Category Archives: Weekly Update

Rob’s Weekly Updates.

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The Wind-Swept Sky

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Week 10 of 2018

Wow, what a week it has been. Since the last time we talked, I took my sweetie on a mini-vacation, wrote a bunch, and traveled many hundreds of miles. I sit at the moment in the Keg and Barrel in Hattiesburg, MS getting some work done.

The mini-vacation was excellent. We roamed around western Iowa, starting off with the Lucky Pig restaurant in Ogden. It was pretty darn tasty, and the pig was especially lucky since we had steaks.

Then we headed to the Hotel Pattee in Perry, IA. This place is awesome. It’s beautiful, with an excellent restaurant, and a pretty good, if limited bar. Each room is themed. We stay in the Welsh Room, which had a Dylan Thomas quote (not the one you expect) painted in both English and Welsh as well as a collection of his poetry. The furniture is all antiques, and there were a variety of Welsh-themed items like a framed version of “Men of Harlech” with both the lyrics and music.

We’ll be back. In fact, we should have stayed there the next night, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.

We left the Hotel Pattee to go south to Winterset, which is the home of the Iowa Quilt Museum and John Wayne’s Birthplace. It also has a yarn store, a quilt store, some interesting antique places, and a great cafe. Well worth the time to spend a weekend there.

From that point we headed west towards Omaha. We stayed the night in Greenfield, but the Greenfield hotel was not what we hoped. The lobby and exterior are beautiful, and the room was a step above a motel, but it was essentially much like staying at a Motel 6, only about twice the price. Will not go back.

On the way back we stopped at what I call a Swiss restaurant. It’s Moreau Backerei and Pizzeria. A French name of a German bakery serving italian food is about the most Swiss thing ever. It was quite good. Will go back.

From there we headed home, with one side trip to Red Oak, IA. Red Oak is about an hour from Omaha, but there was a beautiful house that my sweetie thought might be worth that kind of a commute and we were able to get to see it. It is, indeed, a beautiful house, in our price range, and with all we want. Except a back yard. Probably won’t be our choice. Sigh.

Anyway, it was a great trip. We got back in time for me to do final preparations and some writing. I made a lot of progress, again writing about 10k words, though only a couple of thousand will show on the total for Brief Is My Flame as more keeps getting added to None Call Me Mother. As I get closer to finishing a draft for Brief Is My Flame, I’ll start organizing the leftovers and providing you a running total of None Call Me Mother. Expect that to start in April.

Now I’m in Hattiesburg, and tomorrow I’ll get on site for Gulf Wars. I set up my tent tomorrow. Saturday we set up Calontir Trim and my portion of the booth. Sunday through Saturday we sell, and then pack up on Sunday the 18th and leave.

In the past I’ve written quite a bit at wars, because I sit there with my laptop in the booth and write until people come up. I expect to be close to a final draft of Brief Is My Flame by the end of the week, with a goal to get it out by the end of the month.

With that, I’ll get back to writing… and trying local IPAs.

Current Playlist Song: None, since I’m sitting in a place that actually doesn’t really play music overhead. So, I’ll pick something I’ve heard recently. The first song on the trip was Chic’s “Le Freak.” Disco is a guilty pleasure. I grew up in the 70s. Sue me.

Quote of the Week

Any week is a good time for a Kipling quote, but after roaming and finding treasures in Iowa and now coming to an SCA war where there are always 15 seconds of magic that make the trip worthwhile just by themselves, this quote comes to mind:

“The wild hawk to the wind-swept sky,
The deer to the wholesome wold,
And the heart of a man to the heart of a maid,
As it was in the days of old.”
– Rudyard Kipling, “The Gipsy Trail”

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (1144)
  • AFS (2681)
  • Brief Is My Flame (42,288)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

  • Nothing much because of travel

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Today’s spotlight is on a guy I want to read more of, but have barely touched so far: Michael Scott Earle. He’s got quite a bit, with a pulp and early SF feel, and you can find his stuff at: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Scott-Earle/e/B019QSNVA2/

Today’s Weight: 384.8

Updated Word Count: 17,821

Shijuren Wiki: 740 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 187 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The World is Loaded

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Week 9 of 2018

Greetings all

Sorry that I’m a day late on my update. I was exhausted last night from not sleeping well the previous two nights, and I just went to bed early.

