The problem with long duration Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) is that they’re long duration. Remember the one my family has been dealing with — the one that detonated last week? The blast front will work its way through my family throughout October. And maybe longer. How’d it impact my week? Have I finally started posting TikTok videos? How about mastering audiobook chapters? Let’s take a look at the key performance indicators first.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I didn’t quite break 10,000 words, but that’s not a bad as it looks.
I thought I not only knew where The Fissure Kings Book 2: Athena Unleashed was going. Also, I thought I understood its place in the series. This week, I think the combination of stress from the RLFE, the existential despair of the American political situation, and my old mental habits colluded to undermine and collapse my confidence. I had convinced myself that I needed to change Raven’s arc, as well as the plot for the next book.
To place that into context, so far, I have three general “fronts” for my books:
- Earth/Fissure-centered
- Sirius/Colony-centered
- Perpendicular universe-centered
The Fissure Kings is firmly in the first camp. The “idea” I had would have worked toward merging the first two. The idea was interesting; it had its upside. But it just didn’t do anything dramatically interesting. It would have trashed the overall story of The Fissure Kings, and there’s just not enough reason to create that extra work.
As an aside, I’m just not ready to do anything with the third front, though I want to. I haven’t figured out the science of volitional interactions and its relationship to quantum physics.
By the end of the week, I’d talked myself out of making such a change. But taking time to consider it is why I didn’t hit the 10,000 words goal. On the other hand, I’m a little more confident in where this series is going. Except that I’m a little less happy with Raven’s arc. I need to give it a little more thought.
Marketing and Audiobooks
I made a few more AuthorScale slideshows this week. I’m trying to figure out the best way to approach the effort so I don’t burn out and can sustain it over time. I think the short version is that I’m not using these slideshows to market a book or even a given series. I’m going to use them to market my brand.
To do that, I intend to create slideshows from all my books. I’ll run them intermixed with each other. Why not? The idea is not to get someone to click immediately to buy any given thing — TikTok doesn’t allow that. The idea is to help potential readers see what my stories are about. It’s to give them a chance to see the themes and the characters and situations in my books. If those appeal to them, the next time they see an Amazon or Facebook ad, maybe they’ll be more inclined to click. That’s my hope anyway.
As far as audiobooks go, I managed to produce one chapter this week. There was a time when I could get through a chapter a day. I don’t think that’s happening any time soon, given the ongoing RLFE and the need to recover from it. Plus my family’s current work schedule is hostile to an extra free hour.
That said, I really want to publish audiobooks. So I’m going to have to think of something. Do you think I could get by with less sleep? On week nights, I average about six hours, with Tuesdays clocking closer to five. Could I get by with four or five? Then again, working myself to death (perhaps literally) isn’t really a great strategy, is it?
I still need to make enough space in my garage to set up my recording booth. Other interlinking projects have blocked me all summer. But I don’t have time to finish engineering Summer Foovay’s recordings for The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone or The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak as things stand. I wouldn’t have time to master my own recordings, either — and I certainly don’t have time to make them!
Clearly, there’s a flaw in my plan, and I need to figure it out.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Write 10,000 words in The Fissure Kings Book 2: Athena Unleashed” Not Done! But I came close.
- Monitor Summer Foovay’s recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak: Ongoing!
- Engineer two more chapters for the audiobook of The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone: Not Done! I only finished one.
- Create two more slideshows with AuthorScale and finish preparing my TikTok account for use: Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 38
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Write 10,000 words in The Fissure Kings Book 2: Athena Unleashed
- Monitor Summer Foovay’s recording progress for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak
- Engineer one more chapter for the audiobook of The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone
- Create four more slideshows with AuthorScale and finish preparing my TikTok account for use
What Do You Think?
How do you deal with the morale impact of not having enough time? Are there tricks to keeping yourself motivated? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
Because of a certain RLFE that was and is ongoing and is set for times I don’t really control, I went years sleeping maybe 3 or 4 hours on 3 nights a week, and often less. My personal system is set on going to bed at 2 am and getting up at 10 and that just doesn’t suit medical establishment. Then one day it became possible to set those ongoing appointments at a time more compatible with my sleep schedule. After two or three weeks of actually sleeping 8 hours or so a night, I felt like I suddenly ACTUALLY COMPLETELY woke up and had all of my faculties available for creative work and RL stuff. The moral of this story is do not short your sleep time. It’s doable if you are 20 something. It is not if you are 50 something or more. JMHO. And I don’t know how old you are. But I recommend against it. It’s one thing if you can’t sleep – I’ve certainly had plenty of that and if you’re awake, may as well be accomplishing something as obsessing. But don’t do it because you need more hours in the day – you need sleep as much as food and shelter. Okay, lecture over. It’s been my experience that having the RLFE, and giving yourself and the family time to recover and adjust to the RLFE as much as possible needs to be the priority. The outside world will try to rush and push and shove you and keep you in a panic – this is a manipulation tactic to get you to make poor decisions under the influence of too much cortisol and not enough time for actual thinking about things. Guess that was another lecture. While I’m always very impressed with your work ethic and how much you accomplish, I think right now you might be trying to accomplish too much all at once. Pick one or two things you think are most important with the book journey and concentrate on them, and let the others rest and percolate in your subconscious while you deal with more important RLFE for a few weeks or as long as it takes. Perhaps finish up the TikTok campaign and think about Raven’s arc. I hope I’m not a PITA, take what you want and leave the rest. I’ve just been dealing with RLFE for more or less 15 years straight, at least, so someone ought to benefit from my mistakes. I wish I had better advice for the outside political world. It distresses me as well. I try to remember to stop and look at right now near me and remember I have a good life and be grateful for that and live it and do the best I can. There is no way I can change or affect the greater situation right now. You and your thoughtful writing, have a greater chance of affecting peoples thoughts, and what’s going on – so give yourself credit for that and carry on. Blessedbe
I’m afraid I’m in that state where I don’t know how tired I really am. I’m north of 60, so can confirm going without sleep isn’t the best idea. Fortunately, I don’t have trouble falling asleep. At least not so far. But you’re right — going without is dumb. I plan to review a lot of what’s going on as this RLFE winds down.
You’re probably right that I have too many irons and too few fires. I’ll need to prioritize the irons until I actually retire. If I ever can (or if I’m luck enough to be able to keep a job — I’m frankly scared at the direction the planet’s headed right now).
Not a PITA at all (what’s the opposite? I think I’m too tired to think of something socially acceptable)! I appreciate you sharing the wisdom you earned.
My “thoughtful” writing has a chance of making a difference? That’s probably the most hopeful thing I’ve heard in years. Thanks for that!
Most people have been thoroughly indoctrinated that old people are stupid and don’t know anything. Not all, I know some young people who give me hope. But people do read, and thoughtful people read science fiction and think. Yes, I really do believe your books are more likely to reach people who are in a point in their lives where they can think AND ACT or at least share those books so their friends read them and think… we get enough of them thinking, there might be a solution found…