Richard Raley's Blog, page 9

Burnination 2B Done

Enter two weeks of a screaming shoulder, aching muscles, and bed lounging.  Finished the chapter I was working on, plus 7k into the next one, btw.

Not Gonna Tempt Fate With Good News Claims

But...7k written in the last week.  Including a trip to the dentist that's had me feeling sore as hell the last three days (chairs, car seats, and generally my spine being pressed against any material that isn't a bed are my biggest enemies still!).

For comparison, through the massive struggles of this year with pain, plus getting all the burninations and procedures done, I wrote a rather pathetic 25k in total.

HUGE improvement.

Right on the edge of the halfway point.  Then we're time skipping to just before the winter break and then the next chapter, the Winter War starts.

Loving every minute of writing again, even if I'm having to do it on a stupid phone.  Million times better than not writing at all!  Am looking forward to giving typing a try post the C7-T2 right side burnination in a few weeks however.  Actually, I'll probably need a month for it to work...so say start of February-ish?

Also, we have to see how my body/back handles the marathon of finishing this novel.  7k a week is solid, but I need about fifteen? more weeks of that to finish.  Plus Edit Hell...will NOT be able to put in the usual 20 hour days for a month straight I  pulled before, so that could take much longer.

Burnination #2 Part B

Second week of January I'll be getting the right side done C7-T2.  Left side feels a ton better now.  Still have some muscle weakness in the wrist and fingers so I'm not able to abandon my trusty wrist brace quite yet and typing might not feel like someone is slamming a knife repeatedly into my left shoulder now, but it's still uncomfortable.  I typed about ten pages of edits in a few days ago and it took about three different sessions with breaks in-between.  Maybe some of that is the right side leaking over and all that pain will dissipate after this is done, maybe I'll need some physio to build the muscles back up, but considering before the procedure doing something like that would've had me whimpering for two or three days, it's a huge improvement already.
Also I went out to the doctor and grabbed some groceries after yesterday and...I'm just kind of sore instead of wanting to die right now, so that's also pretty huge.
I've been writing a pretty good amount on the phone.  More than I could before.  One day I literally just predictive texted my ass through a whole scene setting up two different back stories I've been looking forward to share for years.  Up to 117k words now.  Or 425 manuscript pages.  Still working on the big halfway point moment (2015 Camping Test).  Big problem is...how do you make it interesting while KH can't actually take part in it?
Going to see how it plays out over the next few months, but if this keeps getting bigger and bigger I might just split it, publish what I have, and have the War to End All Wars half (2016 Winter War) be a second novel.  Or maybe I'll just publish a thousand page monstrosity, we'll see.  If I split it, I'll piss off people that want a "full story".  If I don't split it, I'll piss off people that think it's too long.  If I hack 1/3 of the novel out in editing, I'll feel horrible about killing my beautiful babies.
Really no winning.
So I'll just do what I want, neener neener!

Quick Update

Feeling better.  Already a lot less pain on a left side of my back into my shoulder, arm, and hand with what should be two more weeks of improvement ahead.  Still have grip strength, muscle weakness problems with my wrist and fingers though, might need to wait for physio to get help with that.  Did a full edit of the last 30 or so pages I wrote a couple months back.  Started writing new material on my phone today.  Just doing what I can again.  So far, so good.  Still don't have a date for the right side burnination because of the holidays, should know more at the start of next month.  3 doctor appoints right in the first week of December then I should have more freedom through the end of the year (assuming they don't schedule the burnination immediately).

Happy holidays to everyone if I don't update before the end of the year.

Burnination #2 on Friday

I still don't feel any pain in the spot where they did it the first time around (T6-T9) and since this area (C7-T2) is where everything is emanating out of, this could be a massive improvement.  The temporary branch block gave me two months writing at 10k words a month.  If the burnination manages at least that for the 1 to 2 years its suppose to last, then...eventually we'll have books getting finished again.  I'm hoping for a bigger improvement, obviously, since burned nerves should trump a temporary anesthetic.  Big month in turning the tide against all this pain for sure.  Since they start with the left side then in two to three weeks do the right side, it will be a month long ordeal, with about a week in bed after each procedure.
So wish me luck, send the good vibes, and all that!

Backpack Battles

 Anyone else got a new addiction to this game?

My doctors have completely overloaded me with appointments in the last couple weeks (will be 6 appointments between Oct 12th and Nov 3) and I'm just...like beaten down with a screaming back at this point.  Tramadol is literally the only thing keeping me standing.

Or...sitting on the edge of the bed playing Backpack Battles.  Which I can't stop playing.  It's especially great for my crippled ass since you only need to use a mouse to control everything and it's untimed.  Basically an inventory management, crafting/item combiner, auto battle game.  There's only two classes at the moment, it's nothing but a demo actually, not even early access.  So it's FREE (on Steam).  And I've put in like 30 hours already getting both classes into Diamond Rank, and...it's really good.  Check it out.

