http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8M8OHWX8ng
First, I feel like I’ve been running around or scrambling to do stuff since I woke up. I forgot breakfast and figured I’d grab lunch after dropping the kid off at his gymnastics class. That didn’t happen and I have a good reason. The parking lot was full, so I had to park on the street. My car was pointing toward him instead of any place to grab food and I didn’t want to do a U-Turn. Don’t worry though. I think I saw a small sourdough pretzel somewhere around here.
This feels like the theme of the week. Started strong with my editing game and Wednesday had everything fall apart. Not really sure how it happened either. The kid was back in school, which meant homework when he got home. That wasn’t much of a problem. The wife had a temp job for a few days, which meant fewer people around the house. Except it also meant that I was alone to get the kid ready for school and also had to wake up early enough to pester her to move.
Still no idea how things imploded. I factored in that there was going to be one rough day, but I actually got more done on that day than Wednesday. Not much blog activity because Ask-A-Character stuff is apparently a stupid idea. Had some indigestion issues, but nothing crippling. It really feels like something just went wrong, which doesn’t sit well with me because 2016 is already going to be a headache. Here’s the facts:
- Charles wants to write 5-6 works this year. 3 Windemere, 1 Ichabod, 1 Raven, & 1 Bedlam
- Charles wants to publish 5-6 works this year. 3 Windemere, 1 Ichabod, & 1-2 Bedlam.
- Charles needs to edit all of these & possibly do one of them from scratch.
- Son has 1 full week off in February.
- Son has 5 day weekend in March.
- Son has 1 full week off in April.
- Son might be off for summer.
- Wife will hopefully be working.
- Might be 2 family trips this year that could last from a week to a weekend each.
- Phone will NOT STOP FUCKING RINGING!
Dr. Cox from Scrubs
Needless to say, I’m under stress already and feeling like this is a year where I might not meet many goals. All of that doesn’t consider promoting books, sleeping, eating, showering, biking, smaller breaks for the kid, and God help me if I get sick. Keep in mind that I’ve been told that this is the ‘Make or Break’ year to prove I can make a living with the writing. Yeah. I’m feeling like I signed up for a marathon, but somebody broke my leg as I got to the starting line. I can limp along, but I don’t see myself reaching the end without doing more damage. Jury is still out on if I want to do that and I know I’m going to get people telling me not to BLAH BLAH BLAH. Sadly, I don’t have the luxury of taking things easy.
I’m hating these weekly updates lately. I have nothing good to say and it keeps boiling down to the same stuff about feeling trapped. Think part of it is because new wrinkles show up every week. I took 1.5 months off from writing and now I’m back. I need to figure out a schedule to work around these breaks. For example, I can’t tackle Book 13 of Legends of Windemere until after the February break. That leaves me with Ichabod and Raven, but I’m not really sure about the second. Realizing that the sequel for a horror/thriller is tough because people know who the real bad guy is. This might be a mediocre sequel that gets me to a better 3rd story. No, I can’t skip or combine them because they have 2 different tales. Anyway, this means I have 5 weeks that will be partially taken over by prepping for Crossing Bedlam. As long as things run smoothly, that comes out the weekend before my son’s break in February. Are we seeing how nothing seems to go according to my plan? (Swear, I’m taking a sledge to the phone if it goes off one more time. Go fuck yourself, Robo-Becky from Wisconsin!)
Maybe I’ll get lucky and next weekend will be more update. I should have the editing on Bedlam done and maybe even Ichabod under my belt. Might edit Book 12 after that and see where that leaves me. Ravens’ Game is a project that I can limp through and touch on during the breaks, but continuity might still be needed. That one can take me anywhere from 10-30 days depending on the spark and distractions.
My big goal is to get the small projects done, so I can invest all of my time and love into the final trilogy of Legends of Windemere. Once that’s done . . . I don’t know. They’re the 2017 publications along with another Ichabod and Bedlam. This means the writing side of 2017 will be in the air and different. No more Luke, Nyx, Fizzle, and the crew to write new stories for. The big series will be written and maybe even edited once. It’ll be weird and I’m rather scared that I’ll finish all that only to be stopped. Nightfall War (good title?) would be the next series with the rise of the Dawn Fangs and the vampire civil war. Just so much on my mind and not getting any peace to either collect my thoughts or easily clear stuff from the mental queue.
Hope everyone else has started 2016 on a smoother foot. I had more, but constant phone calls and people interrupting me threw out the good stuff. Been like this all week and there’s no escape.
