Situation normal…

I had three days off this weekend, but didn’t accomplish a damned thing. My wife and dog are both on the mend.

We went out for necessities yesterday. The shopping cart makes a pretty good walker as I learned when my back went out. We avoided the fair, because it would have been too much.

I even offered to pick up groceries, but my wife was having none of it. I told her I know how to buy bread, milk, etc. She worried that I would get the wrong bread. Seriously, how bad could it be no matter what I chose? Let’s face it, what we do with toilet paper shouldn’t matter what pretty design it has for one week.

One good thing about accompanying her, and it makes everything right with the world.

The pumpkin beer is here. With this stuff, I can put up with a lot. Shopping makes for a weird date night, but it is what we did.

Tonight I have to drive to Twin Falls and check into a room. I have a presentation to make for work at just after dawn. I can’t risk trying to get there at four AM, then make my appointment. This will take most of the day, but I’ll probably still get to the office in the afternoon.

I’m taking my iPad with me. If I get a few free hours tonight, I might add words to the next Lanternfish story.

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Most of my adventures are like this

My wife and I are both off this weekend. It’s best to surrender the idea of doing any writing at all before it gets into my head. We decided to check out the huckleberry festival up in Donnelly.

Idahoans are crazy about huckleberries, and they have kind of a narrow window for picking them. Rumor is there are plenty about right now. Several years ago, I went up to McCall and picked a large baggie of them I made into fritters.

These huckleberries are actually blueberries, but don’t have that conversation with one of the natives.

We opted to leave the doggies home, because it’s been incredibly hot, and this was a day trip.

Hot wasn’t an issue at all once we got there.

Pretty scenery, though.

Donnelly was having a parade about the time we arrived and parking was non-existent. This place is tiny, but they even had a traffic cop on the main drag, which is also the state highway to more popular destinations.

We opted to drive to McCall and check things out later.

We had lunch at McCall Brewing. I had a lovely pastrami Reuben, and this Wobbly Man beer. It’s a smoked scotch ale, for those who are interested. It’s a wonderful beer and is occasionally available in Boise, where I seldom pass it by. McCall also makes a great Lemon Ginger Hefeweizen, and it has Ginger from Gilligan’s Island on the label. I passed on Ginger and had a glass of English Bitter as my follow up. I was pretty excited to even find a bitter, but it didn’t quite measure up to their more popular offerings.

After lunch, we decided to go a bit further and check out a campground, and possibly find a few huckleberries of our own. It’s a nice campground, but you could put all the berries in the palm of my hand. I think I’m in line for a huckleberry pancake tomorrow, but only one.

When we went back to Donnelly, it was raining like a mo%^*#F$@!er. Everyone got washed away, and boarded up for the day.

All the covers were down, and the vendors headed for shelter.

One stouthearted fellow operated out of a trailer, and kept his place open. I was looking forward to some pancake syrup, maybe a fritter, even some alcoholic concoctions. This fellow had ice cream and it was outstanding.

That was our day. Great lunch. Great beer. Pretty scenery. No huckleberries, but the ice cream was outstanding. As a bonus, I may have found a new campsite that won’t leave me hanging off the side of a cliff with my camp trailer.

In other news, the dogs got a new toy from Nylabone. They’re both crazy about it, but Otto takes the best photos. (Frankie never stands still long enough.)

He looks like a towel rack or a door knocker.

B. W. I.

Okay, not particularly intoxicated, but well lubricated. What does an author blog about when he isn’t writing? Stuff like this.

When we walked into Old Chicago at the Boise Town Square Mall, the Blood Mobile was parked out front.

Old What’s Her Face asked, “Do you want to donate, dear?”

I said, “Yes, but I want to donate from that guy over there. Grab him.”

You probably had to be there, but we had a good laugh.

They actually had a Belgian beer on tap tonight, and those are kind of hard to come by. I had two. I had two different ones as well.

Supper was mediocre at best, but I got to actually watch a Diamondbacks game on their televisions, and they actually won. (A rare thing these days.)

My pizza was one of those with so much sauce the toppings all slid into my lap. Otherwise it was wonderful, but it wasn’t what I’ve become accustomed to at OC.

Old What’s Her Face went for a pedicure while I watched the game and swilled good beer. She has her thing, and I have mine.

I’m not going to get to write this weekend, but I did work on a blog post for Story Empire. It’s all scheduled now. If you enjoy the Expansion Pack series, there is another one up on Wednesday.

My daughter made a surprise visit this weekend, and we had a nice chat. She even offered to cut Dad’s hair, and I couldn’t pass that up. She really does a good job.

While this isn’t a writing weekend, I have some vacation time scheduled. I’m milking the flex schedule, and by taking two ten-hour days off, I actually get six days off in a row. It all starts next Friday. My hope is to give Lanternfish a good launch.

