2023 Assessment

Like every year, there are good and not so good things going on. Since this is an author blog, let’s start there.

I had a goal to publish two books and that worked out well. Once Upon a Time in the Swamp came out in the Spring. There isn’t much hope of reaching an audience these days, but everyone who gave it a chance seemed to really like it. A couple of people said it was the best thing I ever wrote. Those kind of comments keep me working away at things.

I also released Goodbye Old Paint in October. I’ve been trying to get another volume in The Hat Series every October, and it worked this time. People also seemed to enjoy this one. Lizzie got a decent upgrade out of the deal, and we learned more of the hat’s distant history.

Just saying, if you’re interested in these tales, they’re both still in the sidebar one click away.

Writing didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. I wanted to complete the second volume in a planned trilogy for Percy the Space Chimp. I’ve only gotten about half-way, and it may wind up being a duology instead.

I also vowed to write another Hat story, and didn’t even start the manuscript.

On the other hand, I am on the verge of completing another solo title. This one wasn’t in the business plan, but it started insisting on moving up the list. It’s thrown some difficult twists and turns my way, but it’s getting really close.

As far as life goes, it was interesting and boring at the same time. Everyday life involves work, bills, and whatever sleep I can grab. I escape into fiction on the weekends.

I did get to make an amazing trip across the country with my daughter. Since I posted along the way, I won’t go into a lot of detail here. We had the best father/daughter adventure and saw a lot of America in the process. Then I handed her off to a man I’d never met, and left her on the East Coast.

Her man seems like an amazing young fellow and they’re very happy together. I may never see her again, based on this economy. I can rest in the idea that she is happy and loving life.

2023 was better than some of the recent ones, so it has that going for it. Sometime after the New Year, I will post my 2024 business plan. You can already tell some things I need to turn my attention to.

How was your 2023? Better than the covid years, no doubt.

Just checking in

My vacation started yesterday. Old What’s Her Face and I threw the dogs in the car and drove to Nevada. She’s at her brother’s house, and I’m staying with Mom.

We had a nice chat last night with my brother. I think we solved most of the world’s problems. There might have been whiskey involved, but not for Mom.

I’m going to enjoy my visit and not worry about anything except being in the moment.

We’re heading home on Sunday and will have Christmas in Idaho.

I’m mostly letting you know I’m still kicking. After Christmas I intend to make the pixels fly. No idea how that will play out in reality, but I’m going to give it a good shot.

I’ll have a proper update sometime after I get home. I also need to write my two annual posts. One about assessing 2023, and my 2024 business plan.

Another road trip

Work is sending me for some training on Monday. I’m going to be squeezed a little for time while I’m on the road. I mention this, because I’m expecting blog comments.

I have two new promotional posts scheduled for everyone. I went with Tuesday and Thursdays for these. My hope is that I can sneak off to my hotel during lunch and respond to everyone then. I hope you’ll be a little patient with me, but I will get to everyone.

Monday is a travel day, as is Friday. I’m going to Savannah, Georgia for the week. I’ve googled the images and it looks beautiful. Of course, I’ll spend most of my time locked up in a conference room, but the evenings are mine.

Two of my travel companions are way excited and already booked us into some restaurants. One has a pirate theme, so there could be rum involved. They also talked us into a ghost tour as a group. You know they didn’t have to twist my arm. I already bought my ticket online.

My hope is that my Muse will walk a few blocks with me. I’m a couple of years out on stories, but a seed or two for the future is fine by me.

I’m actually excited about the training this time, too. It’s been a long time since I got to dabble in something new and am looking forward to it.

I was thinking about writing tomorrow, but there is a lot going on. I’m torn between The Kentucky Derby and the coronation of King Charles. One comes along yearly, but the other one is once in a lifetime.

I kind of want to party like I’m on the infield and look at girls in hats while I view the roads each horse took to the big race.

