Newsletter - November 1, 2022

Our street used to get tons of kids, but last night was dead (which, appropriate as it sounds for Halloween, was not what we'd hoped for). All my kids went off with friends to other neighborhoods. It's fun, seeing the little ones in their costumes, but what happened to our street??? Still, we got to hang out with a good friend who BBQ'd for us, and then eat with his family once they were done collecting treats.

clip from a video of one of my kids getting into character for Halloween

My mother visited my last book-signing at SudsMonkey, and her sister came with her. I hadn't seen my mom since her surgery, nor her sister in years--it was really good to see them both and catch up with my aunt.

I also started back up on house projects I'd abandoned when work became too busy. I still have one wall (with multiple segments) that needs picture frame moulding in the office.

I've tried to pick back up writing and rekindle my writing habits. I held onto them, at least loosely, until the end of my work project, when things became too crazy. But I've had trouble starting them back up. I think it is partly just the backlog of things to catch up on. But I'm not sure that's all it is--I can't seem to get my head back in the game, and I think it is because I can't clear out all the work baggage. After two weeks of being done with the project, it is only the last two nights that I've finally slept well again. I'm told (by folks who have done the role I'm doing now), that I have to step away until my head gets back on straight, but I have kids in school, my wife is working again... it isn't like I can take a vacation right now and do anything meaningful. I'd rather save up the time for when I can do something with my family.

Dropped off a set of books at a Little Free Library nearby

Anyway, I have done some writing. Oh, and I mentioned this before, but I finally understand why B&N won't put my books on their shelves, and I'm resolving that. It will probably take a month to play out with all four books, but at least I finally understand and can fix it. Undoubtedly, some new problem will crop up, but one thing at a time.

As I said, the story progresses--Elliah finally reached the river and will soon move on to the Heartlands. From posts on IG, I know other authors sometimes feel their characters fighting them, and Elliah has fought me tooth and nail on this adventure. I have a sneaking suspicion I've going to have to cut a lot of this. But we will see.

o To-Do list for writing last week:

~~Email updates~~
Try to get my books in B&N. (It'll take more than a week... this week, just get Book 1 submitted on Ingram) - yes, progress made... it looks like it'll be about two weeks total to get the first book in. Once I do that, I'll do the other three in parallel.
Restart writing habits - meh, I haven't really. I've just scratched the surface.

o To-Do list for writing this week: