It's been less than two weeks since I (finally!) published All the King's Men. In the time since, I've been reading through the next two books to catch up before starting the writing of Book 22.
When I catch up on my progress, I do some editing and make notes of anything I think needs particular attention for the deep dive edits (aka developmental edits). My assessment so far is that Darkest Depths won't likely need much rewriting. However, Armor will be a beast to edit. It's a complicated back and forth story that gave me some issues in writing it and, although not as long as Book 19 (the longest of all the books in this series and one that feels like it could have been written to be twice as long, but I didn't want to get over complicated on the story). Book 21 has a complex setup of present action amid flashbacks to previous scenes in the series and some new flashbacks, as well as flashbacks to the setup, such as I used in Book 4. It's a weird hodge-podge of flashbacks and very intricate timing on those flashbacks so I don't give away the plan too soon. It's complicated, but that's why it will require some big time editing when the time comes.
For now, I'm making notes (using Word comments and a separate notes file to address more detailed thoughts) for editing consideration. I may attempt some rewrites on Book 21 now to address the bigger issues I already see so I have less to do when the time comes for full-on edits, but I want to get back to writing too.
I hope to start working on Book 22 by the end of next week. With 25 books planned in this series, I'm in the homestretch now. Book 22 will still be a bit of a side adventure, although those are now all focused on reaching the series climax. A few of the early books were more for fun and getting to know characters and the setting (social-cultural, political, trade, species, technology, etc.), everything from this point is targeted towards the finale, like most of the books in the series. I describe each book as a chapter of one large book (like Babylon 5). They all build on one another, even the few thrown in just for the fun of it. As L'Ni tells Nya, I use everything; there's something in each book that advances the series. No story is wasted.
And for fun, something extraordinary happened at our house this morning--all four cats lined up for the perfect picture! This has never happened before, but the spring return of birds to the yard caught their attention so all had to get a good look.
Book 19 is done! I had a lot of rewriting on this one. I knew it would be trouble when I wrote the first draft. Making the setting plausible--where technology doesn't work--is a difficult bit of explanation. I went back and forth on that every other editing round. I finally settled on a little bit of mystery. It doesn't have to be fully explained. It just has to be plausible. Good enough.
I enjoyed the story, but I found a lot of issues in editing needing rewriting. And I'd go back and forth a bit on some small issues with each round of edits. I also would find my usual issues and hope that I caught all of those.
In the end, it's MUCH better than the first draft! If you could compare the first draft to the final draft, you'd see the dramatic difference in quality. First drafts are getting the ideas down and all the pieces in some format or another. However, there are always word choices to consider. And I caught a few inconsistencies to fix. I hope I didn't miss anything. 😔
Sometimes, as with this, details change in big ways, but most of the time, those are good enough to need only minor tweaks. This story had a lot of unusual pieces to it, especially since the secondary characters of the world became almost equal to the series characters in terms of importance in this. Developing those characters adequately and their lives required a lot of work.
In any case, I'm glad it's done, although I worry about what else I should fix. Art is never finished, only abandoned. I would go on fixing forever and never publish if I didn't stop myself at some point.
ALL THE KING'S MEN is done! The ebook will be appearing in the next few days at online retailers.
This explains why I believe graphic sex in books (among other sins) will lead writers (and others in the entertainment world who promote such things) to hell. They are leading readers to sensual lusts, which damns the creator's soul by damning the souls of their audience.
And if readers and watchers (of videos) engage with such immodest, impure, etc. works, they will condemn their own souls. For the creator, it's multiplied by what they do to all those souls of their audience. It's not puritanical. It's not prudish. It's just fact. We don't get to change God's rules. He is outside time and space, therefore never changing. These are His rules, not mine. Disobey at your own peril (eternal damnation).
You can read more details on the sin of scandal here. There are many different ways this applies in our lives, but guard you senses and restrain your tongue (or fingers on the keyboard) to avoid this.
This manuscript is really making me work to fine-tune it. I knew it was rough, but I didn't imagine it would need this much work!
Part of the delay was trying some ideas that didn't work for certain points of the subplots, so I had to change some things back. In other aspects, the smaller plot holes revealed themselves from behind the curtain that was pulled away during previous big edits. I feel like this will never end. The problem is that it's improved so much that it makes me wonder what else I'm missing. I hate that feeling.
I'm midway through round four of edits, and Book 19 is finally having the fat trimmed. I'm at the point of being ready to be done, but these changes are more than a few words here there as I had expected at this point. Unfortunately, it's still in the stage of major trimming. Copyedits will require one more round.
Help! I feel like I'm stuck in editing Groundhog Day!
This weekend is a weekend of reading. I hope this is the last round of edits on Book 19 of Forgotten Worlds.
While I'm doing that, I often end up now with two cats. And when the weather is nice (not this weekend), I've been getting out to ride my horse. So I have a bit of that too to share.
First up is a video of Buddy sucking his tongue, a weird thing he does once in a while. He was shedding when I was last out too. It's that season, when I start wearing a fur coat on my way home. I trimmed his hooves to start and was so sore afterwards (think power squatting for long periods of time with weights and pulls!) that I just did a little trail riding on the boarding property. He was good for that.
"My bucket is empty, Mom!"
Next up is Bilbo being a cat model this morning showing his different sides.
Big yawn
And the old man is accepting Bilbo better. These were taken earlier in the week when I was editing. Dargo curled up next to me and Bilbo wanted to be there too but respected Dargo's space. They laid next to me for an hour without any issues and Dargo was more and more comfortable with being close to Bilbo and by the end stretched out as much as he could. Bilbo has always been respectful of his elder housemates--not an ounce of aggression in him!--but they've taken time to accept him.
Not sure about this, but a good start
Getting more comfortable
Completely comfortable
Suki decided to enjoy her corner of the dining room rug this morning too to satisfy an itch on her back.
I thank God that in sending us a new cat, He sent us Bilbo. He couldn't have sent us a stray any better behaved. Bilbo has been a perfect gentleman, other than wanting to engage the old kitties in play when they don't want to play. Now that all three senior kitties have had their teeth cleaned and their mouths have healed from extractions, they're a lot less moody. But Bilbo has also been living nearly four months in our house.
Book 19 required more rewriting than I expected. I spent this past week rewriting another segment of Book 19. Two chapters... a whole week!
I hope this is the last of the major rewrites. It really needed it, but I can't believe how much better it is. I really had to hammer this book out, and I added to it. It's now past 58,000 words! This is what's taking so long. I'll call it the curse of GRRM, since this has a bit of GoT feel to it, at least in plot. I don't glorify violence or include sex scenes, although there is a very promiscuous character whose behavior is talked about. And I finish my projects.
Each book in this series is a unique adventure and I've enjoyed every one. This one is just taking more time than I expected--both in writing and in editing. I knew it would need a lot of editing, but I didn't expect this much. However, I'm glad I put in the work. It's a much better story for it. Certain subplots were pulled out to be more fully developed and are so much required to support the main plot that they are like the legs of a stool.
I'm very happy with this one but will need one more editing pass. This is taking much longer than expected (one more week?), but the results will be worth it.
Just a quick note on the progress of Book 19 editing...
I had a good book, but after these edits, it's even better. A lot of big things have been fixed. I have a love/hate relationship with editing. I love when I find things to fix yet hate that it was ever needed. I'm glad to realize and fix the issues, though.
Aside form what I mentioned previously, I've expanded one scene and corrected others that I realized weren't quite clear or in the third round ended up being head-scratchers of what I was doing in the first draft other than getting the thoughts down to the best of my abilities. This is nothing new. It's all part of the writing process.
I'm 3/4 done with round three of edits. I fixed so many big issues in the second round in some places that they overshadowed the other issues still there. In any case, the story is getting beaten into shape. Each round of edits refines it in new ways. If you saw the difference between the first and final drafts, you'd be amazed. The transformation is huge--from subplot issues to character descriptions to scene locations to action correlations and logical sequence corrections. And then there's the minor issues of pronoun/antecedents, cleaning up unnecessary narrative or redundancies, etc.
Once I'm done with this pass, I'll see how round four goes. I hope that will be the last, but a fifth could be needed, which would push back the publishing date. I'll see what happens. I hate that I've been finding issues (no matter how minor) with earlier books that I thought were done. It puts a new fear in me of none of the books being ready, but I know part of that is also just me getting nitpicky and always wanting to fix things. (This is the longest of the books of this series so far at 57,000 words, which is also why it's taking longer to edit.)
Once I'm done with this, I'll go back to writing... Book 22 awaits. With that, I'm getting close to the end of the series, but there are a couple of adventures to write to answer lingering questions before the series climax.
Beautiful truths to feed the imagination. I love science fiction and fantasy, but the truth is even more amazing than anything I can imagine. Only the author of creation could have given us the ability to imagine something beyond what we can experience in this life.
I'm not as far in edits on Book 19 as I expected. I found another scene that required some major rewrites.
I was about 4/5 done in this editing pass when I hit upon a Starfire shard flashback revealed to Nya. It's an issue in which I give a description to transition faster through narrative to the important points. I realized some things were out of order and needed to provide a more logical explanation going into a full scene. That took a while to iron out, along with ideas to make the other scenes in that sequence better.
I remember thinking when I was writing the first draft that the story overall would need some big edits but didn't worry about it then because I knew after some time away it would become more clear to me. Boy, has it!
It's not like having to rewrite a whole story (like I did for Starfire Angels and Broken Wings 15-17 years ago between the two); but it is a lot of rewriting/rearranging. Every story varies. After I draft a book, I set it aside for what ends up being 6-8 months. By the time I get back to it, I have a fresh take on it. I still remember it, but I've been away enough to view it more objectively. I view it from an editor lense and rip it apart.
I add details and better transitions. (You wouldn't want to read the first draft!) I also add those in the subsequent editing rounds and end up adding quite a bit, along with rearranging sentences (ideas), taking out unnecessary narration, etc. Where the drafting stage was the setting down of most of the plot and major ideas, the editing stage fixes the issues and fills in the gaps. The last editing round is always taking out excessive words, fixing awkward phrases, correcting typos, and fixing formatting.
I'm almost done with these huge fixes in the story and am anxious to start the next round and see what I find in that to fix that might have been introduced with these big changes or that I've missed because I was editing while being tired or foggy brained. I'll have a better idea of how these changes will feel in the flow of the story in the next pass.
It's coming along, being refined and honed.
And I'm still making my way through the earlier books. I'm finishing up book 7 and have found a few fixes to make in that (usually 1-2 chapters while on the treadmill). I'll always find fixes in my books. Art is never finished, only abandoned. I write first for myself, so I do enjoy going back and rereading the books. What I don't enjoy is knowing I'll always want to fix things. I love this whole series and will be enjoying them long after it's finished, but I hope at some point that I'm happy with them as they are.
Thanks for reading.
ps - Bilbo takes any lap he can get, including my lap when I sit down, and Dargo wants his spot next to me, even overcoming his hesitations about Bilbo to be close. The other day, I had Bilbo half on me and Dargo laid next to us. To get up, I had to slide Bilbo off my lap, which meant he and Dargo were next to each other. I managed to get some pics of that moment. It was an amazing step in their relationship. No hissing or striking at each other. First one then the other got up... and went out to the kitchen thinking they would get food. Small steps.
I haven't posted about the critters in a while and have some new pics and a video to share.
First, Bilbo is coming up on his third 3 in the adoption adjustment. He's three months indoors now and very comfortable with the household.
I'd say he's pretty cozy being carried, but he always was, just not quite what the pic below demonstrates. There's no way he wasn't a pet when he was younger. One person's trash is our treasure. He has a furever home now and a routine. Every night he sleeps between hubby and I near our pillows. Hubby is holding him awkwardly in the pic (carried him like this up the stairs to the main level), but the big boy didn't care, although he's usually a bit unsure when you first pick him up if you don't support his feet.
He's a big baby. And I mean BIG (for a non-Main Coon)--15 pounds of pure muscle. Apple AI suggests chartreux. He's just a mixed breed of something, but he's about the right size, base coloring, eye color, and temperament, so maybe a mix. However, I couldn't find any breeders in the area and doubt they would mix such a rare breed to produce a tuxedo like Bilbo.
And here's our old man, the other "O" boy (Dargo), who used to be the biggest cat in the house but is now second biggest and remains the oldest and the only papered kitty (TICA-registered Siamese, now Thai cat). He has health issues that are closely managed, but at his age, you expect that:
I've been playing with the different settings on my new iPhone.
I took this video this past Sunday of Buddy enjoying a post-ride treat. He was goofing off like he does with the bucket, until he noticed me recording. 🙄
I hope the video shows up. Otherwise, I took still pics too:
We had a good ride before this. It was a beautiful day (nearly 50 F), an 80 degree difference from the minus thirty-something Farenheit cold just 5-6 days earlier! We rode inside, but the good weather brought out a LOT of boarders and we had to wait for room to ride. In that wait, the calming supplement took effect, so by the time I got on, he was in a good state of mind, a complete turnaround from the roaring dragon he started as when we entered the indoor arena. Something about the western pleasure show riders training their horses was freaking him out, even though he can tolerate watching mounted shooting outside in the summer. No clue what got into him. 🤷 At least the calming supplement worked. (He's nervous in the indoor arena, so I try to stack the deck in my favor, so to speak, by doing what I can to help him calm down so I'm less likely to get hurt. Quietex II works wonders for him.)
We're heading into shedding season, so I expect my trips out will soon end up with me wearing more of his winter coat than he does.
Anyway, that's what's going on in the four-legged/fur-baby side of life.
I don't know when I'll next have other updates. I go in spurts. I've had a lot going on lately and thought I'd share with readers.
After the first pass of Book 19 for review, I'm into major edits in the second pass. As a result, I have completely rearranged some scenes in the first few chapters. I kept getting to chapter 2 and thinking that would make a better opening, but there were aspects of chapter 1 that I really wanted to keep.
In starting my second pass, where the real editing begins, the answer came to me. I figured out where certain parts of chapter 1 should be moved to keep the focus on the book's specific main characters and the series characters for certain subplots to keep their points later in the story. Without giving anything away, that's the most I can reveal.
I also had to change a description of an area a bit, since this is in a castle, but I didn't want to have to rewrite too much. It had to give the impression of being a sort of vanity area for the lord of the castle as a grander palace might have yet be practical for the space. It's a small scene and passes in a page, but what I had originally was bothering me, since Miram Castle is a fortress against attack... and not just by other lords and their armies. That actually took a while to figure out after a couple of iterations of redesign and describing it.
It could happen again, but with these big changes, the worst I foresee is making sure everything still flows and that the story structure remains as it was, because overall, it's a good story. I like the subplots but don't want to make certain aspects too big that they take away from the main plot but, rather, intertwine organically.
This is the book that has a bit of GoT type underpinnings while serving the series purpose. It was fun to write and is as much fun to return to editing. I enjoy every book of the series, and the breaks between the original writing and the editing for publishing give them a freshness I especially enjoy. I also wanted to write a book on a cold, snowy world; and with this, I compromised with a winter season. How appropriate to be returning to this after one of the harshest winters in real life that I can remember. It puts the editing in a more accurate perspective for the setting. Since I live on the northern plains, I know winter!
This is also the book that I said has a horse like one I knew in real life growing up. Quint was mean! (And he was gelded--I can't imagine if he had been a stud!) I used that in this book, along with the name and his description.
Because of real life interruptions and reviewing these major changes, I will have to push back ALL THE KING'S MEN to a mid-March release timeframe. It's not much later than I had expected, and I appreciate your patience. I have a lot to manage in my life and writing doesn't always take center stage.
Msgr. Rossetti is one of several exorcists online sharing their experiences. Another exorcist has stated that if you're not being attacked in some form, that's not necessarily a good thing. You're probably doing exactly what demons want, so they leave you alone to continue to dig yourself deeper into sin and the pleasures of the world instead of growing holier with self-denial and sacrifice. Demons also don't waste their time on those who fall for the lies that they don't exist. Why bother exposing themselves to non-believers and risk those people becoming believers?
Below is a video from Armor of God on YouTube, a channel I enjoy with a lot of information from a variety of exorcists, like this one on a similar topic to the above:
From what I've learned in listening to exorcists, demons most attack people who are a threat--those seeking holiness or to save souls--but it's worse on those who have given themselves to demons. Possession is actually a rare occurrence, but harassments of some form or another is very common.
A word on retaliation:
Be careful of retaliation when you pray for someone who willingly, or maybe even unknown to them, is serving demons. I've experienced this. Every time I offer the strongest prayer (holy mass) for a friend who believes she's serving Christ in writing romance stories with married couple sex scenes, I am attacked in the night in a very consistent (can mark my calendar!) and distinct way that tells me the demons are pissed at my prayers for her. It's been unpleasant, but I have learned to say extra protection prayers to Our Blessed Mother and St. Michael. When I do, the attack is almost nothing. (To those who object to this intercessory help, I refer you to Matthew 12:22-28, Psalm 141:2, and Revelations 5:8, 7:10, and 12:7-9.)
What I've experienced after offering the mass for her confirms to me that any story (written, visual, etc.) that inspires lust in readers, no matter the state of the characters, is serving the demons of lust ("but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28). Even if the fictional couple are married, the reader is likely to fantasize sexual feelings and most likely for the characters rather than their spouse, which is adultery. A writer/filmmaker provides the demons a feast of souls through damning the souls of their audience, and they hate when anyone tries to save the writer/filmmaker, because it takes away not just one person but the potentially hundreds of thousands or even millions of members of their audience. (I suggest studying Mark 9:42-48 and taking heed of it.)
edit 2/2/25: A new video describes exactly what my feeling is of these attacks--amusement that what I'm doing really irks the demons:
Exorcists warn of spiritual retaliation when praying for someone serving demons, whether they know it or not; and boy, have I learned that lesson! It's why I bring this up--my wish is for others to realize the damnation to their soul and others.
Why sex scenes serve demons:
This is why I have said that I will never write sex scenes (or glorify violence or other vice or sinful matters, although they are a part of life and may be mentioned but will be portrayed as the evil they are). I have never liked reading or seeing sex scenes, because even in visual media, they are present and it really doesn't add anything, no matter how much a writer says it does. Graphic sex NEVER adds to the story. Let the flaming begin--responses by writers attached to lust/porn will prove my point of serving demons. The demons of lust will be enraged and inspire the writers who serve them into hatred instead of introspection and reason. They are providing sales to those writers to encourage them to continue to damn souls. “For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?” -Matthew 16:26.
It's only in further listening to exorcists that I have learned why sex scenes are wrong. Most of the souls in hell never believed hell existed and the majority (overlapping) are there for sins of the flesh, according to mystics shown hell and average people who have had near death experiences of hell.
Promote virtues instead:
My Starfire Angels characters value life, charity, kindness, purity, honesty, generosity, temperance, modesty, diligence, patience, and humility. In Forgotten Worlds, the characters have their individual virtues while being deficient in others that develop through the series. L'Ni and Nya have complimentary virtues that rub off on each other, which is where I see the greatest character growth. Nik and Ann and even Shen and Zaer each compliment each other and keep their partner in check. I hadn't even realized that was happening until now. My objective is to promote those good qualities in fantastic, entertaining stories through the reactions of the characters demonstrating those virtues in the most difficult situations. It's actually what stories used to be and what made heroes great in the old traditions. And through the series, each learns the value of the other virtues to the point of self-sacrifice for others and redemption of sins (see Book 18).
Many people have experiences that they may or may not recognize as spiritual in origins, wherever they fall in the state of their soul, which is why the video is helpful for recognizing some of the forms of diabolical harassment. The saints had much more pronounced experiences, however.
What happens when you aren't affected by ordinary temptations:
Those who are closer to Christ (true saints) have more direct battles with demons in their earthly lives, because ordinary temptations don't affect them. St. Padre Pio is said to have directly battled Satan and ended up with bruises from it. He was also gifted with reading souls, seeing and conversing with angels, bilocation, and bearing the stigmata, and his relics bring healing. There's a reason the man was canonized (confirmed in heaven). He could handle that level of spiritual warfare, which only increased his holiness.
St. Gemma Galgani also had her battles with Satan. She could also see and converse with her guardian angel and also received the stigmata. (Pay particular attention in the article to the quotes of what she says Satan did to try to stop her prayers. You'll probably recognize the same thoughts forcing themselves into your head or the same difficulties blocking your efforts. Spiritual warfare is a constant battle, and demons don't need sleep, so they pester and pester like spoiled toddlers until you break or call in spiritual reinforcements. If they can't get you with ordinary temptation, they'll attack through others or directly themselves. According to exorcists, God keeps them on a leash, so they can't kill you directly but can by influencing others.)
Msgr. Rossetti touches on less extreme diabolic harassments in the above video than what the saints went through. Fr. Iannuzzi (who trained under Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the "Pope's exorcist") says much the same in segments of the below video:
Protect yourself from demonic harassment:
The best protection is complete faith in God, and loving Him as fully as humanly possible, which means 1) forgiveness, including praying for one's "enemies" (not necessarily liking them but showing love by praying for what's best for them and will get them into heaven), 2) staying in a state of grace (confession and avoiding sin), and 3) frequent (no more than once a day but as many days as possible) worthy (in a state of grace) reception of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus, which is only available in the Catholic church. This is why it is the only church harshly attacked--the demons know it is the only church against which the "gates of hell shall not prevail". It is the church founded by Jesus giving the keys to the kingdom to Peter, the rock upon which Christ established his church on earth, which came before the Bible was compiled (which was done by the fathers of the Catholic church).
Conclusion:
The top video came up on my feed a couple of weeks ago, helping me with something I wanted to write about but wasn't sure how to say. It took me this long to figure out exactly what I wanted to say, which is why it has taken this long to post. God always provides.
I found an image that with the cover blurb should spark some curiosity. I thought I might try to find some armor that could match the Issan, but then I also wanted to leave that to the imagination and it would likely require going to AI for something even close, so I went with this stock image, which is close enough to events in the book. The blurbs are harder to decide upon than the images most of the time, but even that wasn't too hard.
