October was not my finest hour. Or even a good week. Mostly it boiled down to distress over The Wizard’s Cat.
Status
New Ishmael
I haven’t made any progress on getting those three books polished up. It’s been a struggle to get anything done at all.
The Wizard’s Cat
I had about a third of a novel written on this. I chipped away at it, throwing words at the page for days at a time only to get to the point where I realized none of it was working. I closed the file and went back to the drawing board. It took NaNoWriMo to get me off the starting blocks again, but I’ve kept up with it so far. It’s only day 3 so we’ll see how well this goes.
Audio
I need to light a fire on the next two Tanyth audio editions. They’re not available in the stores and it’s all my fault.
Talking On My Morning Walk
I think I walked twice in October. Now it’s November and I haven’t been out yet this month. Perhaps today. It’s still dark here and I don’t know if it’s still raining. Long time listeners will know I have these fallow periods where I don’t get myself moving. They’re usually related to the periods where I’m not very productive. It’s a problem. I’m working on it.
What Am I Reading?
After a couple of the Foreign Sorcerer books, I’m back into litRPG. Andrew Brooks’s Station Core series takes the alien abduction trope and layers it onto GameLit. Our intrepid hero is plucked from his desperate life as an elite gamer and stuffed into an alien construct that looks like a game. It’s an interesting take and unfolds nicely.
It’s been a particularly interesting take for me because I’ve been able to take a mental step back from the actual story to look at the components that make it compelling for me. I’m attracted to the progression, the way the story builds as Milton grows. The way he makes mistakes and overlooks things that come back to bite him. It’s helped remind me of what I like most about Ishmael’s saga. It’s given me some headspace to let new stories seep in.
Maybe grab a sample and see what you think.
Looking Ahead
If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you already know two significant things happened last month.
The first was my birthday. I turned 69 (nice). The second was that my therapist retired. For the first time in a decade, I’m no longer in therapy. I’m not sure how much those two factors lie at the root of my issues last month but November is off to a marginally better start. I’m keeping up with the NaNoWriMo schedule so far and I like this new take on the Wizard’s Cat story. If I can get my boots on and get out to walk again, things should pick up and even out.
The message I want to leave you with is that even at the best of times – which none of this is – progress isn’t constant. Just like anybody else, there are days or weeks or months when just getting up and taking sustenance seems like a win. October, which is usually my best month, wasn’t that great this year.
Here’s to looking forward to a better month in November. Now all I need to do is actually do it.
Safe voyage.
