Dear Reader,
It's been a hairy couple of weeks. School and the entire state shut down about two weeks ago. School is closed indefinitely. New York State is not playing around with COVID-19. We have been attempting to home school the boys for the last little bit. It's been alright, I guess. There's one problem, I suck at writing word problems. I can write a novel in a month but I can't write a word problem that my son can't solve in less than a minute. I am mildly vexed.
I have been struggling to find the time to write anything. The kids have been keeping me on my toes. Mornings have been busy with academic work. We fit in almost everything in the morning: English, writing journal time, social studies, math, more writing journal time, and art. It's when we hit lunch time that things go sideways. Just yesterday the boys had an epic screaming match while I was washing dishes. It seems that I have to stay on top of them to keep them occupied with stuff. The problem is, I am beginning to run out of ideas.
It'd be easier if I could just print off stuff from the internet but I don't have a functional printer. I am drawing out worksheets by hand. It's been a challenge. I am starting to run low on kid friendly writing prompts. It'd be one thing if I could let them just free write for the whole writing session. The problem is, as autistic children, they write about their special interests at the exclusion of other topics. So, it gets harder to get them to write opinion pieces, fiction, or pretty much anything other than what their focus is at that moment. This is why I have been giving them prompts for their writing journal.
We've been curating how much of the news the boys watch because they get anxious over things. COVID-19 was a huge source of anxiety for my eldest for a little while after the school explained that they might be closing because of it. It took us a solid week to explain that as long as we maintained good hygiene and proper safety procedures we'd most likely be fine. I, however, have been watching and journaling in my daily planner the progression of COVID-19 in my state. I am deeply concerned and doing my best to come up with as much indoor activities for the kids as I can.
All of this rambling aside, I am still trying to get Book 5 of the Umbrel Chronicles of Evandar ready to send off to the printer in a few months. Gods only know if the COVID-19 business will allow me to get the book out or not. Worst case scenario, it goes out strictly in digital format. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with my interface for Lulu.com and why I can't get things going through there again. I keep getting error messages that I have the wrong version of Flash to use all their features. It's why I've been doing more stuff through KDP, even though I don't exactly like KDP's platform.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Going digital for now.
Dear Reader,
Maybe you have heard of this COVID-19 bug that's making the whole goddamn world sick. Aside from social isolation and doing my best to home-school my kids right now, I'm in the process of making sure that all of my books are available in digital format. While there are people all through the printing process and delivery process in need of work, their safety is of higher priority. As such, I exhort everyone to purchase digital editions of the books that they are interested in. The work of producing a digital edition is predominantly done via computer programs and far less people are physically involved with the product (and each other) which makes it safer for consumption right now.
The COVID-19 situation is making things crunchy and weird. As a medievalist, I was fascinated by the black death but I had (and continue to have) zero desire to live through such situations. And yet, here we are. I'm going to attempt to produce some short works and price them as low as I can manage to help you stave off boredom and cabin fever. Goodness knows I have a pile of notebooks full of story ideas. I may even share some of the stuff that my kids came up with. My youngest was inspired by my book writing efforts to make his own called The Sad Worm and The Happy Cat. His handwriting is illegible because he was so excited that he just scrawled random lines (or at least what looks like random lines) to go with the pictures.
If I can get things organized enough around here (which is a laughable idea at the moment as the kids are doing a terrible cover of The Beatles' Hey Jude at FULL VOLUME in the other room), I will share some writing prompts and ideas for writers of all ages. I have been logging the progression of COVID-19 in my journal. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this but I feel like it is an important thing to do for posterity. If you're inclined to keep a journal, consider using pens that are good on acid free paper. You're making a historical document, even if it doesn't feel like it, and it will quite possibly be important years down the road.
If I'm lucky, by the end of this situation, the kids will have learned how to carry a tune. Or I will learn to have the focus of a zen master. I suspect that I will not see either happen.
Stay safe everybody.
