Blog Post No. 528
I’m not going to lie. The title of this post is a bit of a bait-and-switch. To be completely upfront, there is only one book planned for this year and even it’s only in the planning stages. I’ve started writing my part of it, though, so I want to talk a little about it. I briefly mentioned a potential anthology in a couple of recent posts. At that point, it was just a rough idea, but now, the participants have had a meeting to discuss ideas and plot themes. After that meeting, my brain does what it does and I was buzzing with ideas. It’s hard to not start on a new project with that excitement brewing, so I wrapped up what I had on my plate and started with an opening chapter.
It’s holiday season and my family’s Christmas celebration is happening this weekend, so that’s what this post is going to be all about. But, before I dive into that, I do want to point out that I did manage to get the sixth draft of the Invasion Novel done last Friday. I even sent it out to a couple of folks who were eager do do a beta read for me. I have no idea when they’ll get back to me, but the current word count is under 120 000 words, so I suspect it’ll be some time. While I wait for that, I’ve started on another short story. I’m still shaking off the short story cobwebs, but I’m excited to be back to the format that I first fell in love with.
I have a love-hate relationship with my day job. Pre-pandemic days, I mostly worked at a single rental facility. It was mostly a great job. I liked my co-workers (or at least got along with them well enough). I had large chunks of time when I could get some writing or editing in (when I was good and forced myself to) and I made just enough money to afford working part time and have free time to write. 
This is not going to come as a shock to you now, but it was not quite as obvious last week. The Oshawa event was cancelled. I’m not going to go on an on about how the outbreak of COVID is affecting me. It’s affecting everyone and I’m not that special. Businesses are going to suffer, and people who work in the service industry are in for a hard few weeks. I’m still not sure what’s going on with the day job (as I work in a city run facility and news is coming fast and changing often). For now, I’m safe and as healthy as a person with a chronic illness can be.
I’ve been picking away at small things while waiting for people to get back to me with the beta reads for 
Broadcast Wasteland
I blew it. As I write this, it’s February 4th and I still have five chapters to finish for the fourth draft of 
I’m going to try again. Last week, I meant to write a post about the way I do some of my writing. I had been chatting with a friend about what we were both working on and how we’re handling it. I happened to be racing to finish the third draft of 
I’ve been working on a second draft of 
For the last few months I’ve been working primarily on the crime anthology (when I’m not working on Flags and High Fives). It’s been an interesting process, breaking out of my comfort zone. Crime is not something I tend to seek out when I’m looking for a book to read and most crime movies give me the creeps as much as any horror would, but I felt the need to give Science Fiction some space and push myself a little. It’s been an interesting experience and I’m grateful that I can rely Ed Gagnon’s crime expertise if my story strayed too far from the mold. Right now I’m on the third draft and I’m just about to send out the story to some beta readers. Before I do, I have an issue to address. 
Ben Van Dongen 