Tag Archives: Local Reporter

September 18, 2026 · 4:39 pm

So far I’m one step ahead of the axe-men

You know, these axemen. I’ve posted this Billy Graham cover before because it sums up the way life keeps bushwhacking us just when we think we’re out from under. There were more axemen this week than expected but like the first week of September, the work got done.

A lot of the distractions were paperwork, like submitting for our dogs various recent vet visits, ordering fresh dog drugs, etc. There was also tiredness due to Trixie’s drug regimen keeping up up late to get the last ones in. Her UTI and her GI issues have resolved themselves, though, and the drugs are done. However she developed a slightly shaky left rear leg so we have an appointment this Saturday. It’s nothing serious but it’s definitely not normal — I don’t want to wait for serious discomfort like we did with the GI bleed.

Despite the leg, she’s 100 percent better from last weekend. Hungry, bouncy, eager to play, willing to walk and just more her usual self. Dudley too is in good shape. We had his rehab recheck Monday and the vet gushed over the great shape he’s in for nearly 16. Yay Dudders, yay vet, yay us for taking good care.

Overall life was nowhere near as intense as last week. However it was intense enough I didn’t really get to draw breath, either.

So, walk. As one of my October articles for The Local Reporter is a listicle of Carrboro nonprofits I spent Monday researching them. There’s quite a lot for a small town so it’s a good thing I started. I imagine I’ll break them down into different groupings (kid-related, sports, arts, charity, etc.) when I write it next week.

I’ve proofed The Savage Adventures through 1937 which is about 45 percent of the book done. Having reread the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder last week, I began planning Draft Three. That meant reading a lot of articles about rewriting, developing character arcs, etc., then starting work on Paul and Mandy’s character arcs (details next week). That was very productive; hopefully the work will translate into a smooth, faster-than-usual draft.

My two stories for the Become the Sky anthology have gotten two rounds of editing so I made changes Thursday. This took longer than expected so I didn’t write anything further. However the critiques were really good and the stories are stronger for it. So yay. If all goes well we’ll have this out before year’s end so you can decide for yourself.

Oh, and my sensitive teeth appear to be getting back to normal so maybe a crown won’t be necessary. Hurray! Second hurray, I sold another copy of Southern Discomfort. Whoever you were, thank you — I hope you enjoy it.

After I wrote the first draft of this post, I realized something else about this week: I’m waaaaay more focused than I have been in a while. I’m having no trouble concentrating on my work and only wandering off to check BlueSky (or whatever) occasionally. That hasn’t been the case in … a while? I’m not sure what changed but hopefully I can keep it up next week (much chaotic stuff to deal with, details next Friday). Because it feels good.

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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September 11, 2026 · 4:16 pm

Second September verse, more or less same as the first

Which is to say that much like last week there were constant calls on my time but I still got good work done. Not as much as last week —Thursday there was too much stuff going on, including the housecleaners coming in (having to watch over four pets in a small room to keep them out of the way does not lead to productive results). Even so.

First, the medical stuff. Plushie’s eye ulcer is gone; once again his robustness shines through and his problems cleared up. Trixie, by contrast, followed up last week’s gastro-intestinal bleed with a UTI. Fortunately the vet has handled both and she’s on the road to recovery. In hindsight I was right a couple of weeks back to think something was wrong — her body language and behavior were “off” — but it was such a vibes-based thing I wasn’t sure it was quantifiable enough for the vet. Looking at her now, when she’s back to her usual cheery self, I can see I should have acted sooner.

Oh, and I had my own medical issue. A couple of weeks back I made a Scandinavian flatbrod, which the book described as a cracker-like flatbread. Turns out while it’s hard like a cracker it isn’t brittle; I hurt my gums biting hard on it (this may have been my baking rather than something innate in the recipe). Got an appointment with the dentist this week; she recommended waiting three weeks to see if the pain subsides. If not, I need a crown. Fingers crossed the pain goes away.

Like I said, work got done despite that. More work on my Doc Savage history, Savage Adventures. Two days going over the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. It helped clarify some of what I vaguely sensed wasn’t working with this last draft; now I’ll try to override my pantsing instincts and plot the next draft out thoroughly. I’ll discuss what lies ahead in one of next week’s posts.

At The Local Reporter I wrote about problems with school bus service in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and how the Republican-dominated legislature is restricting local development rules. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about Steve Ditko’s Objectivism —

— and Bronze Age writers’ enthusiasm for bringing back C-list Silver Age villains.

I’m tired, sure. The timing of Trixie’s drug regimen means we usually wind up going to sleep later than usual and it’s taking its toll. But the work got done. I’m pleased.

Panels from Blue Beetle #5 drawn and written by Steve Ditko. All rights to image remain with current holders.

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September 4, 2026 · 4:14 pm

God said ha. I said “ha!” back

The old saying is that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I planned to get a lot done this week; God said “ha!” meaning there were a ton of obstacles. Despite which, to my pleasant surprise, I did get a lot done.

First the obstacles. We were still dealing with Plushie’s ulcer (diagnosed last week) but as of his Thursday appointment, it’s cured. Once again our dog has beaten a health problem despite his nearly 16 years of age! That’s always nice. He’s still on an antibiotic for the ulcer but that’s more a precaution than a necessity. We’re taking it though.

Trixie didn’t do so well. Last week she was becoming weirdly picky about food and reluctant to eat her meds. She also felt … off, in a way I can sense but couldn’t define. Sunday she began not eating at all so we took her into the vet Monday, followed by the emergency vet (they could do a couple of tests Park Vet couldn’t). At first the news was horrifying: anemic, blood count up, white blood cells up, which could indicate an infection, or possibly internal bleeding. At the end of the day, by virtue of eliminating the alternatives, they settled on probably some bleeding in the GI tract (I will skip the technical details).

We came home with directions to switch some of her meds and to have her drink a protective slurry an hour before her meals. It’s working: we took her in for a recheck Wednesday and all her signs have improved, though not by a lot (but the vet said that’s expected). She’s livelier, though also sleepier — she’s on Gabapentin now and it knocks her out. But she’s clearly happier and more interested in eating so this is a definite win. A demanding one — the need to time the slurry and her food and some of her meds makes our schedules that much more complicated.

Oh, and I also had to take our car in for an oil change and checkup. That took up a couple of hours too.

Despite which, work went well. I got two articles in for The Local Reporter, both out next week. Might get a third one done but I think that’s where the dog drama will leave me too wiped. I also got three posts up at Atomic Junk Shop, one about iron-on shirt decals in the 1970s, one on a really weird 1971 cover (above, by Murphy Anderson) and one about the path to (IMHO) the definitive Phantom Stranger run by Jim Aparo and Len Wein which kicked off with the cover at left by Aparo.

I also got a nice review of Southern Discomfort from one of my fellow bloggers. Thanks, Greg!

I worked through another year of Doc Savage’s history for Savage Adventures, and polished the bibliography. And then, on Let No Man Put Asunder, I really got some good stuff done. First I went through the writing guide Writing the Breakout Novel, taking notes on stuff that might be useful to think about (give your villains goals. Your supporting characters too). Maybe not — while I’ve read the book a lot, I’m not sure I use it’s techniques not. But I think I’m using it early enough in the rewrite process that might be different.

Then I started rereading, taking notes along the way. Insights or phrases someone offers more than once (“making the beast with two backs” is not going to appear more than once). Thin characterization or motivation. Implausible plotting. Places where it needs more tension. I got a third of the way through the book; that’s pretty good.

I also received by McFarland second-half-of-the-year royalty check. Small, but my books are still selling, which is cool; if you bought one of them, thanks!

And I now have three stories in the “made the first cut” category. No guarantee any of them will sell — I’m quite used to “This was a really tough decision, but …” emails — but they’re all possibilities. More disappointingly, I won’t get an author table to sell my books at Retcon next year. It was quite lucrative this year because it’s set up so all the con-goers go past the sale area frequently, probably why table requests have quadrupled. I’m on the waiting list so fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed too for more weeks like this.

Below, a typical Len Wein opening to a Phantom Stranger story. Aparo art.

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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August 28, 2026 · 4:40 pm

Do I wither with time, or is this just a fluke?

Which is to say, this was another frustrating week. Looking at how often I type that, I wonder if I’m losing my ability to concentrate as I age? Or is it just that sometimes, shit happens.

This week was definitely partly “shit happens.” First off, Monday evening Plushie’s good eye had something wrong with it, making him squint so much it was barely open. TYG rushed him down to the nearby emergency vet who did not perform well. We may not go back which is a crying shame (it’s a lot further to the next closest E/R). However we were able to get a Tuesday morning appointment with his eye doctor (they’re also close): it’s an ulcer, which is manageable and it was back to normal by Thursday (though we’ll be doing added eyedrops for a week or so). Still that meant we got to bed sometime around midnight, which ain’t good.

Yesterday I went in to my own doctor, who confirmed I have sleep apnea. The most likely outcome is that I’ll end up wearing one of those freaky masks hooked up to a small air pump. I’ll be talking to a specialist about that. The other alternatives are a smaller mouthpiece that would widen my air intake or to take the GLP and see if my weight comes down. My doctor favors the CPAC pump and I’m inclined to agree. While I’m obese by BMI standards I’d need to lose 30 pounds to be non-obese; while I’m nobody’s idea of six-pack abs I do not believe I have 30 excess pounds to lose. In any case, that took a chunk out of my day.

Oh, and Trixie came down with a tummy this weekend and refused to eat. Since then she’s eating but she’s ultra-picky. Won’t take her meds on anything but the same canned chicken we give Plushie. Won’t eat kibble, only soft food. Refuses most hard treats — I’d think she had a tooth issue but there are some treats she does eat so … well, you’ve got me. If it keeps going I may ask the vet for insight.

All that said, part of the problem this week was me not being organized. I had three stories to work on for The Local Reporter and in-between sending out emails and waiting for replies my mind kind of wandered (the lack of sleep didn’t help). Plus I had some personal plane travel I might take before the end of the year and that always messes up my mind: do I want to spend the money? Do I want to get to the airport at 5 in the morning if it saves $100? I’ve spent much of my life living on a struggling writer salary so it’s impossible for me to be just “yeah, that’ll do for anything over a couple of hundred bucks. And if I plonk down the money now, who knows what’ll happen between now and then?However I did get most of the work done on the stories. Plus I got more work done on Savage Adventures, including adding footnotes. I’d been mostly attributing stuff in the text when appropriate but it’ll flow much smoother with footnotes.

And that was about it. Part of the problem is that I kept trying to do more than one project in a day and that’s usually a mess unless I plan it very carefully. I’m going to try to avoid that in September.

Oh, here are two pieces over at Atomic Junkshop: one about realizing what certain songs really mean, one on DC’s Homo magi and my head-canon version of their history.

Doc Savage cover by James Bama, comic book panel by Jack Sparling. All rights to images remain with current holder.

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August 21, 2026 · 4:30 pm

One big accomplishment, several little ones

The big one being that I finished the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. Last week I got past a major sticking point but I still had some doubts about the ending; last weekend I figured it out (having TYG off work last week so we were both more relaxed was a big help, I think). Monday and Tuesday I got it done. Several months later than I’d hoped, but even so, yay!

I’d hoped it would be in good enough shape to offer for a beta reading, but no, not quite. It needs at least one more draft which even assuming it goes really well means it would be finished shortly before holiday season. So no feedback session until next year. Less speedy than I’d like — on the other hand, it’s faster than I was beginning to fear it would be.

(There’s no pet news other than “they’re adorable” but I figured I’d throw in a couple of photos anyway).

The little stuff? I got a lot of work done on the Local Reporter stories for next month’s issue. Submitted some pet insurance forms, mostly for their regular drugs. Resolved an IRS issue — happily it’s in our favor. And worked on Savage Adventures. This made the days kind of scattershot, which isn’t good; I always work better when I have one thing to focus on a day. But things like taxes need to be done.

I was, however, somewhat bummed by money. There was a columnist gig I think I’d have been good for but they wanted pitches — suggestions for the kinds of things I’d write for them — and the job got snapped up before I could figure out the kind of specific things they’d like. I discovered I’d missed another opportunity that might have been lucrative. And of course, not knowing I could bill our pet insurance for drugs means several years of lost reimbursements (I’ve recovered quite a bit of that but my records don’t go back for enough for all of it). This doesn’t leave us in desperate straits but more money is nice. Particularly earning more money.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about the Bronze Age love of reprints — a very big deal in an era long before TPBs and omnibuses were available everywhere. And about one of the Bronze Age’s problems being how often creative teams turned over.

