Boy, I’ve been putting this off for a while. So much has happened between 2020 and now that every time I go to make this post, I chicken out of it. I’m gonna have to hold back the details until they’re ready to come out. Suffice to say, I’m in the midst of a challenging time in my personal journey. I had to go away for a while, and I didn’t think I was ever coming back. In fact, I…
Things have been … surreal lately, for lack of a better word. Protesters tear-gassed in front of the White House, protesters tear-gassed a mile from my house—all while protesting against police brutality. Meanwhile, a global pandemic rages, and will almost certainly surge again. And amidst all this, I spent two weeks in the hospital while being treated for an auto-immune disorder. A one-time occurrence, or something (else) I have to deal with for the rest of my life? It’s too…
The first draft of Book 3 of the Sword and Starship series is done! (Though I still haven’t settled on a title.) It’s about 84,000 words over 18 chapters: a decent novel length, with room to expand if necessary. This is the first point at which “Book 3” exists in a coherent form, without lots of revision notes and unwritten gaps. It still needs tons of TLC before it can be shared with the world, but it exists. I get…
There are a lot of things I used to love about Mac that are becoming less and less true. At one time, everything just worked—but now I deal with stuck keys on my laptop keyboard (at least it is mostly usable! *knocks on wood*) and features disappearing from apps because Mac believes my laptop should be identical to my phone. Even worse, the Time Machine utility has begun failing regularly while backing up my machine, for who-knows-what reason. That’s bad…
Time still feels like it’s flying, but I’ve been filling that time in good ways, so I can’t complain. Also, no major health issues this year, which is a big improvement over last. A lot of time and money has been going into our house lately. It’s been worthwhile so far! Writing Updates October was a good, productive month. I finished drafting the last couple of chapters, and now I’m giving the draft of Book 3 one final pass before…
So, the summer was a blur. Guess what? September was, too, even with the occasional break in my routine! I think the fact that it’s still very summery here helped it speed right along, just an extension of summer. (Seriously, the high here tomorrow will be 90F/32C. I live in Pennsylvania, where we allegedly have four seasons.) I’ve been intent on my writing goal in particular, which has paid off, I think. Barring complications, I’m in a good position to…
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like this summer was a blur. How have we reached September already? In a bid to slow things down, I’ve begun engaging in some routine-breaking. This time of year, I try to savor the outdoors in particular, before it gets too cold again. Sitting or walking under some trees for a while really seems to clear the junk out of my brain. Writing Updates With 80,000 words in 15 chapters, my…
This month began with a major challenge to my comfort zone: driving hundreds of miles alone, and returning to both the dorm and the classroom for the first time in 15 years. During this one-week immersion seminar, Latin was the only language spoken in-class, and the only language allowed outside of class among fellow students and teachers. Sure, this sounds hard. I expected it to be mentally taxing. What I didn’t count on was how emotionally taxing it would be….
It may be summer break for most people, but I’ve never felt so close to my school days as I have during the past few weeks, preparing for my upcoming Latin seminar. There are several readings from Ovid, Cicero, etc. that will be discussed, so I’ve had to spend hours each day on those, because I’m still at a stage where I’m looking up tons of words and frowning over each sentence to decode its meaning. It doesn’t help that…
After several months of house projects and doctor’s appointments and more appointments and travel and anniversaries and birthdays, here’s June, sitting pretty wide open. I’m looking forward to a few quiet weeks before going out of town again! Writing Updates As mentioned last time, I really needed a vacation, so I took one. It was kind of a messy, on-off thing. I can’t even tell you how many days it lasted. But I tell you what, I was excited to…