Hey all,

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on, and it continues to go on, it seems. Acceptance of things we cannot change is crucial for our survival, but that does not mean we have to bow to the mischief. But at least my ducks are in a row, so to speak.

Then there are so many issues happening worldwide, and these seem to keep many of us stirred up in one way or another, or at least on our toes, if not at odds with one another. Or if you are like me, a sensitive, headache medicine and chocolate come in handy. We may feel like we have no voice on many public, or even private, issues but we do the best we can. So let us just plot our movements forward in our own lives and do what makes us happy. Let’s hang out with our pals and family, maybe even celebrate with strangers the things we have in common such as at concerts, sports games, working and sharing with our creative friends, pickle-ball. Or maybe fishing, riding roller coasters or studying squid. Whatever floats your boat. Just do it with gusto and take what’s yours by doing so…just don’t hurt anyone in the process.

As for me, I have made about 20 rounds – I kid not – through Storm Dwellers. Yet, I am still planning on last quick sweep to look for redundancy and longish paragraphs that over explain or just have too many words. I also like to find words that I use too many times on a page. Sometimes that cannot be helped though because you can only say, for instance, that Jethro is operating the barbecue pit today. I mean, if Jethro is at the pit, well, he’s at the pit. Right?

So, Storm Dwellers is finally complete in my eyes. For now anyway. I have to give it a rest.

As for Someday Always Comes, I have made three sweeps through the entire manuscript (after the original 20) and have every intention on hiring a editor for it this time around. I will self-publish the new edition since I did the original. I am not going to seek representation because it was already a self published book. I am also going to try to do some sprucing up on the cover. I did something regarding the cover that I rarely do. I took it to social media about a decade ago and some people had not so nice things to say about the cover regarding the thumbnail for the e-book. I got it back then and still do, but you know even the thumbnail for Kindle has a come a long way. Anyway, I went to social media this time to see what ideas people had to offer. Honestly, this time around, I got great ideas from commenters on both the thumbnail and the paper book cover, and many told me not to change it totally, but to just add more contrast and a couple other minor changes. Hey – if social media and generation gaps are not fickle, I don’t know what is.

I began a sequel to Storm Dwellers which is tentatively titled The Other Side of the Storm. It is meant to tie up loose ends regarding what happened to some of the Storm Dwellers characters when they exited the story to include Benny’s tale. In Storm Dwellers, Benny briefly mentions a girl named Rhonda who was killed. I think we might be introduced to character at some point in The Other Side of the Storm. At least, that’s what a character told me.

Next in line is the third, and probably the final in the Storm Dwellers line, temporarily called Rhonda. With the help of his family and friends, Benny finds out what happened to Rhonda and brings closure to her family and community. I want to write this, but it is not set in stone. Another thing that’s not for certain is how much of Rhonda’s tale we’ll get in The Other Side of the Storm.

And as for that friggin’ hulking undertaking that I could slap my damned self for starting, Chicago Down, these characters are jealous and do not like that I have left them mid-leap while brushing up Storm Dwellers and Someday Always Comes. Salbatora is feisty and Al is unforgiving, and I had better not attempt to double cross either of them. I have reassured them that I have no intention of doing so, even if it kills me. Al, in turn, has assured me that it just might. I don’t get it, do you?

That is my short update. I am working diligently when time permits. I have some upcoming health things to deal with but recovery should be quick. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, and I’ll post about it when I know more.

A friend of mine asked me about The Sheriffs of Robertson County. Well, that sucker is a doozy and the first in the series, Angel Maker, is on hold. The book is a work of fiction, but involves subject matter needing a great deal of research on sensitive subjects, and while it is not exactly a police procedural, it is me struggling to come out of the fantasy genre again and into what could really happen to anyone. Now, Someday Always Comes is not fantasy fiction either, but not in the same way as The Sheriffs of Robertson County will since Dorian Storm and his crew are chasing a serial killer in the opening book. Someday Always Comes, is the Gen X-er in me refusing to relent.

Exciting times! I think. But Al worries me. Really.

Thanks for reading.