I think this works well, but that doesn't mean something won't get tweaked before it's published:
Today, I'll be working on the updated interior of the print omnibus, Collection 1 (Books 1-5) and get that uploaded. I hate formatting print books, which is why I'm only doing these in omnibus editions. I might tweak this cover a smidge while I'm at it too.
The first draft ended up going longer than expected. I battled some of my chronic health issues too, but that passes and I keep on writing. This book pushes the war forward with the Issan in a big way.
It came in at 52K words, 12% more than I had expected, but it had to be done. I couldn't rush the ending.
Just as I won't rush the ending of the series. I have the next two outlined, along with the last one. It's that second to last that has me baffled about how I'll handle events, but I won't worry about it. It'll come when the time is right.
Book 21 will be quite the launch into the homestretch of the series. It's not a simple adventure, but as I mentioned in previous posts, required a lot of meticulous consideration of how L'Ni thinks. I'll never feel adequate to that, but I think I did a fairly good job of detailing his intellect in a way that I hadn't before. In other books, I showed the results of his judgment, but keeping him on the quiet side for the most part allowed me to assign a lot of credit to him that I didn't have to go into deeply. This was quite the change.
The coolest part about writing a story like this is that when I have trouble writing, it forces me to slow down and review, review, review. It's that pondering which brings out the depth that needs to be there. It all works out for the best.
Anyway, Book 21 is now drafted. I'll need to figure out a cover for it, and I think I just had an idea. I need to see if I can find a stock image suitable. In the meantime, it's time to edit Book 19. I love the system I've developed for writing this series. I can't wait to go back and edit to publish by the time I finish writing two books ahead. And I'll work on getting the hardcopy of the omnibus of books 1-5 updated and back in print. (I'm currently reading through book 6 and finding some errors that make me wonder if some of my editing changes didn't get saved at the time. 😞)
I'm not quite done with Book 21. It's currently at 48K words, already longer than I anticipated. PLUS, the Hashimoto's flared up right on cue to delay me finishing this project, and when that happens to the degree it did, I just can't write. I can copyedit, but my brain isn't sharp enough to remember details and the lack of sleep only compounds it. That took the whole week to recover with very little writing getting done, and what was done needed immediate rewriting. Fortunately, I think I know what caused this flare and won't do that again!
So, not where I wanted to be by this weekend. I wanted to be finished. That didn't happen.
On the other hand, I did finish entering edits on Book 5 and uploaded the minor changes. I can get that kind of work done when the combo of thyroid issues and a wonky immune system collide into a perfect storm. I can also get a lot done at the day job. Next, I need to get to work on updating the print omnibus of books 1-5 and get that back online for sale.
And I finally had the perfect day to ride my horse today. I haven't felt this much like myself in a long time. I hadn't ridden him in about 6 months, although I've been out to give him treats and do groundwork, and it was like I hadn't been off. He's twelve years old now and I've had him for more than nine of those years, so we're pretty familiar with each other. But the same autoimmune issues that interrupt my writing also interrupt my riding. Today, everything came together--weather (around 40 F and 0 wind, which was gorgeous), other riders (he's better when a paturemate is also in the arena), and me feeling good. I needed that! I'll be sore for the next few days, but it was worth it.
And for lack of sleep, that's partly on the cats. Bilbo has been deciding that he likes to sleep at the top of my head and partly on my head, which is terrible for my neck. Plus I usually have a cat at my feet. And I can end up with one or more completing the box on either side of me. The worst is when they come walking on me in the wee hours of the morning and then I can't go back to sleep. It doesn't happen every night, but with four cats, there's usually one waking me at some point, hopefully not until close to when I need to get up for the day. My husband sleeps through all of it.
Also, now when I want to write, there are times that I have two cats. I can deal with my old boy next to me, but Bilbo never wants to stay next to me. He always wants a lap, and he's still learning to respect the laptop. So, I'll call the hubby to take him. Bilbo was supposed to be his cat. I have mine.
Oldest kitty loves Our Lady of Guadalupe blanket, or at least the fuzzy side, even more than my pink winter bathrobe.
This past month, two of our cats had high vet expenses from going off their food and then us discovering they needed their teeth cleaned. One of them had an abscessed tooth that was extracted. They now have matching "bracelets" of shaved hair (seen in pic) where the IVs were while they were sedated for the procedures. (Bilbo's shaved hair is nearly grown out from his IV during his neutering two months ago.) The oldest two are completely back to their old selves, so things are good again.
Now, back to writing... or time for oldest's felimazole, then writing. It's been quite the week and I'm finally feeling more like myself and able to focus again.
