It feels like only yesterday I wrote the goal post last weekend. At the same time, it feels like years since last weekend happened. Thoughts blip into my mind and vanish, which makes me think the mental wiring is getting thin. I’ve been here physically, but I’ve been suffering to mentally and emotionally react to things. Not that I’m depressed. I just feel . . . done? Not sure of the correct word. Stressed can definitely cover a bit about it. Yet, I don’t know what to say when I’m staring at a blog post and I just can’t think of anything to say as a comment. Going to my email and just flushing the WordPress folder unless a title screams to me probably cost me. Just haven’t been feeling myself.
Part of it that the wife is still job hunting and has only received one interview so far. There have been battles with unemployment and insurance companies. She seems to be at that point where all she can do is search, submit, and wait. This causes stress because it’s hard to tell what’s going on. Some days it feels like she hasn’t done anything and she doesn’t always let me know the situation. Things are stressful, especially when the two people involved feel very battered. It isn’t the first time one of us lost a job without warning and beyond our control. Needless to say, it doesn’t get any easier to swallow, especially when you have birthdays and holidays coming up. We always feel bad when people get big gifts for our son and we’re there with a tiny thing. Stupid thoughts, but it hurts a bit since we’ve been in this situation since he was born. That’s a story that would take too long and I think I’m going a little too moody here.
I’m a few chapters away from finishing Book 12 of Legends of Windemere and then I take a month or two off from heavy lifting. By that I mean big works. I sat down and made a mental list of what I ‘achieved’ this year:
- 4 Legends of Windemere novels written to first draft.
- 2 Legends of Windemere novels published. Possibly 3 if things work out for December.
- Created and wrote first story for Ichabod Brooks. Will be ongoing.
- Created and blog published Raven’s Hold. Will be an October event.
- Created and first drafted Crossing Bedlam. May be ongoing.
- Various outlines.
Monster Hat!
That feels like a lot to have accomplished before December strikes. Probably explains why I’m so tired. Next year won’t look nearly as bad, but I say that only because there will be less pressure on the Raven’s Hold sequel and there are only 3 more Legends of Windemere books to go after Book 12. Not sure if I should write the ‘loose end sealer’ after that because it holds spoilers for the finale. Anyway, that’s a hurdle that I’ll tackle another day in the distant future. For now, I’m just chugging away on the last few chapters and then . . . what?
It feels strange to be planning such a long break from book writing. I’ll be tinkering with ideas, but there’s no real deadline on those. The outlines for Book 13 and Ravens’ Game won’t take long and I’m not touching another Bedlam book until I know for sure that people enjoy the first one. Maybe I’ll have promo stuff to do for The Mercenary Prince, but I still have to give it a once over and no word on cover art yet. Again, this is a tentative release since things are busy this time of year. All I know is that I’ll be a little confused and might vanish from the Internet for large chunks of the day. Doing life stuff or because I’m lazy. If it sounds like I’m rambling then it’s because I don’t really know what I’ll do during that period and such a long break is making me twitchy. After a year of sprinting nonstop from project to project, I don’t know how I’ll handle a month of being primarily in reality.
So, what’s the plan for the week?
- Finish Legends of Windemere: The Spirit Well. If schedule continues then this would be released next December.
- Cook dinners since I’ll be only one home around that time.
- Get pizza for lunch on Friday.
- Possibly write plot synopsis for Ravens’ Game. Need a bridge book before I do the ‘Monster vs Monster’ that people requested.
- Choose retro posts for December and schedule them. Hard to do since the current WordPress stats page keeps crashing on me. Might do retro posts on Monday and Wednesday and Friday will be a poem from when I did a poem a day for a year. I’m being lazy. Sorry.
- Clean stuff if things get messy. Mostly the stove next Saturday. No sense doing it before I cook the sloppy stuff.
- Buy beer. Watch Giants game this afternoon.
- Look over outline for Legends of Windemere: Ritual of the Lost Lamb.
- Curse loudly because I forgot the title for the last Legends of Windemere book. The Forgotten Baron? Baron Kernaghan? From History’s Shadow? Finally Done? Thanks To The One Person Who Read This Far? I’ll figure something out.
- Stop writing this post and go grocery shopping. Seriously, Charles, get moving. Switch the laundry before you go too. And don’t forget to bring home lunch for the kid and tell the cashier that he’s already gotten 2 Lucy toys. Okay, now you’re just procrastinating and being stupid. Hurray for a week of bad sleeping habits!
He’s Out!
Legends of Windemere 
My whole plan croaked out. My cover artist is taking a break. Paying a bunch right now is out of the question. I’m the kind who can’t write the next one until the last one is finished. I’m consoling myself with short stories. Are we still on for +/- the 16th? That ought to be fun.
LikeLike
The post is scheduled to go. Looking forward to it. 🙂
My cover artist is busy with his primary job, so I’m not sure what’s happening. I see him post stuff on FB and it’s a lot of intricate, awesome work. I’m just hanging back and waiting to see what happens. Fingers crossed that I can do a release before Christmas, but I won’t says it’s a definite thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wanted to release before Christmas too. The only schedule is one I make up, so I think I don’t need the extra pressure. I’ve released two books in 2015. Maybe that’s enough.