So My Uncle Ben Died

He was less about the "with great power comes great responsibility" and more with the "hey, try this homemade wine I brewed up" or "so I caught myself on fire last week, can you believe that shit?!?"

Fought with alcohol his whole life and it finally got him.  Like his father and his father before him, go Team Irish!  Never knew when to stop for just about anything else, including telling one story after another that would have us in stitches.  Made many a holiday extra fun for me growing up.  One of my earliest memories is him dressing me up in a tuxedo for me to be the ring bearer at my cousin's wedding.

So it's not this crazy shocking thing, but it was sudden.  It wasn't cancer or some problem we were expecting.  Just us wondering why we hadn't heard from him in a couple days and finally news today that his apartment neighbors had found him just now.  It's all very fresh, so no idea how tough things might get with my poor mom.  I'm okay, I think.  Sad, but...seem to be okay.  But, another crucible to deal with here in Raley Land.

I've picked up another couple stupid things to do with doctors pre Burnination Two, Electric Fuck You Nerves.  Which is why I'd planned to write this blog post today before all this happened.  Writing a little bit here and there, nothing crazy.  Did come up with a FUCKING AMAZING IDEA that ties like 2 or 3 plot lines together.  But, uh...it's not until like FM9ish you're going to get the payoff for that.  So...I mean...I might be laying the groundwork in War to End All Wars though...so I look all smart when you get the reveal and all that.  I would NEVER do that...in the first few chapters of the entire series for something that won't be revealed until the last few chapters of the series...as an example...

Or did I?

If only I got paid for rereads...

Love you all, stay safe, talk to you all post Burnination.

Burnination #2 Incoming

C7 to T2 spinal ablation.  Middle of November.  If it provides the same relief as the first, in a more needed area, it could be pretty huge to my quality of life, pain reduction, and of course...writing output.  Just like last time, we're talking about a month long process of getting one side of the spine done, then two weeks recovery, then the second side, then two more weeks recovery.  So we won't see the full effects of all this until probably around Christmas.

Until then I'll just be managing what I can manage texting out on the phone for the most part.  Only managed a disappointing 5k words in September.  Why, you ask?  You were so hopeful, RR!  You had three free weeks!  Did you waste your time playing the new Hearthstone Battlegrounds update?

Yes, yes I did!  At night, when the house finally cooled down because the day after I posted that last hopeful message my almost brand new just installed two years ago AC stopped working.  During Fresno's last big heatwave of the year!  Why did it stop working?  Because Fresno is a horrible, inescapable vortex of evil!  Also a dustbowl since our last drought.  It clogged the blower motor so bad it shorted out and NO COLD AIR.  Did they have the part ready?  NO!!!  Are you not paying attention to my luck lately, Noble Reader?!?

So...instead of getting all that free time writing, I spent about two weeks sweating profusely and drinking large amounts of Gatorade in a nearly completely dark room all the hopes of avoiding another bout of heat exhaustion.  Which I did!  Yay me!  But...not much writing done.  Just me and the television...oh, I started reading Tony Hillerman because he's my Mom's favorite author and she guilt tripped me into it.  Point is this:  three weeks free became one week free.

I don't think I get to post positive thoughts about my writing again.  I think the jinx is very real.  I think some other author got so jealous of how awesome I am they did some voodoo shit.

So...life is Paine!  Woah is me!  I bow before you Great Blighted Potato who wiped out so many of my ancestors!  Give me mercy and mediocracy!  I pledge to the Way of the Grasshopper!  Ignore the next two weeks until my next doctor appoint, nothing will get done.  Ignore the whole month after that with nothing until the burnination itself.  Don't worry, there will be no progress!  I will play nothing but Football Manager!  I'm not at all interested in who wins the 2015 Camping Test as King Henry gets to watch on behind the scenes!  No, no!  I have no interesting ideas at all!  Writing?  So boring!  All I care about is sixteen-year-old Brazilian wonderkids!

You guys think...you think the Potato bought it?

First Edit as Red Ink

Yes, I ran out of room.  The circled numbers are for corresponding paragraphs on the back of the page that you can't see.  There will probably be four or five more versions of this section before I get to the final one that will be published.  I suppose you can consider this a tease for you maniacs that want to try to decode it...

As far as new writing, after a dreadful back half of August and start to September, I am free from doctors (and the car drives to their offices that destroys my back for two to three days) until the 27th.  Hopefully I'll have second burnination plans made then.  But until then, I have 3 weeks free to try to finish this chapter and start in on the second half of the novel.

Wish me luck!

Fan Question/Discussion: Biggest Laugh in the King Henry Tapes

So I choked on a bit of breakfast and for some reason the Valentine "small throat hole" joke has bubbled up out of my memory and been making me chuckle all morning.  I've probably asked before, but it's likely been years at this point, and its good for an author to know what pleased the fans, so:  what scene or joke made you laugh the hardest?