Halloween has come and went! I made a very scary butterfly and ate too much candy, so you can’t really ask for more than that out of a holiday. I’ve already taken down my Halloween decorations, although we do need to repaint our wall mural to not be Halloween themed any longer. It may be a smidge too soon for a Christmas themed mural, though, seeing as how it’s only November first.
November is shaping up to be insane! I considered participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but I’m going to be traveling an awful lot. I’d probably have to bring my computer and type while we drive to Pennsylvania and later to Miami. I think I could write in the car, but there’s a part of me that feels that as the front passenger, it’s my duty to assist the driver by watching the road and pointing out things he might have missed, as well as navigating and informing him which exit is ours. Drivers appreciate things like that, you know.
I also run the entertainment on road trips, providing a curated mix of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. I do sometimes miss the good old days, when I was a youth and could spend road trips alone in the third row, reading my books, doing some coloring, and maybe even a word search or two.
I don’t like to brag, but I’m really good at word searches. I really am.
I’m making good progress posting episodes of Fiercest Chicken on Kindle Vella. I’m also spending some time working on my first draft of Hawthorne Heights. I think Hawthorne Heights is going to be one of my best books yet. I suppose that’s a common way to feel. Probably all authors feel that each consecutive book they write improves. And it probably does, since the more you do something, the better you get at it.
Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually looks at or likes maps in the beginning of books or if it’s just authors who like having artsy maps made up. Maybe we feel it validates our little fantasy worlds or gives readers a way to understand the layout of the place, in case we didn’t do a good enough job describing it. As an author, I get wanting to include a map. But as a reader, I never really care about maps.
Perhaps maps are very important and I simply don’t want to spend another couple hundred dollars to have a profession designer make up a Bookland map. Or perhaps maps are completely unnecessary. Or maybe I can make one myself. I’m not a great artist, but I am often willing to put a lot of time into learning new skills.
Guess we’ll see.
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