You’d be hard pressed to prove it by the conditions here. Mid-70s today, although the trees are mostly bare, and the nights dip into the 30s. Still seems wrong.

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
My NaNoWriMo ended with 60k new words in this title. It’s a mess right now but I like where it’s going.

New Ishmael
No progress. Been focused on new words. These stories still live rent-free in my head, though. I’m looking forward to clearing away the Cat first.

Tanyth Audio
Yeah. I botched it. Starting the upload process again. Sorry. It’s on me.

What Am I Reading?

I finished Murphy’s Order of the Seer books then went back to read the next Burnell Foreign Sorcerer book, before lighting on Matthew O. Ducan’s Lt. Reilly series. Reilly is an engineer who gets tied up in a lot of unlikely problems and adventures in a post-war universe. Crime syndicates, political intrigue, and some good ole fashion pew-pew. I went through all three in a matter of days and kinda hope there’s another one in the works.

Maybe grab a sample and see what you think.

Last Words

My goal for November was to get my writing under control. I succeeded (mostly) with that. I averaged 2k a day all month and really like the way the new iteration of The Wizard’s Cat is going. It’s been a struggle, which hasn’t been helped by my seeming inability to get my boots on to take my morning walk on anything like a regular basis.

December’s off to a better start (even though this post is a day late). We’ll just have to see how it works out as the month goes on.

Safe voyage.

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.