Do I Need to Use a Dragon? is still 99 cents.  I’ve only sold 19 copies since it debuted on July 3rd.  Haven’t received any reviews yet.  Still, I guess this is to be expected with no promotions beyond this blog.  Really hitting a point where I’m just releasing a book into the void and hoping for the best.  I mean, ‘thoughts and prayers’ are used for everything else around here, so why not personal book success?

As the title says, I’ve reached the middle of the summer school period.  That doesn’t mean I’m halfway through summer though.  I get 18 days between the end of this program and the start of the new school year.  12 of those should be with my son, which means I get 6 days to write and prepare for the next adventure.  Technically, I’ll only have 5 because I already plan on getting together with a friend on one of the days.  Might be 4 if I make plans to hang out with another.  I need some level of socialization, especially since I can’t do much of it during the school year.  Opposing schedules is never fun.

Overall, the summer has been a rollercoaster.  Work has been good, but there have been a lot of challenges.  It’s not a regular school day with bells, all of the usual rooms, and lots of kids in the building.  For most of the day, it’s just our little Life Skills classes.  This can throw a few kids and even some adults off.  So, we have to be ready for anything and adjust as changes occur.  It’s been working out well so far, but I’ll admit that I’m fairly exhausted some days.  Eh, that’s probably the health issues more than the work.

The big event for this week was us holding a small Farmers Market.  We maintain a small garden and watch over a bigger one made by another class.  Enough vegetables grew for us to put together a small event, which included homemade dressings, lemonade, and iced tea.  To be fair, most of what we had was lettuce, basil, and cucumbers, but the community is always happy to visit for the kids.  Some retired staff members showed up as well, which was great.  Best part is that the rain held out until we were done and got everything back into the building.  A bigger Farmers Market is coming too.

My son is enjoying camp, but not really talking much about it.  He turns 14 next Friday, so I guess he’s hitting that stage of teenager life.  Only way to get a lot out of him is if I ask about Pokemon Go.  As long as the weather is good, I take him to the park for some catching.  This means I’m getting more exercise than I planned since we’re talking about walking around for at least an hour.  This is on top of the biking, which I’m doing nearly every day for 15-20 minutes.

Writing-wise, I don’t have a lot to report.  Darwin & the Beast Collector is maybe 1/4 done.  I managed to get a few chapter sections done on the days that I didn’t have to pick my son up.  This really just helped me finish Chapter 4.  I’m hoping to get 5 & 6 done this weekend.  I’m having some motivation issues again, but I think that still stems from Darwin being a different type of hero than Luke and Clyde.  There’s definitely action, but not as much and that’s creating a lot of dialog scenes.  I know this specific story is one that builds into a spiral of mayhem and carnage around the 2/3’s mark.  Another cause for my uncertainty could be that I’m not writing at the same speed that I used to.  The time of writing 2-3 chapter sections every days is over.  Now, I might get a single chapter done during a week.  So, it feels like everything is taking longer.

My health is possibly getting better or not.  I thought my blood pressure was getting lower, but it was back to being high when I went to the doctor.  It was down again when I took it back at home.  Really hoping it was nothing more than ‘white coat’ syndrome.  I haven’t been hit by the fatigue of last Saturday yet, so I’m hoping my body is getting used to the medication.  Guess we’ll find out as time moves on.

There is one other health thing that I’ve been looking into.  Years ago, I was diagnosed with SLEEP APNEA.  I have an oral device instead of a CPAP (Breathing) machine, but I have a feeling it isn’t doing the job.  My divorce through a monkey wrench into the sleep apnea therapy too, so I haven’t done anything about it in years.  Now, I think it’s time I got another sleep study done.  Why?  Because I was reading about how sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, coughing, fatigue, enlarged heart, weight gain, and a whole laundry list of problems.  It’s possible that getting the sleep apnea under control is the lynchpin to me wrangling everything else.  Fingers crossed, especially since it takes a long time to get a sleep study set up.

I want to talk about what I’m planning for next week, but I don’t have much.  Writing when I can is a given.  With my son’s birthday next week, I’m really just focused on making sure the small party works out.  I need to take some time this weekend to get a few things taken care of.  Thankfully, there’s only one day with an appointment and that shouldn’t get in the way of anything else.  Yeah, I’m not really leading an exciting life.  At least, I can’t share the stuff that would be juicy.  Not without causing a lot of trouble for myself and others.

Goals of the week?

1. Celebrate son’s birthday.
2. Write at least 2 chapters of Darwin & the Beast Collector
3. Work on Lego Rivendell when possible.
4. Biking.
5. Pokemon catching with son.
6. Getting enough sleep.
7. Continue watching sodium intake.
8. Hydrate, especially since it’s going to be hot later in the week.
9. Finish setting up the Crunchyroll account for anime.

Strange question: Should I do a Sunday post about sleep apnea?  It wouldn’t be until August 6th.  Not as interesting as my usual Sunday randomness like endangered animals, Lego, and random memes.  Still, I’ve noticed how little people know about this and how horrible those with it can be treated.  Just want to know if there’s a curiosity here.  Nobody seems to care on my Facebook page.