However, it was a pretty good week of writing with both Brief Is My Flame and None Call Me Mother. I mentioned last week that I had an epiphany and realized I needed to go about something backwards. I’ve cleaned up Brief Is My Flame, which sent 1000s of words to None Call Me Mother, but I have also broken the 40k barrier. Major progress there.

This despite a week focused on helping my sweetie through a major work thing. That’s done, and we’re going to take a mini-vacation starting tonight. We’ll ramble our way to Minneapolis generally on the blue highways.

If you don’t know the term blue highways, it comes from a book by the same name. It’s an amazing book, on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Highways-Journey-into-America-ebook/dp/B006BAW16O/. I just finished re-reading it, as a matter of fact.

We’ll see how much work I get done this week as we ramble. My sweetie has been working hard to get over this hump, and I want her to have a good time. I do have some sections just jumping out, though, so when I get opportunities, I’ll be productive.

This past week, I also went through and cleaned up my list of potential conventions. It’s something I’ve needed to do for a while, but part of that is because my sweetie kinda wants to know when I’ll be gone ahead of time. Shocking, I know. Anyway, I’ve added a number of upcoming events on that list. I have several others that I’m waiting on confirmation. Most of 2018 should be mapped out soon.

Now I’d better pack.

Current Playlist Song: Stop! by Jane’s Addiction. This is the opening song on Ritual de la Habitual, and it is one of my top five albums of all time. The radio song, Been Caught Stealing, is the one mediocre song on the album and Three Days might be may favorite song ever.

Quote of the Week

Quite possibly my favorite comedian provides this week’s quote:

I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.
– Steven Wright

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (1144)
  • AFS (2681)
  • Brief Is My Flame (40676)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

J.F. Holmes has his Dragon award nominated Invasion, Book I: Resistance ebook for free on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0716YCLH4.

Today’s Weight: 386.2

Updated Word Count: 16796

Shijuren Wiki: 741 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 170 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Rush, Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Waving Towards the Clearing Sky

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Week 8 of 2018

Greetings everyone, with a special shout out to all of those I added this week. Thanks for joining me here.

It was a busy week, highlighted by Planet Comicon. I had a great time, and it was my best year yet. You can find my full AAR at: https://robhowell.org/blog/?p=950.

One result from Planet Comicon is discovery of some more regional cons. You’ll see that I’ve added O Comic Con, an Omaha convention to my list. I’ve got several others I’m looking at in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Salina, and Hutchinson. Going to be a busy summer.

Sometimes the exhaustion of a busy con like Planet Comicon can help me think through things. I don’t have a solid number of words on Brief Is My Flame this week because I’m in the midst of switching something around. Basically, I had characters coming at something in one direction and that was fighting me. By flipping the direction, everything falls into place. The good news is that all the work I’ve done will go directly into None Call Me Mother.

I didn’t get a chance to do much writing on anything else. I did some work on the Wikis, but essentially this last week was about Planet Comicon and nothing else.

However, after I recover from a successful convention, I tend to get enthusiastic about where I am and what I’m doing. Sometimes writing is just a slog, but you gotta push through that. Not this week.

In fact, it’s time for me to get back to work.

Current Playlist Song: “Peaceable Kingdom” by Rush. Now Rush has effectively called it quits, but we thought that might be the case in the late 90s after a couple of tragedies made it so that Neil Peart didn’t want to play anymore. However, he came back and Rush gave us three brilliant albums: Vapor Trails, Snakes & Arrows, and Clockwork Angels. This one is from Vapor Trails.

Quote of the Week

Today is the birthday of Anthony Daniels. You might know him better as C-3PO. Here’s a quote from the man himself.

“I have a greater appreciation for kitchen appliances, having played one.” – Anthony Daniels

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (1144)
  • AFS (2681)
  • Brief Is My Flame (?)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Today’s spotlight is on a just released novel in the Four Horsemen Universe, Assassin by Kacey Ezell and Marisa Wolf. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079YTRLFN/

Today’s Weight: 384.0

Updated Word Count: 14441

Shijuren Wiki: 738 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 159 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The Steaks Are High

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Week 7 of 2018

Greetings all

I’m making my preparations for Planet Comicon. I hope to see all of you in the KC area there to join us. I’ll be at booth 2444, and it should be a great time. This is my third year there, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

There’s been a lot of navigating government websites this past week as I deal with state sales tax stuff. It always feels like a major accomplishment when I actually manage to get something tax related done. The behind the scenes stuff of being a writer is probably the worst thing.

