Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Here we are, last day of 2025. It's been an interesting year to say the least.

Not only did we move to new digs, we now own it, a fact that is still blowing my mind. I hit some rocky points in the Day Job but I'm still there and still managing to remain in control of the situation. I've rereleased a new edition of my first novel. I've made major leaps in my current project Theadia. The current administration still aggravates the fuck out of me, but I'm learning to react accordingly instead of spiraling. All in all, the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses.

I do of course have things planned for next year. I'm thinking Theadia will drop sometime in the latter half of the year. I'm going to start working on the remaster for The Persistence of Memories as well. And speaking of things creative, I've been wanting to revive my love for art and music creativity for years now, and I think I finally have the time and the spoons (and the tools) to do it. As I've mentioned earlier in my writing blog, it's all about the approach: do it because I enjoy it. That's all. No endgame, no sellable goal.

On a more personal level, I do plan on getting in better shape. I am in better shape compared to before I started at the shop, but there's still room for improvement, especially considering I'm getting older. Get more stretches in. Better posture. Go for walks on my days off. And of course, make it a point to start getting yearly checkups! I don't plan on being sedentary anytime soon and this will of course help.


On that note, I hope everyone has a creative and positive 2026!

Well, it's about time we got our winter rain! We'd normally be getting these downpours around this time of year, but it's been dry and cold the last several weeks instead. Per the forecast it's supposed to be like this for the next several days. [Which is good, because we've been bad and haven't visited the garden lately.] The downside being that all this humidity is probably going to give me a migraine. Bleh! This rain of course will also bring out all the terrible drivers, as I've already witnessed on my brief trip to the Ace to buy a few things this morning...

Meanwhile, the new direction I came up with for a secondary character in Theadia seems to have been a really good idea, as I'm having a much easier time writing the scenes now. I'm always fascinated when I manage to work out a troublesome issue with a story with a surprisingly easy answer! Just goes to show that I should continue to trust my writer instincts instead of trying to force something that may or may not work. I just need to keep working at it!

It's the day before Thanksgiving which means that today's shift will most likely be super busy and kind of bonkers, so I'm REALLY hoping we're well staffed. Doubly so on Black Friday, because they've been short-staffing us on that day recently, and I'd rather not be run ragged because I had to do three peoples' jobs, thankyouverymuch.

Either way, it looks like I'm back to less than forty hours again, which on the one hand is kind of frustrating but on the other hand it will keep me from overexerting myself and getting sick at the end of the year because of it. I wouldn't mind more hours and I'll probably need to ask the boss about it soon enough, so we shall see.

Meanwhile, am I FINALLY getting some new words down for Theadia again? Yes I am! It took me a little bit to get my mind in the right place for the scenes I need to write, so hopefully I can ride this for a little while so I can fill in all those blanks. And once that's done, I can finally finish the dang novel and get it out there! Woo!

Oh hi there! It's Sunday afternoon, which means it's time for my usual weekend errands of laundry and gardening (today was a community garden clean-up day, in which A and I spent some time picking up trash and also cleaning and reorganizing the sheds so they're less of a hot mess). We got home just in time for us to get our awaited IKEA delivery (a drying rack for A's knitting and a storage caddy for the laundry room).

It was also high time for the PC cleaning. I've been forgetting to run the cleaner software as of late, so said PC was quite happy that I gave it a very thorough once-over this time. It definitely needed it, especially since I've been doing a lot of file reorganization, Plex server updatery, and writing work! I also never turn it off (mainly because of the Plex so others can access my entertainment collection), but it's something that should be done now and again. What I'm delaying, however, is the latest Windows 11 update, because a) I really don't need it, and b) if I did update it, I'd then need to dig in and turn off the stupid AI crap that I definitely do not need nor want. It's not a critical update, so I'm going to avoid it for a long as I can. Or at least until I have the spoons to do the settings adjustments.

In reading news, I have been obsessed with the manga and anime The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity lately. It's firmly placed in Everything Is So Dramatic levels of teenage drama, but I appreciate that because the story precisely about dealing with that kind of stuff as a teen. It's very well written and each character has their own fleshed-out backstory and conflict to deal with. And it's also a really sweet love story as well. I highly recommend it.

In health news, I think I've FINALLY shaken this stupid cold/allergy, though I'm still getting stuffed up every now and again, including today. I'm just not continuously clogged as I was last week, however. Meanwhile, I have been feeling rather tired a lot lately, and whether that's due to Day Job Stress/Overwork or said congestion keeping me up at night, I'm not sure. Maybe both. I don't feel it's a major worry, but at the same time I am keeping an eye on it just in case it becomes one. Besides, I ain't as young and agile as I used to be!

In writing news...I'm just a few chapters shy of being caught up once more with the latest revision of Theadia. Which means I have two things to do staring soon: one, I need to go back and start writing the 'WRITE THIS LATER' gaps, and two, I need to actually, y'know, finish the dang novel itself! I've been working on this one for quite some time now, but I'm really excited about it as well, and that's always a good sign. I'm still roughly on schedule for "sometime next year" as its drop date. I might even look into commissioning a cover for this one! Heh.

And finally in Day Job news...well, let's just say there's still a lot of Hurry Up and Wait in regards to wanting a transfer. Right now there's a lot of Managerial Drama and Metrics Obsession going on which is taking precedence, as well as Holiday Season starting up. I'm a bit annoyed that I've been put on the backburner because of it all, but there's not too much else I can do except occasionally poke at the main players and remind them I'm still there and waiting. I'm also still a little annoyed about the lower hours, but I'll set that particular commentary aside for now.

In the meantime, Sunday also means Sunday dinner, and A is currently making beef stew which has the entire house smelling amazing right now.


Hope everyone has a good week!

