Well, halfway through the year with these posts. Are they working? Kinda sorta, though the promotional side is really lagging.
One of the things I identified early on in my organizing back in January was that I did not have any releases either in June or December. Well, December is understandable–holidays and all. But June?
I started thinking about this. Before retiring and even a couple of years after that when I was teaching PE and Health online, June was the end of the school year. The final push to get all the special education paperwork organized, any advance work for the next fall started, finals, and grades, of course. June during my teaching years was the month where I somewhat collapsed and caught up with myself from the previous mid-August on.
So a good reason not to be trying to release anything new during those years.
And after that?
Well, mid-May through June is the prime time for cutting firewood, before it gets too hot and before fire restrictions limit how much we can do. We generally haul anywhere from six to this year’s nine loads in the spring, and try to do one or two loads in the fall, weather and fire restrictions permitting. The picture above? Much more doable in spring than in fall. All that green foliage will be brown and dry in the fall. A fire hazard. The hot underside of the pickup could ignite the grasses, and…well, we don’t want that.
The flip side is that too early in the spring, and the restriction becomes snow and mud. The sweet spot is…well, mid-May through June, where the ground is still dampish but not so much that we’re going to bog down, or tear up the ground hauling a heavy load to the gravel road. 4-wheel drive somewhat helps reduce the likelihood of spinning out, but all the same…best to avoid the gumbo when woodcutting.
We go out woodcutting 2-3 times a week. Up until the last couple of years, I’ve been able to get some work done in the woods, then come back and do more work at the house. These days, however, age is starting to show. I want to vege out after cutting wood and rest. The next day is frequently a day of being tired as well.
Okay, so another logical reason for no June releases.
But that is done now.
This year, another factor was construction work on the Portland house which required our presence to move furniture and check on the work being done–as well as do deep cleaning at that house. We were hustling to get most of the woodcutting done before that job.
Overall, then, I guess it’s worth it to say that I had good reasons for the past month and a half to be a little bit off.
I am pleased about a few things, however. I finished up Federation Cowboy at the beginning of June and set it aside for a while. I compiled it and printed it out this week, and went through the MS with a red pen. Oh, there are lots of marks on it. Still, I identified two significant developmental issues in the story that needed fixing. I’m quietly happy about that. Second, I got a few words down on Dragons of the Raven Alliance and think I know where I need to go from there. Third, I worked out a major issue in The Cost of Power and I’m ready to start doing developmental work for the second book. And finally, I had some ideas about how to structure the Goddess’s Vision series.
Things are falling together. Now if I can just keep juggling everything appropriately…we shall see.
