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[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.]

Tuesday. Been reading Corsac Fox 6&7, so quickly giggling that it’s a Tuesday. Hopefully not a Tuesday, mind you.

Six is at first readers. Seven will be ready in a day or two.

Meanwhile, writing short fiction for a variety of deadlines. Two Brother Jon stories done. First one is for Boundary Shock Quarterly 30 (Fading Empires) because I didn’t get as many words submitted as I wanted. Second one because I was having fun.

Assassin short (Rory) that helps me set up the character and see her in action, as I start into a novel. Maybe. Might write more shorts first, just for the hell of it.

Then, shit got a little weird. By now, you should know who Captain Sapphire is. And Eclipse. Bellerophon. Others.

Brain caught a throwaway line in there about Bolt’s niece taking up the mantle of his William Tell thing.

Never expected her to be a vampire. Seriously. Got an “origin” story there that’s kinda amazing, but probably not sufficient to submit to the Vampire anthology call R* is doing right now. Dunno. Writing #2 now. Might send her both and ask. Worst she could say was no, after all. And Wayne Gretsky always said you missed 100% of the shots you never take.

Finish this one up tomorrow, I think, then take a look at what deadlines I need to be working to. Got Javier 16 to write. A trilogy of Marrakesh stories I wanna tell, but might do those individually as part of a longer arc. Drawing on Napoleonic history, because why the hell not? Wellington and Nelson were assholes, but victors get to be painted in the best light. Got notes and ideas.

Also wrote a B4B that talks about how to sustain yourself across a career, after having that initial level of success, however you define it. Lots of folks will sell you a seminar, but few of those folks last longer than a couple of years, and then the world changes.

And then the world changes.

Had someone ask me to submit a short essay to their publication talking about how I could sustain writing 1,000,000 words every year and not burn out. They did not like my essay, because I basically said, Write. With tips on how to find joy in it.

Won’t bother submitting there again, because they think Generative AI is the future of literature, and I learned a along time ago never to argue with a fool. (Bystander can’t tell the difference.)

Past that, words. Fun. January. Had a massive bonfire after T* hauled off all the scrap lumber from the Tiny Greathall and a few other projects. Cleaning. House, too, as I found a new home for an old acoustic guitar and have a pile of stuff to go away.

If you are reading this in real time, I also have some model kits going to Value Village soon. Military, for the most part. Plus one Imperial AT-AT. Yell if you want. Folks seeing this in 3 weeks, Value Village at Southcenter, in Tukwila, because they will be gone by then.

What are your January traditions? We’re resetting our lives and regaining momentum lost in all of the 2024, and it feels pretty damned good.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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