(And I thought the song was bizarre! Can’t say I don’t enjoy them though.)
It was a week to remember . . . Not really in a good. First full week of school, which was fun and I got into the groove. Yet, nearly everything was overshadowed by the return of an old nemesis. Pneumonia snuck back in under the cover of what I thought was a cold combined with asthma. Even worse, I wasn’t the one who got it.
Seriously, I thought my son simply had an asthma/cold issue last weekend because it always happens with weather changes. No loss of appetite and we were able to do everything without getting tired. There was no fever either until he woke up at his mother’s on Tuesday and the nurse saw it getting a little high too. He came home and I didn’t catch anything. Sent him to school and I got a call near the end of my day that he needed to go home. Took him to the doctor, told pneumonia, and that was the end of his week. Stayed with my parents until his mom took him last night along with all the medications. This wasn’t an easy situation because the ex-wife and I were started to butt heads over other things come Monday, so that stubbornness and negativity caused us to argue.
That was the big thing for the week, so I don’t have much else to talk about. War of Nytefall: Eradication is going to be delayed until 2020 because of some issues that came up. I should probably edit it once or twice again too. Realized as I was in one class that I never mentioned Clyde’s corn-shaped necklace in this book, which is a major problem. So, I have to jump through it to find spots to make note of the charm that is a favorite in joke. Not sure how many people know about that one, so maybe that will be a December post. You see, this means I’m out of post ideas for December, so I need to come up with some topics. Feel free to suggest anything that you want me to write about, which also brings me to two more blog issues.
- The Teaser Tuesday posts that I scheduled will run out on October 8th. I need to figure out what to do here. I could keep doing other Teasers like run through one for each of the Legends of Windemere books. It’s getting tougher to do these since I’m really just grabbing some from years ago to repost. People want more Ichabod Brooks too, but I can’t do that until I get it off Kindle Unlimited. Even then, I might not because it means nobody would buy that book. I’d try a poll again, but that would result in the same thing I had last time. Maybe do one for each of my books in chronological order would work?
- This week’s topic might have gotten the lowest reaction out of everything I have ever posted. I’ll talk more about why I found this odd tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who did step into the conversation.
My plan for the weekend is going to be a little random. I have to try making strawberry bread to see if it can work for the kids at school. Got a doctor appointment this afternoon and the usual laundry, exercise (missed the entire week), and wanting to do something for writing. My son is with his mom for the first three weeks of October since I get him for three weeks of September, so I want to get War of Nytefall: Ravenous outlined to let me jump into writing that. It’s doable and I might have gotten somewhere by the time this goes live.
My hope is to pull off a 2-3 book 2020, which is a long shot goal. I’ll be using next summer for classes, which means I might be able to write the next Ichabod Brooks collection during that time. If not that then the fantasy tip book, but I’m beginning to wonder if I can do that when I can’t sell any of my fantasy books. Anyway, I really want to show that I can juggle fatherhood, teaching, and being an author. Not that anything sells now, but I need balance and I’m tired of people telling me to toss the third part in the dumpster until I’m retired. Does anybody pay attention to the fact that my generation doesn’t believe they’ll ever retire? Not to mention I’ll feel pretty stupid if I die before then and leave a shelf full of empty notebooks. Why do people keep talking as if we’re immortal and the things we really want to do can be pushed aside instead of fighting to make some time for them?
Goals for the week?
- Outline War of Nytefall: Ravenous
- Take care of my son once he is back home.
- Have fun at school while working.
- Get back on the bike.
- Finish October posts.
- Make list of December post topics (FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST!)
- Duck and cover with tomorrow’s post about how people respond to sex and violence with different levels of acceptance and comfort.
- Test out strawberry bread recipe.
- Try watching more Cannon Busters . . . Not really sure about this one.
Legends of Windemere 
Aw, the poor guy. I remember my bouts with pneumonia (asthmatic) and they weren’t fun. Hope all goes well next week.
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He’s asthmatic too. Really hoping he gets over the fever today and can go to school on Monday. He’ll have the cough for a while and probably be tired.
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I hope so too.
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I do the same as you, Charles, I juggle my two sons, a full time and stressful job as well as writing and all the stuff that goes with it. You only live once. I hope your son recovers quickly. It is always worrying when our kids are ill.
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Thanks. That living once gets overlooked a lot. Maybe people see it for themselves, but not otters.
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So sorry your son is sick! Wishing him a speedy recovery!
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Thanks. I’ll hear how he’s doing tonight. Going to be a long couple of weeks since the cough will linger.
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Pneumonia sucks, and I hope he makes a speedy recovery. I never know what to suggest when people talk about blogging ahead. Many of the Story Empire group do this. Whatever I have up on either blog is as far as I’ve gotten. I usually free write them five minutes before they go live.
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Thanks. It’s really hard when you’ve tackled so much over the years. You end up doing some odd topics. I don’t have the time to write that day, so I need to schedule.
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Charles, it never rains, it pours. Sorry to hear your son has pneumonia on top of asthma. Hoping a full recovery for him. I’d say seize any opportunity you have to write with no “I’ll do it in retirement” thoughts at all. Waiting for time to open up never happens. 📚🎶 Christine
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Sounds like he’s improving. Should be good for school on Monday if not a little weak. I almost got to writing today. Making strawberry bread to see if the recipe works took longer than expected and then I had errands. Always something.
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Topics:
The motivations of villains
The motivations of heroes
How to write a female lead
The next popular paranormal creature
Pantsing vs. Plotting
How to use dialogue to show drastically different personalities
Muses for writing: music, movies, dreams, etc.
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Thanks. I’ve done a few of these, but I can get a few days out this list.
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I figured you had. 🙂
I also thought you ought to write one about rules for magic systems.
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Done a few of those. Being around since December 2012 really makes things tough. You know it’s bad when I spent a week on perverted characters in anime/manga. Though I’m thinking of doing a week on self-righteous ones in December too.
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🙂 You can always revisit old ideas as well.
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True, but I also have the fantasy tip book. Only so many times I can revisit before things go stale.
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Sorry about your son. Poor thing. I hope he feels better soon.
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Thanks. He should be good for school by tomorrow. The hard part is him being sick and me not being there.
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Here’s hoping your son is on the mend.
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Thanks.
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You’re welcome.
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I like Chelsea’s suggestion about the next popular paranormal creature.
May I also suggest one about the difference between magical and psychic powers?
Hope your son gets over the pneumonia quickly. It’s a scary one, but you’ve dealt with it yourself, so maybe you know some things that can help him get through it.
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The tough part with the next popular paranormal creature is that I have no idea how that trend works. I can’t even figure out how vampires and werewolves got there. I’ll put the magical vs psychic power on the list.
The hardest part about this pneumonia thing is that while I had it, I’m not the one with him the weekend. So, I’m out of the loop.
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Sorry about your son getting sick. That’s the trouble with asthma issues: you’re going to naturally assume it’s them playing up first, since a lot of the time it actually is.
I think I saw your strawberry bread worked out well? Hope I did remember that right. Also, strawberry bread sounds like a fantastic idea, which I totally need to try.
Good luck with the goals for the week.
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Especially when there are sudden weather changes. It was weird that the fever took a few days to show up. The strawberry bread did come out well. I’ll be making it with a student tomorrow.
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