Aside from imposter syndrome, which is endemic to us, I think.

Anyway, I got lots of stuff done on that side of things, as well as a goodly amount of writing. The breakthrough in Brief Is My Flame is coming, as I have my characters in places where things are bursting to happen.

I have also found out that I think I was a Jewish mother in a past life. I do most of the cooking around here, since I’m home writing during the day while my sweetie goes off to her 9 to 5 job. The only real problem is that I make too much food for her.

We didn’t do anything tonight for Valentine’s because she has a work project she is focused on and we decided to do something fun and whimsical when it’s complete. Still, I bought flowers and made steaks. However, I bought about three times the amount of steak she, I, and her daughter can eat. Yes, the steaks were high.

There are, I suppose, worse problems.

Current Playlist Song: This week’s song is the Olympic Theme, which is a fantastic song, actually.

Quote of the Week

Of course, the Winter Olympics are going on. I have them on in the background pretty much all the time. There are always great scenes of raw emotion as athletes give everything they got. Chloe Kim and Shaun White have been my favorites so far, as has the Matt Hamilton, the curler with the great mustache. Yeah, I love curling. It’s such a fun game to figure out the angles.

But the Winter Olympics are always defined for me by these words, from one of the most powerful moments in my life.

“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
– Al Michaels

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (1144)
  • AFS (2681)
  • Brief Is My Flame (38567)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

As I inch closer to Brief Is My Flame, I have to start thinking cover art. Fortunately, Patrick McEvoy of http://www.megaflowgraphics.com/ has been a master at deciphering what I want from my strange clues.

Today’s Weight: 386.8

Updated Word Count: 13,335

Shijuren Wiki: 738 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 133 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Curse You, Flying Kitty

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Week 6 of 2018

Greetings all

What a strange week. I don’t have much to show for it on this post, which is clearly late, but I know I got a bunch done.

One major project that had to be done was sort through my various computers to make sure I’ve got everything backed up and all the files where they’re supposed to be.

I’ve been on a bit of a time crunch as one laptop has to get out to the manufacturer in the next few days, so I had to make sure all the data was off of it. That meant organizing the files on my secondary laptop, which I’d need anyway because it’s the one I’m taking to Gulf. To make all of this work I copied it all on my desktop and organized everything. Then I bought a WD MyCloud WiFi drive to use as a backup to that, along with duplicate copies on my secondary laptops.

Along the way, I cleaned up and organized a variety of useful files that needed to be done, including starting my tax prep.

Next week is Planet Comicon. I got packed and ready for that this week. That included shifting to a new plastic case to carry books in. This has been an ongoing challenge. I was using some file holders, but they have proven too flimsy. WalMart had some new ones which fit the books nicely, are heavier plastic, and hold the right number, around twelve to fifteen. Books are heavy, so having smaller boxes is nice, but they need to hold a useful quantity.

I also took some time to watch the Falcon launch. Cool stuff, and especially the enthusiasm it seems to have kicked into space programs. I am reminded a bit of the shuttle program prior to the Challenger explosion. Like we were really gonna make it out there. I lost that feeling in the 90s. Nice to have it back.

So when did I write? Well, I didn’t, or at least, didn’t do a lot on Brief Is My Flame. I wrote more of the snippets and characters scenes for Mar’s Auction.

I will also freely admit I’m at the stage in the novel where it’s a fight to push through. I sit here in the 30s and 40s for a while, and then suddenly I’m in the 70s and 80s and trying to figure out how to stop in only 20-30k words. However, I’m at the procrasticleaning stage and haven’t pushed through it all yet.

I’ll keep plugging away, though. Have a great week, and I’ll work at doing the same.

Current Playlist Song: “Ormurin Langi,” by Tyr. Tyr is a Faroese Norse metal band, and this is their version of an old song. There’s some neat stuff about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormurin_Langi

Quote of the Week

The World War 1 Flying Kitty has been especially active this week, including stealing a piece of chicken out of my bowl this morning.  This quote seems appropriate for her.

