Happy belated Halloween! We got an extra big treat this year: a paved street! It. Is. Glorious.

And hey, I give as good as I get. A giveaway for my mailing list recipients just wrapped up, and I’ve mailed the winner a signed Blood’s Force paperback. If you’d like to be in on the next giveaway, whenever that might be, click here to sign up. You’ll also get some free short stories to tide you over while I work on the next Sword and Starship novel. :)

Writing Updates:

The drafting of Book 3 continues. I’m averaging about 2,000 words a week, which isn’t amazing, but real-life business has encroached on writing time lately. So it goes. Almost 6 chapters are “in the can” currently, but keep in mind that they’re rough and need tons of work. That’s true of drafting in general. I won’t know 100% what I need at the beginning until I reach the end, and I may stray quite far from my outline by the time I get there.

Current Goals:

Learning Italian. I continue to feel not-as-motivated toward Italian, for whatever reason. I find that I’m more interested in just looking up what I’m curious about than in trying to systematically acquire words and grammar. So I continue to do that: things like numbers, days of the week, phrases I might need in my various adventures (see more below).

Learning Latin. I’m actually keeping up with Latin on a daily basis, though. This pays off in unexpected ways, like when I encounter Latin quotes or phrases that were left untranslated (which happens a lot in older books). And hey, here’s a timely one: ghosts say “BOO” because boō means “I shout/cry aloud!” My eventual aim is to read classical works in the original Latin rather than having to rely on someone else’s translation. Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius are of immediate interest, but I’ve also got a cookbook by Apicius coming my way. :)

Updating website. I get to cross this one off my list, finally! My revamped personal website is now live. There was nothing wrong with my old website per se (ooh, this means “by itself!” :) ) but I’d built it at a time when I didn’t have as much by way of literary work done. I’ve since finished 2 books, and needed a site that was more vocal about that fact.

Plan/Schedule trip to Rome in 2018. We booked the trip for late April into early May! ::faints:: I alternate between thrill and heart-stopping anxiety, because that’s me, but I’m doing my best to lean toward “thrill.” It’s gonna be quite the task to narrow down what we’ll see and do. There’s so much going on! And for a week or so, we’re gonna be right in the middle of it :)

Later Goals:
Ramp up selling/promotion
[[Not sure what else yet! Should start thinking about it.]]

That’s all for now! Hope you’ve had a great month, and I’ll see you next time!