Since I’m well into that book 2 of the trilogy, last week I wrote 13.5K words, which brought my yearly total to almost 260K. Still behind since we’re past half the year, but I can still catch up. And if I don’t, I don’t care. The next project might be a novel, or it might be a series of short stories. I haven’t decided yet.
And I also want to write more stories to some themes so I can put out a few more short story collections before the end of the year. The publisher’s newsletter is coming soon, you can subscribe by entering your email on the home page.
This is also the last week of the Smashwords sale, everything 50% off (except titles at 99c and the two latest), so hurry. It ends on Saturday!
I have ordered the paperbacks of the latest two titles, but unless they deliver them a day early like they did for the previous ones, they won’t make it into this post. Very busy mornings at work with special thanks to this lovely pandemic, so I hope to have some energy to keep writing!
I won’t bore you on how Roman buses make it even worse by not showing up or having you wait for 35minutes. I can do that on foot in 20minutes, but at lunchtime it’s really tough. When they show up on time, it takes me thirty minutes (10 minutes first bus, get to the other bus stop in 10 minutes, 10 minutes second bus) to do those 5km, when they don’t, they don’t. One hour or more in total.
There, I said it, I bored you! 😉 But you have one more reason why I want to move away from this town. A colleague suggested I get a two-wheels, but I used one for twelve years and that was almost twenty years ago and I’m not young enough anymore, especially on the Roman streets, famous for the “sanpietrini” and its holes (that can be deadly on a scooter). And my almost-26-year-old car is ready to retire, so… buses.
But then, without those buses, I wouldn’t have come up with the idea of the ghost bus, so… whatever! 😀 Have a great summer!
Barbara G.Tarn - writer 
Victoria Zigler
/ 28/07/2021The bus part of your post reminds me of a quote about how nothing that happens to a writer, however good or bad, is ever wasted, because it’s all potential material for our writing. I forget the exact wording, or who said it, but that’s what came to mind when reading about your bus situation. 😉
Wales decided to have a turn at spending several days in the 30s, which was very much not fun, so I spent most of last week feeling like I was melting and suffocating, and my brain was too fried to do anything creative.
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Barb
/ 28/07/2021true, we can make up stories from the most mundane stuff, although we’re not as good as those conspiracy theorists! I could never come up with such wild ideas, LOL!
I almost fainted when I walked 2,5km to the next bus in 35°C… not again. My friend tells me in September you’ll need the Green Pass to get on the bus or something – I don’t care, I can walk if it’s not that hot! 😀
Let’s hope the heat fades soon, both in Rome and in Wales…
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Victoria Zigler
/ 29/07/2021Thankfully we got some rain, which took the edge off the heat and lowered the temperatures to more tolerable levels. Apparently the heat is coming back though, so I’ll enjoy the more comfortable temperatures while I can.
They’re talking about having to have “vaccination passports” to enter a lot of places – especially the kinds of places that draw crowds – and to travel outside the UK as from September. A bit of a problem for me, since I can’t be fully vaccinated so wouldn’t be able to get one (they’re thinking of forcing people to get the jab, but forgetting about people who have valid medical reasons not to have it, or not to have the second after having had such a hard time with the first). On the other hand, I hate crowded places, and it gives me an excuse not to go to too far from home to be able to be home in time to sleep in my own bed at the end of the adventure, so it doesn’t bother me much. It bothers me more that they want to do it… It feels too much like an attempt to control our movements.
So, apparently I could do a good job with those conspiracy theories with how my mind works, judging by the direction I was heading with that. Now I’m trying to decide if that’s a good thing or not. LOL!
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Barb
/ 29/07/2021well, you write speculative fiction… write a dystopian story about it! 😉 We have that thing called “Green Pass”, so that’s probably the equivalent of what you’ll have. I have put mine in my passport for now, but apparently we’ll need even to get on buses and trains in September, so we’ll see. I’m still hoping to make it to London in October or November to study for my next series.
Meanwhile, I’ll try to ignore the frying heat, the chicadas and all that jazz and finish that urban fantasy set in the here and now, where they can actually travel despite everything – lucky characters, aren’t they? Well, not so much, LOL! Although I’m not as cruel to them as some authors I’ve been reading! 😀
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Victoria Zigler
/ 29/07/2021I might just have to do that… Maybe I can work that scene with the robot with disinfectant I got from my trip in to town in the early days of the pandemic in to it somewhere… 😉
Yes, your characters are luckier than many. LOL!
Also, yes, I think the passport things are our version of your green card. I don’t think they’ve started saying about us needing them for busses and things yet, but if they do go ahead with plans to have people use those, it will likely only be a matter of time before the list of things you need to have them for grows.
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