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.
– Terry Pratchett

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (1144)
  • AFS (2681)
  • Brief Is My Flame (36732)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

  • Really mediocre week for me on my blog and wiki

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

This week’s spotlight is on Jon Osborne, who is busily working on his sequel to the Reluctant Druid. You can find his work at: https://www.amazon.com/Jon-R.-Osborne/e/B073PKR8GS/

Today’s Weight: 389.2

Updated Word Count: 12706

Shijuren Wiki: 736 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 105 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Conventions, Four Horsemen Universe, Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Only in Dying, Life

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Week 4 of 2018

Greetings all

I have successfully made it back from ChattaCon. You can find my ChattaCon AAR here. The TL:DR version is that I really enjoy working with a number of writers and had lots of panels, but I don’t think I got enough value out of the cost of the trip. We’ll have to see about next year.

It’s good to get back. I don’t have any huge trips planned until Gulf Wars, though I am going to a few things. I’ll be at Clothier’s Seminar in a couple of weeks, then to Planet Comicon in KC in February.

Hopefully during that time we’ll see a change in the house situation. We’ll see. It cannot go on forever.

Still, I’m anticipating getting back into the rhythm of producing content and being a house-husband. I rather enjoy cooking, and I’ve hand fun playing around with new recipes.

One drawback of traveling is that it’s hard to eat well. I did my best at the Bird House, but overall I gained back about 5 pounds. I’m basically back where I started the year. Still, things could have been worse.

I’m adding two numbers below, just because I want to keep track of them. One is the number of articles on the Shijuren wiki, and the other is the number on the Four Horsemen wiki. I’m mostly doing this out of curiosity, but I know that Chris and Mark are anxious to see those numbers increase on the Four Horsemen wiki.

And speaking of that, after I send out this email, I’ll add some more entries. By the way, the Four Horsemen wiki is at: http://mercenaryguild.org/wiki/tiki-index.php.

Current Playlist Song: Saltarello Wascherschloss by Corvus Corax. Corvus Corax is one of those bands that plays medieval music with medieval instruments, but with an almost metal energy.

Quote of the Week

2018 has been rough for me, and I’m sad to see Ursula K. Le Guin passed. The Wizard of Earthsea was the book I latched onto after Lord of the Rings. I vividly remember finding it in my 6th grade library. I know it was 6th grade because I remember the library and it wasn’t the one I had in 5th nor the one I had in 7th.

Anyway, today’s quote comes from her, and I hope she’s enjoying its fruits.

“Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

News and Works in Progress

  • No short stories this week.
  • Brief Is My Flame (32437) There are actually some snippets flying around that will get added next week.

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

I mentioned last week that I’ll be in an anthology bringing back the Pussy Katnip characters. Here’s the first of four novels Brett Brooks has written so far in this universe: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Darkest-Color-Pussy-Katnip-ebook/dp/B01HJB3O1Y/

Today’s Weight: 389.0

Updated Word Count: 10704

Shijuren Wiki: 736 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 59 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: In the Bird House

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Week 3 of 2018

It’s been a weird, and productive week. My original plan was to go to Meridies 40th Year, but the weather was not conducive. Instead, I found myself an AirBnB place called the Bird House near Dunlap, TN.

I’ve had a kitchen, plenty of food, and WiFi. Other than my sweetie, what more could I want?

I’ve been very productive this week, starting with finishing a short story entitled A Gift of Crimson and sending it to the editor. It’s kind of an odd balance between Raymond Chandler, Stan Lee, and J.K. Rowling as it’s for a buddy who’s bringing back Pussy Katnip, a series of superhero comics/stories from the 1930s. Maltese Falcon noir with anthropomorphic animals in a superhero world aimed at young adults. I had a lot of fun with it.

It was challenging too because he asked for shorter stories than normal, around 4000 words. This one ended at 3868. Go me. I’ll have more publishing details when I know exactly.

I made huge progress on the other side project this week. I’ve been building a Wiki for the Four Horsemen universe. You can find the Wiki here: http://mercenaryguild.org/wiki/tiki-index.php. It’s low on content right now, but I’ll be updating that consistenly.

I actually wanted to make sure I could talk about it on this post, which is why I decided to wait until this morning to actually send out my update. Thanks for your patience.

Well, I suppose I should get back to work. This is my last full day on the mountain and I should take advantage of it.

Current Playlist Song: Yngwie Malmsteen, “Flamenco Diablo.” Yngwie is an incredible guitarist, and does some amazing versions of works in classical and other genres, as well as metal.

