[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.]

Better this week. Granted, low bar considering last week, but better. Absolutely nobody got bit last week. Close doesn’t count.

Still crunchy this morning, but that’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today working in the yard and expanding one of the orchard boxes. Spent this morning on the phone with English Paul while finishing off the rabbit wire and such to keep the large ungulates at bay. They’re polite enough. Scared one while walking around because I wasn’t paying attention and she popped up from her nap about ten feet in front of me, ambling off.

But they eat things. Gotta box them off. Got space to plant a lot of new things that are currently in pots. But crunchy.

Last night at the dojo, we put on gloves and hammered each other. Best way to learn to take a punch is to take a punch. Got a small bruise on my cheek where Josh jabbed instead of hooking and got inside my guard, but otherwise good. Just ate lunch so I could take some advil. Gonna need that.

Talking to Paul while working, we covered Sebelius, Chopin, and Purcell. Because public domain music can be adapted and arranged, and we’re looking at how old revolutionary tunes (Finlandia, in one case) and be a call to arms in a new punk rock project. And how a rondo can turn into a walking bass line when tweaked. No idea if it will work, but I have a sound palate now and thoughts on revolutionary lyrics.

Some of you will remember Owen Castle, who has appeared in a couple of Boundary Shock Quarterly stories. Another one coming this fall. Those are all set in a bleak dystopian future where the world is running down and the revolution is coming. And going to be ugly, because if you stop things from naturally moving, the pressures build up until they erupt instead of oozing.

Owen looks around at his friends and suggests that, “It’s almost midnight, Cinderella.” as a way of summing things up. That’s where I’m writing parts of what could technically be classified as a rock opera. Technically correct is best correct, after all.

Dunno. The music works different parts of my brain, and I can actually arrange things a little these days, though I am still shit at any instrument besides voice. That’s what I got him for, because he plays everything. And bought himself first a clarinet and then an alto sax in the last couple of months, after teaching himself violin last year.

He can probably play it, but we have a deal that I won’t play anything live unless its ‘Top of the Pops’ calling and I have to throw together a live band on short notice. Fortunately, he and I know a couple of orchestras worth of rock’n’rollers who’d come out to play.

Working on other projects on the side. Headed to NorWesCon this weekend, so I started a new Business For Breakfast book on designing and building your Stock Light Freighter for space adventure stories. All the tech and aesthetics you need to think about, so that your ship is its own character, and not just a gray box. Also working on space opera space military uniforms, so these two might be part of some new series of research guides or something.

They’ve filled me with a lot of new ideas that I hadn’t really considered previously, so already successful. Probably do the same for other writers. Worth the time. Like music, keep the brain sharp because I have to yell at Paul to stop edging over into comfortable, safe, and stodgy.

Kincaide 3 is around 117,000 words at this point. On track to 175+/-. Wrapping up lots and lots of grand things while exploring some of the questions present on page 1 if you know what to look for. Got several other novel projects when I get it done, but that’s May and why I am working on some of the other things at the same time.

Getting there slowly, but as I reminded Paul, the fact that I crossed 12,000,000 word written was a testament to me wanting it more than most folks. You know the ones. Cafe dilettantes, who have been working on their novel for the last ten years. Or complaining about how they just don’t have time to write, then spend hours talking about the latest game they’re playing. Or the show they’ve been binging.

What do you want out of life? Go look at what you are spending your time on.

Don’t like it?

Change.

Simple as that.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Ow.

Had a long phone call yesterday, so walked a big square around Enumclaw. From the bookstore north to the edge of town, then east to the dog park, then south to the highway, then all the way back to the bookstore. Map suggests about a four mile walk. Developed a fun blister between the ball and pad of my second toe, so took off my shoes and sat with my feet flat on the cold concrete for the second half of the call. Still limped all night. Mostly gone today, but…

Then dojo. Senior most student tested up from her black belt to black and red. As second senior student, I got to be her sparring dummy with staves. (Bo, for those of you being pedantic.)

She accidentally cracked me twice across the back of my right hand, nailing first two fingers with stingers. Ow.

After dojo, went to a local place to chat with Sensei and asked the waitress for a bag of ice to put on my hand for an hour. Helped with swelling and pain, to only double left hand.

Came home and took various things.