Legends of Windemere 
Charles, good rant! Hope you feel better! Nightfall War (good title)! Know you always come out of a blue funk with new ideas and a fresh start! Your mind settles down and goes to work. Happy Editing, Writing, and Thoughts! Chryssa
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Thanks. Though I’m not really coming out of this with new ideas. Just a sense that the urgent ones are running out of time.
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Try this one http://youtu.be/VZFHR8j6OX4 one of my current favorites. The backbeat works for a character in The Playground that I’m still working on.
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Thanks. I’ll give it a listen. Only manged to hear 30 seconds before the kid went berserk downstairs.
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Hope this is beer night. If not, go get some. I like Nightfall War.
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Sadly, no beer in the house. Stomach hasn’t been too keen on alcohol anyway.
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Damn.Ice Cream then.
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Hoping for the best for you and your writing this year!
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Thanks. Really hoping things turn out better than they look.
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I wish we lived in the same country, so we exchange our phones and you answer mine. My grandmother seems to think my part of Belgrade suddenly has vegetable shortage, so she keeps calling daily to let me know what market has what. And she is just one caller!
I really like the Nightfall War title, but maybe tamper a little bit with the “war” part?I dont know, Im trying to sound smart and super helpful, but in reality I really like it, because it gives me a thematic hint, but thats about it!
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Do you know why she thinks there’s a vegetable shortage? I remember having a few family members who would call to see if I handled a hurricane in Florida when it never came near my area. Same thing happens when blizzards hit upstate NY while I live in the downstate area.
What do you mean by tamper it? Not sure I follow.
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She is just old, she sees snow and thinks everything is gone, and she is obsessed with finding the cheapest vegetables in the entire city.
For the title I meant maybe pick a different word, a synonym for war? And just play around with it, see if it fits! But like I said, it’s mostly me trying to be constructive, I love the title just as it is!
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Interesting. My grandmother had some quirks like that. The one I remember most is this van that was parked outside the complex. Not sure why, but she really hated it.
Think the reason I might stick with war is because the series involves an actual war between the two vampire species. Can’t really think of a synonym that retains that impact.
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My grandma is very weird, so to say. She survived 3 wars practically (I never know if the bombings of 1999 count as a war or not), she is a village child with 7 siblings, food was always scarce her entire life, so now she overbuys and obsesses. She’s been like this since I know of myself, and it is kinda cute, until she calls you at 6 am and demands help with hiking 5km to buy 20 kilos of sugar:)
I kinda get the synonym thing, sometimes a title fits perfect and does what it was intended to do. Like I said, I like it because even without your explanation I would hint it was about vampires, but it does not bore me and tell me everything, like what the vampires are like and similar.
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I’d say if there are bombings then it counts. My grandmother went through the Great Depression here in the 1930’s, which led to a lot of odd money and food habits. Her and my grandfather would take everything home from a restaurant. Never sure if they used all of it. There was money hidden everywhere too, so going through the books and drawers after they passed away was a headache for my parents.
So you mean just calling it ‘Nightfall’? I was actually going to have that be the name of Windemere’s vampire capital.
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Nah, I meant Nightfall War is actually perfect 😀
My grandparents did the same with restaurants or any kinds of celebrations, as well as hiding money. That is actually the story of how they lost a lot of money, because we were changing the bills and system. They hid a large part of their savings and couldn’t remember where. Turns out, grandpa hid them in a book, but forgot, since he never reads.
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Not sure how much was found in the books and I think there was an empty bag of chips that had some bills too. That was another thing that started happening. There was food hording in the oddest places and they’d forget where stuff was. Guessing that’ll be my future.
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Makes both of us! I am always struggling not to hoard food, and also not to cook like 20 people will be eating.
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Don’t even get me started on cooking around here. It’s such a mess. One person claims to have a gluten intolerance and seems determined to avoid dairy. Two others are diabetic. The kid is King Picky. It’s the thankless job of the household.
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I hope at least you have some sense in yourself and do not proceed to cook 6 different dishes, every meal, for the pickers. (cause I don’t, grandma syndrome kicks in, and I spend whole day at the stove. Wish it at least melted my waist, since I dont get time to eat and its like a sauna in the kitchen!)
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I just throw up my hands and let someone else worry. If I do cook then it’s what I want and people have to deal. I then scold anyone who doesn’t touch it or throws it out.
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Charles, I’m sorry your life has been incredibly hectic. I do think you are stressed out, and that worries me.
