As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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For many people, the summer isn’t any different than the rest of the year. It can actually be busier and more chaotic. Kids are at camp, the heat can be rough, ice cream men prowl the streets at 9 PM, and you only get glimpses of the outside world from your office. You might be plagued by memories of your youth when summer was the long vacation from school and a time of gleeful fun. Now, you’re happy to get an hour on the weekend when it isn’t raining or hot enough to cook dinner on the car roof. So, what are some things to do to survive these difficult months?
Homer and Bart Simpson
You know, Homer Simpson isn’t exactly wrong here. While kids get the summer off from school, most adults don’t get the time off from work. Even if you have a job that stops at the end of June, you need to bring money in, so you get another job to cover the gap until the main one starts up again. We’re allowed to enjoy these months as children only to stare wistfully out a window at the weather when we’re adults. Sounds oddly cruel and soul-crushing. Not like we get extra vacation time or adjusted hours. In fact, many people end up spending more because you need to pay for either a full-day babysitter or a full-day camp. Adults really got the short end of the stick here. Let’s do a funny comparison and see how it goes.
I’m sure everyone has their own decision on who has it best or that nobody does. Really depends on the life you live. Enjoy and hope everyone is having a fun summer.
A very helpful list.
You may remember Ben Taylor from his guest post, 5 Things I Learned About Marketing my First Book. Ben has built Telecommute Now, a website dedicated to information about telecommuting. It has an impressively exhaustive article on online jobs, listing 50 of them. Among these, there was a section dedicated to writing and editing.
At the moment, over half of my income comes from writing-related activities such as my freelance article writing. Mind you, it did take three years and a whole lot of hard work (and praying, aka luck) to get to this point! As they point out in their article, online jobs are fundamentally no different from traditional jobs. Effort is required to seek out perfect roles. Your ideal position won’t necessarily be on offer on the day you start your job search.
If you love writing and enjoy working from home, you may appreciate…
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I’m going to try to put a little humor on a rough topic. With this week being so stressful, I felt really anxious and down. No panic attacks, but I had trouble finding the urge to do anything at night. There was a lethargy that cloaked me and I even went to bed early a few times, which is unusual. I brought these issues up to some people and most were understanding. Others seemed to be more interested in spouting advice that one swears would be found in a badly written self-help book. You know the one. It was written by a person who has never suffered from depression or anxiety, but they’ve read about it or known someone who they haven’t helped in the least. Anyway, here we go with a few laughs and I threw some serious ones in too:
This week started with a crazy event and ended with one. The first was a camper taking something that they shouldn’t have, but we don’t know who. The last one was something breaking that caused a problem for the game room. Things were broken by campers throughout the week because the heat and humidity had a lot of people acting like whirlwinds of destruction. I wish I could go into more details here, but I will say that it was a long week. Ended up forgetting lunch a few times too. My exhaustion hit a point where I simply passed out some nights and didn’t wake up until my alarm woke me. It wasn’t good sleep either.
Now, here is where some people have already run to the comments. I noticed that there are a handful of followers who only make appearances when I’m feeling down. You know, I’m going to post this for another day. I had an entire paragraph here and I’m going to build it into a post for next Sunday. Let’s move on.
My son’s birthday was last weekend and he had a blast. Turned 10 at Chuck E. Cheese and got nearly 1,500 tickets. I was happy to see him run around and smiling, especially with how life is now. Everyone from opposite camps were civil and friendly. Some only interacted when they had to, but I think I was the only nervous person. Spending too much time around the ex-wife leaves me drained and this event included her mother and best friend. I wandered off a few times to get tickets for my son and take a breather, so things were good. My plan was to let him run around unleashed and simply enjoy himself. My ex-wife’s mother hadn’t seen him since 2015 because she lives far away, which is another reason I stayed back and let them have fun. I won a jackpot on a harpoon fishing game too, which was exciting. Ended up racking up a bunch of discounts and deals for the party too, so it was cheaper and resulted in more tickets that I expected. Wins all around.
