A scribe hard at work (…or could marginalia making mean that they’re hardly working?). Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escribano.jpg.

So…where’s the poem?

Still in the works.

At least the forward, and those final points for the poem mentioned in the previous post, are. Though that’s enough to delay it for just a little bit longer.

Why?

As it turns out having all of my weekends filled with family and friend stuff, getting a review of an episode of 2005’s Night Stalker together, keeping up with the podcast stuff I do, deciding to change jobs (and mustering the gumption to get my two weeks’ notice into the job I’ll be leaving sooner than later), knowing that my wife and I need to get going on apartment hunting a week ago, and facing down the financial reality in which we’re currently living have all been pretty distracting.

(A randomized rom of the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past hasn’t been helping things either.)

A Hopeful Plan

Thankfully, May is looking like I should have a little more down time, or at least a much more regular schedule. Given the few things I have left to do to complete this project I want to say that these update posts shouldn’t get past #10.

Shouldn’t.

But I’m still very much trying to integrate my self-publishing work into my current day-to-day and week-to-week routines and habits. And so I could be a little off with that estimate.

Though I do feel pretty confident about having this project wrapped up by the end of May. It definitely feels pretty do-able, generous almost.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned from this process so far, it’s not wise to make promises without a solid basis, and given how much change is coming down the pike for me, I don’t think I have that solid of a basis to work from. So, we’ll see — and I’ll try to finish this up before the end of May.

So, all I’ll say with 100% conviction is this: Thanks for sticking with me through this project!

A scribe hard at work (…or could marginalia making mean that they’re hardly working?). Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escribano.jpg.

Okay, this will be pretty quick.

Life Stuff

Last week I interviewed for a new job, and chose to go in for a paid test shift. That shift was yesterday. I’m almost 100% sure that I’m going to change jobs, but have nonetheless been occupied by the few remaining connections I still feel with my current work and how best to put together and submit my two weeks’ notice.

On Wednesday my grandmother on my dad’s side of the family passed away. We weren’t terribly close, and, honestly, I’ve struggled over the last few days to come up with memories of explicit encouragement or warm moments that we shared. I know that she felt warmly towards all us grandkids, but I just don’t think she was great at expressing it in the ways that TV grandparents had convinced me were, well, standard.

Unfortunately there isn’t a third concrete thing that’s pulled me away from working on the Beowulf book, but the combination of needing to start apartment hunting, needing to research and start editing for the latest episode of Fanthropological, spending time with my wife, making time for friends, and taking a few moments for myself here and there are a great stand-in for such a thing.

However, with all that said all I need to do with the poem is double check that I’ve used the right quotation marks, I’ve actually capitalized every word that comes after a period, and that after every colon comes a capital as well. So it should be released before the next update post on April 25th.

Partial Cover Reveal

Also, having the cover ready definitely helps make that timeline feasible.

And here’s a partial preview of that cover (art and design by Yoann Lossel, original image copyright Easton Press):

I just commissioned this piece. Art and design by Yoann Lossel, original image copyright Easton Press.

As always: Thanks for sticking with me through this project!