I feel like these posts don’t really have anything interesting these days. I wish I was doing more exciting things or stuff that I could talk about in public, but that’s not how my life is going lately. One would surmise that life is boring from what I just said, but it’s really just busy. Ending every day tired and fighting to get a little me time shows that I’ve been working hard. The thing I’m battling against isn’t even a person, but my own fatigue, so it isn’t even an exciting struggle.
All that being said, I am proud of how work went. Very proud of the students I work with and how they did. The other responsibilities that I have are going well and I’m helping to put some systems together. Realized that I’m becoming a little more social and energetic too, which could be caused by getting to ‘create’. It isn’t a story, but helping to build something new always gets my energy going. Predicting issues, fixing problems, smiling at successes, and even the headaches of failure are a mix that leaves me oddly happy. It’s like writing a novel where you start with an outline and then adjust as you move along with the actual story. I get to be creative and use my problem solving skills, which I don’t get to utilize as often as I’d like. Definitely helps with handling all the changes caused by Covid-19.
War of Nytefall: Ravenous is still for sale. Nothing gets it to move and I can’t afford to do anything. This is added frustrated because I feel like my lot in life is to publish books that nobody reads. Maybe I’ll get everything written and out then people will discover me long after I’m gone. How morbid is that? Look, we all know how this rant goes, so I’ll spare you the rest. I’m still writing and plan on publishing when I can.
War of Nytefall: Eulogy got 3 more chapters added to it since the last post. Well, I’m doing one of those today. Maybe it was 4? This book is harder to do because it’s the final one, so I’m saying good-bye to characters. Unlike Legends of Windemere, I’m putting a higher death count and ending on a darker story. Another thing is that you have to read more than just the one book to really get the impact. I’m seeing how this aspect of the story is the real core instead of the titular war or the fate of the Dawn Fangs. Honestly, I could have inadvertently made another vampire love story here. Hard to tell since I still do a lot of action adventure, but the Clyde/Mab relationship is showing itself to be the cornerstone. Hard to explain this without spoilers and with the knowledge that most people haven’t touched the series.
In other writing news . . . I got nothing. I designed 1 short story for a future collection and I don’t even think I finished that. Usually, I work on this during my free periods, but I’ve been running around a lot during those. Might be able to finish this one outlining project by the end of next week since I have only 1 more short story to add. Then, Ruins of the Zodiac Gods will get its turn, which I haven’t figured out yet. Thinking of making that a short story collection with 14 tales. This involves a blind main character and another with power that she can’t quite control. If you’re curious, check out a post from earlier in the year.
Haven’t been able to do much biking because of my schedule. I wake up around 5 am, which gives me no time for biking. I shower as soon as I get home, so it’s ridiculous to bike and shower again. Waste of water and toiletries there. So, I’ll carve out a few weekend days and make sure to spend most of my time on my feet at work. I walk around a lot, which may help. The diet is changed a little too. I have a big breakfast of bacon omelet and some toast with chocolate milk, which helps me get through most of the day. I have a small lunch of Kitu Super Coffee around noon, which makes sure that I don’t get hungry until 5:30 PM. Then, it’s a decent dinner, which varies. I try to avoid snacking as much as possible and stick to seltzer or water. Maybe do 1-2 cheat meals a week, which I plan so I make sure I don’t eat a lot before or after that. I’m sure people will be tempted to criticize and suggest ‘improvements’ to what I’m doing. All I ask is that you don’t. Nothing is as demoralizing as creating a method that works within your schedule and doesn’t add stress then being told how it’s terrible. I really believe that the biggest destroyer of diets is unrequested advice.
Let’s see . . . Finished watching ‘Black Butler’. Began watching ‘D-Grayman’, which is 116 episodes. I’ve watched up to 51/52 in the past, so I’m glad to have access to the rest. By the time I finish that anime, ‘The Boys’ Season 2 should be entirely out and I’ll binge both seasons. Hard to watch that show when I’m getting used to the new schedule or have my son around. I’ll have to think about what to watch after that. I’ve got time since I use most of my free time for War of Nytefall: Eulogy.
Goals of the week
- Survive Yom Kippur on Monday. Jewish day of Fasting. My blog responses may be highly delayed.
- Write another chapter of War of Nytefall: Eulogy
- Spend as much time with son as possible.
