One Step Closer

All 500ish pages of edits have been typed into the laptop!!!

Made a big push the last couple weeks and I am sore and cranky because of it, but it's done!  Yay!

Have two quick scenes left to finish off in this chapter I'm working on, then its the climax chapter, and the falling action/wrap up chapter.  My back has been pretty iffy, but as long as I pace my spine and write every other day I should be able to make progress over the next couple weeks.  3 doctor appointments to start off May, including the other half of the RFA (left side), but then I only have one in June (so far).  Might finish the first draft by then...maybe?  Please kind sir?

Plan:  Mad Scientist when able and binge the crazy amount of great TV releasing at the moment.  And watch the NBA Playoffs.  And City winning the Prem...again.  And Verstappen winning...again...and again...and again.

4/23 Update:  Two chapters left.

Random Asylum History Facts with Maudette Lynch

“Oh, yes!  Every few years there’s a runner traumatized by the Test.  We catch them before they leave campus these days.  Most head to their favorite spot for a bit of quiet and a cry—the Mound or the Gym, even the Library—but in 1966, Nelson Jekyll made it all the way to Stockton due to a particularly generous van of hippies.  Poor boy was stoned out of his mind and had lost his virginity thrice over before we found him…”

Ow...

 Ninth time, still surprised how much it hurts.

Mice and Men And All That Jazz

So the MRI results showed "moderate" issues in my C4 to C7 range.  Like...there's things there that are very not good, but maybe not to the cut out bone and slam in screws and rods range.

What this means is that the last RFA (Radio Frequency Ablation, AKA Burninating the Nerves) C7 to T2 missed 3 out of the 4 problem areas.  Which is bad, but also...it gave me so much relief as is, I'm very hopeful about what a correctly placed one will do.

However, because my very first T6-T9 RFA is over a year old at this point and its relief is rather quickly wearing off (basically serious mid back pain that gets worse and worse the longer I sit and stand until I have no choice but to lie down and rest) and because that new C4-C7 RFA would require me to go through the whole branch block testing procedure again (basically the whole same thing as an RFA except its just some lidocaine (I think) that lasts 24 hours as a test), docs and me decided to get the T6-T9 out of the way first.

Some other good news is that what usually takes four to six weeks to schedule is INSTANTLY happening next Thursday and then the second half at the start of May (since they do one side and then the other).

After that we'll get to the branch blocks and finally the full C4-C7 in October/November.

So that's six procedures over the rest of the year, but no crazy surgery that's got some serious recovery time and PT attached.

My plan was to go full Mad Scientist Mode after this appointment I just had and try to finish the book this month, but that's probably not in the cards now.  Will still write when able and in smaller bursts, but I need that recovery week after every RFA pretty much, so...more broken up instead of one blast!

And if any of you respond and tell me to think about my health and recovery instead of writing, I will kick you in the fucking shin 😡

First Toe Dip Of Edit Hell Survived

Edit Hell is over.

Some pages are...very red.  With whole added conversations and descriptions written on the back of them.  Others...were perfect and barely have one or two marks.  Anyone else get paranoid when this happens?  There must be something wrong!  Where are you?!?

I'm taking a week off (outside of entering some of the 600 paper pages into the laptop each day or I'll never finish before release) until my next doctor appointment with the Spine Peoples at the start of April.  My mind is really exhausted at the moment.  Not a state you want to write the finale of your novel in.  Plus, outside of a couple episodes of Brooklyn 99 before bed I haven't watched any TV or movies and I really want to watch Shogun and the Gentlemen and Invincible S2 and...a billion other things.

Spine is still holding up moderately decent-ish, but RFA could need redone as earlier as May and next appointment I'll be talking with the doctors about whatever the MRI showed, so we'll see about that too.  So, April I'll take a shot at finishing the last couple chapters.  Lot happens in them and every chapter in this novel is MASSIVE so I'll try my best.  Will be having fun doing it!  Welf and KH have some very intense moments in this novel.  After that I plan a complete readthrough of FM1-FM6 to get all that info back into my brain since I've written a few scenes in this book where I'm like...that might be accurate, Richard, you need to check.

But i don't want to check, continuity is so stupid!  Who cares what floor their dorms are on?  Who cares if he took Sabine to the Winter Ball or not?  Did he take Vicky too or did I think it but not write it? I can't remember!  Waaah!

Your fault for giving a shit.  Could've just been a hack writing generic harem LitRPG, but noooo...

Waaah!

And then a computer edit and a final kindle edit.

Then ya'll get to enjoy it too.