Like butter over too much toast…

Because he said it in the movie...

Well, it’s only day 3 of NaNoWriMo and I feel like I may be stretched a bit this time around. Working a full-time job (which admittedly is not that busy, and affords me some ample writing time…if the muse strikes), taking care of a rambunctious nearly-3-year old boy, and worrying about my daughters and their own problems and obstacles. Not to mention the changes in our personal life as my wife embarks an another incredible journey. And finally, as if that weren’t enough, throw in a dash of Grad School and mix well.

I’m still going to plug away at my book. I may not make 50,000 words by the end of the month, but I will still try (stranger things have happened). But, in the meantime, I have to read Spartans, an historical reference book, by the end of the month and then do an Academic Book Review, as well as the weekly assignments for my two classes. Unfortunately, even though they are History classes, they are more about the study of studying history (a discipline referred to as Historiography). Granted, after these two, it will be more straight up reading about history. Which is the part I like.

In other news, Scott Oden’s Orcs Anthology should be getting a due date for the submissions soon. I’m about 1/3 done with that story. I have a basic plot, some interesting characters, and I’m sure I will get it done. But, there’s still a part of me that dreads deadlines. Even though I work well under them (my prof. gave me a 10/10 on my essay this weekend…one that I wrote and cited five sources for in a single afternoon).

And, not at all surprising, my brain still keeps wandering in and out of different genres. Right now, with my degree focus being in Ancient Cultures, I am once again reminded of the historical novel I started about Agesilaus. I think I’d like to finish that some day. And who knows, maybe it will spur me on to do an academic study of him. I’m also thinking about some offbeat stuff. My friend is developing a campaign setting that he would like to see published as a compatible setting for the Pathfinder RPG. It’s kind of a a blend of Dragonstar and Stargate, with a Steampunk feel. At least that’s the vibe I am getting from his stuff so far.

Some good news on the tech front. I got my computer working again. Turns out it was some corrupted sectors. Running CHKDSK cleared it up, it appears. I still plan on getting a new laptop for me, and making my desktop the “family” computer. But at least now it’s not a priority. I also found the flash drive I thought I had lost last week. I was working around not having it. I couldn’t back all of the files up on an internet site (thankfully, I had backed them up on my work computer just the day before it disappeared), because my work blocks “file sharing” sites. So, I was using Google Docs, which works, but is a little cumbersome, compared to the convenience of a flash drive. Now, that’s a non-issue.

Well, looky there. Another “off-the-cuff” blog post. I’m getting pretty good at these.