On the other hand, the coronation is history happening… and there could be girls in hats.

Drinks are on me either way, since I’m not physically at either event.

What to do? What to do? I have a story coming up soon that involves horse racing and an opportunity to bring back the headless horseman. Lizzie and the Pythons could get a party gig in Louisville fairly easily for this story. I’m certain to start writing it this year.

I have no royalty stories planned at all, but maybe I need one. Could be some temptation for Lorelei the Muse to watch the coronation.

Tonight, I’m watching the residue from May the Fourth. Right now Yoda is kicking some butt on television. I may be out of commission again this weekend. There are some decent distractions going on and that’s okay sometimes, too.

Have a good weekend everyone. Tell me what you would choose. Maybe you’d just stick with Yoda. Stick with me, there are some interesting things coming about Once Upon a Time in the Swamp next week. I really appreciate all the sharing and reblogging you’ve put out there on my behalf.

Resting, and making an odd discovery

I have no intention of cracking one of my manuscripts this weekend. I want to recover from my recent adventures, and learned I have to report for jury duty on Monday morning. What I wanted to do was view some fun movies about the places I visited.

I wound up renting Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and enjoyed the heck out of it. It’s been decades since I saw it and it was a blast. Wasn’t precisely what I wanted.

Last week I visited Little Bighorn, Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Salem, Lexington, and Concord. Passed through parts of Boston, too. Aside from those, we drove through a bunch of country that could be considered as Last of the Mohicans territory. Basically, I wanted something historical.

A few Google searches revealed some titles, but a dozen or so premium services failed to provide anything. I expanded my search, and tried The Crossing, which was a favorite about George Washington. It was made by HBO, but it’s not available on HBO Max.

I went through this dance with all the locations and found nothing worth my time. I get this isn’t exactly uber popular currently, but I figured the premium services would have something to offer. I also understand fully they aren’t historically accurate. Entertainment was my goal, a specific kind of entertainment.

If there was no movie, perhaps I could find a documentary. Nope. Documentaries seem to all be about finding some hidden treasure, fishing for crabs, or preg testing cattle. Never saw anything by Ken Burns.

At this point, I expanded in an attempt to find anything remotely patriotic at all. I never found anything. I frequently see social media postings about some attempting to brainwash the general public, and tried to blow it all off. After today, I’m not so sure.

I will admit to not looking for The Patriot with Mel Gibson, because I’ve seen it a bunch of times. It might be there. The Untouchables is on Dish tonight, so it would vaguely qualify as my having passed through Chicago, but that wasn’t my main focus today.

I would settle for Little Bighorn from the Indian perspective if we’re all so politically correct these days. Never found anything.

There is a statue of Tesla at Niagara Falls. Maybe I can find something about him tomorrow. Might have to settle for National Treasure or North by Northwest. At least they have Mt. Rushmore.

Checking in

I’m in Nevada this weekend. My daughter and I drove down Friday night.

Dad is on hospice care, so this might actually be the last visit with him. It’s kind of stressful, to say the least. He sleeps a lot, so there are moments to visit with my brother and mother.

Sometime during one of those quiet moments, I hacked out one more blog tour promo post. I have a few to go, and don’t know when I’ll get to write them. I swear, ‘Wreck of the Lanternfish’ will come out in 2021. Watch this space.

Tonight, my brother brought out a bottle of Colonel E. H. Taylor small batch whiskey. It really helps to digest the situation I find myself in.

My daughter got away for an hour and visited her aunt and uncle. They have a new house we’ve never seen, but I stayed here. They also have a German shorthair puppy she said is is uber-cute.

Please forgive my lack of posts. There is a lot going on in my life right now. If I had my druthers, I’d be writing, blogging, and publishing.

Have to be happy with today

It all came to 2800 words today. I’m always apprehensive, but it feels right to me.

It started with Serang’s army making plans for a major attack. They have to keep the moon phase in mind because of the Fulminites and their special ability.

