STATUS – 1.13.2026 –

Look.

I could spend a long time talking about where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing, maybe making internal excuses which manifest on the screen as something profound, lying to myself about the fact I’ve been scared to sit and write for longer than two minutes without breaking into a full-blown sweat attack, that my anxiety has seen dips and valleys over the last few weeks that would make the last few years of my life break out in hives…

Or.

I could say look at the Featured Image. Know that’s what I’ve been doing these last two months. Understand that all authors, and creatives, have these moments. Realize that the last two months have not been the last two decades.

Open a document. Open a notebook. Remember I’m a good father. And get to work.

We’re back to using a regular Bullet Journal. Nothing fancy. We’re leaving all other notebooks at home when we go out, unless there’s going to be a focused work time. This means when I leave the house I grab the pencil pouch and the BuJo and that’s it. Everything goes in there. When ideas need to break out into their own, then we grab the LOCHBY and elaborate from there.

Sort of an updated version of this old graphic I drew for myself:

A picture of a flowchart of how ideas will work in this new/old Bullet Journal system.

PROJECT UPDATE:

#AMQUERYING – NESS is at the front of mind right now. The plot outline with the fixed segments to improve pacing and character details, as given by the Literary Agent back in the summer for the Revise & Resubmit, is still hanging on my wall. I’m looking at it right now. It’s not much. 4,000 words? At most? If I stick to the 500 words a day I’ve been promising myself, then that wouldn’t be too long to get done.

OTHER PROJECTS – I’ve had a lot of time to think recently about my projects. Old ones. Recent ones. And while I do remain dedicated in some way to the book ideas and characters I developed, started, never finished and/or finished, I think I need to leave some things in the past. I want to do a Project Update page in my 2026 Bullet Journal to try and figure out what’s coming up for this year and what I can/should leave behind.

CURRENTLY LISTENING: I’m actually in the middle of trying to turn my old PSP into a dedicated music played, with limited video game usage (I’m thinking old Final Fantasy and Metroidvania-style games), but for now, we’re on Spotify.

CURRENTLY READING: As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling by Anne Serling (B&N)

I have watched very little of the original Twilight Zone, but Walter Banasiak did these wonderful reviews for years that began during the pandemic which endeared towards Rod as a man, a father, and a creative. I still haven’t done the full Twilight Zone deep dive, but I do want to start studying the man.