This was definitely a week of highs and lows.  Head is still spinning, so I’ll start off with the good news.  I finished writing Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks.  Maybe I should put a ‘THE’ at the beginning of that.  Beta readers have been sent the files and I need to locate/talk to a cover artist.  Really want this one to do well even though money is a little tight.  Any other authors out there having a really tough time getting attention for their books?  Feels like people simply don’t want to read or try new authors these days.  I mean, last year was bad, but this one is starting off on a foot that’s stuck in a rusty bear trap.

Anyway, completing the project didn’t come without a casualty.  My laptop decided to die in the middle of writing, which is something I say a lot.  Usually, it’s the hard drive trying to go for a walk.  So, I took out the battery, held the power button for 30 seconds, flipped it over, and went about fixing that.  Only problem is that the hard drive was in place.  I turned the laptop on again and it promptly said ‘Hi . . . Bye!!’.  It was apparently on, but not on and refused to be turned off.  A few hours later it came back to life, but with a new wrinkle.  I can only have Internet or Word open.  Try both (three if you consider I have Chrome and Firefox open) and it turns off again.  Oh yeah, the battery can’t charge more than 52% now.  Finished the projects and working on the desktop now.  I risk the laptop at night and use the phone for email, but night might be notebook work for now.

Talked with the family and a new laptop might be my birthday present from everyone.  I’m very thankful since I also had to get my car fixed up.  Tires, wipers, some hoses, and a fuel filter, which is in the friggin’ engine and required taking parts off.  Honestly, this has been a long time coming and it’s cheaper than getting a new car.  Poor thing is really ugly instead with part of the inner door cracked and the ceiling lining coming off.  It’s kind of been like that ever since Florida, which can be murder on cars.  Mine doesn’t have tinted windows, which probably did it.

Parenting-wise things were busy too.  My son was reading a story about the person he is lucky to have in his life.  My mom and I went and he was happy to see us.  Then, he read a story about mommy making granola bars, which stemmed from a promise she made on Sunday.  So, my wife got the story and paper flower when she got home from work.  I got to tease her about how it’s okay even though I make his lunch, breakfast, dinner, help with homework, bathe him, wake up early with him, blah, blah, blah.  He gets a kick out of me doing the dramatics because he knows it’ll end with a tickle fight.  We also went to a book fair and got him some new ones, including a comic about DC Superhero Girls.  Still working on the structure there.  We’re lucky Starfire and Raven make small appearances too because they’re the ones he abruptly wanted to see.

Now I must look to the future.  I’ll be testing out blurbs for Ritual of the Lost Lamb tomorrow, so I hope people swing by for those.  It’s a tough one with small spoilers that couldn’t be avoided without altering the blurb structure.  Not something I should do when I’m on Book 13.  For the weekend, I’ll be prepping May posts, but I’m running out of stuff to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The whimsy is getting drowned since so much is going on.  There’s the big event in early April and then the 1.5 week Spring Break for my son soon after.  Only a week between those two things, which doesn’t give me much time for full writing.  Next Monday, I’m planning to start working on the next Dawn Addison story for October and get stuff ready for Conquering Bedlam.  This is going to be a Bedlam story that will hopefully be posted Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday from June to September.

I say hope because I’m lost on what to do.  I mentioned this idea on Sunday and people seemed to like the idea.  Mentioned it again on Thursday and got the opposite reaction in my emails and messages.  This is the Lloyd & Cassidy vs ‘Trump’ thing.  I’m changing names, but lampooning all of the political figures in this kind of story does require that I make things a little obvious.  My goal is always to make them interesting and, at times, humorous.  I don’t even know if I’ll really be insulting here aside from making one or two pretty friggin’ dumb.  Something I noticed is that people who have an aversion to politics are giving me warnings.  Makes me wonder if I should have just done it and feigned ignorance about who the characters are like.  Not that anybody would believe me.  I’ve been looking at various villains and political figures that would be decent bad guys, but Bedlam typically has ‘over the top’ ones.  Hoping that helps me here.  Unfortunately, the title also means that Derailing Bedlam doesn’t fit the theme.

Goals for the week:

1. Finish May posts.
2. Work on Raven’s Dream
3. Quick character designs for Conquering Bedlam
4. Indulge in pizza celebration tradition at some point.  Snow stopped me yesterday.  It was in the 60’s on Thursday too.
5. Talk to sister about computer since she has a discount.
6. Possibly see ‘Logan’ tomorrow.
7. Wash out my mouth with brandy.  No reason necessary.
8. Continue using bike and resistance bands.  Those things really cause a burn in the muscles.  To be fair, I have the upper body strength of a Muppet.
9. Set up new laptop when it arrives and get used to Windows 10.  So many passwords will be reset and then there’s the favorites/bookmark list.

Plans may change due to friggin’ snowstorm coming Tuesday.  I expect the kid to be home and my energy to be sapped.