Smokin’

Just when things started to settle down from getting the house painted (we’re still waiting on the new awnings), we’re now in the throes of automobile change. Yet, in spite of all the distractions of forest fires and car crashes, I’ve made more progress in the last two weeks than the previous four months.

Status

Shackleford House
I’m writing almost every day again. Sometimes not very much but it’s something. I’m much happier with the progress than before and, following Bradbury’s rule, “Don’t Think,” I hope I’ll be able to get to a satisfactory end to the critical first draft. When? I don’t know. I’ve made too many predictions that failed to materialize and don’t dare make any more.

Tanyth Fairport
Yeah. I need to deal with this. Apparently still have audio files that are flawed. Mea culpa. I want to write some new stories in that universe and work on the sequel to Salt, too, but my bandwidth seems to have narrowed from “fire hose” to “dripping faucet” levels.

Solar Clipper
So many great stories still left for me to tell there. I’ll get to them, probably sooner rather than later. Just not right now.

What Am I Reading?

I just finished the last book in Jenny Schwartz’s Delphic Dame series. If you were following that, the series ender is available now. That whole Xeno-Archaeology universe has been great fun and I hope it continues.

Most of the month was spent with Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations series. A fun take on a fantasy noir detective agency that kept me turning pages. It would have been my main pick, if I hadn’t picked up Skylar Ramirez’s Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes series.

In The Worst Ship In the Fleet, Ramirez introduces an intriguing collection of characters including the washed-up, alcoholic war hero Brad Mendoza and the victimized and abused Jessica Lin. He brings aboard even more colorful characters as the series unfolds (keep an eye on Hayley Uvalde) and does a great job creating a rich and varied universe that kept me turning pages until I fell off the end of the series.

Warning: Book 1 is pretty short and Ramirez almost lost me at a cliff hanger ending mid-series, but I kept reading in spite of it. The series was just so compelling, I pushed on.

But, as always, grab yourself a sample of book one and see for yourself.

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing them on the 15th of the month. They’re not all getting delivered but you don’t need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my ConvertKit public page.

Looking Ahead

With multiple forest fires burning 35 miles west of me and trying to replace the totaled Taurus (just a fender bender that was enough to have the insurance company write it off), the last few days have been a bit hectic, but I’m slowly regaining my feet when it comes to writing.

I think the extra down time has given my wetware a chance to cool off and settle in. I’m not trying to force the writing into some kind of shape or pattern. Writing the daily haiku has let me continue to explore craft – even if it’s not fiction – and inspired me to take that same kind of energy back into Shackleford House and, I hope, beyond.

I can’t do much about the fires but the vehicle situation will be settled by next week. In the meantime, I’m just working with my word of the year – surf – to try to be in the moment, keep my balance, and ride the wave I’m on rather than be distracted by other waves or what other riders are doing.

Thanks for all of your continued support. I’ll try to pay better attention to comments so they’re not hanging in moderation for most of the month. Again. (Sorry about that.)

Until next month, safe voyage.

N