Stuff

Now that I've gotten that political post out of my system (see below, if you're so inclined), there's some stuff I should probably bring you up to speed on.

I'm going to be a dad.

My lovely wife is due around September 1st.

No idea about the gender yet; we're going to find out but I had to promise not to tell anyone.  I plan on interleaving gender pronouns so that I don't slip up and spill the beans.

Honestly, I don't care whether we get a girl or a boy.  As long as it's healthy and strong and has a good head on its shoulders, and doesn't like Agricola, I'll be happy.



The other thing that's going on is that I'm writing a book.

I've done this before, with middling results.  I have historically found it hard to commit to 1,000 words per day, but everyone talks about commitment and the importance thereof, so I'd try, and miss some deadlines, and get discouraged about what I was doing, and it would either taper off and be dropped, or I'd finish and hate it.

This time around I've set my goal at 7,000 words per week.  I can write them all in one night if I like, but I have to hit that target.  This has proven to be much easier and hasn't required me to give up any socializing to get there.

The novel is a fantasy work.  There isn't an over-arching theme per se, although it is fairly deliberately written to shit all over the typical fantasy tropes that nobody has done well since Tolkien.  Usually I come up with plot and then character, but this time I did it the other way around; in a sense it's a buddy movie starring two characters I find interesting.  This has both made it much easier to write, and also made it easy to foresee extending the thing into a series, if things break my way.

I am going to try to get it published once it's done.  I'm also going to start writing the next one once it's done, although probably there will be a profound interruption around September.  I figure that if I keep writing, I'll eventually write something I can sell.  And I like where this is going.  It's been fun to write, and I hope that means it'll be fun to read.

Okay, you're up to speed.  Secret projects all revealed!  Woo!  (Well, except for that one that's in the vault lest the Feds find out about it, but mum's the word on that one, right?)