There might not be a lot to talk about here.

Work was work with the usual amount of excitement and comedy.  This was a full week instead of the shorter one before, but it was a lot less stressful.  Think things went smoother, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly why.  Not because of privacy and such.  I just can’t really put my finger on why the days moved swiftly for the most part.  Hope that trend continues.

The real chaos came about at home with my son being back, which meant the challenge of school returned.  The beginning was fine, but we had some issues when it came time for him to go in.  Things are gradually improving there thanks to some ingenious thinking on my part.  Notes can help a lot with kids that need reminders.  Still having a challenge with breakfast, but we made progress.  He was kicking butt on his test grades too.  The kid is still very used to being able to ace everything without much help, so we’re running into a little headbutting when we try to assist or correct.  Although, this could be the beginning of his teenage years, which I sense will be either easy or nightmare-inducing.  I’ve heard both from parents who have been through it already.  Good week overall with my son even though I was left tired.

Technically, I need 3 days to finish War of Nytefall: Eulogy.  I fell a hair short of my goals last weekend because two sections I merged worked better separately.  It doesn’t change the day too much.  If not by the end of next weekend then I should have it done before Election Day.  Halloween eliminates a night, but I’m fine as long as the final volume of Clyde’s adventures are done before my son comes back again.  There’s only one real question that has been plaguing me though:

What do I do next?

Tales of the Slumberlord is the next big series, but there’s a galaxy of difference between Clyde and Darwin Slepsnor.  I haven’t made the book outlines either, so I’d need to tackle those.  I could do that next over the course of a weekend since there are only 8 in the series.  Unlike Legends of Windemere and War of Nytefall, this series will have an overarching plot that stays in the background until the end.  Darwin is an oblivious character who stumbles into different adventures, so each book works as its own story.  I don’t know if this will make the outlining easier or harder.  I don’t have to worry a lot about plot points jumping and focus more on character consistency since there are a few recurring ones.  Actually, this is the first big series that takes place about Legends of Windemere too.  So, I get to have some big cameos.

All that being said, I don’t know when I’ll start writing that series.  I might write Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) first since I have all of those notes ready.  I’m getting nervous about this because I don’t have the confidence in thinking my opinion is worth paying money to read.  Another option is a spark of an old series that I don’t know if I should entertain.  I got the urge to write another Bedlam book, but I’m lost on this one.  The last two volumes were blog only, so I don’t know if I should bother with one that I publish.  They never sold anyway, which means I might end up writing this and putting it on the blog once the ‘Immortal Wars’ sequel is done at some point next year.  People don’t keep up with these big stories either, but I really want to write this story and do something with it.

For that matter, I keep wondering if I should try to make a collection of the ‘Raven’ series that I posted on here.  That would require editing, adding a section to bring the first book up to 31 like the others, and getting a cover.  Guess I’m looking at all these lofty projects and wondering what the point was.  I’m not marketing anything, so what’s the point of the big things on the blog?  Maybe I just feel like a wandering soul and am looking at what part of me considers past failures.  Bedlam was a lot of fun to write and people enjoyed the characters when they appeared on the blog, but no amount of marketing seemed to help there. ‘Raven’ was an experimental into horror-type stories that I never had full faith in to publish, but people liked when I made them the October tradition for a bit.  That might be where those were meant to go, but I do always feel like I should try to give all of my ideas the biggest stage.  Honestly, I don’t know if I’d have it in me to edit ‘Raven’ anyway because that one always took a lot out of me.  Once to the point where I got depressed and wondered if it was cursed.  Guess we’ll see what happens, but that one probably won’t go anywhere unless I know it’s worth it.

I finished watching ‘The Boys’ and it was a lot of fun.  I’d already heard a few things about it, but I still got shocked.  Sometimes it’s oddly cathartic to watch a show or read a book that has such darkness and depravity alongside characters trying to maintain some of their humanity.  Definitely made me wonder about what a person with incredible powers could turn into.  Probably more of a chance that someone would go Homelander than Superman if they were that powerful.  I moved on to ‘The Slayers’ after that, which is a classic anime that I kept meaning to check out.  Definitely a series that is heavy on the silly campiness you’d find back in the day.  I didn’t really get to watch much since I ended most days wanting to go to bed.

Goals of the week?

1. Finish or get close to finishing War of Nytefall: Eulogy
2. Decide on the next project.
3. Time with son.
4. Work.
5. Outline more of Ruins of the Zodiac Gods.  Might have to do some tonight since there’s info I need on my computer.
6. Pizza.
7. Laundry.
8. Halloween prep!  No idea if Trick or Treating will be a thing, but my son and I might walk around looking at decorations.  Might be some bowls left out for kids.  This year really has had all of the fun sucked out of it.
9. Gift wrap an oddly shaped present or find a bag big enough.