I’m writing to you from the road this week. In thirty years of working for the man, I’ve not had to be much of a traveler. For a few years during the dot-com bubble, I made a lot of trips to Atlanta, Georgia, and back from Lexington, SC. Those were three-hour car trips, and I could do a round trip in one long, exhausting day if I absolutely had to. It helped to be in my early 30’s.
Hotel Writing Tools
Now, though, my new job requires me to visit our facilities in Maryland and Delaware. Drivable, if you’re a glutton for punishment, but flying is my preferred mode. Consequently, I have almost flown more in the past year with this new job than I flew in the previous thirty years combined – and that includes a six-month COVID break. As many of you know, travel is exhausting, and being 50+ years-old now doesn’t help.
So, this week, I considered trying to pull out a favorite from the “Best Of” files, but I think I’ve shared my few greatest hits multiple times already. But in the interest of delivering a new post each week and pushing myself as a writer, I decided to forge ahead with a new post. Most weeks I have settled on a blog topic by Wednesday night, but I’ve been distracted with the day job more than usual, thanks to the travel. Therefore, here a few rambling from the road.
Out of Tune
Here’s a brief update on my next novel, Out of Tune. My writing streak ended last Saturday at 116 days when life interfered as I prepared for my trip. Too many loose ends to tie up that day (like neglected yard work) and writing didn’t make the cut. I knew writing on the trip would be a challenge, likely end my streak, so I wasn’t too motivated last weekend. Honestly, I needed a break, though. The edit/rewrite phase has been slow and frustrating, but I have almost finished the first pass on my edits, with less than 10 chapters to go.
At this point, I can tell you there are some holes to fill. I won’t say the story is swiss cheese, but there are a few chasms that at least need a swinging footbridge to connect the cliff sides. Therefore, at this point, I don’t see the finished product being ready for Christmas gifts this year. I’ll keep you posted, of course, but March 1, 2021 seems like a good new target. Besides, do I really want to release a book in 2020? For those who wrote to me about being beta readers, obviously, I didn’t make the Labor Day goal, but I promise it’s coming!
Morning Run View This Week in Maryland
The Summer in Review
Fall finally officially arrived this week, and I did some reflecting on the summer as I ran around Maryland in some much cooler morning temperatures. Despite not quite meeting my early summer novel goals, I had a decent summer of writing. I published a new blog post for 21 straight weeks now, and feel like I whipped myself back into decent writing shape. Granted, this post might not be the greatest example. So, in case you missed a week or two, here is the complete list of links of new blog posts since May 6, 2020:
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/05/06/pulse/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/05/14/eat-more-chicken/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/05/21/radio-silence/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/05/28/the-socially-distant-writer/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/06/04/the-streak/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/06/11/libs-versus-ikes/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/06/18/whos-number-one/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/06/25/the-working-for-the-man-iversary/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/07/02/grumpy-greg/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/07/09/jukebox-heroes/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/07/16/a-book-report/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/07/23/boomerang-book/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/07/30/working-on-it/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/08/06/the-fowlers-snare/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/08/13/same-better-or-worse/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/08/20/break-from-lunch/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/08/27/my-inheritance/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/09/03/the-empty-gas-tank/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/09/10/coach/
http://gregfowlerauthor.com/2020/09/17/the-candy-corn-connoisseur/
Feel free to reply and let me know your favorite.
Thanks for reading,
PS. Travel in the COVID era has actually been much better than before. The airports are less crowded (although no social distancing is actually taking place in the terminal walkways) and Delta, at least, spaced our seats well. I grew tired of the mask, but there were no anti-mask incidents on this trip, unlike last month’s trip.
