Time for vacation

I’ve been killing myself at work lately. I did fine by adding one day to the various holidays, but we’re in kind of a holiday drought in the US right now. I’m also in the position where I’ve maxed out my leave hours again. This led me to take an entire week off.

I intend to work on fiction, of course, but might take time to binge watch something. I haven’t looked for K-dramas in a long time. I like some of their supernatural offerings.

If this infernal rain ever stops, I might prune my Asian pear tree.

I’m trying not to make much of a plan, so it feels more like an actual vacation.

If things go according to the loose plan, I might even finish up Footsteps of Infinity while I’m off. No pressure, but that would be awesome. I probably should publish something this year.

I’m going to spend some time reading. I have so much to catch up on there, it’s overwhelming.

Do any of you ever get to the point of needing to burn vacation, or lose it? You probably have to be a long-term employee to get into this cycle, but it’s not bad once you reach it.

Different kind of day

It started off like most Saturdays. Old What’s Her Face is off today, and I let her sleep in when the dogs got me up. I kept everything silent and did some reading until she started stirring.

I wound up in the other room with my noise cancelling headphones on. Writing went pretty well. I set up the next mystery box, but didn’t quite get to it. Word count wasn’t high, but I feel like it was good stuff. (At least I hope I won’t bore people in this transition phase.)

I quit early because I had something scheduled. With a tiny bit of time to spare I read one more chapter until my phone sent me a warning.

I logged into the first ever online meeting of the Story Empire group. Honestly, it was a lot of fun. We had a working agenda, but I’d never actually spoken to some of these folks before.

Quite a few of us had interacted on the Voice of Indie Podcasts over the years. https://freshinkgroup.com/podcasts/

This wasn’t a Zoom meeting and we had a time limit with this format. We were still all having a good time when the clock ran out.

We have so many friends in the blog world that we’ll never get to actually meet. I’ve never spoken to many of my friends outside of email or WordPress comments. I recommend it if you get the chance.

How about you? Have you gotten the chance to meet or speak with any of your online friends?

All progress counts

I spent far too long worrying about getting my space trilogy up and running. At the beginning of 2023, I actually had three finished manuscripts in the can.

First, I got Once Upon a Time in the Swamp ready for publication. I slicked up Goodbye Old Paint, and am actively acquiring all the items I need for a Fall release.

This brings me to the space trilogy about Percy the Space Chimp and his collection of friends. One book is ready and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I’m currently drafting the second book, but it’s been so slow for me. I realized I was struggling with another transition.

It takes a couple of chapters for the group to get stocked up for a deep space mission, and I filled that with some world building and character development.

Today, I parked my current-day science fiction tale to take up the trilogy once more. This time, I got them where they needed to go with a minimum of slow sections. I left them at the threshold of this adventure with a few new questions and things to worry about.

It was a good day for word count, and without actually counting it, it feels in the neighborhood of 2500 words.

One thing you might find interesting is how I got here. A few years ago, my collection of friends talked me into series work after years of solo titles. Being assembled the way I am, this led me to tackling a classic trilogy (Lanternfish) and an ongoing series (The Hat.)

One of the things I learned about trilogy work is that it takes a long time. Releasing one per year doesn’t do me any favors. I decided to write the new one completely before even thinking about publication. Then I can release on a bit tighter schedule.

This decision led to a new problem. I need something to publish without waiting three years. I wound up writing two books in the Hat Series, published one, and held one back. I also wrote Once Upon a Time in the Swamp.

Moving forward, I have the next Hat story nearly ready to publish. After that, maybe my other WIP will get ready to go. Results from “Swamp” prove to me there is still room for solo titles.

I think I can keep this rolling until the trilogy is ready, but still have things to keep my readers around.

Everyone likes something different, and I aim to please. I have one trilogy for those who want to stay in that environment for a while. I have a lengthy series of short novels for a different reason. Readers can keep going back and it doesn’t eat up a lot of time per session. (If you want to binge, you can do that too.) There are collections of short stories, and some decent solo titles. The Hat Series and solo titles should be able to carry me until the trilogy is ready to share.

I put in some more reading time, and may watch something on Netflix this evening. I have all the fixings for a Rueben sandwich and think that will serve as supper tonight.

Other duties for me today

Otto and Frankie allowed me to sleep in a bit this morning, and I was grateful for that. This allowed me to feed them, make coffee, etc. before I called my mother.

This has been a weekly arrangement since I moved to Idaho decades ago. I like chatting with her, and we tend to spend a lot of time on it.

After that, it was time for Dutch Baby 2.0. This time I incorporated a few changes. One was offered by John Howell, and that was to make sure my ingredients were all room temperature.

I came up with a couple of others on my own. First, I think the 10 inch pan was overkill, so I opted for an 8 incher. This made me adjust the timer from 15 minutes to 12. That was a guess, but it worked out well.

