Hello, my friends and the occasional relative!

I continue preparations for publication of The Gardener and The Goddess. Release date remains Monday March 31st 2025. I was just working to get the book set up for pre-order, and ended up fixing a sentence. Okay, two sentences. Such changes mean a new updated format file for ebook and print versions are necessary.

But it was only a word here and there, a pruning of unwanted repetition, a deletion of heavy-handed imagery. You know, stuff I was supposed to be done with already.

Last night I did not sleep. My mind raced at random, and for the longest time I could only try to sleep and fail, and wallow in frustration. I could not even think of anything useful or interesting, instead striving to think of nothing, and failing. I tried to think of story ideas, or around those already in motion, but nothing coherent was allowed to establish itself. Broken images and repetitive half-phrases chased themselves around, falling over themselves and shattering to reform again just in time to distract me from counting breaths into sleep, a technique that usually works very well for me, when needed, which is not often, to be honest. Last night was a doozy though.

Eventually, long after the time I should have got up, I did sleep. I awoke probably too soon, but with a form of refreshment. This past weekend I had chatted with my wife about writing plans, and she was excited by the pulpy fast fiction I had planned. As I recalled that discussion I realized I needed to change the structure a little, reshape the story line to better match an earlier idea I had had, the original seed of the story. I feel I may have found the key that unlocks the story proper, that will make it more usefully cohesive. I had an actionable plan already, but it was sluggish about 1/3 of the way in, and I felt took too long to get there. Sometimes you have to restructure, and I now have some better insight into how to do that.  We’ll see: as you have seen, I am prone to changing my mind.

It is this tendency to endlessly tinker that perhaps is why I have some dread at the thought of publication, because then tinkering will be harder, as I will be changing something that will already have been read, and so I’ll have to work harder to justify changes. I want to update the Jaded Apprentice’s Report from last week, a change to one line for my own amusement, and a reduction in the ‘fool’ count seems a good idea.

Having said all that, I have just pushed out The Gardener and The Goddess ebook for pre-order! It is currently in review – but will be available soon – I will update you with a link here, and next week (or earlier!).

To friends who misguidedly come here for guidance on writing or the self-published life: I would not advise you to follow my example. Like my jaded apprentice, I am meandering my way down the long literary road. There are better, more efficient paths than mine to take.

I really should go and write down my new ideas for the fast fiction. Or maybe just head to bed, after getting my breakfast for tomorrow ready.

Until next week, my friends. Sleep well and write down your new ideas!