I was trying to think of a catchier title, but that was really the highlight of the week.  I can’t talk about the specifics, but I took a surprisingly bad hit to the stomach on Wednesday.  It didn’t cause any bruising and nothing is broken.  I even went to work on Thursday, but needed to take Friday off.  The issue is that my abdomen hurts if I sit for too long and get up.  It also starts to ache, feel bloated, and I get gassy about 30 minutes after I eat.  So, it’s been tough doing much of anything.  This means that day off was spent entirely on recovery and figuring out what my temporary limits are.  Would have been nice to get writing done, but couldn’t focus.

Speaking of writing, I only made it through half of chapter 6 last weekend.  I thought I could get the rest done, but I lost Wednesday and Thursday evenings to the injury and other appointments.  So, Darwin & the Joy Path is not as far along as I thought, but that could change.  I’m going to try to get one section done tonight before bed, which could open the door for me to get through the last section and chapter 7 next weekend.  Again, I don’t think I’ll finish writing this book before 2026, but I would like to at least get halfway done, which means finishing chapter 9.

That isn’t to say I wasn’t totally unproductive.  Got a bunch of posts typed up for January since I had some plans for that.  Worked a bit on the ‘Phi Beta Files: Junior Year’ story outlines.  It’s really tough juggling this one since I never have time at work to tinker like I had hoped.  So, I have to read what I already set up and go through the biography notes to make sure I cover the bases.  Each of the 6 books will have 10 short stories that cover the overall plot.  This one has a recurring villain taking over the mercenary academy and Phi Beta figuring out a way to get rid of her.  Keep in mind that this is a combo of fantasy, military academy, and college comedies like Animal House.  Stories are getting more serious as the characters mature though.  I say knowing the 5th book is the Spring Break adventures right before the really dark Senior Year.  Look, I’m 45 and I doubt I’ll live long enough to write all of these, but I just want to get the ideas on paper.  My son can figure them out if he succeeds in designing video games and wants to use what I leave behind.

I want to slide into something more positive, but I guess it wasn’t one of those weeks.  Not that it was miserable, but a lot of stressful events occurred.  Facing a rough situation that requires I work with someone else.  That other person isn’t communicating with me and is making this more of a competition.  So, the overall situation is getting tense and a third party is suffering for it.  I’ve reached a point where I’m tired of being nice and the general door mat.  This has resulted in me pushing back and the other person is digging in their heels or going full ‘no contact’.  All of this comes with a deadline too.  I know their favorite tactic is to run down the clock in the hopes of their ideas and desires being accepted in the final hour.  Guess that’s easier for them than negotiating in good faith and finding a compromise.

Speaking of running down the clock, I remember why I didn’t get as much writing done as I had hoped.  A friend invited me to watch the ‘NY Giants vs Denver Broncos’ game.  It was the first time in a while that we were both free to get together.  That’s more important than writing a chapter section.  Course, it would have been nice for the Giants to NOT make NFL history in the worst way possible.  Plus side, the pizza was good and we had a great assortment of Doritos.

This coming week has a bunch of appointments and ends on Halloween.  I’ve got my son for the first half of the holiday and then he goes to his mom that evening.  Good chance I can get writing done during the week too, which could give me a cushion next weekend for doing something else one afternoon.  Going to have to see how my stomach is doing too because I have to be sure it’s nothing more severe than internal bruising.  Fingers crossed on that one.

Realized I haven’t been posting what I’m watching on TV, but I haven’t been streaming anything exciting.  Right now, it’s an anime ‘My Dress-Up Darling’, which is probably considered a YA Rom-Com or slice of life.  I’m struggling to find anything that’s really grabbing me though.  I keep looking at hour-long shows, but I typically don’t have the time to watch even one episode on weekdays.  This puts ‘Reacher’ and ‘Black Sails’ on the backburner until maybe holiday/winter/spring break.  Pretty sure I don’t have many anime fans who read and reply here, which is where I tend to find shows that can match my school year schedule.

Goals of the week:

1. Write more of Darwin & the Joy Path
2. Tinker with ‘Phi Beta Files’.
3. Time with son this weekend.
4. Halloween!
5. Rest up and keep eye on stomach issues.
6. Work on January blog posts if time is short and empty.
7. Puzzle work.
8. Pokemon Go as usual.  It’s Part 2 of the Halloween Event, but it looks like next weekend is low key.  I’ll take it.