I know that every time I start feeling like I’m up against it, my progress crawls to a halt. It does something bad to my creativity to obsess about things I can’t change, and it can be very hard to get past that.
(In your case, you can’t change your wife’s job situation or your son’s commitments. All you can do is work around them. I know I’m stating the obvious and I apologize in advance.)
My late husband’s strategy was to acknowledge whatever was stressing him out, fully experience that, and then set it aside. (He was Buddhist.) If you can somehow do that, it may make it a little easier for you to do what you need to do.
I also think you might want to consider taking one project at a time unless you actually write better if you’re working on multiple projects at the same time. (I work better most of the time with only one writing project at a time; I can have multiple editing projects, providing they are not developmental edits, while I write.)
Finally, I think part of your mind is already mourning the fact that you’re nearly done with the Legends of Windemere series. That is human and completely understandable.
Good luck with everything, and I hope your stomach settles down. (That, too, indicates anxiety and stress.)
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Unfortunately, there’s really no way to put things aside. They either get replaced by something else or come back a few moments later to make a bigger mess. I should point out that it isn’t only my wife and son in the house with me. Due to our financial situation, we live with my parents and that’s two more people to factor into the dynamic. It also means a lot less space, which is why I spend most of my time in the bedroom where there’s no desk or even a chair. I’m either on the bed with my head against on uncomfortable headboard or kneeling on the floor with the laptop on the bed. Neither are very comfortable, but the alternative is working downstairs where I’m exposed to all the noise and conversations.
I do tackle the books one at a time. Not so much series though because it helps to take breaks between installments. I can’t jump from full writing projects so easily like my outlines. My current issue is figuring out the order to tackle things. The large chunks of break time for my son means I risk starting something and having to stop for an extended period of time. That’s not a good idea. Keep in mind that I seem to run out of energy by mid-afternoon too, so I can’t burn through projects like when I was younger.
Honestly, the stomach might also indicate that I shouldn’t have had spicy food as my only meal.
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Charles, I completely understand. Life has dealt me more than a few curveballs, too…I think you’re doing all you can right now, and you’re doing the best with what you have.
My late husband used to say that all we could do sometimes is play the bad hands we were dealt with good grace. I think you’re doing that.
I just wish I knew better how to help, because I know how frustrating it is to try to do things and get stalled out. Maybe the important thing is to keep trying as we are, and not care how long it takes so long as it does get done?
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Think I’m realizing that I’d make a terrible Buddhist. 😛 I do plan on continuing to try, but it’s hard when people keep putting me on a timeline.
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I understand.
And yes, I am not Buddhist myself, but some of what Michael said makes sense to me. Being able to tell myself, “Yes, I’ve felt that, now let’s get on” has been incredibly helpful at times. 😉
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Sorry for your frustrations. It’s tough not having your own space. I make a list of five things to accomplish every day, and if I can strike off three and roll over two, I feel it’s been a productive one. An old boyfriend who was a Behavior Specialist in a mental hospital got me into that habit. It works for me.
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Might have to try that. Though some days are better than others. Thanks.
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Good luck with everything you have to do this year. I sympathise and empathise and i wish you extra hours and peace from the phonecalls. Wish I was a magician so i could make wishes come true for us all. Love Three Days Grace btw.
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Wishes would be great, but I’d probably waste mine on pizza that makes you lose weight when you eat it. Then again, that would remove the 30-45 minutes of stationary biking I do every other door. 😀 The worst part about the phone calls is that they’re never for me and tend to be robo-calls or some kind of telemarketer. Dreading the political calls that are bound to come in this year.
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I hope for the best for you, Charles. It made me tired just reading about your schedule. You seem to be keeping up, though. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks. We’ll see if I can keep up. It’s far too early in the year to tell.
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I’ve done nothing fantastic either this year…but hey! Tomorrow looks great!
Ellespeth
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Think we get snow or slush tomorrow. First of the season. It’s weird that weather wasn’t that bad until right after the new year. Then it just plunged into cold and bitter. Happened last year and that lead to a lot of icy snow.
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A difficult week. I feel for you. This is my make or break year too. I am determined to get all my projects completed after a wasteful year last year. Hope 2016 turns out better than you expect. 😊
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I hope so too. I’m already scratching my head about timing. The kid has his first big break in 4 weeks. Sounds like a lot of time, but probably isn’t. Think my head is going to implode at this rate.
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Oh no! Well try not to make a mess! 😂
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I’ll do my best. Can’t make any promises.
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