Very Little Glamor

Roadtrip Z

Still dazed from finishing a hefty (well over 100k) epic fantasy zero draft. You’d think a half-weekend off would be enough time…and yet it always takes exponentially longer than one thinks to bounce back, especially if one attempts to start working during the nadir of recovery.

On a brighter note, Book One of Roadtrip Z is free on Kobo until April 9, so if you like competence, zombies, longing, and people coming together in the face of catastrophe, well, there you are.

I’m gonna try for a library trip this week, not to mention a push to get yet another zero draft done. Once Rook’s Rose is over that particular finish line, I think I’ll have brought every project from lockdown to successful completion. The dribs and drabs of stuff I wrote to let off psychological pressure don’t really count; I mean paying projects–or ones that turned out to be paying even though I had no intention of publishing, ha.

Then it’ll be time for the new serial, which I’m already planning. Not to mention revisions on Sons of Ymre 2, and then I can shift to writing the new serial, book 3 of the epic fantasy trilogy, and book three of Ghost Squad. I’m looking forward to that last one most, I think, because it’s Tax’s story. He’s going to Vegas for his buddy Boomer’s wedding, and of course he’s going to get into trouble. Because of course.

The latest Reading with Lili is up on YouTube–I got to nerd out a bit about Marguerite Duras. I may get back to the Great Chapters readings in a bit, if health and time permit. There was such a howl of protest when I didn’t put up the first “just reading Genji” stream that I have gone back to just throwing everything up onto YouTube for your delectation, but formatting and editing the Great Chapters stuff take a little bit more work and I’ve got all I can handle at the moment.

The weather app keeps screaming about wintry mix and possible snow, but it doesn’t smell like we’re going to have a bad event. Of course, last April we had the terrible barrage of heavy wet stuff that brought down a much of trash onto the roof, cracking it and necessitating all sorts of nonsense. I have hope we’ll escape that sort of thing this year. Heaven knows my nerves aren’t in a state to handle that shit, though I suppose nobody’s ever are.

Boxnoggin isn’t even lobbying for walkies, content to go back to bed after his morning loo break in the backyard. Where there is finally a back fence, though I’m still sad about the cedars being gone. Ah well, we take what we can get around here, I suppose.

And with that, I suppose it’s time to shamble breakfast-ward. I’ve been addicted to Japanese trap-and-bass tracks lately, and might try a playlist of those instead of my usual running music. We’ll see how it works out, but first I’ve to get the coffee absorbed and the dog rambled. Once I’m home and settled it’ll be time to dive back into the wilds of New Rome and embroil Miss Dove in even more trouble, especially since she’s a single breath away from meeting the Big Bad. Who isn’t much of a villain, but he’s all we’ve got in that story, and part of what I wanted to do with him is show just how petty real evil is.

There’s very little glamor in fighting monsters, despite what fiction tells us. Yet it’s still important work. I suppose I’ve been wrestling with the dichotomy my entire life, and it doesn’t look like that’s stopping anytime soon. Ah well–play to one’s strengths, I guess.

Onward to Monday.