Blog No. 316
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! Continue reading “December Update”
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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). 
Good news everyone! The first draft of The Neon Heart is done. It’s the second book in my Novella series, but it’s pushing the outer boundaries at 43 000 words. Considering 
A bunch of my last posts have been all about The Neon Heart, the second book in my Novella Series. With most of my events done for the year, it’s what I’ve been spending my time on most. I am so close to finishing the first draft that I can taste it (though the word count just keeps growing). I’m eager to get it done so I can spend as much time as possible in the editing stage, and so I can finally start my next novel. I do have a potential ChiSeries reading in Peterborough on Nov 15th, but it hasn’t been finalized yet, so I’m not counting on it happening. Other than that, I’ve been pouring a bunch of time and energy into the last 
I was hoping to be able to say that I was finished the first draft of The Neon Heart by this post, but as you can guess, I’m not quite there yet. I’ve been getting some really good writing in with a couple of regular meetings with Christian each week, but with a load of other things on my plate (surprise, surprise) and some bad habits from another summer of slacking, I haven’t quite gotten there yet. One of the reasons is that the story is getting a bit longer than anticipated. Not by much, but when I started, I was planning on somewhere between thirty and thirty-five thousand words. the first draft is going to be more than that, but that’s a good thing. The story is dictating the length and the extra word count gives me more room to cut in the edits. It does mean that I’m not finished, though. I would have liked to be finished by now. 
I can’t remember if I’ve been to Kitchener before. I know I’ve driven past it on the 401, I think I’ve driven through it before, and I know I have definitely been to Guelph. Last weekend was my first time spending any time in Kitchener. Usually, when I’m in another city for an event, there isn’t much time to do anything other than sit at the table (and occasionally check out other vendors) and grab a bite to eat before crashing at the hotel. Getting to do other things in the city is almost always a no go. There just isn’t enough time and often not enough money after paying for the table cost, hotel, gas, and food. There were a bunch of things happening in Kitchener, like the famous Oktoberfest, and while I didn’t get a chance to attend those festivities, I certainly felt the impact. Sadly, it was negative in nature.
Last night was the Third ChiSeries Windsor of the year. It’s the sixth that we’ve had overall, though there was some confusion on why we only did three last year. The answer is because we were invited to start hosing locally after the time the first one would have been. Normally, I write up a perspective post about the event, assuming everything is going to be super-awesome-rad, but I have other things I think can fill a post, so I’m going to try and leave it for next week and see how much I can remember. I still think it’s going to be a good night. I wouldn’t be able to suffer through the disappointing events if I didn’t. We have three great authors (two I know are good people and I assume the third is as well) and the musician is not only a nice guy, but he’s really good at the music stuff too. With that out of the way, I’ll move on the the topic of this post. A good, old fashioned update. 