What I didn’t care for was the three page chapter. I try not to do those, but I got everything I needed down and didn’t want to add filler just to make this section ten pages. I see these in books from time to time, so I figure I’m safe. It is what it must be.

I switched to James and Lanternfish, but handled this a bit differently. By this time, readers have experienced sea battles, so I told a bit to move the story along. We joined James at the aftermath of a battle where they wound up rescuing some Prelonian prisoners from the Hollish.

Then they went ashore to examine a signal from Diego Palumbo. In one of his previous sections, Diego left a bit of intelligence behind in hopes James might find it. Back in HMS Lanternfish, they used special lanterns for this purpose.

I turned recovery of the data into a root monster competition where the prize was getting a name. It became quite an event with monsters being thrown off a cliff, lots of laughter, and some confusion over what James might want. All told four monsters got names: Papers, Buckle, Fishbone, and Splat.

In brief, the army is in place with a plan. The “navy” is in the right spot, but needs to review their treasure. Even Diego and Camila are set up for their next adventure. I also have a cool sequence planned for Mal the witch doctor. And it all wrapped up with root monsters.

I’m pretty happy. The next stretch behind the keyboard will have to be James interpreting the data, but then all hell is going to break loose on multiple fronts.

Tomorrow is my errand day, then I drive to Nevada for a visit. Mom doesn’t have wifi, but I can pigtale to my phone if anyone needs me. I’m up at Story Empire with an interesting story structure. I’ll monitor comments, then check them once more before my drive. I will be out of range until I get to my parent’s home, but I can check again there.

Long drives are heavenly for spending with my Muse. I discovered a new song that gave me a character. It will be a couple of years before I can use him, but I might get an idea how a special grave digger fits into Lizzie’s universe over in the hat series. The song is too obscure for her band to play, but it’s a cool character idea.

Redneck Thanksgiving

Meet Opie.

He is my son’s dog. My oldest is having one of those Thanksgivings where he had to go to the in-laws’ s house. Opie doesn’t do well at the boarding kennel, and none of them really do. Guess where he is spending his Thanksgiving.

He’s well mannered and trained, unlike my heathens. He plays ball like a pro, and is not allowed on the furniture.

Don’t tell my son, but he might be developing some bad habits.

This morning, he was feeling kind of lonely and neglected. He decided to crawl up with Otto and I before I went to work.

That’s Otto’s big butt off to the left. I’m surprised I didn’t have Frankie up here, too. She elected to go to her little Frankie bed instead.

The footstool doesn’t qualify as furniture, does it? I don’t think he’s being bad at all.

Tomorrow, my in-laws will be here, and they travel with two small dogs. My daughter is also coming, but I don’t think she’s bringing her cat. We’re all set up for a regular redneck holiday.

Winter storms are abundant, so I hope everyone is careful. I’d rather have them stay home than have an accident. My oldest and his family went to California. (Donner Summit is closed right now. Hope they can avoid a Donner Party Thanksgiving.) The in-laws are coming across the high Nevada desert, and my daughter has to come from Sun Valley.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you stay safe and warm. Enjoy family, good food, and even the dogs if you have that kind of family.

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.

A long week.

This was the week I went to San Antonio. That’s really nothing new, at my level seminars are a fact of life. This one had its good and not-so-good parts. Some of that has to do with my seasoning. I’ve been around this stuff for a long time, and it’s getting kind of hard to show me something new. They managed it though.

One of the unexpected things is kind of telling. I’ve been to many a seminar, but the seats in those meeting rooms are starting to wear me out more than ever before. A day or two, no problem. Four days, and I think I need a wheelchair.

Add air travel into the mix, and it gets even worse. There is no such thing as a comfortable chair on an airliner. I wound up with the middle seat on all four legs of my journey. From Phoenix to Boise, the guy with the window seat never showed up. I moved over and it was wonderful just to have a bit of extra room.