Finally, I added a tiny pinch of baking powder, to see if I could get that nice cup shape I was after. I used about 3/4 of my batter, because the pan was smaller. If I apportioned properly, I might even get two out of this mix, but really only wanted to eat one. Here’s how it looked right from the oven.

The sombrero look deflated almost immediately, which was what I’d hoped for. This is the finished project.

Okay, I admit to being cheap here. A can of peach slices and the kind of whipped cream from a can. However, with the paper plate, I only had to clean up the blender, a pan, and one fork. It was great. If I were to do this again, I might pour off the canning liquid and reduce that in a pan to thicken it up a bit.

Got the cup shape I was looking for, nice crisp to the pancake. It was great.

Only then did I allow myself to write. I might have gotten 500 words down, so nothing to brag about. This is the life of a writer. Sometimes you have to deal with other things, but I have two more days off and the house to myself.

I think I’ll spend a large part of my day reading. I’m a little behind on that, and Sundays are perfect to deal with other projects.

Blech!!

I’ve spent the the last two days sick. Seems like some kind of head cold. At this point, whatever I might have accomplished over the weekend could be on hold.

I feel bad, because I have plenty of tasks at the office, but just couldn’t get there.

I have a new book to read and might have to limit my activities to that. Hopefully, I’ll be fine when it’s time to return to work on Tuesday.

No telling how I’ll feel tomorrow, so I have no plan at all.

In other news, I’ve always liked cars. I typically use them to define character for those who populate my books. Long term readers will remember Clovis’s GTO, or Ray’s bagger Harley, among others. It’s always nice to have a source to pull from. This is my cars Pinterest Board https://pin.it/4TpJxxR Maybe it will inspire something you’re writing.

Not a bad day at all

As the work week ended, I knew I had a bachelor weekend ahead of me. This is usually when I can really move the chains on this author career, but I kind of squandered that.

After finishing the biggest edits, I’m down to reading each story without the interruptions of the other two so I can see if there are any glaring plot holes or tedious parts. I’d like to let everything rest for a while before I take that project on.

That leaves me with the concept of drafting new material. I have a complete Lizzie and the hat story ready to draft, but I have one ready to publish, too. No rush there.

My main focus is the second volume in the SF trilogy. All I have for that so far is the heroes must venture into unclaimed space to find someone who seems to know far too much about the enemies that started a galactic war.

This isn’t always a deal killer for me, because I tend to write about a third of my stories without a complete storyboard. It’s easier when I already know the characters well, and I have one volume all slicked up already.

I need to keep the tradition of a second book of the trilogy in mind. Plans fail, the bottom falls out, small disasters accompany that, so everyone can regroup for book three. This one also has a decent romance side story, and I can do the same thing with it… to prepare for a reconciliation in book three. Something like that.

What to do? What to do?

I bagged the whole thing and read a novel this morning. Spare time is a premium around here, and any reading will cut into my writing time. It’s a fact of life, but sometimes I just need that break and yet it still feels productive.

I’m going to dwell on my SF plot a bit longer. This second volume seems like it needs a smaller issue for my characters to focus upon inside the margins of the galactic war. My heroes can’t be everywhere at once, so something in their face that can also reflect the larger conflict.

I have no lack of ideas for The Hat Series, and don’t need to wrack my brain there. I also have two solo tales that could use some TLC. Nothing helps that process like a day in the National Forest, but a good book is pretty close.

I might even read another one tomorrow, rebel that I am.

Done… kind of

It took most of the day, but I finished this editing pass on all three books. I got kind of excited when I finished Mari’s swamp adventure around noon.

Percy the Space Chip took a little longer, but here we are at 4:00 and it’s finished, too.

There will be another pass of all three, but this is worthy of celebration. The next pass will be to read them all like a regular person would.

I need to be thinking about cover art, and figure one at a time is the best here. Once Upon a Time in the Swamp will be first. Hopefully, Lizzie and the hat will be around Halloween. I’ll hold the SF trilogy until they’re all finished and edited.

I’ve mentioned before this is my least favorite part, but it’s necessary. I’m chipping away at it and it will all get done eventually. With luck, I might start drafting the next volume of the SF trilogy by next month.

Somewhere in there, a couple of friends have published new books and I really want to read those. I’m not hurting for drafts right now, so slowing down for a bit of reading is a worthy break.

Back to the paycheck job tomorrow. I hope all of you enjoyed your weekends.

Struggling with myself

I have a three day weekend going on. It’s a relief to get a break from the workaday world, but I’m struggling not to be an author right now. It’s an odd stance for me.

This is because touring the new book is going to happen all month. There will be tons of new content from me, but it will be on guest spots that I’ll reblog over here.

I came so close to opening my WIPs and getting reacquainted, but managed to resist. The master plan was not to look at them again until November.

I surfed through the first two posts a couple of times to respond to comments and tweet them out again. I toyed with the idea of television, but resisted that, too.