LikeLike
A lot of authors only do one or none, so 2 is above average. 🙂 I think part of the pressure I put on myself is that I want to get this series out there and move on to the next one. I’ve been writing and tinkering with Legends since 1998. Shot myself in the foot by having the other Windemere series connected to this one in some way, so I need it as a jumping point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand completely. I have a hard time starting “Yak guy” until The Playground is out the door.
LikeLike
Gets really confusing when the one that goes out ends up sneaking back in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Number two who read that far. Have to wish you strength and hope a job prospect comes soon.
LikeLike
Thanks. I’m hoping something turns up too. Bad time of year to be job hunting since most stuff is seasonal. I’m sure somebody read that far.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love it when you post pics of the kid. Hoping your wife finds something soon.
Ellespeth
LikeLike
I don’t have many of them. My wife keeps most of them on her computer and rarely gives me any for display.
LikeLike
Hoping things start looking up for your mrs job, like I see you mentioned in the comments, this time of the year sucks for job hunting.
I hear you on the presents too. We had the little ones birthday a week ago and everyone brought gifts, while we usualy have some handcrafted token to gift to the same people on their birthdays. I know they all say Its not about the gift and its price, but the feeling sucks big time. I tend to compensate for this for at least making the awesomest of cakes to give to the guests 🙂
As for your accomplishments, a very good job to you, like I always say, you are an inpiration!
LikeLike
Thanks. A birthday has the plus for us providing the party, but that doesn’t work for these holidays. It gets harder now that he’s more aware of presents being a thing.
LikeLike
First, I haven’t heard that INXS song in a long while. Gosh, I can’t even remember the last time I heard it. Second, I wish your wife best wishes with her job hunt. It really is a tough world out there right now and equally tough place to find a job in any field. My best to her. Third, beer and the Giants games sounds like a perfect afternoon. I hope it all went well. Lastly, I’m taking a break until Jan. 1, next year. I wish you all the best for your break as well. It’s worth taking the time of in order to regroup and do better in our endeavors.
LikeLike
The song happened to start playing as I finished writing the post. Pleasantly surprised. 🙂 The job stuff is definitely a headache, but we’re trying to stay optimistic. The beer ended up becoming vodka, but the Giants won . . . after a rather shaky middle. Enjoy your break. I’m still going to be around here, but it’ll be a lot more laid back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cinnamon is great. And you’re one busy man!
LikeLike
Yup. Probably should have started the week by sleeping later or not staying up so late. Cinnamon is delicious. Especially in sticky bun form. 😀
LikeLike
We have been in the position of suddenly no jobs and the mortgage due.. thankfully things have resolved but the inbetween period is very stressful which is as you say why you feel tired. I am in limbo at the moment until we move back to Ireland where there are jobs and if I did not have the blog the and books on the go I would go nuts. At least I feel that I have been building a solid online platform for when I launch my next phase.. at past 60 it can be hard at times to believe that it is the new 40.. However I avoid looking in the mirror with my reading glasses on. Keep the faith Charles and you have such a cutie in a monster hat that makes it all worthwhile.. be around for pizza on Friday. hugs
LikeLike
I guess we’re lucky that we live with my parents. Years ago, an incident happened that caused us to move back in. The wife couldn’t work or watch the new baby, so I had to stay home too. We used COBRA to keep our insurance, which drained our funds and haven’t really recovered since. Just can’t hold onto a job long enough to make it out of the situation.
Really cool that you’re moving back to Ireland at some point. As for your platform, it’s definitely solid and always growing. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh Charles. Life is so in flux, isn’t it? I’m sorry about your wife. I am totally wishing for a quick turnaround on the job front for her.
I’m not myself either these days. I’m winging off today to be with my mom for her surgery tomorrow. So I won’t be posting this week probably. Won’t be online much at all.
I’m hoping for the best for you and for me. You accomplished a lot this year. But you’ve had to work a ton to get all of that done. So I get the need to take a break from writing. You’ll still be at the thinking stage though.
I set my current novel aside to work on curriculum. I’ve got to get that done and some skits for the holidays. Perhaps in between that time, I can return to my novel.
LikeLike
Thanks for the well wishes. Seems like a lot of people aren’t themselves. It’s been a rough year for many, which is rather strange. Seems 2015 has it in for humanity.
LikeLike
Nothing ever makes bad times better for me except it ending already, so I won’t offer any words of wisdom, merely a heart felt I’ve been there and hope that it ends soon for you and yours.
LikeLike
Thanks. Good point on the ending being the only real solution. Fingers crossed that the finale comes soon. Though that sounds more morbid than I expected.
LikeLike
Always being the bright eyed bunny that I am, I generally expect the universe to provide cool stuff directly after a time of nastiness. Lately discovered that times of nastiness can take a while to get over themselves. They always do though. Pride and self-worth are generally the injured parties, so it’s cool to know that expensive “stuff” is just stuff, and no contender for the very real stuff of love, respect, hugs, and homemade candy corn. Hugs Charles. 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve come to the point where I’m just hoping the times of nastiness and frustration end. Don’t really need the cool stuff. Just no headaches.
LikeLike