Hello from out here in Phoenix, where COVID is still very much alive and Trump and his dorks decided it would be a good idea to hold a rally in my state last night, spreading their stupidity and their diseases amongst each in a state where our numbers are cracking high.

In other news, Omicron is still very much a thing.

When I see stuff like this, from our “beloved” Governor Ducey, I understand partially where he’s coming from. He understands, at the most base level, that for a child to succeed in a classroom they need constant care and attention from the same, responsible, trained professional day in and day out.

But he’s also a dummy that still doesn’t think COVID is a big deal so, whatever. Dummy.

Sorry. A bit grumpy. Let’s move on to work from this past week.

Project: DEED got a big boost in pages done yesterday. I reached page 123 of the 2nd draft, out of a total of 382 pages, currently. I’m not sure where it came from, the stride, I mean, but I followed it. Fortunately, because our boys are still needy, little snuggle bugs who can’t partake in physical activity for longer than 15 minutes without exhausting themselves, my wife was able to sit, watch movies with them, giving me time to edit roughly 40 pages over the course of the day. Hoping to keep that momentum up.

I think imagining this book, in its completed form, more than Project: GREY, has me the most excited. It’s a standalone story, representing what I hope to be a true moment in time for kids, mixed with the complexities of young life that don’t often get talked about.

Project: GREY, on the other hand, had no further progress this week.

I made another small resolution for myself, silently, of course, that I would query one new agent for that book every week. Because COVID offset everything, I didn’t have the energy to research any new agents.

Oh, and the one agent I found, before the holidays, whose MSWL I had open in my phone’s browser, I couldn’t submit to. I already submitted to another agent from their agency before the holidays and a ‘No’ from one of them is a ‘No’ from all of them.

Always do your proper research, folks, if you’re in the querying trenches like me. We’ll try again this upcoming week. I haven’t heard anything back from the agent who suggested I rework the entire thing, and it’s been over a month, so, I don’t know. Keep waiting, I guess.

This is a pretty rad Batgirl costume, from an interesting era of the character in the comics, but I swear to Pennyworth if they don’t give her the awesome yellow Doc Martens, I will…

…still see it. Because everything else looks rad.

In upcoming books within the realm of who I want to write for, there’s this release, “The Marvellers,” coming later this year:

Described by author Clayton as, “My love letter to kids who thought there might be nothing magical about them because they didn’t show up in those big worlds everyone is always talking about.”

And that rang…differently, for me. Rick Riordan himself gave a big glowing endorsement for the book and by all accounts Clayton is a fantastic author, but that quote, about kids who thought they would never get to show up in a book like this, when the hardcover version of it is most likely going to cost, minimum, $15.99…

…made me feel…something.

I don’t know.

I’ll explore this a little more and try to elaborate on it with more details so I don’t just shoot from the hip, but this sensation, as a trend, I see where authors online talk about their books for “underrepresented classes” but don’t make them easily accessible for the underrepresented classes…there’s definitely something off about it.

I’m sure the book will be great. The author, though I’m not familiar with prior works, has far more expertise in this area than I and has written best-sellers before, will do more than fine.

But you can’t ignore a feeling.

I really didn’t want to end this on such a bummer of a note, but I guess it’s been that kind of week. Day cares are closing down, some offices are reducing staff, and the feeling I’m getting from so many positive cases, in kids even, is the same I had when COVID first started wrecking havoc on the world.

What happens after Omicron? Who can say. Honestly, the fate of our world lies in the hands of people who listen to Joe Rogan.

Stay safe when you can. Wear a n95 mask if you can, double-mask otherwise, and hopefully, you’ll all be here for Vol. 3.

Thanks for reading,

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Contact: robertmichaelacosta@gmail.com