (and most of chapter 4) finally written, the full draft is about 40% complete. (But if we count editing and beta testing, it’s more like 30%). One thing this project has taught me is that I’m much slower at writing IF versus traditional fiction.
• The Dragon’s Last Flight: All of the core art assets are complete! Jake and I have a few minor additions to implement, and then the alpha build will be ready. And once that passes a few initial tests… it’ll be time to start beta testing. 🙂
• (Unannounced WIP): Unfortunately, I’ve been focusing almost solely on Shadow of the Curse-Eater lately, so I haven’t completed preliminary edits here yet. But hopefully soon…

In addition, I’m still writing weekly for HealthyPlace and occasionally for The Completionist. That one episode I mentioned looking forward to in my last update isn’t out yet, but patience is a virtue.

Reading in Q3

I’ve been slacking off with my reading journal. I just don’t have the time or energy to manage one as in-depth as I originally envisioned. But that’s okay—even a quick and easy log will still be a step up from constantly forgetting what I’ve read and when.

Here’s what I’ve read in the past three months:

• World Travel: An Irreverent Guide Book by Anthony Bourdain & Laurie Woolever
• Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino *
• The Creative Gene by Hideo Kojima (in progress)
• Between (The Chronicles of Between #1) by L.L. Starling

* Asterisks indicate books that count toward my goal for the year.

So I’m behind on my reading goals (by one Outlander book and one book from a series I haven’t finished yet), but I can still catch up… I think? I blame Between for being an unexpectedly long (but fun!) read, but mostly COVID for making me so sick and so tired I could barely think, let alone process words on a page, for days on end.

Gaming in Q3

As with my reading journal, my gaming journal is in a sorry state. But on the upside, not setting any particular gaming goals this year means it’s actually impossible for me to fall behind here, which feels nice.

Here’s what I’ve been playing these past three months:

• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla by Ubisoft (in progress)
• The Quarry by Supermassive Games (in progress)
• Dragon Age: Origins by BioWare (and select DLC; currently I’m playing Awakening)

Y’all, Valhalla is a huge game. I wasn’t kidding myself when I said I’d probably be playing it off and on for the entire year. I haven’t even dug into any of the DLC yet!

As for Dragon Age… I’m so excited to be experiencing this series for the first time. After falling head over heels for the Mass Effect franchise when the Legendary edition came out, I knew I had to check these out—and of course, I’ll be playing Knights of the Old Republic as well whenever the remake finally gets released. (And I have both DA and ME sequels to look forward to, too? I feel so spoiled.)

Looking Ahead: Quests for Q4

In addition to all of my projects and freelance work, I’ve also been planning my own (themed!) wedding as well as multiple major trips, including Dragon Con and our honeymoon—which, being our first trip abroad ever, involves a lot of research and paperwork. Trying to keep to a very tight budget hasn’t made any of this easier, either.

So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that for most of this year, I’ve felt two contradictory things very intensely: that I am not doing enough, and that I am doing too much.

This is a classic sign of overwhelm. I’ve been down this road enough times to know better than to let myself keep drowning when what I really need to do is remember how to float. So again, my goals for the next quarter are simple and mostly involve making steady but (hopefully) reasonably paced progress.

• Shadow of the Curse-Eater: Complete preliminary edits on chapters 3 and 4; complete first drafts of chapters 5 and 6. Once I finish chapter 5, I’d also like to publish a proper page for the game here on my site with a bit more info, if I have time.
• The Dragon’s Last Flight: Conduct alpha testing and, hopefully, set up for the beta testing phase.
• (Unannounced WIP): This is a soft goal, but if I have time, I would love to finally get those preliminary edits done. And maybe someday I’ll even share the title with you all…

As much fun as Dragon Con was (well, the part I got to enjoy before I got sick, anyway), and as exciting as tabling at SpaceCon was earlier this year… I’m really glad not to have any trips, conventions, or anything else planned for this quarter. I’d honestly like nothing more than a nice, quiet holiday season for once.

Fingers crossed.

Kim Berkley is a fantasy author and video game writer with too many ideas and too little time. Sign up for her newsletter to get the latest info on her works in progress (and other fun surprises) delivered straight to your inbox.