Not the dance. That edge state where you’re neither here nor there. Stuck in limbo.
I spent much of last month healing and resting. The endless grind of clinical oversight removed, days became cycles of feeding, sleeping, reading, and – occasionally – playing computer games.
Oh, and thinking about writing. The brain fog made for a lot of false starts and lost threads but I think I’m on the right path now.
Status
I’ve been disquieted by the new Ishmael books – especially the first one. Too much flipping about trying to find the story, not enough story. Thanks to a friend, I’ve worked through some of the issues and I think I like where we’re going.
Wizard’s Cat? Yeah. No idea. I don’t have enough clear brain space yet.
What Am I Reading?
Everything. Over 40 books in September. I recommended M C Burnell’s The Spider’s Friend in my newsletter a couple of weeks ago. I spent some time catching up on new releases and explored some new authors. (By “new author,” I mean somebody I haven’t read before – they’re getting harder to find.)
Seth Ring’s Titan series hit all the right notes for me in litRPG this month. A simple tale of an uber-rich guy stuck in a total emersion tank to heal his unique-but-potentially-deadly physiological condition. As one does. The plot revolves around learning the nature of the game, revealing layers within layers as Thorn and his colleagues learn about the world and their places in it.
As always, the characters drew me in. Thorn’s humanity – in spite of not being human – kept me turning pages and burning through the ten volume series.
But don’t take my word for it. Grab a sample. See what you think.
An aside: I’m always on the look out for a good series so I get drawn into litRPG. I also only read self-published works, so – more litRPG. I’m always on the lookout for good sf/f self-pubs, but finding new ones to recommend is getting harder. The downside of reading more than a book a day, I suppose. I suspect the rate will drop as I become more engaged with writing than reading. Something I’m looking forward to.
Looking Ahead
Mid-October takes me to the 90-day mark after treatments ended. The radiation and chemo have continued to influence my body so we’ve been waiting for it to run its course before I have my next screening exam. That’s expected to happen around the end of the month. That’s when I find out the answer the the most pressing question: What’s next?
I’ve got things I want to do, things I need to do, and things I’m pretty sure won’t happen.
For the moment, I’m stuck here in limbo taking short walks, trying to eat normally again, and letting my brain chew on story-telling time so I’ll be ready when it comes again.
Until next month, safe voyage.
