Catchup

The blog has, once again, been quiet.  I thought I’d post some updates on whats been happening.

Last year, I closed down an incorporated company I ran since 2000.  The company took a nose dive because of 9/11, and wasn’t able to recover.  I kept it limping along until 2007, and made the decision.  Apparently, I was a bit hasty.  After a few years of being a stay-at-home dad, I got a software contract, and some money started coming in again.  So, I resurrected Majentis.  This time as a sole proprietership rather than a corporation.  The books are a bit easier and its less hassle for me in the long run.

The contract has kept me busy, on average, 8 hours a day.  That, on top of still being a stay-at-home dad and all the work that entails, has made me a fairly busy guy.  It was obvious that things had to be dropped, and they were.  The house isn’t as clean as I normally keep it, the writing stopped completely, and my normally short fuse got a bit shorter.  I’ll deal with it.

As part of ‘dealing with it’, I’ve decided that, although the income is nice to have, its not going to take over every waking moment.  So, I’m back at the laptop weekday mornings from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM, working on the latest novel (Working title: The Courier).  Its in the revision stage right now, and you can see how the revision is going in the sidebar to the right.

I’m finding revisions on this one a bit tougher than normal.  It may be simply because the last few months of no writing have made me rusty.  I’m hoping that’s the case, since it means the flow will come back as I progress.  My goal is to have first pass revisions done by the end of May, second pass by middle/end of June, and the novel out to my beta readers by end of June.  We’ll see how well I do.

What else is new… the contract work has made me miss some of the kids school events.  I had to skip out on three co-teaching days.  Co-teaching is basically what it says, a parent comes into the classroom and helps out the teacher.  Its a great way to see where your child is in relation to the rest of the class, and how he or she interacts with the other kids.  I really enjoy doing them.   I won’t be missing anymore, no matter what pressure I get on this current contract.  The kids are, obviously, more important.

Other than a few colds, the family is healthy.  The kids are happy, the adults no so much.  Marnie is working more than I am, and has been doing so for a few months.  It’s beginning to take its toll.  But, the workload will get lighter for both of us, and the world continues to spin.

Cya next time.