STATUS – 09.11.2025 –

Hello and good morning.

The featured image was found on my phone because, hey, what’s mine is mine but what’s also mine is also the boys’, so, laying them down to sleep one of them got a hold of it and took this haunting photo. It’s a wonder to find treats like this, I tell myself. There will come a day when they don’t want to pick up my phone anymore.

And when that day comes, I will, mostly, rejoice because it means I’ll always know where it is (minus losing it due to the debilitating memory loss that comes with possession of this meat sack of a body), but I’ll also be a little sad. These pictures are POV shots I could never replicate. It’s how they see the world.

No wonder they get scared of their bedroom at night. Even with a night light on, that door leads to nowhere. A void where anything can happen. Some kids relish in it. My boys? Not yet. I hope they find the magic in the unknown, but it’s okay if they don’t right now. They’re 5 and 3. They got time.

“Life is not a support system for art…” and all that.

The beard is growing in nicely, if not a little more gray then I would like. We’re in the final stretches until Baby Girl D is here, and we’re, I’d say, 70% ready? Still need to wash the baby clothes and unload the diapers and build a crib and really that’s all just an afternoon.

But not today. Today, we work.

PROJECT UPDATE:

NESS – I moved all the note cards I made to help rewrite Project NESS upstairs to our bedroom (my new office space). I even repositioned them on the wall to assist in how I see the book.

*I even zoomed in on my second monitor to make sure I couldn’t see anything…*

The way I was able to make notable progress this summer on the Revise & Resubmit was to break things down into tangible actions. Though it’s been a few weeks since I actually worked on it, I am feeling excited to touch base with it today and get chapter 1 rewrites done. That’s the first task. Subsequent tasks include combining two chapters, adding select details to another chapter, rewriting a new two chapter sequence, and so on. Things I can see. If you’re too broad with your approach, like, “Write more today,” then doing this might be of benefit for you.

The goal is to finish this R&R for the agent before Baby Girl D comes.

#AMQUERYING – BIANCA hasn’t been sent out in months. Literally since the start of the summer. I got sidetracked with summer stuff, family vacations, baby prep, and it just slipped away. I believe in this story. It deserves a chance. So I’m going to try to pitch a new agent this week.

CITY – Speaking of stories, CITY has been laying sad and alone since I got the R&R. Again, I believe in this story, and want to finish it because, let’s be honest, this R&R might not lead to me getting signed. I have to keep writing. So I’ll figure out the schedule for what it would take to get this book done before year’s end.

CURRENTLY LISTENING: This song makes me feel things. And isn’t that enough?

CURRENTLY READING: 100 Bullets Vol. 1 – First Shot, Last Call by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (B&N)

It’s been some years since I read this, and I honestly don’t remember it that well. But I do remember it being good so I’m excited to look at it through the lens of someone trying to be a better writer. We’re checking this out over in the JINXWORLD/World Balloon Book Club so if discussing it with other chill comic peeps is your jam, come join us.