First of all:

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE FINALE IS LIVE!

That’s how the week ended.  The rest of us was one chaotic day after another.  Monday was the medical thing where the wait was longer than the procedure.  It was weird going under, but nothing went wrong and I just have to make sure I drink enough water to counter what’s going on in me.  Tuesday was . . . errands?  I remember running around a lot and doing a little work on Ichabod Brooks.  Wednesday had my son home with a bad cold, so I didn’t get anything done then.  Thursday . . . requires it’s own paragraph.

Now, my son was okay to go to school on Thursday, but began flipping out about getting on the bus.  He was afraid he’d throw up, but also didn’t want them to leave without him.  We waved the bus on and little him calm down before I drove him.  Then I brought my car to get an oil change while my wife went to work and my parents took care of their own doctor thing.  At some point, the Internet/Cable/Phone went out because somebody said hello to something important with their car.  This is bad, but what’s worse is when you get a call that your son is in the nurse’s office.  I had no car and the mechanic’s phone (as well as the pediatrician) weren’t working.  My wife tried to get there, but hit massive traffic.  I eventually got a ride when my parents returned and we brought the little guy to a nearby clinic where it was found he had: THE FLU.  Not that he showed any symptoms other than a mild fever.  Finally got my car after this and then the medicine, which allowed us to return home.  Now, explain to me what type of flu makes it hard to keep water down, but he can devour a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos without any side-effects.  To keep myself safe, I’m on meds as well.

Friday had the kid home and he wasn’t an easy customer.  He’s simply terrified of throwing up and got it in his head that food causes it.  Lots of butting heads until the afternoon when we settled down.  At least it did for him.  I had to handle:

1. Laundry
2. Cooking dinner for him
3. Putting together a 1,078 piece Lego set with him
4. Maintaining social media stuff
5. Publishing Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age
6. House cleaning for family gathering
7. Errands

Needless to say, I release my newest book in a similar fashion to someone climbing a mountain and only having the energy to raise their hand in victory.  I’m exhausted and find that I’m simply happy to have released the book.  The euphoria and pride isn’t there like when I finished writing, which could stem from me seeing that as the bigger emotional hurdle.  Considering I’ve been saying good-bye to the champions for months, I might have brought myself to a point where publishing was a sense of closure.  It isn’t easy either because I keep wanting to talk about the endings.  Who will be angry at the deaths and will others be angry that certain characters survived?  What about the endings that are fairly brutal and designed to leave a bad taste in the mouth?  I tried to create a spectrum from happy to miserable endings here.  Yet, I can’t say anything more than that.

My son is off this week, so it will be a lot of Legos and video games.  It really depends on his mood and the weather is supposed to be unforgivingly cold.  That makes it hard to do things with a kid who is susceptible to colds and has asthma.  Honestly, I’m not too upset since one can have fun around the house.  Might be nothing more than a few trips to the library though.  Keep trying to think of an indoor place with animals, but not having any luck.  Guess ending the year on a low key note isn’t too bad after everything else that happened.

I have no goals for the week.  I’ll be keeping an eye on the new book and trying to promote it as best I can.  Holidays are tough and most of my promos will be going live in January, which makes sense.  Feel free to buy a copy and/or help spread the world.  I’d like to do more guest posts, but that might be a challenge with the kid being home.  Anyway, we’ll see what happens.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!