Blog Post No. 539
I’m feeling a little disconnected right now. It’s April and for the previous five years in April I had a book come out in the Synthetic Albatross Series. This year I don’t and it’s very strange. Normally, this would be the time when I would be scrambling to get the final copy to the printer, or anxiously waiting for the review copy to come in so I could see what horrible mistake I missed (costing me more money) or what kind of horrible state the printing (or binding, or positioning) would be in. Not that I’m doing any of that in 2023.
While I try to get myself back into gear with editing, 
A few days ago I was struggling with my daily writing and hit a wall. (It may have been some time last week, time has stopped having much meaning in March). I’ve since gotten back on track with the Invasion Novel (for the most part). Instead of doing nothing that day (something that had been happening more than I’d like) I opened up a blank document and wrote my daily word count towards a new project. I’m not sure when I’ll get to spend much time with it, or how far I’ll go, but it was better to work on something rather than nothing, right? 
Before I started to write today, I too a look at the calendar and realized this will be my third last post for the year. Usually I do some kind of end of the year thing that starts around now and finished with the post closest to January 10th of the following year (since that was the date of the first post since I’ve been doing this weekly almost six years ago). I may keep that for next week, or for the final week of 2018. Not sure. Today, I’m going to talk about other things. I suppose. That doesn’t mean that I know what I’m going to write about. I’ll figure it all out as we go! 
After a less than stellar summer of writing, I managed to pick things up over the last few months. Christian and I were both coming to the end of our individual projects, so we made an effort to get together when we could and work. I managed to get the first draft of Neon Heart done that way. I put that aside for a few weeks in order to start my novel and give myself some time and space from the novella so I can be very critical when I went back to it. I intended to hit it hard starting on December first (putting the novel aside for the month and getting back to it in the new year. The problem with that plan is that, not only am I really lazy, but the day job decided that I shouldn’t be aloud to do anything but work there (and suffer). 
The last ChiSeries Windsor of the year took place last night. I’d like to say it was a smashing success, but (as I’ve said before) I write these blog posts early, for a number of reasons, and I don’t know how it went yet. I’m pretty nervous. Christian and I put a lot into this one (both time and some money) so I hope that the low numbers on the event page and the severe lack of people signed up to read were inaccurate indicators of what to expect. I hope we filled Phog to the brim and had so many people to read that we had to cut it short. I hope that all the extra effort, the time volunteered by the people we roped in to be judges, and the bumping of a regular Wednesday night musicians was worth it and we had the best ChiSeries Windsor yet! As I write this, I do not think that will be the case. 
I bought a new phone. I’d been on the fence for some months, ogling the latest models until they became the old models and using a phone that (while getting slower and more finicky) was still usable. I probably could have held out longer, but in the world of mobile phone technology, the difference between cutting edge, obsolete, and a third category that I can best describe as what happens when companies put their eggs in the wrong basket, I found something that seemed like a good bet that wouldn’t make getting Christmas gifts for people a stretch. I went with an LG G7 One, which is a phone with mostly last year’s guts and some features that are more cutting edge. It’s considered a mid-range device, but it comes with basically stock Android and comes closest to a modern version of the phone I liked most (the Nexus 5). 
Unfortunate news! Due to some disappointing and unforeseen circumstances, the All These Crooked Streets Book Launch has been postponed. We are working very hard to lock down another date, but at the moment, that hasn’t happened. One last piece of the puzzle needs to be locked into place, then we can continue like this deplorable delay never happened. Bearing that in mind, thanks to everyone who was going to make it on the now cancelled November 4th date, thanks to everyone who is going to be there for the new date, and thanks anyway for those who can’t make the new date even though they’d love to be there if they could. Sorry for the confusion, everyone. 
Every year around this time, I go ahead and have a birthday. It’s a day where I mark the passing of another calendar year, thus adding to my numerical age. I’ve been doing it my whole life. I’ve even heard of some other people doing very similar things. I’m not accusing them of stealing, I think more than anything, it’s a coincidence. I’m actually kind of glad that I’m not the only one. Makes me feel like I’m part of a community or something. I do think I am the one who invented the term birthday. It’s because I mark my yearly numerical value from the day I was born. If you ask some of these copycats, I doubt you’ll get as quick an answer. 
I don’t want to jump the gun with that title. I don’t expect to have another update until January, but if you’ve spent any time reading this blog, you know I can’t be trusted. The fact is, I’m getting so close to finishing the first draft of Pilot that I don’t know if I it would be worth doing another update of it. While I’ll be thrilled that I finished (long than planned, but here we are) and I’m sure I’ll want to share it with the world, if it’s too close to now, it would feel weird. Maybe? But I’ve been holding off on an update and I don’t think I can’t wait much longer, so I don’t want to just wait until I’m done. (Even thought I probably just should). I’ve gone too far now anyway, so I’ll just keep plugging forward! Tally Ho! 
Ben Van Dongen 