Thought-Drive

Writing today went much more favorably than last week. In this, the last book of the series, whether they die or not, I'm having to say goodbye to a lot of characters. And I wouldn't call them my children, because most of them are older than me, better or worse than me, and all of them different. But they did come from me, and I did my best to nurture them during our time together. Today's chapter was the series wrap for a character that I enjoyed, and I was enthused that I could send him off with something that felt like dignity. I'm taking that positive and am trying to build on it. I've had a lot of ideas lately about a possible series after this one, and I might actually start writing them down. I'm getting closer to arranging those ethnographies, as well. I need to outline some things before I start, and chisel out some time to brainstorm on ideas. The meetup has been strangely unhelpful for that, but then, I haven't really been helping myself, eithe...

The book's out . The chat went well. I even met another author whose story struck me as interesting. He channeled his own debilitating illness into his main character. It was interesting. Write what you know, they say. I figure if I release fifty or so books, at this rate, I'll have fifty or so business contacts, people I met here and there. We exchanged emails once a month, were seen in the same photo twice a lifetime. Well, I hope it snowballs. The results for that writing contest came back as well, and I got a tie for third. Doubt I'll win the breaker. There aren't a lot of authors on the site, but most of them seem to know each other from wherever they were recruited from. Which isn't necessarily bad, just bad for me. In their posts, I can hear the familiarity they have with one another. I can see their body language, and I realize now the difference between all the specific steps professional contests take to better insure objectivity and why they exist. I...

Thursday evening I was supposed to be "sitting in a chat room" (I just realized how weird that is. I would be in my apartment, but simultaneously in a chat...) talking to readers and others about my fourth release, Where Shadows Lie: Campaign Trails. I was not, but not because I missed it, or was conscientiously objecting. I was not because the chat didn't happen, because the release didn't happen. I post from the publisher's email to the authors: " It's not any one thing but a cascade of problems with multiple people this time that have backed up everything. I feel I owe it to you to do this release right." The CEO did not go onto to say what those problems were, or who those people were, or even how we could help, but I am happy to say there hasn't been a lot of public speculation on it, either. And I feel pretty sure it wasn't me. The edits were done for my book a month ago, and I have already made my peace with certain changes that w...