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Small. Journeys

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  For the past few years, summer work in education has not been anything like the benefit assumed by people who don’t work in the industry. “Getting summers off” is largely a K12 idea, and even then the season is made busy by other things, like material rushing into a vacuum. Time finds a way to spend itself. However, this week, today, I discovered a wellspring of time that I could reasonably project forward as lighter, open even. So, among other things, it felt appropriate to provide an update. I came back from my first official professional vacation with a lot of understanding for when I would hear other people “working themselves back” or “getting used to being in the office again.” I had work waiting for me, more than there would have been had I not taken the time off, but it was very easy to accept that such was the tradeoff. It was good to see friends, perhaps even better to be seen by friends. As the echoes of the train ride died down, I was able to separate the parts I en...
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Like hammering into time

  I was given cause recently to ponder on impact with regard to time. It’s been a theme that has echoed repeatedly recently, and it gave me a greater appreciation for consistency, beyond all the other important characteristics that contribute to success.  I was waiting for an order at a restaurant, on one of the rare occasions I was moving outside my comfort zone. I was looking at the colorful decorations and bombastic menu and the busy workers in the back. The person that took my order walked from behind the counter and over to me directly and asked if I had worked in education. The question made me wonder at our recent interaction, my asking about the menu and other details. I told him I did currently, and as I was speaking I realized I had to admit I had been in and around education for some 17 years. He asked if I had ever worked for a certain school, and I admitted I had, then all of his reservation disassembled into comfort and familiarity. He knew it. He knew he recogni...
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Like an aging mirror

  It’s been long enough that I can’t remember my childhood holiday breaks, to compare them to the ones flashing by now. Checking my calendar, I feel a little betrayed by the me of last month and my then work-focused mindset. The way the days land, this will be the first time ever either being in school or working in education that I won’t be off for two whole weeks. I don’t need a keen memory for that. Despite the betrayal, the same me from last month also committed to working on book 8, and taking a big chunk out of the work needing doing. And despite the betrayal, I will be honoring that. Around that same ambitious time, I opened my amazon dashboard, the cover for book 7 hovering in a different window, ready to put out another book. When I tracked the breadcrumbs, I was surprised to find that I hadn’t even finished with book 6. The frustrating interface that has haunted me these past few years was staring me in the face, taunting me with how the image I had submitted was micron...
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Beating paths

  Progress has slowed on getting the audio books out, for the Worlds Beside series, at least. I took a beat and developed a plan for the next few steps. I still need cover work for book 8, and I need a producer for book 3 and others (I’d like to stick with my original actor to wrap the series). All signs point to my trying to tap into some sort of crowdfunding. I think I’d like to offer a 4 book bundle, which would be the first half of the series, the audio versions as well, and if I could, probably set a mark that would allow for special art for the bundle. The plan calls for eating the voicework for book 3, which would be very difficult, but the crowdfunding plan would be even more challenging, so there’s that. In the meantime, I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at a local high school about world building. Right about now is when I realize it would’ve been good to have taken some pictures. Oops. Regardless, thank you Dekalb School of the Arts. My own interests aside, ...
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Still working (from the depths)

  Rather than saying that I lapsed in posting again, I think at this point it would healthier to admit that I just have a difficulty with blogging. And, I’ve learned, social media of any kind, really. I just don’t get it. To date, I have an Instagram account, where I have posted some of my poetry, and looking back at everything I did, it makes me feel slightly accomplished that to see it all requires scrolling. That makes me feel good. And I have Threads, which I’m still not sure if it’s different, or the same, or how it connects, or even how users really make it work. I have a friend who peppers me with posts from various places, and sometimes it’s from there. She encouraged me to make posts, and in so doing I have seen others’ efforts. It seems to be a nice forum, to sort of create an idea and get feedback in the form of replies. I tried it, and based on the silence, I feel like I did something wrong. And that’s been kind of the overwhelming sentiment from all of this. I have the...
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Seasons and change

  This winter I set out to produce the audio book version of the first novel in my supernatural series. I had been feeling for years that there was something denying the book from connecting with people. I wasn’t yet prepared to accept that it simply wasn’t good enough. Even from people who did read it, there were lingering comments like “it takes a moment to adjust” in reference to my writing style, which was always compared to “older” and “more classical” schemes. That was what I fixated on when people would disappear. When I would give them a copy with an agreement that they would review it, and they would vanish, or they would remain and the book would sink into nothing. Someone had asked, not just the once, if I had an audio version that they could listen to. And last winter, my goal was to be able to answer yes to that question. Here it is spring, very near my birthday, and I can finally say that it is done, available and official , some four months after when I had intende...
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Push, and breach

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 Nine months. That must be some kind of record for me. If I was the type to read into things, I might note that it's also the time it takes to make a new human from scratch.  I'm here puzzling through the audio book process, wishing I had practiced better organizational habits. As per usual, I'm learning a lot between sighs, as if the despondent air displaces to make room for the more useful knowledge.  Entering the process, my focus diffuses, like the thrust of a good night's rest striking a solid river boulder. I find old pictures in search of cover art, delete some and make mental notes to share others. I find old files in search of manuscripts, and work briefly on book blurbs. I frown and I groan and I thrash.  All of which to say, progress. My cover artist is graduating college, which is a proud moment. Work on the 6th cover has been delayed for a variety of reasons, and ultimately I take accountability for some of it as well. The edits have gone poorly, most no...
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