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[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 think I have mentioned that I messed up my right shoulder. Went to a professional sports therapy masseuse that the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ sees weekly and she took a look. Good news, I didn’t tear anything. According to Suzy, knots on top of knots, from elbow to lats.

She worked on me for an hour. I’ll go back in two weeks and have her do it again, after everything has a chance to loosen up and start getting back to normal.

Took a while to get here. Will take time to heal. But I know that. And am no longer too stubborn for my own good on some things. (you there, stop laughing.)

Mostly took last week and spent some time recovering emotionally from the summer. Some of you know the details. I thought I’d be in better shape by Oct 1, but we’re likely to be most of the autumn, and I just have to be okay with that.

Still got a lot of good things going on. Went for BBQ Friday night with the Babe and the Piper. The folks we met had won the ribs portion of the recent “BBQ, Beer, and Brats” event in Enumclaw. Those ribs were amazing. The brisket was damned good. The Pulled Pork pretty good.

Might go see them again this Friday, as they’ll be back at Headworks Brewing and Pursuit Distillery (same parking lot).

After meat, we pub-crawled. Drank more than I usually do (which is generally one), but we hit three bars. It was good.

Took the weekend off. Recovered. Let the brain kind of ferment and settle.

On the writing front, the second Heather Lau novel crossed 40k this morning. Target is about 70k, give or take, on the way to four or maybe five novels.

Working with someone to be deeply tuckerized as a cat-people species in the next Corsac Fox book. I plan to start #5 in about a month, with various short stuff I need to complete first. Plus setting up the website to start selling my music directly, where I actually earn more than three cents per sale, which is about what I get. (and ONE SALE is better than three months of streaming. If you have music you like to stream, do the artist a favor and buy it so they can maybe make enough money to continue.)

Had another conversation last week with someone who suggested that I should do an “As Read By The Author, with all the profanities included” version of some of my short stuff. Not professional sound engineering. Me, in a quiet room, reading it in one take and then selling those on the website as well.

That someone you folks might be interested in hearing? Some will be things that have never been available for sale, but I plan to start out with The Mirror and The Desert Ring, just to see how hard the process might be. Not like I don’t have the hardware and software to do this.

Also need to record my vocals for Skye. Been lazy, but English Paul needs those in order to do his production work. Also working on cover art for it.

Little things. That’s kind of all I managed this weekend. A bunch of little things, all moved one space to the left. Eventually, they’ll add up, but you don’t always see that at the time.

Still, I’m making progress. What are you folks doing to keep a smile on your face?

shade and sweet water,

blaze

West of the Mountains, WA

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