I just wrapped up a 4-week sabbatical from work. We spent our first week in Canada, cooling off and exploring, and our last week in Florida, catching fish and relaxing. I caught a ton of sharks, which was way more fun than not catching anything. The Florida trip was with another family, and we all jelled so well--really felt good. For the two weeks sandwiched in the middle, we had family obligations that kept us in Austin, but I took care of most of my hunny-do list during that ti

I helped my youngest get her crochet work online for sale--through my website for now, but it makes sense to establish her on Etsy or something similar. Still, she's made some sales, even from complete strangers, so that's pretty cool. She has plans on making some special items for her school in the works. She cooled off on it a little over the last week, but hopefully that was just because we were playing on the beach so much.

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We picked up a "new" car while I was on break--I'm looking forward to my oldest having her license before the end of the year. She'll be driving a 2009 Vezna... in better condition than my 2010 Pilot. 😂

I also spent some of that downtime studying cryptocurrency. I'm not trying to sell you anything, but I'm convinced I should move money over to the cryptos that offer utility. My 401k is locked from crypto while I'm still at my job. I'm so convinced that these things are about to grow in value that I'm considering leaving my job simply to unlock my retirement savings for investment. Extreme, right? Send me a note if you think I'm crazy. Maybe you'll scare me straight. 😨

Finally, I returned to work today. Sabbatical is meant to be a time to recharge, so that one returns with renewed energy and excitement. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have that. The people I work with are great (there's always an a-hole or two anywhere), and the work is interesting. **wistful sigh**. Let me illustrate my angst with an example I read about from someone writing for a magazine. They'd proven themselves as a writer and so the magazine had promoted them to editor, but they felt sad because they were no longer writing. I think that's where I am right now: I get my hand slapped for doing technical work. I know that there's a certain skill in recognizing when to get out of the way so that people can do their jobs... and when to get in the way so that people can do their jobs... but I enjoy creating things (maybe that's obvious). Sadly, I don't get my creator fix out of leading others to create things, even if those things are really cool. I suppose that's a mindset problem on my side that I need to change.

All that to say... I didn't spend as much time on writing as I thought I would. Still, I did more than nothing. I packaged up my second pass at Mother of Trees and sent it off to a couple of people (in actual printed form). Edie carved it up and sent it back, whole sections burned out like she'd needed to stay warm during a snowpocalypse. I won't pretend it was easy to look at, but I fear she was right, and Mother of Trees still needs a lot of work. I've got a new version I've started on, but I'm floundering my way forward. Going by smell, or using the force I suppose.

I also have a promotion on Book 1 of the Guardian League going on Wednesday, Aug. 2nd. I'm hoping to bump my book up the kindle ranks. I'd love for help getting the word out that day. Ping a friend who might like Guardian of The Palace and encourage them to buy a copy on the 2nd. They can read it later, when the markets crash and everyone who doesn't have the right cryptocurrency will be stuck for eternity with only the books they've already downloaded. 👍

Previous Newsletters

• ​Newsletter - June 30, 2023​
• ​Newsletter - May 30, 2023​
• ​Newsletter - May 14, 2023​
• ​Newsletter - May 1, 2023​

​​May you get lost this week in another world.

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