Today went by as any other day in retail might, slowly.
So very slowly.
As I tried desperately to keep my mind off my inbox, my staff kept asking me if I was angry. Maybe I’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe something happened at home. Maybe on the way to work. Maybe at work, already.
Truth was, I woke up and checked my email. Nothing. I left the bed and made my way downstairs where I played with the dogs until I left for work. Checked my email again, and nothing still. Once I arrived at work… well, you get the idea.
My day at work was pretty good despite my mind being anywhere but there. I accomplished quite a bit, we made store budget and our pro sign writer was actually super on board with drawing up a sign for our free Foxtel offer. Normally he can be a bit disgruntled about spending so much time on a sign, but the sign looks awesome and I hope he gets something out of it!
The worst part of work I would say was finding out that our really good loss prevention manager for the region took a position with head office. Good for him, I mean it’ll be really good to have a go-to guy in our head office. Especially someone who you know can get stuff done. The only part that sucks is that he has been a pillar of support for my store and we managed to accomplish a ton thanks to him.
Also, on a more selfish note… it sucks seeing someone else get rewarded on a day you know you’re most likely not going to get your big break. But he definitely deserves it, and I’m super happy for him! This next guy has big shoes to fill (especially because our last guy was well over six feet tall)!
As for writing, I’m going to take tonight off and get back into it tomorrow. My partner is teaching at a new school this year and so her parents have the pups so we don’t have to worry about rushing home or feel like we’re neglecting them. That also means that there is more time for writing focus and for the next week and a bit while she gets settled, I should be able to slam at least ten thousand words. I’ll aim for fifteen with a few days off in there as well, but now I have to choose to invest those words into Pandemonium, Jefferson and the Eternal Mana or even just spend some time reworking Jefferson and the Magician’s Curse. The worst part about all of these ideas is choosing just one to work on!
The list of potential and planned novels is as follows in chronological order (not necessarily written order):
- Gabriel, The Great (Prequel to Jefferson, Plotted)
- Jefferson and the Magician’s Curse (Written/Edited/Submitted to publisher)
- Jefferson and the Eternal Mana (Plotted)
- Jefferson and the Celestial of Spells (Plotted)
- Pandemonium (2000 years after Jefferson, just over fifty thousand words written)
- Judgement (Plotted)
- Destiny (Plotted)
My favorite thing about these ideas is the concept of how magic evolves from the consequences of Jefferson’s trilogy and even from his mentor before him. From a one magic user world with Gabriel to a much higher fantasy style world where Gabriel and Jefferson live on as myth is almost more important to me than the actual writing itself. Also, seeing that far ahead allows for me to write some extremely dramatic foreshadowing in Jefferson for Destiny and some incredible callouts to the trilogy before it. In fact, every time I start talking about how deeply these stories are connected I just get the urge to write.
No. Bad TJ.
I’m taking tonight off. I swear it.
Actually, it’s pretty late… I should probably sleep anyway!
Thanks for swinging by and feel free to ask me anything in the comments below or feel free to email me!
Music choice for the day: Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride