[As usual, two weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

I won’t say everything is better, but I am a glass half-full kind of guy, much of the time.

Counting backwards, October 27 was my last ^normal^ day until the heat finally got fixed late on Jan 18. Give it a week for the accumulated PTSD to start to fade, and things have started cycling up.

On that Friday, Oct 28, I was in the coffee shop, banging away on Musescore with a new musical composition for the punk rock opera. I’d gotten my flu shot that morning, so I was expecting to be hit by a bus at some point. Turned out to be COVID instead (whole ‘nother story).

One things led to another.

So last week, I finally got my musical hardware set up here again. Microphone, connection system (Scarlet 2i2), and software (Reaper) talking to each other. English Paul is outside of Los Angeles now, and I haven’t talked to him for several months save the odd email, until last Thursday.

Been working on new songs. Had been, but shit went too far sideways. Kinda back now. Between Paul and Katja, I’m learning more about musical composition, and what questions to ask to find the bits I need.

And I have three new songs at least partly done or first draft lyrics. Melodies are in my head, and need to be transcribed to Musescore, but that’s me and a piano plinking.

Better, a fourth song started bubbling up over the weekend, and I’m onto that. Expecting 8-10 to make up the punk rock opera. And long-timers around here have met both Nigel the bass player and Owen Castle, so you are familiar with the world. (There will be more stories, as well as the opera story itself in ‘23.)

I’m working from a rough storyboard, so filling in slots with music, to make things easier for Paul to compose against.

Kinda exciting.

On the writing front, I have mentioned that I am dialing back from Pulp Speed Three (1.4/yr) to Pulp One (1.0/year), so I took the weekend off and didn’t write. More importantly, didn’t stress. Don’t have to play catch up this week. Probably won’t finish Heather, but will get close. Not sure what’s next after that. Got a few days to think.

Monday, and I am writing this first instead of last. Too flipping cold to shoot (18F) but I did get out and have breakfast, listening to my own lyrics form into songs, so that’s lovely. Busy finishing up reading for the next issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly (Cyperpunks) and doing the editing there. Also read a novel for one friend and a short story for another to give them a First Reader pass through each.

And now, post this and back to Heather.

What’s your Monday looking like?

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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