One of My Biggest Life Changes So Far
May 30, 2024 3:30 pm
Hey there!
You know when you have a dream, but that dream is so far out that you hold it at arm's length? But then by wild events that dream appears so close that you have to reach out and grab it?
Well that happened this week. Long story short--we got a cow. Her name is Ginger, and she's sweet as apple pie.
We've talked for a long time about how, while we love them, goats are trouble. They take a long time to milk and don't have a lot to yield with their small udders. It just made sense to us that a cow would be more efficient and produce a lot more. But being as expensive as they are, we thought it would be a long time before we could. Until last week. We found a family milk cow close by for sale and the price and timing were just right.
Well--almost right. We had to do some scrambles to find the right hay for her so she doesn't get sick, and we had to spend the better part of our Saturday getting a feeder ready for her, but we made it and she seems happy as can be. She'll have her baby in August and then the milk will flow.
Don't worry. We're keeping a couple of the sweeter-less-trouble-goats around to be her friend.
My Progress This Week
I have definitely put off editing far too long now and I am forced to face the truth--it's time to get into it. I started working through Dragonblooded 'line edits' this week and it's been a lot better than I expected. Having taken a long break was probably a good thing because I can look at it more objectively than I could before. So far, it's turning out to be a pretty incredible story after all the line edits. There's a few content things that I've adjusted, but nothing major. If I can keep up this pace then I could be ready for proofreading/ARC reading by the end of next month.
This week I also got to hold a physical copy of Dragonblooded. Why, you may ask? Well I made the cover myself and I needed to see what it looked like in actual print. Things may look snazzy in digital format, but they could be off in print. That, plus my wife preferring to read stories not on a device made a test copy a necessary. The cover is more muted, and could use some centering, but here's how it turned out!
I've also begun the process of editing my short story To Commune with Spirits, which needs to be ready for submission next month to Writers of the Future. Though I wish I'd been able to distance myself from this story for more than a couple weeks, a quarter is a pretty short amount of time so I have to get started right away.
New Chapters Dropped in Ream!
If you haven't had a chance to check out my Ream community, it's a great place to get sneak peeks into all the books I'm working on long before I push publish. The first couple chapters of Dragonblooded and The Etcher's Plight are already up (even if you don't want to join the paid membership) so check those out!
Just a clarification: you can follow me for free and still get access to some sneak peeks! Of course, I'll appreciate any who want to support my creativity and my author goals but no pressure if you just want to check out the first parts of the two books. I even threw in my short story The Seduction of Thieves for free as well. Don't miss out on early access!
New Episodes of The Casual Author!
When you have a story stewing inside for years and years, it can often feel discouraging to push forward. But there is a reason it won't leave your mind alone. It needs to be told to the world! Join Chris and me as we discuss his writing journey over nearly 20 years and how he's never giving up on his story.
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Writing in truth can look like and mean a lot of different things for each author, but we all know that a piece of us comes off in everything that we write, whether we like that or nor. For Dr. Larry James Ford, his memoir is full of history and truth as he describes his method and decisions around writing his memoir about living through the de-segregation of schools in his teenage years.
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And now for the free book!
Other Great Books to Check Out!
warm regards,
Dan
