I don’t go back to work until Monday, so my sense of time is messed up.  I could normally handle two weeks off without getting confused, but switching to 2025 and my son going back earlier threw me off.  Didn’t help that I had to wake up at 5:30 am on one day to get my son to school, which triggered my internal work schedule.  At least I only have two days of frigid weather, Pokemon catching, and editing to go.  *counts fingers and checks calendar* Yup . . . Two days.

In the realm of writing, I’ve added half of the Darwin & the Demon Game edits.  I might get another 1-2 chapters typed in, but it’s been slow going.  I’m editing my edits and several of them require checking previous volumes for continuity.  Still have an issue with the corner my desk is in having bad lighting, so I can’t read the changes once the sun goes down.  No space to put a floor lamp in either since this is what one could call a doggie dormer.  Basically, my room is shaped like a chubby T-block from ‘Tetris’ and I’m in the base.

For those who never played

Still, progress is progress and time management wasn’t on my side.  I had my son for four of the days, but not New Years Eve.  My plan was to get a bunch of hand editing done on that day.  Things got shaky because 2024 had a few final haymakers to throw at my head before it ended.  So, I spent a chunk of New Years Eve evening filling out medical paperwork.  I tried to get into editing mode after that, but wasn’t feeling it, so I did some March posts and watched ‘Tacoma FD’.  Definitely needed some stupid humor to cheer myself up.  Sent out a long email too since I had the time.

My son and I did get to see ‘Sonic 3’, which was fun.  I expected more Shadow the Hedgehog, but he was used just enough.  Jim Carrey stole the show as the Robotniks as usual.  That might just be my generation who grew up with ‘In Living Color’, ‘Ace Ventura’, and ‘The Mask’.  Anyway, that was a fun outing and matinee tickets made it affordable instead of tear-inducing.

The rest of the week was the traditional family latke party, Pokemon Go outings, and hitting up the zoo on Monday.  It was supposed to rain and be cold, but the weather changed to be more pleasant.  The Bronx Zoo still has some things closed during the winter, so it was a quicker visit than usual.  We’re looking forward to the summer when they reopen the ‘World of Darkness’.  I think my son likes the zoo, but he’s not as fascinated as he used to be.  It’s a relaxing outing where we get to talk and be away from the chaos.  That’s all we really want on some days.  Well, it also gets him away from most of the video games.

Have to admit that 2025 isn’t impressing me, but I knew it would really just be the continuation of other headaches.  I can say ‘new year, new me’ as much as I want, but certain entities won’t abruptly back off.  So, I’ve already had to contend with the usual suspects.  That’s another reason I haven’t done as much editing as I wanted since I had to deal with texts and phone calls.  Even interrupted some of my Pokemon Go outings, which was awkward.  I do hope that things improve as the year goes on, but that doesn’t look like a given.  At least not in a few arenas.

I’ve also been wondering about publishing.  Been over a year since I reached out to my cover artist since my life got busy.  My finances got messy too.  So, I don’t know what to do about Slumberlord Chronicles.  I really should reach out even though I have no idea what I’m doing.  Car repairs, new laptop, and a bunch of other unexpected expenditures really hit me hard.  Even if I scrounge up money for a cover, I don’t have the time and money to properly publish and promote the book.  Talking to people, it feels like the indie author landscape is desolate.  You can find blips of activity if you have a strong support system, but I don’t have that anymore.

So, what do I do with these books?  I still have to edit one more before I tackle writing a new book.  Kind of scared that they’ll just sit around.  Maybe I should take 2025 to figure out what to do here.  Part of me considered just posting the Darwin stories on my blog like I did with ‘Bedlam’.  Only that ended up being the death knell for the series and this blog doesn’t get enough traffic to make it worthwhile.  Darwin was one of my favorite characters to play and now write, so I want to do him justice like I did with Luke Callindor and Clyde.  Wish this was like the old days where there was a higher chance of some success when you published a book.

Since I’m going back to my usual grind on Monday, I don’t know what I’m going to be planning.  January is going to be crazy in general too.  Next week is normal.  Week after that is when my son has All County rehearsals and his concert.  Week after that is midterms, which means work and home will be in upheaval.  Somewhere in there, I hope to finish typing in the hand edits and print out Darwin & the Beast Collector.  I need to start setting up March posts as well.  Far too much to do and I don’t get a lot of time to do it.  Ugh.

Goals of the week:

1. Get back into work schedule.
2. Type in a few more chapter edits of Darwin & the Demon Game.
3. Help son with schoolwork and studying.
4. Pokemon Go because that’s the only exercise I get.
5. Need a haircut.
6. Avoid the vending machine at work.
7. Stay warm.
8. Work on a few March blog posts.