Crunchy this morning. Tired. Exhausted and drained. Life kinda sucks, but it will get better in another 4-6 weeks. Just gotta grind it out at this point.

Passed 100k on Kincaide yesterday. Deep into the final movement and how all the various parts will play out to get across that finish line.

Did a publishing review yesterday. Heather and Ollie through October. A’Zedi Survey Corp in Nov. Then probably RAN Stormhawk and Daughter of the Shogun for three months. Harri the Merchant (two done, planning one or two more this summer) in the spring, then Kincaide 3 to finish things off and we might be through June at this moment.

Reviewed Last Stand for Season Two. Got book 13 done and coming in a future issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly. Season Two is a whole long story arc that I have roughly planned out, so just need to write them. And more of this and that.

Emotionally, have to get through Kincaide first. Lot of heavy lifting there. Then all the other heavy emotional lifting around here, where painting with Molotov cocktails is (probably) not appropriate, but has made my top five list.

Frustrated and depressed. Folks are starting to see that I’m not shy and retiring under the smile, but generally incandescent. Trying not to bite anyone. Mostly succeeding.

Got a great new recipe for you next month. Made it over the weekend and enjoying.

Figure Kincaide gets done around May 1, then I can move forward.

Will try not to set fire to everything before then.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

It snowed Thursday night. And all day Friday. Part of Saturday.

Lost power at 9am Fri. Came back on Sat at 1130.

Wet, heavy stuff. Walk down the long driveway with the machete, knocking snow off trees that had been bent over under the weight. Had to use the Sawzall a few times where they had broken off and blocked the driveway. Did that three times.

Crap finally melted off Sunday afternoon. Down to a reasonable amount of snow in the yard this morning.

Only useful part of a day without power is that I can throw a log on the fireplace and keep the place warm, then sit on the couch and read, because I designed the house with lots of good lighting. In this case, I grabbed a clipboard and started taking notes.

I had been working on a worldbuilding project for the old SFF genre called Planetary Romance, more recently called Swords and Planets. SF, sure, but a lot more in the vein of Swords and Sorcery fantasy, usually with some sort of magic involved. Witch doctors or whatever. (Not to be confused with the Romance Genre, as the title actually predates that getting its own category in many places, and deals mostly with chaste, courtly romances of the swashbuckler ilk.)

Don’t wanna run down my batteries on my phones, so pen and paper. Around ten pages of notes by the time I’m done, and that doesn’t count stuff I copied directly from TV Tropes in order to have trope and theme stuff immediately handy.

Told Rebecca that I blame her for everything, because she was talking about some anthology series projects for next year, and Planetary Romance was one of them.

Yesterday being Monday, and a mostly normal one, I was down in town, and writing on that phone. Started with a bang, as I do, and am stealing a number of bones from a fairly prominent SF franchise, though you’ll only recognize the bones that THAT writer stole them from previously. There is nothing NEW, only a different way of presenting it. He stole it from a guy who stole it from another guy, so I don’t feel bad stealing it from him in turn. He’s not using it anymore anyway.

Got some 2500 words done. Need to circle back to Rebecca and get a word count from her, because it’s going to be another ongoing serial, but I don’t know if 10k or 20k chunks. Got probably 9 novels worth of ideas here, but that’s me able to mine three entire GENRES of story ideas spanning more than a century of silliness.

Past that, things are getting back to normal around here. Mostly. February sucked. March is behaving better, not counting winter storms dumping some 12-16 inches of snow that melted pretty quickly.

Kincaide 3 is about 85k, but still rumbling along slowly. Partly, that’s taking three days entirely off because I didn’t want to have the laptop on with no power. Will catch up. And keep rolling. Got stuff already done and ready for a full year of publishing dates from today, and that’s before I go deep into the trunk for more.

Y’all have a normal Tuesday, m’kay?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Tuesdays traditionally were the days when TradPub released new books. Every author got a specific Tuesday assigned to them over the course of the year and that was the day their book would come out. I knew it unconsciously before I learned the details, because I just KNEW to walk into the bookstore in early April and I would find a new David Drake book.

These days, I always release on the 10^th. Today is the 10^th. I released a book.

Ollie 1 is finally out. Seeking The Gods, first in the Quest For The Ancients series. Xenoarchaeology and asking who built the ancient network of hypergates that connects the entire galaxy. More importantly, Ollie has never been able to locate the world where Humans come from, and that has irritated him for twenty years.