Quote of the Week

As mentioned, this week has been odd. I’ve literally not left this little above garage mother-in-law type apartment since I got here on Saturday. I’ve had internet and phone, but it’s been… remote.

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
― W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

News and Works in Progress

  • A Gift of Crimson (3868)
  • Brief Is My Flame (30000s)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Since I’m announcing the Four Horsemen Wiki, I suppose I should announce that tomorrow Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey will release the prequel in that universe, The Four Horsemen: Alpha Contracts.

Today’s Weight: 385.4 (from last week)

Updated Word Count: 6807

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The Star of Dogs

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Week 2 of 2018

Greetings all

This week I’m on the road, and travel has been a little discombobulating. While I had planned to leave when I did, I had also planned to go through Fayetteville, AR to visit a friend. That would have worked out nicely.

However, one of my favorite dogs ever will probably get put down before I return from my current trip so I changed plans and went to see him. His name is Sirius, and he is the Star of Dogs. He’s been a great dog, always happy to see me, but this time he is in so much pain he can’t quite wag his tail properly. I’m glad to go see him and pet him one last time, but it was tough.

To get to him, I had to accelerate part of my schedule, meaning that I didn’t get much sleep on Tuesday night. Hence, when I reached Tupelo, MS, which was a reasonable stopping point, I basically ate something and passed out.

I’m now in Perry, GA, getting ready to go to Meridies 40th Year Celebration. Meridies is one of the kingdoms in the SCA, and I’ve a number of good friends here, so when I realized I could combine coming to this event and then go to ChattaCon next week, it was an easy choice.

My publishable word count won’t go up much this week, because I realized what I meant was “published.” I’ve got a short story that is complete and just needs editing, so that will jump the count up, but only when I send it out.

I made some progress on Brief Is My Flame last week, but I didn’t think to email me my progress email, so I don’t actually know how many words are written, and won’t until I return.

Tonight I’ll do some more work, watch the Shockers play if I can find the game, and get ready to sell all weekend long.

I’ll also think of Sirius and the great pets that have graced my life.

Current Playlist Song: “Wild Rover” – Dropkick Murphys. This seems an appropriate song for roving around Georgia this week.

Quote of the Week

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”
—Charles M. Schulz

News and Works in Progress

  • DOR (3972)
  • Brief Is My Flame (28834)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Today, Jason Cordova released Devastator, the sequel to his recently re-released novel Corruptor, tomorrow. I haven’t actually read Corruptor yet, but I read and loved Wraithkin. Also, if you like Kaiju fiction, he has a bunch of stuff about big lizards. You can find his stuff at: https://www.amazon.com/Jason-Cordova/e/B004CZHHPU/

Today’s Weight: 355.4

Updated Word Count: 1670

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Uncategorized, Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: 2018

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Week 1 of 2018

Greetings all

I hope everyone is recovered from New Year’s Eye. I am, as of today. Yesterday was a bit of a zombie moment as I recovered from enjoying our trip to St. Louis.

However, I’m of as sound of mind and body that I can be right now and I make these plans without duress, though I see the WW1 Flying Kitty is on the prowl.

Speaking of sound mind, thanks to my apprentice, I may be of sounder mind than I have been in a long while. I’m someone who stares at his phone at night. I’m also someone who hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since the early 2000s. Those things do not correlate, exactly, as one is not necessarily the cause of the other, though it is a contributing factor. My apprentice pointed out that blue light is a problem, and my phone has a blue light filter. I don’t know if it’s entirely the cause, but I’ve been sleeping better since I turned it on. There are other factors, like some temporary stability in December and such, but it’s certainly helped. While I’ll probably never get a good night’s sleep, as defined by most people, I am sleeping better of late.

Anyway, I have two goals this year. The first is to put out 365,000 publishable words. Yep, I’m aiming at 1000 publishable words per day. What do I mean by publishable? Well, something that is either published or in the process of getting published. I will count blog posts towards that, in part because now doing blog posts will seem more productive in my head than I normally conceive of them. I know I need to put more there for it to get more followers, but it’s not easy for me. Doing this will appeal to the same part of my mind that really enjoys mowing the lawn. I get my exercise out of the way and I’ve done something else.

