This last weekend was the end of my second week of summer vacation (for those who don't know, I'm a teacher) and so far, so good. The first week I finally completed the revision for the new edition of Bronze, and this week the hard edit was completed. Now for one last go through and fix any formatting issues and into the mail it goes. Sort of.
In the meantime, my little family is experiencing major changes which are exciting and unnerving and may prove to be very distracting. I don't talk much about my personal life, both for my own and my children's privacy, and for reasons I won't go into here or now. But stuff is happening. And if you know anything about autism, you will understand. The executive functions involved alone - for all of us - are extremely challenging.
My Oldest Child, my son, is in Iowa interviewing for a job. This may seem like no big deal, but it is. It's huge. My daughter-in-law and grandson are in Washington (state) and I was going up this summer to visit, as I usually do. But if he gets the job, he'll probably stay there, in which case I'll go up to Washington anyway to help his wife pack and get ready to move. I'm praying I get to see him one way or another. Washington is quite a drive, but it's always been do-able, at least once a year. Iowa is not do-able and if they move it'll feel like he's moved to the other side of the planet. But I want him to get the job. It's a chance for them to really get on their feet. Thank goodness for Skype.
At the other extreme is my Youngest Child, who has been my roommate since she turned eighteen, many years ago, and who has never been able to move out on her own before. She wants to "adult" on her own, which is understandable, and I want that for her too, but she simply hasn't been able to afford the ridiculous rents here in the Bay Area. Now she has found a place through a friend - a room in a shared house within reach of her job - that seems like it will be very good for her. I'm excited for her. And already dreading loneliness. I've never lived completely alone before. I'm afraid I'll start talking to myself even more than I already do. I'm hoping she leaves me the cat.
Today she's starting to pack her things. Lots of things. This requires a new playlist, so she enlisted my help. It's gratifying to be so useful. She wanted something funky. I went retro and turned her onto The Isley Brothers and Chaka Khan. That led to all kinds of great stuff. We jammin'.
My Middle Child recently started a new job in San Francisco and is already general manager. She loves working there and it's much better than where she was working before, but it doesn't mean she earns a lot. And she currently lives in a relatively bad part of one of the most dangerous cities in America. We want her to move. We want her to move years ago. (Yes, that was meant to be present tense.) She looked at two apartments on Saturday. One didn't call back. Their loss. The other is a new building with income restrictions. She earns too much for this place, yet can't afford any other decent place to live. Plus they don't take cats anyway. That's just not acceptable. I'll be haunting Craigslist this summer.
So I'm praying all three can move this summer, for very different reasons, and I'll be somewhat "on call" to help while I can.
On the positive side, I'll return completely to Book Two of The Glister Journals. I'm SO excited about that. Honestly, it's almost finished, but there's still a lot to fit into the last few chapters. As far as release dates (and the official start of the soundtrack contest), that depends on how and when the new edition of Bronze is published. More about that when I have news, one way or the other.
And in case you're curious as to the survey results, I'm including a link to the charts.
The results are very interesting and surprised me a bit. The overwhelming majority of people (most of whom haven't read Bronze) said they like long books, they like the present book cover, and they thought the blurb interesting enough to invite further investigation. This is very valuable and welcome information. I don't want to waste time changing things that don't need fixing, though I'm going to change the blurb, if nothing else. The main negative comment was that it wasn't clear what genre of book it is. All of these considerations may not end up being my decision to make, but it's extremely helpful and encouraging. A huge thank you to everyone who participated. The comments were extremely helpful too. It was all really good stuff.
So I hope you're all having a great summer so far. I will continue to run my own giveaways and participate in others'. I can only try to be more regular with music, book, and other posts and updates.
Want some music? Of course you do! I hadn't heard of these guys before, but I like them and the song is appropriate. Kind of. Enjoy. :)
Reviews for The Glister Journals: Bronze
More Glister Journals info at the book's website here: theglisterjournals.com
The Glister Journals: Bronze can be purchased through any bookseller or purchase now at Amazon.com New edition coming!
Note: All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2015 to B B Shepherd.
Thanks for sharing your update! I'll pray for your kids as they're going through all of these changes. And for you! Go ahead and talk to the cat :) I do!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christy. I appreciate it very much. And yes, I will continue to talk to the cat, though he often talks much more than me!
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