There's Something in the Air

I've been reading about, hearing of and experiencing something remarkable. Sleep deprivation. For the past week or so, I've averaged four hours of sleep a night. My flatmate keeps waking up in the middle of the night. Friends have been averaging anywhere between two to five hours of sleep a night. Some get their eight, but it's continually interrupted for no apparent reason.

What is going on? Is there anyone else out there in blog land that is suffering the same as this transitional period?

Perhaps something big is shifting in the universe, and we're all unconsciously tuning to it. Perhaps my luck will finally change and I'll be a writer for real - like earning a decent income real. I mean, I am a real writer in that I write stuff all the time...

Well, that was awkward.

The point is, things are weird, and they're like as not going to get a bit weirder until we all settle down into our new seasons.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the autumn. It's my favourite time of the year. The weather cools and becomes comfortable instead of sweltering. The colours are amazing. It used to be that a new year of university was about to commence (here in North America), and the anticipation was delightful - particularly if I registered for very cool classes in the summer (and I usually did - thank-you Celtic Studies!).

This year, I'm anticipating the commencement of my violin lessons (so excited!) and the return to my martial arts training. The prolonged break from Kung Fu has helped me immensely to refocus, to heal up and gather myself together. I should be in a much better frame of mind this time around.

Also this autumn, despite still being behind 8 000 odd words, I will be finishing the first draft of Ethan Cadfael: The Battle Prince. I'll then be working on getting it into publishable shape for Hallowe'en of next year. Being as how I'm self-publishing, I can set my own deadlines and release date. I'm enjoying that immensely, actually.

I might be a bit of a control freak.

In any case, I think autumn is by far the best of the seasons. Out of curiosity, what's your favourite season, and why?

The Squares

"How go the squares?" how goes the game? The reference is to the chessboard. [Thomas] Middleton, Family of Love [1608]. Yomenne, "yeomen"; the pawns in the game of chess.

- Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914

Holy Catch-Up, Batman!

Well, I'm back!

This calls for an AC/DC song, doesn't it?

In any case, the Kung Fu workshop was fantastic. There are so many thank-you's I have to extend here it's not funny. If you don't particularly want to read them, then skip ahead a couple of paragraphs.

First of all, a massive thank-you to Sifu Jason Tsou for taking the time to come up from L.A. and train us. There is a wealth of knowledge that he continually and repeatedly shares openly. There are some instructors who jealously guard their knowledge. Sifu Tsou is not one.

Thank-you to my own Sifu, John Hum, for organising the trip - again.

A giant thank-you also to my Kung Fu brother K.C. for organising the room, to my roommates K.C., A.H. and P.B. for being awesome roommates. Seriously, thanks! Another giant thank-you to R.C. for the drive up and back.

To all my Kung Fu brothers and sisters, thank-you for making this a fun, informative and relaxing trip. You all rock the Casbah.

I left early Friday and came home late Sunday. I took Monday off to, uh, recover because, let's face it, Wutan Canada is a bit of a party crowd (though I remained tame). It's a good thing I did, as Monday morning I woke with a killer sore throat. I still have said killer sore throat, but I'm back at work anyway.

Answering the phone is interesting...

Of course, the problem with taking time off is that nothing gets done. With no work getting done whatsoever, one tends to fall behind. And so I have. I'm more than 10 000 words behind target right now, and with all the catching up I have to do, there's no way I'm going to be able to write at all today.

Grr.

On the subject of writing, part 8 of the serialisation of The Dying God went up yesterday (I made damned sure I wasn't late with that!). You can read it HERE.

If this is the very first you've ever heard of my serial, you can do all the catch up reading by following the links I've posted HERE.

While I'm on the subject of The Dying God, I am super pleased to announce that I'm in the process of creating a paperback version - with the illustrations! I received the proof yesterday from Creatspace.com. It all looks good, except for a few errors that surprised the hell out of me. I can't tell you the number of times I've edited and re-edited this manuscript!

I'm in the process of reviewing said proof, then fixing the errors, then fighting with the computer - again - to turn the revised manuscript into a .pdf, to order another proof, to review again to ensure that it's as good as it can be before I approve for publication.

That was my big secret.

I kept it a secret because, well, I wasn't sure it would work out, and I was dubious about my technical ability (trust me, computers and I are not friends), and I was dubious about the quality of the finished product (a doubt that has been adequately assuaged now that I have the proof in hand).

So, reviewing The Dying God & Other Stories is what I will be doing for the remainder of the day. Then I have to somehow catch up on the word count of Puppet Master. Perhaps I'll be all caught up in a fortnight?

Wishful thinking, me thinks!

Wish me luck!

Oh, and before I forget - today's Forgotten English:

Fern-Tickles

Freckles on the skin resembling the seeds of the fern, freckled with fern, quite like small ticks... Ferns are frequently the receptacle of ticks, of which tickles may be considered a diminutive.

- William Carr's Dialect of Craven, 1828.

These are popularly accounted for as the marks made by the spurting of milk from the mother's breast, inevitably occasioned, so that a face may be marred that is "over bonny."

- C. Clough Robinson's Glossary of Mid-Yorkshire, 1876.