Aside from that, I need to work on some blog tour posts for Viral Blues. The release will be upon me before I know it. I want to do a tour of favorite sites, but I may get a mutual promo tour with some friends going, too. I’m kind of excited about that. We all draw some people and the crowd is bigger because of that. Maybe one of their regulars will be interested in my release, and maybe one of mine will be interested in theirs. More on that later.

We have some home improvement stuff to deal with tomorrow and I’m dreading it. I’m not a tool guy, and not particularly handy in that department. I’ve replaced the kitchen faucet before, but I really don’t think my back is up to it these days. I’ll update on this later. It will either be a successful replacement, or a trip to the hospital. Either way I get a blog post.

On another note, my side project is moving along well. I’m in the mucky middle, but about to move out of it. I’m finding that a side project might not move as fast as the targeted book, but it doubles my productivity.

That’s it, B. W. I. How did I do?

Not bad progress

I get up fairly early most mornings. I either have to pee, Otto want’s his breakfast, or something. Today it was my back. It’s gets aching, so I just get up.

I managed the read-through of Serang, and I wouldn’t be afraid to show it to the general public at this time. I’ll probably read it again a few times before I publish, but it’s in fair shape right now.

I also did the word searches for The Viral Blues. It seems like there are always a few its/it’s errors that jump out. Because this one involves Lizzie and the hat, I want to include a few of the little graphics like the first book. I’ll have to scan through it and see what I can recycle vs what I have to order.

I sent out a submission to my critique group on friday night, and already have one response back. That’s pretty fast by my book. I’ll park it until I have all of them back, but might get to work on it next week. Possibly on July 4th.

Beyond that, we managed date night at Old Chicago. Had some pizza and nice craft beer. We stopped by the old Boise Co-op, but they don’t have the items I usually get there anymore. It was a special kind of tea and some lip balm I like. Lip balm isn’t that important, and pretty much anything will work. If I really want it, I can probably get the tea from Amazon.

It doesn’t sound like a lot, but crossing off Serang is a big deal.

The Viral Blues is shorter than I wanted, but I’ve decided not to make it another 99¢ title. There is a real story there, and I have enough entry points to my work. This may wind up hurting me, but like the old song says, “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’.”

While daydreaming about the next “Hat” story, I found a new band. They call themselves Relax Trio. They sound nothing like their name indicates and play an ancient type of rockabilly music. I was drawn to it by the woman who plays the upright bass.

Then I started yet another pin board. I got glimpses of a story from a dream, but not enough to rough something out. This one would have to be post-apocalyptic in nature. If you’re of a mind this is the board: https://pin.it/kx4wtazjkevehv

Maybe this one is tied into the person I dreamed up that was scrounging among some old crashed space ships. If there is anything of merit there it will come to me eventually.

I don’t consider searching for music or scanning Pinterest to be goofing off. My boards are becoming a nice resource for fiction. Lizzie and the hat play this kind of music, so that helps too.

In my mind, it was a productive day. Tomorrow I’ll call my parents and check in with them. I may just bag all the projects and spend the rest of the time reading.

Hope you guys are having a good weekend too.

The saga of today

I took today off for my annual exam. This is because sometimes there is blood involved and I did not want to go back to the office under those circumstances.

On my first appointment I saw one doctor, then he kicked me to the curb. After that I saw Dr. Rowe. I liked Dr. Rowe, because he talked to me in plain English and took time to answer my questions.

After three years, Dr. Rowe has kicked me to the curb. I hate how modern medicine does this.

The new guy dropped the idea that he’s been at The Tumor Institute for about six months. To be honest, he looked like he’d been licensed about six months. He also let me know Dr. Rowe is still with the practice, but works across the street in a different office now. Why the hell wasn’t I given the option of going across the street and having my appointment with Dr. Rowe?

My PSA is great now, thanks to the medication. When I asked the new kid about it, he wanted to explain some kind of long division and how to compare the number to the general population. He also wanted to stick to the number. I told him, “I don’t need to know all that, and don’t know what the number means. How about you tell me if it’s normal or not?” Apparently it’s normal. (Trying to talk over my head is not going to work. I’m not the one who nods demurely, then shuts up.)

When it came time for the exam, I told him Dr. Rowe said we’d only be doing that every other year. He seemed kind of sad, and told me I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to. This kid looked like someone who wanted to stick his finger up my butt, so I declined.

My hope now is this kid will move on before I have to go back next year. Otherwise, I may spiral into cancelling my appointment and not going back at all.

I’m looking at it as good news this time. My blood test was great, even my blood pressure was great. It’s like when our heroes survive the ordeal portion of our stories. After the ordeal, the hero gets a reward.

