It was a week . . . Think we can all agree on that. I mean, 7 days equal a week and that’s how long it’s been since I do a goal post. Thank you for your time and I’ll see you next weekend.
Things were a bit crazy lately. A few dramas caused stress and caused activities to be moved around. My son started his first camp of the summer and was having problems in the morning. This camp only goes for 2 weeks and then another for 3, so I’m sure this is going to be a morning ritual for a while. He’s scared of the changes even though he acts brave before he has to face it. Same thing that was going on during the school year, but it’s exhausting when I’m trying to recover my own energy. My hope is that a relaxing weekend helps him get in the right mindset for next week.
A current issue is that I’m in pain . . . again. Why can’t my body develop injuries during periods I’m not trying to do things? This time it’s my lower back again, which is making it hard to sleep. Of course, my fatherly duty required that I grit my teeth and follow through my promise to take my son here:
Osprey on Nest
There’s a nature area with nesting ospreys and we had agreed to go see if they were about this weekend. Regardless of the pain in my lower back and the difficulty in walking, it was worth it to sit with my son and watch the osprey standing guard. Other animals were about, but this guy or girl was the goal. Now, I can rest up for the evening and hope my spine fixes itself. Although, there are signs that it’s actually an IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) flare up, which can also set off my lower back. The opposite is possible, so it’s always a mess. Ibuprofen, icy hot, heating pads, and ice packs aren’t making much of a dent, but the Pepto Bismal did something. Guess we’ll see what happens.
Television wasn’t that interesting. I watched the ‘Transformers: War for Cybertron’ shows upon recommendation. They didn’t grab my interesting. Felt like a big thing would start up and then fade away by the end of an episode. Definitely rushed and I was having trouble keeping track of names that weren’t Megatron, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Starscream. I had to look at Wikipedia for a character list and then guess as to who was who until someone was named. Never been the biggest Transformers fan, so maybe that was an issue. Think I’m going to step away from animation for a bit and watch ‘Leverage: Redemption’ once I get more TV time.
Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah! This is an author blog even though I don’t do a lot of author stuff. First, I keep getting messages on social media asking if I want a book review or to be promoted. It happens right after a follow someone back and with no real communication beforehand. These always turned me off because it felt pushy and I remember getting taken advantage of in the past. Either the person made off with a free book or money without leaving a review or responding to an email. Not sure if I’m just paranoid or this is what I’m looking at.
I did manage to get most of War of Nytefall: Anarchy edited. 3 chapters to go, so I’ll finish on Monday. I’m genuinely surprised because so much was going on that I never noticed getting through 15 chapters. Parts of the story still gnawed at me, but it was more because I felt like I should add more with one character. This one doesn’t have a lot of personality, so all attempts fell flat. I added stuff that explained why they weren’t as active as one would expect though. Another new character kind of stole the show because they have a big personality. Not sure when this will be published. I’m hoping for the Fall, but I need to contact my cover artist first.
I’m aiming to start writing my next series next Friday because I have work for 2 days and time with my son. This would be Slumberlord Tales: Darwin & the Fate Bracelet. As you can see, I’m trying to see how ‘Slumberlord Tales’ fits instead of ‘Tales of the Slumberlord’. This shortens the overall title a bit. If I’m feeling ambitious then I might do one section on Thursday. A lot of it depends on my energy, back, and if people try to get me to do things. Seems like a big theme of the summer is that me being on break is a signal for others to give me errands or make me socialize. Normally, I would be fine with it, but my social battery is low due to stress and drama.
Anyway, time for the goals:
- Time with son.
- Work days.
- Finish editing War of Nytefall: Anarchy
- Rest up my back or clear my IBS.
- Tinker with notebooks a few times.
- September posts
- Start Slumberlord Tales: Darwin & the Fate Bracelet
- Hit the restart to install updates on laptop . . . Well, bye.
Legends of Windemere 
Charles, you have had some week. I marvel at how much you get done and then post a to do list. You are well organized. Seems life, in general, throws curve balls at us writers. I generally can duck, straighten up and keep going. Sometimes when it’s hard to do I just get out of the way. Being an Introvert helps. Have a peaceful weekend. 🌺🎶📚 Christine
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Honestly, I forget the list almost as soon as I make it. The introvert thing may help, but I have too many people in my life who think that’s a personality flaw.
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Charles, it’s a survival label! 🥳🎶
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You are so right to be cautious on the book review front. So many scammers out there. Wishing you a speedy recovery and a super week next .
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Thanks. Hope next week goes well. Subbing for 2 days, so I’ll have to put my work face on.
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It’s hanging there in the closet.
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Similar week here. We have ospreys everywhere and the one on my commuter route has three big chicks watching me drive by. My back also took a detour, and I’ve been living on a hot pad with Aleve. Been watching Loki, and it’s fine. Old What’s Her face paid for Black Widow, so that’s coming up this weekend.
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They’re rare here. I think they used to be more common. Maybe further out East these days. Heating pad and meds had very little effect for some reason. I’m really thinking it was the gut more than the back.
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I like “Slumberlord Tales” as an alternative way of writing it. Personally I think it rolls off the tongue better, so would go with it instead of “Tales Of The Slumberlord” myself. It’s up to you at the end of the day, but thought I’d mention it, just in case you’re interested in feedback there.
I’ve had a bunch of messages and eMails along those lines recently. They don’t even bother to address me by name, and they all say they’d like to review my “book” without mentioning a spacific title, despite the fact I have so many books, and they could be asking about any of them. If they can’t even be bothered to use my name, let alone take a few seconds to make a note of one of my book titles, I’m not even going to bother replying to their message.
Sorry you’ve had an exhausting week with health and stress making it harder. Hope things improve with the back/IBS issue, and your son deals with the mornings better in this coming week.
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The title does seem to work better. Not sure if I should add a ‘The’ at the start. Grammatically that feels right, but title-wise it feels superfluous.
The messages feel so rude at times. It’s clear they don’t try to get a sense of the person or even the post. I’ve had some people leave comments on posts about my son instead of writing, which rubs me the wrong way.
Really hoping for a smoother week. The health issues are lingering, but they may be getting better. Pisses me off that I’m knocked out of keeping up with biking again.
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If you want my opinion again, personally I really don’t think you need to add “The” to the series title.
I agree about the messages being rude at times, and can see why it would bother you so much when they’re on posts about your son. Bad enough getting them on stuff that’s actually about writing, or as random eMails.
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