I think things are coming together. It’s still slow, but there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Status

Marva Collins Series
School Days and Working Class are both available on Audible now. Rumor has it that Hard Knocks will be up for pre-order soon but I haven’t had any solid word from Podium on that yet.

Shackleford House
You know how in the springtime, everything’s cold and frozen? Then one day you step outside and there’s water dribbling in the gutters, that pesky patch of ice near the back stoop has melted, and you think maybe – just maybe – spring is on the way?

Yeah. That. Small trickles but I feel like the story might be thawing out a bit. Fingers crossed on that.

What Am I Reading?

Looking back over the last 4 weeks, I’ve read a lot of different things. More next books in a series, most of which I’ve already mentioned here. I tried some of James Haddock’s fantasy and really enjoyed Wizard’s Alley. Bruce Sentar’s Magic Mantle (book 1 of Ard’s Oath) is actually better than the cover would have me believe. For lack of a better description, I’ll go with “strong polyamory” content, so fair warning.

But Kristina McMullen’s Space Girl From Earth, book 1 in the Kyroibi Saga, hit all the right buttons. A really interesting space opera involving secrets and mysteries that Ellie has to deal with, often in the most frustrating ways possible, in order to figure out what the heck has gotten her mother’s knickers in a twist.

Honestly, I’ve been passing this over for weeks. It kept popping up in my recommendations but I always has something else ahead of it in the sample queue. I got to it the other day and I’m glad I did.

But don’t take my word for it. Maybe grab a sample and see if it works for you, too.

Looking Ahead

I’ve been bitten by the fountain pen bug and really enjoying the new experience of writing with pen and ink. I’m trying to improve my penmanship which means I’m doing a lot of hand writing drills, but I’m also doing a lot of writing. Organizing the story with pen and paper has given me some more insights and started me chipping away at the Cat’s frozen story.

The progress is slow, still, but I’m working with the idea of momentum. The writing engine has been all but frozen for the last six months but the words are starting to come back with the spring. The direction feels much better – more authentic, less forced.

Fingers crossed that this new sense of fun and some warmer weather will thaw out my brain and get the Cat purring along this month.

Until next month, safe voyage.

-N

I feel like I’ve come full circle.

I started the year in chemo fog. I’m ending it in COVID fog. Luckily, I had a lot of clear days in between. All things considered, it was a good year. No, I didn’t do everything I wanted to, but I did enough.

Status

Ishmael Wang and Company
With the end of the Marva Collins series, the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper reached an equilibrium point. No, I don’t believe that’s the last we’ll hear of Ishmael. I don’t know where his voyage will take him next, but I feel certain that he’s just starting out on new adventures along with the crew.

The audiobooks for Marva Collins are working through the mill at Podium. Book 2 went up for preorder recently and book 3 will appear when they have it ready.

Shackleford House
I had to put The Wizard’s Cat aside. The story I thought I had failed in spectacular fashion. I know why but still haven’t solved the story equation for this next step in Roger Mulligan’s tale. It will come, but – like any self-respecting cat – only in its own sweet time.

Other Stories
I keep meaning to revisit Tanyth’s world, either directly in Korlay or via the world EJ and I created in Salt. Perhaps I’ll get to that this year.

Background Stuff
I need to redo my web presence before Bluehost’s new limits take effect in March. I have too many websites on a single account and use too much space. The Solar Clipper Diary needs to get folded in here. I have a couple of sites that need to go away. That’s going to take a lot of focus – a commodity I’m sorely lacking right at the moment.

What Did I Read?

Not exactly the same level as 2022, but still 176 titles of my 100 title goal!

One of my goals for the year involved reading some of the classics that I’d never read before – like Moby Dick. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake, but I learned that trying to force myself to read just killed whatever enjoyment I might be getting from the practice. I discovered that my normal reading week of 20-25 hrs fell into the middle teens on any week I had a classic on the Kindle. After a few months I abandoned that goal as not accomplishing anything meaningful.

I did like Moby Dick (in hindsight) and enjoyed Siddhartha. The rest? Less said, the better.

Old friends like Jerry Boyd’s Bob and Nikki showed up month after month. In the latter half of the year I caught up with a lot of the series I’d started – like Tom Watts and Tom Larcombe. Jenny Schwartz’s sequel series, Delphic Dame, started with Scarper and I’ve been watching for the new titles as they come along. I dug back into Chaney and Maggert’s Backyard Starship series as the year wound down.

I also found a lot of new authors last year. In fantasy, Chloe Garner’s Queens Chair series. Gwen DeMarco’s Sophie Feegle. Mel Todd’s Twisted Luck. For science fiction, I’m still working my way through John Wilker’s Grand Human Empire.

The list goes on – and many thanks to the suggestions you’ve all sent me. Some great stuff there.

Word of the Year

My word for the year was Juggle. I’m surprised how robust that word turned out to be in terms of helping me deal with all the various vicissitudes. Encompassing “dropping a ball” and “begin again” and “flow” and “pattern” and – well – everything meant I always had a focus point to help me pick up and recover, regardless of what the year threw at me.

Three other touchstones gave my year continuity.

1. A focus on today. I can’t do anything about yesterday – except maybe learn a lesson from it – or tomorrow – beyond planning head. Whatever I needed to do happened “today.” Stripping things down helped to clear the fog and kept me moving. It didn’t always work, but it worked enough.
2. Daily habits. I have a checklist and a time sheet. Every day, I have a half dozen things that I do to try to keep myself positive and moving. Again, I don’t manage to do them all every day (like walking) but they’re still there on the list.
3. Writing every day. Yes, I didn’t always work on fiction but every day last year I wrote two things. One positive thought in the morning and a daily haiku. Trying to find something positive to say about the day before it begins really helped reset my mental clock. The haiku? Something I’ve never done. A challenge to my writing muscle, a dare to myself.

For 2024, the word is Surf.

I got the idea from a Hugh MacLeod post in Gaping Void and it’s been slowly working its way into my mind. Ideas like balance and awareness, reaction and response. Falling down and getting back up. It’s all the same water but every wave is different.

We’ll see how that works out but so far, I think I’m going to like it.

Looking Ahead

Thanks to all of you, 2023 was a good year. I had a lot of work to do to recover from 2022. That recovery continues even as my Christmas COVID finishes running whatever course it’s going to take.

I want to write the next Shackleford House book. It’s grinding at me and it won’t go away until I get it figured out and written down. I need to find the joy I had in writing the original Roger Mulligan. I want to have that feeling again.

I need to resolve the web issues. Too many sites. Too much data. Too complicated by half. External factors will force this issue if I don’t deal with it myself.

And above all, I need to keep going. The long term side effects from my cancer treatments continue to wear me down. I’m still very weak, lacking in stamina. I wasn’t able to make as much progress on recovery as I’d hoped last year, but – hey – it’s a new year.

Who knows what I might be able to accomplish next?

Until next month, safe voyage.

-N