Then he discovers a clue. And shit will get way out of hand before we’re done, because I wanted to ask some big and chewy questions with this series.

It started out as a series of shorts, as you’ve seen me do several times since. Then I hit a “what the hell do I do now?” part and had to put one story aside for six months before the whole rest of everything came into focus and I wrote. And wrote.

Rufus has been one of my favoritest characters to write, because he’s alien. And does alien shit. Has alien observations and opinions, like how humans cannot commit science or read important books without touching them, regardless of not having eyes on their fingertips.

But the Troida made good evolutionary choices, which he will also remind you of regularly.

And Hawk, when you meet him, should have been played by a young John Astin. You’ll see it when you get there. I had too much fun.

It was a fun series. Dunno what I might write for Ollie in the future, or if I skip forward a generation to Ollie and Mani’s kid. Anything is possible, because I left a lot of open space on that map to play.

Red Branch 5 is getting a cover and a publication date. Doing edits on the back parts of both Heather and Ollie so those are ready in the summer and fall.

Deep into Kincaide’s War 3 at this point. Hit 70k of an expected 170k, and the last third came sharply into focus yesterday. USUALLY, I know how a book and series will end. Not here. Not until yesterday. I was just writing and trusting the unconscious parts of writer-brain to have it.

Granted, I have a whole series of questions that needed to be answered, left over from the first two books, so I knew many of those set pieces, but how they all came together wasn’t something I had consciously engaged.

Wow. Gonna be fun. Gonna be weird as hell, but fun. Just gotta get there.

Ollie today. Heather in a month. Rotating back and forth all summer and fall, then stuff at the end of the year that’s written and in the editing process.

I always knew that Kincaide 3 would be huge, in terms of time, because I expected it to take me 3+ months to write, given other projects and constraints. Shit happens, and this gets Kincaide off my plate for good. No longer hanging over my head to complete, so I can attack some of my other open projects, like Giles or Holden. Or Duff. Stuff to do. Fun to have.

Shit to write.

And more coffee this morning. Gotta have more coffee, as the bags under my eyes have zip codes.

Y’all find someone else to post bail instead.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Grumpy, crunchy, and a little rabid this morning.

Dojo work last night was all take downs and falls. On mats, but a lot of middle-aged dudes learning basics from the lock to the drop. At one point, as practice dummy, Sensei tweaked my bad shoulder just enough that I’m on some asprin and advil for the swelling this morning.

And the world sucks.

</Homer, backing slowly into the hedge>

Started a new short yesterday on the phone while in town. Boston’s latest adventures, for a future issue of Thrill Ride. Always trying to stay 2-3 issues ahead of everyone in my writing, in case I have to stop and write something at the last minute for one of my magazines to fill space. That’s usually a Sloane Webber story, if you see those.

And why I fired half of the BSQ Syndicate last fall and replaced them with folks who were actually happy to write and deliver stories on time. (…and a little rabid this morning.)

Kincaide 3 is somewhere around 50k. Major plot twist to outsiders, but something that has literally been telegraphed from almost page 1 of book 1. Just took a while to finally unfold, but I promise you you’ll go back and see it. I’m like that.

Got a bunch of other projects that I want to write when I finish Kincaide. And shorts I continue to write on the side, including Harri the Merchant, with two novellas done at present and ready for next year. Gonna write two more so I fill a nice block of stuff, since Kincaide is going to be a three month project, but I knew that, and I write on the phone.

You’ll get your Redlance story tonight. I was too fried and in pain last night to manage it, because I don’t remember where we are and need to write several more of those after Boston.

Crunchy. Getting better. Getting coffee in me to take some of the rusty edges off. Less likely to bite isn’t the same as unlikely, but it’s a Tuesday, and you know what that implies.

Cheers.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

No Pants Day.

Saturday, Feb 24, 2018. My first day as a full-time writer, having walked away from the dayjob as a Database Architect in Business Intelligence on that Friday and not looked back. Got a calendar reminder. Technically, wearing jeans instead of the kilt, but had a couple of days of head cold and finally recovered, but not got a lot of excess spoons today.

Sat all day yesterday to write instead of standing like usual. Still got 5,000 words done on the fifth Brother Jon tale, the one for the special kickstarter edition coming soon. Since I promised not to share with anyone else, it might not come out for a while anywhere, but I enjoy Jon and will likely write more of them as a character collection.