Plus over the past two months I’ve sold around eight copies of Southern Discomfort. Not a lot of money but it is very pleasing enough people were interested to try my book. I’m also pleased that promoting it more than I think I did Questionable Minds paid off, at least a little. Something to think about for when my next book comes out. To everyone who bought it, thanks!

And if you’re eager to learn more about me — and who isn’t, really? — you can check out my interview with Michael Parks.

Cover by Samantha Collins. Rights are mine.

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August 7, 2026 · 4:30 pm

At last, a productive week, though I didn’t produce the things I most wanted to

That is to say, I spent another week without getting any fiction written. I don’t like that, but at least I didn’t just flap and flounder around without accomplishing anything.

I’d intended to spend Wednesday working on short stories. Instead I wound up spending two or three hours checking on which stories had been rejected (in the “if you don’t hear from us, we didn’t take it” mode), then checking out potential markets and resubmitting them. “Mage’s Masquerade” went to Abyss and Apex; “Oh the Places You’ll Go” went to More Distant Shores. I also read a couple of stories from Tuesday’s writing group that I hadn’t been able to listen to (schedule conflicts).

(We went to Costco last weekend. They’re ready for Halloween).

Thursday I’d planned to work on Let No Man Put Asunder. However Trixie got up early again and the lack of any personal space in the early morning does seem to affect my focus. Creativity dissipated and I settled for working The Savage Adventures. I put in two days on that book this week and got my analysis of two years of Doc Savage magazine proofed. If I can work a year a day, I can have the text of the book done this year. Still have to find a cover artist, though my cover concept is simple enough I may try using software to do it myself. If not, I’ll look.

(More Costco Halloween fun. This one actually moves).

I got two articles in at The Local Reporter, one on the ongoing drought here in the Triangle (improved, but not gone), the other on a land-development dispute in Chapel Hill. That one took longer than it should; for some reason I couldn’t seem to shape it in my head. But it’s done, and pay will be forthcoming.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop, I reposted an old post from this blog about Childhood’s End, the book and the miniseries, and some horrendous acts by the US government in the last century. The cover above I believe is by Richard Powers.

Plus I took Plushie in for his regular eye checkup. Everything looks good, which is pleasantly surprising; dogs with glaucoma usually lose the eye within a year and he’s still in good shape after two-plus years. Robust, as our vet says.

Next week, though, I really have to get some fiction done!

Speaking of fiction, if you’re interested in a discount on the sequel to the Ceaseless Way anthology, Become the Sky, the QR code below should take you to a discount offer. No obligation to buy.

The “abrupt embrace of ethics” line is from my short story “Obolos,” a brand new one alongside a reprint of “Backstage With the Hypothetical Dead.” And lots of good stories from other contributors. The cover is by fellow contributor Sonya Lano.

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July 31, 2026 · 4:25 pm

Bring back my focus to me!

Another week where I had a hard time concentrating on anything. And without even the excuse of contractors working or multiple appointments. I keep trying to find my focus but somehow I just keep wandering through a maze of distraction (hence my choice of this Jack Kirby cover for an illustration. Steve Ditko inked).

Part of it is undoubtedly that TYG’s slammed schedule has kept me doing lots of extra dog care. That’s not a criticism — she’s the big breadwinner so if she needs me to watch the dogs so she can concentrate, that’s fair — but it does erode my sense of personal space over time and I know from experience that affects my concentration. Plus the cats have been downstairs a lot during the day this week. Even if they’re not asking for anything, I’m conscious of them and that adds to the distraction.

Is it anything beyond that? Maybe, but I don’t know what. Not exhaustion — the dogs woke me up a couple of times this week but I slept great the rest of the time.

The end result? No fiction this week, or this month. I hate that! I did get work done but it proceeded at a snail’s pace compared to what I’d have managed were I in the zone.

The biggest thing was that I answered all those questions McFarland sent me about my Watching Jekyll and Hyde manuscript. Now I just have to wait for them to send me the galleys for the final proofing.

