Happy guy

Hello!

So, what have I been doing?

Pretty much the same as I always do, but lately with a lot of moans and gasps. I hurt my back. I'm coming out of it now, but it as been a horrid week as I stumbled through the house. I couldn't even make most of the food I have since it has to be baked and I couldn't lean over.

But I have survived it so far. It's better today.

Even sitting at the computer has been difficult, so my writing took a hit. I need to concentrate on it again, but I'm still not quite up to it.

Russ is supposed to come home over Memorial Day weekend. I hope he makes it this time. He hasn't been back since February, and three months is just a bit too long. Neither of us are happy about it. He hopes he can start making it once a month after this, but we'll see.

I did write four short stories at the start of the month. I have a fifth one started, but haven't been able to get back to it. The time on the computer has been limited to what absolutely has to get done in most cases. I'm getting past that, though! I have been a bit more active over at ArtZone lately -- it was kind of distracting, to be honest, and I needed that. I admit that I've been doing more art than I probably should -- but it's been a great way to take my mind off of everything. Writing does that too, of course -- but the art stuff works better sometimes because I have to learn how some things work. That takes more attention for longer periods of time. It helps.

My major writing work, other than the short stories, was a complete rewrite of No Beast So Fierce, which took it from somewhere around 23,000 words down to 7500 words. Not to say that I tend to be wordy or anything, but it turned into a nice little short story. I have a specific market in mind for it, so after I go over it one more time, off it goes.

I'm also working a little bit on the notes and worldbuilding for Draw the Line. I need to get the rest of my notes typed in (maybe tonight), and see where I need to go from here. It's looking like a very complex story, and I really can't wait to work on it -- though I am going to try and work out everything I can ahead of time. At the rate I'm going, this may turn out to be the NaNo novel this year.

So that's what has been happening with me. Not enough to really blog more often. I lead a boring life!

Silky -- Coming Soon

Oh. Just saw that I used this picture the last time, too. Well, I'm exicited about it, okay?

"Exciting, complex and richly textured, with a world you'll believe and a
protagonist you have to cheer for -- Silky is wonderful." Holly
Lisle (Quote from original 1998 Embiid Publishing release.)

Captured as a child and sold into heartless slavery has robbed Silky of his magical abilities and left him with no expectations of a better life -- until his own act of bravery delivers him into the hands of a powerful Lord of the Land.

His troubles are far from over, however, since Lord Reed is out of favor with the King, and danger threatens at any mischance. Working with Lord Reed starts him along a path that will lead to power, danger and heartbreak, and a future the young slave boy could never have imagined.

***

Yes, the new edition of Silky should be out soon! I'm really happy to see it going back into print. I suspect the second book in the series will follow before the end of the year, which will be really wonderful.

That's my big news for the day/week/month. Russ has not been home since February. We thought he would make it last weekend, but it didn't work. Then we thought he might have a chance at two weekends in a row in early May, but the company decided to send him to Detroit rather than Davenport -- if he had been in Davenport, he could have driven home for a couple days on both ends of his week there.

He says he will be home for the Memorial Day weekend. I really don't believe it, to be honest, because something has gone wrong for every weekend he meant to come home.

But at least the snow is gone.

Now I have to start worrying about thunderstorms. And grass. Do you know how many years it has been since I mowed grass? Well, not quite as long since I had scooped snow, but still....

I want a puppy. A very small, not going to grow into anything big, puppy. I'm not sure why. I think I just want something to change things around a bit here. Maybe I should consider something a little less traumatic for the cats?

Ah. Here's another picture for you. The Boys on their second birthday.

There. That's better.

Silky is off to Holly. Again. It's been off to her at least once before, and then I realized I had to make some changes, and then....
I've had a problem lately with letting go. I don't know why. However, I have been lingering over edits of books and art work. It's not even real work -- just messing around with things. But Silky is now out of my hands and I told Holly not to give it back to me unless I really have to correct something.

So, the new version of Silky is done. Book 2 is going along very well, and I'll be getting back to Book 3 as soon as I get some other things cleared away. I have a few outline notes for it, too -- just to make certain I keep moving along on it. I like the story so far. I'm up to almost 17,000 words on it.

I have a couple questions into the British publisher for the nonfiction book, mostly having to do with the contract. I am working on the book, though, and it's moving forward -- just not very quickly. I need to be able to focus on it, and that hasn't really happened yet.
But I am still getting work done, so I can't complain. It may be a bit slower than usual, but it's still going along pretty well. Since I often go through slow downs, I'm not too surprised. Things will pick back up again soon. I can feel little ideas starting to work their way back into my brain, and I'm starting to sort through story notes again. There are two novels I would really like to get to -- Draw the Line and In the Shadow of Giants -- but both require considerable background work. I'll probably be doing more of that over the next few months.

I would also like to do more short story writing. May is the Story-A-Day dare at FM, so I should really try to focus on the idea of writing some material for it this year. Maybe if I think about it enough before hand, I'll be ready to leap in this time!

Oh yes, I can feel that urge to start writing lots of things again.

I think I better go rest before it takes me over. (laughs)

I put bird food out today. Now, for most people this would be a nice little afternoon task, no big deal. Not for me, of course. I'm allergic to sunflower seeds and this food is mostly just that. We bought it when Russ was here and he would put it out. I love getting bird pictures through my office window, and I've missed that this year. (Among so many other things I've missed, but I'm trying not to get depressed.)

So I literally took my life into my hands and dragged the stuff into the backyard and started filling feeders and the birdbath. I spent most of the time telling myself not to breathe. And then I would at the worst time, of course. I got them filled and my hand started to itch like mad and I had little bumps all over it and my arm -- but as soon as I got into the house I washed up and took allergy medication. For the most part, it worked. Except that the allergy stuff made me too tired and I slept for about an hour and a half. There were probably birds all over the feeders, gorging themselves while I was asleep and not taking pictures, right?

If I eat anything with sunflower seeds (or oil) I break out in huge hives and can't breathe real well. So this really was quite daring of me. And maybe tomorrow I'll get some good pictures, too. And maybe the food will last for a few days and the horde of squirrels won't get to it before I can get a few pictures.

Writing is going well. I'm close to 30,000 words on the new version of Silky 2, about 15,000 on Silky 3 and over 8,000 on the nonfiction book. I am, quite obviously, on a Silky kick and it looks as though I'll have at least two of them completely done in the next few months. I think I have the cover for the first one finished as well. I'm not certain why Silky has taken over my life, but I'm enjoying it for the moment.

I've also been having a lot of fun with the art stuff. Have I posted a link to my ArtZone Gallery here? I don't know. Here it is: http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&p_id=885 I have really enjoyed learning how to work with some of these programs. It's a wonderful new world of creativity for me, and there's still so much more to learn that I don't think I'm ever going to be bored with it.

And you know, that's pretty wonderful -- to have two things (writing and art) that never bores you. Even when I'm annoyed or depressed about the rest of the world, I can always sit down and write something or open one of the programs and work on it.

Sometimes it's a good idea to remind myself that I'm really very lucky. Even when things were looking bad, I was still making a bit of money and able to help keep us going while Russ took a job -- a job he really didn't want to take, but one that allowed me to still be here, in my lovely little office with the kitty guys.

I'm really very lucky. It's a good thing to remind myself of that sometimes.