Life is busy, but life would be dull if it wasn't.
The cats have been expensive this month! The oldest two have each had periods of anorexia aka not eating. When cats don't eat for over a day, they go downhill pretty quickly. They're very sensitive creatures. It's hard to get them eating once they go off their food. The trick is figuring out what is causing inappetence and resolving it.
Two oldest kitties who have had health issues recently
Urgent care veterinary visits aren't cheap, but our kitties recovered with the right medications to stimulate their appetites, relieve pain, and recover their electrolytes (through subcutaneous fluids). Each was a little different in what worked, but our torbie had a tooth abscess that seems to have been resolved with an extraction and teeth cleaning. The Siamese (aka Thai cat) will have his teeth cleaned on Monday; we'll see what they find since he had his teeth cleaned a few years ago and had four teeth extracted at that time.
These two are 14 (Siamese) and 12 1/2 (torbie) years old. In searching for answers, I learned that dental care is a major cause of not eating in senior cats. From experience, I learned that bad breath is a good indicator that something is wrong with their teeth. The third oldest (10 1/2 hears old) will need his teeth cleaned too. He's showing signs of mouth pain, but he'll have to wait since we spent way too much money on the oldest two this month.
In other news, Bilbo has settled in pretty well. I currently have my old momma's boy (the senior Siamese) next to me while Bilbo is half on my lap--without any issues. Bilbo should be hubby's cat and often is, but for some reason, when I'm home and sitting on the loveseat, he wants my lap. He's a big boy and hasn't yet learned not to lay on my laptop. He's getting better, but he still has to be in my way. Fortunately, I pushed him down this time and he laid that way to be only partly on my lap, so I can type this with my laptop out of his way.
Household
All the pet issues came on top of the dryer not working. Fortunately, it only needed a piece replaced and the repairman knew immediately what it was. Unfortunately, we had to pay a hefty fee for the repair visit while the piece to replace cost about a tenth of that. It's cheaper than a new dryer but, added to the pet costs, makes for a very expensive month.
Forgotten Worlds
The first draft of Book 21 of Forgotten Worlds is nearly done. It's at 44K words and I have just a few scenes left. I expect to finish by the end of this month with it around 47K, although I do have to contend with health issues that can interfere with my plans.
The book is turning out better than expected. I'm always amazed when that happens, although I should know by now that the harder a story seems to be to write, the more I work on it and the better it actually ends up being (at least in my opinion, probably because I'm comparing to what I thought it would be in quality).
And I've finished rereading Book 5. I'll be uploading the updates soon, minor as they are. I'm really enjoying the reread and appreciating the refresh while going into the final stretch of this series. What concerns me are the little things that slipped past me in later books, so this reread is very helpful in that regard, because I'm making notes and fixing things and adding to my wiki file for reference.
Next up, I'll need a cover for ARMOR. Finding a cover image for that could be difficult, given the setting of it.
Writing a first draft description for Book 20 also needs to be done.
I like to peruse the movie trailers for upcoming movies every weekend at some point to break up my day. I don't see much anymore that I look forward to watching. I've all but quit watching movies and TV because of the glorification of violence, sex, vulgarities, and the dependence on CGI over good storytelling. (Also, growing closer to Christ will make you more repulsed by the sins of the world and stories that glorify such things, which predominate modern entertainment.)
Every once in a while, however, something comes along that intrigues me. It's very rare anymore that I find one movie. Below are two I discovered that are coming out soon, and I want to make a note for myself to watch for them and to offer you a glimpse of something with positive themes:
Hollywood has gone diabolical, or nearly so, since there are rare exceptions like The Unbreakable Boy. I'll stay away from the regular studios for the most part and turn to alternative studios like Angel Studios for reliably better options. Movies like these have something positive to offer.
Yes, I'm close to finishing Book 21. The word count is currently just under 40K, but I am just getting into the climax on this.
I estimate 2-3 chapters to go, and a final word count of 45-47K. It'll be about average in length with much of the rest of the series. And I should be able to finish by the end of this month, which is about average for writing the books in this series. I published Book 18 on October 31 and would have started writing again about a week later. According to my blog posts, I started shortly after publishing Book 18. Three months to write like most of the others.
Then I'll go through the usual editing routine. I give the most recent book draft a read through and make notes for rewrites, or just go ahead with major rewrites right away. Then I go into editing the next book in line for publishing, which will be Book 19, ALL THE KING'S MEN. I'm eager to get back into that.