I also edited my friend Kat Traylor’s story for Become the Sky, the follow-up anthology to The Ceaseless Way. “Surviving Dr. Bloodflask” is a really fun story about a supervillain’s son getting dragged back into his family’s schemes. Kat’s improved it considerably since we critiqued the first draft so all I had to do was copy editing.

I submitted an updated story on the Triangle area’s ongoing drought. Rain this month has eased the stress but not eliminated it. The story will be out next week.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I looked at how Doctor Doom in 1971 starts showing hints of decency. Also how horror began spilling into romance, war books and superhero comics.

And that’s about it. I have no major commitments next week, though, so let’s hope I can return to productivity.

Ceaseless Way cover by GetCovers, based on design idea by Arden Brooks. Doom by Gene Colan. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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July 24, 2026 · 4:30 pm

Cats and cons, bathrooms and battle plans

A week ago, I drove to Greensboro for ConGregate 2026. Up until this year, the con’s been held in Winston-Salem, but they had issues with the hotel and had to relocate. This worked out well for me as Greensboro is only an hour away.

The worst thing about the hotel is that it’s on the airport, several miles from anywhere else to eat. Not for the first time, I relied on the breakfast buffet to feed me for the entire day. And the collapsible kettle TYG bought me took care of my tea needs. The best thing is that the author alley, where I set up my table above, runs right outside the meeting spaces so everyone has to pass us by.

Did that boost sales? Not massively. However attendance seemed smaller than ConGregate 2025 — I can’t swear to it — but I made roughly as much money. That’s cool. And all the panels and readings had audiences that outnnumbered the panelists. That doesn’t always happen.

The patterns in sales always fascinate me. No sales on Atoms for Peace or Sex for Dinner, Death for Breakfast (that’s usually a consistent seller), one or two of most of my other books, seven of Questionable Minds. Which as it’s the one I most want to sell right now, suited me fine. One seller bought purely because of the cover, which is cool (thanks Sam Collins!).

Finally home, where I cooked a Thank You meal for TYG for having to care for all the pets while I was gone. Happily we’ve introduced Plush Dudley to canned chicken and for the moment he’s willing to scarf down his drugs if they’re mashed up into it. Fingers crossed that lasts until after TYG does some traveling in a couple of weeks, leaving me alone.

As I’ve been saying lately, no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. Last week I took into account that we’d be having contractors trooping in and out to work on the master bathroom. This week we had that to deal with — finished today, at last! — plus we had to take Wisp in to have a couple of problem teeth removed.

This was a challenge. Catching and caging Wisp is always a challenge. Happily for once we got good news: when the dental vet took an X-ray look at the teeth, it doesn’t require removal. No surgery, check back in six months. We’re happy she doesn’t have to be cut on, particularly as removing bottom teeth can have bad effects on the jaw.

And on Wednesday, my physical therapist said my knee has improved enough I don’t have to book another appointment unless/until I need one. She did great, but I’m happy not to take the time. Especially as I screwed up the time and had to go, come home, go back, return.

Somewhat less happily, my glasses broke today — the right-hand screw holding the frame around that lens just snapped. I tried taping it up; didn’t work. Fortunately I have a backup pair and my eyesight hasn’t changed enough for them to be a problem. I will look for a repair place. Annoying but not catastrophiic.

Now, as to writing, my original battle plan had been to focus on Savage Adventures, like I did last week. It’s at the proofing stage and that adapts better than fiction to constant interruptions. Monday that went well. I rewrote some of the text, trimming quite a bit of it, and corrected some errors that had crept in. After Monday, though, things got nuts.

One thing I’ve started doing is taking little tasks and errands — submitting pet bills to the insurer, for instance — first thing in the morning. Gets them out of the way and I don’t have to worry about when to fit them in later in the day. However it’s very easy for them to expand and take up too much time. I’ll have to be careful going forward. This week, I was not.

Plus I had an unexpected experience with The Local Reporter. When I contact someone for an interview I don’t always get a prompt response, or any response (I suspect that’s partly because we’re not the paper of record for Chapel Hill/Carrboro the way the Destin Log was for Destin). I’m working on an article about the effect of the ongoing drought and this time everyone I contacted called me back. I spent much of Wednesday doing interviews.

