I got nothing.

A few factors went into me not even touching my outlines.  Well, that’s not true.  I took the notepad out of my bag once at work, but never got to use it.  So, what happened?

Finals–  My son had finals this week.  First time he’s had to face a challenge like this, so there was plenty of studying.  That was all we really did besides cartoons before bed or him going to his mom.  We had to make reference sheets for 4 of the 5 tests too.  We know he passed 4 of the 5 though, so the hard work was worth it.  He’s currently eyeing the bag of Lego sets I bought, including the ‘Everyone is Awesome’ Pride Month set.

Work–  While my son faced down finals, I was at work doing what I usually do.  I will be proctoring tests in 2 weeks, so that’s what I’m preparing myself for.  Things are coming to an end, so the Testing Center can get busy.  Been a long, tiring year, so many people are already mentally sliding into vacation.  Mask mandates have been bouncing around in this state too, which doesn’t help.  Two more weeks to go.

Heat–  It was hot and humid, which didn’t do me any favors.  My room gets dry and muggy, so I had to use the air conditioner.  The room I work in for most of the day gets hot too.  It’s hard to stay hydrated when I have to keep my mask on, so I ended most days feeling dehydrated.  This didn’t leave me in a mental and physical state to do writing even when my son was with his mom for the night.  I just . . . what did I do?

Moving Furniture–  This was minor throughout the week, but today it’s going to be the main event.  We’re having work done on the house, so the furniture has to be moved around.  Already got rid of a couch and an organ that’s been around longer than I have.  I really hope this isn’t too rough on my body.  Been achy all week, so adding this to the mix leaves me unable to do more than lie on my bed by the end of the day.

All of that combined left me too exhausted to work on the last outline for Tales of the Slumberlord.  I’m up to chapter 12 and it’s looking like there will be 24-25, which could make this the biggest book I’ve written.  I’ll see what happens when I get to condensing the third book of the trilogy into the third act.  Book 1 took 8 chapters and Book 2 is looking to do the same.  I might change things up and eliminate more characters while changing the path of others.  Reveals at the end of the original books can’t be done either because it’s just awkward.  Doubt I’ll be able to get anything done this weekend though.

I’m kind of down about slowing to a crawl with the outlines.  My plan was to start editing the next War of Nytefall book during the later half of June.  This would leave July open to writing the first book of my next series.  I could feasibly finish Darwin & the Fate Bracelet by the time my son is done with his two camps.  That puts me in a good spot for September when things get crazy again.  I don’t know when I’ll publish again too, so everything is up in the air.  Might be this year, but I don’t know.  Need to find a way to get pictures for Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) too.

Feels like I have a lot on my plate and people around me keep throwing more on there.  I really want to rest, but not because my body is giving out.  I want to get biking into my daily schedule, but I can’t do that when I have people running me into the ground during the times I need to recover.  The work on the house is biggest culprit here because it requires that this weekend and next weekend to help get things situated.  My body aches from the heavy lifting and sneaking in biking where I can as well as the heat.  Get the feeling that I’m going to be dragging myself to the end of the month.

Plus side, I managed to schedule all the posts for July.  I’m going to try for August this week since things are getting in the way of outlining.  This means I only have to worry about the weekend posts over the summer.  Tuesdays starting in July are going to be tough to fill in because I don’t know where to go with the teasers.  Think I have a poll going up tomorrow to see if people have preferred characters.  We’ll see what happens.

Television?  I watched an anime called ‘Space Dandy’ last weekend.  From the person who did ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and ‘Samurai Champloo’.  It was fun and whacky.  The first word of the entire series is ‘Boobies’, which is a Hooters-style restaurant chain that the characters are always eating at.  The series was like if ‘Excel Saga’ (continuity and 4th wall? what are those?) and ‘Outlaw Star’ (great sci-fi space adventure) had a child and it was raised by ‘Lupin III’ (crime/action/comedy series).  Helped me forget the heat and get through the first chunk of the outline, but that was only Sunday.

Goals of the week?  Do I dare since I failed most of the ones from last week?

1. Work
2. Try to get some biking in
3. Try to get some outlining in
4. August blog posts if possible
5. Sleep if possible
6. Puzzle time if possible
7. Stay cool if possible
8. Start a new show if possible