That title can be taken so many ways and I’ll get one out of the way quickly. This insane, incessant, inane, intrusive election will be done within a few days. I managed to avoid getting involved in a lot of this for a while, but the sense of inevitable doom drew me to the news channels and discussions. Then I stopped and stuck with the funny stuff when my IBS started rearing its head. Nothing says ‘no more politics for me’ than an intestine trying to turn itself into a balloon poodle. I’ll admit that I brought this on myself by not staying strong and avoiding it. At least I only have a few days to avoid the topic and enough DVD’s to survive.
Speaking of Purge Day, the son will be home and that means no writing for me then. He will also be home on Friday and I won’t have parental backup. So really no writing for me unless it rains and he does a movie marathon. Angry Birds, Lego Movie, Inside Out, and both Hotel Transylvania movies are in the rotation. So much better than nonstop Frozen or Inside Out. I really wish there was a video game arcade around that I could take him to and have some fun. There is a small one, but it’s all tickets and he isn’t allowed near skee-ball since he hurls the things. Not on purpose, but he releases too high and doesn’t always have his arm straight. He’s just excited about playing, so his mind locks in the ‘YAY!’ moment.
This is going to be a rambling post since the week was a blur. I’m exhausted and the stomach issues haven’t helped with sleeping. Finally got some medicine on Thursday, but I didn’t need it until last night. Is it all the election and chorus of people screaming ‘The End Is Coming!’ no matter who wins? No because I began writing . . . come to think of it, I have no idea what I was doing Monday. Oh, that was Halloween! My son had his costume parade at school and then 2.5 hours of trick-or-treating. I did errands that day and found that a few stores already had rows of Christmas stuff, which is ridiculous. The Jack O’Lanterns haven’t even started to rot and the turkeys we’re going to eat in a few weeks are still alive. Nobody needs this much time to prepare for a holiday.
I veered off course again. I started . . . anybody see the Wonder Woman trailer? Yeah, I’m stretching on that one. You see I wrote the first 3-ish chapters of Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age. Not as easy as I thought for multiple reasons. It isn’t really that it’s the last time I’ll write about most of these characters that’s getting to me. They start this off so broken because of what happened in The Spirit Well and Ritual of the Lost Lamb. There’s no calm before the storm, so much as tears and tension. This goes until Chapter 5 and I really wish I could explain this better, but it could reveal several points. Let’s just say that the champions have suffered a blow that has damaged most of their relationships, but they still have to walk into the final battle. How do you fight when you aren’t fully trusting each other or even talking?
Besides the heavy emotions from myself and the characters, my mind is having trouble focusing on the task at hand. This boils down to two issues. One is that I don’t write if I make myself believe that I don’t have time or simply not in the mood. This happened last night with 3 hours to spare, but I just couldn’t get the mojo going. The other is that my brain is running several chapters ahead of my progress. It really wants to get to that big battle, but I need to work up to it. You can’t just start the fight in Chapter 1 and keeping it going for 15-18 other chapters. Not like I’m writing the final book of Percy Jackson here, which was entertaining. This is another thing that is bringing the finality to it all and I think this series will hit me harder than any others. I’ve spent too long with them to say good-bye easily, especially since some are on the chopping block. This final battle will be brutal and bloody. Even if the Baron wins in the end, he won’t be getting out clean and in one piece.
I’m hoping to get a little done this weekend and next week, but two days with the kid and a busy Monday will make that difficult. Maybe I’ll get 2 chapters done and I’ll have to use my nights if I muster the energy. The goal is to finish this book before my son’s break in late December and try to finish the year editing Chasing Bedlam. January has a plan too now. Outlining the next series War of Nytfall, which is a series title that I’m still working on. It involves the rise of the Dawn Fangs and the vampire civil war that happens because of them. Not really a war, but a band of anarchists led by Clyde spending a couple years carefully eroding the old world vampires’ power structure. Basically, Clyde is happy to be patient and only attack when he see sit will really hurt his enemies. I think he has a few bios around the blog and I have him as part of a conversation in December. January might see the set up of another Ichabod Brooks story that will go live in the summer and I’ll see if I can get anywhere with the next Raven entry. 2017 is going to be weird and I’ll be a little lost. 2018 will be even more of a haze.
Goals for the week?
- Writing.
- Dentist and present shopping.
- Sleeping.
- Biking if I can.
- Tending to the little master.
- Voting.
- Writing next weekend’s goal post.
- Put on socks after finishing this.
- Change clocks and mutter angrily about Benjamin Franklin.





I’m kind of a mess too right now. I need to get back to my MS, but the house is noisy and distracting now. Maybe I can read through it, since I wrote it, and get back to what comes next. I also scheduled my post for tonight, and worked on three radio slots. When it’s time for date night, I can rest knowing my blog will update.
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I finally sat down at my laptop a few minutes ago and have no idea what I’m doing. My brain and energy are at the point where I can get a coherent burst of activity in the morning then I crash.
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Hope the IBS goes away. Drink Mint Juleps.
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Any ginger-based booze?
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Always nice to read your personal posts, as they make feel like catching up with a buddy.
I just finished the last Pearseus novel, so I understand what you mean about reaching a series end. One thing I’m considering is writing short stories taking place on Pearseus, so as to keep in touch with the world and the characters. Once I’ve written a few, I can bundle them into a novel/novella-sized collection and publish.
Hope your body snaps out of the Ben-Franklin-jetlag soon enough.
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Hasn’t even started the jet lag since we change the clocks tonight. I’ve considered short stories, but this brings a lot of finality to these characters. Other heroes will appear in Windemere, but the champions themselves will be memories, cameos, and legends. Adding short stories to them specifically feels like I’m stretching them thin.
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I know what you mean. I’m undecided myself as to who will be the focus of the shorts. Still waiting for the muse to let me know 🙂
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I do have one story that clears up a secondary character’s tale. Just can’t publish it until a year after the last book is released. That way it doesn’t spoil the finale. So I’ll just be heading into preparing the next series at some point next year. I hope.
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Start with the big battle as a prolog, stop right before the deciding blow is delivered, then go ahead and write the rest… I actually saw that done once.
I hope you get to feeling better once all the stress of the election is over.
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Wait. Actually, have the big battle as a prolog? The thing takes 3-4 chapters, so I don’t think that will work. Unless you mean write it first and then go back.
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Sorry, just saw your reply. You could just use a few key parts of the big battle in the prologue and then do the whole thing at the end.
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Sadly, it wouldn’t work that way. It would differ entirely from the previous books. The prologues have been used to show what the villains and gods are doing before the attention goes to the protagonists.
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That makes sense, you should keep it that way.
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Good luck with your final book in this series!! I’m sorry I missed it so far. I have your first in the series and will get to it as soon as I can. I’ve ended one series so far and have plans to resurrect it for future publishing. It is sad but a little happy as well as you know it’s time to move on and dig in to the next.
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Thanks. I’m still torn on which end of the emotional spectrum I’ll fall on by the end. At least I have a Bedlam book to edit after the emotional high and low of this one. That should help me recover. 🙂
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I’ve let a lot of my stuff sit, waiting around to send out for publication. I was always afraid to try but for a few times. The rejection kept me held back, now I’m trying to go out on my own and Indie publish.
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Good luck. It’s daunting at first, but easy to get used to. A lot of going with the flow at times.
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😦
Ellespeth
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