Also working on Kincaide 3 (the end of the trilogy) but it is going slow. That’s intentional, because I have 170k words of story, and want it to flow at a slower and deeper pace, rather than a six-car accident on paper.

And have ideas for a weird new Urban Fantasy character, [very loosely] inspired by Fred Ward’s character from Cast A Deadly Spell, which is one of my favorite movies. It combines Hard Boiled Detective Noir with Cthulhu Mythos, and also includes Clancy Brown, Julianne Moore, and David Warner. Everyone understood the assignment and channeled Hammett and Chandler

It will be a little weird, warning you up front. And you might see it here at some point. YE HAFF BEEN WARNED!!!

Heh.

Celebrating eight years as a full-time writer. I got very lucky, but I have also worked my ass off to take advantage of those openings when they appeared. And keep working my ass off.

Being an Indie writer is to be a small business owner. Got a couple of friends who really want to handle the writing and publishing side, but don’t want to have to deal with business overhead, so trying to find them a publishing house to take them in. I could do it, but it would be a little work today and a lot of work next year when they both got their feet under them and wanted to get a little crazy. Or a lot.

If you know any small houses interested in inheriting a couple of pros, reach out.

Past that, recovered from the trip for the most part. Been home long enough to acclimate to sea level and humidity again. Life is good.

Not a lot to say. Still puttering along today, but writing this, then hopping back over to more Brother Jon in a few minutes. Might finish that story today. Might wait until tomorrow.

Gonna be fun, because Jon has some strong opinions and a willingness to share them with me.

Hope your Tuesday doesn’t suck.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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 again.

Good news, I’m home. Bad news, I came about as close as you can to getting my nose broken as you can last night. Didn’t don’t think, but close.

BACKGROUND: Dojo Night. Sensei M* is a 5^th degree Black Belt in Isshinryu, learning GoJu, which in our case is closely related. She knows about half of the material, and is adapting the other half.

Last night was Bo Kumite. Ten-step drill, offset five, so one person attacks from 1 and the other blocks from 6, and the two flow together perfectly. Sambrata (Pinay originally, I think, but don’t quote me) done with tanbo, or a stick about 24 inches long. We both know that form. Last night, Sensei hands me a bo and has her working on her bo form as well as her sai form. All three work, but work a little different.

At one point, I snap block her stick down, and when she recovers, she accidentally brought it straight up into the underside of my nose perfectly, not touching chin or mouth. BONK, though, because of all those nerve endings.

Plus, just back from Colorado, so dry air and altitude and my nose has been bleeding off and on for two weeks, so I’m blind and worried that I’m going to bleed all over the floor here. Didn’t but man, that stings.

Bruised this morning, so pain killers after vitamins. Feel like a naughty pinocchio right now.

Writing is a little sideways, but that’s fine. Far enough ahead on short fiction that I can finish off the second Harri The Trader novella (about 17.5k of 24 at the moment) this week, then get back to Kincaide. Planning three of these up front as palate cleansers between other projects, and have the third in mind. Will drop them in 2027 at some point. Semi-military space adventure, about a guy who kinda gets blackmailed into commanding the ship when he’d rather not, but then shit happens.

As it does.

Having fun with them.

In the process of fulfilling the kickstarter ebooks this week. Getting addresses from everyone for the books, and as surveys finish rolling in I can start paper and postcard delivery.

Still going to do an AMA at some point. Probably April, but not certain at the moment.

Mostly, a return to normalcy around here.

No, I’m lying. Also have nine pounds of duck breast in the fridge defrosting to make pepperoni for a friend. He went hunting with a group, but nobody else wanted the meat. The guide cleaned everything and took the skin and fat, but my buddy has breasts. I offered to grind and mix for him and he’s giving me half, which is a hell of a deal because I love duck. Gonna roll in some pork for the missing fat, then smoke it all for him. Gonna be yummy.

But yeah, what is normal?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Wednesday. Got home late last night from the Superstars Writing Conference and am currently FRIED beyond brain. Met lots of wonderful people and have been sending emails to catch up with them all morning. Most of those have even made sense.

