Wow, it’s 2021. How did that happen?
It’s been quite some time since I updated anything to this website or my blog and mainly that is because last year sucked the life out of me. Living in Australia has been excellent in regards to COVID and its issues, but working retail during everything that happened left me an empty shell of a man. Just to recap:
January 2020 – Bushfires
February 2020 – Floods
March 2020 – Coronavirus & Stocktake
April 2020 – Coronavirus
May 2020 – Turned 35, oh and Coronavirus
June 2020 – End of Financial Year Sale (Xmas in June really) and Coronavirus
July 2020 – Coronavirus
August 2020 – Coronavirus
September 2020 – Stocktake and Coronavirus
October 2020 – Coronavirus
November 2020 – Coronavirus, Cyber Friday Sales, Xmas Prep
December 2020 – Xmas… and Coronavirus
During last year I had four COVID tests, a health scare (my doctor found a mass in my abdomen that she was worried was lymphoma), aggressive and abusive customers for the entirety of the COVID times and on top of it all found out my wife was pregnant. To say 2020 was a rollercoaster would be an understatement. Maybe one where in the first minute the security gives way and you spend the rest of the ride simply clutching on. FUN TIMES.
As for writing, I truly feel like my soul took a beating this past year. I began questioning what I was doing with my life. I considered going into politics (I couldn’t do worse, right?). I submitted to a bunch of publishers and got a manuscript assessment; positive feedback, no takers though. I wrote eighty thousand words into book three and then my brain simply broke and I have barely written a thing since. I can’t focus. I barely get to the computer. Even this post is an attempt to get back into writing when and where I can.
This year has started off with a bang with the birth of my firstborn though! He’s super cute and going pretty well. The view from where I sit on the floor has my wife and two dogs sound asleep on the bed and my son swaddled and sleeping soundly. If you want to know what a view of the world looks like, that’s the most succinct one I can provide.
The trouble is now I must decide whether I continue working on Jefferson and Gabriel’s story or if I simply shelve it for now and write something else. There is another idea in the back of my mind for middle grade and it does tie into my world, so… maybe? I just don’t know at the moment. Although the cover artists for middle grade books are absolutely killing it, they look way more interesting than some stupid “The SOMETHING of SOMETHING and SOMETHING” titles. GIVE ME A BREAK.
Anyway, I suppose this post is just to make sure the website still works and to let you know I am still alive with the dream of being a writer. But with my wife on maternity leave, a newborn, and a full time job, sometimes dreams take a bit of a back burner. Hopefully this post is a return to some semblance of writing regularly.
Thanks for sticking around!
Sincerely, TJ Edwards
