Apologies for the lack of new posts.
Illnesses abound in a household with children, but Life Finds A Way.
So, you all know I had “Path to Freedom” release three weeks ago. It’s not doing as well as I’d hoped, but I guess that is to be expected. It’s the first book of a series, for one. And I’m not piggybacking on anyone else’s fame, this time either. J.F. Holmes and Lucas Markum have much larger followings than I do, so it’s no wonder that “Fae Wars Futures Past” did quite well. The “Path” series is all mine, and I guess I need to build up a better following before it takes off.
Good news, though. I have mapped out book two. The problem is, I’m running into time management issues between my new responsibilities with the VFW. I was elected to the House Committee at VFW Post 6158, which is eating into my time more than I’d hoped, especially with the number of crisis’ that have popped up there in the last couple weeks. $40k fix for a sewer pipe that apparently got shattered when the local cell phone tower’s power conduit intersected the clay sewer pipe when the trenchless ditch witch was used to run it. It didn’t cause the sewer flow to fail immediately, more’s the pity. Instead it just clipped it just enough to destroy the structural integrity of the sewer, and it finally collapsed along a ten foot span on either side of the conduit two weeks ago.
Of course, this all happened in the middle of the shuffleboard restoration project. I had a two week span during which I had to do all the sanding, staining and sealing of all the side rails for the table, as it needed to be finished before the company got done with the playing surface. That part is done, thankfully, but now I have to make a cover for it, and the material I want to use is on backorder. Sigh…
My youngest, Logan, has his last day of school today, but of course he managed to bring home a nasty cold last week that pretty much killed my whole weekend, as well as causing us to decide on postponing our 23rd Anniversary dinner yesterday.
I fully admit, I’m probably having a bit of decision paralysis going on with actually writing the next book, but I anticipate gaining a lot of motivation from my trip to LibertyCon, here in a couple weeks. It’s always inspired me to attend that convention, and I generally come back very motivated to write. Here’s to hoping!
LibertyCon should be a blast. I’ll be on my very first Author Panel, “Writing Explosions and Damage Effects”, which is right up my alley, given that my last MOS in the army before I retired was Ammunition Sergeant (89B-20). This means I actually KNOW what is contained inside various ammunition, and am trained in how they work. You’d be surprised how much of Hollywood is absolute BS. Explosions that don’t involve fuel are nowhere near as showy as the ones in movies, but the damage involved is actually potentially much more devastating.
Sorry for all the problems! Daggone life interfering with fun.
As for the decision paralysis:
1. Don't second guess yourself at this stage. What was done is good enough, so just move on with plans.
2. Try just writing a fun scene with the characters....like at a bar, or restaurant, or by a lake. Something with them just kidding around, even if it's not something you will ever use. It helps to get creativity going and you may even learn something about the characters that will help you later.
3. Set a timer and tell yourself you are only allowed to write for 10 minutes. The inner rebel will sometimes pop up and keep you going. And if not, then at least you had 10 minutes of writing practice and then you just do it again.
Hope that helps, hope things start settling, and hope things at the VFW work out. I don't qualify for them, so thank you for your service.