- Work, which is really a given.
- TV when too tired to do anything else.
- Start a new puzzle.
- Maybe prepare some January blog posts.
- Rue something.
- Possibly get ice cream one day.
Legends of Windemere 
Sorry your not having the amazing sucees you deserve with your books, Charles. I know the problem of not beong able to pay for advertising. I’m in that predicament, too.
Still, you keep busy and that’s important.
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I think a big part of the frustration is that I was succeeding until my first series ended. After that, many people stopped buying. The new series takes place in the same world, genre, and system. Yet, it goes nowhere, which means I never had a solid foundation for myself. Just that one story and people tossed me aside once that was done. I was always depending on carry over to maintain even a side job here, but it didn’t happen.
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I understand the fatigue, being part of the 5amClub. Thank you for being an inspiration to us.
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You’re welcome. (Says someone who woke up at 5am on a Saturday out of habit. Just can’t win.)
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The struggle is real, and I think we all have it to one degree or another. I’m an early riser with a weight problem and low sales volumes, too. Sounds like you found some bright spots in your students and work.
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Trying to. Another thing happened that’s really cool, but I haven’t been given permission to talk about it. Not to me personally (sort of), which is why my mouth is shut.
Seems like every Saturday I sit down to do one of these posts and I have to talk about writing. That brings me to the sales thing, which I can’t even say are low. They’re non-existent. Only 5 copies of ‘Ravenous’ were sold this month. That’s just over $10 in royalties. As I said in another comment, it hurts because I used to do a lot with ‘Legends of Windemere’ even near the end. Once I jumped to ‘Nytefall’, things died. Same world, system, and writing style, but it feels like people were pretty much done with me as soon as I finished my first series.
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My sales really vary. I know a lot of it depends upon delivering something people might want to read. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how well it’s written, or how good it is. I’m talking about the topic itself. My baseball book is my example. Those who read it enjoyed it. It was a hard sell to the masses. Those I turned into series already did well as solo tales.
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That’s the thing. Talent means nothing unless you can promote yourself. A person who is a mediocre author, but is great at promoting has a better chance of success than one who is a great author and sucks at promoting. I’m so busy and finances are so thin that I can’t do more than ask people to promote my book then hope that someone reviews it. It isn’t even like I’m doing anything really different between ‘Legends’ and ‘Nytefall’. The cast in the newer series are all vampires, but it’s still an action adventure. So, the issue here feels more that I’m not beating my original horse even though I put it out to pasture. As someone who has over 30 story ideas, that’s a disaster.
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I agree the better promoters have an advantage. I can’t afford a lot of that, and I’ve thrown money at many things in the past that did not perform.
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Same here. It feels like it requires thousands of dollars to get even 100 sales.
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I’m glad you’re getting to be creative, and it’s helping to make you feel energized. I’m also glad you’ve found an eating plan that works for you. Hope you get some more writing time, and things continue to go well at work.
Good luck with the Yom Kippur fasting. Hey, I seem to only really remember you ever mentioning Yom Kippur, Hannukka (sorry if I spelled that one wrong) and Passover. Are those the only Jewish holidays you personally observe? Or do you just not bother mentioning others? Just curious, so hope you don’t mind my asking.
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Thanks. I’ll get some time today and then it’ll be a while. My son will be with me for a week and a half. No writing while he’s around because he needs me.
I don’t really mention the others. Those are the 3 with the biggest activities though. Rosh Hashanah was last Friday, but that’s apples and honey with the new year. I don’t go to Shuul, so I don’t do much of the traditions too.
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Yes, as nice as getting to do some writing is, your son comes first.
I knew Rosh Hashanah was recently. That’s actually what made me ask. Some other people I follow who are Jewish were mentioning it (which is how come I knew about it, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue) so since you didn’t mention it – and I’m nosy – I just wondered if you observed more than just the three, or if you observed them all, but just didn’t mention most of them because there’s not much to say.
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There wasn’t much to say. It was quick because of other things going on. Just one of those years where everything is kind of brief and rushed.
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Fair enough. Like I said, I was just curious. 🙂
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Best wishes for Monday and for a super next week..
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Thanks.
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Keep up the good over-achieving!
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Thanks. Although I feel like I’m barely breaking even these days.
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