This week didn’t go as planned.  Now, I did finish all of the blog posts for July and August, so that’s a victory.  I also completed the editing of Darwin & the Beast Collector, so I’m going to start typing them in next weekend.  This weekend is for family and to help my son with schoolwork . . . It’s also one where I need to relax a bit because the previous week had far too much chaos.

Without giving specifics, a family member ended up in the hospital last weekend.  I will say it was not my son though.  They’re okay now, but the initial incident was fairly stressful.  Getting them to the hospital was the first challenge and then handling everything afterwards.  Half of my time was spent getting as much stuff done for them as I could before they could come home.  The rest was Pokemon and editing with the latter being easier to pull off since I wasn’t sleeping well for most of the week.  All of this was on top of work, several appointments for my son, and dealing with other annoyances.  If you want to know how exhausted I was, I took a family illness day to help out more when they were released.  I ended up sleeping 10.5 hours after going to bed early and this was with NO medication.

Getting back to the writing side of things, I did figure out how to fix that medallion issue in Darwin & the Beast Collector.  I need it to make a few more appearances, but I apparently added something else to it in a later chapter that makes it easier to handle.  I find this story so much harder to juggle because I changed my mind on where it was going several times.  The foreshadowing still works, but some personalities changed enough that I had to rework a bunch in the edits.  I’m kind of glad that Darwin & the Joy Path is going to be a lot more straightforward when I get back into it.  This one was being worked as a suspenseful mystery with inspiration from ‘Jurassic Park’ and other ‘science gone mad’ stories.  A simple quest is a nice refresher for me since it’s been over 2 years since I wrote anything new.  I think it would work well for the series too because things get heavy afterwards with the final 3 volumes.

This coming week is going to be filled with activity.  My son is part of an art show one night and is getting a music award another.  This is on top of various appointments, but at least we have Friday off.  He’s not with me though.  Another event is prom at my school, which I’m going to attend to support a student.  Have to make sure my dress clothes still fit because I can’t show up looking like a schlub.  I might not be doing more than hanging out with other teachers, but I have to look like I belong there.  Good thing we have the next day off too because I’m going to want the extra sleep.  Another plus is the Pokemon event for next weekend isn’t that interesting to me, so I should be able to get a lot more editing typed in.

Yeah, my life is really boring, which happens this time of year.  The end of the school year is crazy busy and gets kind of pricey.  I don’t deal with it solely as an educator, but as a parent as well.  So, I don’t get to relax that much until the whole thing is over.  I’m happy that the day after the school year ends is Pokemon Gofest, which is a fun way for my son and I to start our break.  Yet, it’s going to be a long slog towards it and I’m hoping to type in all of the edits before July.  It’s possible with there being multiple days off where I don’t have my son.  Then again, this book needed a lot more changing around than the previous 4 because I went more pantser than planner.

Finally, I have to admit that I’m getting nervous about writing something new.  I mentioned it’s been over 2 years, which means I worry about being rusty.  I also feel like my brain isn’t as keen and focused as it once was.  This is a combination of general fatigue, long covid, stress, and very little time to get everything done.  I’m afraid that I can’t pull off a coherent story any more and I need it to be partially solid before editing.  This might require that I take longer to write than usual, so doing only 1-2 chapter sections instead of 2-3 every day.  In the past, it would take me 20 days to write the first draft, but it might be 30-40 this time.  Doesn’t sound bad, but keep in mind that I can’t do any writing when my son is over because I would prefer to spend time with him.  I also won’t be able to write on weekdays with all of the appointments and errands.  So, this really boils down to getting maybe 3 chapters done in a month without any non-weekend days off.  Going to be a long slog, but maybe that’s for the best to get my head back into author mode.

Oh yeah, the 99 cent pricing has done nothing to change sales.  Nothing is moving and I have no idea what to do.  Makes me really wonder why I’m still writing when I can’t afford marketing or even cover art these days.

Goals of the week?

1. Help son with studying.
2. Son’s art show and music awards.
3. Prom.
4. Type in Darwin & the Beast Collector edits when possible.
5. Find something else to watch on TV, but don’t know what I’m in the mood for.  I keep thinking of watching ‘Black Sails’ again.
6. Get extra sleep.
7. Help family member when needed.
8. Pokemon Go to stay active since it’s going to be a busy week.  Exercise will be limited.
9. Mow the lawn tomorrow before it starts raining again.
10. Wish for it to stop raining on the weekends.