Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s welcome back Burnout and Overwhelm!
Looking ahead at my summer schedule, it appears that I might be welcoming back two old friends known as Burnout and Overwhelm. Verily, they are not actually welcome as it were. More appropriately, they are once again thrusting their ugly mugs into my life.
In addition to a division-wide software upgrade at work that will begin tomorrow, I have also begun studying to renew my Microsoft certifications. The goals are an MCSA in Office365 (two exams) MCSE in Windows Server 2012 (five exams). Each exam is $150. Damn well better pass them the first time, bub.
As a distraction to what will doubtlessly be a rigid schedule to challenge my health and sanity, I shall need to ensure that I maintain the workout regimen that allowed me to shuck 30 pounds last year and added a few inches to the old biceps.
But, but, but…what about your writing, Phil? Yes, indeed. What about that?
The good news is that I just finished my third and final story for Elsewhere in the Middle of Eternity, the follow up anthology to last year’s Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity. As well as contributing three stories to that volume, I served as editor…and am doing so again. Most of the same writers are returning, and we’ll be joined by two or three new and wonderfully talented scribes. has once again graciously agreed to provide cover and interior art and is already on the job.
Thus, I shall look forward to leading EIME (in it’s abbreviated name, as volume one was often referred to as SIME) to completion with a tentative release of Summer 2016.
Last autumn, I submitted a paranormal mystery novella called Like Mother, Like Daughters (yes, Daughters is intentionally plural) to Firebringer Press and am awaiting a response. If fortune be with me, that might also debut in 2016 as an Ebook.
Last summer, an editor that I’m acquainted with put out an open call for Sherlock Holmes stories. As requested, I submitted a synopsis, then, in January, the story (one week before the deadline). While I cannot say much about it now, the project is being shopped around to publishers and I’ve been informed that there are a few interested parties. More updates to come.
OK, so those are the irons in the fire, but what about writing new material?
All new fiction is on hold until after I pass my Microsoft exams and complete this software upgrade at the job. I’ve been known to take on too much in the past and while I always manage to get it all done, it never fails to exact a toll on my mental and physical health.
Lesson learned. I’m only human, not an automaton. Either way, I’m at maximum bandwidth for the remainder of the summer. At least I have vacation and Shore Leave 37 to look forward to!
Serenity now…
