Not much to report about the week since it was back to work and school after Winter Break.  It was really just getting back into the swing of things.  Doesn’t help that I’m half asleep while writing this.

Seriously though, it was a week of wild events that I can’t go into here.  Just changes going on in various aspects of my life.  It really isn’t even that interesting even if I was able to explain it.  The important parts are that these events kept me so busy and tired that I didn’t get any writing done after the weekend.  Come to think of it, I don’t even know what I did this weekend when I wasn’t working or parenting.  Did I only work on a jigsaw puzzle until my eyelids were too heavy?  That’s entirely possible . . . Yeah, that seems to check out with how the week went.

Even though I got no weekday writing done, I managed to finish chapter 8 and start chapter 9 of Darwin & the Demon Game.  I would have finished chapter 9, but I tried to play a video game with a wonky camera.  Even with Dramamine, I was laid out for 2 two hours after playing for 1 hour.  By the time I recovered, my son was about to get dropped off, so I learned my lesson.  Next weekend might go smoother and I may even get two chapters done.  That would be nice.

Speaking of writing, I have an unexpected surprise.  I ended up receiving something last night:

Fizzle by Alison Hunt

For those that don’t know or remember, I wrote a ‘how to’ book called Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips).  The cover artist for War of Nytefall was working on cover and interior art.  Originally, I was going to release it last September, but things went wrong.  We lost contact with each other until recently due to life situations and me apparently texting someone or something else for the last year.  It seems my covid-induced brain fog had me sending messages that I can’t even find on my phone.  Anyway, I got the cover and interior art last night.  What you see above is part of the cover.

This brings up the question of revealing the art and publishing in general.  I still need to either do a final edit myself or get someone else to look it over.  With me having to read a manga series alongside a student, I probably need to go with the latter.  I also found on the last edit that I nitpick on word usage and get twitchy about changing a lot when it comes to an opinion book.  I could easily end up rewriting the whole book just because I feel like coming at something from a different direction.  So, it might be best to let other people give it a once over.  I already sent it to one person for a check.

Of course, this means that I’m not going to publish it right away.  I’m actually thinking of doing it at the start of summer like July 4th weekend.  This gives me plenty of time to get things ready.  Not that I have any idea on how to promote this thing.  Maybe have June be teasers on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays since the topics can be used to stir discussion.  Blog touring doesn’t seem like an option since the last time I tried there were only 6 volunteers.  Don’t have the money for anything big either, which has been the issue for years.  Maybe I should just publish it, post about it here, and hope for the best since nothing else seems to work.  I don’t have the promo system and reach that I had when I was writing Legends of Windemere. Guess I have time to figure it out.

The final question I have to figure out is if I reveal all of this awesome art tomorrow or do it in June.  I feel like I want to do it now since I’m talking about it.  Maybe even just the cover and the interior art will be left for June  Have to take a few moments today to figure it out.  My son having homework in 5 of his classes isn’t helping though.  Am I being punished for resting during that week off?

Oh yeah . . . I didn’t do well with the diet and biking.  As expected, returning to work and my son going back to school bit deeply into my energy and time.  Biking took the biggest hit with me only managing 25 minutes overall.  I’m going to do another 30 today, but I’m supposed to hit 70 minutes of intense exercise per week.  I’d say better luck next week, but I’m not going to hold my breath.  Like a majority of people, my life doesn’t allow for such things unless I sacrifice sleep or some of the very little relaxation time that I have.  If all I’m doing with my life is working, parenting, sleeping, errands, and biking then it’s really a dismal existence.

So, what are the goals of the week?

1. Help son finish homework.
2. Try to get to biking if time permits.
3. Decide on if I’m going to reveal Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) art tomorrow.
4. Decide on how hard I will promote the book or if I’ll bother doing more than a blog post here.
5. Working, which is a given.
6. Prepare May blog posts if possible.
7. Write more of Darwin & the Demon Game next weekend.
8. Continue getting 6-7 hours of sleep.
9. Hydrate better.
10. Order Lego Rivendell tomorrow.