“Wow, Blake, you’ve been quiet lately…”

Why yes. Yes, anonymous commenter on the internet who has somehow managed to usurp the title of a blog post, I have. But it’s not because I’ve gone into hibernation or anything. As many of you know, last week was the annual party/Bacchanalia we here in the great state of Louisiana call Mardi Gras, and Erin came down for one of her legendary visits during that week. It was a wonderful time and I’ll try to find the time to write more about it later in the week, for those of you who don’t just follow us on Facebook.

But now that things have gotten back to normal, I find myself busier than ever. I’m continuing work on the first draft of a new novel (I’m at 63k words at the moment, and I’m guessing I’ll have about another 20 or 30k to go before the story is finished). I’m prepping my next fiction release, which I hope to have out to you guys in the next few months. And starting… oh, about three hours ago… I’m directing the next show for the Thibodaux Playhouse, Alan Ball’s comedy Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. The first night of auditions was tonight, so now I’m going to be working in all of my usual stuff around that.

So I’m still here, and I’m still working. I just wanted you all to know that.

I love you too.

Sittin’ at school…

We’ve got our Open House tonight here at school. When you change up classes in January, you’ve got a whole new group of parents to meet and introduce yourself to and hope that they won’t come after your scalp when little Susie fails three tests in a row because she hasn’t bothered to fill in any of the answers.

I’ve got a bit of a commute from home to work, so on nights like this one I don’t bother to drive home, sit around for an hour, and drive back. Instead I stay up here and try to get some work done. Knocked out some reviews, wrote a new scene for Tales of the Curtain. And now, with an hour left before Open House starts, I just wish I had DC Universe online installed on my work computer.

Nobody tell me what happens on Chuck tonight. I’m DVRing it.

Makin’ Your Way in the World Today…

Ah. The Cheers theme. Seems appropriate tonight.

It feels a little odd to have a Thursday where I’m not recording an Evercast. Not bad, mind you, but odd. That particular experiment is time consuming and exhausting, and although I love doing it, I need some time off before trying another one.

That said, I don’t exactly feel like I’m taking it easy. I don’t remember the last time I did. It’s the first week of a new semester, which is always tiring, and I’ve thus far made good on my New Year’s Resolution to write something every day. Plus, twice already this week I’ve been irritated beyond all reason by announcements from publishers that are an embarrassment to the word.

So no real new content tonight. I’m taking a break.

Summertime and the livin’ is… busy

Well here we are, the official beginning of summer vacation. (I can’t really count the weekend, since I would have those days off anyway. And yes, I know today is Memorial Day, but my school district rarely gets that day off when it falls before the end of the semester. Regardless.)

So now I’ve got just a hair over two months of freedom. What will I do with that freedom, you ask? Work, of course. I know, I’m a fool. But aside from spending time with Erin, pretty much everything I’ve got planned through August involves work of some fashion. I’m rehearsing for the Thibodaux Playhouse summer musical. I’ve got two short stories that I’m trying to complete for submission to a couple of anthologies, I’ve got the usual podcast, column, and review duties over at Comixtreme, and I plan to really work hard on recording the next big project for the Evercast, which I hope to hell I’ll be able to start this month.

Plus, Comixtreme itself is about to undergo a major overhaul, which has got me thinking about a more permanent home for my older features. Time Travel Tuesdays here will give me a way to re-present old columns, but I needed some place for the old reviews. Back when I was a LiveJournaler, I started up a community there where people were free to post reviews of old comic books. I’ve decided to bring back concept as well, and yesterday I spent a few hours putting together a new blog, The Back Issue Bin. I’ll post a few old reviews there every day (or at least most days), and on Mondays I’ll be doing a feature called Somebody’s First Comic Book. Just to give that site some new content.

So I’ll be busy, guys. I’m on a vacation from school, but not a vacation from work. And I’d better get to it.

Resting up

I stayed home from work today, which I don’t do often, and I REALLY hated doing two days before our (terribly delayed) Spring Break. But it’s not like you can exactly control when you feel sick.

Which is too bad, as I’ve generally felt better lately. My shirts seem to have been getting bigger lately. It’s been quite a while since I had that particular issue. I kind of like it.

Got to find some time to work on that little idea I mentioned last week. I feel like I’m writing a spec script, a screenplay for a television episode that the writer doesn’t actually expect to ever see produced, but is intended more to show what he’s capable of. Which is actually a pretty good feeling in and of itself. My creative partner and I have hammered out something that I really think gets to the heart of the character involved. Wish us luck.

(I am NOT, I should stress, writing a screenplay. I just have that sort of feel.)

Sporadic Schedule

Hey, guys. Having taken that extra class I mentioned on Friday, my posting schedule here on the ‘Realms may be a bit erratic for a while. I’ve got open house tonight, and considering that I’ve got to stay at school an extra hour and a half anyway, I’m not even going to bother coming home. So I’ll be at work from the time I get there (leaving after I post this) until about 8 o’clock tonight. Whoooooooo…

Anyway, I’ve got more work on my plate, and I’ve got no real idea how long it’s going to take me to do it, so if my posting schedule becomes erratic over the next few weeks, please bear with me. Thanks

Blake’s Universal Rule of the Universe #60

60. The more entertained you are by the people around you, the less what you’re doing seems like work.

Check out all of the Universal Rules of the Universe!