Silver linings

Well, we made it official.  The house-buying is a no-go.  We contacted the crappy-assed broker who screwed us over with his incompetence, and asked for a letter of denial from the lending institution, so we could get our earnest money back.  But, we're still having to move next month.

Turns out that, soon after we put in our notice to vacate on the word of the shitty broker who said he was sure we would be approved, the apartment complex rented out our place.  The good news is, they have another one with the same floorplan in a different building opening up at the end of August.  The bad news is, we have to be out of our current one by the end of the July.  But the good news is they have a smaller 3 bedroom that they will let us rent for a month in the meantime.

Good lord, I need a drink.

Bottom line is, we have about 15 more months of renting.  In that time we will be focused on organizing and decluttering, both physically and metaphorically.  We will work on growing my wife's business so that, when we are able to count her income, it will be significant.  And we will continue to improve our credit scores.  All in good time.  Sometimes it's hard to watch people who seem like they don't deserve good fortune enjoy an abundance of it, while we suffer for stupid reasons.  Universe?  Yeah, I'd like to order a Break Special with a side of Good Fortune, please.

In other news, my recently graduated daughter has secured employment, and as of Monday, will be enrolled in cosmetology school.  She's pro-active and motivated, and impresses me with her drive and determination.  I'm glad she didn't get that part of my laziness.  We're also hoping that her forward momentum will inspire Isaac to follow suit.  It's time he started learning to be a man, IMHO.  But, I don't blame him for his hesitancy.  He went through some tough times, and this whole thing is forcing a lot of learning on him.

But, just so this post isn't only about me and my personal problems, let's talk writing.  With all of this stress lately, writing has been difficult at best.  However, today my head is a bit clearer, so I think I can start to refocus myself.  Yesterday I tinkered with an unfinished sci fi story I have.  Some of you may recall my attempt to do serial fiction about a character named Thomas Magni, Galactic Man of Action.  Well, I have his first story about 2/3 to 3/4 done.  I just need to figure out the particulars of the ending and then write it.  It's only a short piece, and probably won't break much beyond 5k, if that.  But, it's a fun story, with a lot tongue-in-cheek humor and action.  I'll probably try to shop this one around the markets more before I just give up and ePub it.

Yesterday, while perusing Facebook, I saw a comment regarding the late, great Richard Matheson, and the older days of Sci Fi/Fantasy literature, and it made me think.   The comment was about how stand-alone novels seem to be things of the past.  And it seems that every book written these days, regardless of genre, is geared towards a series or trilogy.  Related to that comment was someone else's opinion that they prefer shorter works, and are tired of the gigantic doorstoppers.  I was just glad I'm not the only person who feels that way.  So, I'm thinking this may be where I am going to steer some of my writing.  Individual novels of moderate length, that can stand on their own, without sequels.

We'll see how that goes.  First I need to knuckle down and just write a damn book.