I'm also really enjoying rereading the series while on the treadmill. One chapter a day makes the exercise go faster and is reminding me what's come before. I'm really enjoying it and hope you do too. This is a series that I'll enjoy reading again and again.
Once I'm done reading book 5, I'll get a new version of the print omnibus edition (Collection 1: Books 1-5) available. The series needed another read-through and edit, at least for the first few books. I find little things here and there but mostly am adding notes to my wiki file for the series or verifying things that I might be addressing in current writing. I'll continue with the rest just because I do enjoy it that much.
That's where I am now... in the homestretch of writing Book 21. Then editing and publishing Book 19... Then back to writing for Book 22, and I have a timeline of events for the final books.
Somewhere in there, I also need to find or Photoshop a cover image for Book 21. There's always something.
Everyone asks why God allows evil if he is so loving. Fr. Chad Ripperger, Ph.D. (and well-known exorcist), explains that here in one of his many excellent lectures. I've linked to this and many others on my Faith Resources tab on this blog.
Good videos tend to get posted in spurts. I'll share what I think is most helpful. When I have something else to say, such as an update on writing, I'll post that.
For now, I hope you find this as informative as I do.
Only the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church has the full authority to exorcise demons, even if it is made up of flawed individuals, hopefully all seeking to become saints. Look no further than the Bible to learn why--apostolic tradition: Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the apostles and gave them authority and they then ordained their successors as he ordained them and those successors ordained their successors and on and one through the years in an unbroken line to the church we have today, which is made up of priests like Fr. Dan Reehil, who have the authority to cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ.
If you're still unsure, then realize that the church that Jesus established as his only church was the "church of all" or in Greek, the "ekklesia kath'holes" (source of the word katholikos... catholic). Jesus established His church, which compiled the Bible (73 books), and he established the sacraments, which are recorded in the gospels of the Bible. To reject any part of His teachings is to be disobedient; we don't get to choose what to accept and reject of God's law--to do so comes from pride and disobedience. Like our earthly parents, to love God is to honor and obey Him (and respect His natural law). Satan has faith in God, but that doesn't mean he's saved. His fall was a result of pride and disobedience. Faith without [good] works is dead.
Demons are real. Exorcism proves this.
That means hell is real.
This is identical to what this man reported of his NDE of hell. I believe I've posted this before, but it is valuable in reinforcing the reality of the horrors of hell, from which there is no escape. This life is fleeting and we get relief. In hell, there is no relief from the suffering. Once you're there, it is eternal damnation...
Keep in mind that God doesn't force us into hell. His mercy is boundless, but we must be contrite and repent of our sins to receive his mercy. Most of the souls in hell didn't believe it was real and lived without loving God (which means loving others, as we are ALL created in His image, from conception).
You can find these and more on my Faith Resources tab on this blog.
May your faith journey lead you to sanctity (to become a saint alive in heaven in the beatific vision of God's presence) so you can avoid the pains of hell.
Dan Schneider, Ph.D., is an experienced exorcist assistant. He is also a former amateur boxer and U.S. Army helicopter pilot and Gulf War veteran. Dan has been in Catholic teaching and evangelization radio for over 20 years. He also is currently on virginmostpowerfulradio.org, co-hosting War College with Jesse Romero. His latest book The Liber Christo Method: A Field Manual for Spiritual Combat is published by TAN Books. (I highly recommend his book, which features many prayers from Fr. Chad Ripperger's Deliverance Prayers for Use by the Laity.)
Communication and relationship expert Christine M. Bacon, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, trainer, longtime university professor, and the host of radio talk-show "Breakfast with Bacon." More at https://www.drchristinebacon.com/about.html.
Book 21 is turning into more than I expected. Not only is it a sort of refresher of some of what's come before, but it also brings a lot of pieces together to set up for the final stretch of the series. Since this is the 21st book of a series, it makes sense to pull in lots of clips from past books (although with some rewriting from new points of view), which is contributing to the word count easily reaching 33K now.
Don't worry, it's not all flashbacks. The story advances with the Issan and Paxons too. Like I just said, it sets up for the final stretch of the series.
In UNBROKEN BONDS, I brought together a lot of loose threads to "tie the knot" in more than one way. 😉 In HOMECOMING, I brought together a lot of pieces for a huge (what I thought was huge) revelation about the connection between the Inari and Feri. Now, in ARMOR, a new stage of the war will arise to carry this series to the end.
Secrets are coming into the open, affecting military and political strategies by all sides.
Book 21-25 will bring all the pieces together FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.
Stay tuned. You don't want to miss the conclusion!
