I’ve probably been grumpier and snappier than usual. Disease has run through the house and I wasn’t lucky enough to catch it. That means I don’t have an excuse for taking naps, which I really needed. My head is spinning from struggling. Waking up a little before 6 AM to the sound of someone strangling a goose under water and not being able to fall back to bed is rough. So I kept jumping right into Twitter, email, and blogging. Doesn’t help that I pushed myself close to midnight a few times and spend most of the day keeping an ear out for trouble. Just too many people in this house at times and I rarely leave the bedroom, which might be another issue. This opening is really just spewing random stuff from my brain. Let’s just say that I’m going to be limping to the finish line, which I’ve yet to locate.
Book News
I have Crossing Bedlam and Legends of Windemere: The Mercenary Prince on deck for publishing. Both are in the editing and cover art stage. I was thinking of the December being the release of whichever is first, but I really do need to end on the Windemere book. Best to keep that series on schedule. So Crossing Bedlam might be a February release. Why that month? Two reasons:
- January is pretty bad for book sales and would be too close to Windemere.
- DEADPOOL! That movie comes out and Deadpool is an influence for Lloyd, so I thought it makes sense. Probably won’t attempt to use the movie for promotion because I’m not that crazy. This is more of a personal choice.
I did start writing Book 12 of Legends of Windemere and got through the first 3 chapters. Might get a fourth done this weekend, but I’m having trouble getting my head together. I have to say that it’s weird writing so far in the series. Characters don’t have to be explained in as much detail and there’s less to set up than to finish. With this being the end of the temple purifying and various personal storylines finished, I’m closing a few more doors and gearing up for the final 3. Sounds like a lot for a finale, but 13 deals with a major problem that appears at the end of Book 12 and then 14 and 15 kind of run alongside each other. Little teaser: Book 14 barely has the champions in it. Wonder who could possibly be in Path of the Traitors. 😀
Raven’s Hold appears to be doing well here. A lot of people like Dawn Addison, which makes me wonder if I should find a way to put her in another story. It’s a challenge because she might not fit in Windemere since the paranormal stuff would seem less strange there. In Bedlam, there wouldn’t be any ghostly events happening since it isn’t a magical story. This will take some much needed thought and I already think I have an idea of what to do with her. Won’t be easy.
Life
It goes.
Biking
It doesn’t go.
Anything Else?
The kid went through his first tooth pulling. Wasn’t that bad since there was nothing, but an abscess behind the thing. Must have hit it at some point and the dentist got it out before an infection could set in. All went smoothly . . . except for the X-ray. You see, humans have 24 baby teeth. My son has 25 and the extra has decided that the gums are for suckers. It’s heading up. Not to the back of his mouth, but up. Not as bad as it seems right now. Once the nearby adult teeth are in place, we’ll take him for some oral surgery like I had when I was a teen. They only have to remove his tooth. For me, they had to attach a chain to the last of my adult teeth to prevent it from pushing out my two front teeth. Imagine going in for a weekly chain tightening and there always being a sensation that there’s something metal sticking out of your gums. Little guy has it easy.
Next week should be more of the same around here. Hoping to get 4-5 chapters written and finish Book 12 by the middle of November. Definitely won’t happen before the end of the month because this is a biggie. That and I keep running out of steam. Let’s get to that list.
- Get enough sleep to not die or go insane.
- Eat and drink enough to not die.
- Shower to wake up and not smell.
- Write 4-5 chapters of Book 12.
- Apologize to editor while she reads Crossing Bedlam and picks out my embarrassing typos. 😛
- Possibly start an Amazon campaign for Legends of Windemere: The Merchant of Nevra Coil. Been rather lazy on that.
- Handle the homestead.
- Make a voodoo doll of 2015 and have it repeatedly stab itself in the groin with a screwdriver. Too violent?
Legends of Windemere 
1-3 should top everyone’s goal post. :-)Sent from Yahoo Ma
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It should. Though they get forgotten more often than one would think.
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Oops. Guess I need to edit that Yahoo part when commenting by email… 🙂
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Could be worse. I assume. No real evidence for that.
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No voodoo doll! No screwdiver Jab…too violent! I’d concentrate on #4…keep writing chapters!!! Keep the humor, your sanity saver! Chryssa
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4 is a lot harder than people realize around here. Technically #8 isn’t any more violent than a Game of Thrones episode. 😛
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Hang in there, Charles!
And sucks for teeth. I am deadly scared of the dentist, and thankfully my teeth are too, Right now I am on everyone’s most hated list for my wisdom teeth going out normal and not rotting, hurting or other nasty things these teeth tend to do. Hope everything goes smoothly there!
And for the last part of your list: nope, not at all!
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My wisdom teeth were fine and not a problem until 2 years ago. One of them cracked on a piece of popcorn, so both on that side of my mouth had to go. Hoping the other two don’t follow suit, but it’s weird having space on one side and none on the other.
That’s one vote for not too violent and another for too violent. Dead even.