Drive: Seattle to Burly ID on first day, then Colorado Springs on Second. On the reverse trip, flip those. Spend a week at stupid elevation and single-digit humidity. Gonna need some time to recover.

Kickstarter got turned off this morning and I am starting the fulfillment process. Surveys going out shortly, then rewards after folks respond.

Words. (ahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

Did have an idea for a slightly wacky Urban Fantasy character/setting you might meet at some point.

Sitting down today with lots of coffee and little brain, but slowly working my way back to coherence and typing, so this is not going to be a lot of words.

We’ll return to the regularly scheduled programming with some extra fun new with the Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef news in a bit. If you aren’t following, that’s your loss.

🙂

Cheers

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Really short bit of news today, because I’m currently out of town. We drive from Seattle to Colorado Springs M/T and are at Superstars Writing Conference (https://superstars2026.sched.com/mysessions). Gonna be a little crazy, but a lot of fun and looking forward to teaching this week and meeting people.

We’ll return to the regularly scheduled programming with some extra fun new with the Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef news in a week. If you aren’t following, that’s your loss.

🙂

Cheers

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Congrats, no more Kickstarter news, because it wraps up in a few hours. Made it. Will build a Volume 6 for backers, who will get six other stories plus I will write a fifth Brother Jon for Harry.

Date TBD, because busy.

A little fried this morning. Didn’t sleep well because could never unwind from yesterday sufficiently.

Normal Monday, I go have breakfast at The Corner. Then down to the coffee shop and I write on the spare phone. Started a new novella there yesterday, after finishing two other stories over the weekend, not realizing how close either was to done.

Middle of coffee, the GM texts everyone that he has woken up with a migraine, and is crashing. Good.

I wander down to the bookstore when it opens and sit to write, but end up talking with a fellow I only kinda knew before yesterday. Regular in the shop, and his daughter is in our writing group.

Turns out he completed his PhD in Physics at Berkeley in the 70s. WAY freaking smart. Really nice. We talked for more than two hours because he’s retired and I didn’t have game.

Then wandered over to the library to do duolingo because outdoor benches somewhat isolated. Wander back, and GM and sweetie were headed to bookstore for coffee while doing errands, so sit with them for a while chatting. Head over to the bar across the street from the dojo and write there for a while with a glass of root beer. (They have excellent root beer this time.)

Sensei wanders in around 4, as usual, and we end up doing a DEEP dive on dojo principles. GoJu Karate, but he’s got a particular throwback to Miyagi Sensei in his approach, and is working on formulating forty+ years of martial arts into a coherent legacy. And doing a fantastic job of boiling it down, often using me as a sounding board.

Then dojo, where he sends me off to work up a sweat doing kata while he works with the junior students still learning kata #2 (Seisan). Grind. Sweat. Work.

More work.

Eventually, I realize that my wife is sitting in the audience. And that he had on his red belt, which he only wears for belt tests.

Mine.

Green to Brown. (White/Green/Brown/Black)

After everything is done, a group of us go back over to the pub for a pint. He points out, “You realize that all those extra credit things I had you do were actually what the black belt test contains, right?”

Oh, yeah. I felt that. LOTS of extra credit tests. And I still have a lot of polish work ahead of me, but I have the basics of kata, forms, partner drills, and principles down.

Refine. You can learn Sanchin in an hour, then spend a lifetime discovering more and more little facets of it. Seisan and Sanseru and Yama No Sai are all the same.

But I left it all on the dojo floor last night, and I’m not sure there exists enough coffee today. I did order a brown belt and it will arrive shortly. (He doesn’t provide belts. You get your own, but he has threatened to make an exception when I reach black, as I will likely be his first black belt student in the new curriculum when I get there in another year or whenever.)

Sigh.

Also started Kincaide’s War #3 this last week. Ships of Heaven. Will be 170k long when I get there. Only about 20k now. Gonna be a while. Got a lot of other things in the can to pub. And the erotica penname woke up and wanted to write things, so more is coming over there soon. Got one to come out shortly. Got another finished and needing polish and editing.

February however, will be insane, as I’ll be teaching at Superstars in Colorado and still have things to finish for the trip.

But other than exhaustion, not doing much today but trying to write and maybe recover. Baking for the trip. Slide decks to finalize. Sample story to finalize.

Crash, and own a brown belt.

And celebrate, when I stop and remember the journey I’ve been on.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.