I actually left my iPad Pro at the TSA check in stop in San Antonio. Fortunately, my employee spotted it and saved it for me. I’m starting to feel like I need a keeper.

As far as San Antonio goes, it rained. Then it rained some more, followed by rain, with an additional portion of rain. It stopped raining while I was at the airport to go home.

We braved it anyway. We wandered down the street to someplace called the Buckhorn Saloon for lunch. It’s one of those places that seems dedicated to taxidermy. Animals covered all the walls, and they call part of it a museum that requires an admission fee. Apparently, it was not dedicated to cleanliness. To make it clear, polar bears and mountain goats are white, not grey.

The lunch itself was pretty good, and I scored a local beer that came off quite well. Craft beer wasn’t easy to find, but Texas brands were in abundance. I wound up living on Shiner Bock. Not awesome like a craft beer, but you can live on it.

While we were there, a Ted Cruz Rally broke out. My co-worker took a photo, but I didn’t feel the need. Cruz is kind of an odd dude, and I sat on my hands, lest judgment be passed upon me.

My co-worker has several Army buddies in the area, so he went out with them most nights. The one night we wandered around didn’t turn out all that great.

We got to the Alamo just as it closed. I still snapped a photo, the only one I took.

I briefly considered storming the fortress, but that’s already been done, and seems so 1800s by today’s standards.

Note: It was raining.

Then we wandered down to the River Walk. I went through the Alamo years ago, and spent a lot of time on the River Walk. This time, the River Walk seemed like it’s lost some of its spark.

The last time I was here, there were shops, bars, and restaurants filled to overflowing. This time, very little was open, people were scarce, and some construction was going on. It does make for a lovely scene to put some vampires in and have them stalk the patrons stumbling out of the bars.

My co-worker said his buddy, a former Army Ranger, told him this part of town wasn’t a great place to hang out after dark. We took the hint and went back to the hotel. I settled for another Shiner, some poorly conceived bar food, and called it my birthday dinner. I went back to my room so I could watch the World Series. It’s hard to ask a group of Spurs fans if it would be okay to change from basketball to baseball. (Sounds like something for one of John’s top ten lists.)

Old What’s Her Face called me on Face Time, something I’d never done before. This was so I could talk to Otto. He missed me and was confused how I got inside the iPad. It was kind of fun.

When I got home, the house was dark. My wife had to work today. That didn’t stop the dogs, and they swarmed me. I had to stay up for an hour just snuggling them. (Mostly Otto.)

I have a big old list of things I should be doing today, but I’m kind of worn out. Spending a lot of time with my old friend, Mr. Hot Pad today. At least I got to spend some time editing while I was on airplanes. That and reading a mediocre craft book I bought. I’m finding that craft books are kind of like seminars these days. It’s isn’t exciting and awesome anymore, but there are small nuggets of information that I find valuable.

That was the week that was. I really do have a ton of things to do, but this whole month has been like burning the candle at both ends. I think I’ll take a day and see how I feel about it tomorrow. I wonder if John Wayne is defending the Alamo on television somewhere today.

Trying to get some things done

I’m doing all the fussy little things today. Things like making sure I have battery chargers in my suitcase for my trip. I set out my wallet and other glasses to make sure they get packed too.

Then there are things I can’t pack until morning. Things like combs and blood pressure medication.

I used the app to get my boarding pass. It also gave me my employee’s boarding pass, and I hope it doesn’t screw him up. I suppose we can meet at TSA and go in together somehow.

I looked for a Steelers game, but it doesn’t look like there is one today.

After placing some things out, I decided to tackle a few more chapters of Lanternfish. I got through a couple, but there were interruptions.

“Daddy, this looks like fun. Check out my rope toy.”

Meanwhile, Otto decided to go spelunking again.

I’m still remembering things, and getting up to place them out for my trip. I should probably focus on that and get offline for a while.