Thursday I worked on proofing stories for Become the Sky, the sequel anthology to Ceaseless Way. As it’s a collaborative project we all have stories to proof. I have three: Maggie Maxwell’s “The Survivalist’s Guide to Faeryland,” Ada Milenkovic Brown’s “The Nixie of Alken Bog” and Kat Traylor’s “Surviving Dr. Bloodflask.” I got the first two finished Thursday.

So it’s actually a productive week, just not the stuff I planned to produce. Which isn’t the worst way for the battle plan to go off the rails.

Oh, and my editors at McFarland contacted me with some detailed editing questions about various passages in Watching Jekyll and Hyde. That’s pleasing — it shows they’re paying attention to the details. Not that I’d expect less, but it’s still good to see.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I looked at Flash #209 as a harbinger of the Bronze Age. It had Cary Bates take over as Flash’s writer, a gig he’d hold all the way until the Crisis on Infinite Earths killed Barry off. It also showed that after a couple of years of avoiding super-villains, DC was bringing them back. I was delighted.

All rights to cover images remain with current holders. Southern Discomfort cover by Sam Collins, Ceaseless Way by GetCovers based on design by Arden Brooks, Flash cover by Dick Giordanoo.

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July 3, 2026 · 5:15 pm

Cats, borders, knees, writing, blood! My week in review

First the blood: Saturday I made my regular donation to the Red Cross. They’ve remodeled their facility and I was the first “power red” (double dose of red blood cells) donor there. I wrapped up just a little too soon for someone from the regional HQ to photograph me, darn it. That would have been kind of cool.

Tuesday, it was cat day: time to take Snowdrop in for his wellness exam and shots. He’s way harder to cage for the trip than Wisp; she’ll let us pick her up which gives us a chance to shove her in. Snow’s less trusting. However I got a dose of gabapentin — painkiller that also makes ’em sleepy — into him with a small morning meal. That left him just groggy enough to load into a cat carrier. He’s mostly in good shape, however he does have a heart murmur. Those can be bad in cats so we’re waiting to see what the labwork says.

Minor bonus, they applied his topical heartworm/flea med so we don’t have to do that again for two months.

Borders: as I type this, the theme I use for this blog has suddenly dropped the illustration on the vertical borders so there’s nothing but the image at the top. Maybe it’s a temporary thing and it’s gone by now. Maybe I’ll have to change themes because the brown border looks dreadful. I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it yet.

Knees: Tuesday, after TYG brought Snowdrop home, I went to physical therapy. Nothing major but my left knee gives me twinges in certain positions. I’d like it to stop. The therapist gave me a set of exercises which I’ve been working on. Too soon for any miracle cures, though. I also got a sleep apnea kit in the mail — my doctor thought that might relate to my recurrent insomnia — and I spent three nights with a testing kit on, making me feel like a cyborg. My grimace below is because I also felt like Hannibal Lector in his muzzle in Silence of the Lambs.

I slept better than I expected with that thing on. However it was choppy, which contributed to my tiredness for some of the week. Plus the pets were needier than usual. Still I got some good stuff done. Articles for The Local Reporter on Carrboro’s 2027 budget and the drought’s impact on Carrboro (not up yet). That took up Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday I tackled the next chapter of Let No Man Put Asunder. Didn’t go well. The changes I’m making are good but they’re the kind that require further changes — if the sinister Community of All simply puts everyone in Bluestone in a stoned trance, Mandy doesn’t have the conflict of fighting innocent mind-controlled people. It still works better and fits the Community’s strange goals; however I have no idea what comes next. And Wednesday I was most tired.

Thursday I worked on “Die and Let Live.” It’s steadily improving but ends up way too talky as Colin and Deadbeat explain what’s been happening and everyone debates ethics. Either I shift some of that material earlier in the story, I come up with a more dramatic ending or both (ideally both).

I also got the first scene of a new story. My mind generated several new details: one character, Claire, comes from the town of Riddle Grove where her family lives at Enigma Towers. And their last name, Maistery, sounds a lot like “Mystery” if you say it aloud. Her estranged best friend notes the pattern and decides they’ll make a joke about it later. I have no idea what it means but it isn’t anything funny. So my mind’s clearly engaged — not enough to figure out what comes next yet.

