Update for the New Year

Warning: Political Comment follows update.

It is 2017; we made it into the new year, contrary to what some nay-sayers said.


J.E. Medrick’s Shackled, which I mentioned in my last post, is now live at Amazon, the only site I checked. Check it out; it’s worth a look.

My new fantasy offering, previously thought of as Dragons Run My Life, is now titled The Faux Princess. There are a couple things I need to resolve, but it’s nearly ready for a beta reader. I’ve also written a few thousand words of book 2, tentatively named The Voyages Home.

In the Beckie and Ian world, Low Places has grown to 50 000 words; still, several scenes seem necessary to hit the climax.

Some advice from friends in the UK argues that my inciting event in Princess (no matter the final name) is believable in the post-Brexit UK, so that’s now a thing I can go back to. This of course only applies to the inciting event, not to the balance of the plot; that’s all on me.

As of today, the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess: 91 300 words, to beta reader by Jan 31;
    •    The Voyages Home: 2500 words, draft complete by April 30;
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, draft complete by April 30, and
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 50 000 words, draft complete by Feb 15.

Political comment follows (reminder, read the words at the top about my opinions):

I feel no more confidence than I have since the election proved that people will vote against their own self-interest. Amusingly (I suppose), events since show that some regret… some of it. On the other hand, others, apparently, revel in it. I’ve read several attempts to explain the rationale of people in Tennessee and Kentucky (the published reports focus there) who depend on the ACA to work, to live, to, in words of one syllable, not die, now complaining that the Republicans they elected (80+% of the vote) are doing what they’ve said they would do: eliminate the ACA.

Except of course they called it Obamacare, and he’s one of  ‘those.’ One exchange on Twitter was enlightening. Someone, clearly throughly and well-indoctrinated, said (paraphrasing since I can’t find the actual screen-shots right now) while agreeing that Obamacare must be repealed⁠—destroyed⁠—he’d be okay because, you guessed it, he’s covered by the ACA, and nothing’s going to happen to the ACA! Clearly, he believed what he was saying. Which doesn’t make it true. I have full confidence that until it happens, he won’t believe it. He may not believe it then.

Published reasons seem to boil down to racism, xenophobia and low education levels, all hallmarks of the "Grand Old Party."

So, that’s it from here. Next post recalls our trip yesterday to Women’s March Boston 2017 with 135 000 or more like-minded souls.

Comments welcome.