Hello everyone. Long time no post. I thought I should catch you guys up with where I am in life, explain why I haven't hit my previous publishing projections I set for myself, and also reassure those of you looking for the next chapter in the Dick and Henry series and The Sunborn Saga that despite my slower production schedule, they are indeed in the works and will be published.
So, for starters, I have a new job. I spent the last year staying home with my daughter (she is now a year and two months), raising her, and now I've rejoined the work force again as special education teacher. I'm in a new district, serving new students with new needs, so there's been a lot of off-contract hours put into this, which takes away writing time. There's also a lot of time that I have to spend with my daughter and wife once I'm off work as well of course, and then there's that master's degree I'm currently working towards in SPED that is a requirement for me to complete to keep my new position. So, these things have put a bit of a damper on my writing time. But, that being said, they really have increased my passion for it, believe it or not. My brain is turning more now, and the excitement of creating a good story is burning as strong in me as it ever has.
That being said, I am currently working on a short story. I would say it's 2-3 nights from the first draft being completed. From there I'll mull it over some more until I feel it's good enough for my editing group to read, and after they look at it and get it back to me I'll do some more passes until the story feels complete. This is one of my mid-novel break stories I always do when I'm writing a novel. It's a dark fantasy story, something that would fit right in with my Skeletons collection.
That novel I'm currently working on is titled Little Noises. It's a dark fantasy more inline with Bad Dreams than Dick and Henry or Sunborn. I'm probably about 90% done with it, and it'll end up being 75,000 words or so (give or take).
Typically I give myself estimates on completion, and I usually lag behind those, so this time I'm not making any promises to myself or to you. I know what I have to put in for my job, my schoolwork, and my family, and there's no room in there to give. Which leaves me with about an hour or less a day to write. That being said, I'm looking ahead to school breaks (Christmas Break, Spring Break, Summer Break) and am already planning out how I'll squeeze in maximum writing and editing time so I can get as many novels edited and published as possible (I still have some I'm sitting on that just need revisions. These are novels that are not part of any of my series, sorry folks).
So, if you're a new reader or an old one, know that I'm aware I have series that are currently drifting in the wind, waiting for the next parts to be written and I do hear them calling for the next chapter. Also know that in my head those stories are brewing, and that I can't wait for the day to come where I pour the words out, edit those words into submission, and then hit that publish button.
Another thing before I go, I'm looking at this as a long game. I have many stories I want to tell. Both in my current Dick and Henry and Sunborn series, and other original novels and short stories. I plan to write all of them, no matter how long that may take. Nothing bothers me more than a story not finished, so there's no need to worry about that. But the way I'm looking at it is that I know over time I will get more efficient at planning for my new classroom, I will finish up my classes in a year, and I will get back some of my lost time, freeing me up for more writing. I also have my school breaks built into the calendar. So I'm not worried about the fact that right now things are slower, because I know they'll speed up. I also know that I'm not quitting this, and that my whole life I've been a writer, and I will always continue to be that.
Thank all of you for following me and my crazy characters. I hope to continue to bring more of them to life for years to come.