It's been awhile.
Wish all the news was good, most of the news is good, just...well, I've been sick on and off since Thanksgiving. Three times. First two weren't too bad but the last one sucked whole bunches.
But, RR, you haven't updated since before Halloween!
And the reason for that at first was very good news. November 1st I went into Mad Scientist mode and finally started working on FM6. Enter a glorious two weeks were I wrote 4 chapters and began what is going to be such an awesome book. Seriously, so excited for it, just the beginning and all this cool stuff is happening. Last book I had to write chapters of drunk and mopping King Henry at this point, but THIS time the Crazy is out in full force. I can't go into more detail without spoiling you, and harping on it probably just gives you pain, so I'll stop now. Point is: having fun writing it, it's everything I expected it to be, can't wait to go back into Mad Scientist mode.
Then Fallout 4 happened...my bad. About ten days later I finally pulled myself away from one-shotting deathclaws with my gauss rifle loving AGI-LUCK build and got around to productivity again. Still haven't finished the game, it's waiting there for me, eager to steal another week of my life, but so far I've been strong.
And sick.
But first I got in the final edit on King Henry Short Pack Two. Which I'm really happy with, especially the Eva novella. There's also a Plutarch-KH conversion in it that makes me bust up laughing every time I read it. It's great stuff. It's also kind of necessary stuff. Having started FM6 and suddenly realizing how much I bring up things that happen in King Henry Short Pack Two in the beginning chapters, King Henry Short Pack Two really has become FM5.5 more than I expected it to. Maybe that's a dick move on my part, since I've never made shorts, be they 20 pages or 80 pages, required reading, but this time...you'll feel lost if you don't pick it up.
It just kind of happened to grow in the making. Hey, you put all those stories into a short pack, why not write a second short pack? Why not make it three novellas that take place after FM5 on the same day? Oh look, I accidentally wrote a short bridge novel. Hope you all will enjoy it, it will be releasing on February 1st and it will be marked as FM5.5 when I publish it.
Then Thanksgiving with Mom's White Beans and Ham instead of turkey, yummy, then moderate sickness followed by barely deserves to be called sickness, followed by Lung Rattling, Maybe I'll Die in My Sleep sickness. I can write while sick up to a certain point. I don't ever like to, especially King Henry since he requires a certain amount of swagger, but I can and I did on and off. Never Mad Scientist mode, but here and there with the editing and writing to almost finish another chapter. But I'm also asthmatic, so if something really hits me, really goes into my lungs...it's not happening. I'm a very grumpy, wheezing blob covered by blankets and surrounded by about twenty empty Kleenex boxes. No writing in sight. Unless it's a plea for help written in snot.
I finally felt decent yesterday, so I got back to the most important thing in my life...
I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens!
What?
Priorities, people. I was sick and couldn't go opening weekend! It was horrible! Had to dodge spoilers for a whole week! I barely made it. Especially when the Visual Dictionary I ordered arrived. I almost spoiled myself with my own fandom prowess!
Movie was awesome. Not perfect, but awesome. Star Wars is awesome again! I don't have to feel the weight of disappointment and defend the indefensible! The relief! Go see it...like three or four times, I know I will.
Now, I'm talking to you to explain things and tomorrow I'll finally boot up the writing laptop. One month successful, one month wasted, this is life as a writer.
Feb 1st, FM5.5, get ready! I'll be posting some previews/samples leading up to it, probably a small scene from each novella. Don't expect a full on novel, but... relevant shit happens! Yay!