Well... it certainly has been a couple of weeks, and this on feels a little odd, because I'm writing it directly into the computer for the first draft rather than writing it by hand into one of my journals first. Most everything I do is longhand for the first draft. It slows me down. Let's me collect my thoughts. It's quieter. I like the sound of tacking keys, but when I pause to collect my thoughts, the silence makes me anxious, and then I start rushing to put something down. Whatever words come into my mind, those go into the computer. Not so when I'm writing with pen and paper. the soundlessness of it takes away the anxiety of quite while thinking. BUT... I couldn't find my Wrap Ups journal this morning, AND I'm running a little behind today. So finger-typing vomit is what you're going to get.

Shared Stories!

This is a new thing I'm doing at events. From now on, I'll have a little journal at my table, and anyone who stops by can write the next sentence in the journal. The twist is, they only get to see the previous two sentences and the very first sentence for the full context of the story. At LTUE, I didn't even give them the first sentence, but then, it the story went from third person to first person, and that got really whack. Once I get home from any given event, I'll transcribe the sentences into the computer and work them into a cohesive narrative with as little adding, trimming, and editing as possible. I've also decided that I'll use the same opening sentence for every event in a given calendar year. That should make for some interesting variations, depending on each event.

You can check these out at:
https://gallowglasarmy.com/sharedstories/

The first sentence for this year's shared stories is:
In the transition between the fourteenth year of the Variety Merger, Sophie Marks worked the skeleton crew in the Office of Variance Disruption and saw the clock on her computer switch from 23:59 to 24:01.

Speaking of LTUE...

You can read all about the epicness of that weekend in a new column, "From the Front Lines," over on GallowglasArmy.com.

READING

Currently working my way through The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks (yeah, the actor) for the upcoming Reading as a Contact Sport class. Looking forward to this discussion.

I dusted off my Taoism books. I have four translations of the Tao Te Ching and a couple of other books exploring Taoism. I realize I need to get new copies of The Tao of Pooh and A Barefoot Doctor's Guide to the Tao. Life is tempestuous right now, and I'm needing to re-embrace some semblance of peace and spirituality.

W. B. Yeats - Working my way through a thick collection of his poetry. Along with diving back into Taoism, I feel like I need to settle back into my Irish roots. Reading Yeats is giving me a greater chill with my connection to words. Hard to explain, but then, I'm still going through this journey of reconnecting to parts of my past that I've let slip away.

WATCHING

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the best Game of Thrones series. Hands down. So utterly good. Looking forward to next season.

WRITING

Man do I have a lot of irons in the fire on this one.

The Re-Imagined Dragon is going well. I figured out the framing for this story, and now everything is falling into place. Looking forward to having this one ready for World Storytelling Day.

The Sharpened Edge of Fate, Tears of Rage 5, is also coming together well. I think those of you who have been following Julianna, Damian, Xander, and all the others will be really pleased with this new book. The most challenging part of this one has been integrating a certain desert-dwelling thief into the mix.

Jaludin's Journey, at long last, we're returning to the Lands of Endless Summer. This is a very different kind of story from Jaludin's Road and Jaludin's Voyage. We'll see our friend going through different kinds of challenges. This story will be available in the upcoming collection, The Good, the Bard, and the Ugly.

Perchance to Dream starts with the line, "Not even the end of the world can stop free market capitalism." I'll be posting this episodically to GallowglasArmy.com for people who sign up for my newsletter over there. I wrote the original draft of this back in 2019, but I know it can be more. Like MORE more. So, I'm going to rewrite it from scratch. I got a cool Starry Night journal because I thought that was fitting, considering the title. The first installment is coming soon.

I'm finishing up Cameos II and formatting for National Poetry Month. I've written all the poems. It's just about formatting and arranging the books in ways that make sense.

Lastly, I've started a new, non-fiction project that most of you probably won't see, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. Every time I go to a bookstore, I'll wander through the journals section because I never know if something is going to jump out at me and let me know that it's going to be a thing someday. The Re-Imagined Princess came into existence due to just such a journal. Last week, my daughter and I were at Barnes and Noble searching for a journal for her character diary for a new RPG I'm running her through. I also got a journal to use as the campaign resource book. The journal sang to me. But it also told me that I needed another one for another project. So... Monday after my trauma group therapy, I swung by Barnes and Noble and picked up another copy of that journal. Yesterday, I wrote the first page of Perspectives of a Non-Practicing Taoist. I'll talk about it here, but I'm not sure I'll share much of it, as I think this one may be largely for me.

WRITING FOR YOURSELF

I'll end this post with the idea that sometimes we need to write things solely for ourselves. We fall into the myth that every project we take up needs to be with the intention of eventual publication. Fiction writers are especially guilty of this. I have a bunch of stuff I've written during and after grad school that is for my eyes only. Or at least until I die. My kids can argue about what to do with those works when I'm off drinking whiskey and dacqueries with Hemingway. (Side note: I'm extremely proud of myself for spelling dacqueries correctly on the first try – as I believe this is the first time I've ever written the word in my life.) Anyway. Not everything you pen needs to be for public consumption.

Slante!