Catching Up

Nearly half of 2021 is gone.

I can’t believe it’s already June is already on the way out. I am flabbergasted. Honestly. It feels like an eternity since the pandemic began, and yet simultaneously it feels like 2021 just started a few weeks ago! Time is a strange concept.

Despite all of that, a few wonderful things have happened since I last posted. I’m going to break them down into categories, because there’s a few in each one:

Creative Writing

The first, is that I penned what I believe will be the last episode of TownShip. I’m phrasing it that way because I still have a lot of work to do before that final episode is released here (two full seasons are written and on their way), and I don’t want to close the door on this story until I’m sure I have my followup plans in place.

What does that mean?

The second thing I have accomplished is building the outline of the ebook that will contain all seasons of Township, which will be released across all digital platforms that allow me to self-publish. I’m still working out the technical side of it, but I landed on a software tool called Jutoh for creating the actual ebook. I used this same software back in 2014 with the release of Once and Again, and later still with the reboot The Hero of Hyla.

Anyway, the good news is that the work is in progress, as I had originally planned in January. It may be behind my bold plans at the start of the year, but it’s happening now, and that’s what matters. I haven’t decided on pricing, but my goal is to keep the source episodes available here at TechnicoolDad.com and have the ebook available for purchase as well. If someone wants the full experience, with LEGO photos to help visualize the story, it will be available free of charge. If they want the ebook for ease of use and to show support for my stories, it’ll be available too.

I’ll do a separate post about the progress as it comes.

The third and final development is that I also wrote the first few lines of dialogue for a new writing project, one that I am eager to see develop in the coming months as things turn down on TownShip.

LEGO

I built up a bit of a backlog when it came to LEGO sets and ideas that were spooling through my head for photo shoots to use in the unfinished two seasons of TownShip. With working from home, kids running around all the time, and the pile up of normal chores that I pushed off during the move, it felt like I never really had time to build the sets I wanted.

I can say that I’ve made great progress on that front. My hobby window finally opened up a bit more as our second child has grown, and I have now built every set that I plan to use for the remaining episodes that I need to capture. It may seem weird, but it’s a big win for me. They moved from boxes to display shelves, and I know they are ready for me once my episodes make it past my editor (@technicolormommy).

Books

It’s fun to write. It’s really fun to read.

I don’t often sit back and read my own stories. I mean, I read them like 10 times while I’m drafting, but the final product, once published, rarely falls across my eyes until several years later, when I have forgotten the finer details of the story and can read it with a little bit of distance.

So for me to finally have a window in the evening where I can lay back and grab my Nook for a few chapters in another exciting story is a big win for me. I always feel invigorated by the works of great authors to then continue on my own journey as a writer too.

Right now I’m punching through Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archive series. If you haven’t heard of these novels, as I had not, I highly recommend it. If you have heard of them, then awesome. I’m glad to be in good company.

In addition, I have a few other picks lined up that I want to read, and I hope to be able to talk about them once I do. They include a few novels from the Star Wars High Republic era, such as Into the Dark, and The Rising Storm. After that, I still need to jump over to Andy Weir’s newest entry, Project Hail Mary, which is another novel I have heard good things about.

As we enter the second half of 2021, I am eager to find a good rhythm again. In the last year we faced a pandemic, moved, took on new responsibilities at work and at home, and we did all of this with the help and support of family and friends at each turn. In hindsight, it was a massive undertaking, and I am so thankful that I had @technicolormommy with me at every step of our process, because frankly, it would have done me in.

Ahem.

Now, I’m going to utilize what’s left of my evening window to read!

Thank you all for helping me get through the dry spell, and get ready for more activity in the weeks and months ahead!

Also, happy Father’s Day to you dads out there that put your children above yourselves in all of the thing that you do. It means the world to them, and maybe they’ll never even realize it, or maybe when they’re in their mid-thirties being parents themselves they’ll stop and say, “Oh. Dad did a lot.”

Stay sharp.