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One of my friends hit me accidentaly like 7 years ago she was standing beside me and talking about something and she always flails her arms around. She flailed so hard she hit me and knocked a tooth out of my left side. Heck, at least I lost it early, so the hole closed over the years (and perhaps it is why my wisdom teeth on that side sprouted very smoothly.)
But ye popcorn is ofte the devil (and roasted sunflower seeds in my case -_-), and do you know who produces popcorn? LIFE! So, I demand another point in the voting 😀
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The bizarre thing is that it wasn’t a kernel. It was a popped part that just happened to have a solid core. Good thing the teeth fixed itself. That could have ended poorly. I’m have to talk to 2016 about the extra point. It doesn’t want the score too high or it’ll have a high bar to live up to.
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Dentist!!!! YAK. I had one tooth too many and finally got rid of it when I became an adult. Keep the Voo Doo doll. it could help.
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Maybe the doll can work as a deterrent. Though I think that’s already been proven as an incorrect theory. This is going to be a long drag to the end of the year.
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I am gearing up for launch so know what you mean.
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Counting down the days?
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There are a few things to clear up on Amazon and then I’m ready.I will hold till Nov.2
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Awesome. 🙂
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I keep procrastinating. I’ve needed to start editing The Playground for months. All this promo stuff keeps taking all my time. At least my critique group is doing a great job on it, but when October ends I need to hit that pretty hard. I want to start drafting my new tale by winter.
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Cool. I wonder if the season change is bogging us down. Feels like everything is moving slow these days.
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Not for me. I planned all of this dating back to July. I like drafting new material and need to get back to that.
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I’m probably going to be taking December ‘off’ to do outlining and promoting whatever book comes out around that time. I could probably use the extended rest.
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I didn’t find promotion mode particularly restful. The writing part is more fun though. Writing Macabre Macaroni was the best part of the last three months.
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Definitely more fun. I think there’s a lot more stress and a lot less control with the promotions. You can send out a bunch of promos that you think are great, but get nothing. Then a half-assed one nets 10 sales. Just don’t get it.
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Me too.
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Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you! And poor kid! He’s got an angry, migrating tooth, eh? Never heard of such a phenomenon, but I’m glad it’s something that can be fixed without too much hassle. Good luck with the writing, and make sure to give your editor a virtual hug.
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Apparently it’s not common, but it isn’t as rare as one would think. Just glad it isn’t trying to push other teeth out. I’ll probably owe my editor a virtual hug and several drinks after this.
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Sleep well, Charles. That’s the only advice I can give you. I was a legendary insomniac. I used to get one to two hours sleep every night. I beat it a couple years ago when I realized there’s nothing in this world worth worrying about. Since then, I’ve been able to get a solid six to seven hours sleep every night without fail. I can write books about this stuff.
Also, I think I’ve told you this before, but I admire you as a writer. You’re consistent, driven and focused. You know what you want. I don’t think what you’re going through will distract you from doing any of that. You’re a machine. It’s a good thing, because it’s a habit with you now. Keep on keeping on, bud!
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Sleep has become a small issue since the weather got cold. Seems to have given me a dry throat overnight and I wake up feeling terrible. The worry is another issue that I need to get over. Seems to always hit me when I’m about to sleep.
Thanks for the support. I’ve heard the machine comparison before. Let’s hope I can keep it going for just a bit longer.
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Forced air heat does that. We have a central humidifier to prevent that dry throat condition from happening. You can also try a warm air humidifier in the room. That will also help.
Getting rid of the worry is the hardest part. Years of trial and error helped me discover music before going to sleep actually helps. My wife wonders how I can listen to AC/DC before going to bed. The truth is, I sleep better when one of their tunes floats through my mind.
Word by word. Sentence by sentence. That’s all you need to remember! 😉
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I’ll probably try for the humidifier. Haven’t had much luck with it the last few years. There’s one packed away that I can try. Sometimes I read before falling asleep because it always makes me drowsy. Hard to read with the lights off though.
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Hard to do anything with the lights off. Well, other than, ahem, not much can come from having the lights off. 🙂
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Tell scary stories? Star gaze? Pretend to be a ninja?
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Haha! Okay, I’ll give you those! Fending zombie attacks. 🙂
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Surprised zombies can function in the dark so well.
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Oh my, Charles, what a week! And that chain tooth tightening thing, what a grisly horror story, you could elaborate on that and write a frightfully frightening story for the season!
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Honestly, the chain thing was ‘cool’ when I was at the age. Not something I would show up, but one of those things that is fun to explain. The story comes complete with the anesthesia wearing off as they were stitching my palate back up. Fun times. 🙂
As for the week, it’s actually managed to get even worse. Can’t get into it though.
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Yikes! Really? Sorry to hear that. And that chain story is even worse than I thought! Wow, poor you!
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Eh, I was young enough to bounce back from it. Be worse if it was present day. I don’t heal that quickly any more. 🙂
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None of us do, when you get to a certain age… ahem! 😁
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