Updates and stuff

The regular readers out there may have noticed I haven’t posted in over a week. Very sad, as since I first launched this site on January 1, 2015, this is the first time I’ve gone that long in between posts.

It was a totally crazy week, with all six of us having varying degrees of illness, fevers, pinkeye, colds, throwing up, and worse. But I think everyone is finally over it and I can get back to a semi-normal schedule of posting and writing again.

Today, however, I just wanted to give a quick update of some of the stuff going on.

Theme of Absence

The Theme of Absence Halloween contest ended on October 10, and I actually received twice as many submissions as last year. The quality of stories was very high and a lot of ToA veterans were among the authors sending in stories. It was a tough choice, but I chose to go with scary, and think you’ll all enjoy the winning entry come Halloween.

I also attended the Nebraska Writers Guild Fall Conference on Saturday. We have some great, informative speakers, and even an old fogey like me learned a lot.

I need a time machine

One thing I learned, was that there was something I had to admit to myself. And that was that at this point in my life, I can’t get an epic fantasy trilogy done. I just don’t have the time, or quite frankly, the knowledge. I need to read more in that genre before I try to tackle something of that magnitude. And let’s face it…I have four young kids and time is limited. I need to spend that time working on things that will have quicker returns.

So while on the topic of quicker returns, I have a new project in mind. I may or may not go into details about that here. It is technically “writing related,” but it’s…unlike anything I’ve ever tried before, so I don’t want to say too much about that.

The posting schedule

But one thing is certain about this mystery project. It may require a huge time commitment to get the project started. This means that I may need to take breaks from some of my other projects from time to time. Since I’m taking an indefinite break from the fantasy trilogy, I’m planning to revisit my YA horror novel at some point, but that will probably take a back seat to the mystery project.

The same could be said for short stories, and even possibly this blog. The schedule I’ve tried to maintain for the last year or so has been a new post on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Five Links on Fridays, and a podcast every other Thursday. As of right now, I’ll plan to keep up with the Five Links Friday posts and the Podcast, but I will probably be cutting back on the frequency and length of regular posts throughout the week.

But rest assured, I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not abandoning this blog. I’m just going to work on some (hopefully) income-generating stuff for a little while and see where that takes us.

So don’t be a stranger, take care, and keep writing!