This weekend is going to be a little more laid back if I’m lucky. There’s still that issue where people think I shouldn’t be allowed to relax. Even had one person say that my fatigue and anxiety were being faked. The thing is that I’ve been frayed since last August when the divorce/breaking marriage started. At least, that’s when I became aware of it and I’ve been struggling to stay afloat. Getting a good paying job, taking care of my son, trying to get writing in, having a social life, and accepting that I might be alone for the rest of my life are exhausting. Toss in a busy and rough summer job? I’m surprised I’ve been able to get out of bed most mornings. I need too many cards to fall in the right place for me to get time to write. Otherwise, I only have 2-2.5 hours at night, which includes showering and getting stuff ready for the next day. I can’t get anything done during that time regardless of what people keep telling me. Stopping in mid-chapter section sets off my anxiety really bad, especially if I can’t get back to it for weeks. Tried it and just scrapped the whole thing. That’s why I’m going to stick to outlining today. Fingers crossed that I get the time since my previous attempt was undermined by other people’s plans falling through, so they bugged me.
Beyond all of that, I wish I had fun stories to share here. I used to, but I found that I can’t when other people’s kids are involved. With any luck, I’m going to be watching ‘The Boys’ today after seeing my son at martial arts. Outlining will be done with that on since it’s going to be my pocket notebook that I fiddle with. Want to know terror? Have a notebook in your pocket and be a pool activity leader for a bunch of 3-6th graders. The pool is also overflowing and some kids love splashing. This is another reason why I don’t bother bringing it on days when I have something else. That and I never get a chance to use it like I do in school.
These always seem to have more meat when I think them up in the shower. Guess I can’t talk much about book sales and promos since I don’t have those any more. Really wish I could find a way to get back into that game, but I can’t put in the time that I used to. Still, I might get lucky and release the next (never to be read) volume of War of Nytefall by Christmas. I have to get in touch with my cover artist who I haven’t spoken to since the spring, which I feel back about. This 9-5 thing is just as brutal as I remember.
Goals of the week?
Way back, I made a post that explains the origin of the ‘Windemere’ name. Check it out and I hope you like the poem that has been rattling around in my head. Guess a few old memories have been jogged loose.
Lake Ontario
Wandering among the trees
Getting closer to the edge
Nearing the stairs
That lead to the rocky shore
Where I hear voices
That I wish to avoid
While I dream in search of names
Others are relaxing
Escaping classes and work
If even for a bit
Some drunk on freedom
Others on Bud or Blue
I move away
In search of my own spot
Distance has been reached
And I stand upon the brink
Staring ahead
Where another land thrives
Yet I see a third shore
Deep within my mind
And I crave a name to give
Failed words form
Nothing striking the right note
Too weak and too hard
Too lame and too salty
Throwing letters together
And merging words
Frustration leads to force
I finally give
Letting my mind wander
Hoping my senses
Do the work without me
They hold onto the wind
As if the answer was obvious
Welcome to Windemere
I am so pleased to welcome Harmony Kent to Fiction Favorites. Besides being an accomplished author, Harmony is also a terrific editor. She describes her new book.
Hi, everyone. Harmony here. Many thanks to John for hosting me today. I have a new book on pre-order called FALLOUT, which is a post-apocalyptic dystopia. This novel started out life by playing a little game. I sat and closed my eyes and imagined an empty room … in that room, a vial appeared. A dull orange plastic thing covered in scratches. It sloshed when I shook it. From that tiny beginning, the world of Exxon 1 and its deadly virus was born.
How come there’s only one vial?
How does the virus and antidote work?
WHEN EVERYTHING FALLS APART, WHAT CAN YOU DO?
The year is 3040.
The location is Exxon 1, part of a six-planet system in settled space.
Determined to…
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As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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