Speaking of exercise, my other goal is to lose weight. Both my sweetie and I want to walk when things get finally settled, though that’s still a ways away. Still, the day to day life is better now, even it’s not our permanent solution, and when I’m home I’m eating better than I have been. That’s helped.

However I do it, I’m going to use you all to help me but holding myself accountable on both things. The last thing on each week’s update will be my current weight and updated word count. You’ll get to see it happening.

For my blog, I’ll be setting things up to have a standard day to put some things out. For example, Wednesday will be my update day.

Friday will be Event Report Day, though I’ll sometimes do it on other days given the schedule, depending upon the schedule of the event. Here I’ll comment on the last event, or recent ones, and talk about events I’m attending.

I have some ideas for Monday. I think it might be Random Wikipedia Article Story Prompt Day, or something like that. Basically I’ll look at a few random Wikipedia articles, something I routinely do anyway for story ideas, and put the first story idea that comes to mind out on a blog post.

Please note that I will *not* be emailing these out. I said I’ll send you at most one email a week, except for the occasional major announcement, and that’s my limit. These things will only show up on the blog, which will then get announced on Twitter and Facebook.

As for the Weekly Email,  I’ve added content as well as accountability. The first thing will be the song I’m listening to when I send this email, with maybe some commentary or memory about the song.

One more thing I’m going to do is put the current word count of the next novel, so you have a benchmark. I’ll also be putting the short stories I’m working, under their file name acronym, which means you won’t know anything about them, other than that I am working on them. I’ve been wondering how to tell you when I’m making progress on these, and I think this will be the way.

This blog post has 1057 words. Only 363,943 to go in 2018.

Current Playlist Song: “Wish Them Well” Rush (Clockwork Angels) It’s just not worth keeping the demons in your life. Just wish them well.

Quote of the Week

You have now heard my plan. I think this quote from Firefly sums up the notion of plans right well.

Zoe: Cap’n’ll come up with a plan.
Kaylee: Well, that’s good. Right?
Zoe: Possible you’re not recalling some of his previous plans.
– Firefly (Safe)

News and Works in Progress

  • Short Story: DOR (1678): A new project I aim to finish next week.
  • Brief Is My Flame (28834): I did a lot of cleanup on these files, mostly because I realized I had mixed a couple of things up.

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

I love Firefly not just because of the writing, characters, and stories, but also because how it inspired some friends of mine, the Bedlam Bards. You can find their music on Amazon here or just search for them. On the Drift is an entire CD of Firefly-themed music.

Today’s Weight: 388.4

Updated Word Count: 1057

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Personal, Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Happy Holidays

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Week of 16 – 23 December

Greetings all

Tonight, my sweetie, her spawn, and I head down to Mom’s for Christmas.

Last year was Dad’s last Christmas, and this one will be different than any other I’ve known. Oddly, I am looking forward to this one much more than last, though. We knew as we unwrapped presents this was Dad’s last, so driving down I was filled with frustration and sadness. Dad made his passing as easy as we could have hoped, but that didn’t make it fun.

This year, we’ll miss having him around, though man, he told some awkward stories near the end. Talk about having no filter. But he got what he wanted from Santa Claus, enough time to say goodbye but no more than needed so he could be out of his pain.

The negatives of his sickness weighed everything down last year, but this year I’m filled with so much more optimism. I’ve got lots of irons in the fire, and I need to finish some, but it’s awesome that I’m getting asked to write these things. My home life is much more relaxing, at least when the kitten isn’t galumphing around, even though my move is extending to far longer than I hoped. 2018 promises to be one of my best years ever.

I hope all of you get good presents. If you deserve coal, I even hope you get top-flight anthracite.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Quote of the Week

“I’m a physicist, and we have something called Moore’s Law, which says computer power doubles every 18 months. So every Christmas, we more or less assume that our toys and appliances are more or less twice as powerful as the previous Christmas.”
– Michio Kaku

News and Works in Progress

  • A new short story requested to get out quick. I should be done early in January.
  • Brief Is My Flame, in the 30s, even though I’ve been lazy

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

  • Nothing new to add, but that’s because I’ve been focusing on something else…

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

As you probably already know, Heather Dale is one of my favorite voices. If you have only one album of Christmas songs, my suggestion would be this: http://heatherdale.com/product-category/this-endris-night/

Good King Wenceslaus is on my playlist year round.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Currently Available Works

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org