Today was, as usual, devoted to next week’s blog posts, planning what to write, and emptying my in-box. Plus we took Trixie and Plushie in for some shots and, as Plushie’s been walking wobbly recently, asked the vet about it. She says he might have some back pain and recommended upping his gabapentin dose for now. Makes sense as we lowered it a couple of months back. We’ll see if it helps.

What made the visit memorable is that Plushie expressed his displeasure by pooping on the exam room floor. And then several alarmingly runny poops after that. Hopefully it’s just a momentary lapse and not the return of his dread diarrhea. We’ll see.

And now for something completely cool, author’s copies of Southern Discomfort arrived this week.

Cover by Samantha Collins. All rights are mine.

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June 19, 2026 · 4:08 pm

“Should have known better than to cheat a friend” — wait, that’s not the lesson I learned this week

The lesson is one I already know: I work more efficiently if I focus on one thing per day. If I spend a day working on, say, Let No Man Put Asunder, I focus better than if I do half the day on that, half on, say, newspaper work or sending out submissions.

The divided day (the “divided” theme is a flimsy excuse for posting this Murphy Anderson cover but it’s one of my favorites) goes wrong too easily. I end up focusing too much on one of the two things, typically not the most important one. Getting writing done is usually job A but browsing possible markets online or doing research for The Local Reporter is typically easier. If I’m tired, I may go with easier or at a minimum start it sooner in the day. It’s also possible that I’ll throw in a third task to fill an odd moment and end up with even less writing time.

This week, however, I did have to do a lot of divided time. I was working to get the last steps done for the publication of Southern Discomfort next month. Revising the back-cover copy. Working through Amazon’s cover creation system to get the image (created by Samantha Collins) right on the front cover — that was the big challenge. I created the cover, ordered the sample copy (it arrived Wednesday), saw some problems, went back and did it again.

This takes time but it’s not something I can work on hour after hour. Once I ordered the test copy I was done; when it came in I dropped everything to go over it. For example I discovered my About the Author page in the back was several years out of date so I had to replace it with more recent information.

The end result? A patchwork week. Couldn’t be helped. And it paid off. Southern Discomfort will go live July 11; the initial ebook links are here, which is where Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others will show once they process it. The paperback goes live too, but Amazon doesn’t allow preorders.

That kind of erratically scheduled work is the pits for getting other tasks done on the same day. You’d be amazed how much time fiddling with the cover can consume. But now it’s done and I don’t have to do it again. On to fresh adventures.

I did get some other stuff done. I finished rewriting my short story, “Honey on the Grave” and sent it in to New Myths. I thought the rewrite suggestions from the writing group had made it too long but it was still under 4,000 words. That’s remarkably short for me.

I rewrote one chapter of Let No Man Put Asunder. I’d anticipated doing more but like I said, the book publishing process siphoned off my focus. Equally inconvenient, the last third of the book requires way more revision than the earlier two-thirds. It needs to move faster, scarier, with less talk. Everything that I’ve been hinting at has to be explained clearly. The bad guy has to go down — I know how that will happen but I have to get there logically. So it’s going a lot slower.

I also went back and rewrote one of the earlier chapters, where Paul is discussing his biophysicist mother’s insistence psychic powers are all fake. After reading How the Hippies Saved Physics I wanted to make mention of the early 1970s experiments that attempted to prove quantum non-locality (electrons can affect each other at a distance even though there’s no possible way they can) could be the basis for telepathy.

I still have to rewrite some of the chapters to show Mandy stopping smoking. Or give up the idea and let her keep puffing away. Finding she’s somehow compelled to quit has more potential so I’ll probably go with option A.

I got a little work on Savage Adventures done. I’m close to the end of this draft; one more draft and I’m done with the writing part. I wrote two posts over at Atomic Junk Shop, one on Doc Savage’s Crime College, one on how certain comics writers are so good they make you realize what you’ve been missing.

Another obstacle to getting work done was that I had my annual checkup Tuesday. That took a few hours out of my day. Good news, though, I’ve lost weight and my blood pressure’s down. There’s a couple of other problems that might need some work or checkups with a specialist but nothing calamitous.

With Southern Discomfort under wraps and no appointments next week, I look forward to full days and more productive output. I hope it comes true.

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Filed under Short Stories, Southern Discomfort, Time management and goals, Writing

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