Yeah, so I know I promised this update a couple of weeks ago. That seems to be the pattern right now, everyting is taking twice as long to accomplish half as much.

Here’s how things stand. My wife, as I’ve said in other posts, moved back in the spring. I finished up at the university at the end of August. Most of the furniture and books have been moved. I bought ten sets of shelves from a bookstore that was going out of business. They are still at the old house. I’ll need a truck to move them, which most likely means a Satuirday/Sunday move since I’ll probably rent a Uhaul there and will need my wife to drive my car back while I drive the truck.

I’m postmaster relief at a small rural post office just a few miles down the road from the house. That’s six  mornings a week. I’m also working on an as needed basis at a funeral home in the afternoons. So, in other words, in the morning I deliver mail, and in the afternoon I deliver bodies.

That’s not all I do, but that’s part of the job. I also help as needed in other areas, such as setting up and taking down flowers and such for funerals and visitations. I can’t really talk about the funeral home job in any detail. There’s a no social media clause in my contract. It makes sense, because some people will post anything on social media. And have.

Onward to other topics. I’ve been taking a number of online writing courses. Those have cut into blogging. I’ve gotten some stories out of them. Most of them are under consideration at various markets.

I’m going to try to publish some of my own stuff, and I’m working on setting up my own online store. I’ll announce that when it goes live. Hopefully within the next few months.

We adopted two dogs on Sunday. The two we previously had both passed in 2022. Going from senior dogs to no dogs to juvenile dogs has been something of a shock. I’d gotten used to dogs that laid down and slept beside my chair. Not these guys. They are lively. but they’re fun.

I’ve not gotten a lot of reading done. Most of it has been for the writing courses. And most of that has been thrillers. If you haven’t read Mickk Herron’s Slough House books, you need to try them. They are British espinoage novels, and they’re great. There is now a TV show based on the books, but I’ve not seen it.

I’m (trying) to read for a science fiction mystery class that will start in January. I’ve had a lot of interruptions. I’ll write three stories for that class.

I’m probably not going to do many reviews going forwards, although I reserve the right to make exceptions, and with no justification as to why I’m making an exception, either. It’s my blog, after all. I don’t know if you’ve heard about some of the drama lately, but a writer with a book that was scheduled for release next year got caught review bombing other authors’ books, some from her own publisher.  There’s just too  much room for the appearance of a conflict of interest in the current cultural climate.

Besides, I’d rather focus on writing my own fiction.

The next few posts will be a remembrance of David Drake and a guest post by John Bullard.

That’s a summary of what’s been happening in my world. What’s happening in yours?