Maybe you have heard of this COVID-19 bug that's making the whole goddamn world sick. Aside from social isolation and doing my best to home-school my kids right now, I'm in the process of making sure that all of my books are available in digital format. While there are people all through the printing process and delivery process in need of work, their safety is of higher priority. As such, I exhort everyone to purchase digital editions of the books that they are interested in. The work of producing a digital edition is predominantly done via computer programs and far less people are physically involved with the product (and each other) which makes it safer for consumption right now.
The COVID-19 situation is making things crunchy and weird. As a medievalist, I was fascinated by the black death but I had (and continue to have) zero desire to live through such situations. And yet, here we are. I'm going to attempt to produce some short works and price them as low as I can manage to help you stave off boredom and cabin fever. Goodness knows I have a pile of notebooks full of story ideas. I may even share some of the stuff that my kids came up with. My youngest was inspired by my book writing efforts to make his own called The Sad Worm and The Happy Cat. His handwriting is illegible because he was so excited that he just scrawled random lines (or at least what looks like random lines) to go with the pictures.
If I can get things organized enough around here (which is a laughable idea at the moment as the kids are doing a terrible cover of The Beatles' Hey Jude at FULL VOLUME in the other room), I will share some writing prompts and ideas for writers of all ages. I have been logging the progression of COVID-19 in my journal. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this but I feel like it is an important thing to do for posterity. If you're inclined to keep a journal, consider using pens that are good on acid free paper. You're making a historical document, even if it doesn't feel like it, and it will quite possibly be important years down the road.
If I'm lucky, by the end of this situation, the kids will have learned how to carry a tune. Or I will learn to have the focus of a zen master. I suspect that I will not see either happen.
Stay safe everybody.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
I think I'm done editing. I think.
Dear Reader,
I think I finally finished editing the little book that I'm writing for the Filianic and Déanic faith community that I am apart of. That was arduous and irritating. For some inane reason, each time I uploaded the document new errors appeared. Errors that were not in the original document. Like my table of contents completely disappearing. Like fonts getting changed or suddenly becoming unavailable (which was really weird because just about everybody uses Times New Roman). I was beginning to think the damn project was cursed or something with how many times I had to tweak and re-upload with the prayer that it wouldn't magically develop another issue.
I am having difficulty getting Lulu.com's site working with my browser. It keeps telling me that I have the wrong version of Flash for me to use all of their features. As a result, I am working with KDP's site. Maybe it was because Mercury was retrograde through the entire time I was working on this. Maybe it was because of demons. I don't know, but this was a process that made me wish that I had somebody else fighting the computer and all I had to do was just write shit.
I suddenly understand now the pull of traditional publishing. Editing was painful and it was a small text. Uploading was a headache again and again. Then there was the process of making the cover and working out a decent blurb. It was ridiculous. I really think that there are bugs in the KDP platform and that's why things like random font changes happened. I'm trying to get Lulu's site to play well with my computer because I prefer Lulu's format. But until I can get it sorted out, I just have to keep kicking KDP in the teeth when it tries to alter my books with out permission.
Anybody with more experience using KDP's platform have suggestions to get its interface to be more cooperative please drop me a note in the comments. In the meantime, I have another book to edit and prep for release. Still also on KDP and it's still a headache but I'm closing in on being finished with that project too. It's another Filianic/Déanic book (actually the paperback of the digital book that is dropping on Saturday).
I'm urging people to go for digital copies because of the pandemic. I figure computers can't spread COVID-19. That way everybody in the chain of supply for the paperback books is a little bit safer with a few less books to handle.
I think I finally finished editing the little book that I'm writing for the Filianic and Déanic faith community that I am apart of. That was arduous and irritating. For some inane reason, each time I uploaded the document new errors appeared. Errors that were not in the original document. Like my table of contents completely disappearing. Like fonts getting changed or suddenly becoming unavailable (which was really weird because just about everybody uses Times New Roman). I was beginning to think the damn project was cursed or something with how many times I had to tweak and re-upload with the prayer that it wouldn't magically develop another issue.