Old What’s Her Face is off today, and she wanted to go to Old Chicago for lunch. This reward is an Odell’s Brewing Big Cookie A La Mode. It’s a special brew that OC got in and promoted to come sample. It’s a very good beer, but does not taste anything like a cookie or ice cream.

Some beers actually live up to their names, like banana bread beer that actually tastes like banana bread. I won’t complain though, because it was very good.

I go back to work for the rest of the week. Old What’s Her Face has to work nights this weekend, something she’s never done before. (People shouldn’t have these disruptive schedules after a certain age and years on the job.) My holiday weekend will be spent walking on eggshells while she tries to sleep.

Fortunately, my keyboard is pretty quiet, and I might wrangle some writing time.

The author lifestyle

I’ve always updated with warts and all. Seems like lately there have been more warts than cool stuff. It wasn’t in my master plan, but much of it is out of my control.

This is the third weekend in a row that I haven’t been able to write. I’ve done some blog things, and they count. They simply aren’t new fiction.

We watched the Derby yesterday, and I spotted the interference before the race was even over. I may be in the minority, but I agree with the disqualification.

This is the biggest stage in the world for horse racing, and they struggle to survive in this world of extended animal rights. I’ve been at a race where a horse had to be shot, and watched the tractor drag him away. News crews would love that for their headlines, but the sport itself doesn’t need it.

The jockey yesterday put a lot of equine lives at risk, and a few human ones too. This is made more risky by the large field the Derby always has.

We raced out for date night and had a nice dinner at Kahoots. This is one of our regular stopping places. I never learned of the DQ until I googled it later in the evening. It was the right call.

Plans to publish Serang before school lets out are all but gone. I haven’t finished writing it, and there isn’t any time to set up tours and such. Things are about to be incredibly busy at my office, and it’s field trip season for my position too. This poses a new issue.

Summer releases have always sucked for me. Yak Guy is a pretty fair story, but it goes relatively unnoticed for that reason. I can toss Serang to the summer wolves, or hold it back for later. I want to release The Viral Blues in conjunction with the Halloween season. This story seems to still have a realistic publishing goal.

If I hold Serang back, I don’t want to try two releases at the same time. This would make Serang more of a December release, but it has nothing to do with the holidays.

Some of this is my fault, because I’m shooting for three releases this year. It’s a tough goal to meet while holding down a full time job.

I’ve always understood the commercial reasons to write series instead of stand alone novels. I largely ignored it and wrote what I wanted. Right or wrong.

My inner circle talked me into it, so I’m committed now. A series is the one thing I haven’t taken on, and maybe it’s time. Of course, I never do anything half-way…

There are two kinds of series. One kind has an overarching plot, and the other involves more stories in the same universe using the same characters. I’m writing one of each. Lanternfish is intended to become a trilogy. The Hat will have more stories in the same universe.

Many of the overarching series have supporting stories to keep interest going. This is what Serang is. She is a supporting character to Lanternfish who earned her own story.

I mentioned this, because not everyone reads every blog post I throw out there. I’ve probably already talked about all of this in the past. Serang’s job is to preserve interest in the Lanternfish series until I can publish the next volume in 2020. The Hat will return in October.

In a perfect world, Serang would be ready to step on the stage and do her job. This would give me all summer to finish The Viral Blues.

It isn’t a perfect world. I may have to start leaving the house on Saturdays for a few mornings just so I can meet my goals.

They say all blog posts perform better with a picture of some kind. It has nothing to do with writing, but enjoy a picture of Otto falling asleep on his feet.

Date night and not much more

This is my short weekend, plus Old What’s Her Face is off too. This isn’t a situation where much writing gets done. As a weekend warrior, I accept writing time as it comes and do what I can.

I did some research for a post over at Story Empire on Wednesday. We’re going to be setting the stage for a great character arc. I got it all assembled and scheduled. Then… well, that’s about it.

We played with the dogs, watched some television. There was a show on about CDC investigations and some major outbreaks. I thought I might get an idea or two that I could weave into my nameless team story, but to no avail. The Muse might twist things around in my mind and give me some hints still.

Then I watched Paul Kersey kill people. Charles Bronson made some great movies. Rumor has it that Bruce Willis remade Death Wish, but I’m not big on remakes. I love Willis too, but I’ve never seen it. (Any Rumor and Bruce Willis puns were purely unintentional.)

Old What’s Her Face was dying to go to Olive Garden. This is our payday weekend, so what the hell. I have to admit dinner was great. They have a horrible beer list, so I stuck with water. I’ve never been able to get into wine.

Tomorrow I’ll call my parents, and wish Dad a happy birthday. I have a loose idea for a series of posts over at Story Empire, so I may look into them. Then again, I may not. I don’t have a deadline over there for a while now.

I hope everyone who wants to be productive is getting their wish. I hope everyone else is doing something fun or relaxing.