Finally, I cracked open a new book. I don’t do nearly enough reading and it drew me in enough to really let me get away for a few hours.

I intend to spend time with it over the next two days. Reading is good for me and this is the perfect time for it. When get a few spare hours, rather than rereading my own work in anticipation of writing time I won’t have, I’m doing something positive.

I managed to move my mail-in ballot over to my workspace, but still haven’t opened it. I’ll probably do that tomorrow after I call my mother. Politics has become such a toxic environment I’m down to voting for those I hate least, or against those I hate most. I don’t really need that energy right now, but will get to it before work starts once more.

As for me, you can find me on the tour route. I think there are some fun posts ahead and Lisa Burton will be stumping for me, too. She has some cool new posters to share with you.

I also managed to write and assemble my next Story Empire post today. It’s rare for me to be so far ahead over there, but it feels good to have it scheduled.

Story Empire is doing really well these days. Our views and comments are up, and as a blog it surpassed Entertaining Stories a few months ago for number of followers. If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. It’s a group blog dedicated to helping authors and covers a broad swath of topics. We post in turn and I always learn something from my partners. I hope a few of my tidbits are helping some of you.

Anyway, this is a weekend more dedicated to relaxing, and I could use some of that. I intend to read. Might check out “Andor” on Disney. As an author I promise not to do anything except the occasional bit of research and a few notes for future projects.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, too. With or without the Monday holiday.

Low productivity

Sean Harrington delivered some graphics about a week ago. My only real plan was to insert them into the Midnight Rambler manuscript. It’s important to keep this one moving ahead for an October promotion.

We started off by going to the farmer’s market downtown. It’s been years since we went, and they’ve kind of split it between locations. For some reason, it just wasn’t as good as past years. Old What’s Her Face still found some things to buy, like lemon cucumbers.

I kept my eye open for the breakfast burrito lady, but she was absent. Maybe she’s gone to the other location, or maybe she’s bagged it like so many others during the Covid era.

We still managed to go to lunch downtown, then swung by Whole Foods. This is another location we haven’t visited since pre-Covid.

For myself, keeping my goals small seems like a good idea. I managed to insert my silly graphics into The Midnight Rambler, and that might be it for this weekend.

I’d like to work on one of my current projects, but Sundays aren’t really good writing days. The other distraction is television. We have about four years of The Boys to catch up on, and that takes time. It’s a worthy project, and I’ll probably nudge that ahead to some degree.

I sent Sean back an email for two Lisa Burton posters. Honestly, her promos tend to draw more attention than my own. Something about her image seems to get clicks.

Promotion isn’t really one of my favorite gigs, but I’m toying with a new idea. After so many volumes of The Hat Series, I have a lot of old Lisa Burton posters. I could pick a time and do a Lisa-only tour for the series, recycling the posters since most have only been used one time. It isn’t hard to write as Lisa. Add a poster, maybe a 99¢ sale here and there, it could work.

Now it’s time to decide whether I read a friend’s book, read Midnight Rambler for a final pass, or just surrender to the television.

I was supposed to read today

I’m a couple of books behind right now, and have some serious reading I need to get on with. I earmarked this holiday for that purpose, but it never happened.

Things were flowing so well for Lizzie and the hat, that I couldn’t help myself. The wild goose chase continues, but she accomplished some things today that should help her out with her assignment.

Joyeux had to turn Lizzie down cold. The device she wanted to borrow is still in use, and Joyeux can’t spare it right now.

Help came via Cyrus Yoder, but it was Destiny the elemental that made her new device. It’s a mallet. The old fashioned kind that looks similar to half of a rolling pin. I can’t wait to see what kind of monkey business I can concoct with that device.

Cyrus is still grouchy and reserved. Dash is still helpful when he’s allowed to be, and Noodles made his first appearance. He’s going to have a bigger role in this story, but I never got that far.

Fallout from a giant flood is part of the influence in this book. Lizzie is broke. (When isn’t she) Venues for her band are struggling, so the hat booked the band into a junior high dance. I’ll probably get to that bit on my next writing session.

It was a good four-day author stretch. I moved both Mari’s and Lizzie’s stories ahead. Mari’s word count is at 23,800. Lizzies is at 12,500.

I’d like Lizzie’s story to remain at that short novel size. So she might be 25% finished. Mari’s story is intended for a full sized novel, so perhaps 25%, but it might come in a bit shorter.

I expect things to slow down with the changes being made at my workplace. It’s okay. I have two complete novels in the can right now, add these two, and I’m in a pretty good position.

I’ll need to set aside some time to add the cartoons to The Midnight Rambler, and do a final editing pass on it before fall. I will also take time to edit book one of my space opera, which still needs a title.

I might have to use my headphones and read during the evenings. They tend to drown out whatever Old What’s Her Face has on television so I can concentrate.

I hope all of you who got a holiday found a way to enjoy it.