Everything is back to semi-normal here (though there is some IRL fuckery going on that I'd rather not get into here on the blog just yet). The day job is the day job, the writing is the writing. Everything seems to be in a state of movement, which is always better than a state of stall, yeah? I'm back to almost forty hours at the day job again, and Theadia is coming along quite nicely.

Speaking of which, this current go-round is including my inserting a few [INSERT NEW SCENE/CHAPTER HERE] placeholders. There are a few secondary characters I never got around to expanding on who I think could be useful for the grander plot, so I'm giving the novel a bit of breathing room to give them a bit of stage time. I'm taking my time with this one, so if I don't quite get it out on schedule, I'm not going to worry. I really don't want to do this one half-assed.

OH! And speaking of writing, I finally got the rough POD ARC for A Division of Souls (the remaster), and it looks REALLY good! I'm quite glad Draft2Digital is providing this -- and via a much easier process than Amazon/Createspace, I should add -- so once I give it a final go-over (and fix any last-minute issues), I'll have it up and available to buy in print! Woo! 

And following up on that, I've also prepped a new copy of The Persistence of Memories for remastering, which I definitely want to have out by 2026. I think this one will need a bit less polishing than ADoS did, but considering it's my favorite in the trilogy, I'd like to make sure it's also just as tight and up to current standards! More on that soon enough...

Good question, considering I've had the last several days off! It feels weird having this many off in a row, but I've been keeping busy-ish. I've gotten a lot of house cleaning done! I still have a few things to do here and there, but the laundry is finished, dusting and swiffering have been done, groceries have been purchased, the garden has been watered, and the cats have been given more than enough attention throughout the day. I've also gotten a significant amount of revision done for this go-round for Theadia, which includes making much more detailed notes in the few "write this later" chapters I need to insert!

Mind you, I have most of next week off as well (this time on purpose, we're taking a few personal days off), so it feels kind of weird to not be at work so much. I'm pretty sure I'll be exhausted again once I'm back to full time hours again.

Woohoo! I'm finally DONE with the remastering work for A Division of Souls (that is until I do one last reread, heh), so now I can shift all my creative focus back on Theadia! I'm looking forward to starting in on it again, especially now that I have a clearer head and a few really good ideas on how to rework it into the style I want. I've given myself until late 2026 to finish it, so I've got a year and change to make it happen. I'm pretty sure I can do it, considering these days the first drafts of my novels take maybe a few months at most. [It's still kind of weird to say that. Each book in the original trilogy took about a year, while In My Blue World took three months.] 

Whether or not this one will expand into a duology or just be a very long single volume, we shall see...

I very rarely work on Sundays, and when I do it's usually because our head bookkeeper took the day off and I'm pretty much the only one to take his place. Today was such a case, meaning my weekend will be tomorrow and Tuesday instead. Thankfully the last few post-Valentines shifts have been extremely laid back and uneventful (and fully-staffed!) to the point where I could do what needs doing, take my own time doing it, and not have to worry about doing five other equally important things at the same time.

Unfortunately I haven't quite been on top of my writing schedule these last couple of weeks. Some of it is due to my work schedule, but a lot of it still boils down to distraction. I'm definitely on track for the Trilogy Remaster work, but I feel I could better utilize my time elsewhere as well. I'd rather not keep Theadia sitting there doing nothing. So again -- I need to readjust my time. I'll admit it didn't help that I had that neck pain followed immediately by a week's worth of head cold, but now that I've gotten past both I think I'm more than able to do so.

So what am I doing the next couple of days, aside from the writing? Not much other than laundry and relaxing. After six straight days of the Day Job I need the break!

I didn't exactly plan to skip my midweek post, I just completely forgot about it is all. Bound to happen sooner or later.

Anyway! Tomorrow starts my return to the writing grind. I actually picked up Theadia again about a week ago, but I'd done that on purpose: I chose to work on it because I wanted to and not out of a sense of duty or an attempt to force myself into a writing habit. These last two weeks have been pretty much all about calming down from the Day Job's Christmas rush and just taking it easy. This actually worked in my favor because I'm in the midst of cleaning up a scene that needed some heavy rework, and this approach kept me from getting too stressed out about it.

Meanwhile, my Day Job hours seem to be sliding into a semblance of normalcy -- mostly opening shift (or very close to it) Tuesday through Saturday, finally giving me a bit of a two-day weekend of sorts. It's mostly been upstock work at the start in addition to my two-day bookkeeping duties on Friday and Saturday, and while it can be exhausting of we have a huge delivery (those cartons of milk are heavier than they look when you have to stock several dozen of them while inside a cold walk-in fridge).

Still, as much as I enjoyed (and needed) that small break from my whiteboard schedule, I'm glad to be back!

Well, no wonder I'm finally feeling the effects of the Day Job! Today was the sixth day in a row, as Head Bookkeeper is taking his own vacation at the moment. I'll be doing the 5:30am opens all week, though I do in fact have Monday and Tuesday off. Knowing me, I'll be waking up at 6am regardless, as I do plan on spending the next two days catching up on writing, playing with the cats, and so on. (And laundry. Always with the laundry.) 

Speaking of writing, I'm finally getting further along with Theadia, which is a good thing. I've also been thinking about various artists I might want to commission to do the cover. Pretty sure it'll be a good chunk of change for it, but it'll be worth it. [I'm still thinking about doing a new cover for Diwa & Kaffi as well in the new year. We shall see.] And as for MU4...well, as much as I'm itching to get started on writing it, I'm deliberately waiting until I'm done with Theadia first because I really want to put all my focus on it. Plus, the secondary project I'll be doing in tandem will be the trilogy remaster (so to speak) so I'll be focused on the same universe. I'm definitely looking forward to it!