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Well, here we are again.  I’m leery about bringing up the grad school drama again because that seems to be what everybody reads then jumps to the comments.  All I will say is that it isn’t over like I thought because of outside interference.  Not really in my favor either, but next week will see what comes of it.  Honestly, I’m having such a difficult time trying to balance everything else that I know I shouldn’t go near it.  I’ve established that though, so no reason to repeat myself.  I only do that with book-based frustrations since this is predominantly an author blog.

I had my son this week, so that was where all of my time and energy went.  There might have been only one day where he went to bed before 9 PM.  Not sure if that’s a good thing since we need to get him onto a school schedule.  I think.  We’re still trying to figure all of that out.  The main part was having fun, which much was had:

• Monday was a trip to the Bronx Zoo.  Even with all indoor exhibits closed, we were there most of the day.  Got to see the dholes too.  These are rare Indian wild dogs and we almost missed them.  We tried earlier in the visit, but they had just gone into their den.  Second try later in the day was the same result.  On a whim, I suggested we try one more time even though it was only 10 minutes from the last attempt.  My son said it wouldn’t work, but we went and it looked like he was right.  People moved away, but then the three dholes came out to run around for a while.  We didn’t leave until they went back to their den.
• Tuesday was clothes shopping in the morning and then a Yugioh duel in the afternoon. It was raining a lot.
• Wednesday was Barnes & Noble trip and then an afternoon of Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 on the Switch.  This went south rather quickly.  The camera jerked around so much that I got motion sickness.  It resulted in me bowing out of the game and giving directions while lying down on the bed.  We finally stopped when my son started succumbing to the effects.
• Thursday was a trip to a local preserve to see their dinosaur exhibit, live animals including an emu and golden pheasants, and then walk the trails.  I always forget that my son wears down eventually on these types of walks.  That and he gets fixated on mosquito bites, but finding 4 frogs in the wild was enough to keep him going.  Did some drawing in the afternoon.
• Friday was another trip to a preserve with a geology museum and much bigger trails that included the shoreline.  We weren’t as lucky with animals here.  Spooked a bunny and saw a woodpecker.  Just bummed around for the rest of the day.

The rest of the time with my son is going to be relaxing and getting his school supplies.  I promised him more drawing since we did Articuno and Moltres, so we’re only missing Zapdos, Lugia, and Ho-oh for the legendary birds in Pokemon.  He’s talked about switching to anime characters at some point too.  This love of drawing is going to be very helpful when the weather gets cold and I want to keep him away from video games.  Winters are always the toughest with entertaining him because you can’t go outside without getting cold.

Well, that’s what happened this week.  The upcoming week is going to be a little less exciting.  I’m aiming to start War of Nytefall: Eulogy, which is the final book of the series.  I might be able to get 7 of the chapters done before school starts in September, which would be nice.  Once this is done, I can switch to Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) for writing time and begin crafting the outlines for Tales of the Slumberlord.  I think tomorrow involves that third series, which I have to really think about.  I might make another Sunday post that reveals the titles.  Sure, I have 4 more books to release about Clyde and the Dawn Fangs, but it doesn’t hurt to present the future and get people to realize that I’m not out of ideas yet.

Speaking of outlines, I finally finished the plot breakdowns for The Ether Thief series.  I have to do the same for two off-shoots though.  This is a long series that overlaps with a few others.  I might have to stop Sin’s adventures for a year to do another 4-part series that explains an event that changes the world.  He isn’t involved in the event, which makes me wonder how I can pull this off without losing momentum for him.  I could always do the Elysium Saga first and then The Ether Thief.  The real concern is that Sin interacts with characters and places from the other series at one point in a later book, which is a spoiler issue.  Tough decisions.

Speaking of tough decisions, I’m trying to figure out what to do with the release of War of Nytefall: Ravenous on Labor Day weekend.  Seems nothing I do can get a book to move unless it’s the free one.  I’ve been wondering if I should drop all of my book prices to 99 cents, but I feel like I could never bring the price back to $2.99 if I do that.  I wonder if this would increase sales too.  I’d lose the 70% royalties and make only .33 cents or so from every sale.  So, I’d be sacrificing royalty money for the possibility of a person buying and reviewing the book.  By the way, I mean everything in Legends of Windemere and War of Nytefall would drop to 99 cents.  Maybe I should do this in December since I don’t know if I want to debut a book at that price.  Times like this, I wish I was rich and could afford all the pricey promos that I see or not be concerned about the money side of things.

Goals of the week?

1. Start writing War of Nytefall: Eulogy
2. Watch ‘Lucifer Season 5 Part 1’ when relaxing.
3. Prepare for school the following week.
4. Put that grad school thing to bed.
5. Finish getting War of Nytefall: Ravenous ready for debut.
6. Biking once my legs stop hurting from all of this week’s walking.
7. Maybe get pizza one day when I’m on my own for food.
8. Try not to stress too much.  (First time for everything.)