I am having difficulty getting Lulu.com's site working with my browser. It keeps telling me that I have the wrong version of Flash for me to use all of their features. As a result, I am working with KDP's site. Maybe it was because Mercury was retrograde through the entire time I was working on this. Maybe it was because of demons. I don't know, but this was a process that made me wish that I had somebody else fighting the computer and all I had to do was just write shit.
I suddenly understand now the pull of traditional publishing. Editing was painful and it was a small text. Uploading was a headache again and again. Then there was the process of making the cover and working out a decent blurb. It was ridiculous. I really think that there are bugs in the KDP platform and that's why things like random font changes happened. I'm trying to get Lulu's site to play well with my computer because I prefer Lulu's format. But until I can get it sorted out, I just have to keep kicking KDP in the teeth when it tries to alter my books with out permission.
Anybody with more experience using KDP's platform have suggestions to get its interface to be more cooperative please drop me a note in the comments. In the meantime, I have another book to edit and prep for release. Still also on KDP and it's still a headache but I'm closing in on being finished with that project too. It's another Filianic/Déanic book (actually the paperback of the digital book that is dropping on Saturday).
I'm urging people to go for digital copies because of the pandemic. I figure computers can't spread COVID-19. That way everybody in the chain of supply for the paperback books is a little bit safer with a few less books to handle.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Life is getting in the way of my writing, again.
Dear Reader,
It would be awesome if things like my dishes could take care of themselves and laundry just magically folded itself up. Bippity, boppity, boom! It's done. Alas, life isn't that helpful. My kids try to help clean things up but tend to leave a bigger mess behind than was there to begin with. As such, my kitchen's kinda a disaster. I still have a big ol' pile of laundry to fold (and I was folding laundry all day yesterday) and my bathroom is in questionable condition. But, hey, we've got a wide path for egress through the living room so we won't die if there's a fire.
Some days, I feel like it's going to take a small army of people to keep up with my family and the housekeeping so that I can stay on top of my writing. Then I remember, if I do a little bit every day, I have a hope of getting things to a maintenance cleaning level. On top of trying to keep up with housework that mushroomed out of control when I caught a cold, we've got school stuff going on. I'm trying to wrangle my youngest into sitting down and actually studying for his spelling test this Friday instead of drawing plans for space ships. He has decided he wants to write a book at some point because I write books. Maybe I can connive him into writing some kind of story featuring all of his spelling words. I don't know. This has a chance of going off the rails into insanity.
So, I have not forgotten about this blog or my books. I just have been eyeballs deep in laundry and housework. I thank you for your patience. Hopefully, in a couple days, I'll be caught up.
It would be awesome if things like my dishes could take care of themselves and laundry just magically folded itself up. Bippity, boppity, boom! It's done. Alas, life isn't that helpful. My kids try to help clean things up but tend to leave a bigger mess behind than was there to begin with. As such, my kitchen's kinda a disaster. I still have a big ol' pile of laundry to fold (and I was folding laundry all day yesterday) and my bathroom is in questionable condition. But, hey, we've got a wide path for egress through the living room so we won't die if there's a fire.
Some days, I feel like it's going to take a small army of people to keep up with my family and the housekeeping so that I can stay on top of my writing. Then I remember, if I do a little bit every day, I have a hope of getting things to a maintenance cleaning level. On top of trying to keep up with housework that mushroomed out of control when I caught a cold, we've got school stuff going on. I'm trying to wrangle my youngest into sitting down and actually studying for his spelling test this Friday instead of drawing plans for space ships. He has decided he wants to write a book at some point because I write books. Maybe I can connive him into writing some kind of story featuring all of his spelling words. I don't know. This has a chance of going off the rails into insanity.
So, I have not forgotten about this blog or my books. I just have been eyeballs deep in laundry and housework. I thank you for your patience. Hopefully, in a couple days, I'll be caught up.
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