I’m actually writing this on Thursday night because I’ll be busy Friday and Saturday.  The former has me waking up early to drive an hour and spend the day binge-watching a show with a friend.  This has become an end of summer tradition before the school year starts and we go back to work.  Bagels, vegan Chinese food, light drinks, and just all around goofing off.  Going to be a lot of fun, but will leave me tired on Saturday when I’m determined to work on a non-writing project.

I might as well dive into what that project is.  I’m trying to put together as much of my son’s Halloween costume as possible.  A lot of sewing is involved and I have very little idea what I’m doing.  Took time on Wednesday and Thursday to watch videos on how to knot the thread, sew, and tie it off.  For some reason, I keep messing up, but I managed to get some of the pieces put together.  The difficulty is with the shirt where I have to attach stuff and make sure I don’t sew the whole thing together.  Need to have it hanging from the hat rack to make life easier.  Using ribbons to hide my stitching and I’m going to fight to be neater with those.  My plan is to finish as much as I can today and be able to finish once my son is here to act as a model.  With any luck, I’ll switch back to being an author by Sunday or Monday.

Darwin & the Demon Game has been printed for months, so it’s good to go as soon as I get some time.  My work schedule might give me 30 minutes or so to edit if I have the energy.  My hope is to get the hand edits done by the 2 week holiday break, which will give me time to type it all in.  Start 2025 with editing Darwin & the Beast Collector and I might be getting to Darwin & the Joy Path by next summer.  This editing project is taking a lot longer than I expected, but life is crazy this year.  I’m also being rather meticulous.  If I get any sense that a detail isn’t right, I’ll mark it and spend 10-15 minutes checking the previous books to confirm consistency.  So, this isn’t to edit books so much as the entire series so far and get everything settled for the next volume.

Oh yeah, I was in Oswego for the beginning of the week.  Clearly, I made it up there and back in one piece.  Spent a lot of time with friends, especially those who recently added a little baby.  So cute.  Went to a party, hung out, and helped with a few things before I went to have dinner with another friend.  Add in a few Pokemon Go outings and I didn’t get as much writing done as I expected.  I imagined staying in my room for most of the day with my notebook, but it was only 2-3 hours in the morning and maybe 2 at night.  Kept getting phone calls at night from other friends, which delayed me tackling the project I set my sights on.

‘Phi Beta Files’ isn’t done as far as outlining.  The first 2 books have been prepared and this took longer than expected.  Well, the 1st just needed extra characters and locations.  The 2nd one required repeatedly reading through my previous notes and creating the best short story chronology.  It gave even more difficult with the 3rd book, which I only did the story order for.  I’m an idiot for not realizing the 4 main characters having to split up for separate adventures meant 4 sets of ‘book only’ supporting characters and locations.  I was going to tinker with it more at work, but I wasn’t the only one showing up extra early.  I might take advantage of the classroom being empty and work in there some mornings when I have the energy.  Be nice if I can get this done by the end of the year too.

Totally unassociated with the writing part of the trip, I made it up to Oswego, NY in time to visit this snack shop.  They get treats from other countries like Brazil, Japan, Mexico, China, etc.  I’m talking flavors of candies and chips that we don’t get here.  Definitely going to order from them at times because what I got was great:

• Passionfruit Snickers (DELICIOUS!)
• Strawberry Snickers
• Strawberry Shortcake KitKats
• Golden (Caramel) KitKats
• Ruffles Chips that smell and taste like Outback Steakhouse Babyback Ribs
• Lays Chips that smell and taste like lemon garlic chicken

All great purchases and I really wish the place opened on Monday or early enough for me to swing by before leaving on Tuesday.  Oh well, there will be other times because I’m thinking of making this a yearly trip for visiting friends and getting away.  It was relaxing before returning to school and work.  Be nice to bring my son up again too, but a solo trip once a year would be good as well.  Helps that there are friends in the area, so I have people to hang out with.

The coming week is when school and work begin.  Technically, I started already with our conferences.  My students arrive on Tuesday for a new bell schedule, so we’re going to see how things go.  I’m considering picking up a few protein shakes for lunches instead of making something.  Just in case it’s harder to get my break than usual.  Rice bowls take a while to prep and I’m not really digging the wraps and salads any more.  My lunch is fairly late in the day too, so I don’t know how hungry I’ll be and I don’t want to have little appetite for dinner.  I’ll take some time these weekend to get a few and stuff for rice bowls like tofu and a pineapple.  At least my son’s lunch situation is thought up with ramen, mac & cheese, sandwiches, pizza rolls, and possibly chicken corn chowder.  Kid has a great menu to choose from during what’s going to be a rough year.

Goals of the week?

1. Finish sewing the costume.
2. Start editing Darwin & the Demon Game OR tackle ‘Phi Beta Files’.
3. Get back to work.
4. Sleep!
5. Can’t Pokemon for exercise.
6. Food shop for lunches and future dinners when I’m on my own.
7. Order remaining costume parts I can’t make myself.
8. Maybe some Lego time.