Good News and Bad News

The good news is that I got Valentine’s Night polished up, printed out, and sent off to Eleanor today. This is the second spec manuscript I’ve written in as many years, in addition to finishing off Prophets for DAW. Here’s hoping it does as well as Lilly’s Song. This means, now that I got the rewrites done on three novels, I get to start on the next book in the Apotheosis Trilogy sometime before the end of the month. This means the counters will finally start moving again.

Now, the reason I’m not starting the new book right now leads me to the bad news. . .

You see, my mother-in-law has dementia and has moved into assisted living. This is a good thing, as she is, to put it kindly, obstinate and difficult to deal with. As in there was no way we would ever get her to agree to move, we had to check her into the ER after she wandered off and have her shipped directly from the hospital to the assisted living facility the following Monday. She’s royally pissed at my wife, when she’s coherent, but she now gets three meals a day, social interaction, and the occasional shower.

The bad news is her house. I get to spend this weekend cleaning out a house that hasn’t been vacuumed, dusted, tidied or otherwise cleaned out in nearly a decade. Parts of it are near collapse. There’s mold, bugs, rats and things I don’t even want to think about. I’m afraid I’m about to run out of dumpster. I’m exhausted, and I’ve barely started on what promises to be a very long weekend.

The way I get through crap like this? I promise myself that it will make it into a story someday.