Ready to migrate

It’s been a while since I updated the blog. No promises about whether I’ll be more frequent in the future. By the time I finished getting my Patreon members updated, which involves updating my websites and getting new stories up for patrons to read, it was time to go out and get a few groceries and refill my water jugs. Got back and gobbled down some of Albertson’s roast chicken and suddenly realized it was six in the evening. How did it get so late so soon?

Well, here in Las Vegas, spring has sprung and it’s summer now.

It was up to 87 earlier in the day. Dry and gusty winds make it fire weather. Quick start and quick spread. Who knows what comes next? It is definitely time to start considering my northward migration and I expect to head out well before the end of the month. I still have another dentist appointment to get out of the way on the fifteenth and then I’m free.

April 23 was #UIndyDay and I participated by wearing my Alumni shirt and posting pictures of life on campus and a history of greyhounds. Here’s a sample:

Visit to UIndy campus in 2014.

With Lucy and Bliss in 2009.

My sophomore year in 1969, as the Player King in Hamlet.

My set for King Lear in 1971.

I posted quite an album on Facebook, so you can pick up the rest there.

April was a very productive month. I did a book layout for one of my clients and it’s ready to go as soon as we have a cover. It was also April Camp NaNoWriMo. My newest complete endeavor, Bob’s Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon, volume 3, was all written in April as part of camp. 88,600 words.

As if that wasn’t enough, I got stung by the new great idea bug and started writing a new coming of age story set in the ’60s, called Full Frame.

So, on top of my 88,600 for NaNoWriMo, I wrote 68,900 on this new story! This takes an autobiographical setting and then totally upends it as a fiction. Pretty much none of the actual details of the story happened in real life. Only the set-up.

When sixteen-year-old Nate moved with his family to a small town in northwestern Illinois, he thought he’d been moved to the edge of the world. One more step and he’d fall off into Iowa. Joining the class of ’68 in a new school was going to present a lot of challenges, including how to keep his passion for photography alive. He’s about to discover how fast word of a new kid in town can travel.

My alpha reader had this to say:

"I can see why you’re excited about this one.  Based on the first few chapters, this has Team Manager already beat, hands down!!!"

My first line editor has been snatching pages as they come out of my virtual typewriter. He asked how long this was going to be. I just said, “Long.” His reply:

"No shock for one of yours involving teens. I suspect these kids will do what most characters do—take over and insist on all their stories being told. And why not? That gets to be even more fun."

So, I’m churning out three or four thousand words a day on this new story obsession of mine. It’s not like I don’t have a draft of Team Manager CHAMP! that needs its polishing rewrite, or the just-finished Bob’s Memoir that my editors are waiting for. But there are so many stories to be told and I’ve told so few of them so far!

I’m also contemplating creating a calendar for 2023 that has covers of my Nathan Everett and Devon Layne books as illustrations for the months. Kind of an old fashioned idea in this electronic age, but I’m thinking it would be fun to put out a paper calendar. Just need to find a good POD calendar maker. Or maybe I’ll order a couple hundred and mail out signed copies. Interested?

Guess that’s all the news from windy hot Vegas today. I’ve really enjoyed seeing shows this winter with my neighbors and with friends and relatives who came to visit while I’m here. Last night we saw up and coming comedienne Zaidan Johnson. Great! Hoping for a repeat next winter.

Mapping my route north now.