20240923

20240923

[As usual, three 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.]

Offbeat monday. Got up and went to work out with my buddy. He’s a fireman, so rotating schedule (24 on, 48 off, with random variations) that never stays the same. Instead, he pings me and we set up a morning. Get up early, go work with him for a few hours. Got breakfast on the way home. 11Am and just not settling in to writing, but will just flip my normal day backwards.

Writing has been going good. Since I started working out with him, I kinda offset it because the TaiChi class I had been taking has either ended or at least gone on long-term hiatus. That means that I usually write six days per week, then take one off (or short, like today). And I still stay largely on a monthly pace, which is what matters.

Tiny Greathall™ update: got the walls “done.” Inner wall (connected to middle bay, has “subsurface” and we’re ready mud and sand it, prior to painting and then building up stripes with the old hardwood leftover from other projects. Front wall is mostly done in the sense that I covered the existing parts and won’t put in the door, frame, and structure on the other side until the tiling is done. Outside wall got covered yesterday with half inch plywood to eight feet. Will add some trim in a while to the top of that. Back wall is done on the right and I need to do wiring before closing up the last bit of the left, but will attach the plug gang and cut the wall panel to fit today.

At that point, I’m taping. All the usual gaps you get. Then mud, dry, sand, and I’ll be ready to paint. Pretty sure I’m doing a faded mustard on the walls, reminiscent of aged maple rather than old white pine.

After painting, we’ll tile. Gotta lay out all the tiles I have currently and figure out my feng shui, but it will be pretty. Finish wiring and I’ll have lights and power for the mini fridge that goes under the bar.

After tiling is done, dried, and grouted, that’s when the front door goes in. Gap is 47” and the door is about 38, so I will frame in that side chunk. Don’t need a window, because the door is half-plexiglas, so I’ll have light inside.

Molding and trim and stuff last, but I like the progress I’ve made. And it’s worked on getting my core in shape, because lifting heavy wood at arm’s length and holding it. Plus an impact hammer to drive screws into 35 year old wood that has turned into concrete.

Writing: Finished the first Forgotten City story (the 15k SF that demanded I write it) and pivoted to the next Science Officer. Exile (14) is the start of an inner trilogy, running through 15 and 16. 17 will be the end of Season Two. Dunno what happens after that. Haven’t looked that far ahead. Know what that story kinda is, and it completes the long voyage.

Corsac 7 is out there somewhere, as 5 drops in February. Researching and planning Red Branch 4, with #1 coming out in November as part of me going to Author-Nation in Vegas. (I talk Action-Thriller and research, so I figured it was worth doing that one early, then dropping the rest on the back of it.

Hoping to complete a couple of series this fall, like Corsac block one. And getting Javier in a better shape. Etc. 2025 was always going to be weird because 2024 has been so mishmash. Hoping 2026 is cleaner. We’ll see when we get there.

For now, I write. All I can control. Hoping it will be enough.

Chat soon.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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